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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.
Harold Wiesmann
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 17 | Number 2 | March 1990 | Pages 350-354
Cold Fusion Technical Note | Japanese Fusion Research: Activities in Fusion Nuclear Technology | doi.org/10.13182/FST90-A39903
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A search for steady-state “excess” heat, neutron emission, or tritium production was carried out for palladium electrodes electrolytically charged with deuterium. No substantial deviation in cell temperatures was observed, and the upper limit to excess heat production was 320 m W/cm3 for the largest palladium cathode. No increase in neutron production above background levels was observed, and the sensitivity of the neutron detection system yielded an upper limit of 2.18 × 10−22 (3-σ) fusion/s·atom−1 pair. The tritium levels in the cells increased by 50%, but the cells were run in the open configuration and the tritium increases were consistent with electrolytic enrichment. An approximate upper limit for tritium production was 2 × 102 tritium /ml · C−1. The cell temperatures were recorded once daily and monitored intermittently, but no transient excess heat excursions were observed throughout the experiment.