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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.
W. S. Yeung, J. Shirkov
Nuclear Technology | Volume 114 | Number 1 | April 1996 | Pages 141-145
Technical Note | Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow | doi.org/10.13182/NT96-A35230
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An analysis of an anomaly in the subcooled critical flow model in the RELAP5/MOD3 computer code is presented. Specifically, the code produces a discontinuity in going from unchoked subcooled liquid flow (i.e., subsonic flow) to subcooled choked flow (i.e., sonic flow). The same anomaly has been reported elsewhere. The root cause for this anomaly has been analyzed, and it is found that the user-supplied junction loss coefficient and discharge coefficient play an important role in the occurrence of this anomaly. The analysis is verified by assessment against a test problem simulating single-phase liquid flow through a convergent nozzle with a fixed upstream pressure and a varying downstream pressure. A corrective measure to eliminate the discontinuity is suggested.
