Conceptual study of Post Irradiation Examination (PIE) Facility at J-PARC

Saito, Shigeru; Meigo, Shinichiro; Makimura, Shunsuke*; Hirano, Yukinori*; Tsutsumi, Kazuyoshi*; Maekawa, Fujio

JAEA-Technology 2023-025, 48 Pages, 2024/03

JAEA-Technology-2023-025.pdf:3.11MB

JAEA has been developing Accelerator-Driven Systems (ADS) for research and development of nuclear transmutation using accelerators in order to reduce the volume and hazardousness of high-level radioactive waste generated by nuclear power plants. In order to prepare the material irradiation database necessary for the design of ADS and to study the irradiation effects in Lead-Bismuth Eutectic (LBE) alloys, a proton irradiation facility is under consideration at J-PARC. In this proton irradiation facility, 250 kW proton beams will be injected into the LBE spallation target, and irradiation tests under LBE flow will be performed for candidate structural materials for ADS. Furthermore, semiconductor soft-error tests, medical RI production, and proton beam applications will be performed. Among these, Post Irradiation Examination (PIE) of irradiated samples and RI separation and purification will be carried out in the PIE facility to be constructed near the proton irradiation facility. In this PIE facility, PIE of the equipment and samples irradiated in other facilities in J-PARC will also be performed. This report describes the conceptual study of the PIE facility, including the items to be tested, the test flow, the facilities, the test equipment, etc., and the proposed layout of the facility.

Neutron-production double-differential cross sections of Pb and Bi in proton-induced reactions near 100 MeV

Iwamoto, Hiroki; Meigo, Shinichiro; Satoh, Daiki; Iwamoto, Yosuke; Ishi, Yoshihiro*; Uesugi, Tomonori*; Yashima, Hiroshi*; Nishio, Katsuhisa; Sugihara, Kenta*; elik, Y.*; et al.

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B, 544, p.165107_1 - 165107_15, 2023/11

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2023.165107

The lack of double-differential cross-section (DDX) data for neutron production below the incident proton energy of 200 MeV hinders the validation of spallation models in technical applications, such as research and development of accelerator-driven systems (ADSs). The present study aims to obtain experimental DDX data for ADS spallation target materials in this energy region and identify issues related to the spallation models by comparing them with the analytical predictions. The DDXs for the () reactions of Pb and Bi in the 100-MeV region were measured over an angular range of 30 to 150 using the time-of-flight method. The measurements were conducted at Kyoto University utilizing the FFAG accelerator. The DDXs obtained were compared with calculation results from Monte Carlo-based spallation models and the evaluated nuclear data library, JENDL-5. Comparison between the measured DDX and analytical values based on the spallation models and evaluated nuclear data library indicated that, in general, the CEM03.03 model demonstrated the closest match to the experimental values. Additionally, the comparison highlighted several issues that need to be addressed in order to improve the reproducibility of the proton-induced neutron-production DDX in the 100 MeV region by these spallation models and evaluated nuclear data library.

Measurement of double-differential neutron yields for iron, lead, and bismuth induced by 107-MeV protons for research and development of accelerator-driven systems

Iwamoto, Hiroki; Nakano, Keita; Meigo, Shinichiro; Satoh, Daiki; Iwamoto, Yosuke; Sugihara, Kenta*; Nishio, Katsuhisa; Ishi, Yoshihiro*; Uesugi, Tomonori*; Kuriyama, Yasutoshi*; et al.

EPJ Web of Conferences, 284, p.01023_1 - 01023_4, 2023/05

https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202328401023

For accurate prediction of neutronic characteristics for accelerator-driven systems (ADS) and a source term of spallation neutrons for reactor physics experiments for the ADS at Kyoto University Critical Assembly (KUCA), we have launched an experimental program to measure nuclear data on ADS using the Fixed Field Alternating Gradient (FFAG) accelerator at Kyoto University. As part of this program, the proton-induced double-differential thick-target neutron-yields (TTNYs) and cross-sections (DDXs) for iron, lead, and bismuth have been measured with the time-of-flight (TOF) method. For each measurement, the target was installed in a vacuum chamber on the beamline and bombarded with 107-MeV proton beams accelerated from the FFAG accelerator. Neutrons produced from the targets were detected with stacked, small-sized neutron detectors for several angles from the incident beam direction. The TOF spectra were obtained from the detected signals and the FFAG kicker magnet's logic signals, where gamma-ray events were eliminated by pulse shape discrimination. Finally, the TTNYs and DDXs were obtained from the TOF spectra by relativistic kinematics. The measured TTNYs and DDXs were compared with calculations by the Monte Carlo transport code PHITS with its default physics model of INCL version 4.6 combined with GEM and those with the JENDL-4.0/HE nuclear data library.

Measurement of 107-MeV proton-induced double-differential thick target neutron yields for Fe, Pb, and Bi using a fixed-field alternating gradient accelerator at Kyoto University

Iwamoto, Hiroki; Nakano, Keita; Meigo, Shinichiro; Satoh, Daiki; Iwamoto, Yosuke; Sugihara, Kenta; Nishio, Katsuhisa; Ishi, Yoshihiro*; Uesugi, Tomonori*; Kuriyama, Yasutoshi*; et al.

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 60(4), p.435 - 449, 2023/04

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2022.2115423

Double-differential thick target neutron yields (TTNYs) for Fe, Pb, and Bi targets induced by 107-MeV protons were measured using the fixed-field alternating gradient accelerator at Kyoto University for research and development of accelerator-driven systems (ADSs) and fundamental ADS reactor physics research at the Kyoto University Critical Assembly (KUCA). Note that TTNYs were obtained with the time-of-flight method using a neutron detector system comprising eight neutron detectors; each detector has a small NE213 liquid organic scintillator and photomultiplier tube. The TTNYs obtained were compared with calculation results using Monte Carlo-based spallation models (i.e., INCL4.6/GEM, Bertini/GEM, JQMD/GEM, and JQMD/SMM/GEM) and the evaluated high-energy nuclear data library, i.e., JENDL-4.0/HE, implemented in the particle and heavy iontransport code system (PHITS). All models, including JENDL-4.0/HE, failed to predict high-energy peaks at a detector angle of 5. Comparing the energy- and angle-integrated spallation neutron yields at energies of 20 MeV estimated using the measured TTNYs and the PHITS indicated that INCL4.6/GEM would be suitable for the Monte Carlo transport simulation of ADS reactor physics experiments at the KUCA.

Robust and compact design of a 30-MW beam transport line for an accelerator-driven subcritical system

Yee-Rendon, B.; Kondo, Yasuhiro; Tamura, Jun; Nakano, Keita; Maekawa, Fujio; Meigo, Shinichiro

Proceedings of 19th Annual Meeting of Particle Accelerator Society of Japan (Internet), p.179 - 183, 2023/01

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency accelerator-driven subcritical system (JAEA-ADS) pursues the reduction of nuclear waste by transmuting minor actinides. JAEA-ADS project drives a 30-MW proton beam to a lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) spallation target to produce neutrons for a subcritical core reactor. To this end, the JAEA-ADS beam transport (BT) must provide a suitable beam profile and stable beam power to the beam window of the spallation target to avoid high-thermal stress in the components, such as the beam window. The beam transport was optimized by tracking a large number of macroparticles to mitigate the beam loss, performance with high stability in the presence of errors, and fulfill the length requirement on the transport. This work presents beam transport design and beam dynamics research for the JAEA-ADS project.

Proceedings of the 2021 Symposium on Nuclear Data; November 18-19, 2021, On-line Connection Conference

Yamaguchi, Yuji; Meigo, Shinichiro

JAEA-Conf 2022-001, 226 Pages, 2022/11

JAEA-Conf-2022-001.pdf:17.97MB

The 2021 Symposium on Nuclear Data was held as an online connection conference on November 18-19, 2021. The symposium was organized by the Nuclear Data Division of the Atomic Energy Society of Japan (AESJ) in cooperation with the Sigma Investigative Advisory Committee of AESJ, J-PARC Center, Nuclear Science and Engineering Center of Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), and High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK). In the symposium, tutorials "New Developments in TALYS and TENDL-2021" and "Role of ADS and its Development Issues" were proposed and held. Three sessions of lectures and discussions were held: "J-PARC and JAEA Facilities", "Current Status and Future Prospects of Nuclear Data Research", and "Medical, Isotope Production, and Analysis". In addition, recent research progress on experiments, nuclear theory, evaluation, benchmark, and applications were presented in the poster session. The total number of participants was 132 participants. Each oral and poster presentation was followed by an active question and answer session. This report consists of a total of 36 papers including 14 oral and 22 poster presentations.

Beam physics design of a 30-MW beam transport to the target for an accelerator-driven subcritical system

Yee-Rendon, B.; Meigo, Shinichiro; Kondo, Yasuhiro; Tamura, Jun; Nakano, Keita; Maekawa, Fujio; Iwamoto, Hiroki; Sugawara, Takanori; Nishihara, Kenji

Journal of Instrumentation (Internet), 17(10), p.P10005_1 - P10005_21, 2022/10

https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/17/10/P10005

To reduce the hazard of minor actinides in nuclear waste, JAEA proposed an accelerator-driven subcritical system (JAEA-ADS). The JAEA-ADS drives a subcritical reactor 800-MWth by 30-MW proton linac delivering the beam to the spallation neutron target inside the reactor. The beam transport to the target (BTT) is required for high-beam power stability and low peak density to ensure the integrity of the beam window. Additionally, the design should have compatible with the reactor design for the maintenance and replacement of the fuel and the beam window. A robust-compact BTT design was developed through massive multiparticle simulations. The beam optics was optimized to guarantee beam window feasibility requirements by providing a low peak density of less than 0.3 A/mm. Beam stability was evaluated and improved by simultaneously applying the linac's input beam and element errors. The input beam errors to the reactor were based on the beam degradation obtained by implementing fast fault compensation in the linac. Those results show that the BTT fulfills the requirements for JAEA-ADS.

Measurement of nuclide production cross sections for proton-induced reactions on Ni and Zr at 0.4, 1.3, 2.2, and 3.0 GeV

Takeshita, Hayato*; Meigo, Shinichiro; Matsuda, Hiroki*; Iwamoto, Hiroki; Nakano, Keita; Watanabe, Yukinobu*; Maekawa, Fujio

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B, 527, p.17 - 27, 2022/09

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2022.07.002

To improve accuracy of nuclear design of accelerator driven nuclear transmutation systems and so on, nuclide production cross sections on Ni and Zr were measured for GeV energy protons. The measured results were compared with PHITS calculations, JENDL/HE-2007 and so on.

Beam dynamics studies for fast beam trip recovery of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency accelerator-driven subcritical system

Yee-Rendon, B.; Kondo, Yasuhiro; Tamura, Jun; Nakano, Keita; Maekawa, Fujio; Meigo, Shinichiro

Physical Review Accelerators and Beams (Internet), 25(8), p.080101_1 - 080101_17, 2022/08

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevAccelBeams.25.080101

High reliability and availability are primary goals for the operation of particle accelerators, especially for accelerator-driven subcritical systems (ADS). ADSs employ high-power beams for the transmutation of minor actinide; as a result, the amount and the radiotoxicity of the nuclear waste are considerably reduced. To this end, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency is designing a 30-MW continuous wave (cw) super-conducting proton linear accelerator (linac) that supplies neutrons to an 800-MW subcritical reactor by a spallation process. The major challenge for an ADS linac is the strict control of the beam trip duration and its frequency to avoid thermal stress in the subcritical reactor structures. The maximum allowed beam trips for failures longer than a few seconds are estimated to be far below the rate achieved in current accelerators. Thus, we implemented a combination of hot standby and local compensation that enables a fast beam recovery. This work comprehensively investigated the tolerance of our linac lattice for the local compensations for failures in superconducting cavities and magnets. This scheme includes simultaneous compensation of multiple cavities in independent and same cryomodules that significantly enhance the reliability of the linac. The returned schemes present acceptable beam performance to guarantee the integrity of the linac and the beam transport to the target; moreover, they satisfy the beam stability in the beam window. In addition, the readjusted elements are subjected to moderate stress to ensure a sustainable operation. This manuscript reports the beam dynamics results toward fulfilling the high reliability demanded by an ADS linac.

Status of the JAEA-ADS superconducting linac design

Yee-Rendon, B.; Kondo, Yasuhiro; Tamura, Jun; Meigo, Shinichiro; Maekawa, Fujio

Proceedings of 64th ICFA Advanced Beam Dynamics Workshop on High Intensity and High Brightness Hadron Beams (ICFA-HB2021) (Internet), p.30 - 34, 2022/04

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) is working in the research and development of an Accelerator Driven Subcritical System (ADS) for the transmutation of nuclear waste. To this end, JAEA is designing a 30-MW CW proton linear accelerator (linac) with a beam current of 20 mA. The JAEA-ADS linac starts with a Normal Conducting (NC) up to an energy of 2.5 MeV. Then, five Superconducting (SC) sections accelerate the beam up to 1.5 GeV. The biggest challenge for this ADS linac is the stringent reliability required to avoid thermal stress in the subcritical reactor, which is higher than the achieved in present accelerators. For this purpose, the linac pursues a strong-stable design that ensures the operation with low beam loss and fault-tolerance capabilities to continue operating in case of failure. This work presents the beam dynamics results toward achieving high reliability for the JAEA-ADS linac.