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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.
Luis Hernandez-Adame, Hector Contreras-Sandoval, Hector Rene Vega-Carrillo, Leonel Humberto Perez Landeros
Nuclear Technology | Volume 175 | Number 1 | July 2011 | Pages 105-112
Technical Paper | Special Issue on the 16th Biennial Topical Meeting of the Radiation Protection and Shielding Division / Accelerators | doi.org/10.13182/NT11-A12277
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This work studies the design of the treatment room for an 18-MV linac to ensure radiation protection and safety of hospital staff and patients. The walls' thickness, the door, and the maze were designed according to the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements Report 151 recommendations. The results of this work are contrasted with the Monte Carlo calculations performed with the MCNP5 code where dose equivalents due to neutrons and neutron spectra estimated at different points inside and outside the radiotherapy room verify that the shielding thicknesses obtained are enough to reduce the dose level permitted by Mexican regulation.
