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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.
Yuri Igitkhanov, Boris Bazylev, Lorenzo Boccaccini
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 75 | Number 7 | October 2019 | Pages 642-646
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2019.1610291
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The impact of the edge-localized modes (ELMs) on the tungsten divertor erosion by taking into account the screening effect of vapor shielding is analyzed for DEMO steady-state operation condition. The evaluation of tungsten ablation, energy radiation, and absorption by divertor plate due to a single ELM impact is calculated by using a model of vapor shielding inserted in the MEMOS code. The effect of repetitive ELM impact and the tungsten melt layer formation is described by using the model of W monoblock with a compliance layer of Cu alloy between the W and EUROFER water cooling tube.
It is shown that the vapor plasma shielding results in saturation of the single ELM energy accumulated by the divertor plate and that the saturation level depends on the ELM duration. The ablation thickness can reach about 0.01 µm. The total number of ablated particles is rather critical for the shielding formation, and the lifetime of the divertor plate depends strongly on this effect.
