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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.
Alan L. Nichols, Brian R. Bowsher
Nuclear Technology | Volume 81 | Number 2 | May 1988 | Pages 233-245
Technical Paper | Nuclear Aerosol Science / Nuclear Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT88-A34094
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Aerosols encountered in the nuclear industry require physical and chemical characterization to determine their transport properties and guarantee their cleanup and control. Such data are also necessary when assessing the consequences of hypothetical severe reactor accidents in which relatively high concentrations of aerosol could be generated containing fission product radionuclides. The concentrations of individual elements and chemical compounds within the airborne particles can be measured, and depth profiling has been used to study aerosol formation mechanisms. The various analytical techniques used to measure the chemical properties of nuclear-based aerosols are high-lighted. The merits and disadvantages of each method are discussed, and guidelines are provided for future developments.
