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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.
James P. Adams, Martin B. Sattison
Nuclear Technology | Volume 90 | Number 2 | May 1990 | Pages 168-185
Technical Paper | Nuclear Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT90-A34412
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The results of a study into the frequency of steam generator tube rupture (SGTR) events are presented, including estimates on the upper and lower bound frequencies for U-tube and once-through steam generator plants and single- and multiple-tube ruptures. In addition, commercial pressurized water reactor operational data have been researched and iodine spiking data used to develop data bases of maximum resultant iodine concentrations and release rates. The frequencies and iodine spiking magnitudes are compared with other studies, and conclusions are drawn regarding current guidelines for analysis of this design-basis transient. The frequency of SGTR events, based on past occurrences, is high enough to warrant continued inclusion of this transient as a design-basis accident. An analysis of historical iodine spikes indicates that the current guidelines are overly conservative regarding the magnitude of iodine released to the reactor coolant system and could be relaxed while maintaining adequate protection for the public.
