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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.
Jan-Ru Tang, Lainsu Kao, Der-Yeong Shiau, Lin-Yao Chou, Ching-Chuan Yao, Show-Chyuan Chiang
Nuclear Technology | Volume 121 | Number 3 | March 1998 | Pages 324-336
Technical Paper | RETRAN | doi.org/10.13182/NT98-A2844
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The RETRAN analyses of three areas of thermal-hydraulic concerns are presented. The first evaluated whether a 360-deg through-wall crack could be detected based on system response with leakage through the crack. The second analysis was to identify the hydraulic load on the shroud and possible consequences early in the main steam-line break. The last was the evaluation of the thermal limit (CPR) of limiting transients with leakage. Some of the analyses were used for justification of continued operation of the current cycle, and some will be useful in the evaluation of the repair design.
