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Development of Y2O3 dispersion strengthened Cu alloy using Cu6Y and Cu2O addition through the MA-HIP process
Get PDFA copper-based material is the recent main trend of advanced heat sink materials for the solid divertor systems, providing an optimal combination of excellent mechanical strength and superior thermal conductivity under severe neutron irradiation environment. In particular, oxide dispersion strengthened Cu (ODS-Cu) alloy with yttrium oxide (Y2O3) nano-particles is one of the promising materials because of the lower influence of the particles on thermal conductivity and the higher resistance to coarsening of the particles due to their thermodynamic stability. The metal Y as the Y2O3 source has been used to fabricate ODS-Cu alloys in the previous work. In this study, we used the Cu6Y intermetallic compound as the new Y source material to form Y2O3 particles during mechanical alloying (MA) followed by hot isostatic pressing (HIP) process, and successfully fabricated ODS-Cu alloy with Y2O3 nano-particles using the Cu6Y compound. The effects of Cu2O addition in this process as the oxidant material were also investigated. Y2O3 nano-particles with typical size of 30 nm were successfully formed into the Cu intra-grains and around grain boundaries, and the density of the Y2O3 nano-particles increased by the Cu2O addition. Cu2O addition promoted the oxidation of Y from the Cu6Y compound, forming Y2O3 nano-particles.journal articl
Performance of exhaust detritiation system for a fusion test device in the initial phase of the operation
Get PDFThe exhaust detritiation system (EDS) has been operating for the deuterium plasma experiment in large fusion test device since 2016. The EDS consists of two systems: the molecular sieves (MS) type for plasma exhaust gas, the polymer membrane (PM) type for vacuum vessel purge gas during the maintenance activity. The tritium removal performance of the EDS was evaluated for four years. As the operation results, the maximum detritiation factor (DF) of the MS system was achieved to be more than 103 even though the average tritium concentration in the process gas was less than 104 Bq/m3. On the other hand, the DF of the PM system was less than 103, because the average tritium concentration during the vacuum vessel maintenance activity was at the order of less than 103 Bq/m3. Throughout the initial phase of the deuterium plasma experiment, the tritium concentration at the outlet of EDS was maintained to be less than the order of 102 Bq/m3. Also, a failure analysis was performed to evaluate the reliability of the EDS in the initial phase of the operation. Over the four years of operation, the overall failure rate of the MS system was on the order of 10−5 events/hour.journal articl
Design of Lightweight Superconducting Magnets for a Rotating Gantry With Active Shielding
Get PDFIn order to reduce the weight of superconducting magnets used in a rotating gantry for heavy particle radiotherapy, the design study of a cosine-theta superconducting magnet with active shielding was conducted. The superconducting magnet with active shielding was composed of a dipole coil and an active shield coil. The cross-section of each coil was designed, based on a cosine-theta current distribution made by the arrangement of a superconducting wire with NbTi filaments. The result of the design study indicated that the designed coil cross-sections can meet the requirements regarding the magnetic field distribution and the load factor for the magnet operation. Additionally, the weight of the superconducting magnet with active shielding was evaluated while comparing that of the superconducting magnet with an iron yoke. As a result, the superconducting magnet with the active shielding has a possibility to reduce the weight significantly.journal articl
Tritium Balance in Large Helical Device during and after the First Deuterium Plasma Experiment Campaign
Get PDF0000-0001-9941-1958The Large Helical Device (LHD) started the deuterium plasma experiment on March 7, 2017. Approximately 6.4 GBq of tritium was produced in the first deuterium plasma experiment campaign and were utilized as tracers for the investigation of release behavior and the balance of tritium in the LHD vacuum vessel. To determine the tritium balance in LHD, the tritium release from the vacuum vessel was continually observed during the plasma experiment period and the vacuum vessel maintenance activities. The tritium exhaust rate was approximately 32.8% at the end of the plasma experiment. After the plasma experiment, the vacuum vessel was ventilated by room air for the maintenance activity and the tritium release from the in-vessel components was observed. The tritium release rate gradually decreased and became constant after four-month in spite of water vapor concentration. It is suggested that the tritium release mechanism from the vacuum vessel is a diffusion-limited process from the bulk. The tritium release amount during the maintenance activity for one year was approximately 5.0%. Considering the decrease of tritium decay for 1.5 years, tritium inventory in LHD was estimated to be approximately 3.66 GBq (57.2%) at the end of maintenance activity.journal articl
Development of FAIR conductor and HTS coil for fusion experimental device
Get PDF0000-0002-1705-9039This study is aimed at the development of high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets for application in a fusion experimental device next to the Large Helical Device (LHD). By applying the features of an HTS, high current density and high stability can be balanced. As a candidate conductor, REBCO tapes and pure aluminum sheets are laminated and placed in the groove of an aluminum alloy jacket with a circular cross-section, after joining a lid to the jacket using friction stir welding, and twisting the conductor to homogenize its electrical and mechanical properties. The FAIR conductor derives its name from the processes and materials used in its development: Friction stir welding, an Aluminum alloy jacket, Indirect cooling, and REBCO tapes. Initially, the degradation of the critical current of the FAIR conductor is observed, which was eventually resolved. The development status of the FAIR conductor has been reported.journal articl
Engineering Analysis for Vacuum Vessel of CFQS Quasi-Axisymmetric Stellarator
Get PDFThe world's first quasi-axisymmetric stellarator CFQS (China First Quasi-axisymmetric Stellarator) will be constructed as the joint project of National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS) in Japan and Southwest Jiaotong University (SWJTU) in China [1]. Physics design of CFQS plasma was completed [2, 3], and numerous efforts are now being made to finalize engineering design of CFQS [4]. The CFQS vacuum vessel (VV) will be made of thin plates of SUS316L with thickness of 6 mm. The thickness is determined by considering fabricability and manufacturing cost. In this report, analyses have been performed to confirm the structural reliability of VV and evaluate the influence of eddy current using finite element method software ANSYS/MechanicalTM and ANSYS/MaxwellTM.journal articl
1 MeV Triton Orbit Analysis in EAST Plasmas
Get PDF0000-0003-4555-1837A fusion burning plasma is sustained by deuterium-tritium (DT)-born energetic alpha particles. Therefore, energetic alpha particles must be well confined. In a deuterium experiment, 1 MeV tritons are created by D(d,p)T reactions. 1 MeV triton is regarded as simulated DT-born alpha particles because their kinetic parameters are almost same. A study of 1 MeV triton confinement has been widely and intensively performed in fusion devices in order to understand alpha particle confinement. To understand 1 MeV triton confinement/loss in EAST plasmas, 1 MeV triton orbit analysis is performed in various plasma current (Ip) cases using LORBIT codes. It is shown that the number of lost tritons decreases with an increase in Ip. The number of lost tritons rapidly increases at 10−6 s; then, it is almost saturated at 10−5 s regardless of Ip. The pitch angle distribution of confined 1 MeV triton shows that tritons that exist in a wider pitch angle range can be confined in the higher Ip case compared with the lower Ip case.journal articl
Stabilization of energetic-ion driven toroidal Alfvén eigenmode by energetic electrons in tokamak plasmas
Get PDF0000-0002-8678-8075Energetic electron effects on an energetic-ion driven toroidal Alfvén eigenmode (TAE) are investigated via hybrid simulations of an MHD fluid interacting with energetic particles. Both energetic electrons and energetic ions described by drift-kinetic equations are included in the present work. It is found that the TAE can be effectively stabilized by off-axis peaked energetic electrons which are located near the mode center, while the centrally peaked energetic electrons fail to stabilize the mode. It is confirmed that the spatially localized pressure profile of energetic electrons causes the stabilization of TAE. The stabilized TAE has a more localized mode structure accompanied by a significant reduction in the energetic ion driving rate. The small change of mode frequency and dissipation rate indicate the stabilization mechanism is different from the so-called pressure gradient stabilization that drives the TAE into continuum. The results suggest that the strong plasma non-uniformity induced by the energetic electron beta profile may be responsible for the change of mode structure. It is also found that this stabilizing effect is more effective for a high-n TAE. Moreover, it is numerically verified that the positive (negative) pressure gradient at the TAE center will increase (decrease) the mode frequency. The wave-particle interactions are also analysed for a case with energetic electrons peaked at the inner side of the TAE center. It is found that the power transfer to a resonant barely trapped energetic electron, which taps energy from the wave, can be comparable to the power transfer from a resonant energetic ion. This suggests that if a sufficient number of resonant barely trapped electrons are present, they might stabilize energetic-ion driven TAE through the wave-particle interaction.journal articl
Thermal neutron measurement by single crystal CVD diamond detector applied with the pulse shape discrimination during deuterium plasma experiment in LHD
Get PDF0000-0003-0920-2154The Pulse shape discrimination (PSD) technique for single crystal CVD diamond detector (SDD) was applied to the real-time thermal neutron measurement during the 3rd campaign of Deuterium-Deuterium (D-D) plasma experiment in the Large Helical Device (LHD). The PSD method is based upon the different shape of electrical pulses produced in diamond by gamma-ray (triangular-shaped pulse) and energetic ions (rectangular-shaped pulse), respectively. An improved PSD was developed which makes use of the full width at half maximum (FWHM) and the full width at 2/3 of the peak height (FW2/3 PH). These two parameters reflect the difference in the pulse shape produced by gamma-rays and energetic ions.
The performance of this improved PSD technique was first tested irradiating the SDD by gamma-rays from 60Co and alphas from 241Am radiation sources, respectively. Then, using a 6LiF thermal neutron converter, a successful discrimination between gamma-rays and alpha particles and tritons generated by the 6Li(n,α)3H reaction induced by neutrons from 252Cf spontaneous fission neutron source was achieved. Thanks to this PSD processing technique, the thermal neutron detection efficiency increased about 1.7 times compared to previous measurements performed without the PSD technique.
The real-time thermal neutron measurement by SDD with this enhanced PSD processing was also used during D-D plasma discharges in the Large Helical Device (LHD). It was found that both the time integrated counts and the time evolution count rate measured by the SDD reproduced well that of the fission chamber used as official LHD neutron monitor. The capability of the SDD detector using the PSD technique of precise real-time thermal neutron measurement in LHD was demonstrated.journal articl