ITER safety and licensing update

Safety files were submitted by the ITER Organization to the French nuclear safety authorities in March 2010 as a part of the licensing process. These included the preliminary safety report (RPrS) which presents the extensive safety analyses performed for ITER. The report has been the subject of examination by the authorities and their advisors, and discussions with them have been held on many topics. In the light of this process, this paper discusses some of the topics that remain prominent in the safety analysis of ITER. In particular, the provision of the two safety functions, confinement of radioactive material and limitation of exposure to radiation, is explained and some of the potential challenges to them are identified. Amongst these are the risks of fire and explosion, and external events such as earthquake and loss of all electric power. Provisions in the ITER design, together with the characteristics of fusion, ensure that a very good safety performance will be achieved.     

Quantification of void networks of as-sprayed and annealed nanostructured yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) deposits manufactured by suspension plasma spraying

Suspension plasma spraying (SPS) allows processing a stabilized suspension of nanometer-sized feedstock particles to form thick (from 20 to 100 μm, average values) deposits.The void content and porous network of such deposits are difficult to quantify (in terms of void and size distributions, anisotropy, etc.) using conventional techniques due to their low resolution. The combination of ultra-small-angle X-ray scattering (USAXS) and helium pycnometry permits to address some of the characteristics of this void network.Deposits of yttria-partially stabilized zirconia (YSZ) were manufactured by plasma spraying a suspension made of solid sub-micrometer-sized particles (50 and 400 nm) with several sets of spray operating parameters. Results indicate that the average void size exhibits the same scale as the solid structure; i.e., nanometer sizes and multimodal size distribution which varies with spray operating parameters. About 90% of voids (by number) exhibit characteristic dimensions smaller than 40 nm. The cumulative void volume fraction of such as-sprayed deposits varies between about 13 and 20%, depending upon operating parameters. The void network architecture evolves also with annealing conditions: the void size distribution evolves toward higher void characteristic dimensions as a result of sintering of smallest voids but the cumulative void content does not decrease significantly.     

Experimental study of forming and tightening processes with thread forming screws

Thread forming screws are being increasingly used, particularly in the automobile industry. They are designed to directly assemble two parts by displacing material to form their own thread. This specificity implies knowledge of the screwing torque needed for the thread to be formed in the lower plate of the assembly and of the tightening torque necessary so as to establish the preload in the assembly. The experimental study presented in this paper is divided into two parts.The first concerns the thread forming process and shows the influence of the geometrical parameters of the thread forming screw and of the work-piece, and the influence of the process parameters on the maximum forming torque. A compromise can be proposed for the choice of the lead hole diameter, which is the most important parameter to be considered in order to keep a reasonable forming torque while obtaining threads deep enough to avoid stripping problems.The second part concerns the tightening process. An original experimental device is used to enable an empirical formula to be proposed, based on the ISO standard screw formula giving the tightening torque according to the preload applied inside the assembly.