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Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Futakawa, Masatoshi; Haga, Katsuhiro; Tsuzuki, Takayuki*; Murai, Tetsuro*
JAEA-Technology 2022-023, 128 Pages, 2022/11
JAEA-Technology-2022-023.pdf:9.0MB
In a mercury target of the J-PARC (Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex), pulsed proton beams repeatedly bombard the flowing mercury which is confined in a stainless-steel vessel (target vessel). Cavitation damage caused by the propagation of the pressure waves is a factor of the life of the target vessel. As a measure to reduce damages, we developed a bubbler to inject the gas microbubbles into the flowing mercury, which can reduce the pressure waves. To operate the mercury target vessel stably with the 1 MW high-intensity proton beams, further reduction of the damage is required. The bubbler setting position should be closer to the beam window to increase the bubble population, which could enhance the reduction effect on the pressure waves and damage. However, the space at the beam window of the target vessel is restricted. The bubbler design and setting position as well as the vane design for the mercury flowing pattern are optimized by means of a machine learning technique to get more suitable bubble distribution, increasing in bubble population and optimizing bubble size nearby the beam window of the target vessel. The results of CFD analyses performed with 1000 cases were used for machine learning. Since the flow rate of mercury affects the temperature of the target vessel, this was used for the constraint condition. As a result, we found a design of mercury target vessel that can increase the bubble population by ca. 20% higher than the current design.
Naoe, Takashi; Kinoshita, Hidetaka; Wakui, Takashi; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Haga, Katsuhiro
JAEA-Technology 2022-018, 43 Pages, 2022/08
JAEA-Technology-2022-018.pdf:7.84MB
In the liquid mercury target system for the pulsed spallation neutron source of Materials and Life science experimental Facility (MLF) at the Japan in the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC), cavitation that is generated by the high-energy proton beam-induced pressure waves, resulting severe erosion damage on the interior surface of the mercury target vessel. The erosion damage is increased with increasing the proton beam power, and has the possibility to cause the leakage of mercury by the penetrated damage and/or the fatigue failure originated from erosion pits during operation. To achieve the long term stable operation under high-power proton beam, the mitigation technologies for cavitation erosion consisting of surface modification on the vessel interior surface, helium gas microbubble injection, double-walled beam window structure has been applied. The damage on interior surface of the vessel is never observed during the beam operation. Therefore, after the target operation term ends, we have cut out specimen from the target nose of the target vessel to inspect damaged surface in detail for verification of the cavitation damage mitigation technologies and lifetime estimation. We have developed the techniques of specimen cutting out by remote handling under high-radiation environment. Cutting method was gradually updated based on experience in actual cutting for the used target vessel. In this report, techniques of specimen cutting out for the beam entrance portion of the target vessel in high-radiation environment and overview of the results of specimen cutting from actual target vessels are described.
Haga, Katsuhiro; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Naoe, Takashi; Wakui, Takashi; Wakai, Eiichi; Futakawa, Masatoshi
Proceedings of 19th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics (NURETH-19) (Internet), 13 Pages, 2022/03
The cross-flow type target was developed as the basic design of mercury target in J-PARC, and the design has been improved to realize the MW-class pulsed spallation neutron source. When the high-power and short-pulsed proton beam is injected into the mercury target, pressure waves are generated in mercury by rapid heat generation. The pressure waves induce the cavitation damages on the target vessel. Two countermeasures were adopted, namely, the injection of microbubbles into mercury and the double walled structure at the beam window. The bubble generator was installed in the target vessel to absorb the volume inflation of mercury and mitigate the pressure waves. Also, the double walled target vessel was designed to suppress the cavitation damage by the large velocity gradient of rapid mercury flow in the narrow channel of double wall. Finally, we could attain 1 MW beam operation with the duration time of 36.5 hours in 2020, and achieved the long term stable operation with 740 kW from April in 2021. This report shows the technical development of the high-power mercury target vessel in view of thermal hydraulics to attain 1 MW operation.
Haga, Katsuhiro
Kasokuki, 18(4), p.210 - 216, 2022/01
The pulsed spallation neutron source driven by a high-power accelerator is one of the most powerful apparatus to provide high intensity and high quality neutrons with narrow pulse width for conducting cutting-edge researches in several domains of materials and life science. In this system, proton beams of several kW to MW order extracted from the high power accelerator is injected into a target, which is heavy metal, to generate vast amount of neutrons via the spallation reactions with the target nuclei, and slows down these neutrons to thermal to cold neutrons with a moderator and a reflector. Resultant neutron beams are then supplied to a suit of the state-of-the-art experimental devices. In this paper, mechanism to produce neutron beams and outline of the spallation neutron source, engineering design of a target system such as a mercury target, and technical topics to solve the pitting damage problem of the target vessel which is caused by the pressure wave of up to 40MPa at maximum generated in the mercury by the pulsed proton beam injection are reviewed by referring mainly to the mercury target system of the pulsed spallation neutron source at J-PARC.
Kasugai, Yoshimi; Sato, Koichi; Takahashi, Kazutoshi*; Miyamoto, Yukihiro; Kai, Tetsuya; Harada, Masahide; Haga, Katsuhiro; Takada, Hiroshi
JPS Conference Proceedings (Internet), 33, p.011144_1 - 011144_6, 2021/03
A spallation neutron source with a mercury target has been in operation at the Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility of J-PARC since 2008. The target vessel made of stainless steel is required to be exchanged periodically due to radiation damage etc. In this presentation, tritium gas release observed in the first series of exchange work in 2011 and the analytical results will be shown.
Sakai, Kenji; Oi, Motoki; Haga, Katsuhiro; Kai, Tetsuya; Nakatani, Takeshi; Kobayashi, Yasuo*; Watanabe, Akihiko*
JPS Conference Proceedings (Internet), 33, p.011151_1 - 011151_6, 2021/03
For safely and efficiently operating a spallation neutron source and a muon target, a general control system (GCS) operates within Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility (MLF), GCS administers operation processes and interlocks of many instruments for various operation statuses. It consists of several subsystems such as an integral control system (ICS), interlock systems (ILS), shared servers, network system, and timing distribution system (TDS). Although GCS is an independent system that controls the target stations, it works closely with the control systems of other facilities in J-PARC. Since the first beam injection in 2008, GCS has operated stably without any serious troubles after modification based on commissioning for operation and control. Then, significant improvements in GCS such as upgrade of ICS by changing its framework software and function enhancement of ILS were proceeded until 2015, in considering sustainable long-term operation and maintenance. In recent years, many instruments in GCS have replaced due to end of production and support of them. In this way, many modifications have been proceeded in the entire GCS after start of beam operation. Under these situation, it is important to comprehend upgrade history and present status of GCS in order to decide its upgrade plan for the coming ten years. This report will mention upgrade history, present status and future agenda of GCS.
Harada, Masahide; Sekijima, Mitsuaki*; Morikawa, Noriyuki*; Masuda, Shiho; Kinoshita, Hidetaka; Sakai, Kenji; Kai, Tetsuya; Kasugai, Yoshimi; Muto, Giichi*; Suzuki, Akio*; et al.
JPS Conference Proceedings (Internet), 33, p.011099_1 - 011099_6, 2021/03
In MLF at J-PARC, a unified mercury radioactivity monitor (UHAM) is installed to find an indication of failure of the mercury target and loop system by detecting radioactive materials leaked from the system with a 
-ray energy analysis with Germanium semi-conductor detectors (Ge detectors). It is composed of three units of sampling port and radiation monitors: (1) HAM for interstitial helium gas layer between the mercury vessel and surrounding water shroud of the mercury target, (2) CAM for atmosphere in the hot cell where the target loop is operated and (3) VAM for helium gas in the helium vessel where the target vessel is installed. Once any leakages of radioactive materials are detected, an alarm signal is issued immediately to the accelerator control system to stop beam operation. Software and hardware have been upgraded yearly. For example, two Ge detectors are used for HAM for redundancy, NaI Scintillation detectors are also used as supplemental for the Ge detector to keep availability of the system for high counting rate event. In April 2015, the UHAM activated when a small water coolant leakage from the water shroud of the mercury target occurred. VAM detected an abnormal increase of the counting rate in the helium vessel. It was also indicated that the measured radioactive nuclides were generated from the activation of the coolant (water) in the water shroud and not from the mercury.
Harada, Masahide; Sakai, Motonobu*; Kurosawa, Takashi*; Haga, Katsuhiro
JPS Conference Proceedings (Internet), 33, p.011098_1 - 011098_5, 2021/03
Materials and Life science experimental Facility (MLF) in J-PARC has a high-intense spallation neutron source and a high-intense muon source induced by 3-GeV and 1MW proton beam. To reduce beam loss, components of proton, neutron and muon beam lines are precisely aligned. However, a settlement of MLF caused by a building construction, installation of heavy shields, earthquakes, consolidation of basement, instrument installation (weight increase), and so on, was assumed in the design stage. Therefore, periodic level measurements in MLF was started from the design stage. A few tens of level measuring points are installed inside and outside MLF. The level measurements were done once per month in the construction stage and per year after operation start. In the construction stage of MLF, it was found that the MLF building largely settled by construction of the building and installation of many shields. And it was also found that The Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, caused large settlements of MLF attached buildings. Figure 1 shows fluctuations of measured levels at representative points in each area from December 2011. No critical deterioration (small changes within 
1.0 mm) could be detected. However, a few local settlements are found in the MLF building. In the presentation, periodic level measurement results at MLF will be introduced.
Naoe, Takashi; Kinoshita, Hidetaka; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Wakui, Takashi; Wakai, Eiichi; Haga, Katsuhiro; Takada, Hiroshi
Materials Science Forum, 1024, p.111 - 120, 2021/03
The mercury target vessel for the at the J-PARC neutron source is severely damaged by the cavitation caused by proton beam-induced pressure waves in mercury. To mitigate the cavitation damage, we adopted a double-walled structure with a narrow channel for the mercury at the beam window of the vessel. In addition, gas microbubbles were injected into the mercury to suppress the pressure waves. The front end of the vessel was cut out to inspect the effect of the damage mitigation technologies on the interior surface. The results showed that the double-walled target facing the mercury with gas microbubbles operating at 1812 MWh for an average power of 434 kW had equivalent damage to the single-walled target without microbubbles operating 1048 MWh for average power of 181 kW. The erosion depth due to cavitation in the narrow channel was clearly smaller than it was on the wall facing the bubbling mercury
Wakui, Takashi; Wakai, Eiichi; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Naoe, Takashi; Hanano, Kohei*; Haga, Katsuhiro; Shimada, Tsubasa*; Kanomata, Kenichi*
Materials Science Forum, 1024, p.145 - 150, 2021/03
To realize a high beam power operation at the J-PARC, a mercury target vessel covered with water shroud was developed. In the first step, to realize an operation at 500 kW, the basic structure of the initial design was followed and the connection method between the mercury vessel and the water shroud was changed. Additionally, the operation at a beam power of 500 kW was realized in approximately eight months. In the second step, to realize the operation at 1 MW, the new structure in which only rear ends of vessels were connected was investigated. Cooling of the mercury vessel is used to reduce thermal stress and thick vessels of the water shroud are used to increase stiffness for the internal pressure; therefore, it was adopted. The stress in each vessel was lower than the allowable stress based on the pressure vessel code criteria prescribed in the Japan Industrial Standard, and confirmation was obtained that the operation with a beam power of 1 MW could be conducted.
Naoe, Takashi; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Wakui, Takashi; Teshigawara, Makoto; Haga, Katsuhiro; Futakawa, Masatoshi
Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, 982, p.164566_1 - 164566_6, 2020/12
Times Cited Count：1 Percentile：17.19(Instruments & Instrumentation)A liquid mercury target for the spallation neutron source is installed in the J-PARC. The liquid mercury is enclosed with the multi-walled stainless steel vessel. At the time of highly intense proton beams hits the target at a repetition rate of 25 Hz, pressure waves, that causes cavitation erosion, are generated owing the rapidly thermal expansion of mercury. We have installed the target diagnostic system consisting of a laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV) and a dynamic microphone to remotely investigate the structural integrity of the target under high-radiation environment. In this study, aiming to understand correlation between the acoustic vibration and the operation conditions such as the proton beam power and beam profile, proton beam induced acoustic vibration was measured by parametrically changing the target operation conditions. The result showed that the sound is well correlated with the operation conditions.
Sakai, Kenji; Oi, Motoki; Teshigawara, Makoto; Naoe, Takashi; Haga, Katsuhiro; Watanabe, Akihiko*
Journal of Neutron Research, 22(2-3), p.337 - 343, 2020/10
For operating a spallation neutron source and a muon target safely and efficiently, a general control system (GCS) operates within Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility (MLF). GCS administers operation and interlock processes of many instruments under various operation status. Since the first beam injection in 2008, it has operated stably without any serious troubles for more than ten years. GCS has a data storage server storing operational data on status around target stations. It has functioned well to detect and investigate unusual situations by checking data in this server. For continuing stable operation of MLF in future, however, introduction of abnormality sign determination system (ASDS) will be necessary for picking up potential abnormalities of target stations caused by radiation damages, time-related deterioration and so on. It will judge abnormalities from slight state transitions of target stations based on analysis with various operational data throughout proton beams, target stations, and secondary beams during long-term operations. This report mentions present status of GCS, conceptual design of ASDS, and installation of an integral data storage server which can deal with various data for ASDS integrally.
Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Wakui, Takashi; Naoe, Takashi; Haga, Katsuhiro; Takada, Hiroshi; Futakawa, Masatoshi
Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 57(5), p.487 - 494, 2020/05
Times Cited Count：1 Percentile：16.13(Nuclear Science & Technology)Neutron flux per pulse reached world record at neutron source in the J-PARC. In the J-PARC, mercury target system is used as a spallation neutron source. A target vessel has the multi-walled protection system that comprises a mercury vessel enclosed with a double-walled water shroud. This is to prevent the leakage of the mercury outside the mercury vessel. The multi-walled structure needed to be complicated with a lot of welding lines. However, during the operation, we faced an unscheduled shutdown due to water leakage to the intermediate layer between the mercury vessel and water shroud. An investigation on the cause of the leakage was carried out. It is deduced that the leakage path was formed due to the crack propagation from welding defects that is caused by the complicated multi-walled structure. The crack propagation is attributed to the repeated stress by pressure waves generated in the mercury target. Based on the investigation results, the design was improved to remove the welding line on the complicated structure and to realize the stable operation with 1 MW proton beam.
Naoe, Takashi; Kinoshita, Hidetaka; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Wakui, Takashi; Wakai, Eiichi; Haga, Katsuhiro; Takada, Hiroshi
JPS Conference Proceedings (Internet), 28, p.081004_1 - 081004_6, 2020/02
The beam window of the mercury target vessel in J-PARC is severely damaged by the cavitation. The cavitation damage is a crucial factor to limit lifetime of the target because it increases with the beam power. Therefore, mitigating cavitation damage is an important issue to operate the target stably for long time at 1 MW. At J-PARC, to mitigate the cavitation damage: gas microbubbles are injected into mercury for suppressing pressure waves, and double-walled structure with a narrow channel of 2 mm in width to form high-speed mercury flow (
4m/s) has been adopted. After operation, the beam window was cut to inspect the effect of the cavitation damage mitigation on inner wall. We optimized cutting conditions through the cold cutting tests, succeeding in cutting the target No.2 (without damage mitigation technologies) smoothly in 2017, and target No.8 with damage mitigation technologies. In the workshop, progress of cavitation damage observation for the target vessel will be presented.
Takada, Hiroshi; Haga, Katsuhiro
JPS Conference Proceedings (Internet), 28, p.081003_1 - 081003_7, 2020/02
At the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC), the pulsed spallation neutron source has been in operation with a redesigned mercury target vessel from October 2017 to July 2018, during which the operational beam power was restored to 500 kW and the operation with a 1-MW equivalent beam was demonstrated for one hour. The target vessel includes a gas-micro-bubbles injector and a 2-mm-wide narrow mercury flow channel at the front end as measures to suppress the cavitation damage. After the operating period, it was observed that the cavitation damage at the 3-mm-thick front end of the target vessel could be suppressed less than 17.5 
m.
Wakui, Takashi; Wakai, Eiichi; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Naoe, Takashi; Hanano, Kohei; Haga, Katsuhiro; Takada, Hiroshi; Shimada, Tsubasa*; Kanomata, Kenichi*
JPS Conference Proceedings (Internet), 28, p.081002_1 - 081002_6, 2020/02
A mercury target vessel of J-PRAC is designed with a triple-walled structure consisting of the mercury vessel and a double-walled water shroud with internal and external vessels. During the beam operation at 500 kW in 2015, small water leakages from a water shroud of the mercury target vessel occurred twice. Design, fabrication and inspection processes were improved based on the lessons learned from the target failures. The total length of welding lines at the front of the mercury target vessel decreases drastically to approximately 55% by adopting monolithic structure cut out from a block of stainless steel by the wire-electrical discharge machining. Thorough testing of welds by radiographic testing and ultrasonic testing was conducted. The fabrication of the mercury target vessel #8 was finished on September 2017 and the beam operation using it started. Stable beam operation at 500 kW has been achieved and it could experience the maximum beam power of 1 MW during a beam test.
Wakui, Takashi; Ishii, Hideaki*; Naoe, Takashi; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Haga, Katsuhiro; Wakai, Eiichi; Takada, Hiroshi; Futakawa, Masatoshi
Materials Transactions, 60(6), p.1026 - 1033, 2019/06
Times Cited Count：3 Percentile：21.66(Materials Science, Multidisciplinary)The mercury target has large size as 1.3
1.32.5 m
. In view of reducing the amount of wastes, we studied the structure so that the fore part could be separated. The flange is required to have high seal performance less than 110
Pa m/s. Invar with low thermal expansion is a candidate. Due to its low stiffness, however, the flange may deform when it is fastened by bolts. Practically invar is reinforced with stainless steel where all interface between them has to be bonded completely with the HIP bonding. In this study, we made specimens at four temperatures and conducted tensile tests. The specimen bonded at 973 K had little diffusion layer, and so fractured at the interface. The tensile strength reduced with increasing the temperature, and the reduced amount was about 10% at 1473 K. The analyzed residual stresses near the interface increased by 50% at maximum. Then, we concluded that the optimum temperature was 1173 K.
Wakui, Takashi; Wakai, Eiichi; Naoe, Takashi; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Haga, Katsuhiro; Takada, Hiroshi; Shintaku, Yohei*; Li, T.*; Kanomata, Kenichi*
Choompa Techno, 30(5), p.16 - 20, 2018/10
A mercury target vessel has been used for the spallation neutron source at J-PARC. It has a complicated multi-layered structure composed of a mercury target and a surrounding double-walled water shroud, which is assembled with thin plates (minimum thickness of 3 mm) by welding. Thus, welding inspection during the manufacturing process is important. We investigated the applicability of new ultrasonic inspections using specimens (thickness of 3 mm) with defects to improve the accuracy of welding inspection for the mercury target vessel. Immersion ultrasonic testing using a probe (frequency of 50 MHz) could detect a spherical defect with a diameter of 0.2 mm. The size was smaller than target value of 0.4 mm. The length of unwelded region estimated using the phased array ultrasonic testing corresponded with the actual length (0.8 - 1.5 mm).
Naoe, Takashi; Wakui, Takashi; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Wakai, Eiichi; Haga, Katsuhiro; Takada, Hiroshi
Advanced Experimental Mechanics, 3, p.123 - 128, 2018/08
A mercury target vessel, composed of SUS316L, is used for the pulsed neutron source and is assembled via TIG welding. While in operation, the target vessel suffers ca. 10
loading cycles with a high strain rate of ca. 50 s
because of the proton-beam-induced pressure waves in mercury. The gigacycle fatigue strength for solution annealed SUS316L stainless steels and its welded specimens were investigated through ultrasonic fatigue tests. The experimental results showed that an obvious fatigue limit was not observed at fewer than 10 cycles for the base metal. In the case of no weld defects observed via penetration tests, the fatigue strength of the removed-weld-bead specimen, in which the weld lines were arranged at the center of the specimen, appeared to be slightly higher than that of the base metal. By contrast, as-welded specimens with the weld bead intact showed apparent degradation of the fatigue strength owing to the stress concentration around the weld toe.
Naoe, Takashi; Wakui, Takashi; Kinoshita, Hidetaka; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Haga, Katsuhiro; Harada, Masahide; Takada, Hiroshi; Futakawa, Masatoshi
Journal of Nuclear Materials, 506, p.35 - 42, 2018/08
Times Cited Count：6 Percentile：58.02(Materials Science, Multidisciplinary)A mercury target vessel made of 316L SS is damaged due to the cavitation caused by the pressure waves in mercury. Cavitation damage reduces the structural integrity of the target front, called "beam window", being major factor to determine the lifetime of target vessel. Aiming at mitigating the cavitation damage by faster mercury flow in narrow channel, we employed a target vessel with a double-walled structure at the beam window along with a gas microbubbles injection. After operating the double-walled target vessel with a beam power of 300 to 500 kW, we cut out the beam window using an annular cutter to examine the damage inside it, and found that damages with maximum pit depth of approximately 25 m distributed in a belt on the specimen facing narrow channel. Furthermore, numerical simulation result showed that the distribution of negative pressure period from beam injection to 1 ms was correlated with the damage distribution in the narrow channel. It was suggested that the cavitation induced by relatively short negative pressure period contributed to the damage formation.
