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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.
Aamir Husain, Calvin E. Breckenridge, David Storey
Nuclear Technology | Volume 109 | Number 2 | February 1995 | Pages 265-274
Technical Paper | Reactor Operation | doi.org/10.13182/NT95-A35059
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An in situ pipe gamma spectrometry technique was applied to determine the activity within piping during various stages of CANDU reactor decontaminations. Measurements were performed in general radiation fields up to ∼500 mR/h and required both the detector and the pipe being scanned to be appropriately shielded from other neighboring piping. Measured counts were interpreted using a pipe source efficiency calibration with due regard to its distance dependence. Cobalt-60 was the dominant radionuclide on the piping before the decontamination. Deposition of I24Sb occurred on out-core piping surfaces during the decontamination. The spectrometry measurements were supplemented with contact radiation field measurements, which were performed using survey detectors housed within specially designed pipe shields. Radiation fields estimated from measured radionuclide activities were compared with the measured radiation fields. On average, the ratio of measured to estimated fields was ∼72%. Reasons for this discrepancy are discussed.