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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.
M. E. Sawan, I. N. Sviatoslavsky
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 26 | Number 3 | November 1994 | Pages 1141-1145
Fusion Power Reactor, Economic, and Alternate Concept | Proceedings of the Eleventh Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy New Orleans, Louisiana June 19-23, 1994 | doi.org/10.13182/FST94-A40307
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The neutron yield in a D-3He reactor is much lower than that in a D-T reactor of equivalent power. Therefore, the rate of neutron damage and gas production in the first wall of D-3He reactors is lower by more than an order of magnitude. Whereas different structural materials proposed for use in commercial fusion reactors will last the reactor lifetime of 30 full power years in a D-3He reactor, frequent replacement of the first wall and blanket will be required during the lifetime of a D-T power reactor. The blanket modules may require 30 replacements depending on the material used and the maximum allowable damage level. The down time required for replacement of the first wall and blanket in a D-T reactor will impact the reactor availability and consequently the cost of electricity. It appears that a D-3He reactor should have a 10% advantage in availability over a D-T reactor.
