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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.
David J. Diamond, Dragan Mirkovic, Chia-Jung Hsu, Robert Fitzpatrick
Nuclear Technology | Volume 93 | Number 2 | February 1991 | Pages 158-165
Technical Paper | Nuclear Reactor Safet | doi.org/10.13182/NT91-A34502
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Beyond-design-basis overpressurization events in a boiling water reactor are studied to determine if they can lead to catastrophic fuel damage, i.e., fuel fragmentation and the rapid disruption of coolable geometry. This is part of a broader study for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to question the adequacy of the events previously selected as the design basis, and to determine if any sequences need more analysis in the context of severe accident research. The RELAP5/MOD2 calculations with failures of the reactor trip and recirculation pump trip, as well as safety and relief valve failures, show that no catastrophic fuel damage is expected. This, in combination with the low frequency of occurrence that can be inferred from the literature, results in a recommendation that no further consideration be given to these events at this time.