Study on criticality uncertainties of MCCI products due to concrete compositions

Gunji, Satoshi; Araki, Shohei

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 63(2), p.187 - 199, 2026/02

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2025.2597549

Clarification of key input parameters for site boundary dose due to criticality of fuel debris at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant

Fukuda, Kodai; Shiba, Shigeki*; Iwahashi, Daiki*; Gunji, Satoshi

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 14 Pages, 2026/00

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00223131.2026.2648997

Modification and resumption of the Static Experiment Critical Facility (STACY)

Ishii, Junichi; Seki, Masakazu; Aizawa, Eiju; Sumiya, Masato; Maekawa, Tomoyuki; Arakaki, Yu; Hasegawa, Kenta; Araki, Shohei; Izawa, Kazuhiko; Gunji, Satoshi

Proceedings of Nuclear Criticality Safety Division 2025 Conference (NCSD 2025) (Internet), p.39 - 48, 2025/09

The removal of fuel debris is one of the most important and challenging tasks in the decommissioning of power reactors damaged in the 2011 accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (1F). The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has implemented a renewal program of the Static Experiment Critical Facility (STACY), transitioning it from a homogeneous solution system to a heterogeneous water-moderated system, in order to verify the criticality calculations that consider the fuel debris from the 1F accident. The first criticality of the modified STACY was achieved in April 2024. After a series of performance inspections, an experimental campaign for the investigation of fuel debris characteristics was started in August 2024. In this paper, we describe the main equipment of the modified STACY. In addition, the experimental equipment for the debris-simulated core configuration is also introduced.

Experiments on Concrete-loaded core in the modified STACY

Araki, Shohei; Arakaki, Yu; Maekawa, Tomoyuki; Kamikawa, Yutaka; Hasegawa, Kenta; Yoshikawa, Tomoki; Tada, Yuta; Sumiya, Masato; Seki, Masakazu; Aizawa, Eiju; et al.

Proceedings of Nuclear Criticality Safety Division 2025 Conference (NCSD 2025) (Internet), p.80 - 89, 2025/09

In order to investigate the effect on criticality characteristics of fuel debris containing concrete composition in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, critical experiments loaded concrete rods were conducted in the modified STACY. The experimental cores of the modified STACY were composed of light water, fuel rods, and concrete rods with grid plates with 15.0-mm lattice intervals in the core tank. Each fuel rod consisted of a zirconium alloy clad tube (9.5-mm outer diameter) and UO pellets (8.2-mm diameter) with 4.98wt.% 235U enrichment. Each concrete rod was composed of concrete simulant pellets (7.0-mm diameter) and an aluminum alloy clad tube (9.5-mm outer diameter). The concrete simulant pellets were fabricated using an aggregate-free mortar in order to ensure a uniform composition of the pellets, and the composition was evaluated by chemical analysis. Three experimental cores were configurated with 9, 25 and 69 concrete rods. The critical water level data were obtained. An effect of composition uncertainty of the concrete simulant pellet was estimated by sensitivity analysis using MCNP6.2 with JENLD-4.0. The sensitivity analysis estimated the effect to be less than 3 pcm. The calculation results performed using MCNP6.2 with ENDF/B-VII.1, JENDL-4.0, and JENDL-5 libraries showed a tendency to overestimate the multiplication factor according to increasing the loading amount of the concrete rods.

Integrated thermal power measurement in the modified STACY for the performance inspections

Araki, Shohei; Aizawa, Eiju; Murakami, Takahiko; Arakaki, Yu; Tada, Yuta; Kamikawa, Yutaka; Hasegawa, Kenta; Yoshikawa, Tomoki; Sumiya, Masato; Seki, Masakazu; et al.

Annals of Nuclear Energy, 217, p.111323_1 - 111323_8, 2025/07

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2025.111323

JAEA has modified the STACY from a homogeneous system using solution fuel to a heterogeneous system using fuel rods in order to obtain criticality characteristics of fuel debris. The modification of the STACY was completed in December 2023. A series of performance inspections were conducted for the start of experimental operations. A new thermal power calibration is required for the performance inspections in order to operate at less than 200 W, which is the permitted thermal power. However, the thermal power measurement method and calibration data used in the former STACY is no longer available due to the modification of the modified STACY. We measured the thermal power of the STACY using the activation method that was improved to adapt to the measurement condition and calibrated the power meter system. Since the positions where activation foils could be installed were very limited, the thermal power was evaluated using numerical calculations supplemented by experimental data. Neutron flux data at the positions of the activation foil was measured by the activation method. Neutron distribution in the core was calculated by the Monte Carlo code MVP. A response function of the activation foil was calculated using the PHITS. The uncertainty of the thermal power measurement was conservatively estimated to be about 15%. Four operations were conducted for the thermal power measurement. The power meter was calibrated by using three operational data and tested with the one operational data. It was found that the indicated value of the meter adjusted by the STACY before the modification work would tend to overestimate the actual output by about 40%. In addition, the current calibration was able to calibrate the meter to within 3% accuracy.

ZEUS: Fast-spectrum critical assembly with a mixed core of highly enriched and natural uranium containing lead surrounded by a copper reflector

Oizumi, Akito; Fukushima, Masahiro; Gunji, Satoshi; McKenzie, G.*; Amundson, K.*

International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) Handbook (2022/23 edition) (Internet) , 313 Pages, 2024/11

This benchmark report was compiled to register a critical experiment using the lower-enriched uranium (LEU) system core to the International Criticality Safety Evaluation Project (ICSBEP). The LEU experiment was one of a series of joint experimental project with the Los Alamos Laboratory in the United States from 2015 to 2019 aimed at improving the design accuracy of the accelerator driven system (ADS). This core was loaded alternating highly-enriched uranium (HEU) and natural uranium (NU) to simulate LEU. In addition, a fast neutron spectrum system was constructed with not only HEU and NU but also lead which is part of coolant in the ADS. In this evaluation, it was clarified that the experimental uncertainty for the effective multiplication factor was almost 100 pcm. Moreover, the C/E-1 values of almost -70 pcm and -145 pcm were obtained by the calculation with the continuous energy Monte Carlo code MCNP and the nuclear data ENDF/B-VIII.0 and JENDL-4.0, respectively.

Report of PHYSOR2024

Gunji, Satoshi

Robutsuri No Kenkyu (Internet), (77), 11 Pages, 2024/06

https://rpg.jaea.go.jp/else/rpd/annual_report/RPDNo77.html

I participated in the international reactor physics conference PHYSOR2024 and summarized the overview and impressions of the conference.

Critical experiment plans on the new STACY to clarify the criticality characteristics of the molten core-concrete interaction products

Gunji, Satoshi; Araki, Shohei; Izawa, Kazuhiko; Suyama, Kenya

Proceedings of International Conference on Physics of Reactors (PHYSOR 2024) (Internet), p.227 - 236, 2024/04

https://doi.org/10.13182/PHYSOR24-43644

It is considered that a large amount of fuel debris was generated in the TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station accident. In particular, the criticality characteristics of the fuel debris, including concrete components, which are products of molten core-concrete interaction (MCCI), have not been well investigated. In this study, to plan physical simulation in critical experiments at the critical assembly using pseudo fuel debris samples including concrete, we evaluated the sensitivity to the effective multiplication factor of the Si and Ca cross sections in the concrete-simulant sample based on the results of elemental analysis of the prototype. These sensitivity calculations were carried out for each sample loading method and composition. We focused on the energy profile of the sensitivity of the Ca capture reaction and confirmed that the shape of the sensitivity energy profile changed depending on the sample compositions and neutron moderation conditions. We could know the characteristics of each experimental method by clarifying the trends of sensitivity obtained in different experimental cases. It was found that increasing the amount of concrete in the samples and changing the neutron moderation conditions in the experimental core configurations produced similar changes in the shape of the sensitivity energy profile. This result shows the possibility of reproducing the characteristics of MCCI products through practical critical experiments using concrete materials that do not contain fissile materials.

Inter-codes and nuclear data comparison under collaboration works between IRSN and JAEA

Gunji, Satoshi; Araki, Shohei; Watanabe, Tomoaki; Fernex, F.*; Leclaire, N.*; Bardelay, A.*; Suyama, Kenya

Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Nuclear Criticality Safety (ICNC2023) (Internet), 9 Pages, 2023/10

Institut de radioprotection et de sret nuclaire (IRSN) and Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) have a long-standing partnership in the field of criticality safety. In this collaboration, IRSN and JAEA are planning a joint experiment using the new STACY critical assembly, modified by JAEA. In order to compare the codes (MVP3, MORET6, etc.) and nuclear data (JENDL and JEFF) used by both institutes in the planning of the STACY experiment, benchmark calculations of the Apparatus B and TCA, which are critical assemblies once owned by both institutes, benchmarks from the ICSBEP handbook and the computational model of the new STACY were performed. Including the new STACY calculation model, the calculations include several different neutron moderation conditions and critical water heights. There were slight systematic differences in the calculation results, which may have originated from the processing and/or format of the nuclear data libraries. However, it was found that the calculated results, including the new codes and the new nuclear data, are in good agreement with the experimental values. Therefore, there are no issues to use them for the design of experiments for the new STACY. Furthermore, the impact of the new TSL data included in JENDL-5 on the effective multiplication factor was investigated. Experimental validation for them will be completed by critical experiments of the new STACY by both institutes.

Study on the basic core analysis of the new STACY

Gunji, Satoshi; Yoshikawa, Tomoki; Araki, Shohei; Izawa, Kazuhiko; Suyama, Kenya

Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Nuclear Criticality Safety (ICNC2023) (Internet), 8 Pages, 2023/10

Since the compositions and properties of the fuel debris are uncertain, critical experiments are required to validate calculation codes and nuclear data used for the safety evaluation. For this purpose, JAEA has been modifying a critical assembly called "STACY". The first criticality of the new STACY is scheduled for spring 2024. This paper reports the consideration results of the core configurations of the new STACY at the first criticality. We prepared two sets of gird plates with different neutron moderation conditions (their intervals are 1.50 cm and 1.27 cm). However, there is a limitation on the number of available UO fuel rods. In addition, we would like to set the critical water heights for the first criticality at around 95 cm. This is to avoid the reactive effect of the aluminum alloy middle grid plates (Approx. 98 cm high). The core configurations for the first criticality satisfying these conditions were constructed by computational analysis. A square core configuration with the 1.50 cm grid plate that is close to the optimum moderation condition needs 261 fuel rods to reach criticality. As to the 1.27 cm grid plate, we considered two core configurations with 1.80 cm intervals by using a checkerboard arrangement. One of them has two regions core configuration with 1.27 and 1.80 cm intervals, and the other has only 1.80 cm intervals. They need 341 and 201 fuel rods for the criticality, respectively. This paper shows these three core configurations and their calculation models.