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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.
S. Dal Bello, P. Gallina, E. Pasqualetto, A. Rossi, G. Marchiori, P. Sonato
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 34 | Number 3 | November 1998 | Pages 1155-1159
Remote Maintenance Technology | doi.org/10.13182/FST98-A11963769
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The design of an inspection system for the RFX first wall is reported. A crossed tracked vehicle is proposed to overcome the problem of possible overturning. The vehicle is equipped with a frontal TV camera and communicates with its off-board control, placed outside the vessel, by means of an umbilical cord which includes signal and power cables and can be used to recover the vehicle in case of failure. Since the inspection will be performed without venting the vessel, all components must be compatible with UHV condition. An insertion system made up of two telescopic elements and a rotating chute was also designed to introduce the vehicle into the vessel in safe conditions.
