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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.
Charles Forsberg (MIT)
Proceedings | 2018 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2018) | Charlotte, NC, April 8-11, 2018 | Pages 972-980
The electricity market is changing with decreasing markets for base-load electricity. Changes in nuclear power plants are required to match changes in markets. Nuclear energy produces heat that is then converted to electricity. Heat storage is cheaper than electricity storage (batteries, pumped storage, etc.). There is the option to incorporate heat storage into the power plant design to enable variable electricity output to maximize revenue while operating the reactor at base load to minimize costs.
We examine options for heat storage coupled to reactors with sodium or salt in the secondary heat transfer loop. The three classes of storage technologies are described: bulk hot salt or sodium storage, sensible heat storage (steel or other solid), and latent heat storage with another material.
Heat storage can enable the power plant to operate as a battery or pumped hydro station. At times of low electricity prices there is the option to divert heat from the reactor to heat storage while operating the power turbine at minimum load. Keeping the turbine on line allows rapid return to full electricity output to meet demand during high prices. The low-value electricity from the plant and added low-value electricity from the grid can be used to electrically resistance heat the heat storage media. When electricity prices increase, heat from the reactor and storage goes to the turbine for peak electricity production to maximize revenue.
