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The High Temperature Test Laboratory (HTTL), is located at the Energy Innovation Laboratory (EIL) in Idaho Falls and is a unique facility for developing, fabricating, and performing laboratory demonstrations of proposed new in-core instrumentation. In the post-Fukushima era, the nuclear industry and safety regulator have being developed new material and accident tolerant fuel to prevent accidents such as Fukushima nuclear power plant accidents from happening again. In order for the investigation of behaviors and character-istics of advanced fuels and materials, the advanced in-reactor instrumentation is required to have versatile capabilities of high fidelity, high resolution, real-time response and proven resist-ance to challenging reactor environments (high temp-erature, high pressure and radiation effect).  HTTL’s unique capabilities meet the national needs and missions for development of advanced sensor and instrumentation. The HTTL is looking ahead for seismic system, structure health monitoring and early fault detection of the reactor structure, system and component beyond fuels and sensors. In recent years, the HTTL staff has attracted funding for high temperature material property testing and for in-pile instrumentation development and testing from a host of nuclear and non-nuclear programs. 

Research Programs and Sponsors for HTTL

-Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) and Rapid Turn Around Experiments
-Laboratory Directed Res-earch and Developments (LDRD)
-Nuclear Energy Enabling Technologies Advanced Sensors and Instrumentation
-NEET In-pile instrumentation Initiative
-Accident Tolerant Fuels (ATF) irradiation 2 (ATR) and 3 (TREAT)
-TREAT Instrumentation Development program
-DOE Technology Commercialization Fund (2)
-Small Business Innovative Research partnership with Radiation Detector Technologies
-Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactor program (AGR 5/6/7)
-Various University led collaborations and NEUP programs, TREAT Integrated Research Projects

HTTL Core Capabilities

Specialized equipment for instrumentation fabrication and evaluation at the HTTL to support R&D programs and projects includes high temperature furnaces (tube and vacuum), autoclaves, specialty laser welder, real-time x-ray imaging system, 3-D computed tomography system, laser flash thermal property analyzer, and differential scanning Calorimetry (DCS) system.

High Temperature Furnaces
-High temperature tube furnaces capable of heating up to 1500°C
-High temperature vacuum furnace capable of heating up to 1800 °C

Helium Leak Detector
-Determine the leak rate of specially developed in-core instrumentation
-Test the leak tightness of vacuum systems and pressure systems with sniffer mode (pressurized) and spray mode (evacuated)
-Minimum detectable leak rate: 5x10-12 Pa m3/sec

Specialty Welding Devices
-Laser welding of thermoscouples, splice sleeves, heaters, ultrasonic thermos-meters, fission chambers and other specialized components.
-Class 1 Nd-YAG laser: 1064 nm wavelength, 50 Watt average, 10 kW peak pulse power (6000 Laser-Star), Class 1 -CW fiber laser: 1070 nm wavelength, 150 Watt average, 1.5 kW peak pulse power (7600 Fiber-Star).

3D Computed Tomography System
-Non-destructive examination of specialized and complex components thru 225 kV microfocus 3D X-ray inspection.
-Rotating throughports for long components and internal stage for smaller components up to 0.5 in (13mm) diameter.

Calorimetry
-Measure specific heat capacity and melting point data for various materials
-Temperature Ranges: 25°C to 1500°C (77°F to 2732°F)
-Heating rate: 0.1°C/min to 20°C/min (32°F/min to 68°F/min)
-Vacuum: 0.01 Pa

Autoclaves
-High temperature and high pressure evaluations of advanced instrument concepts, test assemblies, reactor components, materials, coatings, etc.
-Simulate Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) prototypic pressures, temperatures, and water chemistry
-Experiments monitored using instrumentation, such as Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS), Linear -Variable Differential Transformers (LVDTs), and other instrumentation.
-Maximum Allowable Working Pressure (MAWP): 22.75 MPa (3300 psi) at 454°C (850°F) with 19.31 MPa (2800 psi) relief pressure.

 

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