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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.
Luis Alva, Xinyu Huang (Univ of South Carolina), George Jacobsen (General Atomics)
Proceedings | 2018 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2018) | Charlotte, NC, April 8-11, 2018 | Pages 598-604
The nuclear fuel cladding undergoes severe thermal shock during reflooding of the nuclear core after a loss of coolant accident (LOCA). The purpose of this work is to evaluate the resistance of SiCf-SiCm composite cladding to such thermal shock events. In order to achieve this goal, a nuclear grade SiCf-SiCm composite tube, manufactured by General Atomics (GA), was quenched from an outer surface temperature of 1000 ºC into room temperature (RT) water and hot water. The composite tube was heated by a tungsten rod placed inside the tubular sample to simulate the fuel pellet. The tungsten rod was heated to a centerline temperature of 1400 ºC by an induction coil. To monitor the progressive damage of the SiCf-SiCm composite tube, the acoustic emission (AE) technique is used to acquire the acoustic signals during the test. The samples quenched into RT water showed visible cracks while the sample quenched in hot water did not. Some of the AE signals are related to cracks in the material during quenching. After quenching, the burst strength of the SiCf-SiCm composite tube is measured using a bladder technique. Results show that the SiCf-SiCm composite tube retains more than 88% of its strength after quenching.