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Godzilla is helping ITER prepare for tokamak assembly
ITER employees stand by Godzilla, the most powerful commercially available industrial robot available. (Photo: ITER)
Many people are familiar with Godzilla as a giant reptilian monster that emerged from the sea off the coast of Japan, the product of radioactive contamination. These days, there is a new Godzilla, but it has a positive—and entirely fact-based—association with nuclear energy. This one has emerged inside the Tokamak Assembly Preparation Building of ITER in southern France.
N. N. Ponomarev-Stepnoi, V. G. Bubelev, Ye. S. Glushkov, G. V. Kompaniets, V. I. Nosov
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 119 | Number 2 | February 1995 | Pages 108-115
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE95-A24075
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The hydrogen content of zirconium hydride blocks used as the moderator in Topaz-2-type space reactors is estimated according to correlation-regression analysis procedures of mathematical statistics and is based on the results of the definition of the reactivity of the blocks in a research critical assembly. A linear mathematical model for a variable response is formulated within the framework of the first-order perturbation theory applied to the estimation of reactivity effects in reactors. A PASPORT computer code is written based on the developed algorithm. The statistical analysis of the available data performed by using PASPORT shows that the developed approach allows determination of the insignificance of the contribution of the impurities to the reactivity of the blocks, verification of the manufacturer’s data on the hydrogen content in zirconium hydride blocks, and estimation of the reactivity shift in a standard block.