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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.
Kyoung O. Lee, Robin P. Gardner
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 174 | Number 3 | July 2013 | Pages 264-285
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE12-23
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Pebble motions in pebble-bed reactors (PBRs) have been investigated by generating pebble motion histories with Monte Carlo molecular dynamics simulations. This extension of molecular dynamics to PBR-sized pebble motion is accomplished by splitting the simulation into two parts. The first part simulates the dropping of pebbles into the PBR with a closed exit that allows one to obtain the correct initial placement of all pebbles within the pebble bed. The second part simulates what happens when the PBR exit is opened and normal pebble flow begins. Using this combined approach the pebble piling up and subsequent discharge are predicted. Simulations have been conducted with this approach by monitoring the mass flow rate, the pebble piling up, and the subsequent discharge for a range of pertinent parameters using the Hertz-Mindlin force for pebble interactions. The simulation output data include the force, velocity, and position of the pebbles as a function of time. Note that arching or locked flow, a very important phenomenon, is predicted by this approach under certain operating conditions. Using this approach, PBR results (including arching) for a range of the parameters of interest are reported and are discussed herein.