Technology succession through assembling the dummy fuel assembly at the Irradiation Rig Assembling Facility (IRAF)

In the nuclear industry, in recent years, the long-term shutdown of many nuclear power plants after the accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station has made it difficult to maintain the technology of engineers involved in nuclear power. At the experimental fast reactor 'JOYO,' the irradiation test using 'JOYO' has been suspended for a long time due to the effects of the 'partial inhibition of refueling function' that occurred in 2007 and the Great East Japan Earthquake. For this reason, it has become difficult to maintain 'MONOZUKURI (manufacturing)' technology at the Irradiation Rig Assembling Facility (IRAF), which plays a role in the fabrication of irradiation equipment at 'JOYO.' 'JOYO' restored from 'partial inhibition of refueling function' in December 2014, and is aiming to restart by passing the compliance examination based on the new regulatory standards. In such circumstance, succession of the fabrication technology of irradiation equipment that becomes the premise of resuming irradiation experiments is one of the urgent tasks. This paper reports the technology succession activities related to the fabrication of irradiation equipment at IRAF. (A.O.)