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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.
A. E. Dabiri
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 15 | Number 2 | March 1989 | Pages 1275-1280
Commercial Reactors, Economics and Power Conversion | doi.org/10.13182/FST89-A39865
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Various energy conversion systems have been reviewed in order to select an efficient power cycle to be compatible with the fusion reactor requirements. The power cycles were selected for a toroidal confinement system with D-T and D-D fuel cycles and a tandem mirror reactor (TMR) with D-3He fuel cycle. Reversed Field Pinch Reactor (RFPR) was selected as an example of a toroidal confinement system with D-T fuel cycle since there has recently been a comprehensive design study for it. Tokamak was selected as an example of a toroidal confinement system with D-D fuel cycle. Tandem mirror reactor was chosen as an example of confinement for D-3He fuel cycle. The steam cycle was found to be most suitable for the RFP and Tokamak reactors while a combination of direct energy conversion system and steam cycle was found to be most suitable for D-3He tandem mirror reactor.
