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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.
Parvez Salim, Yassin A. Hassan
Nuclear Technology | Volume 90 | Number 3 | June 1990 | Pages 275-285
Technical Paper | RELAP/MOD2 / Nuclear Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT90-A34393
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A best-estimate small-break loss-of-coolant accident (SBLOCA) analysis of a four-loop pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant is conducted using the computer code RELAP5/MOD2. A plant-specific RELAP5 model is developed, and steady-state operating conditions are calculated. The steady-state model is then employed to obtain SBLOCA scenarios for different break sizes. Transients resulting from the different breaks are studied to determine the limiting break size and obtain comprehensive transient scenarios. The effect of the hydraulic diameter on the transient behavior, related to the steam generator U-tubes, is also observed. The relationship between the break size and the peak cladding temperature is obtained. The study indicates that as the break size increases, a smaller core inventory instigates heatup during core boil-off.
