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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.
Jing Wu, Yajing Chen, Jian Liu, Pengcheng Guo, Lei Xue, Lieming Yao
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 79 | Number 5 | July 2023 | Pages 578-591
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2022.2162793
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper studies electromagnetic (EM) loads during major disruptions and vertical displacement events by introducing a two-dimensional spatiotemporal plasma current attenuation filament profile derived from the DINA code. Three-dimensional geometry models of the HL-2M tokamak are established by ANSYS, including the plasma-facing components (PFCs), the vacuum vessel (VV), poloidal magnetic field/central solenoid magnetic field coils, and divertor. Eddy currents are induced with plasma current decay and flow into the PFC components. The interaction between eddy currents and magnetic fields generates enormous EM forces and torques. The halo current also flows into the VV and divertor components from the inner and outer target plates, the demo plate, and the cassette box. The halo current–induced EM loads are the most substantial forces in the inward radial and upward vertical forces for the VV and divertor. The simulation results provide a reference for the design and safety assessment of the magnetically confined tokamak HL-2M.
