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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.
B. J. Haid, T. N. Malsbury, C. R. Gibson, C. T. Warren
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 55 | Number 3 | April 2009 | Pages 276-282
Technical Paper | Eighteenth Target Fabrication Specialists' Meeting | doi.org/10.13182/FST08-3451
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A single quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) is cooled to 18 K to measure condensation rates inside of a retractable shroud enclosure. The shroud is designed to minimize condensate on fusion targets to be fielded at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). The shroud has a double-walled construction with an inner wall that may be cooled to 75 to 100 K.The QCM and the shroud system were mounted in a vacuum chamber and cooled using a cryocooler. Condensation rates were measured at various vacuum levels and compositions and with the shroud open or closed. A technique for measuring total condensate during the cooldown of the system with an accuracy of >1 × 10-6 g/cm2 was also demonstrated. The technique involves a separate measurement of the condensate-free crystal frequency as a function of temperature that is compared to the measurement for the cooldown trend of interest. The shroud significantly reduces the condensation rates of all gases and effectively eliminates H2O condensation.
