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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.
K. H. Lillibridge, S. M. Ghiaasiaan, S. I. Abdel-Khalik
Nuclear Technology | Volume 105 | Number 1 | January 1994 | Pages 123-134
Technical Paper | Special on Nuclear Criticality Safety / Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow | doi.org/10.13182/NT94-A34915
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Countercurrent two-phase flow in horizontal and inclined channels, connecting a sealed liquid-filled reservoir to the atmosphere, is experimentally studied. This type of gravity-driven countercurrent two-phase flow can occur during the operation of passive safety coolant injection systems of advanced reactors. It can also occur in the pressurizer surge line of pressurized water reactors during severe accidents when the hot leg becomes voided. Four distinct flow regimes are identified: (a) stratified countercurrent, which mainly occurs when the channel is horizontal; (b) intermittent stratified-slug; (c) oscillating, which occurs when the angle of inclination is ≥30 deg; and (d) annular countercurrent. The characteristics of each regime and their sensitivity to important geometric parameters are examined. The superficial velocities in the stratified countercurrent and oscillating regimes are empirically correlated.