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Latest News
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.
Faridah Mohamad Idris, Julie Andrianny Murshidi, Abdul Aziz Mohamed, Norabidin Ashari, Khairiah Yazid, Azraf Azman, Wan Ahmad Tajuddin Wan Abdullah, Nurfikri Norjoharuddeen, Abdul Halim Baijan, Rokiah Sabri, Mohd Faiz Mohd Zin
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 76 | Number 8 | November 2020 | Pages 957-961
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2020.1819749
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Position-sensitive detectors (PSDs) have been used in neutron tomography and nanostructural characterization of material using neutrons that scattered from a monochromator of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite type, placed directly in the neutron beam in the Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS) facility at the Malaysian Nuclear Agency. PSD uses the 3He(n,p) reaction to detect neutrons. Because of the 3He high neutron cross section of 5333 b at 25.3 meV, a PSD is suitable for neutron detection across its axial direction at a low neutron flux of 103 cm−2‧s−1. Because of its insensitivity toward gamma radiation, the signals from the PSD for real neutrons are relatively easy to analyze. This paper discusses the use of a PSD in neutron tomography and nanostructural characterization of material in the SANS facility at the Malaysian Nuclear Agency.
