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2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
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Porous tungsten scrubbed by glow discharge cleaning
Researchers conducted experiments in Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory’s Lithium Tokamak Experiment-Beta (LTX-β) showing glow discharge cleaning can be used to effectively clean samples of porous tungsten—used to hold liquid lithium in fusion machine inner walls—manufactured from powder-reconstituted materials, according to a paper published in Nuclear Materials and Energy.
Tungsten is widely used for plasma-facing components in fusion machines, especially in the divertor region where materials must withstand extreme levels of power flow. According to the paper, spark plasma sintering can be used to make tungsten into spongelike samples for holding liquid lithium.
Ryo Yokoyama, Masahiro Kondo, Shunichi Suzuki, Christophe Journeau, Marco Pellegrini, Koji Okamoto
Nuclear Technology | Volume 210 | Number 5 | May 2024 | Pages 884-905
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2023.2262255
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Accomplishing the retrieval of fuel debris from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (1F) Unit 3 (1F3) requires an understanding of its distribution. In this study, we performed real-scale corium spreading and sedimentation behavior analyses using Lagrangian moving particle hydrodynamics and large eddy simulation methods. These methods allowed us to calculate the spreading of corium with various shear viscosities under water conditions and to propose the best estimation for the fuel debris distribution in 1F3. To minimize uncertainties arising from unknown boundary conditions, we investigated relevant parameters through literature review. Our analyses showed that highly viscous corium tends to pile up within the pedestal region under strong convective vapor and boiling heat transfer, while low-viscosity corium spreads to the outside of the pedestal regions regardless of cooling efficiency. We identified three cooling modes based on initial shear viscosity and cooling efficiency and predicted the fuel debris distribution in 1F3 by comparing our results to those of the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development/Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD/NEA) Benchmark Study of the Accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (BSAF) project. The distribution estimation of highly viscous corium derived from oxidic corium is consistent with the three-dimensional reconstructed image by TEPCO and the calculated results by the OECD/NEA BSAF project.