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Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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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.
M. D. Mathew, S. latha, G. Sasikala, S. L. Mannan, P. Rodriguez
Nuclear Technology | Volume 81 | Number 1 | April 1988 | Pages 114-121
Technical Paper | Material | doi.org/10.13182/NT88-A34083
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The creep properties of three heats of nuclear-grade Type 316 stainless steel have been studied at temperatures of 823, 873, and 923 K. Creep tests have been carried out over a wide range of stresses that produced rupture times varying from a few days to ∼10yr. Log-log plots of stress versus rupture life were linear at 823 K, while a rapid decrease in stress to rupture was observed at longer lives at 923 K. A power law relationship indicative of dislocation creep was found between steady-state creep rate and applied stress. The variation of rupture ductility with rupture life at 823 K exhibited a minimum. At other temperatures, a peak in ductility was observed. Pronounced heat-to-heat variations have been observed in the creep-rupture properties at all the test conditions. The variations have been attributed to differences in the chemical composition and in the grain size of the material. A comparison of the results with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers design criteria for time-dependent deformation is also presented.
