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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.
Shashi Kant Verma
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 80 | Number 5 | July 2024 | Pages 623-635
Review Article | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2023.2227839
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Impurity behavior is investigated in the form of a single or multispecies pellet in a variety of fusion devices like Stellarator TJ-II, Large Helical Device, Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), etc. The impurity intentionally injected from the exterior into plasma is called a tracer impurity. The tracer can be used to trace the fluid path. This study aims to provide impurity elements used in polymer and fusion research by different researchers as well as present the progress of eminent activities with recent progress. The effects on plasma performance due to impurity injection are discussed. The impurity behavior in the plasma core is comprehensively investigated by the researchers, but their works are very limited in the cryogenic environment. As a substitute to this way, extrusion of a pellet made from a mixture of solid hydrogen and tracer element can be useful for fueling the fusion machine. Some of the mathematical models and equations assist to determine the various parameters in extrusion of the tracer mixed pellet. Investigation of the behavior of an impurity in hydrogen ice extrusion from a twin-screw extruder is crucial with respect to cryogenic restrictions.