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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.
J. A. Mowrey, S. I. Abdel-Khalik, K. W. Ross
Nuclear Technology | Volume 111 | Number 2 | August 1995 | Pages 283-302
Technical Paper | Nuclear Criticality Safety Special / Reactor Operation | doi.org/10.13182/NT95-A35138
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A RELAP5/MOD3.1 model of a boiling water reactor and an interface are developed as a real-time test platform for a physical feedwater control system and turbine governors. The reactor plant modeled is Browns Ferry unit 2. The model is used to test and tune the new digital reactor feedwater control system (RFWCS) for units 2 and 3. The set of modeled components, trips, and controls is determined based on the testing requirements for the RFWCS. The work is performed in two phases. In the first phase, the existing plant is modeled, including the previously existing analog feedwater control system and governor. The resulting RELAP5 model is benchmarked against existing plant data. Benchmarking results are presented along with data on initialization to steady state. Once the benchmarking effort is completed, the control systems in the model are altered to allow testing of the digital RFWCS in real time. An interface is developed to allow communications with the digital RFWCS and operator interaction, which allows the test platform to be used to determine control system response to various transients. Descriptions of the RELAP5 model and hardware and software for the interface are provided.
