A New measuring method for elemental ratio and Vickers hardness of metal-oxide-boride materials based on Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS)

Abe, Yuta; Otaka, Masahiko; Okazaki, Kodai*; Kawakami, Tomohiko*; Nakagiri, Toshio

Proceedings of 2019 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2019) (Internet), 7 Pages, 2019/05

Since the hardness of fuel debris containing boride from BC pellet in control rod is estimated to be two times higher as that of oxide, such as UO and ZrO, it is necessary to select the efficient and appropriate operation for removal of fuel debris formed in the severe accident of nuclear power plants. We focused on the characteristics of LIBS, an innovative rapid chemical in-situ analysis technology that enables simultaneous detection of B, O, and other metal elements in fuel debris. Simulated solidified melt specimens were obtained in the plasma heating tests (CMMR-0/-2, performed by JAEA) of simulated fuel assembly (ZrO is used to simulated UO pellet, other materials such as stainless steel, BC are same as fuel assembly). The LIBS signals of (B/O)/Zr ratio showed good linear relationship with Vickers hardness. This technique can be also applied as in-situ assessment tool for elemental composition and Vickers hardness of metal-oxide-boride materials.

Development of remote sensing technique using radiation resistant optical fibers under high-radiation environment

Ito, Chikara; Naito, Hiroyuki; Ishikawa, Takashi; Ito, Keisuke; Wakaida, Ikuo

JPS Conference Proceedings (Internet), 24, p.011038_1 - 011038_6, 2019/01

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSCP.24.011038

A high-radiation resistant optical fiber has been developed in order to investigate the interiors of the reactor pressure vessels and the primary containment vessels at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. The tentative dose rate in the reactor pressure vessels is assumed to be up to 1 kGy/h. We developed a radiation resistant optical fiber consisting of a 1000 ppm hydroxyl doped pure silica core and 4 % fluorine doped pure silica cladding. We attempted to apply the optical fiber to remote imaging technique by means of fiberscope. The number of core image fibers was increased from 2000 to 22000 for practical use. The transmissive rate of infrared images was not affected after irradiation of 1 MGy. No change in the spatial resolution of the view scope by means of image fiber was noted between pre- and post-irradiation. We confirmed the applicability of the probing system, which consists of a view scope using radiation-resistant optical fibers.

Development of laser instrumentation devices for inner wall of high temperature piping system

Nishimura, Akihiko; Furusawa, Akinori; Takenaka, Yusuke*

AIP Conference Proceedings 2033, p.080002_1 - 080002_5, 2018/11

https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5067091

We developed a cpmpact laser maintenance device in order to access a 23 mm diameter for heat exchanger tubes of nuclear power plants. A laser instrumentation device was desighned and assembled to measure the corrosion depth at the inlet of heat exchanger tubes. This device can be applied for heat exchanger tubes in CSP where erosion or cracking might be caused by repetitive thermal induced stress.

Dynamic nuclear self-polarization of III-V semiconductors

Koizumi, Mitsuo; Goto, Jun*; Matsuki, Seishi*

Journal of Semiconductors, 39(8), p.082001_1 - 082001_5, 2018/08

https://doi.org/10.1088/1674-4926/39/8/082001

Dynamic nuclear self-polarization (DYNASP) is a phenomenon observed in III-V semiconductors. When electrons of the valence band of a semiconductor are optically excited to the conduction band, a relaxation process of the conduction electrons induces a large nuclear polarization to suddenly occur below a critical temperature. Extending the original theoretical work of Dyakonov et al., we examined the effect of spin distribution of valence electrons excited by the circularly polarized light and the effect of external magnetic field on the phenomenon of the nuclear self-polarization. We found that the nuclear polarization is achieved even above the critical temperatures by the effect of electron polarization and of the external magnetic field. To investigate the phenomenon experimentally, we constructed an apparatus for low-temperature experiments.

Preheat effect on titanium plate fabricated by sputter-free selective laser melting in vacuum

Sato, Yuji*; Tsukamoto, Masahiro*; Shobu, Takahisa; Yamashita, Yoshihiro*; Yamagata, Shuto*; Nishi, Takaya*; Higashino, Ritsuko*; Okubo, Tomomasa*; Nakano, Hitoshi*; Abe, Nobuyuki*

Applied Physics A, 124(4), p.288_1 - 288_6, 2018/04

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-018-1712-4

The dynamics of titanium (Ti) melted by laser irradiation was investigated in a synchrotron radiation experiment. As an indicator of wettability, the contact angle between a selective laser melting (SLM) baseplate and the molten Ti was measured by synchrotron X-rays at 30 keV during laser irradiation. As the baseplate temperature increased, the contact angle decreased, down to 28 degrees at a baseplate temperature of 500C. Based on this result, the influence of wettability of a Ti plate fabricated by SLM in a vacuum was investigated. It was revealed that the improvement of wettability by preheating suppressed sputtering generation, and a surface having a small surface roughness was fabricated by SLM in a vacuum.

Ultrasonic guided wave approach for inspecting concave surface of the laser butt-welded pipe

Furusawa, Akinori; Nishimura, Akihiko; Takebe, Toshihiko*; Nakamura, Masaki*; Takenaka, Yusuke*; Saijo, Shingo*; Nakamoto, Hiroyuki*

E-Journal of Advanced Maintenance (Internet), 9(2), p.44 - 51, 2017/08

http://www.jsm.or.jp/ejam/Vol.9No.2/AA/AA127/AA127.html

The aim of this work is to investigate the applicability of ultrasonic guided wave for evaluation of laser beam butt-welding quality. Ten in total test pipes having welding seam is prepared. Two piece of pipe are jointed and continuous laser beam is irradiated on the edges, varying laser irradiation power, welding side and surface profile of the adjacent edges of the pipe. Ultrasonic guided wave testing experiment is performed on the pipes. Torsional mode guided wave is excited by EMAT. The experimental results are analyzed and issues are discussed. The reflection wave bullet from the poor interface of the welding seam is clearly observed, whereas no reflection from fine welded line. From the aspect of laser irradiation power, welding side and surface profile of the adjacent edges, the relation between the interface condition and detection wave bullet are analyzed. It is found that the ultrasonic guided wave technologies have the potential for evaluating laser beam butt-welding seam.

Contribution by incorporation of laser technology and robotics technology for Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plants decommissioning

Kawatsuma, Shinji

Reza Kenkyu, 45(7), p.413 - 417, 2017/07

Inside and surrounding area of reactor buildings of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plants became high radiation condition because of radioactive materials release by the accidents caused by earthquake of Pacific coast on eastern and northern Japan. In the stage of emergency response to the accidents, more than 20 robots had been deployed, and some of them had equipped with laser technologies like as laser range finder. In the following decommissioning stage of the plans, operations under higher radiation condition will be required, so that varied laser technologies will be needed to fuse with robot technologies. Laser checker laser analysis would be expected besides laser range finder. However those technologies will be deployed under higher radiation condition, so radiation hardening and control stabilizing should be solved.

Statistical laser-scanner measurement model for mobile robot localization in human living environment

Yamada, Taichi; Oya, Akihisa*

Keisoku Jido Seigyo Gakkai Rombunshu, 52(12), p.661 - 670, 2016/12

https://doi.org/10.9746/sicetr.52.661

This paper introduces a laser-scanner measurement model using the statistic of laser-scanner data collected in advance for a mobile robot localization. In autonomous navigation, robots usually run based on self position in a map, and laser-scanners are useful sensors for localization. However, in human living environments like urban areas and parks, laser-scanner data is unstable due to moving objects and natural objects, and it is difficult to obtain landmarks like fixed objects. Therefore, our method make a map using statistics of laser-scanner data and calculates the laser-scanner measurement model based on the statistics. Our method is applied to Monte Carlo localization/particlelter. Because the map makes possible to use the frequency and distribution of laser-scanner data for localization, our method allows a robust localization for unstable laser scanner data. In extensive experiments, our method presented an accurate localization and a robot using our method ran stably in actual sidewalks.

Evaluation of annealing and double ion beam irradiation by a laser-induced and laser-detected surface acoustic wave diagnostic system

Kitazawa, Sin-iti*; Wakai, Eiichi; Aoto, Kazumi

Radiation Physics and Chemistry, 127, p.264 - 268, 2016/10

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radphyschem.2016.07.009

The effects of annealing and double ion irradiation on nuclear structural materials were investigated using a novel, non-destructive, non-contact diagnostic method. A laser-induced and laser-detected surface acoustic wave (SAW) was adopted as a diagnostic system. The SAWs propagation velocity and the SAWs vibration velocity along the normal direction of the surface were measured to investigate mechanical properties of the substrates. Change of the shear modulus was detected in the annealed substrates. Non-linear effect on amplitude of the excited SAW was observed on the double ion irradiated materials. The potential of the SAW diagnostic system for assessing nuclear structural materials was demonstrated.

Measurement of uranium spectrum using laser induced breakdown spectroscopy; High resolution spectroscopy (470-670 nm)

Akaoka, Katsuaki; Oba, Masaki; Miyabe, Masabumi; Otobe, Haruyoshi; Wakaida, Ikuo

JAEA-Research 2016-005, 40 Pages, 2016/05

JAEA-Research-2016-005.pdf:1.82MB

Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) method is an attractive technique because real-time, in-situ and remote elemental analysis is possible without any sample preparation. The LIBS technique can be applied for analyzing elemental composition of samples under severe environments such as the estimation of impurities in the next generation nuclear fuel material containing minor actinide (MA) and the detection of fuel debris in the post-accident nuclear core reactor of TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. For applying LIBS to the analysis of nuclear fuel materials, it is indispensable to identify the emission spectrum and its intensity on impurities intermingled within complex emission spectra of matrix elements such as uranium (U) and plutonium (Pu). In the present study, an echelle spectrometer with a resolving power of 50,000 was employed to identify spectra of natural uranium of wavelength ranging from 470 to 670 nm. The 173 atomic spectra and 119 ionic spectra can be identified. We have confirmed that the measured wavelength and oscillator strength of spectra are consistent with published values.