Development of an continuous air monitor for the measurement of highly radioactive alpha-emitting particulates (-aerosols) under high humidity environment

Tsubota, Yoichi; Honda, Fumiya; Tokonami, Shinji*; Tamakuma, Yuki*; Nakagawa, Takahiro; Ikeda, Atsushi

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, 1030, p.166475_1 - 166475_7, 2022/05

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2022.166475

In the long-lasting decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (1F), the dismantling of nuclear fuel debris (NFD) remaining in the damaged reactors is an unavoidable but significant issue with many technical difficulties. The dismantling is presumed to involve mechanical cutting, generating significant concentrations of particulates containing -radionuclides (-aerosols) that pose significant health risk upon inhalation. In order to minimize the radiation exposure of workers with -aerosols during the dismantling/decommissioning process at 1F, it is essential to monitor the concentration of -aerosols at the point of initial generation, i.e. inside the primary containment vessels (PCV) of the damaged reactors. Toward this end, an monitoring system for -aerosols ( alpha air monitor: IAAM) was developed and its technical performance was investigated under the conditions expected for the actual environments at 1F. IAAM was confirmed to fulfill four technical requirements: (1) steady operation under high humidity, (2) operation without using filters, (3) capability of measuring a high counting rate of -radiation, and (4) selective measurement of -radiation even under high radiation background with /-rays. IAAM is capable of selectively measuring -aerosols with a concentration of 3.3 10 Bq/cm or higher without saturation under a high humid environment (100%-relative humidity) and under high background with /-radiation (up to 100 mSv/h of -radiation). These results demonstrate promising potential of IAAM to be utilized as a reliable monitoring system for -aerosols during the dismantling of NFD, as well as the whole long-lasting decommissioning of 1F.

Prediction of ambient dose equivalent rate in the early phase of the Fukushima accident, 1; An Outline of prediction model of ambient dose equivalent rate

Kinase, Sakae; Honda, Fumiya*

no journal, , 

no abstracts in English

Prediction of ambient dose equivalent rates in the early phase of the TEPCO Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident

Honda, Fumiya*; Kinase, Sakae

no journal, , 

no abstracts in English

Predictions of the ambient dose equivalent rates in the early phase of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident

Kinase, Sakae; Honda, Fumiya*

no journal, , 

External dose reconstruction in the early phase of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident using 2-compartment model

Honda, Fumiya*; Kinase, Sakae

no journal, , 

no abstracts in English

Development of elemental technology for alpha-ray dust monitor for in-situ measurement of radioactive aerosol in dismantling and decommissioning

Tsubota, Yoichi; Honda, Fumiya; Nakagawa, Takahiro; Kawasaki, Takashi; Tamakuma, Yuki*; Tokonami, Shinji*; Momose, Takumaro

no journal, , 

A large number of radioactive aerosols, especially alpha particles, are expected to be generated during fuel debris retrieval on Fukushima - Daiichi (1F) site and decommissioning of nuclear fuel cycle facilities. In the case of conventional alpha dust monitor, silicon surface barrier detector (SSBD) is often used as a detector which has not so high limit of count rates. Moreover, SSBD is not suitable for high humidity environment. In this work, we developed a prototype of alpha dust monitor aiming at an in-situ measurement of high concentration of airborne alpha particles. Approx. 20M cpm of counting rate was achieved which was more than 10 times higher compared to a conventional alpha dust monitor using SSBD. For follow-up test, counting rate of prototype alpha dust monitor was smoothly followed with respect to the airborne concentration of alpha particles.

Development of elemental technologies for "in-situ" alpha dust monitors for fuel debris retrieval and decommissioning

Tsubota, Yoichi; Yoshida, Masato; Honda, Fumiya; Tokonami, Shinji*; Nakagawa, Takahiro; Kawasaki, Takashi

no journal, , 

In order to measure the airborne concentration in air in real time, a dust monitor to measure directly the alpha-particle concentration in a flat-type flow path was developed and its performance was evaluated. The performance of the prototype dust monitor was evaluated in a high-humidity environment, and its counting rate was more than ten times higher than that of a conventional dust monitor.

Measurement and calculation analysis of shielding material's performance for MOX containing americium

Okada, Toyofumi; Shibanuma, Tomohiro; Honda, Fumiya; Komeno, Akira; Kikuno, Hiroshi

no journal, , 

Am is generated by beta-decay of Pu. In the case of treating MOX, it is important for shielding about 60keV gamma-ray emitted by Am. Also getting dose rate data of MOX containing Am is valuable. In this work, we measured gamma-ray dose rate from MOX containing Am by changing thickness of shielding materials and range between MOX and measuring instruments. Also we confirmed that calculating analysis is useful for evaluation of shielding material's performance.

Improvement of alpha aerosol monitor for in-situ measurement of airborne radioactive concentration in decommissioning

Tsubota, Yoichi; Honda, Fumiya; Yoshida, Masato; Nakagawa, Takahiro; Tamakuma, Yuki*; Tokonami, Shinji*; Ikeda, Atsushi

no journal, , 

A large amount of radioactive aerosols are expected to be dispersed fuel during debris cutting during large-scale retrieval of fuel debris at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (1F) and dismantling of nuclear fuel attachments during decommissioning of nuclear fuel facilities. Particulates containing -nuclides (-aerosols) in particular have very high effective dose coefficients upon inhalation, therefore appropriate control and measurements are required. Conventional dust monitors using SSBD have difficulties with moisture resistance, noise resistance, and clogging of filter paper. We have designed and prototyped an -aerosol monitor that directly measures -rays from aerosols using a scintillator and a multi-channel photomultiplier tube after drying the aerosols by heating the flat channel inlet without using a collecting filter paper in order to realize monitoring near the point where highly concentrated -aerosols are generated. In this presentation, we report on the results of basic performance evaluations, the change in particle size due to air drying, and the improvement of the power supply method of the detection unit for on-site implementation at 1F.

Development of "in-situ" alpha-ray dust monitors for fuel debris dismantling and decommissioning

Tsubota, Yoichi; Honda, Fumiya; Tokonami, Shinji*; Tamakuma, Yuki*; Nakagawa, Takahiro; Ikeda, Atsushi

no journal, , 

Aerosol behavior differs greatly depending on the generation history and processing method of NFDs. Especially for aerosols containing alpha ray emitting nuclides (alpha aerosols), which have a large internal dose upon inhalation, confinement and monitoring in the PCV are important. JAEA has been developing instruments to measure alpha aerosols in the 1F-PCV. The In-situ Alpha Air Monitor (IAAM), which was designed and developed to measure alpha aerosols "in-situ" in the harsh environment of the 1F-PCV, operates in a high-humidity, high gamma ray environment and can measure alpha aerosol concentrations 30 times The IAAM operates in a high humidity, high gamma ray environment and has demonstrated alpha aerosol measurement performance of more than 30 times the expected concentration in the 1F-PCV.