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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.
S. Sunder
Nuclear Technology | Volume 144 | Number 2 | November 2003 | Pages 259-273
Technical Paper | Materials for Nuclear Systems | doi.org/10.13182/NT03-A3443
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The relationship between molybdenum oxidation state and iodine volatility in nuclear fuel was investigated using high-temperature Knudsen cell-mass spectroscopy. It was observed that the ratio of the intensities of molecular iodine ions I2+ and CsI+ in the Knudsen cell-mass spectroscopic experiments can be used to investigate the iodine volatility in fuel under different conditions. The experiments show that the iodine volatility is similar in systems consisting of CsI alone, CsI/UO2, and CsI/UO2/MoOx (with molybdenum in oxidation states 0, 2, and 4). The iodine volatility is much higher, however, in CsI/UO2/MoO3 systems (with molybdenum in oxidation state = 6). The iodine volatility in the fuel increases significantly if oxidation of the molybdenum goes to the MoO3 stage. The increase in the iodine volatility is caused by the formation of elemental iodine from cesium iodide. It is concluded from these measurements that the oxidation of the fuel to the UO2.2 will substantially increase the volatilization of fission product iodine. An analysis of the literature data suggests that the enhanced iodine volatilization process may be initiated when the fuel is oxidized to UO2.02.
