Challenging studies by accelerator mass spectrometry for the development of environmental radiology; Status report on the analysis of Sr and Cs by AMS

Honda, Maki; Martschini, M.*; Wieser, A.*; Marchhart, O.*; Lachner, J.*; Priller, A.*; Steier, P.*; Golser, R.*; Sakaguchi, Aya*

JAEA-Conf 2022-001, p.85 - 90, 2022/11

https://doi.org/10.11484/jaea-conf-2022-001

Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) is an analytical method that combines mass spectrometry with a tandem accelerator, which has been used mainly in nuclear physics experiments. AMS is used to measure radionuclides with half-lives of 10-10 years. For radionuclides with half-lives of this order, the method of measuring their mass is 10-10 times more sensitive than measuring their activity. Because of this advantage, AMS has been widely applied in Earth and planetary sciences, atomic energy research, and other fields. Among the various studies, Wallner et al. (2021, 2016) have achieved excellent work in Earth and planetary sciences. For example, they have attained the ultra-sensitive analysis of Fe and Pu in environmental samples. These are radionuclides produced by rapid-neutron-capture (r-process) nucleosynthesis. Our recent work shows that a new AMS system (VERA, University of Vienna), which combines laser isobaric separation and a typical AMS system, has been successfully applied to the ultra-sensitive determination of Sr and Cs in environment. For Sr in environmental samples, the -ray measurement by the milking of the daughter nuclide Y is still the principal method, which takes 3-6 weeks. The new AMS method has a detection limit of 0.1 mBq, which is comparable to that of -ray measurement, with a more straightforward chemical treatment than -measurement. Our achievement demonstrates that AMS can be a practical new method for determining Sr in the environment.

Developing accelerator mass spectrometry capabilities for anthropogenic radionuclide analysis to extend the set of oceanographic tracers

Hain, K.*; Martschini, M.*; Glce, F.*; Honda, Maki; Lachner, J.*; Kern, M.*; Pitters, J.*; Quinto, F.*; Sakaguchi, Aya*; Steier, P.*; et al.

Frontiers in Marine Science (Internet), 9, p.837515_1 - 837515_17, 2022/03

https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.837515

Recent major advances in accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) at the Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator (VERA) regarding detection efficiency and isobar suppression have opened possibilities for the analysis of additional long-lived radionuclides at ultra-low environmental concentrations. These radionuclides, including U, Cs, Tc and Sr, will become important for oceanographic tracer application due to their generally conservative behavior in ocean water. In particular, the isotope ratios U/U and Cs/Cs have proven to be powerful fingerprints for emission source identification as they are not affected by elemental fractionation. Improved detection efficiencies allowed us to analyze all major long-lived actinides, i.e. U, Np, Pu, Am as well as the very rare U, in the same 10 L water samples of an exemplary depth profile from the northwest Pacific Ocean. Especially for Sr analysis, our new approach has already been validated for selected reference materials (e.g. IAEA-A-12) and is ready for application in oceanographic studies. We estimate that a sample volume of only (1-3) L ocean water is sufficient for Sr as well as Cs analysis, respectively.

Strong lattice anharmonicity exhibited by the high-energy optical phonons in thermoelectric material

Wu, P.*; Fan, F.-R.*; Hagihara, Masato*; Kofu, Maiko; Peng, K.*; Ishikawa, Yoshihisa*; Lee, S.*; Honda, Takashi*; Yonemura, Masao*; Ikeda, Kazutaka*; et al.

New Journal of Physics (Internet), 22(8), p.083083_1 - 083083_9, 2020/08

https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/aba98f

Thermoelectric material SnSe has aroused world-wide interests in the past years, and its inherent strong lattice anharmonicity is regarded as a crucial factor for its outstanding thermoelectric performance. However, the understanding of lattice anharmonicity in SnSe system remains inadequate, especially regarding how phonon dynamics are affected by this behavior. In this work, we present a comprehensive study of lattice dynamics on NaSnSeS by means of neutron total scattering, inelastic neutron scattering, Raman spectroscopy as well as frozen-phonon calculations. Lattice anharmonicity is evidenced by pair distribution function, inelastic neutron scattering and Raman measurements. By separating the effects of thermal expansion and multi-phonon scattering, we found that the latter is very significant in high-energy optical phonon modes. The strong temperature-dependence of these phonon modes indicate the anharmonicity in this system. Moreover, our data reveals that the linewidths of high-energy optical phonons become broadened with mild doping of sulfur. Our studies suggest that the thermoelectric performance of SnSe could be further enhanced by reducing the contributions of high-energy optical phonon modes to the lattice thermal conductivity via phonon engineering.

Sensitivity analysis of xenon reactivity temperature dependency for HTTR LOFC test by using RELAP5-3D code

Honda, Yuki; Fukaya, Yuji; Nakagawa, Shigeaki; Baker, R. I.*; Sato, Hiroyuki

Proceedings of 8th International Topical Meeting on High Temperature Reactor Technology (HTR 2016) (CD-ROM), p.704 - 713, 2016/11

A high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) has superior safety characteristics. A loss of forced cooling (LOFC) test using a high-temperature engineering test reactor (HTTR) has been carried out to verify the inherent safety of an HTGR when forced cooling is diminished without reactor scram. In the test, an all-gas circulator was tripped with an initial reactor power of 9 MW and re-criticality was shown. This study focuses on developing a point kinetics method with RELAP5-3D code for an LOFC accident. There is a large temperature difference between the inlet and outlet of the core in an HTGR, and the temperature fluctuation range has been large in several accidents. We analyze the temperature dependency of xenon-135 reactivity and show that the temperature dependency of xenon-135 microscopic absorption cross-section affected the re-criticality time of the LOFC test.

JT-60SA superconducting magnet system

Koide, Yoshihiko; Yoshida, Kiyoshi; Wanner, M.*; Barabaschi, P.*; Cucchiaro, A.*; Davis, S.*; Decool, P.*; Di Pietro, E.*; Disset, G.*; Genini, L.*; et al.

Nuclear Fusion, 55(8), p.086001_1 - 086001_7, 2015/08

https://doi.org/10.1088/0029-5515/55/8/086001

The most distinctive feature of the superconducting magnet system for JT-60SA is the optimized coil structure in terms of the space utilization as well as the highly accurate coil manufacturing, thus meeting the requirements for the steady-state tokamak research: A conceptually new outer inter-coil structure separated from the casing is introduced to the toroidal field coils to realize their slender shape, allowing large-bore diagnostic ports for detailed plasma measurements. A method to minimize the manufacturing error of the equilibrium-field coils has been established, aiming at the precise plasma shape/position control. A compact butt-joint has been successfully developed for the Central Solenoid, which allows an optimized utilization of the limited space for the Central Solenoid to extend the duration of the plasma pulse.

Development of a GEM-TPC for H-dibaryon search experiment at J-PARC

Sako, Hiroyuki; Ahn, J. K.*; Baek, K. H.*; Bassalleck, B.*; Fujioka, H.*; Guo, L.*; Hasegawa, Shoichi; Hicks, K.*; Honda, R.*; Hwang, S. H.*; et al.

Journal of Instrumentation (Internet), 9(4), p.C04009_1 - C04009_10, 2014/04

https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/9/04/C04009

A TPC has been developed for J-PARC E42 experiment to search for H-dibaryon in (, ) reaction. An event with 2 and 2 protons decaying from H-dibaryon is searched for inside the TPC. The TPC has octagonal prism shape drift volume with about 50 cm diameter with 55 cm drift length filled with Ar-CH (90:10) gas. At the end of the drift volume, 3-layer GEMs are equipped. In order to analyze momenta of produced particles, the TPC is applied with 1 T dipole magnetic field parallel to the drift electric field with a superconducting Helmholz magnet. In order to maximize the acceptance of H-dibaryon events, a diamond target is installed inside the TPC drift volume, in a cylindrical hole opened from the top to the middle of the drift volume. Since extremely high-rate beam is directly injected into the TPC drift volume to the target, a gating grid and GEMs are adopted to suppress positive-ion feedback.

Integrated modeling of steady-state scenarios and heating and current drive mixes for ITER

Murakami, Masanori*; Park, J. M.*; Giruzzi, G.*; Garcia, J.*; Bonoli, P.*; Budny, R. V.*; Doyle, E. J.*; Fukuyama, Atsushi*; Hayashi, Nobuhiko; Honda, Mitsuru; et al.

Proceedings of 23rd IAEA Fusion Energy Conference (FEC 2010) (CD-ROM), 8 Pages, 2011/03

http://www-naweb.iaea.org/napc/physics/FEC/FEC2010/html/node76.htm#18822

Current ramps in tokamaks; From present experiments to ITER scenarios

Imbeaux, F.*; Basiuk, V.*; Budny, R.*; Casper, T.*; Citrin, J.*; Fereira, J.*; Fukuyama, Atsushi*; Garcia, J.*; Gribov, Y. V.*; Hayashi, Nobuhiko; et al.

Proceedings of 23rd IAEA Fusion Energy Conference (FEC 2010) (CD-ROM), 8 Pages, 2010/10

http://www-naweb.iaea.org/napc/physics/FEC/FEC2010/html/node62.htm#15641

In order to prepare adequate current ramp-up and ramp-down scenarios for ITER, present experiments from several tokamaks have been analyzed by means of integrated modeling in view of determining relevant heat transport models for these operation phases. The results of these studies are presented and projections to ITER current ramp-up and ramp-down scenarios are done, focusing on the baseline inductive scenario (main heating plateau current of 15 MA). Various transport models have been tested by means of integrated modeling against experimental data from ASDEX Upgrade, C-Mod, DIII-D, JET and Tore Supra, including both Ohmic plasmas and discharges with additional heating/current drive. With using the most successful models, projections to the ITER current ramp-up and ramp-down phases are carried out. Though significant differences between models appear on the electron temperature prediction, the final q-profiles reached in the simulation are rather close.

Recent R&D activities of negative-ion-based ion source for JT-60SA

Ikeda, Yoshitaka; Hanada, Masaya; Kamada, Masaki; Kobayashi, Kaoru; Umeda, Naotaka; Akino, Noboru; Ebisawa, Noboru; Inoue, Takashi; Honda, Atsushi; Kawai, Mikito; et al.

IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, 36(4), p.1519 - 1529, 2008/08

https://doi.org/10.1109/TPS.2008.927382

The JT-60SA N-NBI system is required to inject 10 MW for 100 s at 500 keV. Three key issues should be solved for the JT-60SA N-NBI ion source. One is to improve the voltage holding capability. Recent R&D tests suggested that the accelerator with a large area of grids may need a high margin in the design of electric field and a long time for conditioning. The second issue is to reduce the grid power loading. It was found that some beamlets were strongly deflected due to beamlet-beamlet interaction and strike on the grounded grid. The grids are to be designed by taking account of beamlet-beamlet interaction in three-dimensional simulation. Third is to maintain the D- production for 100 s. A simple cooling structure is proposed for the active cooled plasma grid, where a key is the temperature gradient on the plasma grid for uniform D- production. The modified N-NBI ion source will start on JT-60SA in 2015.

Resonant X-ray scattering study of NpRhGa and NpCoGa

Detlefs, B.*; Wilkins, S. B.*; Caciuffo, R.*; Paixo, J. A.*; Kaneko, Koji; Honda, Fuminori*; Metoki, Naoto; Bernhoeft, N.*; Rebizant, J.*; Lander, G. H.*

Physical Review B, 77(2), p.024425_1 - 024425_10, 2008/01

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.77.024425

We report a resonant X-ray scattering study of the antiferromagnetic neptunium compounds NpCoGa and NpRhGa. Large resonant signals of magnetic dipole character are observed below the Nel temperatures. The signals at the Np edges confirm the behavior determined previously from neutron diffraction. On application of a magnetic field of 9 T along the [010] direction in NpRhGa, we observe a change in the population of different [110]-type domains. We also observe a magnetic dipole signal at the Ga edge, similarly to the reported UGa case, that can be interpreted within a semilocalized model as an orbital polarization of the Ga 4 states induced via strong hybridization with the Np 5 valence band. Quantitative analysis of the signal shows that the Ga dipole on the two different Ga sites follows closely the Np magnetic moment reorientation in NpRhGa. The ratios of the signals on the two inequivalent Ga sites are not the same for the different compounds.