Experimental investigation of nonisothermal interaction between Fe-Zr melt and stainless steel forming "metallic debris" in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station

Ito, Ayumi*; Kanno, Tatsuya*; Iwama, Takayuki*; Ueda, Shigeru*; Sato, Takumi; Nagae, Yuji

Annals of Nuclear Energy, 217, p.111333_1 - 111333_14, 2025/07

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2025.111333

In the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Unit 2, the formation of a metallic pool, mainly comprising Fe and Zr, has been proposed as a mechanism contributing to the failure of the reactor pressure vessel. This study focuses on material interactions during the early core degradation that led to metallic pool formation in the late phase of the in-vessel degradation process. Initially, two compositions, Fe-87Zr and Fe-15Zr (at%), were heated to the liquidus temperature of 1723 K, dropped onto SS at lower temperatures, and the metallographic structure of the reaction products was examined. Subsequently, the Fe-87Zr melt at temperatures ranging from 1723 to 1873 K was dropped onto oxidized SS to evaluate the influence of the oxide layer on degradation. This study confirmed that the liquidus temperatures of all intermetallic compounds were below 2000 K, and the metallic debris could be a source of the "metallic pool formation" predicted by recent severe accident analysis.

Post-earthquake rapid resealing of bedrock flow-paths by concretion-forming resin

Yoshida, Hidekazu*; Yamamoto, Koshi*; Asahara, Yoshihiro*; Maruyama, Ippei*; Karukaya, Koichi*; Saito, Akane*; Matsui, Hiroya; Mochizuki, Akihito; Jo, Mayumi*; Katsuta, Nagayoshi*; et al.

Communications Engineering (Internet), 3, p.67_1 - 67_10, 2024/05

https://doi.org/10.1038/s44172-024-00216-1

A capability to permanently seal fluid flow-paths through bedrock, like boreholes or underground tunnels, is needed to ensure the long-term safety and effectiveness of many underground activities e.g. CO storage, hydrocarbon field abandonment, and nuclear waste disposal. Commonly used cementitious seals may not be sufficiently durable due to chemical and physical degradation. Learning from natural calcite (CaCO) concretion formation, a more durable sealing method was developed using a "concretion-forming solvent". The method was tested by sealing flow-paths next to a tunnel in an underground research laboratory at 350 meters depth. The flow-paths initially sealed rapidly, then resealed after disturbance by earthquakes (M5.4). The treated rock recovered its very low natural permeability, demonstrating permanent sealing that is robust.

Double diffusive dissolution model of UO pellet in molten Zr cladding

Ito, Ayumi*; Yamashita, Susumu; Tasaki, Yudai; Kakiuchi, Kazuo; Kobayashi, Yoshinao*

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 60(4), p.450 - 459, 2023/04

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2022.2114956

Uranium chelating ability of decorporation agents in serum evaluated by X-ray absorption spectroscopy

Uehara, Akihiro*; Matsumura, Daiju; Tsuji, Takuya; Yakumaru, Haruko*; Tanaka, Izumi*; Shiro, Ayumi*; Saito, Hiroyuki*; Ishihara, Hiroshi*; Homma-Takeda, Shino*

Analytical Methods, 14(24), p.2439 - 2445, 2022/06

https://doi.org/10.1039/D2AY00565D

Comparative study of stress and strain partitioning behaviors in medium manganese and transformation-induced plasticity-aided bainitic ferrite steels

Hojo, Tomohiko*; Koyama, Motomichi*; Kumai, Bakuya*; Shibayama, Yuki; Shiro, Ayumi*; Shobu, Takahisa; Saito, Hiroyuki*; Ajito, Saya*; Akiyama, Eiji*

Scripta Materialia, 210, p.114463_1 - 114463_5, 2022/03

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scriptamat.2021.114463

Effects of residual stress on hydrogen embrittlement of a stretch-formed tempered martensitic steel sheet

Nishimura, Hayato*; Hojo, Tomohiko*; Ajita, Saya*; Shibayama, Yuki*; Koyama, Motomichi*; Saito, Hiroyuki*; Shiro, Ayumi*; Yasuda, Ryo*; Shobu, Takahisa; Akiyama, Eiji*

Tetsu To Hagane, 107(9), p.760 - 768, 2021/09

https://doi.org/10.2355/tetsutohagane.TETSU-2021-055

no abstracts in English

Effects of stress and plastic strain on hydrogen embrittlement fracture of a U-bent martensitic steel sheet

Shibayama, Yuki; Hojo, Tomohiko*; Koyama, Motomichi*; Saito, Hiroyuki*; Shiro, Ayumi*; Yasuda, Ryo*; Shobu, Takahisa; Matsuno, Takashi*; Akiyama, Eiji*

ISIJ International, 61(4), p.1322 - 1329, 2021/04

https://doi.org/10.2355/isijinternational.ISIJINT-2020-569

Estimation of air dose rate using measurement results of monitoring posts in Fukushima Prefecture

Seki, Akiyuki; Mayumi, Akie; Wainwright-Murakami, Haruko*; Saito, Kimiaki; Takemiya, Hiroshi; Idomura, Yasuhiro

Proceedings of Joint International Conference on Supercomputing in Nuclear Applications + Monte Carlo 2020 (SNA + MC 2020), p.158 - 164, 2020/10

We developed a method to estimate the temporal change of the air dose rate at the location with sparse (in time) measurements by using the continuous measurement data from the nearby monitoring post. This method determines an observation model from the correlation between sparse data at the target location and dense data at the monitoring post based on a hierarchical Bayesian model. The developed method was validated against the air dose rate measured at the monitoring posts in Fukushima prefecture from 2012 to 2017. The results showed that the developed method can predict the air dose rate at almost all target locations with an error rate of less than 10%.

Internal residual stress evaluation of bearing balls for automobile parts

Miyakawa, Susumu*; Ito, Toshimasa*; Iwahori, Keisuke*; Aoyama, Yoshihiko*; Kubo, Ryosuke*; Murata, Shinji*; Shobu, Takahisa; Shiro, Ayumi*; Kajiwara, Kentaro*

Zairyo, 69(4), p.308 - 314, 2020/04

https://doi.org/10.2472/jsms.69.308

White etching area which looks white with nital corrosive liquid may be recognized at the flaking part of a rolling bearing on which high contact stress of several GPa is applied repeatedly. Up to now, studies of white etching area of a ball have been less than studies of white etching area of inner and outer rings. In this study, as part of the flaking mechanism explication with white etching area of a ball, internal residual stress distributions of ball by using high energy white X-ray of SPring-8 (A method) and laboratorial X-ray measurement equipment (B method) were investigated. The former was modified by surface residual stress according to B method. The latter was modified by releasing stress in the form of electrolytic polishing. The results showed modified residual stress distributions almost agree qualitatively.

Improving fatigue performance of laser-welded 2024-T3 aluminum alloy using dry laser peening

Sano, Tomokazu*; Eimura, Takayuki*; Hirose, Akio*; Kawahito, Yosuke*; Katayama, Seiji*; Arakawa, Kazuto*; Masaki, Kiyotaka*; Shiro, Ayumi*; Shobu, Takahisa; Sano, Yuji*

Metals, 9(11), p.1192_1 - 1192_13, 2019/11

AA2019-0690.pdf:3.91MB

https://doi.org/10.3390/met9111192

The purpose of the present study was to verify the effectiveness of dry laser peening (DryLP), which is the peening technique without a sacrificial overlay under atmospheric conditions using femtosecond laser pulses on the mechanical properties such as hardness, residual stress, and fatigue performance. After DryLP treatment of the laser-welded 2024 aluminum alloy, the softened weld metal recovered to the original hardness of base metal, while residual tensile stress in the weld metal and heat-affected zone changed to compressive stresses. The fatigue life almost doubled at a stress amplitude of 180 MPa and increased by a factor of more than 50 at 120 MPa. As a result, DryLP was found to be more effective for improving the fatigue performance of laser-welded aluminum specimens with welding defects at lower stress amplitudes.