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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.
Akihiko Inoue
Nuclear Technology | Volume 90 | Number 2 | May 1990 | Pages 186-190
Technical Paper | Nuclear Fuel | doi.org/10.13182/NT90-A34413
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A method for reprocessing uranium and plutonium mixed-oxide fuel, including uranium dioxide fuel, is presented. The method is based on the oxidation process of the fuel and the dissolution of pulverized fuels (U3O8 and PuO2) in nitric acid. To dissolve Pu02, a uranous nitrate solution prepared from uranyl nitrate by electrolytic reduction is utilized. This reprocessing method has an economic advantage over the conventional Purex process because it does not use an expensive solvent extraction process to separate uranium, plutonium, and fission products. The cost of the process is estimated to be 80% that of the Purex process, and the cost of refabrication does not change greatly because remote operation is not needed. This process also has an advantage over the Purex process from the viewpoint of the diversion resistance of nuclear material because pure plutonium cannot be recovered in the process.
