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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.
K. C. Chen, A. Q. Nguyen, H. Huang, S. A. Eddinger, A. Nikroo
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 55 | Number 4 | May 2009 | Pages 429-437
Technical Paper | Eighteenth Target Fabrication Specialists' Meeting | doi.org/10.13182/FST09-A7422
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A germanium-doped CH capsule is one of the capsule designs for the National Ignition Facility. Eight batches were made to evaluate yields and reproducibility for production. When larger batches (more than 20 capsules) were made, numerous nanometer-height domes, together with many nanometer-sized seeds and micrometer-sized beads, were observed on the capsule surface. These domes originate from abrasion-induced nanometer-sized seeds. Large batch sizes tend to slide as cohesive groups that enhance friction and abrasion. Limiting the batch size to 15 capsules prevented formation of nanometer-height domes. Roughly 80% of the capsules from 15 capsule batches meets the surface roughness specification, and 85% meets the isolated defect specification. The wall thickness and outer diameter yields, currently at 58% and 28 to 40%, respectively, are affected by variables that will be discussed. The average concentrations of the two Ge-doped layers are 0.77 and 0.50 at.%, with standard deviations of 0.15 at.%. The overall Ge-doping yield, with both layers within the most recent tolerance specification of ±0.2 at.%, is 20%. The best overall yields of 15 shell batches are currently 40 to 55%. The yield-limiting factors are wall-thickness accuracy and high mid-mode in outer surface power spectra.