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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.
Shih-Jen Wang, Shih-Hsiin Chang, Ling-Yao Chou
Nuclear Technology | Volume 113 | Number 3 | March 1996 | Pages 280-290
Technical Paper | Nuclear Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT96-A35208
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An anticipated transient without scram induced by main steam isolation valve closure (AMSIV) could subject a nuclear power plant to the most severe of accident conditions. The Chinshan plant analyzer contains a complete boiling water reactor system model and can be revised easily for the user’s purpose. These features make the Chinshan plant analyzer suitable for AMSIV analysis. The capability of the Chinshan plant analyzer to analyze an AMSIV is illustrated. An AMSIV is simulated, and the simulation results are similar to the results of other research. Furthermore, the AMSIV response of reducing reactor power by decreasing reactor coolant inventory is simulated, and the results of the simulation are similar to those of other research. During this transient, the reactor power is decreased. However, the margin to core uncovery is also decreased. In addition, a method of reducing the reactor power by increasing the feedwater temperature is studied. The mechanism of reducing the reactor power is associated with decreasing the inlet subcooling. Sensitivities of key parameters are also analyzed. A large negative void coefficient causes an undesirable large peak in the reactor power. A small recirculation pump moment of inertia decreases the reactor power.