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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.
J.J. MacFarlane, M. E. Sawan, G. A. Moses, P. Wang, R. E. Olson
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 30 | Number 3 | December 1996 | Pages 1569-1573
Fusion Power Plants and Economics | doi.org/10.13182/FST96-A11963174
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Results from numerical simulations are presented describing the explosion energetics of a high-gain indirect-drive ICF target. The light ion fusion LIBRA-SP target, which consists of an x-ray driven capsule embedded in a spherical foam-filled hohlraum, is imploded using 12 prepulse and 12 full power Li beams containing a total energy of 8 MJ. Here, we report on the dynamics of the target energy release, focussing in particular on the partitioning of energy between x rays, neutrons, and target debris kinetic energy. Our results indicate that 72% and 22% of the 552 MJ yield is emitted by the target in the form of neutrons and x-rays, respectively. Calculated emergent spectra for the target neutrons and x rays are also presented.
