Current status and future plan of JMTR Hot Laboratory

The hot laboratory (JMTR-HL) was founded to examine the objects mainly irradiated in the Japan materials testing reactor (JMTR) in 1971. The JMTR-HL has an advantage that the hot cell is connected with the reactor vessel of the JMTR by a canal. Hence it is easy to transport irradiated radioactive capsules and specimens through the canal. Since 1971, about 2,400 irradiated capsules have been treated in the JMTR-HL and various post irradiation examinations (PIEs) have been widely performed there. In recent years, several new techniques, e.g., an in-cell irradiation assisted stress corrosion cracking (IASCC) test, a scanning-electron microscope (SEM) / electron-back scattering-diffraction pattern (EBSD) observation, were added to the conventional PIEs. In addition, the JMTR-HL had contributed to realize an in-pile IASCC test program at the JMTR through the development of a TIG welding technique by remote-handling with manipulators in the hot cell for re-assembling of capsules. A modification of the facility to treat high burn-up fuels, up to about 100 GWD/t, is planned at the JMTR-HL now. (author)