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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.
R. Pampin, M. J. Loughlin, M. J. Walsh
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 56 | Number 2 | August 2009 | Pages 751-755
Nuclear Analysis | Eighteenth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Part 2) | doi.org/10.13182/FST56-751
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Systematic analysis of the radiation fields throughout the ITER core LIDAR diagnostic system were performed to support the design optimisation and assessment process, aiming at achieving the required performance in terms of reliability, occupational safety and interface with neighboring systems. Neutron, photon, nuclear heat and material activation responses were estimated for a variety of configurations, and improved using a combination of analytical "rules of thumb" and numerical computations with the ATTILATM and FISPACT codes. The neutron flux at the backplate of the port plug was significantly reduced (to ∼2x107 n/cm2-s) by fine-tuning the reference geometry of the laser labyrinth, and guidelines were provided for quick estimation of the effect of future design changes. The current design has adequate lifetime of essential optical components, in particular absorption in collection windows below ∼1%, and reduced dose to workers during maintenance according to the ALARA principle.
