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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.
Masahito Matsubayashi, Hisao Kobayashi, Takashi Hibiki, Kaichiro Mishima
Nuclear Technology | Volume 132 | Number 2 | November 2000 | Pages 309-324
Technical Paper | Radioisotopes | doi.org/10.13182/NT00-A3146
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The JRR-3M thermal neutron radiography facility was constructed in the JRR-3M of the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute in 1991 and has been used as a research facility for various kinds of research fields. The characteristics of the facility have been briefly reported and declared to be excellent in neutron flux and in collimator ratio. Additionally, the authors have measured the beam flatness and the scattered components and have compared these measured characteristics with the design values. The neutron source, the beam tube, and the radiography rooms are described in detail and their data are applied to the analyses of the characteristics. The description of the radiography rooms includes beam size definition tubes and beam shutters, which are the most important components in the room. Also described are the restrictions on the size and shape of the sample, the background dose rates, and equipment information. The high-performance of the facility enables advanced imaging techniques such as high spatial resolution imaging and high temporal resolution imaging. The high-resolution static neutron radiography system using a cooled charge-coupled device camera has the capability to take neutron radiography images with 72 m of spatial resolution. The high frame rate neutron radiography system has the capability to image high-speed phenomena with 4500 frames/s of temporal resolution. Both neutron radiography systems are described in detail especially for key components such as fluorescent converters and cameras.