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ANS Student Conference 2025
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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.
H. Matsui, O. Motojima, A. Sagara, T. Muroga, A. Kohyama, S. Tanaka, T. Terai, Dai-Kai Sze
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 30 | Number 3 | December 1996 | Pages 1293-1298
Power Plant Design and Technology | doi.org/10.13182/FST96-A11963126
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Force-Free Helical Reactor. FFHR. is a conceptual design of helical fusion power reactor. Flibe is chosen as the coolant/ breeding material in this reactor mainly because of safety considerations. Two types of structural materials, i.e. ferritic steel and vanadium alloys were closely examined. Compatibility of these materials with Flibe is one of the largest issues for the selection of materials. It has been concluded that both systems using Flibe as coolant are feasible provided that the chemistry of Flibe is appropriately controlled.
