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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.
Dai-Kai Sze, Mohamed E. Sawan, Edward T. Cheng
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 39 | Number 2 | March 2001 | Pages 789-792
Chamber Technology | doi.org/10.13182/FST01-A11963335
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Transmutation rates of Li, Be and F are calculated for a typical flibe blanket. The results concluded that the transmutation rate of F is more than double that of Be. Because of the high destruction rate of fluorine, there will be no free fluorine in the molten salt.
Therefore, experimental program to address the chemistry control of flibe does not have to worry about the issues associated with free fluorine as long as kinetics are favorable (likely). Also, this calculation defines the chemical state of flibe after irradiation. This chemical state needs to be simulated closely for the flibe chemistry control experiments.
