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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.
Bau-Shei Pei, Ge-Ping Yu, Guei-Ching Lin, Yin-Pang Ma
Nuclear Technology | Volume 90 | Number 1 | April 1990 | Pages 49-62
Technical Paper | Nuclear Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT90-A34385
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Due to the potential threat of reactor coolant system (RCS) overpressurization, loss-of-normal-feed-water (LONF) transients without reactor trip have received special attention in the analysis of pressurized water reactor (PWR) anticipated transients without trip (ATWT). The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission requires every PWR to be equipped with an ATWT mitigation system actuation circuitry (AMSAC) so that the turbine will be tripped and auxiliary feedwater (AFW) added when an LONF transient occurs. An AMSAC design proposed by Westinghouse Electric Corporation will be installed in both units of the Maanshan Nuclear Power Station (MNPS) to deal with ATWTs under LONF transient conditions. A best-estimate transient analysis performed with the RETRAN-02/MOD3 code is used to assess the safety function of the actuation circuitry designed for MNPS. Analytical results show that the peak RCS pressure will not exceed the 22.16-MPa safety limit if the moderator temperature coefficient is sufficiently negative and the actuation circuitry functions normally. Effects of the moderator temperature coefficient, the Doppler coefficient, pressurizer power-operated relief valves, effective time of the AFW system, the steam dump system, and the automatic control rod system are discussed.
