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The division was organized to promote the advancement of knowledge of the use of particle accelerator technologies for nuclear and other applications. It focuses on production of neutrons and other particles, utilization of these particles for scientific or industrial purposes, such as the production or destruction of radionuclides significant to energy, medicine, defense or other endeavors, as well as imaging and diagnostics.
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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.
Sang-Hyun Park, Boyeol Choi, Jai-Ki Lee
Nuclear Technology | Volume 168 | Number 1 | October 2009 | Pages 158-163
Dose/Dose Rate | Special Issue on the 11th International Conference on Radiation Shielding and the 15th Topical Meeting of the Radiation Protection and Shielding Division (Part 1) / Radiation Protection | doi.org/10.13182/NT09-A9118
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The new computer code K-SKIN has been developed for use in skin dose assessment. The K-SKIN code calculates the dose distribution over the contaminated area using point kernels of monoenergetic electrons. These kernels are averaged over the beta spectra of contaminated radionuclides to obtain the dose distributions. Then, beta dose rates to the skin are calculated by numerical integration of point-kernel data over the contaminated area. Photon dose rates, if involved, are calculated using the specific gamma-ray constant for the radionuclides. Three predefined source types are arranged: point, disk, and cylinder. Backscattering correction, source self-shielding of a volume source, and reduction by the shielding material and air gap are considered during dose calculation. K-SKIN employs MATLAB as the coding tool and provides a graphical user interface. To verify K-SKIN, the dose rates from the point and disk source of several radionuclides over 1.0-cm2 area at 70 m skin depth were calculated and compared with results obtained from another point-kernel code VARSKIN 3 and the Monte Carlo simulation code MCNPX. The calculated results agreed within ±20%. The skin dose at various depths showed that the inclusion of energy-loss straggling in the point kernel improves the accuracy of the beta dose calculation at the deep region. The K-SKIN computer code will facilitate assessment of skin exposure at nuclear facilities.
