Initialising ...
Initialising ...
Initialising ...
Initialising ...
Initialising ...
Initialising ...
Initialising ...
Naoe, Takashi; Wakui, Takashi; Kinoshita, Hidetaka; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Teshigawara, Makoto; Haga, Katsuhiro
JAEA-Technology 2023-022, 81 Pages, 2024/01
JAEA-Technology-2023-022.pdf:9.87MB
In the liquid mercury target system for the pulsed spallation neutron source of Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility (MLF) in the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC), pressure waves that is generated by the high-energy proton beam injection simultaneously with the spallation reaction, resulting severe cavitation erosion damage on the interior surface of the mercury target vessel. Because the bubble of pressure wave-induced cavitation collapsing near the interior surface of the mercury target vessel with applying the large amplitude of localized impact on the surface. Since the wall thickness of the beam entrance portion of the target vessel is designed to be 3 mm to reduce thermal stress due to the internal heating, the erosion damage has the possibility to cause the vessel fatigue failure and mercury leakage originated from erosion pits during operation. To reduce the erosion damage by cavitation, a technique of gas microbubble injection into the mercury for pressure wave mitigation, and double-walled structure of the beam window of the target vessel has been applied. A specimen was cut from the beam window of the used mercury target vessel in order to investigate the effect of the damage mitigation technologies on the vessel, and to reflect the consideration of operation condition for the next target. We have observed cavitation damage on interior surface of the used mercury target vessel by cutting out the disk shape specimens. Damage morphology and depth of damaged surface were evaluated and correlation between the damage depth and operational condition was examined. The result showed that the erosion damage by cavitation is extremely reduced by injecting gas microbubbles and the damage not formed inside narrow channel of the double-walled structure for relatively high-power operated target vessels.
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.
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.
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
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.
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：52.79(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.
Kai, Tetsuya; Uchida, Toshitsugu; Kinoshita, Hidetaka; Seki, Masakazu; Oi, Motoki; Wakui, Takashi; Haga, Katsuhiro; Kasugai, Yoshimi; Takada, Hiroshi
Journal of Physics; Conference Series, 1021(1), p.012042_1 - 012042_4, 2018/06
Times Cited Count：0 Percentile：0.11(Nuclear Science & Technology)Naoe, Takashi; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Wakui, Takashi; Haga, Katsuhiro; Teshigawara, Makoto; Kinoshita, Hidetaka; Takada, Hiroshi; Futakawa, Masatoshi
Journal of Nuclear Materials, 468, p.313 - 320, 2016/01
Times Cited Count：11 Percentile：71.62(Materials Science, Multidisciplinary)Mercury target vessel in the JSNS, which is made of 316L SS, is damaged owing to the pressure wave-induced cavitation resulting from the proton beam bombardment. The cavitation damage decreases the structural integrity of the target vessel and is currently a dominant factor to decide the service life in compared with the radiation damage. Injecting microbubbles into mercury is one of the prospective techniques to mitigate the pressure waves and cavitation damage. In the JSNS, a microbubble generator with a gas circulation system was installed and has been operated since October 2012. The effects of microbubble injection into mercury on pressure wave mitigation were studied using a laser Doppler vibrometer. The result showed that the vibrational velocity of the target vessel is clearly reduced according to the increase of void fraction. An average peak vibrational velocity under 340 kW operation with the void fraction of 0.1% was reduced to 1/4 of that without injecting microbubbles.
Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Naoe, Takashi; Kyoto, Harumichi*; Haga, Katsuhiro; Kinoshita, Hidetaka; Futakawa, Masatoshi
Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 52(12), p.1461 - 1469, 2015/12
Times Cited Count：16 Percentile：79.46(Nuclear Science & Technology)MW-class mercury target for the spallation neutron source is subjected to the pressure waves. Propagation of the pressure wave causes negative pressure which causes cavitation erosion and degrades the vessel. Microbubbles injection into mercury is an effective technique to suppress the pressure waves and cavitation erosion. The bubble-generator utilizing swirl flow of liquid (swirl-type bubble-generator) is suitable for a mercury target system. However, when the single generator was used, swirl flow remains at downstream. The remaining swirl flow causes the coalescence of bubbles which results in ineffective suppression of pressure waves. To solve this concern, a multi swirl-type bubble-generator, which consists of several single generators arraying in the plane perpendicular to mercury flow direction, was invented. The multi swirl-type bubble-generator generated the microbubbles with the sufficient size to suppress the pressure waves.
Naoe, Takashi; Teshigawara, Makoto; Wakui, Takashi; Kinoshita, Hidetaka; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Haga, Katsuhiro; Futakawa, Masatoshi
Journal of Nuclear Materials, 450(1-3), p.123 - 129, 2014/07
Times Cited Count：11 Percentile：64.59(Materials Science, Multidisciplinary)A JSNS mercury target vessel composed of type 316L stainless steel suffers radiation damage in the proton and neutron environment. In addition to this damage, the inner wall of the target vessel in contact with mercury is damaged as a result of the cavitation. The target vessel was replaced with a new target in November 2011, because the pneumatic bellows were damaged during the earthquake. Before replacing the target, disk specimens were cut from the beam window of the target vessel in order to investigate the cavitation damage inside the target vessel and to evaluate the change in the mechanical properties due to radiation damage. As a result, it was confirmed that flow-induced erosion damage was not observed on the flow guide. The cavitation damage was concentrated at the center and around both sides approximately 15 mm from the center of the beam window. Based on the detailed measurements, it was concluded that the eroded damage depth of the beam window was 250 m.
Kai, Tetsuya; Kasugai, Yoshimi; Oi, Motoki; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Haga, Katsuhiro; Kinoshita, Hidetaka; Seki, Masakazu; Harada, Masahide
Progress in Nuclear Science and Technology (Internet), 4, p.380 - 383, 2014/04
Neutrons are produced by an intense proton beam (1 MW) irradiation on a mercury target in the Material and Life science experimental Facility of J-PARC. The proton beam irradiation produces various kinds of radioactivity via the spallation reaction of mercury. Design of radioactivity treatment was carried out based on estimation by using particle transport calculation codes NMTC/JAM, MCNP/4C and an induced radioactivity calculation code DCHAIN-SP 2001. This presentation shows how the estimation being utilized in design of a mercury circulation system and an off-gas processing system as specific examples. In addition the authors report some knowledge mainly about behavior of xenon and tritium obtained in operation. This presentation includes important lessons about treatment of spallation products. Thus the lessons are expected to be fully utilized in discussions of future accelerator driven neutron sources and transmutation systems using liquid metal as target material.
Kinoshita, Hidetaka; Kaminaga, Masanori; Haga, Katsuhiro; Terada, Atsuhiko; Hino, Ryutaro
Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 50(4), p.400 - 408, 2013/04
Times Cited Count：5 Percentile：38.62(Nuclear Science & Technology)In the design of MW-class spallation target system using mercury to produce a practical neutron applications, keeping the highest level of safety is vitally important. To establish the safety of spallation target system, it is essential to understand the thermal-hydraulic properties of mercury. Through thermal-hydraulic experiments using a mercury experimental loop, which flows 1.2 m
/h maximum, the following facts were experimentally confirmed. The wall friction factor was relatively larger than the Blasius correlation due to the effects of wall roughness. The heat transfer coefficients agreed well with the Subbotin correlation. Furthermore, for validation of the design analysis code, thermal hydraulic analyses were conducted by using the STAR-CD code under the same conditions as the experiments. Analytical results showed good agreements with the experimental results, using optimized turbulent Prandtl number and mesh size.
Kinoshita, Hidetaka; Wakui, Takashi; Matsui, Hiroki; Maekawa, Fujio; Kasugai, Yoshimi; Haga, Katsuhiro; Teshigawara, Makoto; Meigo, Shinichiro; Seki, Masakazu; Sakamoto, Shinichi; et al.
JAEA-Technology 2011-040, 154 Pages, 2012/03
JAEA-Technology-2011-040.pdf:8.08MB
In the MLF, relatively high level irradiated components will be generated. Therefore, these components can not be kept in standard facilities. For the irradiated components at the MLF, the storage plan using the facilities in the Nuclear Science Research Institute has been studied, but the concrete plan is not decided yet. In this report, outline of the components, prehistory of the studying for storage, schedule of the component generation and status of the possible facility, which is a hot laboratory, are described. Resulting from the comparison between the generation schedule and the plan of the hot laboratory, the difference is very large. Present status of the hot laboratory and the cost estimation of the modification to use for storage of the MLF components were studied. Using the hot laboratory seems not to have advantage from the view point of cost and modification method. Therefore, the study on a new storage facility construction will be started as soon as possible.
Sakai, Kenji; Sakamoto, Shinichi; Kinoshita, Hidetaka; Seki, Masakazu; Haga, Katsuhiro; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Wakui, Takashi; Naoe, Takashi; Kasugai, Yoshimi; Tatsumoto, Hideki; et al.
JAEA-Technology 2011-039, 121 Pages, 2012/03
JAEA-Technology-2011-039.pdf:10.87MB
This report investigates the behavior, damage and restoration of a neutron source station of the MLF at the Great East Japan Earthquake and verified the safety design for emergency accidents in the neutron source station. In the MLF, after an occurrence of the Earthquake, strong quakes were detected at the instruments, the external power supply was lost, all of the circulators shut down automatically, and the hydrogen gas was released. The leakages of mercury, hydrogen and radio-activation gases did not occur. While, the quakes made gaps between the shield blocks and ruptured external pipe lines by subsidence around the building. But significant damages to the components were not found though the pressure drop of compressed air lines influenced on a target trolley lock system and so on. These results substantiated the validity of the safety design for emergency accidents in the source station, and suggested several points of improvement.
Sakai, Kenji; Futakawa, Masatoshi; Takada, Hiroshi; Sakamoto, Shinichi; Maekawa, Fujio; Kinoshita, Hidetaka; Seki, Masakazu; Haga, Katsuhiro; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Wakui, Takashi; et al.
Proceedings of 20th Meeting of the International Collaboration on Advanced Neutron Sources (ICANS-20) (USB Flash Drive), 6 Pages, 2012/03
This report investigates behaviors and damages of each component in a neutron target station of the MLF at the J-PARC at the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE). At the date of the GEJE, in the MLF, strong quakes were detected at several instruments, an external power supply were lost, all of the circulation systems were shut down automatically, and a hydrogen gas was released as planned. Leakage of activation liquids and gases did not occur. While, the quakes made gaps between shield blocks and ruptured external pipe lines for air and water by subsidence. But significant damages on the components of the target station were not found though a loss of compressed air supply affected lock systems with air cylinders and pneumatic operation values. These results substantiated a validity of safety design on the target station for emergency accidents.
Haga, Katsuhiro; Naoe, Takashi; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Kinoshita, Hidetaka; Ida, Masato; Futakawa, Masatoshi; Riemer, B.*; Wendel, M.*; Felde, D.*; Abdou, A.*
Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 47(10), p.849 - 852, 2010/10
Times Cited Count：4 Percentile：30.63(Nuclear Science & Technology)Microbubble injection into mercury is one of the prospective technologies to mitigate the pressure wave which causes the cavitation damage on the mercury target vessel wall of J-PARC. As one of the studies for the mercury target design with bubbling system, we carried out the mercury loop tests using a mockup model of the target vessel. Injected microbubbles in contact with the transparent top wall were observed to know the bubble size and distribution. As a result, bubbles in the range of radius from 10 to 150 microns, which are the ideal size for our purpose to suppress the pressure wave were transported to the beam window, where the bubbles should be distributed. It was found that the bubbles larger than 150 micron in radius were removed from the distribution by bubble buoyancy, and only the smaller bubbles could be transported downstream. The attention to the effect of bubbles on the cooling performance of the target vessel was raised by the experiment.
Tatsumoto, Hideki; Shirai, Yasuyuki*; Shiotsu, Masahiro*; Hata, Koichi*; Kobayashi, Hiroaki*; Naruo, Yoshihiro*; Inatani, Yoshifumi*; Kato, Takashi; Futakawa, Masatoshi; Kinoshita, Katsuhiro*
Journal of Physics; Conference Series, 234, p.032056_1 - 032056_9, 2010/07
Times Cited Count：18 Percentile：97.04(Physics, Multidisciplinary)A thermal-hydraulics experimental system of liquid hydrogen was developed in order to investigate the forced flow heat transfer characteristics in the various cooling channels for wide ranges of subcoolings, flow velocities, and pressures up to supercritical. Forced flow through the channel is produced by adjusting the pressure difference between the tanks and the valve opening. The mass flow rate is measured from the weight change of the main tank. For the explosion protection, electrical equipments are covered with a nitrogen gas blanket layer and a remote control system has been established. The first cryogenic performance tests have confirmed that the experimental system has satisfied with the required performances. The forced convection heat transfer characteristics have been successfully measured at the pressure of 0.7 MPa for various flow velocities.
Tatsumoto, Hideki; Shirai, Yasuyuki*; Shiotsu, Masahiro*; Hata, Koichi*; Kobayashi, Hiroaki*; Naruo, Yoshihiro*; Inatani, Yoshifumi*; Kato, Takashi; Futakawa, Masatoshi; Kinoshita, Katsuhiro*
Proceedings of International Cryogenic Engineering Conference 23 (ICEC-23) and International Cryogenic Materials Conference 2010 (ICMC 2010), p.491 - 496, 2010/07
Forced flow heat transfers of liquid hydrogen through a vertical tube with the diameter, d, of 3.0 mm were measured at the pressure of 0.7 MPa for various inlet temperatures and flow velocities. The non-boiling heat transfer coefficients agreed with those by the Dittus-Boelter correlation. The heat fluxes at the inception of boiling and the departure from nucleate boiling (DNB) heat fluxes were higher for higher flow velocity and subcooling. The DNB heat fluxes were higher for larger diameter, compared with those for 
= 6.0 mm. The effect of tube diameter and subcooling on the DNB heat flux was clarified.
Kinoshita, Hidetaka; Haga, Katsuhiro; Kaminaga, Masanori; Hino, Ryutaro
Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 41(3), p.376 - 384, 2004/03
Times Cited Count：3 Percentile：23.52(Nuclear Science & Technology)A construction of the spallation neutron source is being promoted under the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC) Project. A mercury circulation system has been designed to supply mercury to the target stably. It was necessary to make clear a mercury pump performance, erosion rate under the mercury flowing condition and an amount of remaining mercury after draining from the viewpoints of evaluating lifetime of piping and establishing remote handling scenario of mercury components. The mercury pump performance, the erosion rates and the amount of remained mercury were investigated by using a mercury experimental loop with an experimental gear pump. The discharged flow rates of the experimental gear pump are sufficient and it is increased linearly with the rotation speed. Erosion rates were found to be so small that decrease of piping wall thickness would be estimated 660 m after 30-year operation under the rated velocity of 0.7 m/s. For the amount of remaining mercury, remaining rates of weight was estimated at 50.7 g/m
.
Haga, Katsuhiro; Kaminaga, Masanori; Kinoshita, Hidetaka; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Sato, Hiroshi; Ishikura, Shuichi*; Torii, Yoshikatsu; Hino, Ryutaro
Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE-12) (CD-ROM), 8 Pages, 2004/00
In the Material and Life Science Facility, which will be constructed in the J-PARC project, the spallation mercury target station will be installed. Once the target system operation starts, mercury, the target vessel and the surrounding components are highly irradiated, so that all the replacement and maintenance operations of the target vessel and its peripheral devices have to be done with remote handling. In order to meet the requirements, we designed the target system such that the target vessel and the mercury circulation system are mounted on a target trolley, which is the system carriage. The target vessel is carried with the mercury circulation system together and inserted into the target center by the target trolley during the on-beam operation. During the system maintenance period, the target trolley is withdrawn to the maintenance room of hot cell, and the component exchange or repairing work will be done using a power manipulator and some master-slave manipulators. In this paper, the present design of the mercury target and its peripheral devices for 1MW spallation neutron source including the target vessel, a mercury circulation system, and a target trolley will be reported.
