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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.
P. Chellapandi, S. C. Chetal, Baldev Raj
Nuclear Technology | Volume 172 | Number 1 | October 2010 | Pages 16-28
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT10-A10879
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A core disruptive accident, considered a beyond-design-basis accident, for the 500-MW(electric) capacity Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) is analyzed using the FUSTIN in-house computer code. In order to have a good understanding of the complicated loading mechanisms and sequences, the analysis studies the effects of introducing internals in the main vessel. Further, the structural integrity of heat exchangers - which are important for decay heat removal during postaccident conditions - was demonstrated with tests that were conducted on a 1/13th scaled-down mock-up; a suitable low-density explosive was developed and characterized to simulate nuclear energy release characteristics. The tests have indicated relatively smaller displacements and strains in the vessel, compared to numerical predictions, and the structural integrity of the decay heat exchangers including tubes was demonstrated. Thus, the reactor assembly components meet the safety criteria specified for PFBR with comfortable margins for the specified mechanical energy release of 100 MJ.
