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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.
Anna-Elina Pasi, Mark R. St.-J. Foreman, Christian Ekberg
Nuclear Technology | Volume 208 | Number 11 | November 2022 | Pages 1734-1744
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2022.2061258
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The interactions between tellurium and organic material during a nuclear reactor accident are critical to source term estimations because of the possible formation of volatile species. Reactions taking place in the containment sump are of interest since these can lead to re-volatilization and increase the fission product source term. This paper presents results from experiments investigating the interaction of tellurium dioxide with three paint solvents—texanol ester, methyl isobutyl ketone, and toluene—under containment sump conditions. The experiments were performed by irradiating a mixed solution of tellurium dioxide and paint solvents at a dose rate of 4 kGy/h up to 300 kGy. The resulting samples were analyzed for tellurium concentration and speciation. Tellurium(IV) was found to reduce to metallic tellurium under irradiation when paint solvents were present. More importantly, several volatile organic tellurides were identified in the irradiated samples, which suggests that tellurium can form volatile species in sump conditions when in contact with dissolved paint solvents. This paper provides novel evidence of organic telluride formation in the sump and raises further interest in tellurium chemistry during a severe nuclear reactor accident.