Status of ceramic breeder pebble bed thermo-mechanics R&D and impact on breeder material mechanical strength

Among the international fusion solid breeder blanket community, there exists steady progress on the experimental, phenomenological, and numerical characterizations of the pebble bed effective thermo physical and mechanical properties, and of thermomechanic state of the bed under prototypical operating conditions. This paper summarizes recent achievements in pebble bed thermomechanics that were carried out by members of the IEA Fusion Nuclear Technology Subtask I Solid Breeding Blanket. A major goal is on developing predictive capability while identifying a pre-conditioned equilibrium stress state that would warrant pebble bed integrity during operations. The paper reviews and synthesizes existing computational modeling approaches for pebble bed thermomechanics prediction, and differentiating points of convergence/divergence among existing approaches. The progress toward modeling benchmark is also discussed. These advancements have led to a framework to help navigate future research.     

Development of the Water Cooled Ceramic Breeder Test Blanket Module in Japan

The development of a Water Cooled Ceramic Breeder (WCCB) Test Blanket Module (TBM) is being performed as one of the most important steps toward DEMO blanket in Japan. For the TBM testing and evaluation toward DEMO blanket, the module fabrication technology development by a candidate structural material, reduced activation martensitic/ferritic steel, F82H, is one of the most critical items from the viewpoint of realization of TBM testing in ITER. In Japan, fabrication of a real scale first wall, side walls, a breeder pebble bed box and assembling of the first wall and side walls have succeeded. Recently, the real scale partial mockup of the back wall was fabricated. The fabrication procedure of the back wall, whose thickness is up to 90 mm, was confirmed toward the fabrication of the real scale back wall by F82H. Important key technologies are almost clarified for the fabrication of the real scale TBM module mockup. From the view point of testing and evaluation, development of the technology of the blanket tritium recovery, development of advanced breeder and multiplier pebbles and the development of the blanket neutronics measurement technology are also performed. Also, tritium production and recovery test using D-T neutron in the Fusion Neutronics Source (FNS) facility has been started as the verification test of tritium production performance. This paper overviews the recent achievements of the development of the WCCB TBM in Japan.     

A calculation methodology proposed for liquid droplet impingement erosion

Bent pipe wall thinning has been often found at the elbow of the drain line and the high-pressure secondary feed-water bent pipe in nuclear reactors. Liquid droplet impingement (LDI) erosion could be regarded as one of the major causes and is a significant issue of the thermal hydraulics and structural integrity in aging and life extension for nuclear power plant safety. In this paper a computational methodology is established for simulation of LDI erosion using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation and theoretical calculation. Two-phase flow numerical simulations are conducted for standard elbow geometry, typically with the pipe diameter of 170 mm. This computational fluid model is built up by incompressible Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stoke equations using standard k–? turbulence model and the SIMPLE algorithm, and the numerical droplet model adopts the Lagrangian approach. The turbulence damping in vapor–droplets flow is theoretically analyzed by a damping function on the energy spectrum basis of single phase flow. Locally, a droplet impact angle function is employed to determine the overall erosion rate. Finally, the overall and local investigations are combined to purpose a general methodology of LDI erosion prediction procedure, which has been complemented into CFD code. Based on our more physical computational results, comparison with an available accident data was made to prove that our methodology could be an appropriate way to simulate and predict the bent pipe wall thinning phenomena.     

Analysis of Cs-adsorption behavior using a column filled with microcapsule beads of potassium copper hexacyanoferrate

Ash-washing technology is a crucially important technology for removing radioactive Cs from contaminated ash. For that technology, Cs⁺ removal from the ash-washing solution by the adsorbent is necessary. This study was conducted to establish rapid preparation of appropriate adsorption columns for Cs⁺ uptake. A one-site model was not used for analysis because the model cannot accommodate sites with different adsorption speed. Results demonstrated that the adsorption behavior of the column filled with the granules of potassium copper hexacyanoferrate was well reproduced by a two-site adsorption model with parameters chosen through analysis of batch adsorption test results.     

Gigacycle fatigue data sheets for advanced engineering materials

Gigacycle fatigue data sheets have been published since 1997 by the National Institute for Materials Science. They cover several areas such as high-cycle-number fatigue for high-strength steels and titanium alloys, the fatigue of welded joints, and high-temperature fatigue for advanced ferritic heat-resistant steels. Some unique testing machines are used to run the tests up to an extremely high number of cycles such as 10¹⁰ cycles. A characteristic of gigacycle fatigue failure is that it is initiated inside smooth specimens; the fatigue strength decreases with increasing cycle number and the fatigue limit disappears, although ordinary fatigue failure initiates from the surface of a smooth specimen and a fatigue limit appears. For welded joints, fatigue failure initiates from the notch root of the weld, because a large amount of stress is concentrated at the weld toe. The fatigue strength of welded joints has been obtained for up to 10⁸ cycles, which is an extremely high number of cycles for large welded joints. The project of producing gigacycle fatigue data sheets is still continuing and will take a few more years to complete. r 2007 Published by Elsevier Ltd.     

Sensitivity analysis of fuel pin failure performance under slow-ramp type transient overpower condition by using a fuel performance analysis code FEMAXI-FBR

The FEMAXI-FBR is a fuel performance analysis code and has been developed as one module of core disruptive evaluation system, the ASTERIA-FBR. The FEMAXI-FBR has reproduced the failure pin behavior during slow transient overpower. The axial location of pin failure affects the power and reactivity behavior during core disruptive accident, and failure model of which pin failure occurs at upper part of pin is used by reflecting the results of the CABRI-2 test. By using the FEMAXI-FBR, sensitivity analysis of uncertainty of design parameters such as irradiation conditions and fuel fabrication tolerances was performed to clarify the effect on axial location of pin failure during slow transient overpower. The sensitivity analysis showed that the uncertainty of design parameters does not affect the failure location. It suggests that the failure model with which locations of failure occur at upper part of pin can be adopted for core disruptive calculation by taking into consideration of design uncertainties.     

The effect of electro-degradation processing on microstructure of polyaniline/single-wall carbon nanotube composite films

Mesostructured polyaniline/single-wall carbon nanotube (PAni/SWCNT) composite film has been prepared through electrochemical polymerization/degradation processing. The microstructures of the films are observed before and after electro-degradation. Initial twisty SWCNT bundles are broken down and linked by the polymerization of PAni. Both crystalline and disordered PAni regions coexist in the PAni/SWCNT composite nanowires. The disordered regions are gradually dissolved while the crystalline regions are basically preserved after electro-degradation. The formation mechanism of the composite with special construction has been proposed. In addition, cyclic voltammetry measurements demonstrate that the electroactive performance of PAni/SWCNT composite is enhanced after electro-degradation. It is found that the specific capacitance of electro-degraded composite reaches up to 848.7 F/g, more than twice over the untreated film, which is ascribed to its profitable charge accessible interface and increased available crystalline PAni regions.     

Estimating the unconfined compressive strength of intact rocks from Equotip hardness

In order to utilize the Equotip hardness tester, originally developed in the field of metallic engineering, as an indirect method to predict the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of rock, laboratory tests were undertaken to establish the UCS, Equotip hardness (L-value) and porosity of nine rock types. Using existing data from Verwaal and Mulder (Int J Rock Mech Min Sci Geomech Abstr 30:659–662, 1993) and the results of laboratory tests, an equation relating UCS (MPa) and L-value obtained from single impacts (L _s) and porosity (n %) was derived, which provides a close approximation of the UCS value. An equation to relate UCS and Equotip hardness is also presented, although this is less accurate. It is considered Equotip testing has advantages over the commonly used Schmidt hammer test.      

Identification of Aloe species by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis

Juice and integument of leaves of 3 Aloe species, Aloe vera, A. ferox and A. africana, are not allowed to be used as food according to the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law in Japan. On the other hand, whole leaves of A. arborescens can be used as food. The present study was designed to distinguish Aloe species by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis. DNA was isolated from fresh and dried leaves of the 4 Aloe species. Five out of 32 different 10-mer primers examined were useful for analysis. By comparison of the characteristic bands of PCR products on agarose gel, it was possible to distinguish the 4 species. Thus, the botanical species of Aloe in commercial food products can be identified by RAPD analysis.