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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.
Shin-ya Chiba et al.
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 47 | Number 3 | April 2005 | Pages 569-573
Technical Paper | Fusion Energy - First Wall, Blanket, and Shield | doi.org/10.13182/FST05-A746
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The experimental research on heat-transfer enhancement for such high Prandtl-number fluid as Flibe has been performed with a large molten salt circulating experimental loop named as "TNT loop" (Tohoku-NIFS Thermofluid loop). Through the experiments, a packed-bed tube is employed as the enhancer for molten salt. It is clarified that the enhancement of packed-bed tube is superior to that of turbulent heat transfer from the viewpoint of the same flow rate. Also, the 1/4-diameter bed is superior to the 1/2-diameter one at the same flow rate. Furthermore, at low flow rate, a little differences of heat transfer performance can be seen between the stainless-steel bed and copper bed. At high flow rate, however, the heat-transfer coefficient ratio strongly depends on the flow rate in the case of the 1/4-diameter copper bed only. As a result, it is considered that the thermal energy is expanded from a heated wall deeply and fast through packed bed at low flow rate. On the contrary, it is also considered that the convective heat transfer in the vicinity of a heated wall is strong at high flow rate. The evaluation from the viewpoint of the pressure drop shows that the turbulent heat transfer is superior to that with packed bed. However, the ratio of heat transfer with bed to turbulent one is steeply improved at low flow rate. Taking account of MHD effect, avoidance of erosion and electrolysis of Flibe, the enhancement under low flow-rate condition can be suitable in a fusion reactor.