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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.
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.
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.
Kwon, H.*; Pietrasiak, E.*; Ohara, Takashi; Nakao, Akiko*; Chae, B.*; Hwang, C.-C.*; Jung, D.*; Hwang, I.-C.*; Ko, Y. H.*; Kim, K.*; et al.
Inorganic Chemistry, 60(9), p.6403 - 6409, 2021/05
Times Cited Count：0 Percentile：0.01(Chemistry, Inorganic & Nuclear)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.
Marsh, B. A.*; Day Goodacre, T.*; Tsunoda, Yusuke*; Andreyev, A. N.; 41 of others*
Nature Physics, 14(12), p.1163 - 1167, 2018/12
Times Cited Count：94 Percentile：96.66(Physics, Multidisciplinary)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).
Takada, Hiroshi
JAEA-Conf 2017-001, p.51 - 56, 2018/01
A pulsed spallation neutron source of Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC) is aimed at promoting a variety of cutting-edge materials researches at state-of-the-art neutron instruments with neutrons generated by a 3-GeV proton beam with a power of 1-MW at a repetition rate of 25 Hz. In 2015, for the first time it received 1-MW equivalent proton beam pulse, and the beam power for user program was ramped up to 500 kW. The moderator system of the neutron source was optimized to use (1) 100% para-hydrogen for increasing pulse peak intensity with decreasing pulse tail, (2) cylindrical shape with 14 cm diam. 
12 cm long for providing high intensity neutrons to wide neutron extraction angles of 50.8 degrees, (3) neutron absorber made from Ag-In-Cd alloy to make pulse widths narrower and pulse tails lower. As a result, it gives highest intensity pulsed neutrons per incident proton in the world. Towards the goal to achieve the target operation at 1-MW for 5000 h in a year, efforts to mitigate cavitation damages at the target vessel front with injecting gas micro-bubbles into the mercury target are under way. Also, improvement of structural target vessel design is an urgent issue since there was failure twice at the water shroud of the mercury target due to the thermal stress during operating periods at 500 kW in 2015.
Shibata, Keiichi
Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 53(10), p.1595 - 1607, 2016/10
Times Cited Count：4 Percentile：36.53(Nuclear Science & Technology)Neutron nuclear data on mercury isotopes have been evaluated for the next version of Japanese Evaluated Nuclear Data Library general-purpose file in the energy region from 
eV to 20 MeV. Resolved resonance parameters of 
Hg were supplemented with the data which had not been considered in the previous library. Unresolved resonance parameters were obtained by fitting to the total and capture cross sections calculated from nuclear models. A statistical model code CCONE was applied to evaluate cross sections above the resolved resonance region. Compound, pre-equilibrium and direct-reaction processes were considered for cross-section calculation. Coupled-channel optical model parameters were employed for the interaction between neutrons and mercury isotopes except 
Hg. The present results reproduce experimental data very well, and are much better than the JENDL-4.0 evaluation. The evaluated data are compiled into ENDF-formatted data files.
-tetraoctyl-thiodiglycolamideSasaki, Yuji; Suzuki, Tomoya; Morita, Keisuke; Yoshizuka, Kazuharu*
Hydrometallurgy, 159, p.107 - 109, 2016/01
Times Cited Count：5 Percentile：27.46(Metallurgy & Metallurgical Engineering)The novel tridentate extractant including soft donor has developed and examined. The extractant, tetraoctyl-thiodiglycolamide (S-DGA), is analogous structure to tetraoctyl-diglycolamide (TODGA), but with sulfur donor instead of ether oxygen of TODGA. S-DGA has unique property to extract silver from acidic solutions to n-dodecane with relatively high D values. We investigated the extraction behavior of Ag in various acids, HNO
, H
SO
, and HClO.
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.
Naoe, Takashi*; Futakawa, Masatoshi; Naito, Akira*; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Ikeda, Yujiro; Motohashi, Yoshinobu*
JSME International Journal, Series A, 48(4), p.280 - 285, 2005/10
Target vessel materials used in spallation neutron source will be exposed to proton and neutron irradiation and mercury immersion environments. In order to evaluate the surface degradation of the vessel candidate materials due to such environment, the triple-ion beam irradiation taking the spallation reaction into account and mercury immersion tests were carried out. Mechanical properties of the gradient surface layer ware evaluated by the inverse analysis with multi-layer model that considers distribution of surface characteristic was applied to the load and depth curves measured by using the instrumented indentation machine. Transmission electron microscopic observations ware performed to evaluate the changes of microstructure in irradiated surface layer using focused ion-beam cut micro-specimen. It was confirmed that the ductility loss is enhanced by the irradiation and mercury immersion, and simulated stress and strain curves of the ion-irradiated surface layer ware adequately in good agreement with the curves of experimental equivalent neutron-irradiated material.
Futakawa, Masatoshi
Nihon Genshiryoku Gakkai-Shi, 47(8), p.530 - 535, 2005/08
no abstracts in English
Tamura, Masaya; Maekawa, Fujio; Harada, Masahide; Haga, Katsuhiro; Konno, Chikara
JAERI-Tech 2005-020, 58 Pages, 2005/03
JAERI-Tech-2005-020.pdf:18.82MB
no abstracts in English
Kogawa, Hiroyuki
Jikken Rikigaku, 5(1), P. 64, 2005/03
no abstracts in English
Futakawa, Masatoshi
Shindo Gijutsu, (10), p.22 - 26, 2004/11
no abstracts in English
process; Universal scaling for 
-nucleiHayakawa, Takehito; Iwamoto, Nobuyuki; Shizuma, Toshiyuki; Kajino, Toshitaka*; Umeda, Hideyuki*; Nomoto, Kenichi*
Physical Review Letters, 93(16), p.161102_1 - 161102_4, 2004/10
Times Cited Count：60 Percentile：86.56(Physics, Multidisciplinary)no abstracts in English
Futakawa, Masatoshi; Naoe, Takashi*; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Ishikura, Shuichi*; Date, Hidefumi*
Zairyo, 53(3), p.283 - 288, 2004/03
no abstracts in English
Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Ishikura, Shuichi*; Haga, Katsuhiro; Kinoshita, Hidetaka; Kaminaga, Masanori; Hino, Ryutaro
Proceedings of ICANS-XVI, Volume 3, p.1295 - 1304, 2003/07
no abstracts in English
Kinoshita, Hidetaka; Haga, Katsuhiro; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Kaminaga, Masanori; Hino, Ryutaro
Proceedings of ICANS-XVI, Volume 3, p.1305 - 1314, 2003/07
The JAERI and the KEK are promoting a plan to construct the spallation neutron source at the Tokai Research Establishment, JAERI, under J-PARC project. A mercury circulation system has been designed so as to supply mercury to the target stably. Conceptual design is almost finished. But, it was necessary to confirm a mercury pump performance, and more, to investigate erosion rate under the mercury flow as well as an amount of mercury remained on the surface after drain. The mercury pump performance was tested under the mercury flow conditions by using an experimental gear pump, which had almost the same structure as a practical mercury pump to be expected, and the erosion rates in a mercury pipeline as were investigated. The discharged flow rates of the gear pump increased linearly with the rotation speed. Erosion rates obtained under the mercury velocity less than 1.6 m/s was found to be so small. For the amount of remaining mercury on the pipeline, radioactivity of this remaining mercury volume was found to be three-order lower than that of the target casing.
