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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. Aquilini, L. Baldi, P. Bibet, R. Bozzi, A. Bruschi, R. Cesario, S. Cirant, C. Ferro, F. Gandini, S. di Giovenale, G. Granucci, T. Fortunato, G. Maddaluno, F. de Marco, G. Maffia, A. Marra, V. Mellera, F. Mirizzi, V. Muzzini, A. Nardone, A. Orsini, M. Papalini, P. Papitto, V. Pericoli-Ridolfini, P. Petrolini, S. Petrosino, S. Podda, G. L. Ravera, G. B. Righetti, M. Roccon, F. Santini, M. Sassi, A. Simonetto, C. Sozzi, N. Spinicchia, A. A. Tuccillo, P. Zampelli
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 45 | Number 3 | May 2004 | Pages 459-482
Technical Paper | Frascati Tokamak Upgrade (FTU) | doi.org/10.13182/FST04-A525
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
High-frequency wave systems with high-power density launching capability have been the preferred choice to heat the Frascati Tokamak Upgrade (FTU) because of physics arguments (electron heating at very high density) and space constraints from the compactness of the machine design (8-cm-wide port). They do include an 8-GHz lower hybrid current drive (LHCD) system, a 140-GHz electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) system, and a 433-MHz ion Bernstein waves system (IBW). The technical aspects of these systems will be reviewed in this article. The main features of the design include the following: (a) a very compact conventional LHCD grill with a compact window to keep the vacuum on 48 (12 columns, 4 rows) individual waveguides allowing the maximum flexibility in spectra generation to be achieved; power handling up to [approximately equal to]10 kW/cm2 has been achieved, (b) ECRH launchers designed as a quasi-optical system (implementing ITER relevant solutions) retaining the maximum flexibility in the equatorial launcher (poloidal/toroidal steerability) to exploit a variety of scenarios, (c) a two-waveguides launching array making the IBW experiment on FTU unique. Other technical aspects (sources, transmission lines, etc.) are also reviewed. The development of a new ITER relevant lower hybrid launcher, the passive active multijunction, is described.
