Compliance measures at the Radioactive Waste Treatment Facilities at the Nuclear Science Research Institute; Aseismic reinforcement of the Radioactive Waste Treatment Facility No. 3, Waste Size Reduction and Storage Facility, and Waste Volume Reduction Facility

Iketani, Shotaro; Suzuki, Takeshi; Yokobori, Tomohiko; Sugawara, Satoshi; Yokota, Akira; Kikuchi, Genta; Muraguchi, Yoshinori; Kitahara, Masaru; Seya, Manato; Kurosawa, Tsuyoshi; et al.

JAEA-Technology 2025-001, 169 Pages, 2025/08

JAEA-Technology-2025-001.pdf:14.22MB

The radioactive waste treatment facilities at the Nuclear Science Research Institute includes the Radioactive Waste Treatment Facility No. 3, Waste Size Reduction and Storage Facility, and Waste Volume Reduction Facility. These three facilities come under the purview of the Act on the Regulation of Nuclear Source Material, Nuclear Fuel Material and Reactors, and are included under Class C of the act based on the seismic requirements specified in the Act. We assessed the seismic capacity of these three radioactive waste treatment facilities based on the current Building Standards Act, to verify whether they comply with the new regulatory requirements enforced by the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) in the aftermath of the 2011 nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station operated by the Tokyo Electric Power Company. We found that the allowable stress of a few structural members used in the construction of the facilities did not meet the regulatory requirements. After studying the approval granted by the NRA for the construction plans, including the design and construction methods (design and construction plans) of the three facilities on March 5, 2021, we made aseismic reinforcement at these facilities between 2021 and 2022. This report presents an overview of the seismic design of these facilities and an outline of the aseismic reinforcement conducted, management system existing, safety measures adopted, and the preoperational inspections conducted at these facilities.

Evaluation of vacuum firing effect on stainless steel from vacuum and surface point of view

Kamiya, Junichiro; Takano, Kazuhiro*; Wada, Kaoru; Yanagibashi, Toru*

e-Journal of Surface Science and Nanotechnology (Internet), 21(3), p.144 - 153, 2023/06

https://doi.org/10.1380/ejssnt.2023-015

no abstracts in English

Evaluation of titanium vacuum chamber as getter pump

Kamiya, Junichiro; Takano, Kazuhiro*; Yuza, Hiromu*; Wada, Kaoru

e-Journal of Surface Science and Nanotechnology (Internet), 20(2), p.107 - 118, 2022/05

AA2022-0067.pdf:4.4MB

https://doi.org/10.1380/ejssnt.2022-017

no abstracts in English

Improved vacuum system for high-power proton beam operation of the rapid cycling synchrotron

Kamiya, Junichiro; Kotoku, Hirofumi*; Kurosawa, Shunta*; Takano, Kazuhiro; Yanagibashi, Toru*; Yamamoto, Kazami; Wada, Kaoru

Physical Review Accelerators and Beams (Internet), 24(8), p.083201_1 - 083201_23, 2021/08

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevAccelBeams.24.083201

Through the operation of the vacuum system in J-PARC, it becomes evident that the high-power beam has more powerful effects on the vacuum system than expected. Those effects are the malfunction of vacuum equipment and the large pressure rise. The former is the failure of the turbomolecular pump (TMP) controller. The TMP itself is also damaged by a bearing crush due to a touch-down. We have developed a TMP controller that can connect with long cables of more than 200 m lengths to install the controller in a control room where there is no radiation influence. The TMP with high-strength bearing has been also developed. The latter is an extreme pressure rise with increasing the beam power. It is indicated that the pressure rise mechanism is a result of ion-stimulated gas desorption. It is finally confirmed that the dynamic pressure during the high-power beam is effectually suppressed by additionally installing the NEG pumps.

Thermally altered subsurface material of asteroid (162173) Ryugu

Kitazato, Kohei*; Milliken, R. E.*; Iwata, Takahiro*; Abe, Masanao*; Otake, Makiko*; Matsuura, Shuji*; Takagi, Yasuhiko*; Nakamura, Tomoki*; Hiroi, Takahiro*; Matsuoka, Moe*; et al.

Nature Astronomy (Internet), 5(3), p.246 - 250, 2021/03

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-020-01271-2

Here we report observations of Ryugu's subsurface material by the Near-Infrared Spectrometer (NIRS3) on the Hayabusa2 spacecraft. Reflectance spectra of excavated material exhibit a hydroxyl (OH) absorption feature that is slightly stronger and peak-shifted compared with that observed for the surface, indicating that space weathering and/or radiative heating have caused subtle spectral changes in the uppermost surface. However, the strength and shape of the OH feature still suggests that the subsurface material experienced heating above 300 C, similar to the surface. In contrast, thermophysical modeling indicates that radiative heating does not increase the temperature above 200 C at the estimated excavation depth of 1 m, even if the semimajor axis is reduced to 0.344 au. This supports the hypothesis that primary thermal alteration occurred due to radiogenic and/or impact heating on Ryugu's parent body.

Unusual redox behavior of ruthenocene confined in the micropores of activated carbon

Itoi, Hiroyuki*; Ninomiya, Takeru*; Hasegawa, Hideyuki*; Maki, Shintaro*; Sakakibara, Akihiro*; Suzuki, Ryutaro*; Kasai, Yuto*; Iwata, Hiroyuki*; Matsumura, Daiju; Owada, Mao*; et al.

Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 124(28), p.15205 - 15215, 2020/07

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.0c02965

Gamma-ray glow preceding downward terrestrial gamma-ray flash

Wada, Yuki*; Enoto, Teruaki*; Nakamura, Yoshitaka*; Furuta, Yoshihiro; Yuasa, Takayuki*; Nakazawa, Kazuhiro*; Morimoto, Takeshi*; Sato, Mitsuteru*; Matsumoto, Takahiro*; Yonetoku, Daisuke*; et al.

Communications Physics (Internet), 2(1), p.67_1 - 67_9, 2019/06

https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-019-0168-y

Two protonation states and structural features of a bilin reductase PcyA revealed by neutron crystallography

Unno, Masayoshi*; Sugishima, Masakazu*; Wada, Kei*; Hagiwara, Yoshinori*; Kusaka, Katsuhiro*; Tamada, Taro; Fukuyama, Keiichi*

Nihon Kessho Gakkai-Shi, 57(5), p.297 - 303, 2015/10

https://doi.org/10.5940/jcrsj.57.297

Bilin compounds are fundamentally important for oxygenic photosynthetic organisms, because they are utilized as pigments for photosynthesis (phycobilins) and photoreceptors (phytochromobilin). Phycocyanobilin (PCB), a phycobilin, comprises the chromophore of algal phytochromes and the core phycobiliprotein antennae of cyanobacteria and red algae. PCB is biosynthesized by a member of the ferredoxin-dependent bilin reductase family, phycocyanobilin:ferredoxin oxidoreductase (PcyA). In the present study, we determined the neutron crystal structure of PcyA in complex with its substrate biliverdin (BV). This neutron structure revealed the protonation state of BV and the surrounding residues. We found that two forms of BV, neutral BV and protonated BVH, were coupled with the two conformation/protonation states of the essential residue Asp105. Further, His88 and His74 near BV were singly protonated and were connected with an intervening hydronium ion. Neutron analysis also revealed how X-ray irradiation of the PcyA-BV crystal altered the structure of the PcyA-BV complex.

Insights into the proton transfer mechanism of a bilin reductase PcyA following neutron crystallography

Unno, Masayoshi*; Ishikawa, Kumiko*; Kusaka, Katsuhiro*; Tamada, Taro; Hagiwara, Yoshinori*; Sugishima, Masakazu*; Wada, Kei*; Yamada, Taro*; Tomoyori, Katsuaki; Hosoya, Takaaki*; et al.

Journal of the American Chemical Society, 137(16), p.5452 - 5460, 2015/04

https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5b00645

Phycocyanobilin, a light-harvesting and photoreceptor pigment in higher plants, algae, and cyanobacteria, is synthesized from biliverdin IX (BV) by phycocyanobilin:ferredoxin oxidoreductase (PcyA) via two steps of two-proton-coupled two-electron reduction. We determined the neutron structure of PcyA from cyanobacteria complexed with BV, revealing the exact location of the hydrogen atoms involved in catalysis. Notably, approximately half of the BV bound to PcyA was BVH, a state in which all four pyrrole nitrogen atoms were protonated. The protonation states of BV complemented the protonation of adjacent Asp105. The "axial "water molecule that interacts with the neutral pyrrole nitrogen of the A-ring was identified. His88 N was protonated to form a hydrogen bond with the lactam O atom of the BV A-ring. His88 and His74 were linked by hydrogen bonds via HO. These results imply that Asp105, His88, and the axial water molecule contribute to proton transfer during PcyA catalysis.

Local structure analysis of BaTiO and KNbO solid solution

Yoneda, Yasuhiro; Kohara, Shinji*; Kumada, Nobuhiro*; Wada, Satoshi*

Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, 53(9S), p.09PD01_1 - 09PD01_5, 2014/09

https://doi.org/10.7567/JJAP.53.09PD01

The atomic-scale structure of solid solution of BaTiO (BT) and KNbO (KN) has been studied using high-energy X-ray diffraction, X-ray absorption fine structure, and atomic pair-distribution function analysis techniques. We prepared BT-KN solid solution through KNbTiO, in which Ti and Nb atoms are arranged randomly. The average structure of BT-KN solid solution was cubic structure and the local strcuture is also reproduced by the cubic structure. It is rare that a solid solution synthesized from ferroelectric materials has a local strcuture of a paraelectric material. Since the original correlation of BT or KN was lost, ferroelectricity disappeared in the BT-KN solid solution.