| ■ J-PARC News - August 2014 (Issue #112) |
| As the first talk of this meeting Dr. Yujiro Ikeda, Director of the J-PARC Center, gave a talk entitled "The Current Status at J-PARC" covering topics such as the response after the hadron accident, and the current status and future plans for the Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility (MLF). Following this talk, an overview of the current status of neutron utilization by industry was presented. There were also five reports by MLF users on the results of experiments using neutrons at MLF. Like previous meetings, this meeting was attended by many users from industry, and it gave a strong impression of the growth in industrial use of neutrons. |
| ●J-PARC Scientists Teach at Tokai-mura Summer School (July 24, Ricotti, Tokai) |
| In order to deepen interest in science, Tokai village organized a "science summer school" for first-year students of two junior high schools in the village. Four lectures were given by four young researchers who are active at J-PARC and the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) . 400 students from both school were divided into two groups (morning and afternoon sessions), and each group listened to two lectures. At the opening ceremony of each session, Dr. Masaru Tada of the Neutrino Section of J-PARC gave an easy-to-understand overview of elementary particles entitled "From the Universe to the Elementary Particles, Quarks." During the morning session, Dr. Seiko Kawamura of the Neutron Science Section gave a talk entitled "Exploring the World of Matter with Neutrons" in which she discussed her own research, including the story of how she became a scientist. In the afternoon, Dr. Tada also gave a lecture entitled "Secrets of Neutrinos: The Smallest Matter". |
 
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| ●J-PARC Hello Science (August 6 and 19, Tokai Plaza Cafe of IQBRC) - "Feel the Power of Electricity and Magnetism!" Summer Workshop for Children - |
| J-PARC held a science project workshop called "J-PARC Hello Science" for fifth and sixth-year students from elementary schools in the village. First, the J-PARC public relations advisor, Dr. Shinichi Sakamoto, explained the power of electricity to the children in an easy-to-understand way through quizzes and experiments in which static electricity was used to move and rotate familiar objects. Then the students worked to make a "pendulum bell" using static electricity, and a "clip motor" using enamel wire and a magnet. The participating children received support from the staff, and had fun working on their projects. They gave a big cheer when the clip motor they made began to rotate. |
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| (1) At the linac, work to replace the initial accelerator section (ion source, RFQ) is continuing. (2) In the Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility (MLF) , construction of the Muon S1 Line is underway in the First Experimental Hall. (3) A new high-frequency cavity (FT3L metal magnet core) is being developed for the 50 GeV synchrotron (MR) . |
| The plan for increasing the intensity of the proton beam of the MR calls for a reduction of the beam injection/acceleration/extraction repetition time from the current 2.5 seconds to about 1.3 seconds. To achieve this, it will be necessary to increase the acceleration voltage of the RF cavity which accelerates the beam to about 560 kV, roughly 2 times the current value, and we are currently developing and fabricating a new high-gradient cavity. |
| The J-PARC Accelerator Group, in cooperation with Hitachi Metals, the Particle & Nuclear Physics Division, the Cryogenics Section and others has successfully developed a new metal magnetic core of the actual equipment size (diameter 800 mm) for the MR by reusing a large electromagnetic for accelerator experiments. The group has also established a mass production method. By using the newly developed core, it is possible to achieve an acceleration voltage approximately twice that of the current value. |
| This working group was established in August of last year to evaluate the research situation relating to partitioning and transmutation technologies, and the group released an interim report in November. In that report, it was decided to proceed with research and development on the J-PARC Transmutation Experimental Facility (TEF) while reviewing facility feasibility. In the recent meetings, the persons in charge at J-PARC reported on topics such as the current state and future directions of R&D on TEF, as well as progress on issues such as international cooperation and human resource development, and specifics were discussed. Based on these results, the group will develop findings on the best approach for moving forward with TEF. |
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| ●Unannounced Communication Drill by Ibaraki Prefecture (July 22) |
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| In Ibaraki Prefecture, an unannounced drill of emergency communication is carried out every year for sites which conclude an agreement on nuclear safety within the prefecture. |
| This year, at 18:46 on July 22, an announcement that a drill would be conducted was received by the Nuclear Science Research Institute (NSRI) of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) The drill was conducted at the Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility (MLF) based on a scenario assuming an alarm had been issued indicating an abnormal release of radioactive material. In addition to establishing an accident site command post at MLF, an on-site response headquarters at NSRI, and a response headquarters at the JAEA Head Office and Tokyo Office, a connection was established via teleconferencing with the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) assuming that a joint JAEA-KEK accident response headquarters would be established. J-PARC has previously conducted emergency communication drills at its accelerator and experimental facilities, and even in an unannounced drill like this one, J-PARC was able to promptly carry out tasks such as emergency notification in collaboration with the relevant departments of NSRI and KEK. |
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| At the 11th Annual Meeting of the Particle Accelerator Society of Japan, held on August 8-12 in Aomori City, Dr. Hiroyuki Ao of Acceleration Section I of J-PARC and Dr. Tomei Sugano of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., jointly received the FY2013 PASJ Award for Technical Contributions. They received the award in recognition of their achievements in developing an acceleration cavity with annular-ring coupled structure (ACS) for a linac. |
| In fabricating this ACS-type cavity, it was confirmed to be no problems with the basic design in high-power testing using a small prototype cavity in 2006. Mass production of 21 cavities began in 2009, and was completed on schedule in 3 years. Installation in the beam line was carried out in the summer of last year due to recovery from the earthquake, and the work was done by all members of the Accelerator Division coming together as a team. Adjustment began at the end of last year, and the system contributed greatly to the successful acceleration of a 400 MeV beam on January 17 of this year. |
 
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