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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.
J. M. McDonald et al.
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 47 | Number 3 | April 2005 | Pages 554-558
Technical Paper | Fusion Energy - First Wall, Blanket, and Shield | doi.org/10.13182/FST47-554
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The molten salt Flibe, a combination of lithium and beryllium fluorides studied for molten salt fission reactors, has been proposed as a breeder and coolant for fusion applications. The melting points of 2LiF-BeF2 and LiF-BeF2 are 460°C and 363°C, but LiF-BeF2 is rather viscous and has less lithium for breeding. In the Advanced Power Extraction (APEX) Program, concepts with a free flowing liquid for the first wall and blanket were investigated. Flinabe (a mixture of LiF, BeF2 and NaF) was selected for a molten salt design because a melting temperature below 350°C appeared possible and this provided an attractive operating temperature window for a reactor. To confirm that a ternary salt with a low melting temperature existed, several combinations of the fluoride salts, LiF, NaF and BeF2, were melted in a stainless steel crucible under vacuum. One had an apparent melting temperature of 305°C. The test system, preparation of the mixtures, melting procedures and temperature curves for the melting and cooling are presented along with the apparent melting points. Thermal modeling of the salt pool and crucible is reported in an accompanying paper.
