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Fusion Science and Technology
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Latest News
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.
A.V. Arzhannikov, V.T. Astrelin, A.V. Burdakov, P.Z. Chebotaev, V.S. Koidan, K.I. Mekler, P.I. Melnikov, V.V. Postupaev, A.F. Rovenskikh, S.L. Sinitsky, M.A. Shcheglov, H. Wuerz
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 35 | Number 1 | January 1999 | Pages 146-150
Oral Presentations | doi.org/10.13182/FST99-A11963840
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The GOL-3-II facility was used for the investigation of the interaction of a high-power plasma stream with solids. The experiments allowed the study of the properties of the dense plasma formed in front of materials under action of the fast electrons flowing out the open trap. Target plasma from entrance foil with density 1016cm−3 has the expansion velocity 2–4 106 cm/c. Explosive-like erosion of the exit graphite receiver was been observed. Formation of a dust cloud is a feature of this phenomenon. Properties of the dusty particles are discussed.
