Recent improvement and evaluation of radiation resistance and magnetic properties of high entropy alloys and their applications

Wakai, Eiichi; Noto, Hiroyuki*; Shibayama, Tamaki*; Furuya, Kazuyuki*; Wakui, Takashi; Ando, Masami*; Makimura, Shunsuke*; Ishida, Taku*

Science Talks (Internet), 8, p.100278_1 - 100278_4, 2023/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sctalk.2023.100278

High entropy alloys tend to combine high strength with good ductility due to their inherent properties. This material is considered as a promising new material not only for higher-performance future general industrial applications, but also for increasing the durability and range of application of radiation-affected equipment in nuclear and radiation environments, and has been rapidly gaining attention in recent years. In this study, two types of high-entropy alloys (Fe-Mn-V-Cr-Al-C and Fe-Si-W-Cr-V) composed of low-radioactive elements (without Ni and Co) were prepared and their basic properties were evaluated for application as new functional materials to be used under radiation in high-energy accelerator target system components, nuclear reactors, fusion reactors, etc. and their basic properties were evaluated. The two materials under development in this study have unique properties in the following respects. The former is expected to be developed as a basic research for high-power motor materials as a new structural material and magnetic properties sharing the features of high strength and low radiation. On the other hand, the latter is expected to be applied as a new functional material in new engineering fields by mixing tungsten, which has the highest melting point among metallic elements, with vanadium, which has a considerably higher melting point, to raise the melting point of the alloy and to design an alloy with high strength.

Development of accident tolerant FeCrAl-ODS fuel cladding for BWRs in Japan

Sakamoto, Kan*; Miura, Yusuke*; Ukai, Shigeharu; Ono, Naoko*; Kimura, Akihiko*; Yamaji, Akifumi*; Kusagaya, Kazuyuki*; Takano, Sho*; Kondo, Takao*; Ikegawa, Tomohiko*; et al.

Journal of Nuclear Materials, 557, p.153276_1 - 153276_11, 2021/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2021.153276

A FeCrAl-oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) alloy is a promising candidate alloy for the accident tolerant fuel (ATF) cladding of light water reactors (LWRs) and being developed in Japan recently. This paper will introduce the progress of development of accident tolerant FeCrAl-ODS fuel claddings for boiling water reactors (BWRs) in Japan. Both the experimental and the analytical studies have been performed to evaluate the influence of implementation of the FeCrAl-ODS fuel claddings to the current BWRs. The experimental studies have been conducted to obtain and accumulate key material properties of FeCrAl-ODS fuel claddings by using bar, sheet and tube-shaped materials to support the evaluations in the analytical studies. At the end of paper, the challenges and prospects found in the program are highlighted to enhance international collaborations to accelerate the development of FeCrAl-ODS fuel cladding.

Quasifree neutron knockout reaction reveals a small -Orbital component in the Borromean nucleus B

Yang, Z. H.*; Kubota, Yuki*; Corsi, A.*; Yoshida, Kazuki; Sun, X.-X.*; Li, J. G.*; Kimura, Masaaki*; Michel, N.*; Ogata, Kazuyuki*; Yuan, C. X.*; et al.

Physical Review Letters, 126(8), p.082501_1 - 082501_8, 2021/02

AA2020-0819.pdf:1.29MB

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.082501

A quasifree (,) experiment was performed to study the structure of the Borromean nucleus B, which had long been considered to have a neutron halo. By analyzing the momentum distributions and exclusive cross sections, we obtained the spectroscopic factors for and orbitals, and a surprisingly small percentage of 9(2)% was determined for . Our finding of such a small component and the halo features reported in prior experiments can be explained by the deformed relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov theory in continuum, revealing a definite but not dominant neutron halo in B. The present work gives the smallest - or -orbital component among known nuclei exhibiting halo features and implies that the dominant occupation of or orbitals is not a prerequisite for the occurrence of a neutron halo.

Overview of accident-tolerant fuel R&D program in Japan

Yamashita, Shinichiro; Ioka, Ikuo; Nemoto, Yoshiyuki; Kawanishi, Tomohiro; Kurata, Masaki; Kaji, Yoshiyuki; Fukahori, Tokio; Nozawa, Takashi*; Sato, Daiki*; Murakami, Nozomu*; et al.

Proceedings of International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Conference / Light Water Reactor Fuel Performance Conference (Global/Top Fuel 2019) (USB Flash Drive), p.206 - 216, 2019/09

After the nuclear accident at Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant, research and development (R&D) program for establishing technical basis of accident-tolerant fuel (ATF) started from 2015 in Japan. Since then, both experimental and analytical studies necessary for designing a new light water reactor (LWR) core with ATF candidate materials are being conducted within the Japanese ATF R&D Consortium for implementing ATF to the existing LWRs, accompanying with various technological developments required. Until now, we have accumulated experimental data of the candidate materials by out-of-pile tests, developed fuel evaluation codes to apply to the ATF candidate materials, and evaluated fuel behavior simulating operational and accidental conditions by the developed codes. In this paper, the R&D progresses of the ATF candidate materials considered in Japan are reviewed based on the information available such as proceedings of international conference and academic papers, providing an overview of ATF program in Japan.

Welding technology R&D of Japanese accident tolerant fuel claddings of FeCrAl-ODS steel for BWRS

Kimura, Akihiko*; Yuzawa, Sho*; Sakamoto, Kan*; Hirai, Mutsumi*; Kusagaya, Kazuyuki*; Yamashita, Shinichiro

Proceedings of 2017 Water Reactor Fuel Performance Meeting (WRFPM 2017) (USB Flash Drive), 10 Pages, 2017/09

http://www.wrfpm2017.org/upload/draft_file/F-059-PD1.pdf

The effect of Al addition on the PRW weldability of ODS steel is shown with the discussion focusing on the microstructure changes by the welding. The ordinary welding methods including electron beam (EB) welding and tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding were also applied to the SUS430 endcap welding to cladding tube made of FeCrAl-ODS steel. The endcap welded ODS steel tube samples were tensile tested at RT. The EB welded FeCrAl-ODS/SUS430 samples broke in the ODS steel tube, indicating that the weld bond is stronger than the ODS base metal. However, the TIG welded FeCrAl-ODS/SUS430 samples broke at a weld bond. X-ray CT scan analysis was performed for the weld bond, and the bonding strength was correlated with the X-ray CT results in order to assess the feasibility of those welding methods for ATF-ODS steel cladding.

Overview of Japanese development of accident tolerant FeCrAl-ODS fuel claddings for BWRs

Sakamoto, Kan*; Hirai, Mutsumi*; Ukai, Shigeharu*; Kimura, Akihiko*; Yamaji, Akifumi*; Kusagaya, Kazuyuki*; Kondo, Takao*; Yamashita, Shinichiro

Proceedings of 2017 Water Reactor Fuel Performance Meeting (WRFPM 2017) (USB Flash Drive), 7 Pages, 2017/09

http://www.wrfpm2017.org/upload/draft_file/D_033-PD1.pdf

This paper will show the overview of current status of development of accident tolerant FeCrAl-ODS fuel claddings for BWRs (boiling water reactors) in the program sponsored and organized by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan. This program is being carried out to create the technical basis for the practical use of the accident tolerant fuels and the other components in LWRs through multifaceted activities. In the development of FeCrAl-ODS fuel claddings both the experimental and the analytical studies have been performed. The acquisition and accumulation of key material properties of FeCrAl-ODS fuel claddings were conducted by using bar, sheet and tube shaped FeCrAl-ODS materials fabricated in this program to support the evaluations in the analytical studies. A neutron irradiation test was also started in the ORNL High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) to examine the effect of neutron irradiation on the mechanical properties.

Production of Tc for Compton camera imaging

Hatsukawa, Yuichi; Hashimoto, Kazuyuki; Tsukada, Kazuaki; Sato, Tetsuya; Asai, Masato; Toyoshima, Atsushi; Nagai, Yasuki; Tanimori, Toru*; Sonoda, Shinya*; Kabuki, Shigeto*; et al.

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, 303(2), p.1283 - 1285, 2015/02

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-014-3508-0

Technetium-99m (Tc) is used in radioactive medical diagonostic tests, for example as a radioactive tracer that medical equipment can detect in the human body. It is well suited to the role because it emits readily detectable 141 keV rays, and its half-life is 6.01 hours (meaning that about 94% of it decays to technetium-99 in 24 hours). There are at least 31 commonly used radiopharmaceuticals based on technetium-99m for imaging and functional studies of the brain, myocardium, thyroid, lungs, liver, gallbladder, kidneys, skeleton, blood, and tumors. Recent years, with the develop-ment of the Compton camera which can realize high position resolution, technetium isotopes emitting high energy -rays are required. In this study, technetium-95m which emits some rays around 800 keV was produced by the Mo(p,n)Tc reaction.

Experimental study on dilution coefficients measurement of capsule dilution tube for fuel transient tests

Inoue, Shuichi; Omuro, Tadao; Nabeya, Hideaki; Matsui, Yoshinori; Iida, Kazuhiro; Ito, Kazuyuki; Kimura, Akihiro; Kanno, Masaru

JAEA-Technology 2010-010, 27 Pages, 2012/05

JAEA-Technology-2010-010.pdf:1.99MB

In fuel irradiation transient tests using a boiling water capsule, a dilution tube has been installed in the boiling water capsule in order to detect fission products (FP) from an irradiated fuel, in case of the fuel failure during the transient, by a radiation monitor located outside the reactor. When the fuel failure occurs, the released FP flows out from the capsule through the dilution tube. The dilution tube is designed to minimize the released FP that can be detected by the radiation monitor located outside the reactor. This report summarized the measurement results of the dilution tube installed in the boiling water capsule.

Status of Japanese design and validation activities of test facilities in IFMIF/EVEDA

Wakai, Eiichi; Kikuchi, Takayuki; Kogawara, Takafumi; Kimura, Haruyuki; Yokomine, Takehiko*; Kimura, Akihiko*; Nogami, Shuhei*; Kurishita, Hiroaki*; Saito, Masahiro*; Nishimura, Arata*; et al.

Proceedings of 23rd IAEA Fusion Energy Conference (FEC 2010) (CD-ROM), 6 Pages, 2011/03

Japanese activities of test facilities in IFMIF-EVEDA (International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility-Engineering Validation and Engineering Design Activities) project have three subjects of engineering design of post irradiation examination (PIE) facilities, small specimen test technique (SSTT), and engineering design of high flux test module (HFTM), and this paper is summarized about present status. Functional analysis and design of 2-D and 3-D models of PIE facility were performed. In HFTM, as materials of heater, W-3Re alloy and/or SiC/SiC composite were selected in the points of high temperature materials, fabrication technology and some suitable properties such as resistance of thermal shock, high temperature re-crystallization, ductility, resistance of irradiation degradation, and low-activation. In SSTT, a test machine of fracture toughness was designed and developed for small specimens with 10 mm square, and it had high accuracy controllability for stress and displacement.

Preparation and evaluation of Re-labeled antibody (A7) for radioimmunotherapy with rhenium(I) tricarbonyl core as a chelate site

Ogawa, Kazuma*; Kawashima, Hidekazu*; Kinuya, Seigo*; Shiba, Kazuhiro*; Onoguchi, Masahisa*; Kimura, Hiroyuki*; Hashimoto, Kazuyuki; Odani, Akira*; Saji, Hideo*

Annals of Nuclear Medicine, 23(10), p.843 - 848, 2009/12

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12149-009-0319-4

Rhenium is one of the most valuable elements for internal radiotherapy because Re have favorable physical characteristics. However, there are problems when proteins such as antibodies are used as carriers of Re. Labeling methods require the complicated processes. Therefore, we planned the preparation by a simple method and evaluation of a stable Re-labeled antibody. For this purpose, we selected Re(I) tricarbonyl complex as a chelating site. A7 was used as a model protein. Re-labeled A7 was prepared by directly reacting a Re(I) tricarbonyl precursor with A7. Re-(CO)-A7 were prepared with radiochemical yields of 23-28%. After purification, Re-(CO)-A7 showed a radiochemical purity of over 95%. In biodistribution experiments, Re-labeled A7 showed high uptakes in the tumor.