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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.
X. Cheng, N. I. Tak
Nuclear Technology | Volume 158 | Number 2 | May 2007 | Pages 229-236
Technical Paper | Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT158-229
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis is carried out for heat transfer of lead-bismuth eutectic flows in rod bundles. The effect of different parameters, such as turbulence models, on the numerical results is investigated. The effect of meshes on the heat transfer is much smaller when using the [curly epsilon]-type turbulence models than when using the -type turbulence models. Based on the results achieved, the Reynolds stress model of Speziale with fine-mesh structures, i.e., y1+ 15, is recommended for further CFD analysis of heavy liquid-metal (HLM) flows in rod bundles. A strong circumferential nonuniformity of heat transfer is observed in tight rod bundles, especially in square lattices. The secondary flow leads to a reduction in the nonuniformity of heat transfer. Related to the overall average Nusselt number, CFD codes give similar results for both triangular and square rod bundles when the Peclet number and the pitch-to-diameter ratio have the same values in both bundle configurations. Comparison of the CFD results with bundle test data in mercury clearly indicates that the turbulent Prandtl number for HLM flows in rod bundles is smaller than that in circular tubes. It has values close to 1.0 at high Peclet number conditions and increases by decreasing Peclet number.