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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.
M. Khalid Hossain, Kenichi Hashizume, Shinnosuke Jo, Kaname Kawaguchi, Yuji Hatano
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 76 | Number 4 | May 2020 | Pages 553-566
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2020.1728173
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Hydrogen release behavior from rare earth oxides (REOs) (Y2O3, Sm2O3, Eu2O3, Gd2O3, Dy2O3, Er2O3, and Yb2O3) exposed to 133 Pa of deuterium (D2) gas or 2 kPa of heavy water (D2O) vapor at 873 K for 5 h was examined using thermal desorption spectroscopy. Hydrogen solubility and diffusivity in Y2O3, Gd2O3, Dy2O3, Er2O3, and Yb2O3 exposed to a deuterium-tritium gas mixture (5% to 7% T, 133 Pa) at 873 K and 973 K for 5 h were determined using a tritium imaging plate method. The structural and morphological properties of sintered disk specimens of those REOs were evaluated using an X-ray diffractometer and a scanning electron microscope. From the obtained results, the REO materials were clearly categorized into two kinds in terms of their crystal structure and hydrogen solubility: Monoclinic specimens of Sm2O3, Eu2O3, and Gd2O3 had relatively high hydrogen solubility and diffusivity, while cubic Y2O3, Dy2O3, Er2O3, and Yb2O3 had lower ones. The present study suggests that the cubic REOs could be suitable in a nuclear fusion reactor as the tritium barrier materials.
