Soil microbial community responding to moderately elevated nitrogen deposition in a Japanese cool temperate forest surrounded by fertilized grasslands

Nagano, Hirohiko; Nakayama, Masataka*; Katata, Genki*; Fukushima, Keitaro*; Yamaguchi, Takashi*; Watanabe, Makoto*; Kondo, Toshiaki*; Atarashi-Andoh, Mariko; Kubota, Tomohiro*; Tateno, Ryunosuke*; et al.

Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, 67(5), p.606 - 616, 2021/10

https://doi.org/10.1080/00380768.2021.1974799

We analyzed the relationships between nitrogen deposition (deposition of nitrate and ammonium ions) and soil microbial properties in a cool temperate forest surrounded by normally fertilized pasture grasslands in northern Japan. The aim of the present study was to gain the primary information on soil microbial response to moderately elevated nitrogen deposition ( 10 kg N ha y). We established three experimental plots in the forest edge adjacent to grasslands and other three plots in the forest interior at least 700 m away from the grasslands. During May to November 2018, nitrogen deposition in each plot was measured. In August 2018, litter and soil (0-5 cm depth) samples were collected from all plots to measure net nitrogen mineralization and nitrification rates as indicators of microbial activity, and microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen and various gene abundances (i.e. bacterial 16S rRNA, fungal ITS, bacterial amoA, and archaeal amoA genes) as indicators of microbial abundance and structure. Nitrogen deposition in the forest edge was 1.4-fold greater than that in the forest interior, even while the maximum deposition was 3.7 kg N ha. Nitrogen deposition was significantly correlated to the net nitrogen mineralization and nitrification rates and the 16S rRNA and bacterial amoA gene abundances. Microbial community structures were different between litter and soil samples but were similar between the forest edge and interior. Significant correlations of nitrogen deposition to the soil carbon to nitrogen ratio, and the nitrate and ammonium contents were also observed. Thus, our results show that moderately elevated nitrogen deposition in nitrogen-limited forest edges can stimulate microbial activities and abundances in soils.

Crystal structure of nesquehonite, MgCO 3H(D)O by neutron diffraction and effect of pH on structural formulas of nesquehonite

Yamamoto, Genichiro*; Kyono, Atsushi*; Abe, Jun*; Sano, Asami; Hattori, Takanori

Journal of Mineralogical and Petrological Sciences, 116(2), p.96 - 103, 2021/04

https://doi.org/10.2465/jmps.200117

Neutron diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and thermal analysis were performed to investigate the composition, structure, and formation conditions of the magnesium carbonate hydrate nesquehonite. The time-of-flight neutron diffraction revealed the crystal structure of the monoclinic space group 2 with lattice parameters of =7.72100(12)=5.37518(7)=12.1430(3)=90.165(4), in which two deuterium atoms are coordinated to the O1, O2, and O6 atoms to form water molecules. The three water molecules in the structure suggests the structural formula of the nesquehonite should be MgCO 3HO rather than Mg(HCO)(OH) 2HO.

Manufacture of substitutive assemblies for MONJU reactor decommissioning

Sakakibara, Hiroshi; Aoki, Nobuhiro; Muto, Masahiro; Otabe, Jun; Takahashi, Kenji*; Fujita, Naoyuki*; Hiyama, Kazuhiko*; Suzuki, Hirokazu*; Kamogawa, Toshiyuki*; Yokosuka, Toru*; et al.

JAEA-Technology 2020-020, 73 Pages, 2021/03

JAEA-Technology-2020-020.pdf:8.26MB

The decommissioning is currently in progress at the prototype fast breeder reactor Monju. Fuel assemblies will be taken out of its core for the first step of the great task. Fuel assemblies stand on their own spike plugged into a socket on the core support plate and support with adjacent assemblies through their housing pads each other, resulting in steady core structure. For this reason, some substitutive assemblies are necessary for the purpose of discharging the fuel assemblies of the core. Monju side commissioned, therefore, Plutonium Fuel Development Center to manufacture the substitutive assemblies and the Center accepted it. This report gives descriptions of design, manufacture, and shipment in regard to the substitutive assemblies.

Pressure-dependent structure of methanol-water mixtures up to 1.2 GPa; Neutron diffraction experiments and molecular dynamics simulations

Temleitner, L.*; Hattori, Takanori; Abe, Jun*; Nakajima, Yoichi*; Pusztai, L.*

Molecules (Internet), 26(5), p.1218_1 - 1218_12, 2021/03

https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26051218

Total structure factors of per-deuterated methanol and heavy water, CDOD and DO, have been determined across the entire composition range at pressures of up to 1.2 GPa, by neutron diffraction. Largest variations due to increasing pressure were observed below 5 , mostly as shifts of the first and second maxima. Molecular dynamics computer simulations been conducted at the experimental pressures to interpret neutron diffraction results. The peak shifts mentioned above could be qualitatively reproduced by simulations. In order to reveal the influence of changing pressure on the local intermolecular structure, simulated structures have been analyzed in terms of hydrogen bond related partial radial distribution functions and size distributions of hydrogen bonded cyclic entities. Distinct differences between pressure dependent structures of water-rich and methanol-rich composition regions have been revealed.

Radiation monitoring using manned helicopter around the Nuclear Power Station in the fiscal year 2019 (Contract research)

Futemma, Akira; Sanada, Yukihisa; Ishizaki, Azusa; Kawasaki, Yoshiharu*; Iwai, Takeyuki*; Hiraga, Shogo*; Sato, Kazuhiko*; Haginoya, Masashi*; Matsunaga, Yuki*; Kikuchi, Hikaru*; et al.

JAEA-Technology 2020-018, 121 Pages, 2021/02

JAEA-Technology-2020-018.pdf:15.15MB

By the nuclear disaster of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS), Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake and the following tsunami on March 11, 2011, a large amount of radioactive material was released from the FDNPS. After the nuclear disaster, airborne radiation monitoring using manned helicopter has been conducted around FDNPS. The results in the fiscal 2019 were summarized in this report. Analysis taken topographical effects into consideration was applied to the result of airborne monitoring to improve the precision of conventional method. In addition, discrimination method of gamma rays from Rn-progenies was also utilized to evaluate their effect on aerial radiation monitoring.

Soundness survey of cooling tower of Utility Cooling Loop (UCL Cooling Tower) in JMTR

Oto, Tsutomu; Asano, Norikazu; Kawamata, Takanori; Yanai, Tomohiro; Nishimura, Arashi; Araki, Daisuke; Otsuka, Kaoru; Takabe, Yugo; Otsuka, Noriaki; Kojima, Keidai; et al.

JAEA-Review 2020-018, 66 Pages, 2020/11

JAEA-Review-2020-018.pdf:8.87MB

A collapse event of the cooling tower of secondary cooling system in the JMTR (Japan Materials Testing Reactor) was caused by the strong wind of Typhoon No.15 on September 9, 2019. The cause of the collapse of the cooling tower was investigated and analyzed. As the result, it was identified that four causes occurred in combination. Thus, the soundness of the cooling tower of Utility Cooling Loop (UCL cooling tower), which is a wooden cooling tower installed at the same period as the cooling tower of secondary cooling system, was investigated. The items of soundness survey are to grasp the operation conditions of the UCL cooling tower, to confirm the degradation of structural materials, the inspection items and inspection status of the UCL cooling tower, and to investigate the past meteorological data. As the results of soundness survey of the UCL cooling tower, the improvement of inspection items of the UCL cooling tower was carried out and the replacement and repair of the structural materials of the UCL cooling tower were planned for safe maintenance and management of this facility. And the renewal plan of new cooling tower was created to replace the existing UCL cooling tower. This report is summarized the soundness survey of the UCL cooling tower.

Visualizing cation vacancies in Ce:GdAlGaO scintillators by gamma-ray-induced positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy

Fujimori, Kosuke*; Kitaura, Mamoru*; Taira, Yoshitaka*; Fujimoto, Masaki*; Zen, H.*; Watanabe, Shinta*; Kamada, Kei*; Okano, Yasuaki*; Kato, Masahiro*; Hosaka, Masahito*; et al.

Applied Physics Express, 13(8), p.085505_1 - 085505_4, 2020/08

https://doi.org/10.35848/1882-0786/aba0dd

To clarify the existence of cation vacancies in Ce-doped GdAlGaO (Ce:GAGG) scintillators, we performed gamma-ray-induced positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (GiPALS). GiPAL spectra of GAGG and Ce:GAGG comprised two exponential decay components, which were assigned to positron annihilation at bulk and defect states. By an analogy with Ce:YAlO, the defect-related component was attributed to Al/Ga-O divacancy complexes. This component was weaker for Ce, Mg:GAGG, which correlated with the suppression of shallow electron traps responsible for phosphorescence. Oxygen vacancies were charge compensators for Al/Ga vacancies. The lifetime of the defect-related component was significantly changed by Mg co-doping. This was understood by considering aggregates of Mg ions at Al/Ga sites with oxygen vacancies, which resulted in the formation of vacancy clusters.

Impact of hydrided and non-hydrided materials near transistors on neutron-induced single event upsets

Abe, Shinichiro; Sato, Tatsuhiko; Kuroda, Junya*; Manabe, Seiya*; Watanabe, Yukinobu*; Liao, W.*; Ito, Kojiro*; Hashimoto, Masanori*; Harada, Masahide; Oikawa, Kenichi; et al.

Proceedings of IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium (IRPS 2020) (Internet), 6 Pages, 2020/04

https://doi.org/10.1109/IRPS45951.2020.9128951

Single event upsets (SEUs) caused by neutrons have been recognized as a serious reliability problem for microelectronic devices on the ground level. In our previous work, it was found that hydride placed in front of the memory chip has considerably impact on SEU cross sections because H ions generated via elastic scattering of neutrons with hydrogen atoms are only emitted in a forward direction. In this study, the effect of components neighboring transistors on neutron-induced SEUs was investigated for 65-nm bulk SRAMs by using PHITS. It was found that the shape of the SEU cross section around few MeV comes from the thickness and the position of components placed in front of transistors when that components do not contains hydrogen atoms. By considering components adjoin memory cells in the test board used in the simulation, measured data at J-PARC BL10 were reproduced well. In addition, it was found that the effect of components neighboring transistors on neutron-induced SERs does not negligible in terrestrial environment.

Evaluation of 2-D transverse beam profile monitor using gas sheet at J-PARC LINAC

Kamiya, Junichiro; Okabe, Kota; Kinsho, Michikazu; Moriya, Katsuhiro; Yamada, Ippei; Ogiwara, Norio*; Hikichi, Yusuke*; Wada, K.*

Journal of Physics; Conference Series, 1350, p.012149_1 - 012149_6, 2019/12

https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1350/1/012149

To obtain a getter effect to titanium vacuum duct surface, the method to remove the oxide on the surface by sputtering with ionized molecules has been developed. In the method, a sheet-shaped gas distribution with a uniform and high density is generated through a narrow slit by a small amount of gas. In this report, the gas density distribution was calculated by the Monte Carlo simulation code. As a result, it was found that a gas injection from both directions was effective to generate uniform density distribution. Furthermore, the gas injection method was applied to a non-destructive beam profile monitor, that detects ions generated by the interaction between gas molecules and beam. In this monitor, dependence of the beam profile on the injected gas amount was measured. A small amount of injected gas was found to be ideal for the beam profile measurements in the unsaturated and a high S/N ratio region.

Background radiation monitoring using manned helicopter for application of technique of nuclear emergency response in the fiscal year 2018 (Contract research)

Futemma, Akira; Sanada, Yukihisa; Komiya, Tomokazu; Iwai, Takeyuki*; Seguchi, Eisaku*; Matsunaga, Yuki*; Kawabata, Tomoki*; Haginoya, Masashi*; Hiraga, Shogo*; Sato, Kazuhiko*; et al.

JAEA-Technology 2019-017, 95 Pages, 2019/11

JAEA-Technology-2019-017.pdf:12.09MB

By the nuclear disaster of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS), Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake and the following tsunami on March 11, 2011, a large amount of radioactive material was released from the FDNPS. After the nuclear disaster, airborne radiation monitoring using manned helicopter was conducted around FDNPS. We have carried out the background radiation monitoring around the nuclear power stations of the whole country to apply the airborne radiation monitoring technique that has been cultivated in the aerial monitoring around FDNPS against nuclear emergency response. The results of monitoring around Shimane and Hamaoka Nuclear Power Stations in the fiscal 2018 were summarized in this report. In addition, technical issues were described.