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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.
Leonard Myatt, D. E. Williamson, H. M. Fan
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 47 | Number 4 | May 2005 | Pages 916-920
Technical Paper | Fusion Energy - Fusion Materials | doi.org/10.13182/FST05-A805
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A detailed electromagnetic-structural ANSYS analysis of the NCSX Modular Coil (MC) system is presented. The simplified (linear) model is used to provide some insights into the essential behavior of the modular coil. In the actual device, the winding packs are Vacuum Pressure Impregnated (VPI'd) in-place and restrained by 50+ clamps per coil. In general, JxB Lorentz forces press the winding pack (WP) onto the structure which makes the linear (''glued'') approach justifiable. The benefit, of course, is relatively fast computer run-times and a modeling tool which is able to perform numerous design studies. However, there are regions where the electromagnetic (EM) forces point away from the structure and locally invalidate the glued approximation.The results of a variety of design studies are presented, such as the structural stiffness and worst case running loads at the poloidal breaks, non-ideal coil center displacements from thermal contractions and structural loads, smeared winding pack and winding form stresses, and the effects of supporting the convoluted MC ''wings'' with the neighboring shell. Critical results are illustrated with contour plots, and where possible, compared to the NCSX structural design criteria.