Walton House Radioactive Laboratory

 

October 2003, the three main areas of testing/measurement that the Walton House Active Laboratory performs or supports are:

• Radiochemical testing

• Mechanical testing

• Thermal property measurement

In support of these areas, the laboratories have access to machining facilities to produce a range of test specimen geometries, see machining facilities for a list of capabilities.

 

The laboratory has three large volume negative pressure glove boxes.  Two of these boxes provide a controlled atmosphere (nitrogen, <10 ppm O2) for experiments with redox-sensitive radionuclides, with the third offering lead shielded machining and material handling capabilities.  There are also two fume cupboards that are used for handling of radioactive sources and sample preparation.

 

The radiological permit from the Environment Agency for the Walton House Active Laboratory allows the management and safe control of any radioactive work performed in the HTF and adjacent laboratories.

Other Facilities:

 

Through other Wood laboratories at the Birchwood Park site we also have access to: 

• Radiochemical analysis laboratories

  • α/β/y Spectroscopy

  • Liquid Scintillation Counting

  • ICP-MS

• Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)

• X-Ray Diffraction (XRD)

• Thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry (TG-DSC)

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Through collaborations with other companies and institutions, Wood also draws on cutting edge experimental techniques at universities, including Manchester and Imperial College as well as national facilities such as Diamond Light Source, the UK’s national synchrotron science facility.