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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.
T. Kakuta, S. Konishi, Y. Kawamura, M. Nishi, T. Suzuki
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 39 | Number 2 | March 2001 | Pages 1083-1087
Tritium | doi.org/10.13182/FST01-A11963388
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Electrochemical properties of the ceramic protonic conductor cell were investigated to evaluate its feasibility of hydrogen pumping for the purpose of tritium extraction in fusion fuel system. Experiments were performed at 873~1073K. One side of the cell was exposed to pure hydrogen and the other was exposed to 0.01~10 vol. % of hydrogen balanced with helium. Static and dynamic hydrogen pumping properties of the cell were evaluated. Electromotive force generated between two electrodes by the difference of hydrogen concentration was measured as static characteristics. In the region of the ratio of hydrogen partial pressure up to 100, the electrochemical potential driven by the difference of hydrogen partial pressure agreed well with the theoretical values derived from Nemst's law. The hydrogen pumping capacity was measured as the current density with applied DC. Hydrogen was selectively transferred at the current density of 7mA/cm2 at 873K and 9mA/cm2 at 973K, which satisfy our projected requirement (above 5mA/cm2) for applying to the blanket tritium recovery system. Voltage-induced degradation of the cell material accompanied with water vapor generation was observed, and voltage region to avoid this degradation was identified.