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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.
Hans-Peter Hermansson, Göran Persson, Anneli Reinvall
Nuclear Technology | Volume 108 | Number 1 | October 1994 | Pages 100-111
Technical Paper | Material | doi.org/10.13182/NT94-A35046
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A series of studies on precoat filtration were carried out on condensate and preheater drains in the Swedish and Finnish boiling water reactors (BWRs). The goal was to increase knowledge about the precoat filtration process and to find physical and chemical means to improve the performance of the precoat filters in the condensate polishing plants. To achieve this goal a number of parameters, such as type of resin, bed depth, pH, oxygen and organic contaminant concentrations (measured total organic carbon), and corrosion product particle characteristics, were selected for the study. The work was mainly carried out in the power plants using an experimental facility fed with on-line sampled condensates and drains taken from the plant sampling lines. The main results are that there is a varying influence on precoat filtration from all the aforementioned parameters. The oxygen concentration, the concentration of organic contaminants, and the type of corrosion products are, however, the factors that have the strongest influence within the parameter ranges that are representative for BWR operation. The results are rather similar when the different units are compared. There are, however, some differences that could be mainly attributed to deviations in operation parameters and the subsequent differences in the corrosion product spectra. The mechanism for precoat filtration of corrosion products in BWR condensate is complex. The filtration behavior is to a large extent governed by competition between depth filtration and electrostatic interactions. During the early stages of the filtration cycle, electrostatic interaction is of great importance, whereas depth filtration becomes more important with increasing operating time. Rapid pressure drop buildup rates have been demonstrated to be caused by the presence of amorphous corrosion products. An effect from the presence of organic contaminants has been found although in practical operation this should be of little significance.