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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.
Fariborz Taghipour, Greg J. Evans
Nuclear Technology | Volume 134 | Number 2 | May 2001 | Pages 208-220
Technical Paper | Radioisotopes | doi.org/10.13182/NT01-A3196
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The impact of organic compounds on iodine volatility was investigated under a range of postaccident chemical conditions expected in a reactor containment structure. The rate of production of volatile iodine was evaluated in the presence of 10-3 M concentrations of carbonyl, alkyl halide, and aromatic compounds. A bench-scale apparatus, installed in the irradiation chamber of a Gammacell, was used to measure the rate of iodine volatilization from 10-6 to 10-4 M CsI solutions with pH values from 5 to 9. The results indicated that organic compounds could be classified into groups, based on their distinct effects on iodine volatility. Iodine volatilization increased significantly, up to two orders of magnitude, in the presence of carbonyl compounds and alkyl chlorides, while it decreased in the presence of aromatic compounds. Gas phase speciation indicated that organic iodides dominate the airborne iodine species in the presence of carbonyl compounds and alkyl halides.