Research plan on geosphere stability for long-term isolation of radioactive waste (Scientific program for fiscal year 2025)

Asamori, Koichi; Sueoka, Shigeru; Komatsu, Tetsuya; Ogata, Manabu; Uchida, Mao; Nishiyama, Nariaki; Tanaka, Kiriha; Kobayashi, Tomoharu; Mitsuguchi, Takehiro; Murakami, Osamu; et al.

JAEA-Review 2025-035, 29 Pages, 2025/10

JAEA-Review-2025-035.pdf:1.12MB

This report is a plan of research and development (R&D) on geosphere stability for long-term isolation of high-level radioactive waste (HLW) in Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), in fiscal year 2025. The objectives and contents of this research are described in detail based on the JAEA 4th Medium- and Long-term Plan (fiscal years 2022-2028). In addition, the background of this research is described from the necessity and the significance for site investigation and safety assessment, and the past progress. The plan framework is structured into the following categories: (1) Development and systematization of investigation techniques, (2) Development of models for long-term estimation and effective assessment, (3) Development of dating techniques.

Development of fluorinated ligands for uranium recovery from radioactive liquid waste

Arai, Yoichi; Goto, Yasuhiro; Watanabe, So; Agou, Tomohiro*; Arai, Tsuyoshi*; Katsuki, Kenta*; Fukumoto, Hiroki*; Hoshina, Hiroyuki*; Seko, Noriaki*

Progress in Nuclear Science and Technology (Internet), 8, p.329 - 332, 2025/09

https://doi.org/10.15669/pnst.8.329

Estimation of the oxidation and hydrogen absorption behavior during simulated accidental condition of Zircaloy-4 with Cr coating formed by electrochemical plating

Kawai, Keito*; Nemoto, Yoshiyuki; Fujimura, Yuki; Kondo, Keietsu; Abe, Yosuke; Mohamad, A. B.; Pham, V. H.; Ishikawa, Norito; Ishijima, Yasuhiro; Ioka, Ikuo; et al.

Nihon Genshiryoku Gakkai Wabun Rombunshi (Internet), 24(3), p.82 - 98, 2025/08

https://doi.org/10.3327/taesj.J24.015

An accident tolerant fuel (ATF) cladding, which is more resistant to accidents than the conventional Zircaloy cladding, is under development. One of these claddings is a chromium (Cr)-coated cladding with an outer surface coated with Cr, which is expected to improve the resistance to high-temperature steam oxidation. In this study, electrochemical plating was applied to coat a Cr layer on the cladding outer surface, and its properties under accidental conditions were evaluated. In a loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA), the cladding will burst and both the outer and inner surfaces of the cladding will be oxidized. Thus, as-received Zircaloy-4 and Cr-coated claddings were tested for oxidation in high-temperature steam to investigate differences in oxidation behavior, hydrogen absorption behavior, and mechanical properties after oxidation. Oxidation tests were conducted using a thermobalance. The amount of oxidation of coated samples decreased by half compared with that of uncoated samples, indicating that the coating was effective in inhibiting oxidation. However, the hydrogen absorption of coated samples was found to be higher than that of uncoated samples. In this paper, we discuss the mechanism behind this difference in hydrogen absorption and its effect on mechanical properties.

Annual report on the effluent control of low level liquid waste in Nuclear Fuel Cycle Engineering Laboratories FY2023

Kokubun, Yuji; Hosomi, Kenji; Seya, Natsumi; Nagaoka, Mika; Inoue, Kazumi; Koike, Yuko; Hasegawa, Ryo; Kubota, Tomohiro; Hirao, Moe; Iizawa, Shogo; et al.

JAEA-Review 2024-053, 116 Pages, 2025/03

JAEA-Review-2024-053.pdf:3.26MB

Based on the regulations (the safety regulation of Tokai Reprocessing Plant, the safety regulation of nuclear fuel material usage facilities, the radiation safety rule, the regulation about prevention from radiation hazards due to radioisotopes, which are related with the nuclear regulatory acts, the local agreement concerning with safety and environment conservation around nuclear facilities, the water pollution prevention act, and by law of Ibaraki Prefecture), the effluent control of liquid waste discharged from the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Engineering Laboratories of Japan Atomic Energy Agency has been performed. This report describes the effluent control results of the liquid waste in the fiscal year 2023. In this period, the concentrations and the quantities of the radioactivity in liquid waste discharged from the reprocessing plant, the plutonium fuel fabrication facilities, and the other nuclear fuel material usage facilities were much lower than the limits authorized by the above regulations.

Annual report for research on geosphere stability for long-term isolation of radioactive waste in fiscal year 2023

Niwa, Masakazu; Shimada, Koji; Sueoka, Shigeru; Ishihara, Takanori; Hakoiwa, Hiroaki; Asamori, Koichi; Murakami, Osamu; Fukuda, Shoma; Ogita, Yasuhiro; Kagami, Saya; et al.

JAEA-Research 2024-013, 65 Pages, 2024/11

JAEA-Research-2024-013.pdf:4.22MB

This annual report documents the progress of research and development (R&D) in the 2nd fiscal year of the JAEA 4th Medium- and Long-term Plan (fiscal years 2022-2028) to provide the scientific base for assessing geosphere stability for long-term isolation of high-level radioactive waste. The plan framework is structured into the following categories: (1) Development and systematization of investigation techniques, (2) Development of models for long-term estimation and effective assessment, (3) Development of dating techniques. The current status of R&D activities with previous scientific and technological progress is summarized.

Thermal stability of retained austenite with heterogeneous composition and size in austempered Fe-2Mn-1.5Si-0.4C alloy

Watanabe, Miku*; Miyamoto, Goro*; Zhang, Y.*; Morooka, Satoshi; Harjo, S.; Kobayashi, Yasuhiro*; Furuhara, Tadashi*

ISIJ International, 64(9), p.1464 - 1476, 2024/07

https://doi.org/10.2355/isijinternational.ISIJINT-2024-044

Recent status of the cryogenic sample environment at the MLF, J-PARC

Ishikado, Motoyuki*; Takahashi, Ryuta*; Yamauchi, Yasuhiro*; Nakamura, Masatoshi*; Ishimaru, Sora*; Yamauchi, Sara*; Kawamura, Seiko; Kira, Hiroshi*; Sakaguchi, Yoshifumi*; Watanabe, Masao; et al.

JPS Conference Proceedings (Internet), 41, p.011010_1 - 011010_7, 2024/05

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSCP.41.011010

Impact of irradiation side on muon-induced single-event upsets in 65-nm Bulk SRAMs

Deng, Y.*; Watanabe, Yukinobu*; Manabe, Seiya*; Liao, W.*; Hashimoto, Masanori*; Abe, Shinichiro; Tampo, Motonobu*; Miyake, Yasuhiro*

IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, 71(4, Part 2), p.912 - 920, 2024/04

https://doi.org/10.1109/TNS.2024.3378216

With the miniaturization of semiconductors and the decrease in operating voltage, there is a growing interest and discussion in whether the muons in cosmic rays may be the source of single event upsets (SEUs). In the case of neutron-induced SEUs, it was reported that the irradiation side has the impact on SEU cross sections. Here, to investigate the impact of irradiation direction on muon-induced SEUs, we have measured and simulate muon-induced SEUs in 65-nm bulk SRAMs with different muon irradiation directions. It was found that the peak SEU cross section for the package side irradiation is about twice large as that for the board side irradiation. We also revealed that the difference in observed SEU cross sections between the package side and the board side irradiation is caused by differences in energy straggling due to changes in penetration depth depending on the incident direction.

Numerical simulation technologies for safety evaluation in plant lifecycle optimization method, ARKADIA for advanced reactors

Uchibori, Akihiro; Doda, Norihiro; Aoyagi, Mitsuhiro; Sonehara, Masateru; Sogabe, Joji; Okano, Yasushi; Takata, Takashi*; Tanaka, Masaaki; Enuma, Yasuhiro; Wakai, Takashi; et al.

Nuclear Engineering and Design, 413, p.112492_1 - 112492_10, 2023/11

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2023.112492

The ARKAIDA has been developed to realize automatic optimization of plant design from safety evaluation for the advanced reactors represented by a sodium-cooled fast reactor. ARKADIA-Design offers functions to support design optimization both in normal operating conditions and design basis events. The multi-level simulation approach by the coupled analysis such as neutronics, core deformation, core thermal hydraulics was developed as one of the main technologies. On the other hand, ARKAIDA-Safety aims for safety evaluation considering severe accidents. As a key technology, the numerical methods for in- and ex-vessel coupled phenomena during severe accidents in sodium-cooled fast reactors were tested through a hypothetical severe accident event. Improvement of the ex-vessel model and development of the AI technology to find best design solution have been started.

Development of new data acquisition system for several beam monitors in J-PARC RCS

Yoshimoto, Masahiro; Takahashi, Hiroki; Harada, Hiroyuki; Chimura, Motoki; Fuwa, Yasuhiro; Hayashi, Naoki; Kuriyama, Yasutoshi*; Sawabe, Yuki*; Hatakeyama, Shuichiro*

Proceedings of 20th Annual Meeting of Particle Accelerator Society of Japan (Internet), p.839 - 843, 2023/11

https://www.pasj.jp/web_publish/pasj2023/proceedings/PDF/FRP0/FRP08.pdf

In the J -PARC 3GeV synchrotron accelerator (RCS), a new signal processing system for beam monitors is been developing to replace the existing system for the main beam monitors that monitor the stability of the accelerator: beam loss monitor, beam position monitor and beam current monitor. The new system will consist of a TAG server and an ADC module that can be used commonly for the three main monitors. The main design concepts of the new system are: (1) the TAG server divides various beam J-PARC tag information to each ADC module, (2) the ADC module converts acquisition data from beam monitors to digital signals by ADC and performs high-speed analysis by FPGA with switching analysis methods to suit each monitor, (3) the ADC module periodically outputs the analysis data with tag information by packing the signal processing data of all shots for about 10 seconds, and also outputs any one shot data on-demand, and (4) the raw waveform data, the latest four shots of FFT-related data in the process of analysis and bunch data for each cycle are stored in the internal memory of the ADC module, and the data can be read out as needed. In this presentation, we will report on the progress of the data acquisition test of tag information reading and beam monitor signals using the prototype under development.