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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.
K. Stamoulis, K. Ioannides, P. Kassomenos, A. Vlachogianni
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 48 | Number 1 | July-August 2005 | Pages 512-515
Technical Paper | Tritium Science and Technology - Containment, Safety, and Environment | doi.org/10.13182/FST05-A978
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Tritium is an isotope of hydrogen, produced in the upper level of the atmosphere. It enters the water cycle after its oxidation and through the precipitation. The measurement of tritium concentration in rainwater is of great importance because it can be used for hydrology investigations such as the recharge mode or the vulnerability of aquifers.For this purpose, rainwater samples were collected for a period of 16 months from October 2002 to January 2004 from a sampling station at Ioannina, northwestern Greece. Each sample was filtered and measured without any further treatment for tritium activity, using a super low-level background, liquid scintillation analyzer. Five mL of the sample were mixed with 15 mL of scintillation cocktail, specially designed for low-level tritium measurements and its beta activity was measured for 500 min.Results show that during the sampling period, the tritium concentration varied up to two fold, increasing during the spring and summer months. The measured tritium concentrations in rainwater, which ranged from 9 ± 4 to 23 ± 5 TU, can be used for local hydrology studies.
