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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.
Hermann Würz
Nuclear Technology | Volume 95 | Number 2 | August 1991 | Pages 193-206
Technical Paper | Nuclear Fuel Cycle | doi.org/10.13182/NT91-A34556
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A method for nondestructive assay of spent light water reactor fuel assemblies based on a combination of active and passive neutron counting is presented. After geometrical optimization, the Fuel Assembly Monitoring System (FAMOS) is a rather simple system. It allows the burnup, initial enrichment, type of fuel (uranium or mixed oxide), and criticality of the spent-fuel assembly to be determined. The results of a characterization program with emphasis on boiling water reactor (BWR) fuel assemblies are discussed. Burnup-dependent neutron emission data for spent BWR fuel are now available. The effect of steam void on plutonium and curium buildup is demonstrated. Because of this effect, the axial measurement position is of importance for an accurate assay. If the measurement is done at the upper part of the BWR fuel assembly, the error in burnup remains below ±2 GWd/tonne U, and the initial enrichment can be determined with an accuracy of ±15%. This still allows a clear distinction between the different enrichment regions used for BWR fuel assemblies.
