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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.
S. S. Ananyev, A. Yu. Dnestrovskij, A. S. Kukushkin, A. V. Spitsyn, B. V. Kuteev
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 76 | Number 4 | May 2020 | Pages 503-512
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2020.1718855
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The fuel cycle (FC) model FC-FNS is used for the calculation of hydrogen isotope flows in the fuel systems of the DEMO-FNS fusion neutron source (FNS) based on a tokamak with parameters R/a = 3.2 m/1 m, B = 5 T, Ipl = 4 to 5 MA, PNBI = 30 MW, РECR = 6 MW, and deuterium-tritium fusion power Pf = 40 MW. The FC-FNS model includes joint simulation of the gas, solid-state, and plasma flows of the fuel mixtures in the areas of the core and near-wall plasma when neon admixture is injected into the divertors. The basic principles of particle balance formation in the plasma and FC systems are described in the paper. In the process of fueling mode optimization, the requirements for productivity of the key FC systems containing the largest amount of T have been formulated. The FC configuration with the minimum tritium reserve (<2 kg) and the shortest processing time is selected.