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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.
Young S. Park, Xiaorui Zhao, Pawel Dworzanski, Zachary T. Gima, Richard B. Vilim
Nuclear Technology | Volume 191 | Number 3 | September 2015 | Pages 223-233
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT14-108
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A prototype virtual reality simulator for mechanical operations in a sodium-cooled fast reactor is described. Developing simulation capabilities for fuel-handling operations and component inspection are of particular emphasis. Building on the first prototype, the objective is to provide multimodal (visual and haptic) sensing functionality, improve component models, and implement select scenarios for demonstration. RoboticsLab, a robotics software development framework, enables the necessary integration and development for mechanical operations simulation, supporting the capabilities for the construction of the virtual reality environment, fast robot prototyping, dynamics simulation, and customized sensing. Special emphasis was given to the simulation of the fuel-handling system and under-sodium viewing operation, which is one of the bottlenecks in the sodium-cooled fast reactor technology roadmap. By providing computer-based visualization, the virtual reality simulator can facilitate better reactor operation training and more comprehensive understanding and development of new concepts in integral mechanical operations.
