Mechanical properties of pure tungsten and tantalum irradiated by protons and neutrons at the Swiss spallation-neutron source

Saito, Shigeru; Suzuki, Kazuhiro; Obata, Hiroki; Dai, Y.*

Nuclear Materials and Energy (Internet), 34, p.101338_1 - 101338_9, 2023/03

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nme.2022.101338

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.

Annual report on the environmental radiation monitoring around the Tokai Reprocessing Plant FY2020

Nakada, Akira; Nakano, Masanao; Kanai, Katsuta; Seya, Natsumi; Nishimura, Shusaku; Nemoto, Masashi; Tobita, Keiji; Futagawa, Kazuo; Yamada, Ryohei; Uchiyama, Rei; et al.

JAEA-Review 2021-062, 163 Pages, 2022/02

JAEA-Review-2021-062.pdf:2.87MB

Environmental radiation monitoring around the Tokai Reprocessing Plant has been performed by the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Engineering Laboratories, based on "Safety Regulations for the Reprocessing Plant of Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Chapter IV - Environmental Monitoring". This annual report presents the results of the environmental monitoring and the dose estimation to the hypothetical inhabitant due to the radioactivity discharged from the plant to the atmosphere and the sea during April 2020 to March 2021. In this report, some data include the influence of the accidental release from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station of Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. (the trade name was changed to Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc. on April 1, 2016) in March 2011. Appendices present comprehensive information, such as monitoring programs, monitoring methods, monitoring results and their trends, meteorological data and discharged radioactive wastes. In addition, the data which were influenced by the accidental release and exceeded the normal range of fluctuation in the monitoring, were evaluated.

Annual report on the environmental radiation monitoring around the Tokai Reprocessing Plant FY2019

Nakano, Masanao; Fujii, Tomoko; Nemoto, Masashi; Tobita, Keiji; Seya, Natsumi; Nishimura, Shusaku; Hosomi, Kenji; Nagaoka, Mika; Yokoyama, Hiroya; Matsubara, Natsumi; et al.

JAEA-Review 2020-069, 163 Pages, 2021/02

JAEA-Review-2020-069.pdf:4.78MB

Environmental radiation monitoring around the Tokai Reprocessing Plant has been performed by the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Engineering Laboratories, based on "Safety Regulations for the Reprocessing Plant of Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Chapter IV - Environmental Monitoring". This annual report presents the results of the environmental monitoring and the dose estimation to the hypothetical inhabitant due to the radioactivity discharged from the plant to the atmosphere and the sea during April 2019 to March 2020. In this report, some data include the influence of the accidental release from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station of Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. (the trade name was changed to Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc. on April 1, 2016) in March 2011. Appendices present comprehensive information, such as monitoring programs, monitoring methods, monitoring results and their trends, meteorological data and discharged radioactive wastes. In addition, the data which were influenced by the accidental release and exceeded the normal range of fluctuation in the monitoring, were evaluated.

Experimental validation of tensile properties measured with thick samples taken from MEGAPIE target

Saito, Shigeru; Suzuki, Kazuhiro; Hatakeyama, Yuichi; Suzuki, Miho; Dai, Y.*

Journal of Nuclear Materials, 534, p.152146_1 - 152146_16, 2020/06

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2020.152146

A post-irradiation examination (PIE) was performed on the tensile specimens prepared from the MEGAPIE (MEGAwatt Pilot Experiment) target which were irradiated in flowing lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE). Thicknesses of the specimens were over two times larger than that of the standard specimen. The PIE revealed that the T91 specimens showed a 1.5-2.0 times larger total elongation (TE) compared to the literature values for a specimen with standard t/w (ratio of thickness to width). It could be suggested that the t/w and TE were strongly correlated. Then, we tried to investigate the effects of the t/w on the TE by comparing unirradiated specimens. We found that there was no t/w dependence on the strength and uniform elongation. On the other hand, the TE increases with increasing t/w. Based on the experimental data, we correlated the TE with various specimens t/w to estimate appropriate TE values, including that for the standard specimen.

Safety evaluation of self actuated shutdown system for Gen-IV SFR

Saito, Hiroyuki*; Yamada, Yumi*; Oyama, Kazuhiro*; Matsunaga, Shoko*; Yamano, Hidemasa; Kubo, Shigenobu

Proceedings of 2017 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2017) (CD-ROM), 10 Pages, 2017/04

A self-actuated shutdown system (SASS) is a passive device, which can detach a control rod for reactor shutdown in response to excessive increase in coolant temperature. Since a detachment temperature, which triggers release of a control rod, and a response time are identified as important parameters for validity analyses, this study focused on investigation of the response time and the detachment temperature, and safety analysis to see feasibility of the SASS in low power. For this purpose, design modifications were made to shorten the response time and three-dimensional thermal-hydraulic analysis in a low power operation was carried out in order to confirm the response time. The resulting detachment temperature level is lower than previous studies, leading to improved safety parameters. Based on improved parameters, a safety analysis to see feasibility of the SASS in low power was carried out. From this safety evaluation, it was confirmed that core damage can be prevented by the SASS with flow collector in the case of LOF type ATWS event.

Progress report of Japanese simulation research projects using the high-performance computer system Helios in the International Fusion Energy Research Centre

Ishizawa, Akihiro*; Idomura, Yasuhiro; Imadera, Kenji*; Kasuya, Naohiro*; Kanno, Ryutaro*; Satake, Shinsuke*; Tatsuno, Tomoya*; Nakata, Motoki*; Nunami, Masanori*; Maeyama, Shinya*; et al.

Purazuma, Kaku Yugo Gakkai-Shi, 92(3), p.157 - 210, 2016/03

http://www.jspf.or.jp/Journal/PDF_JSPF/jspf2016_03/jspf2016_03-157.pdf

The high-performance computer system Helios which is located at The Computational Simulation Centre (CSC) in The International Fusion Energy Research Centre (IFERC) started its operation in January 2012 under the Broader Approach (BA) agreement between Japan and the EU. The Helios system has been used for magnetised fusion related simulation studies in the EU and Japan and has kept high average usage rate. As a result, the Helios system has contributed to many research products in a wide range of research areas from core plasma physics to reactor material and reactor engineering. This project review gives a short catalogue of domestic simulation research projects. First, we outline the IFERC-CSC project. After that, shown are objectives of the research projects, numerical schemes used in simulation codes, obtained results and necessary computations in future.

Behavior of tritium in the vacuum vessel of JT-60U

Kobayashi, Kazuhiro; Torikai, Yuji*; Saito, Makiko; Alimov, V. Kh.*; Miya, Naoyuki; Ikeda, Yoshitaka

Fusion Science and Technology, 67(2), p.428 - 431, 2015/03

https://doi.org/10.13182/FST14-T46

Disassembly of the JT-60U torus was started in 2010 after 18 years deuterium operations. In the disassembly of the JT-60U torus, tritium retention in the vacuum vessel of the JT-60U is one of the most important safety issues for the fusion reactor. It was very important to study the tritium behavior in Inconel 625 from viewpoint of the clearance procedure in the future plan. After the tritium release for about 1 year at 298 K, the residual tritium in the specimen was released by heating up to 1073 K, and then the residual tritium in the specimen was measured by chemical etching method. Most of the chemical form of the released tritium was HTO. The contaminated specimen by tritium was released continuously the diffusible tritium under the ambient condition. In the tritium release experiment, most of tritium in the specimen was released during 1 year.

Development and test of JT-60SA central solenoid model coil

Murakami, Haruyuki; Kizu, Kaname; Tsuchiya, Katsuhiko; Koide, Yoshihiko; Yoshida, Kiyoshi; Obana, Tetsuhiro*; Takahata, Kazuya*; Hamaguchi, Shinji*; Chikaraishi, Hirotaka*; Natsume, Kyohei*; et al.

IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, 24(3), p.4200205_1 - 4200205_5, 2014/06

https://doi.org/10.1109/TASC.2013.2282276

Central Solenoid (CS) of JT-60SA are designed with the NbSn cable in conduit conductor. CS model coil (CSMC) was manufactured by using the real manufacturing jigs and procedure to validate the CS manufacturing processes before starting mass production. The dimensions of the CSMC are the same as real quad-pancake. The cold test of the CSMC was performed and the test results satisfied the design requirements. These results indicate that the manufacturing processes of the JT-60SA CS has been established. In this paper, the development and the validation of the CS manufacturing processes are described.

Influence of fragmentation on jet breakup behaviour

Iwasawa, Yuzuru*; Abe, Yutaka*; Kaneko, Akiko*; Kuroda, Taihei*; Matsuo, Eiji*; Ebihara, Kenichi; Sakaba, Hiroshi*; Koyama, Kazuya*; Ito, Kazuhiro*; Nariai, Hideki*

Proceedings of 15th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics (NURETH-15) (USB Flash Drive), 12 Pages, 2013/05

In the safety design of a Fast Breeder Reactor(FBR), when it is supposed that a Core Disruptive Accident(CDA) occurs, it is strongly required that molten core materials are completely solidified and are cooled down by sodium coolant in a reactor vessel. In this study, we injected molten alloy and transparent fluid, which are a simulant of the molten core material, into water, which is a simulant of the coolant. In this study, we injected molten alloy and transparent fluid, which simulate the molten core material, into water, which simulates the coolant. In the experiment, we observed the jet breakup behavior of them using a high speed video camera, and compared the observe images with the previous theories. In addition, we simulated numerically the qualitative behavior of the liquid jet using a two-phase fluid model of the lattice Boltzmann method.

High-resolution Compton cameras based on Si/CdTe double-sided strip detectors

Odaka, Hirokazu*; Ichinohe, Yuto*; Takeda, Shinichiro*; Fukuyama, Taro*; Hagino, Koichi*; Saito, Shinya*; Sato, Tamotsu*; Sato, Goro*; Watanabe, Shin*; Kokubun, Motohide*; et al.

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, 695, p.179 - 183, 2012/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2011.12.061

We have developed a new Si/CdTe semiconductor double-sided strip detector (DSD) Compton camera. The camera consists of a 500-m-thick Si-DSD and four layers of 750-m-thick CdTe-DSDs all of which have common electrode configuration segmented into 128 strips on each side with pitches of 250m. In order to realize high angular resolution and to reduce size of the detector system, a stack of DSDs with short stack pitches of 4 mm is utilized to make the camera. Taking advantage of the excellent energy and position resolutions of the semiconductor devices, the camera achieves high angular resolutions of 4.5 degrees at 356 keV and 3.5 degrees at 662 keV. To obtain such high resolutions together with an acceptable detection efficiency, we demonstrate data reduction methods including energy calibration using Compton scattering continuum and depth sensing in the CdTe-DSD. We also discuss imaging capability of the camera and show simultaneous multi-energy imaging.