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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.
J. D. Baker, D. H. Meikrantz, R. J. Pawelko, R. A. Anderl, D. G. Tuggle
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 27 | Number 2 | March 1995 | Pages 8-13
doi.org/10.13182/FST95-A11963798
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A zirconium-manganese-iron alloy, St 909, was evaluated as a purifier in tritium handling, transport, and storage applications. High efficiency removal of CH4, CO, CO2, NH3, and O2 was observed at concentrations of 0.1 to 1% in helium. Gas streams at 100 to 5000 sccm were passed through getters operated at 600–800°C. On-getter residence times of two seconds were required to achieve >99% removal of these reactive impurities. At this removal efficiency level, the individual impurity capacity of 100 g of St 909 purifier at 800°C was 0.59, 0.28, 0.19, 0.14 and 0.12 moles of CH4, CO, CO2, O2 and NH3, respectively. Hydrogen containing gasses; CH4 and NH3; were cracked on the purifier and the resultant elemental hydrogen was released. Only 8 ± 2 scc of H2 were retained on 100 g of St 909 at 800°C. These features suggest that this alloy can be employed as an efficient purifier for hydrogen isotopes in inert gas, nitrogen, or perhaps even H, D, or T streams.