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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.
K. Tomlinson, C. T. Seagle, H. Huang, G. E. Smith, J. L. Taylor, R. R. Paguio
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 73 | Number 2 | March 2018 | Pages 139-148
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2017.1387449
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A measurement instrument utilizing dual, chromatic, confocal, distance sensors has been jointly developed by General Atomics and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) for thickness and flatness measurement of target components used in dynamic materials properties (DMP) experiments on the SNL Z-Machine (Z). Compared to previous methods used in production of these types of targets, the tool saves time and yields a 4× reduction in thickness uncertainty which is one of the largest sources of error in equation of state measurements critical to supporting the National Nuclear Security Administration Stockpile Stewardship program and computer modeling of high energy density experiments. It has numerous differences from earlier instruments operating on the dual confocal sensor principle to accommodate DMP components including larger lateral travel, longer working distance, ability to measure flatness in addition to thickness, built-in thickness calibration standards for quickly checking calibration before and after each measurement, and streamlined operation. Thickness and flatness of 0.2- to 3.3-mm-thick sections of diamond-machined copper and aluminum can be measured to submicron accuracy. Sections up to 6 mm thick can be measured with as-yet undetermined accuracy. Samples must have one surface which is flat to within 300 µm, lateral dimensions of no more than 50 ×50 mm, and height less than 40 mm.