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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.
H. Yashima, H. Iwase, M. Hagiwara, Y. Kirihara, S. Taniguchi, H. Yamakawa, K. Oishi, Y. Iwamoto, D. Satoh, Y. Nakane, H. Nakashima, T. Itoga, N. Nakao, T. Nakamura, A. Tamii, K. Hatanaka
Nuclear Technology | Volume 168 | Number 2 | November 2009 | Pages 298-303
Neutron Measurements | Special Issue on the 11th International Conference on Radiation Shielding and the 15th Topical Meeting of the Radiation Protection and Shielding Division (Part 2) / Radiation Protection | doi.org/10.13182/NT09-A9198
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A shielding benchmark experiment has been performed to obtain the experimental data of neutrons penetrated through iron and concrete shields by using 140-, 250-, and 350-MeV p-Li quasi-monoenergetic neutrons. The quasi-monoenergetic neutrons were emitted from a 1-cm-thick Li target bombarded with 140-, 250-, and 350-MeV protons. The neutrons emitted in the forward direction were extracted into the time-of-flight room through a collimator of 12- × 10-cm aperture embedded in a 150-cm-thick concrete wall. The concrete and iron shield blocks were set at the exit of the collimator. Neutron energy spectra behind the shields were measured by a multimoderator spectrometer (3He proportional counter covered with polyethylene moderator of various thicknesses). Neutron energy spectra behind concrete and iron shields with different thicknesses were obtained down to thermal energy. The experimental results were compared with calculation results by the Monte Carlo simulation code PHITS. These experimental results will be useful as benchmark data to investigate the accuracy of various transport calculation codes.