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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.
Matjaz Ravnik, Tomaz Zagar, Andreja Persic
Nuclear Technology | Volume 128 | Number 1 | October 1999 | Pages 35-45
Technical Paper | Fuel Cycle and Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT99-A3012
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Calculations of fuel element burnup for realistic mixed core conditions in a 250-kW TRIGA Mark II reactor are presented. Two types of fuel elements are considered: 70% enriched FLIP and 20% enriched standard fuel elements. Two calculation models are compared. The first is based on a one-dimensional two-group diffusion approximation (the TRIGAP computer code), and the second is based on a two-dimensional four-group diffusion equation (the TRIGLAV computer code). In both cases the unit-cell group constants are generated with the WIMS code. Results of the calculations are intercompared to evaluate the influence of the two-dimensional effects on fuel element burnup. The following two-dimensional effects are considered: mixed rings, in-core water gaps, vicinity of control rods, and asymmetric core loading patterns. Relative differences in fuel element burnup of 10% on average and up to 80% in extreme cases are observed because of the two-dimensional effects. The accuracy of the calculation is estimated also by comparing the calculated results to the measurements using the reactivity method.
