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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.
Nakae, Masanori*; Matsuyama, Tsugufumi*; Murakami, Masashi; Yoshida, Yukihiko; Machida, Masahiko; Tsuji, Koichi*
Advances in X-Ray Chemical Analysis, Japan, 54, p.89 - 99, 2023/03
Fundamental research on X-ray absorption imaging for elemental identification was studied. A secondary target was applied to obtain X-ray absorption images above and below the X-ray absorption edge of the target element. X-rays from an X-ray tube were irradiated to the secondary target, where the characteristic X-rays were emitted that were irradiated to the sample. X-ray absorption images were acquired with an exposure time of a few seconds with an X-ray camera. In this technique, it is difficult to change the energy of X-rays as we want, however we can apply this technique for imaging the specific element. Metal foil sample composed of Al, Cu, and Ni was analyzed. To obtain an X-ray elemental image of Ni, two X-ray absorption images were taken using the X-rays above and below the Ni K-edge. X-rays of Cu K
and Zn K were prepared by using Cu and Zn plates as the secondary target. Finally, the Ni elemental image was obtained by subtracting two images. Furthermore, the X-ray camera had a function of setting critical energies for imaging, thus it was demonstrated that an X-ray elemental image of Ni was obtained using a single secondary target without changing the secondary target.
Saito, Shigeru; Suzuki, Kazuhiro; Obata, Hiroki; Dai, Y.*
Nuclear Materials and Energy (Internet), 34, p.101338_1 - 101338_9, 2023/03
Times Cited Count：2 Percentile：53.91(Nuclear Science & Technology)In this study, a post-irradiation examination of pure tungsten (W) and tantalum (Ta) specimens irradiated at the Swiss Spallation-Neutron Source is conducted. W is used as a potential candidate for a solid spallation-target material owing to its favorable properties. However, W also suffers from several disadvantages such as poor corrosion resistance to water coolant and irradiation embrittlement. To improve these properties, cladding technologies using Ta for W alloys have been developed. In the present study, we investigated the irradiation effects on two tungsten materials, poly-crystal W (W-Poly) and single-crystal W (W-Sin), along with pure polycrystalline Ta. The tensile-test results revealed that W-Poly exhibited almost no ductility after irradiation of 10.2-35.0 dpa. W-Sin was irradiated up to 10.2 dpa and demonstrated 6% of total elongation (TE). With regard to Ta, TE decreased based on the increase in irradiation, reaching almost zero at doses of more than 10.3 dpa.
Ariyoshi, Gen; Obayashi, Hironari; Saito, Shigeru; Sasa, Toshinobu
Proceedings of 19th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics (NURETH-19) (Internet), 10 Pages, 2022/03
To clarify the flow characteristics of heavy liquid-metal (HLM) is important to achieve the construction of nuclear transmutation facility that utilizes HLM as a spallation target and coolant. At present, lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) spallation target plans to be installed in Japan proton accelerator research complex (J-PARC). LBE is also selected as one of the candidate media of a spallation target and a coolant for innovative nuclear systems such as accelerator-driven system (ADS) and LBE-cooled fast reactor, due to its adequate physical/chemical properties. The characteristics of LBE flowing inside the target are usually clarified with computational fluid dynamics analysis since the measurement techniques for the HLM flow are not well established, especially for high temperature region over 450
C that is delivered from ADS's criteria. Therefore, the objective of this study is to develop measurement method for flow characteristics in the high temperature LBE. A miniature electro-magnet is introduced to electro-magnetic probe to overcome the limitation caused by a curie temperature of permanent magnet. To evaluate performance of the new probe, experimental apparatus equipping annular rotating vessel were also manufactured. The new probe was applied to high temperature LBE up to 480C. As a result, proportional induced voltage to the rotation speed of LBE were clearly observed, where excitation currents of the miniature electro-magnet were 0.2 A or 1 A. In this paper, configuration and performance of the newly developed electro-magnet probe to the high temperature LBE will be presented.
Sasa, Toshinobu
Kasokuki, 18(4), p.233 - 240, 2022/01
Lead bismuth eutectic alloy (LBE) is a promising option as a spallation target for accelerator-driven transmutation systems (ADS) to reduce the radiological toxicity from long-lived radioactive waste. LBE is a heavy metal and has suitable characteristics both as a spallation target and as a coolant for transmutation systems. However, LBE is also known as a highly corrosive with structural materials. In this paper, technological developments to overcome the issue, the latest research activities such as hightemperature operation and oxygen concentration control to ensure corrosion resistance, are introduced together with the outline of the target for ADS.
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.
Sasa, Toshinobu; Saito, Shigeru; Obayashi, Hironari; Ariyoshi, Gen
JPS Conference Proceedings (Internet), 33, p.011051_1 - 011051_6, 2021/03
To realize Accelerator-driven system (ADS) for minor actinide transmutation, JAEA proposes to construct the Proton Irradiation Facility in J-PARC. The facility is planned to solve technical issues for safe application of Lead-bismuth Eutectic Alloy (LBE). The 250 kW LBE spallation target will be located in the facility to prepare material irradiation database by both proton and neutron irradiation in the temperature range for typical LBE-cooled ADS. Various studies for important technologies required to build the facilities are investigated such as oxygen concentration control, instruments development, remote handling techniques for target maintenance, and spallation target design. The large scale LBE loops for mock up the 250 kW LBE spallation target and material corrosion studies are also manufactured and applied to various experiments. The latest status of 250 kW LBE spallation target design works will be summarized.
Saito, Shigeru; Okubo, Nariaki; Obayashi, Hironari; Wan, T.; Sugawara, Takanori; Sasa, Toshinobu; Maekawa, Fujio
JPS Conference Proceedings (Internet), 28, p.071003_1 - 071003_6, 2020/02
Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) proposes transmutation of minor actinides (MA) by accelerator-driven systems (ADS). The ADS designed by JAEA is a system composed by LBE (Lead-Bismuth Eutectic) spallation target and a subcritical core. In the ADS, a beam window (BW) is exposed in complex field of heavy irradiation by proton/neutron and corrosion by flowing LBE. To develop ADS structural materials, it is of critical importance to investigate materials used in such environment. Thus, JAEA plans to construct a proton irradiation facility at the J-PARC to prepare an irradiation database for candidate ADS structural materials and to investigate irradiation effects in flowing LBE environment. In this paper, giving a whole scope of the JAEA ADS development, some results of experimental measurements and the specific program for planed R&D will be presented.
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; 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).
Ohgama, Kazuya; Oki, Shigeo; Kitada, Takanori*; Takeda, Toshikazu*
Proceedings of 21st Pacific Basin Nuclear Conference (PBNC 2018) (USB Flash Drive), p.942 - 947, 2018/09
Meigo, Shinichiro
Proceedings of 61st ICFA Advanced Beam Dynamics Workshop on High-Intensity and High-Brightness Hadron Beams (HB 2018) (Internet), p.99 - 103, 2018/07
As the increase of beam power, beam instruments play an essential role in the Hadron accelerator facility. In J-PARC, the pitting erosion on the mercury target vessel for the spallation neutron source is one of a pivotal issue to operate with the high power of the beam operation. Since the erosion is proportional to the 4th power of the beam current density, the minimization of the peak current density is required. To achieve low current density, the beam-flattening system by nonlinear beam optics in J-PARC, by which the peak density was successfully reduced by 30% than the density with the conventional case optics. Since the ADS requires a very powerful accelerator with the beam power such as 30 MW, a robust beam profile monitor is required, especially for the observation of the beam status on the target continuously. A candidate material for the beam monitor was developed by using heavy-ion of Ar beam to give the damage efficiently.
Saito, Shigeru; Obayashi, Hironari; Wan, T.; Okubo, Nariaki; Sugawara, Takanori; Endo, Shinya; Sasa, Toshinobu
Proceedings of 13th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Applications of Accelerators (AccApp '17) (Internet), p.448 - 457, 2018/05
JAEA proposes transmutation of minor actinides by accelerator-driven systems (ADS). To obtain the data for ADS design, JAEA plans to construct the ADS Target Test Facility (TEF-T) within the framework of the J-PARC project. In TEF-T, a 250 kW proton-beam-driven LBE (Lead-Bismuth Eutectic) spallation target will be installed to prepare an irradiation database for candidate ADS structural materials. Design activities of the LBE target and target trolley have been progressed. Conceptual design of hot-cells for LBE target loop maintenance and PIE (Post Irradiation Examination) of irradiated samples have been finished. Two LBE loops were manufactured. One is a loop for TEF-T target mock-up and the other is that for collection of material corrosion characteristics in flowing LBE. Oxygen potential control systems for LBE flow have been also developed. Remote handling tests for the target exchange are underway. In this paper, current activities and studies to realize TEF-T will be presented.
Takada, Hiroshi
Kasokuki Handobukku, p.330 - 333, 2018/04
Spallation neutron source provides thermal and cold neutrons for materials researches. Those neutrons are obtained by slowing down the neutrons generated in a neutron production target by injecting high energy protons in surrounding reflector and moderators. This article introduces basic characteristics of the neutron production target at first, and then explains the characteristics of moderator, especially the design to generate high intensity and high quality neutron pulses with narrow width in the moderators used in the 1-MW spallation neutron source at J-PARC. Furthermore, the design procedure of the spallation neutron source is described.
Umeda, Ryota; Shimoyama, Kazuhito; Kurihara, Akikazu
JAEA-Technology 2017-018, 70 Pages, 2017/08
JAEA-Technology-2017-018.pdf:9.67MB
In case of the water leak into sodium in a SG of SFRs due to tube failure, reaction jet is formed by sodium-water reaction with exothermic heat. The reaction jet forms highly alkaline environment with high temperature and high pressure, which cause local thinning of adjacent heat transfer tubes (target wastage). In this report, for the purpose of elucidation of target wastage, the authors developed the experimental apparatus and experimental technique which enable the separate evaluation of wastage influence factors, including temperature, impingement velocity, reagent ratio and so on by using high temperature sodium hydroxide as major reaction product and sodium monoxide as secondary reaction product. In addition, the impingement corrosion experiments have been conducted by using high temperature reagents (NaOH and Na
O). Based on the corrosive data, authors quantitatively evaluated the influence factors of wastage and formulated the average corrosive equations.
Meigo, Shinichiro; Oi, Motoki; Ikezaki, Kiyomi*; Kawasaki, Tomoyuki; Kinoshita, Hidetaka; Akutsu, Atsushi*; Nishikawa, Masaaki*; Fukuda, Shimpei
Proceedings of 12th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Applications of Accelerators (AccApp '15), p.255 - 260, 2016/00
Futakawa, Masatoshi
IOP Conference Series; Materials Science and Engineering, 74(1), p.012001_1 - 012001_7, 2015/02
Times Cited Count：2 Percentile：65.6(Materials Science, Multidisciplinary)Innovative researches using neutrons are being performed at the Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility, MLF, at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex, J-PARC, in which a mercury target system is installed for MW-class pulse spallation neutron sources. The structural materials of the mercury target are subjected to irradiation damage due to protons and neutrons, very high cycle fatigue damages due to repeated pressure waves caused by the proton beam bombardment in mercury and so-called liquid metal embrittlement. That is, the structural materials must be said to be exposed to the extremely severe environments. In the paper, research and development relating to the material issues in the high power spallation neutron sources that has been performed so far at J-PARC is summarized.
Wakai, Eiichi; Kondo, Hiroo; Kanemura, Takuji; Hirakawa, Yasushi; Furukawa, Tomohiro; Hoashi, Eiji*; Fukada, Satoshi*; Suzuki, Akihiro*; Yagi, Juro*; Tsuji, Yoshiyuki*; et al.
Proceedings of Plasma Conference 2014 (PLASMA 2014) (CD-ROM), 2 Pages, 2014/11
In the IFMIF/EVEDA (International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility/ Engineering Validation and Engineering Design Activity), the validation tests of the EVEDA lithium test loop with the world's highest flow rate of 3000 L/min was succeeded in generating a 100 mm-wide and 25 mm-thick free-surface lithium flow steadily under the IFMIF operation condition of a high-speed of 15 m/s at 250C in a vacuum of 10 
Pa. Some excellent results of the recent engineering validations including lithium purification, lithium safety, and remote handling technique were obtained, and the engineering design of lithium facility was also evaluated. These results will advance greatly the development of an accelerator-based neutron source to simulate the fusion reactor materials irradiation environment as an important key technology for the development of fusion reactor materials.
Kikuchi, Kenji; Nakamura, Hirofumi; Tsujimoto, Kazufumi; Kobayashi, Kazuhiro; Yokoyama, Sumi; Saito, Shigeru; Yamanishi, Toshihiko
Journal of Nuclear Materials, 356(1-3), p.157 - 161, 2006/09
Times Cited Count：5 Percentile：36.38(Materials Science, Multidisciplinary)A high-energy proton of 580MeV at SINQ target generates almost all constituents through spallation process with hydrogen and helium gases. For the SINQ target hydrogen and helium are generated to hundreds appm H and tens appm He, respectively. However, tritium gas production has not been yet reported. Evaluation of tritium gas generation in the specimens of target 3 was done by calculation. Results were compared with gamma spectrum measurement. Residual tritium measurement was carried by the thermal desorption method. It is found that a release of tritium began over 250C and material included 4 MBq/g. The ratio of residual tritium to generated one is estimated to be less than 20%.
Saito, Shigeru; Tsujimoto, Kazufumi; Kikuchi, Kenji; Kurata, Yuji; Sasa, Toshinobu; Umeno, Makoto*; Nishihara, Kenji; Mizumoto, Motoharu; Ouchi, Nobuo; Takei, Hayanori; et al.
Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, 562(2), p.646 - 649, 2006/06
Times Cited Count：25 Percentile：83.96(Instruments & Instrumentation)JAERI is conducting R&D on the Accelerator Driven System (ADS) to transmute minor actinides (MAs) contained in the high-level radioactive waste under the OMEGA (Options Making Extra Gains from Actinides and fission products) program. The present study discusses the design of the ADS plant and various R&D on the ADS. The reference design of ADS plant in JAERI is the 800 MWth, Pb-Bi eutectic (LBE) cooled, tank-type subcritical reactor loaded with (MA+Pu) nitride fuel. LBE is selected as a spallation target material. In our results of the optimization study on the neutronics of the ADS, we have adopted the maximum multiplication factor (k
) of 0.97. From the results of the thermal-hydraulic analysis around the LBE spallation target, partition wall and flow control nozzle are required to keep the structural integrity around the core and the beam window. Feasibility of beam window was also discussed for transient conditions of proton beam.
