Annual report on the effluent control of low level liquid waste in Nuclear Fuel Cycle Engineering Laboratories FY2022

Kokubun, Yuji; Nakada, Akira; Seya, Natsumi; Nagaoka, Mika; Koike, Yuko; Kubota, Tomohiro; Hirao, Moe; Yoshii, Hideki*; Otani, Kazunori*; Hiyama, Yoshinori*; et al.

JAEA-Review 2023-052, 118 Pages, 2024/03

JAEA-Review-2023-052.pdf:3.67MB

Based on the regulations (the safety regulation of Tokai Reprocessing Plant, the safety regulation of nuclear fuel material usage facilities, the radiation safety rule, the regulation about prevention from radiation hazards due to radioisotopes, which are related with the nuclear regulatory acts, the local agreement concerning with safety and environment conservation around nuclear facilities, the water pollution control law, and by law of Ibaraki Prefecture), the effluent control of liquid waste discharged from the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Engineering Laboratories of Japan Atomic Energy Agency has been performed. This report describes the effluent control results of the liquid waste in the fiscal year 2022. In this period, the concentrations and the quantities of the radioactivity in liquid waste discharged from the reprocessing plant, the plutonium fuel fabrication facilities, and the other nuclear fuel material usage facilities were much lower than the limits authorized by the above regulations.

Regulatory implementation of the occupational equivalent dose limit for the lens of the eye and underlying relevant efforts in Japan

Yokoyama, Sumi*; Hamada, Nobuyuki*; Tsujimura, Norio; Kunugita, Naoki*; Nishida, Kazutaka*; Ezaki, Iwao*; Kato, Masahiro*; Okubo, Hideki*

International Journal of Radiation Biology, 99(4), p.604 - 619, 2023/04

https://doi.org/10.1080/09553002.2022.2115160

In April 2011, the International Commission on Radiological Protection recommended reducing the occupational equivalent dose limit for the lens. Such a new occupational lens dose limit has thus far been implemented in many countries, and there are extensive discussions toward its regulatory implementation in other countries. In Japan, discussions in the Japan Health Physics Society (JHPS) began in April 2013 and in Radiation Council in July 2017, and the new occupational lens dose limit was implemented into regulation in April 2021. To share our experience, we have published a series of papers summarizing situations in Japan: the first paper based on information available by early 2017, and the second paper by early 2019. This paper (our third paper of this series) aims to review updated information available by mid-2022, such as regarding regulatory implementation of the new occupational lens dose limit, recent discussions by relevant ministries based on the opinion from the council, establishment process of safety and health management systems, the JHPS guidelines on lens dose monitoring and radiation safety, voluntary countermeasures of the licensees, development of lens dose calibration method, and recent studies on exposure of the lens in nuclear workers and biological effect on the lens.

Annual report on the effluent control of low level liquid waste in Nuclear Fuel Cycle Engineering Laboratories FY2020

Nakano, Masanao; Nakada, Akira; Kanai, Katsuta; Nagaoka, Mika; Koike, Yuko; Yamada, Ryohei; Kubota, Tomohiro; Yoshii, Hideki*; Otani, Kazunori*; Hiyama, Yoshinori*; et al.

JAEA-Review 2021-040, 118 Pages, 2021/12

JAEA-Review-2021-040.pdf:2.48MB

Based on the regulations (the safety regulation of Tokai Reprocessing Plant, the safety regulation of nuclear fuel material usage facilities, the radiation safety rule, the regulation about prevention from radiation hazards due to radioisotopes, which are related with the nuclear regulatory acts, the local agreement concerning with safety and environment conservation around nuclear facilities, the water pollution control law, and by law of Ibaraki Prefecture), the effluent control of liquid waste discharged from the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Engineering Laboratories of Japan Atomic Energy Agency has been performed. This report describes the effluent control results of the liquid waste in the fiscal year 2020. In this period, the concentrations and the quantities of the radioactivity in liquid waste discharged from the reprocessing plant, the plutonium fuel fabrication facilities, and the other nuclear fuel material usage facilities were much lower than the limits authorized by the above regulations.

Effect of grain boundary on the friction coefficient of pure Fe under the oil lubrication

Adachi, Nozomu*; Matsuo, Yasutaka*; Todaka, Yoshikazu*; Fujimoto, Mikiya*; Hino, Masahiro*; Mitsuhara, Masatoshi*; Oba, Yojiro; Shiihara, Yoshinori*; Umeno, Yoshitaka*; Nishida, Minoru*

Tribology International, 155, p.106781_1 - 106781_9, 2021/03

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.triboint.2020.106781

Investigation on velocity distribution in the subchannels of pin bundle with wrapping wire; Evaluation of Reynolds number dependence in 3-pin bundle

Aizawa, Kosuke; Hiyama, Tomoyuki; Nishimura, Masahiro; Kurihara, Akikazu; Ishida, Katsuji*

Proceedings of 2020 International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE 2020) (Internet), 8 Pages, 2020/08

https://doi.org/10.1115/ICONE2020-16679

A sodium-cooled fast reactor is designed to attain a high burn-up core in commercialized fast reactor cycle systems. In high burn-up fuel subassemblies, the deformation of fuel pin due to the swelling and thermal bowing may decrease local flow velocity in the subassembly and influence the heat removal capability. Therefore, it is important to obtain the flow velocity distribution in a wire wrapped pin bundle. In this study, the detailed flow velocity distribution in the subchannel has been obtained by PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry) measurement using a wire-wrapped 3-pin bundle water model. Flow velocity conditions in the pin bundle were set from 0.036 m/s ( = 270) to 1.6m/s ( = 13,500). From the PIV results, the maximum flow velocity was increased by decreasing the number in the region away from the wrapping wire. Moreover, the PIV measurements by using the 3-pin bundle geometry without the wrapping wire were conducted. From the results, the effect of the wrapping wire on the flow field in the subchannel was understood. There experimental results useful not only for understanding of pin bundle thermal hydraulics but also code validation.

Application of topographical source model for air dose rates conversions in aerial radiation monitoring

Ishizaki, Azusa; Sanada, Yukihisa; Ishida, Mutsushi; Munakata, Masahiro

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 180, p.82 - 89, 2017/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2017.09.028

After the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS) accident in 2011, aerial radiation monitoring (ARM) using a manned helicopter was conducted to rapidly measure air dose rates and the deposition of radioactive nuclides over a large area. Typically, the air dose rate is obtained by conversion from the count rate using the conventional flat source model (FSM). The converted dose rate via aerial monitoring poorly matches the results of ground measurement in the mountain and forest areas because the FSM does not consider topographical effects. To improve the conversion accuracy, we developed new methods to analyze aerial monitoring data using the topographical source model (TSM) based on the analytical calculation of the -ray flux. The ARM results converted using both the FSM as well as TSM were compared with ground measurement data obtained after the FDNPS accident. By using TSM, the conversion accuracy was improved.

Comprehensive study on initial thermal oxidation of GaN(0001) surface and subsequent oxide growth in dry oxygen ambient

Yamada, Takahiro*; Ito, Joyo*; Asahara, Ryohei*; Watanabe, Kenta*; Nozaki, Mikito*; Nakazawa, Satoshi*; Anda, Yoshiharu*; Ishida, Masahiro*; Ueda, Tetsuzo*; Yoshigoe, Akitaka; et al.

Journal of Applied Physics, 121(3), p.035303_1 - 035303_9, 2017/01

https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4974458

Initial oxidation of GaN(0001) epilayers and subsequent growth of thermal oxides in dry oxygen ambient were investigated by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, spectroscopic ellipsometry, atomic force microscopy and X-ray diffraction measurements. It was found that, whereas initial oxide formation tends to saturate at temperatures below 800C, selective growth of small oxide grains proceeds at dislocations in the epilayers, followed by noticeable grain growth leading to rough surface morphology at higher oxidation temperatures. This indicates that oxide growth and its morphology are crucially dependent on the defect density in the GaN epilayers. Structural characterizations also revealed that polycrystalline - and -phase GaO grains in an epitaxial relation with the GaN substrate are formed from the initial stage of the oxide growth. On the basis of these experimental findings, we also developed a comprehensive model for GaN oxidation mediated by nitrogen removal and mass transport.

Radiation monitoring using manned helicopter around the Nuclear Power Station in the fiscal year 2015 (Contract research)

Sanada, Yukihisa; Munakata, Masahiro; Mori, Airi; Ishizaki, Azusa; Shimada, Kazumasa; Hirouchi, Jun; Nishizawa, Yukiyasu; Urabe, Yoshimi; Nakanishi, Chika*; Yamada, Tsutomu*; et al.

JAEA-Research 2016-016, 131 Pages, 2016/10

JAEA-Research-2016-016.pdf:20.59MB

By the nuclear disaster of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS), Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), caused by the East Japan earthquake and the following tsunami occurred on March 11, 2011, a large amount of radioactive materials was released from the NPS. After the nuclear disaster, airborne radiation monitoring using manned helicopter was conducted around FDNPS. In addition, background dose rate monitoring was conducted around Sendai Nuclear Power Station. These results of the aerial radiation monitoring using the manned helicopter in the fiscal 2015 were summarized in the report.

Synchrotron radiation X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of Ti/Al ohmic contacts to n-type GaN; Key role of Al capping layers in interface scavenging reactions

Nozaki, Mikito*; Ito, Joyo*; Asahara, Ryohei*; Nakazawa, Satoshi*; Ishida, Masahiro*; Ueda, Tetsuzo*; Yoshigoe, Akitaka; Hosoi, Takuji*; Shimura, Takayoshi*; Watanabe, Heiji*

Applied Physics Express, 9(10), p.105801_1 - 105801_4, 2016/10

https://doi.org/10.7567/APEX.9.105801

Interface reactions between Ti-based electrodes and n-type GaN epilayers were investigated by synchrotron radiation X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Metallic Ga and thin TiN alloys were formed at the interface by subsequently depositing Al capping layers on ultrathin Ti layers even at room temperature. By comparing results from stacked Ti/Al and single Ti electrodes, the essential role of Al capping layers serving as an oxygen-scavenging element to produce reactive Ti underlayers was demonstrated. Further growth of the metallic interlayer during annealing was observed. A strategy for achieving low-resistance ohmic contacts to n-GaN with low-thermal-budget processing is discussed.

Analysis of FCA VIII-2 fuel slumping experiments by SIMMER-III and SIMMER-IV

Ishida, Shinya; Mizuno, Masahiro*

JAEA-Research 2015-002, 47 Pages, 2015/06

JAEA-Research-2015-002.pdf:7.22MB

An advanced safety analysis computer code, SIMMER-III and SIMMER-IV, has been developed to investigate the complex phenomena under the core disruptive accidents in LMFRs. Fuel slumping experiments performed in the Fast Critical Assembly (FCA) VIII-2 facility were analyzed by SIMMER-III (two dimensions) and SIMMER-IV (three dimensions) in order to validate the neutronics model of the code for the disrupted core analysis. The results of the SIMMER-III and SIMMER-IV analysis (70-group constants from the unified cross-section set ADJ2000R, multi-group transport approximation for the anisotropic scattering, S8 approximation for the discrete-ordinate order) indicated that the SIMMER-III and SIMMER-IV simulated the FCA VIII-2 experiments with sufficient precision. In addition, the parameter surveys showed that the simulation of the FCA VIII-2 experiments with sufficient precision can be performed with the 18-group constants and S4 approximation for the discrete-ordinate order.