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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.
A. Ibrahim, D. L. Henderson, L. A. El-Guebaly, P. P. H. Wilson, M. E. Sawan, ARIES Team
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 56 | Number 2 | August 2009 | Pages 726-730
Nuclear Analysis | Eighteenth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Part 2) | doi.org/10.13182/FST09-A8994
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The effects of neutron streaming through the divertor He-access pipes of the ARIES compact stellarator fusion power plant on the shielding performance of its components were investigated in this analysis. A 3-D analysis for the most promising design of the He-access pipe with shielding plug and inserts indicated that neutron attenuation through the shielded pipe is not sufficient to eliminate the issue of neutron streaming. The results show that the damage exceeded the limits near the pipe for the manifold, vacuum vessel, and magnet. Precautions should be taken that include changing the pipe design and orientation, avoiding rewelding the manifold and vacuum vessel near the pipe, and/or relocating the magnet away from the pipe. The neutron flux behind the pipe is excessive, mandating additional local shield (∼1 m) to protect the externals.
