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This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
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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.
Luiz Rogério Araujo de Araujo, Aquilino Senra Martinez, Roberto Schirru, Renato Kahn
Nuclear Technology | Volume 82 | Number 3 | September 1988 | Pages 324-329
Technical Paper | Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow | doi.org/10.13182/NT88-A34133
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A computerized system that assists pressurized water reactor (PWR) nuclear plant operators in controlling the saturation margin is described. This system continuously calculates and provides the temperature or pressure margin from saturation, and indicates the temperature and pressure values used for its calculation. The reactor core heatup and cooldown rates are also continuously provided by this computer-based system. The saturation curve is represented by a polynomial approximation as a function of temperature or pressure. Twenty-one analog signals of a PWR power plant are acquired by the system for calculating the margin and temperature variation rates. The man/machine interface is done through the visualization panel, which displays the above-mentioned values. Compared to the temperature and pressure values displayed in the visualization panel, the error of margin is always <0.5%.
