Spatial distribution of desaturation around the tunnel predicted by three-dimensional two-phase flow modeling of the degassing process of dissolved gases in groundwater

Miyakawa, Kazuya; Yamamoto, Hajime*

JAEA-Research 2022-003, 40 Pages, 2022/05

JAEA-Research-2022-003.pdf:6.08MB

The excavation of large-scale underground facilities, such as geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste, creates an excavation damaged zone (EDZ) with cracks around the tunnel. In the EDZ, oxygen invades the bedrock through unsaturated cracks and affects environmental conditions for nuclide migration. When a tunnel is excavated in a geological formation containing a high concentration of dissolved CH, such as the Neogene marine sediments, degassed CH prevents oxygen intrusion. However, it may be promoted through gas-phase diffusion through desaturation. The purpose of this study is to illustrate the method of estimating the spatial distribution of desaturation associated with the construction and operation of underground facilities in a stratum that contains a large amount of dissolved CH. A sequential excavation analysis that reflected the actual process of 10-year excavation of the Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory (URL) was carried out along with gas-water two-phase flow analysis. The analysis results of the amount of groundwater and gas discharged from the URL were about 100 to 300 m d and 250 to 350 m d, respectively, as of January 2017. These results showed values close to the observations (100 m d and 300 m d, respectively). The analysis results of the saturation distribution were relatively high around the 250 m gallery and relatively low around the 350 m gallery, confirming that they are consistent with the in-situ observations. Although there were still technical issues of analysis regarding the conditions for groundwater drainage from the tunnel wall and the method of handling grout effects, the numerical calculation was generally appropriate. Although the results of the saturation distribution associated with the excavation were insufficient as the quantitative evaluation, they were almost correct from a qualitative point of view.

Development of dry rework technology in MOX fuel fabrication process; Selection and characterization of pulverizer for particle size adjustment of dry recycled powder

Yamamoto, Kazuya; Makino, Takayoshi; Iso, Hidetoshi; Segawa, Tomoomi; Kawaguchi, Koichi; Ishii, Katsunori

JAEA-Technology 2021-002, 31 Pages, 2021/05

JAEA-Technology-2021-002.pdf:4.37MB

In the MOX fuel fabrication process, a dry recycle technology has been developed to effectively utilize dry recovered powder obtained by crushing out of specification MOX pellets. The particle size of the dry recovery powder is divided into three classes; coarse size (about 250 m or less), medium size (about 100 m or less), and fine size (about 10 m or less) by the current crushers, and the effect of controlling the density of sintered pellets is obtained to a certain extent by adding the dry recovered powder to the raw powder. In this report, with the aim of more finely adjusting the particle size of the dry recovery powder, a buhrstone mill and a collision plate-type jet mill were selected as grinders that can adjust the dry recovered powder within a particle size range of 250 m or less, and the particle size adjustment test was conducted to pulverize the tungsten-carbide-cobalt (WC-Co) pellets as a simulated material for the MOX pellets. The buhrstone mill can control the particle size within a certain range by adjusting the grindstone clearance, but particles with a particle size of 250 m or more may be discharged. On the contrary, it is expected that the particle size of the collision plate-type jet mill can be controlled in the range of 250 m or less by adjusting the classification zone clearance. Therefore, the collision plate-type jet mill is more suitable for adjusting the particle size of the dry recovered powder than the buhrstone mill.

Development of fireproof sheet on glove box panels

Kawasaki, Kohei; Shinada, Kenta; Okamoto, Naritoshi; Kageyama, Tomio; Eda, Takashi; Okazaki, Hiro; Suzuki, Hiromichi; Yamamoto, Kazuya; Otabe, Jun

JAEA-Technology 2020-025, 80 Pages, 2021/03

JAEA-Technology-2020-025.pdf:3.72MB

Plutonium Fuel Production Facility was built in 1988 for the purpose of mainly producing MOX fuel of the prototype fast breeder reactor MONJU, and large glove boxes were installed for handling unsealed nuclear fuel material remotely. The panels of these glove boxes are made of acrylic, except for those installed after December 2013. For fires inside the glove box, automatic fire extinguishing systems using halides have been introduced since the beginning of construction, but for fires outside the glove box, there have been issues with direct measures for acrylic. Therefore, we have developed a fireproof sheet that mitigates the effect of fire outside the glove box on the panels as much as possible. As a result, fire-retardant sheets have been selected and attached to the glove box panels. We conducted a flammability test of the acrylic plate attached with these fireproof sheets and a usage environment influence test of fireproof sheets, and obtained good results. In addition, we set up a working group in the Plutonium Fuel Development Center in view of reducing external exposure during the work of attaching fireproof sheets, in which we discussed and examined the work procedure, and summarized it in the basic procedure manual.

Numerical simulation of oxygen infusion into desaturation resulting from artificial openings in sedimentary formations

Miyakawa, Kazuya; Aoyagi, Kazuhei; Akaki, Toshifumi*; Yamamoto, Hajime*

Dai-15-Kai Iwa No Rikigaku Kokunai Shimpojiumu Koen Rombunshu (Internet), p.609 - 614, 2021/01

Desaturation is expected due to excavation of an underground repository, especially in the newly created fractures zone (EDZ). During the construction and operation of facilities, the air in the gallery infuses into the rock around the gallery though the excavation affected area and causes oxidation of host rock and groundwater, which increase nuclide mobilities. In the Horonobe underground research laboratory (HURL), which is excavated in the Neogene sedimentary formations, no pyrite dissolution or precipitation of calcium sulfates was found from the cores drilled in the rock around the gallery. The reason for no oxidation is estimated that the release of dissolved gases from groundwater due to pressure decrease flows against the air infusion. In this research, the mechanism of O intrusion into the rock was investigated by numerical multiphase flow simulation considering advection and diffusion of groundwater and gases. In the simulation, only Darcy's and Henry's laws were considered, that is, chemical reaction related to oxidation was not handled. The effects of dissolved gas and rock permeability on O infusion into the rock were almost identical. Decreasing humidity with relatively low permeability leads to extensive accumulation of O into the EDZ even though with a relatively large amount of dissolved gas. In the HURL, the shotcrete attenuates O concentration and keeps 100% humidity at the boundary of the gallery wall, which inhibits O infusion. Without the shotcrete, humidity at the gallery wall decreases according to seasonal changes and ventilation, which promotes O intrusion into the EDZ but the chemical reaction related to O buffering such as pyrite oxidation consumes O.

The -electron state of the heavy fermion superconductor NpPdAl and the isostructural family

Metoki, Naoto; Aczel, A. A.*; Aoki, Dai*; Chi, S.*; Fernandez-Baca, J. A.*; Griveau, J.-C.*; Hagihara, Masato*; Hong, T.*; Haga, Yoshinori; Ikeuchi, Kazuhiko*; et al.

JPS Conference Proceedings (Internet), 30, p.011123_1 - 011123_6, 2020/03

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSCP.30.011123

Rare earths (4) and actinides (5) provide variety of interesting states realized with competing interactions between the increasing number of electrons. Since crystal field splitting of many-body electron system is smaller than the bandwidth, (1) high resolution experiments are needed, (2) essentially no clear spectrum with well defined peaks is expected in itinerant Ce and U compounds, and (3) Np and Pu is strictly regulated. Therefore, systematic research on magnetic excitations by neutron scattering experiments of localized compounds and rare earth iso-structural reference is useful. We describe the electron states of heavy electron compounds NpPdAl and actinide and rare earth based iso-structural family.

Technological development of the particle size adjustment of dry recovered powder

Segawa, Tomoomi; Yamamoto, Kazuya; Makino, Takayoshi; Iso, Hidetoshi; Kawaguchi, Koichi; Ishii, Katsunori; Sato, Hisato; Fukasawa, Tomonori*; Fukui, Kunihiro*

Proceedings of International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Conference / Light Water Reactor Fuel Performance Conference (Global/Top Fuel 2019) (USB Flash Drive), p.738 - 745, 2019/09

In the MOX fuel fabrication process, the dry grinding technology of mixed oxide pellets have been developed for the effective use of nuclear fuel materials. To develop a technology to control the particle size of dry recovered powder, the performance of the buhrstone mill and the collision plate type jet mill were studied using a simulated powder of particle size distribution about 500 m. We found that the particle size can be controlled at the range of about 250 m or less by both by adjusting the clearance between the grinding wheels of the buhrstone mill, and the clearance and elevation angle of the clarification zone of the collision plate type jet mill. And furthermore, the collision plate type jet mill is considered to be suitable for particle size control because the operating parameters of the classifier can be finely adjusted.

An Extensive study of the concentrations of particulate/dissolved radiocaesium derived from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident in various river systems and their relationship with catchment inventory

Yoshimura, Kazuya; Onda, Yuichi*; Sakaguchi, Aya*; Yamamoto, Masayoshi*; Matsuura, Yuki*

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 139, p.370 - 378, 2015/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2014.08.021

Designing a prototype of the ITER pulse scheduling system

Yamamoto, Tsuyoshi; Yonekawa, Izuru*; Ota, Kazuya*; Hosoyama, Hiroki*; Hashimoto, Yasunori*; Wallander, A.*; Winter, A.*; Sugie, Tatsuo; Kusama, Yoshinori; Kawano, Yasunori; et al.

Fusion Engineering and Design, 87(12), p.2016 - 2019, 2012/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fusengdes.2012.08.005

The ITER pulse scheduling system creates, approves and manage parameters that characterize plasma operation of ITER. JAEA analyzed requirements on the ITER plasma operations based on experience operating the JT-60U and designed essential functions. This system was designed to enable the change and reuse of parameters. The functions to support to check consistency between parameters and to assign parameter values are calculated by the system were proposed. These functions are useful to support operators.

Guidance of operation practice and nuclear physics experiments using JRR-4

Yokoo, Kenji; Horiguchi, Hironori; Yagi, Masahiro; Nagadomi, Hideki; Yamamoto, Kazuyoshi; Sasajima, Fumio; Oyama, Koji; Ishikuro, Yasuhiro; Sasaki, Tsutomu; Hirane, Nobuhiko; et al.

JAEA-Technology 2007-018, 104 Pages, 2007/03

JAEA-Technology-2007-018.pdf:5.92MB

Reactor operation training using JRR-4 (Japan Research Reactor No.4) was started in FY 1969, one of the curriculums of Nuclear Technology and Education Center (NuTEC). After that, the program was updated and carried out for reactor operation training, control rod calibration, and measurement of various kind of characteristics. JRR-4 has been contributed for nuclear engineer training that is over 1,700 trainees from bother domestic and foreign countries. JRR-4 can be used for experiment from zero power to 3500kW, and the trainees can make experience to operate the reactor from start up to shut down, not only zero-power experiments (critical approach, control rod calibration, reactivity measurement, etc.) but also other experiments under high power operation (xenon effect, temperature effects, reactor power calibration, etc.). This report is based on various kinds of guidance texts using for training, and collected for operation and experiments for reactor physics.

Study of SOL/divertor plasmas in JFT-2M

Kawashima, Hisato; Sengoku, Seio; Uehara, Kazuya; Tamai, Hiroshi; Shoji, Teruaki*; Ogawa, Hiroaki; Shibata, Takatoshi; Yamamoto, Masahiro*; Miura, Yukitoshi; Kusama, Yoshinori; et al.

Fusion Science and Technology, 49(2), p.168 - 186, 2006/02

https://doi.org/10.13182/FST06-A1093

Experimental efforts on JFT-2M have been devoted to understand SOL/Divertor plasmas and to investigate power and particle controllability. Open divertor configuration was used for the first decade of JFT-2M started in 1984. We found out the SOL/Divertor plasma properties such as in/out asymmetry, heat and particle diffusivities, and SOL current at ELMs. Handling of power and particle was demonstrated by active control methods such as local pumping, edge ergodization, divertor biasing, and edge heating. For improvement of power and particle control capability of divertor, it was modified to closed configuration in 1995, which demonstrated the baffling effects with narrower divertor throat. Dense and cold divertor state (n = 410 m and T = 4 eV), compatible with the improved confinement modes (e.g. H-mode), was realized by strong gas puffing. Being related with the core confinement at H-mode, the edge plasma fluctuations were identified by an electrostatic probe. These are reviewed in this paper.