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Colin Judge: Testing structural materials in Idaho’s newest hot cell facility
Idaho National Laboratory’s newest facility—the Sample Preparation Laboratory (SPL)—sits across the road from the Hot Fuel Examination Facility (HFEF), which started operating in 1975. SPL will host the first new hot cells at INL’s Materials and Fuels Complex (MFC) in 50 years, giving INL researchers and partners new flexibility to test the structural properties of irradiated materials fresh from the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) or from a partner’s facility.
Materials meant to withstand extreme conditions in fission or fusion power plants must be tested under similar conditions and pushed past their breaking points so performance and limitations can be understood and improved. Once irradiated, materials samples can be cut down to size in SPL and packaged for testing in other facilities at INL or other national laboratories, commercial labs, or universities. But they can also be subjected to extreme thermal or corrosive conditions and mechanical testing right in SPL, explains Colin Judge, who, as INL’s division director for nuclear materials performance, oversees SPL and other facilities at the MFC.
SPL won’t go “hot” until January 2026, but Judge spoke with NN staff writer Susan Gallier about its capabilities as his team was moving instruments into the new facility.
Changle Liu, Damao Yao, Lei Li, Jie Zhang, Hao Yang, Yang Qiu, Xiang Gao
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 70 | Number 3 | November 2016 | Pages 423-428
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST15-246
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Neutral beam injection (NBI) is a high-power auxiliary heating system for the EAST device. We present a thermal shield (TS) structure to protect the neck pipe of the EAST equatorial port to avoid damage from the NBI beam. Since the EAST port has a big trumpet structure, a straight section, and a small trumpet structure, to accommodate the port structure, a TS concept is put forward including its cooling system. The cooling loops and the sub-branches were designed with interfaces between the inner cooling branches. The heat removal capability is verified by a thermal hydraulics analysis based on ANSYS code. In particular, fabrication is addressed with technical processing technology, especially for the embedded cooling pipes in the heat sinks. The pipes are checked for leaks after bending and the embedding processing. The assembly activities are demonstrated in the spatial space zones of the port before the engineering installation. It is confirmed that the TS structure is safe and will run feasibly in the EAST discharge. It is indicated that the TS structure can provide thermal shielding and remove heat for the NBI device in the port region.
