2017 | AFC ACCOMPLISHMENTS 18 Radiochemical Processing Laboratory - Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Fracture toughness testing capability is among the many post-irradiation testing and evaluation capabilities at the Radiochemical Processing Laboratory (RPL; Figure 1) at PNNL, which is a Hazard Category II Non-Reactor Nuclear Facility and is located on the Hanford site in the south central region of Washington State.The fracture toughness testing capability, Figure 1. Fracture toughness testing for irradiated materials is performed in MEC-2 hotcell at RPL (right) after radioactive specimens are received and prepared for testing in a sister hotcell MEC-1. This facility has been established for simplified and streamlined mechanical testing capabilities, including fracture, fatigue and tensile tests. which also needs fatigue cracking to introduce a sharp precrack to the test specimen, has been established on an Instron® 8801 servohydraulic testing system.This testing system is an omni-purpose mechanical testing machine and its frame is installed in the MEC-2 hotcell and equipped with a three-zone Mellen furnace operated in inert gas environment.