Compliance measures at the Radioactive Waste Treatment Facilities at the Nuclear Science Research Institute; Aseismic reinforcement of the Radioactive Waste Treatment Facility No. 3, Waste Size Reduction and Storage Facility, and Waste Volume Reduction Facility

Iketani, Shotaro; Suzuki, Takeshi; Yokobori, Tomohiko; Sugawara, Satoshi; Yokota, Akira; Kikuchi, Genta; Muraguchi, Yoshinori; Kitahara, Masaru; Seya, Manato; Kurosawa, Tsuyoshi; et al.

JAEA-Technology 2025-001, 169 Pages, 2025/08

JAEA-Technology-2025-001.pdf:14.22MB

The radioactive waste treatment facilities at the Nuclear Science Research Institute includes the Radioactive Waste Treatment Facility No. 3, Waste Size Reduction and Storage Facility, and Waste Volume Reduction Facility. These three facilities come under the purview of the Act on the Regulation of Nuclear Source Material, Nuclear Fuel Material and Reactors, and are included under Class C of the act based on the seismic requirements specified in the Act. We assessed the seismic capacity of these three radioactive waste treatment facilities based on the current Building Standards Act, to verify whether they comply with the new regulatory requirements enforced by the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) in the aftermath of the 2011 nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station operated by the Tokyo Electric Power Company. We found that the allowable stress of a few structural members used in the construction of the facilities did not meet the regulatory requirements. After studying the approval granted by the NRA for the construction plans, including the design and construction methods (design and construction plans) of the three facilities on March 5, 2021, we made aseismic reinforcement at these facilities between 2021 and 2022. This report presents an overview of the seismic design of these facilities and an outline of the aseismic reinforcement conducted, management system existing, safety measures adopted, and the preoperational inspections conducted at these facilities.

Development of plutonium fuel facility decommissioning technology to accelerate glovebox dismantling and reduce air-fed suits based operations

Yoshida, Masato; Iguchi, Satoshi; Hirano, Hiroshi*; Kitamura, Akihiro

Nuclear Engineering and Design, 431, p.113691_1 - 113691_16, 2025/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2024.113691

The Plutonium Fuel Fabrication Facility is currently in the decommissioning phase, with glovebox dismantling operations ongoing since 2010. During conventional glovebox dismantling operations, the glovebox to be dismantled is enclosed within plastic tents to contain contamination. The glovebox is then dismantled by workers wearing air-fed suits with thermal or mechanical cutting tools, which typically generate dross or sparks in the form of radioactive aerosols during cutting. Despite the longevity and meticulous organization of this manual method, the workload remains considerable, while the allowable working time is limited. In addition, the potential for inhalation exposure to plutonium is elevated in the event of an accident given the contamination of the work area. To overcome disadvantages associated with conventional glovebox dismantling methods, new methods are currently being developed. The primary objective is to reduce the reliance on operation based on air-fed suits and enhance worker safety by introducing remote equipment and a new floor-reinforcing panel. Another objective is to suppress waste generation by reusing all equipment on multiple occasions which is achieved by developing a containment system that have a large open port with a pallet for the storage and reuse of equipment for successive operations. Furthermore, a glove operation compartment is designed and tested for the manual handling of dismantled materials as an additional strategy to reduce work based on air-fed suits and mitigate secondary waste generation.

A Study on analysis of actual data in "Fugen" decommissioning

Koda, Yuya; Nakamura, Yasuyuki; Iguchi, Yukihiro*; Yanagihara, Satoshi*

Proceedings of 31st International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE31) (Internet), 10 Pages, 2024/11

https://doi.org/10.1115/ICONE31-135953

"Fugen" has been proceeding with decommissioning work since receiving approval for the decommissioning plan in 2008, and is currently in the second step of dismantling the reactor peripheral equipment. In decommissioning, project management is important to select strategies and optimize processes, waste, safety, costs, etc. In Japan, it is expected that decommissioning work for nuclear facilities will become more serious in the future, and the knowledge and project management data obtained from the decommissioning work carried out at "Fugen" to date will be useful for planning. Since the dismantling and removal of the main turbine equipment and the peripheral equipment in preparation for the reactors have been completed so far, the actual data has been organized and analyzed and compiled into unit work coefficients. The project management data, collected during the decommissioning work carried out at "Fugen" is organized and calculated as a unit work coefficient.

Summary report in FY2022 of subsidy program for "the Project of Decommissioning and Contaminated Water Management (Development of Analysis and Estimation Technology for Characterization of Fuel Debris (Development of Technologies for Enhanced Analysis Accuracy, Thermal behavior Estimation, and Simplified Analysis of Fuel Debris)" started in FY2011

Koyama, Shinichi; Ikeuchi, Hirotomo; Mitsugi, Takeshi; Maeda, Koji; Sasaki, Shinji; Onishi, Takashi; Tsai, T.-H.; Takano, Masahide; Fukaya, Hiroyuki; Nakamura, Satoshi; et al.

Hairo, Osensui, Shorisui Taisaku Jigyo Jimukyoku Homu Peji (Internet), 216 Pages, 2023/11

https://en.dccc-program.jp/wp-content/uploads/20231117_JAEA.pdf

In FY 2021 and 2022, JAEA perfomed the subsidy program for "the Project of Decommissioning and Contaminated Water Management (Development of Analysis and Estimation Technology for Characterization of Fuel Debris (Development of Technologies for Enhanced Analysis Accuracy, Thermal Bahavior Estimation, and Simplified Analysis of Fuel Debris)" started in FY 2021. This presentation material summarized the results of the project, which will be available shortly on the website of Management Office for the Project of Decommissioning, Contaminated Water and Treated Water Management.

3D water management in polymer electrolyte fuel cells toward fuel cell electric vehicles

Yoshimune, Wataru*; Higuchi, Yuki*; Kato, Akihiko*; Hibi, Shogo*; Yamaguchi, Satoshi*; Matsumoto, Yoshihiro*; Hayashida, Hirotoshi*; Nozaki, Hiroshi*; Shinohara, Takenao; Kato, Satoru*

ACS Energy Letters (Internet), 8(8), p.3485 - 3487, 2023/08

https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.3c01096

The Japan Health Physics Society Guideline on Dose Monitoring for the Lens of the Eye

Yokoyama, Sumi*; Tsujimura, Norio; Hashimoto, Makoto; Yoshitomi, Hiroshi; Kato, Masahiro*; Kurosawa, Tadahiro*; Tatsuzaki, Hideo*; Sekiguchi, Hiroshi*; Koguchi, Yasuhiro*; Ono, Koji*; et al.

Journal of Radiation Protection and Research, 47(1), p.1 - 7, 2022/03

https://doi.org/10.14407/jrpr.2021.00276

Background: In Japan, new regulations that revise the dose limit for the lens of the eye (the lens), operational quantities, and measurement positions for the lens dose were enforced in April 2021. Based on the international safety standards, national guidelines, the results of the Radiation Safety Research Promotion Fund of the Nuclear Regulatory Authority, and other studies, the Working Group of Radiation Protection Standardization Committee, the Japan Health Physics Society (JHPS) developed a guideline for radiation dose monitoring for the lens. Materials and Methods: The Working Group of the JHPS discussed the criteria of non-uniform exposure and the management criteria set to not exceed the dose limit for the lens. Results and Discussion: In July 2020, the JHPS guideline was published. The guideline consists of three parts: main text, explanations, and 26 questions. In the questions, the corresponding answers were prepared, and specific examples were provided to enable similar cases to be addressed. Conclusion: With the development of guideline on radiation dose monitoring of the lens, radiation managers and workers will be able to smoothly comply with revised regulations and optimise radiation protection.

Thermally altered subsurface material of asteroid (162173) Ryugu

Kitazato, Kohei*; Milliken, R. E.*; Iwata, Takahiro*; Abe, Masanao*; Otake, Makiko*; Matsuura, Shuji*; Takagi, Yasuhiko*; Nakamura, Tomoki*; Hiroi, Takahiro*; Matsuoka, Moe*; et al.

Nature Astronomy (Internet), 5(3), p.246 - 250, 2021/03

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-020-01271-2

Here we report observations of Ryugu's subsurface material by the Near-Infrared Spectrometer (NIRS3) on the Hayabusa2 spacecraft. Reflectance spectra of excavated material exhibit a hydroxyl (OH) absorption feature that is slightly stronger and peak-shifted compared with that observed for the surface, indicating that space weathering and/or radiative heating have caused subtle spectral changes in the uppermost surface. However, the strength and shape of the OH feature still suggests that the subsurface material experienced heating above 300 C, similar to the surface. In contrast, thermophysical modeling indicates that radiative heating does not increase the temperature above 200 C at the estimated excavation depth of 1 m, even if the semimajor axis is reduced to 0.344 au. This supports the hypothesis that primary thermal alteration occurred due to radiogenic and/or impact heating on Ryugu's parent body.

scattering length from photoproduction on the proton near the reaction threshold

Ishikawa, Takatsugu*; Fujimura, Hisako*; Fukasawa, Hiroshi*; Hashimoto, Ryo*; He, Q.*; Honda, Yuki*; Hosaka, Atsushi; Iwata, Takahiro*; Kaida, Shun*; Kasagi, Jirota*; et al.

Physical Review C, 101(5), p.052201_1 - 052201_6, 2020/05

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.101.052201

Adaptation for knowledge management to nuclear research fields

Taruta, Yasuyoshi; Yanagihara, Satoshi*; Iguchi, Yukihiro; Kitamura, Koichi; Tezuka, Masashi; Koda, Yuya

Chishiki Kyoso (Internet), 8, p.IV 2_1 - IV 2_12, 2018/08

no abstracts in English

Progress report of Japanese simulation research projects using the high-performance computer system Helios in the International Fusion Energy Research Centre

Ishizawa, Akihiro*; Idomura, Yasuhiro; Imadera, Kenji*; Kasuya, Naohiro*; Kanno, Ryutaro*; Satake, Shinsuke*; Tatsuno, Tomoya*; Nakata, Motoki*; Nunami, Masanori*; Maeyama, Shinya*; et al.

Purazuma, Kaku Yugo Gakkai-Shi, 92(3), p.157 - 210, 2016/03

http://www.jspf.or.jp/Journal/PDF_JSPF/jspf2016_03/jspf2016_03-157.pdf

The high-performance computer system Helios which is located at The Computational Simulation Centre (CSC) in The International Fusion Energy Research Centre (IFERC) started its operation in January 2012 under the Broader Approach (BA) agreement between Japan and the EU. The Helios system has been used for magnetised fusion related simulation studies in the EU and Japan and has kept high average usage rate. As a result, the Helios system has contributed to many research products in a wide range of research areas from core plasma physics to reactor material and reactor engineering. This project review gives a short catalogue of domestic simulation research projects. First, we outline the IFERC-CSC project. After that, shown are objectives of the research projects, numerical schemes used in simulation codes, obtained results and necessary computations in future.