Hydroxyl group/fluorine disorder in deuterated magnesium hydroxyfluoride and behaviors of hydrogen bonds under high pressure

He, X.*; Kagi, Hiroyuki*; Komatsu, Kazuki*; Iizuka, Riko*; Okajima, Hajime*; Hattori, Takanori; Sano, Asami; Machida, Shinichi*; Abe, Jun*; Goto, Hirotada*; et al.

Journal of Molecular Structure, 1310, p.138271_1 - 138271_8, 2024/08

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molstruc.2024.138271

High-pressure responses of the O-DF hydrogen bonds in deuterated magnesium hydroxyfluoride were investigated using neutron powder diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. The Rietveld analysis at ambient conditions revealed a chemical formula of Mg(OD)F and hydroxyl group/fluorine disorder (OD/F disorder) in the crystal structure, which gave rise to two hydrogen-bonding configurations. The Rietveld analysis showed the hydrogen-bonding geometries remains up to 9.8 GPa, indicating no pressure-induced strengthening of hydrogen bonds. The Raman spectra at ambient conditions showed three hydroxyl stretching bands at 2613, 2694, and 2718 cm. The high frequencies of the O-D stretching modes indicated that the hydroxyls should be involved in weak or none hydrogen-bonding interactions. Up to 20.2 GPa, the mode initially centered at 2694 cm displayed a pressure-induced blue shift, revealing no strengthening of hydrogen bonds under compression. We discuss the existence of hydrogen bonds and the causes of the blue-shifting hydroxyls at ambient and at high pressures.

A Science-based mixed oxide property model for developing advanced oxide nuclear fuels

Kato, Masato; Oki, Takumi; Watanabe, Masashi; Hirooka, Shun; Vauchy, R.; Ozawa, Takayuki; Uwaba, Tomoyuki; Ikusawa, Yoshihisa; Nakamura, Hiroki; Machida, Masahiko

Journal of the American Ceramic Society, 107(5), p.2998 - 3011, 2024/05

https://doi.org/10.1111/jace.19609

Field-induced insulator-metal transition in EuTe

Takeuchi, Tetsuya*; Honda, Fuminori*; Aoki, Dai*; Haga, Yoshinori; Kida, Takanori*; Narumi, Yasuo*; Hagiwara, Masayuki*; Kindo, Koichi*; Karube, Kosuke*; Harima, Hisatomo*; et al.

Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, 93(4), p.044708_1 - 044708_10, 2024/04

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSJ.93.044708

Effectiveness of fused LASSO for prediction of distribution of radioactive materials in reactor buildings

Yamada, Susumu; Yoshida, Toru*; Hasegawa, Yukihiro*; Machida, Masahiko

Proceedings of Waste Management Symposia 2024 (WM2024) (Internet), 15 Pages, 2024/03

In order to safely carry out the decommission of reactor buildings, it is extremely important to identify the radiation source distribution. It has been reported that when the structural model of the building is constructed by uniform cells, the source distribution can be estimated from the measured air dose rates by minimizing an evaluation function using the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO). Moreover, if cells are non-uniform, we can estimate the distribution using the fused LASSO which minimizes the evaluation function that takes account of the connectivity between the adjacent cells. However, when a group of some cells is considered disconnected from the surrounding ones due to the precision of the measured structural data, the concentration of the group can be singularly high. Therefore, in order to avoid the problem, we propose a new evaluation function that can prevent the singularity. We estimated the distribution for the test model using the proposed evaluation function and confirmed the validity of the function. Moreover, we succeeded in estimating the source distribution in the pool canal circulation system room in JMTR in the Japan Atomic Energy Agency by the fused LASSO for the new function more accurately than previous analysis.

Numerical analyses on perforation damage using test results of reinforced concrete panel subjected to oblique impact

Kang, Z.; Okuda, Yukihiko; Nishida, Akemi; Tsubota, Haruji; Li, Y.

Transactions of the 27th International Conference on Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology (SMiRT 27) (Internet), 10 Pages, 2024/03

Most studies conducted till now on local damage of reinforced concrete (RC) slab structures subjected to projectile impact are about normal impact, while few research related to oblique impact can be found. The objective of this study is to carry out impact tests under different impact conditions including oblique impacts, to confirm the different impact behaviors of the RC slab structure, to develop an analysis method by investigating the test results and analytical conditions, and to validate the analysis method through comparison with the test results. This study focuses on the scabbing damage which is one of the local damage modes of RC slab. Based on oblique impact test results due to soft projectile with hemispherical nose shape, we investigate the relationship between the criterion related to the concrete fracture and the occurrence of scabbing damage.

Experimental visualization of water/ice phase distribution at cold start for practical-sized polymer electrolyte fuel cells

Higuchi, Yuki*; Yoshimune, Wataru*; Kato, Satoru*; Hibi, Shogo*; Setoyama, Daigo*; Isegawa, Kazuhisa*; Matsumoto, Yoshihiro*; Hayashida, Hirotoshi*; Nozaki, Hiroshi*; Harada, Masashi*; et al.

Communications Engineering (Internet), 3, p.33_1 - 33_7, 2024/02

https://doi.org/10.1038/s44172-024-00176-6

Intrinsic factors responsible for brittle versus ductile nature of refractory high-entropy alloys

Tsuru, Tomohito; Han, S.*; Matsuura, Shutaro*; Chen, Z.*; Kishida, Kyosuke; Lobzenko, I.; Rao, S.*; Woodward, C.*; George, E.*; Inui, Haruyuki*

Nature Communications (Internet), 15, p.1706_1 - 1706_10, 2024/02

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-45639-8

Refractory high-entropy alloys (RHEAs) have attracted attention because of their potential for use in ultrahigh-temperature applications. Unfortunately, their body-centered-cubic (BCC) crystal structures make them more brittle than the ductile and fracture-resistant face-centered-cubic (FCC) HEAs. RHEAs also display significantly lower creep strengths than a leading Ni-base superalloy and its FCC matrix. To overcome these drawbacks and develop RHEAs into viable structural materials, improved fundamental understanding is needed of factors that control strength and ductility. Here we investigate two model RHEAs, TiZrHfNbTa and VNbMoTaW, and show that the former is plastically compressible down to 77 K, whereas the latter is not below 298 K. We find that hexagonal close-packed (HCP) elements in TiZrHfNbTa lower its dislocation core energy, increase its lattice distortion, and lower its shear modulus relative to VNbMoTaW whose elements are all BCC, leading to the formers higher ductility and modulus-normalized yield strength. Consistent with our yield strength models, primarily screw dislocations are present in TiZrHfNbTa after deformation, but equal numbers of edge and screw segments in VNbTaMoW. Dislocation cores are compact in VNbTaMoW and extended in TiZrHfNbTa, and different macroscopic slip planes are activated in the two RHEAs, which we attribute to the concentration of HCP elements. Our findings demonstrate how electronic structure changes related to the ratio of HCP to BCC elements can be used to control strength, ductility, and slip behavior to develop the next generation of high-temperature materials for more efficient power plants and transportation.

Investigation on damage evaluation index with ductility factor based on simulation analysis for loading test of piping support structure

Okuda, Yukihiko; Takito, Kiyotaka; Nishida, Akemi; Li, Y.

Mechanical Engineering Journal (Internet), 12 Pages, 2024/00

https://doi.org/10.1299/mej.23-00405

After the Great East Japan earthquake and the accident at the TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Stations in March 2011, the regulation for nuclear power plants (NPPs) has been enhanced to take countermeasures against beyond-design-basis events. To improve the seismic safety of nuclear facilities against earthquakes that exceed the design input ground motion, the importance of seismic probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) has drawn much attention. It is essential to evaluate the realistic seismic response of the equipment and piping in NPPs for fragility assessment in seismic PRA. In particular, since piping systems have plant-specific complex route geometries, it is known that the arrangement and stiffness of piping support structures have a significant impact on seismic response characteristics of the entire piping system. To construct a realistic seismic response analysis method for excessive input ground motion exceeding the elastic response, it is desired to develop an elastic-plastic response analysis method that can estimate the realistic response of piping systems including pipe support structures. In this study, the applicability of the method is confirmed by the simulation analysis of the elasto-plastic response for the piping support structure loading test previously reported. Moreover, based on the good correlation between the ductility factor and the damage status obtained from the test results and simulation analysis results, it is shown that the ductility factor is effective as a damage evaluation index for piping support structures.

Measurement of the water-vapor void fraction in a unheated rod bundle

Nagatake, Taku; Yoshida, Hiroyuki

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 60(11), p.1417 - 1430, 2023/11

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2023.2223588

In recent years, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes have been used to evaluate two-phase flow behavior inside a fuel bundle for nuclear core design and accident management. A space-time distribution of void fraction and interfacial velocity in bundle systems at high temperatures and pressures, are important for validation of two-phase flow CFD codes. However, it is difficult to obtain a space-time distribution of void fraction and interfacial velocity in a bundle system at high temperature and pressure conditions. We have so far developed an experimental apparatus with a unheated rod bundle by adapting a through-rod WMS to measure distributions of a void fraction and an interfacial velocity in high pressure conditions. We newly measured distributions of the void fraction and interfacial velocity in the water-vapor system under high pressure up to 2.6 MPa by the developed apparatus. It has been confirmed that reasonable results were obtained by the experimental apparatus.

Estimation of temporal variation of discharged inventory of radioactive strontium Sr (Sr) from port of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant; Analysis of the temporal variation from the accident to March 2022 and evaluation of its impact on Fukushima coast and offshore areas

Machida, Masahiko; Iwata, Ayako; Yamada, Susumu; Otosaka, Shigeyoshi*; Kobayashi, Takuya; Funasaka, Hideyuki*; Morita, Takami*

Nihon Genshiryoku Gakkai Wabun Rombunshi (Internet), 22(4), p.119 - 139, 2023/11

https://doi.org/10.3327/taesj.J22.016

We estimate monthly discharged inventory of Sr from port of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (1F) from Jun. 2013 to Mar. 2022 by using the Voronoi tessellation method inside the port, following the monitoring of Sr sea water radioactivity concentration inside the port. The results suggest that the closure of sea side impermeable wall is the most effective for the reduction of discharged one. In addition, the results roughly reveal the monthly discharged inventory required to observe visible enhancement of the sea radioactivity concentration from the background level in each area. Such outcome is significant for considering environmental impacts on the planned future releasing of the treated water accumulated in 1F site.