The first experimental device to be installed in the JHR
On 20th January 2022, the collimator for the UGXR (Underwater Gamma and X-Rays) spectrometry bench was successfully installed in its reactor pool penetration by a joint CEA teams teams who were supported by IDOM.
The bench installed in the reactor pool will be used to examine (X-ray imaging) and characterise (gamma spectrometry) fuel and material samples having been irradiated in JHR experimental devices. These examinations and measurements can be performed before or after the irradiation cycle, thus providing results with a high level of accuracy as close as possible to the experiments and saving time. This novel feature represents a strong added-value of experiments that will be performed in the JHR compared with other irradiation reactors.
The collimator was built by the Spanish company, IDOM as part of in-kind contribution from the project’s Finnish partner, VTT, which also includes three measurement benches (2 in the pools and 1 in the hot cell).
This operation successfully concludes the long process of design, construction and testing led within the scope of international collaboration between the CEA, VTT and IDOM.
Full-scale practice runs with a pool penetration mock-up were first performed in the TOTEM facility at Cadarache, which has been used many times to carry out risk mitigation tests for the JHR project. These tests helped secure the success of the actual collimator installation operation in the JHR facility.
In the future, a second collimator of the same type will be installed in the irradiated component storage pool in the nuclear auxiliary building.