Study on loss-of-cooling and loss-of-coolant accidents in spent fuel pool; Confirmation of fuel temperature calculation function with oxidation reaction in the SAMPSON code

Suzuki, Hiroaki*; Morita, Yoshihiro*; Naito, Masanori*; Nemoto, Yoshiyuki; Kaji, Yoshiyuki

Mechanical Engineering Journal (Internet), 7(3), p.19-00450_1 - 19-00450_17, 2020/06

https://doi.org/10.1299/mej.19-00450

In this study, the SAMPSON code was modified to evaluate severe accidents in a spent fuel pool (SFP). Air oxidation models based on oxidation data obtained on the Zircaroy-4 cladding (ANL model) and the Zircaroy-2 cladding (JAEA model) were included in the modified SAMPSON code. Experiments done by Sandia National Laboratory using simulated fuel assemblies equivalent to those of an actual BWR plant were analyzed by the modified SAMPSON code to confirm the functions for analysis of the severe SFP accidents. The rapid fuel rod temperature rise due to the Zr air oxidation reaction could be reasonably evaluated by the SAMPSON analysis. The SFP accident analyses were conducted with different initial water levels which were no water, water level at bottom of active fuel, and water level at half of active fuel. The present analysis showed that the earliest temperature rise of the fuel rod surface occurred when there was no water in the SFP and natural circulation of air became possible.

Reconstruction of a Fukushima accident-derived radiocesium fallout map for environmental transfer studies

Kato, Hiroaki*; Onda, Yuichi*; Gao, X.*; Sanada, Yukihisa; Saito, Kimiaki

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 210, p.105996_1 - 105996_12, 2019/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2019.105996

Study on loss-of-cooling and loss-of-coolant accidents in spent fuel pool, 6; Analysis on oxidation behavior of fuel cladding tubes by the SAMPSON code

Morita, Yoshihiro*; Suzuki, Hiroaki*; Naito, Masanori*; Nemoto, Yoshiyuki; Kaji, Yoshiyuki

Proceedings of 27th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE-27) (Internet), 9 Pages, 2019/05

In this study, the SAMPSON code was modified to evaluate severe accidents in a spent fuel pool (SFP). Not only the SFP but also upper spaces of the SFP, walls of the reactor building, and the blowout panel were included. Air oxidation models obtained by the Zircaroy-4 cladding (ANL model) and the Zircaroy-2 cladding (JAEA model) were included in the modified SAMPSON code. Experiments done by Sandia National Laboratory using simulated fuel assemblies equivalent to those of an actual BWR plant were analyzed by the modified SAMPSON code to confirm the functions for analysis of the severe SFP accidents.

Atmospheric modeling of Cs plumes from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant; Evaluation of the model intercomparison data of the Science Council of Japan

Kitayama, Kyo*; Morino, Yu*; Takigawa, Masayuki*; Nakajima, Teruyuki*; Hayami, Hiroshi*; Nagai, Haruyasu; Terada, Hiroaki; Saito, Kazuo*; Shimbori, Toshiki*; Kajino, Mizuo*; et al.

Journal of Geophysical Research; Atmospheres, 123(14), p.7754 - 7770, 2018/07

https://doi.org/10.1029/2017JD028230

We compared seven atmospheric transport model results for Cs released during the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. All the results had been submitted for a model intercomparison project of the Science Council of Japan in 2014. We assessed model performance by comparing model results with observed hourly atmospheric concentrations of Cs, focusing on nine plumes over the Tohoku and Kanto regions. The results showed that model performance for Cs concentrations was highly variable among models and plumes. We also assessed model performance for accumulated Cs deposition. Simulated areas of high deposition were consistent with the plume pathways, though the models that best simulated Cs concentrations were different from those that best simulated deposition. The ensemble mean of all models consistently reproduced Cs concentrations and deposition well, suggesting that use of a multimodel ensemble results in more effective and consistent model performance.

Fuel behavior analysis for accident tolerant fuel with sic cladding using adapted FEMAXI-7 code

Shirasu, Noriko; Saito, Hiroaki; Yamashita, Shinichiro; Nagase, Fumihisa

Proceedings of 2017 Water Reactor Fuel Performance Meeting (WRFPM 2017) (USB Flash Drive), 8 Pages, 2017/09

http://wrfpm2017.org/upload/draft_file/F-226-PD5.pdf

Silicon carbide (SiC) is an attractive candidate of accident tolerant fuel (ATF) cladding material because of its high chemical stability, high radiation resistance and low neutron absorption. FEMAXI-ATF has been developed to analysis SiC cladding fuel behaviors. The thermal, mechanical and irradiation property models were implemented to FEMAXI-7, which is a fuel behavior analysis code being developed in JAEA. Fuel rod behavior analysis was performed under typical boiling water reactor (BWR) operating conditions with a model based on a 99 BWR fuel (Step III Type B), in which the cladding material was replaced from Zircaloy to SiC. The SiC cladding shows large swelling by irradiation. It increases the gap size and decreases cladding thermal conductivity. The mechanism of relaxation of stress is also different from the Zircaloy cladding. The experimental data for SiC materials are still insufficient to construct the models, especially for evaluating fracture behavior.

Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory Project; Synthesis of Phase II (Construction Phase) investigations to a depth of 350m

Sato, Toshinori; Sasamoto, Hiroshi; Ishii, Eiichi; Matsuoka, Toshiyuki; Hayano, Akira; Miyakawa, Kazuya; Fujita, Tomoo*; Tanai, Kenji; Nakayama, Masashi; Takeda, Masaki; et al.

JAEA-Research 2016-025, 313 Pages, 2017/03

JAEA-Research-2016-025.pdf:45.1MB

The Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory (URL) Project is being pursued by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) to enhance the reliability of relevant disposal technologies through investigations of the deep geological environment within the host sedimentary formations at Horonobe, northern Hokkaido. This report summarizes the results of the Phase II investigations carried out from April 2005 to June 2014 to a depth of 350m. Integration of work from different disciplines into a "geosynthesis" ensures that the Phase II goals have been successfully achieved and identifies key issues that need to made to be addressed in the Phase II investigations Efforts are made to summarize as many lessons learnt from the Phase II investigations and other technical achievements as possible to form a "knowledge base" that will reinforce the technical basis for both implementation and the formulation of safety regulations.

Beam commissioning of the linac for iBNCT

Naito, Fujio*; Anami, Shozo*; Ikegami, Kiyoshi*; Uota, Masahiko*; Ouchi, Toshikatsu*; Onishi, Takahiro*; Oba, Toshiyuki*; Obina, Takashi*; Kawamura, Masato*; Kumada, Hiroaki*; et al.

Proceedings of 13th Annual Meeting of Particle Accelerator Society of Japan (Internet), p.1244 - 1246, 2016/11

http://www.pasj.jp/web_publish/pasj2016/proceedings/PDF/TUP1/TUP118.pdf

The proton linac installed in the Ibaraki Neutron Medical Research Center is used for production of the intense neutron flux for the Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT). The linac consists of the 3-MeV RFQ and the 8-MeV DTL. Design average beam current is 10mA. Target is made of Beryllium. First neutron production from the Beryllium target was observed at the end of 2015 with the low intensity beam as a demonstration. After the observation of neutron production, a lot of improvement s was carried out in order to increase the proton beam intensity for the real beam commissioning. The beam commissioning has been started on May 2016. The status of the commissioning is summarized in this report.

Utilization of Cs/Cs in the environment to identify the reactor units that caused atmospheric releases during the Fukushima Daiichi accident

Chino, Masamichi; Terada, Hiroaki; Nagai, Haruyasu; Katata, Genki; Mikami, Satoshi; Torii, Tatsuo; Saito, Kimiaki; Nishizawa, Yukiyasu

Scientific Reports (Internet), 6, p.31376_1 - 31376_14, 2016/08

https://doi.org/10.1038/srep31376

Lattice structure transformation and change in surface hardness of NiNb and NiTa intermetallic compounds induced by energetic ion beam irradiation

Kojima, Hiroshi*; Yoshizaki, Hiroaki*; Kaneno, Yasuyuki*; Semboshi, Satoshi*; Hori, Fuminobu*; Saito, Yuichi; Okamoto, Yoshihiro; Iwase, Akihiro*

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B, 372, p.72 - 77, 2016/04

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2016.02.002

NiNb and NiTa intermetallic compounds, which show the complicated lattice structures were irradiated with 16 MeV Au ions at room temperature. The X-ray diffraction measurement revealed that the lattice structure of these intermetallic compounds changed from the ordered structures to the amorphous state by the ion irradiation. The irradiation-induced amorphization caused the increase in Vickers hardness. The result was compared with our previous results for NiAl and NiV, and was discussed in terms of the intrinsic lattice structures of the samples.

Operation of the electron accelerator and the Co -ray irradiation facilities

Uno, Sadanori; Hanaya, Hiroaki; Yamagata, Ryohei; Seito, Hajime; Nagao, Yuto; Yamasaki, Shota; Agematsu, Takashi; Kawashima, Ikuo*; Yagi, Norihiko*; Takagi, Masahide*; et al.

JAEA-Review 2015-022, JAEA Takasaki Annual Report 2014, P. 172, 2016/02

https://doi.org/10.11484/jaea-review-2015-022

This paper reports on the operation status of the -ray irradiation facilities and the electron accelerator in fiscal 2014 at the Takasaki Advanced Radiation Research Institute of JAEA. The -ray irradiation facilities were operated smoothly, whereas the electron accelerator stopped for five months because of successive troubles of discharge due to deterioration of equipment over thirty-four years. The annual operation times of the -ray irradiation facilities of the first, second and food buildings were 19,907, 13,831 and 7,293 hours, respectively, and that of the electron accelerator was 746 hours. The -ray irradiation facilities were replenished with new five sources of 2.22 PBq, and twenty old sources were removed for disposal. The electron accelerator was repaired for each trouble, however, the complete recovery has not yet been achieved.