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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.
James J. Dahl, Shivi Singh, Marvin G. Zimmerman
Nuclear Technology | Volume 180 | Number 1 | October 2012 | Pages 1-17
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT12-A14515
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper investigates the potential impacts of the transition to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Order 420.1B requirements and the criteria promulgated by the new DOE-STD-1189 on the current practice for seismic design of structures, systems, and components (SSCs). Addressed in the review is the modification of the prescribed methodology provided in ANSI/ANS-2.6-2004 by the new DOE standard. The new ANSI/ANS standards provide criteria and guidance in selecting the seismic design category (SDC) and the limit state (LS) for the SSCs that are important to safety. An unmitigated consequence analysis considering the uncertainties in estimating failure and the safety consequences of the failure may be performed to determine the SDC and the LS, which then are used to establish the level of peak ground acceleration and design response spectra. The new DOE-STD-1189 modifies the prescribed methodology provided in ANSI/ANS-2.6-2004 for calculation of unmitigated radiological dose consequence. Unmitigated consequence analysis is a procedure that has been used by the DOE for the purpose of incorporating safety in the design and operation of its nuclear facilities and is also used in 10 CFR 70, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulation applicable to fuel cycle facilities, and the associated Standard Review Plan (NUREG-1520). This paper identifies the iterative DOE double-pronged approach to seismic design, and a simplified example demonstrates the unmitigated seismic hazard consequence analysis.
