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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.
W. L. Waldron et al.
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 56 | Number 1 | July 2009 | Pages 452-455
IFE Drivers and Chambers | Eighteenth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Part 1) | doi.org/10.13182/FST09-A8943
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Heavy Ion Fusion Science Virtual National Laboratory (HIFS-VNL) is currently developing design concepts for NDCX-II, the second phase of the Neutralized Drift Compression Experiment, which will use ion beams to explore Warm Dense Matter (WDM) and Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) target hydrodynamics. The ion induction accelerator will consist of a new short pulse injector and induction cells from the decommissioned Advanced Test Accelerator (ATA) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). To fit within an existing building and to meet the energy and temporal requirements of various target experiments, an aggressive beam compression and acceleration schedule is planned. WDM physics and ion-driven direct drive hydrodynamics will initially be explored with 30 nC of lithium ions in experiments involving ion deposition, ablation, acceleration and stability of planar targets. Other ion sources which may deliver higher charge per bunch will be explored. A test stand has been built at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) to test refurbished ATA induction cells and pulsed power hardware for voltage holding and ability to produce various compression and acceleration waveforms. Another test stand is being used to develop and characterize lithium-doped aluminosilicate ion sources. The first experiments will include heating metallic targets to 10,000 K and hydrodynamics studies with cryogenic hydrogen targets.