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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.
Richard D. Peters, Urban P. Jenquin, Langdon K. Holton, Jr.
Nuclear Technology | Volume 90 | Number 1 | April 1990 | Pages 78-86
Technical Paper | Radioactive Waste Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT90-A34387
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Measurement and prediction of outside surface exposure rates and measurement of gamma photon spectra from radioactive sources are described. The sources were 30-cm-diam canisters filled with borosilicate glass to a height of ∼100 cm. Each canister contained up to 237 kCi of 137 Cs and 159 kCi of 90Sr. Exposure rates on the outside surfaces ranged from 26 000 to 320 000 R/h, chiefly from decay of 137 Cs. The radiation field around the canisters was modeled using two codes based on point kernel theory (ISOSHLD-II and QAD-CG) and a transport theory code (ANISN). It was found that the point kernel codes overpredicted surface exposure rates for the radioactive canisters by a factor of ∼2. The surface exposure rates calculated by the transport theory code were ∼25% higher than the measurements. Spectral measurements indicate that most exposure is associated with gamma radiation in the 0.1- to 0.5-MeV range.
