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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.
V. Abella, R. Miró, B. Juste, G. Verdú
Nuclear Technology | Volume 175 | Number 1 | July 2011 | Pages 53-57
Technical Paper | Special Issue on the 16th Biennial Topical Meeting of the Radiation Protection and Shielding Division / Radiation Transport and Protection | doi.org/10.13182/NT11-A12269
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This work is focused on coupling PLanUNC (PLUNC), a set of software tools for radiotherapy treatment planning (RTP), with MCNP5 Monte Carlo N-Particle transport code, utilizing the RANDO phantom as the patient model and the Elekta Precise linac as the irradiation source for comparison. Thus, the main goal of this paper is to compare the results obtained from the default calculations of the treatment plan software with those obtained via the implementation of MCNP5 calculations. Monte Carlo techniques have been proved to be a more accurate dose calculation aid than conventional treatment planning systems, having the only limitation of computer time. The implementation of MCNP5 calculations in a commercial RTP software aims to provide more accurate dose mapping of the patient in reasonable computer times. The results obtained in this paper represent a significant contribution in the development of RTP patient dose simulations.
