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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.
J. H. Kim, B. T. Min, I. K. Park, S. W. Hong
Nuclear Technology | Volume 176 | Number 3 | December 2011 | Pages 372-386
Technical Paper | Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT11-A13314
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Three triggered steam explosion experiments were performed in the TROI facility with a two-dimensional interaction vessel of 0.6-m diameter. The melt compositions were pure zirconia (ZrO2), 70:30 (UO2:ZrO2 = 70:30 wt%) eutectic corium, and 50:50 noneutectic corium. All tests were performed in a 1.0-m-deep water pool under atmospheric pressure. The water temperature was maintained at room temperature. The melt mass released to the water pool was [approximately]10 kg for each test. The tests with pure zirconia and 70:30 corium resulted in triggered steam explosions, while the test with 50:50 corium did not. However, a weak trace of a steam spike was detected with 50:50 corium with a fairly long delay time ([approximately]0.1 s) after an external triggering. The explosion efficiency was estimated from the dynamic load and dynamic pressure. The explosion efficiency was calculated to be 0.1% for zirconia and 0.04% for 70:30 corium. The explosivity of corium material was found to be rather low, compared to the simulant material (alumina, [approximately]3%).
