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ANS Student Conference 2025
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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.
S. Y. Kazantsev, S. N. Kuznetsov, A. Y. Maksimov, N. V. Pchelkina
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 80 | Number 7 | October 2024 | Pages 893-903
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2024.2339662
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An analysis of the prospects for the use of atmospheric optical communication lines at industrial nuclear energy installations, including thermonuclear (fusion) reactors and energy facilities with on-site fuel reprocessing plants, was carried out. It is shown that modern atmospheric communication terminals make it possible to implement high-speed data exchange within the perimeter of energy complexes, as well as to provide an external backup communication channel protected by use of quantum key distribution technology. The absence of the need to lay special cables through limited-access areas to organize high-speed data transmission provides a significant advantage of atmospheric communication systems over any wired communication systems. A methodology is presented for assessing the feasibility of using atmospheric optical communications at nuclear facilities, and based on long-term meteorological observations in the area where ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) is located, graphs of the availability of atmospheric communications are constructed. The high prospects of using atmospheric laser communication at nuclear and fusion facilities are shown.