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Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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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.
Darpan Bhattacharjee, Smruti Ranjan Mohanty, Sayan Adhikari
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 79 | Number 6 | August 2023 | Pages 671-682
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2023.2176690
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The conventional inertial electrostatic confinement fusion (IECF) operation is based on the application of high negative voltage to the central grid, which results in the production of neutrons due to the fusion of lighter ions. The device can also be used as an X-ray source by altering the polarity of the central grid. In this work, electron dynamics during the positive polarity of the central grid are studied using the object-oriented particle-in-cell code XOOPIC. The simulated trapped electron density inside the anode is found to be on the order of 1016 m when 10 kV is applied to the anode. The recirculatory characteristics of the electrons are also studied from the velocity distribution function. A scintillator-based photomultiplier tube is used to detect the produced X-ray. The X-ray-emitting zones of the device are investigated by pinhole imaging techniques. Last, the radiography of metallic as well as biological samples are reported in the later part of this paper. This study shows the utilization of the IECF device when the polarity of the central grid is reversed.
