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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.
Bryan L. Broadhead, Jabo S. Tang, Robert L. Childs, Cecil V. Parks, Hiroaki Taniuchi
Nuclear Technology | Volume 117 | Number 2 | February 1997 | Pages 206-222
Technical Paper | Radioactive Waste Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT97-A35326
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The three-dimensional Monte Carlo code MORSE-SGC, as implemented in the SCALE system calcula-tional sequence SAS4, is applied to the analysis of a series of simple geometry benchmark experiments and prototypic spent-fuel storage cask measurements. The simple geometry experiments were performed in Japan and at the General Electric-Morris Operation facility; the cask measurements were performed at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. The quantification of uncertainties in a typical shielding analysis process for transport /storage casks can be accomplished by comparison of consistent trends between calculated and measured dose rate quantities in both benchmark and prototypic environments. Benchmark results typically measure the validity of cross-section data and computer code adequacy; prototypic environments, however, generally measure the overall validity of the calcula-tional procedure. A total of five storage cask problems and two simple geometry problems were analyzed to determine the expected accuracies of computational analyses using well-established source-generation and Monte Carlo codes. The general trends seen in this work are in agreement within 30% or better with the measurements for neutron dose rates along the cask side, lid, and bottom. The gamma-ray dose rates with substantial contributions from the top endfitting, plenum, and bottom end-fitting regions also are in good agreement. Based on the latest results, gamma-ray dose rate calculations with major contributions due to the active fuel region show a consistent factor of 1.6 overprediction of the measured quantities for casks with iron and concrete shields. Major uncertainties exist in the quantification of 59Co concentrations in endfitting hardware materials. The results presented support the accuracy of source generation methods and dose estimation methods in these regions given accurate impurity characterizations. Thus, it is felt that the practice of using upper bounds for 59Co initial concentrations should ensure conservative cask designs. Fortunately, the gamma-ray dose discrepancies seen along the sides of both the iron and concrete cask surfaces are overpredictions. The reason for overprediction is not fully known. Even though these overpredictions are not clearly understood, the trends observed, combined with some degree of code and data testing using these or similar benchmark measurements, should inspire confidence in the shielding results for a shipping/ storage package.