Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute to Offer 'Iron Ion Beam' Inspection Service for Nuclear and Fusion Materials Starting March

First Domestic Iron Ion Beam Irradiation Service Begins in March
KAERI Develops Technology for Precise Steel Material Damage Assessment
Iron Ion Beam Enables Fast, Accurate Evaluation for Nuclear and Fusion Applications

The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute announced on the 19th that it will begin offering iron (Fe) ion beam irradiation services for nuclear and fusion materials research for the first time in Korea starting in March.

Iron ion beam irradiation is an effective method to quickly and precisely evaluate damage to steel materials widely used in operating nuclear power plants, next-generation reactors, fusion reactors, and applied industries.

When the same iron ion beam is irradiated onto steel materials, unnecessary physical and chemical reactions that occur with other ion beams are avoided, allowing for damage impact assessment purely caused by the irradiation.

The research team at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute used a transmission electron microscope to measure the penetration depth and concentration of iron ions irradiated on the specimen, verifying the iron ion energy, particle flux, and irradiation damage. Provided by the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute

Due to these advantages, demand for iron ion beams in the nuclear and fusion fields has steadily increased, but iron is difficult to convert into gas and ion extraction is challenging, making technology implementation difficult.

Ions are charged particles formed by atoms losing or gaining electrons, generated by vaporizing atoms at high temperatures and then using electric fields. When accelerated ions are irradiated onto materials, results similar to neutron irradiation damage can be obtained.

Considering that heavier ions can cause more severe damage more quickly, the institute established the KAERI Heavy-ion Irradiation Facility (KAHIF) in 2019. Since 2022, it has provided medium ion beam irradiation services such as argon (Ar) and helium (He).

Recently, the institute built a metal ion source device capable of ionizing and accelerating metallic elements, securing the technology for iron ion beam acceleration and irradiation for the first time in Korea.

After ionizing solid-state iron compounds into gas state, they successfully extracted and irradiated 100 billion iron ions (Fe13+) per second using a dipole electromagnet that selects only the desired ions with electromagnetic fields.

Additionally, by confirming the energy of the accelerated iron ions and the extent of material damage, they verified that the damage level of 3 dpa (displacements per atom), which occurs during the full operational cycle of a pressurized water reactor, can be experimentally achieved in just one day. This is the highest level domestically compared to other neutron irradiation facilities.

This research has been conducted since 2022 under the Ministry of Science and ICT's 'Fusion Leading Center (R&D)' project to activate nuclear and fusion materials research. Applications for the iron ion beam irradiation service will be available from March on the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute website.

Based on the secured iron ion beam irradiation technology, the institute plans to build a comparative database (DB) of neutron and ion beam irradiation data to contribute to the development of key materials for operating nuclear power plants as well as next-generation reactors such as small modular reactors (SMR), molten salt reactors (MSR), sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFR), and fusion reactors.

Lee Dong-won, head of the Nuclear Physics Application Research Division at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, said, "This research will be an oasis for domestic researchers who previously depended solely on overseas facilities," adding, "We will strive to provide world-class ion beam irradiation services by expanding to high-difficulty ion sources such as nickel and securing high-temperature testing environments."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.