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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.
D.A. O'Brien, D. Steiner
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 15 | Number 2 | March 1989 | Pages 809-814
Safety and Environment — I | doi.org/10.13182/FST89-A39794
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper presents a probabilistic approach for mechanical design problems and applies this approach to a fusion reactor first wall design analysis. The method developed is based on Response Surface Methods, developing an approximation to a consequence of interest. A probability distribution for the consequence is found by Monte Carlo sampling of the input parameters probability distribution and then using the response surface. Adopting a defined criteria for failure, a probability of the consequence exceeding the criteria is found. In this paper the method is applied to the examination of neutron wall load implications. The motivation for this work is to provide an additional tool for design development and assessment.