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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.
Gordon M. Lodde, Thomas D. Murphy
Nuclear Technology | Volume 87 | Number 2 | October 1989 | Pages 490-497
Technical Paper | TMI-2: Health Physics and Environmental Release / Nuclear Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT89-A27742
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Commercial nuclear facilities accumulate radiological and environmental controls program data and documents pursuant to company policy, regulatory, license, and technical specifications requirements. During and following the Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) accident, many documents were generated that would not normally have been produced. To handle this increase in document volume, GPU Nuclear Corporation (GPU) designed and implemented an effective and efficient records management program at TMI-2. This records management program has proven invaluable, as GPU experienced litigation following the TMI-2 accident, including class actions alleging economic dislocation losses and radiation injury. The carefully planned and systematic generation of the proper radiological and environmental documentation and data in the regular course of business facilitates the admission of such records and data into evidence in radiation injury litigation. The status of postaccident litigation, the magnitude of document production, radiological and environmental controls records in litigation, radiological and environmental controls documentation, and lessons learned from previous radiation injury litigation cases are described.