Verification of probabilistic fracture mechanics analysis code PASCAL for reactor pressure vessel

Lu, K.; Takamizawa, Hisashi; Li, Y.; Masaki, Koichi*; Takagoshi, Daiki*; Nagai, Masaki*; Nannichi, Takashi*; Murakami, Kenta*; Kanto, Yasuhiro*; Yashirodai, Kenji*; et al.

Mechanical Engineering Journal (Internet), 10(4), p.22-00484_1 - 22-00484_13, 2023/08

https://doi.org/10.1299/mej.22-00484

Optimized TES microcalorimeters with 14 eV energy resolution at 30 keV for -ray measurements of the Th isomer

Muramatsu, Haruka*; Hayashi, Tasuku*; Yuasa, Naoki*; Konno, Ryohei*; Yamaguchi, Atsushi*; Mitsuda, Kazuhisa*; Yamasaki, Noriko*; Maehata, Keisuke*; Kikunaga, Hidetoshi*; Takimoto, Misaki; et al.

Journal of Low Temperature Physics, 200(5-6), p.452 - 460, 2020/09

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10909-020-02458-7

Verification of probabilistic fracture mechanics analysis code PASCAL

Li, Y.; Katsumata, Genshichiro*; Masaki, Koichi*; Hayashi, Shotaro*; Itabashi, Yu*; Nagai, Masaki*; Suzuki, Masahide*; Kanto, Yasuhiro*

Proceedings of 25th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE-25) (CD-ROM), 10 Pages, 2017/07

In Japan, a PFM analysis code PASCAL (PFM Analysis of Structural Components in Aging LWR) has been developed by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency to evaluate the through-wall cracking frequencies of Japanese reactor pressure vessels (RPVs) considering neutron irradiation embrittlement and pressurized thermal shock transients. In this study, as a part of the verification activities, a working group was established in Japan, with seven organizations from industry, universities and institutes voluntarily participating as members. The source program of PASCAL was released to the members of the working group. Through one year activities, the applicability of PASCAL for structural integrity assessments of domestic RPVs was confirmed with great confidence. This paper presents the details of the verification activities of the working group including the verification plan, approaches and results.

Benchmark analyses of probabilistic fracture mechanics for cast stainless steel pipe

Hojo, Kiminobu*; Hayashi, Shotaro*; Nishi, Wataru*; Kamaya, Masayuki*; Katsuyama, Jinya; Masaki, Koichi*; Nagai, Masaki*; Okamoto, Toshiki*; Takada, Yasukazu*; Yoshimura, Shinobu*

Mechanical Engineering Journal (Internet), 3(4), p.16-00083_1 - 16-00083_16, 2016/08

https://doi.org/10.1299/mej.16-00083

Performance demonstration certification of non-destructive inspection for cast stainless steel (CASS) has been planned but the target flaw depth to be detected has not been determined yet in Japan. The target flaw size is closely connected to the allowable flaw size which is determined by flaw evaluation of the rules on fitness-for-service. For rational mitigation of the acceptable flaw size, application of probabilistic fracture mechanics (PFM) is one of the useful countermeasures compared with deterministic approach. In this paper, benchmark problems for a CASS pipe were proposed with intention applying and verifying PFM codes. As the fracture modes, fatigue crack extension, plastic collapse and ductile crack initiation were assumed. Six organizations participated in the benchmark analysis and failure probabilities from them were compared. As a result the failure probability of each problem showed good agreement and the code for application of CASS issue has been verified.

Chlorination of UO and (U,Zr)O solid solution using MoCl

Sato, Takumi; Shibata, Hiroki; Hayashi, Hirokazu; Takano, Masahide; Kurata, Masaki

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 52(10), p.1253 - 1258, 2015/10

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2015.1070110

In order to explore the applicability of the chlorination by MoCl as a potential pretreatment technique for waste treatment of fuel debris by pyrochemical methods, chlorination experiments of UO and (UZr)O simulated fuel debris were carried out in two steps: the first one is a chlorination reaction by homogeneous heating, the second one is a volatilization of molybdenum by-product by heating under temperature gradient condition. Most of UO and (UZr)O powder were converted to UCl or UCl and ZrCl mixture at 573 K, respectively. In the case of (UZr)Osintered particle, most of sample was converted to the chlorides because the products evaporated and be separated from sample surface at 773 K, while only the surface of the sample disk was converted to the chlorides at 573 and 673 K. Most of molybdenum by-product and ZrCl were separated from UCl by volatilization at 573 K.

Development of nitride fuel cycle technology for transmutation of minor actinides

Hayashi, Hirokazu; Nishi, Tsuyoshi*; Sato, Takumi; Kurata, Masaki

Proceedings of 21st International Conference & Exhibition; Nuclear Fuel Cycle for a Low-Carbon Future (GLOBAL 2015) (USB Flash Drive), p.1811 - 1817, 2015/09

Transmutation of long-lived radioactive nuclides including minor actinides (MA: Np, Am, Cm) has been studied in Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA). Accelerator-driven system (ADS) is regarded as one of the powerful tools for transmutation of MA under the double strata fuel cycle concept. Uranium-free nitride fuel was chosen as the first candidate fuel for MA transmutation using ADS. To improve the transmutation ratio of MA, reprocessing of spent fuel and reusing MA recovered from the spent fuels is necessary. Our target is to transmute 99% of MA arisen from commercial power reactor fuel cycle, with which the period until the radiotoxicity drops below that of natural uranium can be shorten from about 5000 years to about 300 years. A pyrochemical process has been proposed as the first candidate for reprocessing of the spent nitride fuel. This paper overviews the current status of the nitride fuel cycle technology. Our recent study on fuel fabrication, fuel property measurements, reprocessing of spent fuel, development of the property database of MA nitride fuel, and fuel behavior simulation code are introduced. Our research and development (R&D) plan based on the roadmap of the development is also introduced.

Recent progress and future R&D plan of nitride fuel cycle technology for transmutation of minor actinides

Hayashi, Hirokazu; Nishi, Tsuyoshi; Takano, Masahide; Sato, Takumi; Shibata, Hiroki; Kurata, Masaki

NEA/NSC/R(2015)2 (Internet), p.360 - 367, 2015/06

https://www.oecd-nea.org/science/docs/2015/nsc-r2015-2.pdf#page=362

Uranium-free nitride fuel was chosen as the first candidate for transmutation of long-lived minor actinides (MA) using accelerator-driven system (ADS) under the double strata fuel cycle concept by Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA). The advantages of nitride fuel are good thermal properties and large mutual solubility among actinide elements. A pyrochemical process is proposed as the first candidate for the reprocessing of the spent nitride fuel, because this technique has some advantages over aqueous process, such as the resistance to radiation damage, which is an important issue for the fuels containing large amounts of highly radioactive MA. This paper overviews the recent progress and future R&D plan of the study on the nitride fuel cycle technology in JAEA.

High-contrast, high-intensity petawatt-class laser and applications

Kiriyama, Hiromitsu; Mori, Michiaki; Pirozhkov, A. S.; Ogura, Koichi; Sagisaka, Akito; Kon, Akira; Esirkepov, T. Z.; Hayashi, Yukio; Kotaki, Hideyuki; Kanasaki, Masato*; et al.

IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, 21(1), p.1601118_1 - 1601118_18, 2015/01

https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTQE.2014.2336774

This paper reviews the development of a high-contrast high-intensity petawatt-class Ti:sapphire chirped-pulse amplification (CPA) laser for research on high field science. We discuss in detail the design, performance and characterization of the laser. We also describe the on-going upgrade of the laser system and some applications for the laser in relativistic dominated laser-matter interactions.

Pyrochemical treatment of spent nitride fuels for MA transmutation

Hayashi, Hirokazu; Sato, Takumi; Shibata, Hiroki; Kurata, Masaki; Iwai, Takashi; Arai, Yasuo

Science China; Chemistry, 57(11), p.1427 - 1431, 2014/11

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-014-5205-9

Nitride fuels have several advantages, such as high thermal conductivity and high metal density like metallic fuels, and high melting point and isotropic crystal structure like oxide fuels. Since the late 1990s, the partitioning and transmutation of minor actinides (MA) has been studied to decrease the long term radio-toxicity of high level waste and mitigate the burden on the final disposal. Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has been proposing dedicated transmutation cycle using the Accelerator-Driven System (ADS) with the nitride fuels containing MA. We have been developing the nitride fuel cycle including pyrochemical process. Our focus is on electrolysis of nitride fuels and refabrication of nitride fuel from the recovered actinides because other processes are similar to the technology for the metal fuel treatment and have been studied elsewhere. In this paper, we summarized our activity on developments of the pyrochemical treatment of the spent nitride fuels.

Evaluation of Gibbs free energies of formation of Ce-Cd intermetallic compounds using electrochemical techniques

Shibata, Hiroki; Hayashi, Hirokazu; Akabori, Mitsuo; Arai, Yasuo; Kurata, Masaki

Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids, 75(8), p.972 - 976, 2014/08

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpcs.2014.04.004

Gibbs free energies of formation of six Ce-Cd intermetallic compounds, CeCd, CeCd, CeCd, CeCd, CeCd and CeCd, were evaluated systematically using electrochemical techniques in the temperature range from 673 to 923 K in the LiCl-KCl-CeCl-CdCl molten salt bath. The linear dependence of the Gibbs free energies of formation on temperature yields to the enthalpies and entropies of formation of these intermetallic compounds. By extrapolating the molar Gibbs free energy of Ce-Cd intermetallic compounds to the Cd distillation temperature, it was clear that the molar Gibbs free energy of Ce in Ce-Cd intermetallic compounds decreases gradually from CeCd to CeCd and attains to the minimum value at CeCd. This suggests on the Cd distillation from the U-Pu-Ce-Cd alloy that the dissolution of U or Pu into CeCd should be mostly taken into consideration.