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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. B. Cipiti, G. E. Rochau
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 47 | Number 3 | April 2005 | Pages 645-649
Technical Paper | Fusion Energy - Inertial Fusion Technology | doi.org/10.13182/FST05-A759
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Z-Pinch Power Plant (ZP3) uses the results from Sandia National Laboratories' Z accelerator in a power plant application to generate energy pulses using inertial confinement fusion. A collaborative project has been initiated by Sandia to investigate the scientific principles of a power generation system. Research is underway to investigate the use of recyclable transmission lines to directly connect the wire array and the hohlraum to the pulsed power driver. The resulting power plant will require an intense on-site manufacturing system to rebuild the transmission lines, wire arrays and hohlraums at a rate of 0.1 Hz per power unit. By recycling virtually all of the materials, the system is expected to be economically competitive with other power generation technologies. Current research is investigating the available approaches to manufacturing and determining the cost effectiveness of the alternatives. This paper examines the various options available for manufacturing and development requirements leading to a Proof-of-Principle experiment to demonstrate the technology.
