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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. D. Bondarenko, I. A. Alekseev, O. A. Fedorchenko, T. V. Vasyanina
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 76 | Number 5 | July 2020 | Pages 690-695
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2020.1766275
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The multifunctional Tritium Removal Facility (TRF) has been designed for the heavy water research reactor PIK in Russia. Along with the extraction of tritium and protium from a heavy water reflector of the reactor, the TRF provides the processing of heavy water waste and the production of tritium-free heavy water. The combined electrolysis catalytic exchange process and hydrogen cryogenic distillation are used at the TRF. A number of investigations have been made to obtain data for the TRF design. At present, the facility is under construction and a detailed design is being completed. The possibility of processing heavy water waste to produce heavy water simultaneously with the extraction of tritium and protium from the heavy water reactor will improve the functionality and economic efficiency of the TRF. The basic technological scheme of the facility and the main modes of its operation are presented along with the progress of the construction of the facility building and engineering systems.