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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.
R.J. Cerbone, E.T. Cheng, Y-K. M. Peng
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 34 | Number 3 | November 1998 | Pages 779-783
Fusion Blanket and Shield Technology | doi.org/10.13182/FST98-A11963708
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A spherical torus based volumetric neutron source (ST-VNS) concept has been developed in recent studies as a possible intermediate step to develop the necessary technology for reactor components of future fusion power plants. Such a VNS would complement ITER in testing, developing, and qualifying nuclear technology components. A recently developed design concept for a spherical torus based VNS permits the development capability to increase fusion power and wall loading. Results of neutronics calculations for such a ST-VNS with neutron wall loading ranging from 0.5 to 5 MW/m2 have been competed. In this paper, we report the tritium breeding and neutronics performance of several power blanket compositions and configurations. These include, a helium cooled natural lithium in vanadium alloy structural material blanket; a helium cooled enriched lithium-lead, in a vanadium-alloy structure blanket; and a heterogeneous configured blanket consisting of a dual cooled blanket consisting of enriched lithium-lead enclosed in silicon carbide with ferritic steel for the structural material.
