Research and development in the fiscal year 2023 in Ningyo-toge Environmental Engineering Center; Topics

Ningyo-toge Environmental Engineering Center

This report outlines some main research and development activities executed by the Ningyo-toge Environmental Engineering Center in FY2023. The Center was working on the development of the nuclear fuel cycle with a focus on its frontend (i.e., uranium exploration, mining, refining, conversion, and enrichment) until 2001, and is now dismantling and removing the facilities and equipment used in the past. In addition, based on the concept of "Uranium and environmental research platform" announced in 2016, we are also working on research and development for the safe processing and disposal of uranium wastes. This research and development can be mainly divided into "Environmental research" and "Uranium waste engineering research"; the former takes advantage of the characteristics of the natural environment in Ningyo-toge, and the latter utilizes our facilities and potentials. Some works are also made on safety and its management as well as radiation effect research in terms of health physics and radiobiology. Regarding the environmental research and environmental conservation, this report describes research on the heterogeneity of groundwater in granitic mountains and the fundamentals and applications of the partitioning of trace elements into minerals. As for the uranium waste engineering research, the laser-based decontamination technique and the corrosion resistance suitable for waste package material are reported. Further, the progress of safeguards activities at the uranium enrichment facility, the construction of safety measures at the mill tailings ponds, and the risk and biological effects of radon are also reported. The achievements of those works have been widely presented through research papers etc.