Study on eutectic melting behavior of control rod materials in core disruptive accidents of sodium-cooled fast reactors; Project overview and progress until JFY2022

Yamano, Hidemasa; Takai, Toshihide; Emura, Yuki; Fukuyama, Hiroyuki*; Nishi, Tsuyoshi*; Morita, Koji*; Nakamura, Kinya*; Pellegrini, M.*

Nihon Kikai Gakkai 2023-Nendo Nenji Taikai Koen Rombunshu (Internet), 5 Pages, 2023/09

A research project has been conducting thermophysical property measurement of a eutectic melt, eutectic melting reaction and relocation experiments, eutectic reaction mechanism investigation, and physical model development on the eutectic melting reaction for reactor application analysis in order to simulate the eutectic melting reaction and relocation behavior of boron carbide as a control rod material and stainless steel during a core disruptive accident in an advanced sodium-cooled fast reactor designed in Japan. This paper describes the project overview and progress until JFY2022.

Development of nondestructive elemental analysis system for Hayabusa2 samples using muonic X-rays

Osawa, Takahito; Nagasawa, Shunsaku*; Ninomiya, Kazuhiko*; Takahashi, Tadayuki*; Nakamura, Tomoki*; Wada, Taiga*; Taniguchi, Akihiro*; Umegaki, Izumi*; Kubo, Kenya*; Terada, Kentaro*; et al.

ACS Earth and Space Chemistry (Internet), 7(4), p.699 - 711, 2023/04

https://doi.org/10.1021/acsearthspacechem.2c00303

The concentrations of carbon and other major elements in asteroid samples provide very important information on the birth of life on the Earth and the solar-system evolution. Elemental analysis using muonic X-rays is one of the best analytical methods to determine the elemental composition of solid materials, and notably, is the only method to determine the concentration of light elements in bulk samples in a non-destructive manner. We developed a new analysis system using muonic X-rays to measure the concentrations of carbon and other major elements in precious and expectedly tiny samples recovered from the asteroid Ryugu by spacecraft Hayabusa2. Here we report the development process of the system in 4 stages and their system configurations, The analysis system is composed of a stainless-steel analysis chamber, an acrylic glove box for manipulating asteroid samples in a clean environment, and Ge semiconductor detectors arranged to surround the analysis chamber. The performance of the analysis system, including the background level, which is crucial for the measurement, was greatly improved from the first stage to the later ones. Our feasibility study showed that the latest model of our muonic X-ray analysis system is capable of determining the carbon concentration in Hayabusa2's sample model with an uncertainty of less than 10 percent in a 6-day measurement.

Progress of evaluation of beam coupling impedance reduction for the Eddy-current type septum magnet in J-PARC MR

Kobayashi, Aine*; Toyama, Takeshi*; Nakamura, Takeshi*; Shobuda, Yoshihiro; Ishii, Koji*; Tomizawa, Masahito*; Takeuchi, Yasunao*; Sato, Yoichi*

Proceedings of 19th Annual Meeting of Particle Accelerator Society of Japan (Internet), p.19 - 23, 2023/01

https://www.pasj.jp/web_publish/pasj2022/proceedings/PDF/TUOB/TUOB01.pdf

In the J-PARC main ring, density modulation due to longitudinal beam instability occurs during the debunching process of coasting beams. This leads to the generation of an electron cloud, which in turn causes transverse beam instabilities. The transverse beam instability causes beam loss and the electron cloud is assumed to cause vacuum degradation, both of which hinder the beam intensity enhancement, so it is essential to clarify the causes and countermeasures. In particular, the longitudinal impedance of several hundred MHz has been investigated as relevant, and measures to reduce the impedance of individual devices are underway. The Eddy-current type septum magnet, newly installed this year, was found to have a large impedance by simulation. Therefore, we are investigating a method to reduce the impedance by a flange loaded with SiC radio wave absorber, which can be applied to locations where there is no spatial margin to install a taper. In this report, we will discuss the characterization of SiC to be used in actual devices, impedance simulation reflecting the results of SiC evaluation, and evaluation of the effect of impedance countermeasures by impedance measurement using the wire method, and progress in evaluating the effect on the beam by beam simulation and beam study.

Impedance reduction by a SiC-loaded flange and its application to the J-PARC main ring septum magnet

Kobayashi, Aine*; Toyama, Takeshi*; Nakamura, Takeshi*; Shobuda, Yoshihiro; Ishi, Koji*

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, 1031, p.166515_1 - 166515_12, 2022/05

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2022.166515

The beam power of the main ring of the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC) is currently being increased. For high-power beam realization, it is essential to suppress the beam instability that limits the beam power and to estimate and enact countermeasures against the beam coupling impedance of individual devices. The fast-extraction (FX) septum magnet will be replaced with another magnet that copes with higher numbers of repetition cycles. Despite their different structures, both septa demonstrated a large impedance in estimates performed by the CST studio suite wake-field solver. The widely used taper impedance-reduction method would be effective but receives spatial constraints. By attaching a copper plate and SiC to the flange of the septum magnet, we could effectively reduce the impedance. The copper plate on the flange reduces the impedance below the cut-off frequency. Moreover, when SiC was loaded, the remaining impedance was three times lower than when using the copper plate alone. After applying this method to the new septum magnet, the maximum longitudinal impedance was reduced to 1% of the value without countermeasures, largely improving the beam stability condition. We also estimated the required thickness of SiC and the calorific value. This method saves space and is installed by simple attachment to the flange, regardless of the shape of the beam pipe. Therefore, it is also applicable to other devices.

Radiological estimation and validation for the Accelerator-Based Boron Neutron Capture Therapy Facility at the Ibaraki Neutron Medical Research Center

Nakashima, Hiroshi; Nakamura, Takemi; Kobayashi, Hitoshi*; Tanaka, Susumu*; Kumada, Hiroaki*

NEA/NSC/R(2021)2 (Internet), p.142 - 151, 2021/12

Aiming of development of facilities for boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) that can be installed in hospitals, an accelerator-based BNCT facility is being developed at the Ibaraki Neutron Medical Research Center under a collaboration among the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, the University of Tsukuba, and other institutions. It consists of a proton accelerator, having a maximum beam power of 80 kW, and a target, moderator, collimator and shield (TMCS) system. For the design concept, to satisfy the BNCT beam conditions and achieve a low activation, the radiation behavior in the TMCS system was simulated by the Monte Carlo method and this system configuration was optimized accordingly. In addition, the radiation estimation of the TMCS system was verified via several experiments and its applicability for BNCT was proved. This report reviews the estimation and validation studies for the development of the accelerator-based BNCT facility.

Study on eutectic melting behavior of control rod materials in core disruptive accidents of sodium-cooled fast reactors, 1; Project overview and progress until 2019

Yamano, Hidemasa; Takai, Toshihide; Furukawa, Tomohiro; Kikuchi, Shin; Emura, Yuki; Kamiyama, Kenji; Fukuyama, Hiroyuki*; Higashi, Hideo*; Nishi, Tsuyoshi*; Ota, Hiromichi*; et al.

Proceedings of 28th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE 28) (Internet), 11 Pages, 2021/08

https://doi.org/10.1115/ICONE28-63301

One of the key issues in a core disruptive accident (CDA) evaluation in sodium-cooled fast reactors is eutectic reactions between boron carbide (BC) and stainless steel (SS) as well as its relocation. Such behaviors have never been simulated in CDA numerical analyses in the past, therefore it is necessary to develop a physical model and incorporate the model into the CDA analysis code. This study focuses on BC-SS eutectic melting experiments, thermophysical property measurement of the eutectic melt, and physical model development for the eutectic melting reaction. The eutectic experiments involve the visualization experiments, eutectic reaction rate experiments and material analyses. The thermophysical properties are measured in a range from solid to liquid state. The physical model is developed for a CDA computer code based on the measured data of the eutectic reaction rate and the physical properties. This paper describes the project overview and progress of experimental and analytical studies conducted until 2019. Specific results in this paper are the validation of physical model describing BC-SS eutectic reaction in the CDA analysis code, SIMMER-III, through the numerical analysis of the BC-SS eutectic melting experiments in which a BC block was placed in a SS pool.

Study of the transverse beam instability caused by the resistive-wall impedance at the J-PARC main ring

Kobayashi, Aine*; Toyama, Takeshi*; Shobuda, Yoshihiro; Nakamura, Takeshi*; Sato, Yoichi*

Proceedings of 17th Annual Meeting of Particle Accelerator Society of Japan (Internet), p.684 - 688, 2020/09

no abstracts in English

Microscopic analyses on Zr adsorbed IDA chelating resin by PIXE and EXAFS

Arai, Yoichi; Watanabe, So; Ono, Shimpei; Nomura, Kazunori; Nakamura, Fumiya*; Arai, Tsuyoshi*; Seko, Noriaki*; Hoshina, Hiroyuki*; Hagura, Naoto*; Kubota, Toshio*

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B, 477, p.54 - 59, 2020/08

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2019.10.028

Emergent spin-1 Haldane gap and ferroelectricity in a frustrated spin- ladder

Ueda, Hiroshi*; Onoda, Shigeki*; Yamaguchi, Yasuhiro*; Kimura, Tsuyoshi*; Yoshizawa, Daichi*; Morioka, Toshiaki*; Hagiwara, Masayuki*; Hagihara, Masato*; Soda, Minoru*; Masuda, Takatsugu*; et al.

Physical Review B, 101(14), p.140408_1 - 140408_6, 2020/04

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.101.140408

BNCT research at JRR-4

Nakamura, Takemi

CROSS T&T, (64), p.18 - 23, 2020/02

no abstracts in English