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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.
William E. Kastenberg
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 8 | Number 1 | July 1985 | Pages 1643-1648
Environment, Siting, 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-A39995
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
At the present time safety research and development for fusion power reactors can be characterized by understanding basic physical phenomena, seeking design solutions to resolve key issues and the comparison of postulated accidental releases to existing fission reactor regulations. In this paper, a general long term research and development program for fusion reactor safety is suggested. The program is intended to parallel future developments in fusion reactor technology and has five general elements, a) operational safety, b) engineered safety systems, c) reliability and risk assessment, d) siting, emergency planning and off-site effects and e) general safety considerations.
