Jan. 2010

International Research Center for Nuclear Materials Science

　Dr. Konashi have a clear prospect for the development of long-life control rod. Metal-hydride has very high hydrogen atom density, which is equivalent to that of liquid water. Fast neutrons in nuclear reactors are efficiently moderated and are absorbed in the metal-hydride. The Hafnium hydride is considered as a neutron absorber in FBR (Fast Breeder Reactor). The development program of hydride neutron absorber has entered the 2nd stage , which was accepted as an innovative nuclear research and development program of Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan. The program will be accomplished in 2010. This is published as an article of The Nikkan Kogyou Shimbun on Jan. 28, 2010, being expected to be useful for reducing the cost and nuclear wastes.

Jan. 2010

Prof. Nojiri's Group （Magnetism Division）

　Magnetism division grope has performed the neutron diffraction in 30 Tesla pulsed magnetic field on frustrated Cr-spinel antiferromagnet and found that there exists a common magnetic structure in this type of compounds. It indicates that a universal spin-lattice coupling mechanism induces the high field property of the Cr-spinel. The neutron diffraction has been conducted at Institute for Laue Langevin by using the original mobile pulsed magnetic field generator for neutron diffraction. The system has been developed by the cooperation between Tohoku University and Japan Atomic Energy Agency. The present case is the first technical transfer of the system for foreign institute and it is supported by the ICC-IMR center of IMR. This result was published in Physical Review Letters (vol. 104, 047201, Jan. 26, 2010), and was introduced also by press sources as Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun (Jan. 25th, 2010).