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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.
S. P. Hensleeb, R. M. Neilson, Jr.
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 8 | Number 1 | July 1985 | Pages 1392-1395
Environment and Safety | Proceedings of the Sixth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (San Francisco, California, March 3-7, 1985) | doi.org/10.13182/FST85-A39961
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The volatility of elemental constituents from HT-9, a ferritic steel, proposed for fusion reactor structures, was investigated. Tests were conducted in flowing air at temperatures from 800 to 1200°C for durations of 1 to 20 h. Elemental volatility was calculated in terms of the weight fraction of the element volatilized from the initial alloy; molybdenum, manganese, and nickel were the primary constituents volatilized. Comparisons with elemental volatilities observed for another candidate fusion reactor material, Primary Candidate Alloy (PCA), an austenitic stainless steel, indicate significant differences between the volatilities of these steels that may impact fusion reactor safety analysis and alloy selection. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectrometry were used to investigate the oxide layers formed on HT-9 and to measure elemental contents within these layers.