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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.
B.B. Glasgow, W.G. Wolfer
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 8 | Number 1 | July 1985 | Pages 546-552
Material Engineering — Behavior | Proceedings of the Sixth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (San Francisco, California, March 3-7, 1985) | doi.org/10.13182/FST85-A40096
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Ferritic steels have been shown to swell much less than 316 austenitic stainless steel. For this reason ferritic steels are being considered for fusion reactor applications as an alternative to 316 austenitic stainless steel. A lifetime analysis based on crack propagation has been done for ferritic steel using typical first wall parameters. The results for ferritic steel are compared to results from a similar analysis done for 316 austenitic stainless steel. The comparison shows that ferritic steels have lower thermal stresses than 316 austenitic stainless steel by a factor of about 2. Because of the lower thermal stresses, the cyclic stresses resulting from the plasma-on/plasma-off cycles are reduced and the predicted fatigue crack growth rate is less for ferritic steels. The analysis predicts a lifetime more than 10 times longer for ferritic steel than for 316 austenitic stainless steel. The comparison clearly shows the great potential of ferritic steel over 316 austenitic stainless steel as a first wall material to achieve the high wall loading desired for future fusion reactors.
