Predictive modeling of a simple field matrix diffusion experiment addressing radionuclide transport in fractured rock. Is it so straightforward?

Soler, J. M.*; Neretnieks, I.*; Moreno, L.*; Liu, L.*; Meng, S.*; Svensson, U.*; Iraola, A.*; Ebrahimi, K.*; Trinchero, P.*; Molinero, J.*; et al.

Nuclear Technology, 208(6), p.1059 - 1073, 2022/06

https://doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2021.1988822

The SKB Task Force is an international forum on modelling of groundwater flow and solute transport in fractured rock. The WPDE experiments are matrix diffusion experiments in gneiss performed at the ONKALO underground facility in Finland. Synthetic groundwater containing several conservative and sorbing tracers was injected along a borehole interval. The objective of Task 9A was the predictive modelling of the tracer breakthrough curves from the WPDE experiments. Several teams, using different modelling approaches and codes, participated in this exercise. An important conclusion from this exercise is that the modelling results were very sensitive to the magnitude of dispersion in the borehole opening, which is related to the flow of water. Focusing on the tails of the breakthrough curves, which are more directly related to matrix diffusion and sorption, the results from the different teams were more comparable.

Radiocesium-bearing microparticles cause a large variation in Cs activity concentration in the aquatic insect (Tricoptera: Stenopsychidae) in the Ota River, Fukushima, Japan

Ishii, Yumiko*; Miura, Hikaru*; Jo, J.*; Tsuji, Hideki*; Saito, Rie; Koarai, Kazuma; Hagiwara, Hiroki; Urushidate, Tadayuki*; Nishikiori, Tatsuhiro*; Wada, Toshihiro*; et al.

PLOS ONE (Internet), 17(5), p.e0268629_1 - e0268629_17, 2022/05

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0268629

We investigated the variability in Cs activity concentration in individual aquatic insects in detritivorous caddisfly () and carnivorous dobsonfly () larvae from the Ota River, Fukushima. Caddisfly larvae showed sporadically higher radioactivity, whereas no such outliers were observed in dobsonfly larvae. Autoradiography and scanning electron microscopy analyses confirmed that these caddisfly larvae samples contained radiocesium-bearing microparticles (CsMPs), which are insoluble Cs-bearing silicate glass particles. CsMPs were also found in potential food sources of caddisfly larvae, such as periphyton and drifting particulate organic matter, indicating that larvae may ingest CsMPs along with food particles of similar size. Although CsMPs distribution and uptake by organisms in freshwater ecosystems is relatively unknown, our study demonstrates that CsMPs can be taken up by aquatic insects.

Time-resolved 3D visualization of liquid jet breakup and impingement behavior in a shallow liquid pool

Kimura, Fumihito*; Yamamura, Sota*; Fujiwara, Kota*; Yoshida, Hiroyuki; Saito, Shimpei*; Kaneko, Akiko*; Abe, Yutaka*

Nuclear Engineering and Design, 389, p.111660_1 - 111660_11, 2022/04

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2022.111660

Dispersive XAFS Study on the Laser-Induced Reduction of a Rh ion complex; Presence of a Rh Intermediate in Direct Photoreduction

Saeki, Morihisa*; Matsumura, Daiju; Nakanishi, Ryuzo*; Yomogida, Takumi; Tsuji, Takuya; Saito, Hiroyuki*; Oba, Hironori*

Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 126(12), p.5607 - 5616, 2022/03

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.1c10160

The reaction mechanism of the direct photoreduction of a Rh ion complex to a Rh species induced by pulsed ultraviolet laser irradiation was studied using dispersive X-ray absorption fine structure (DXAFS) spectroscopy. The time-resolved X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) showed the absence of isosbestic points and suggested that more than two Rh species contribute toward the direct photoreduction of Rh. Analysis of the time-resolved XANES data by singular value deposition showed that the direct photoreduction involves three Rh species. Multivariate curve resolution by alternating least-squares analysis (MCR-ALS) of the time-resolved XANES data gave pure spectra and concentration profiles of the three Rh species. The Rh species were assigned to Rh, Rh, and Rh species based on the features of the pure XANES spectra. The concentration profiles suggested that the direct photoreduction proceeds in the order of Rh Rh Rh. A reaction mechanism, which was proposed involving photoreductions of Rh and Rh, photoinduced autocatalytic reductions of Rh and Rh, and photooxidation of Rh, well reproduced the concentration profiles of three Rh species.

Flow measurement in high temperature liquid metal by using electro-magnet probe

Ariyoshi, Gen; Obayashi, Hironari; Saito, Shigeru; Sasa, Toshinobu

Proceedings of 19th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics (NURETH-19) (Internet), 10 Pages, 2022/03

To clarify the flow characteristics of heavy liquid-metal (HLM) is important to achieve the construction of nuclear transmutation facility that utilizes HLM as a spallation target and coolant. At present, lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) spallation target plans to be installed in Japan proton accelerator research complex (J-PARC). LBE is also selected as one of the candidate media of a spallation target and a coolant for innovative nuclear systems such as accelerator-driven system (ADS) and LBE-cooled fast reactor, due to its adequate physical/chemical properties. The characteristics of LBE flowing inside the target are usually clarified with computational fluid dynamics analysis since the measurement techniques for the HLM flow are not well established, especially for high temperature region over 450C that is delivered from ADS's criteria. Therefore, the objective of this study is to develop measurement method for flow characteristics in the high temperature LBE. A miniature electro-magnet is introduced to electro-magnetic probe to overcome the limitation caused by a curie temperature of permanent magnet. To evaluate performance of the new probe, experimental apparatus equipping annular rotating vessel were also manufactured. The new probe was applied to high temperature LBE up to 480C. As a result, proportional induced voltage to the rotation speed of LBE were clearly observed, where excitation currents of the miniature electro-magnet were 0.2 A or 1 A. In this paper, configuration and performance of the newly developed electro-magnet probe to the high temperature LBE will be presented.

Design and actual performance of J-PARC 3 GeV rapid cycling synchrotron for high-intensity operation

Yamamoto, Kazami; Kinsho, Michikazu; Hayashi, Naoki; Saha, P. K.; Tamura, Fumihiko; Yamamoto, Masanobu; Tani, Norio; Takayanagi, Tomohiro; Kamiya, Junichiro; Shobuda, Yoshihiro; et al.

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 32 Pages, 2022/02

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2022.2038301

In the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex, the purpose of the 3 GeV rapid cycling synchrotron (RCS) is to accelerate a 1 MW, high-intensity proton beam. To achieve beam operation at a repetition rate of 25 Hz at high intensities, the RCS was elaborately designed. After starting the RCS operation, we carefully verified the validity of its design and made certain improvements to establish a reliable operation at higher power as possible. Consequently, we demonstrated beam operation at a high power, namely, 1 MW. We then summarized the design, actual performance, and improvements of the RCS to achieve a 1 MW beam.

Bayesian sparse modeling of extended X-ray absorption fine structure to determine interstitial oxygen positions in yttrium oxyhydride epitaxial thin film

Kumazoe, Hiroyuki*; Igarashi, Yasuhiko*; Iesari, F.*; Shimizu, Ryota*; Komatsu, Yuya*; Hitosugi, Taro*; Matsumura, Daiju; Saito, Hiroyuki*; Iwamitsu, Kazunori*; Okajima, Toshihiko*; et al.

AIP Advances (Internet), 11(12), p.125013_1 - 125013_5, 2021/12

https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0071166

Sm valence determination of Sm-based intermetallics using Sm Mssbauer and Sm L-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopies

Tsutsui, Satoshi; Higashinaka, Ryuji*; Nakamura, Raito*; Fujiwara, Kosuke*; Nakamura, Jin*; Kobayashi, Yoshio*; Ito, Takashi; Yoda, Yoshitaka*; Kato, Kazuo*; Nitta, Kiyofumi*; et al.

Hyperfine Interactions, 242(1), p.32_1 - 32_10, 2021/12

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10751-021-01759-x

Distinct variation of electronic states due to annealing in -type LaEuCuO and NdCuO

Asano, Shun*; Ishii, Kenji*; Matsumura, Daiju; Tsuji, Takuya; Kudo, Kota*; Taniguchi, Takanori*; Saito, Shin*; Sunohara, Toshiki*; Kawamata, Takayuki*; Koike, Yoji*; et al.

Physical Review B, 104(21), p.214504_1 - 214504_7, 2021/12

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.104.214504

Observation of spin-space quantum transport induced by an atomic quantum point contact

Ono, Koki*; Higomoto, Toshiya*; Saito, Yugo*; Uchino, Shun; Nishida, Yusuke*; Takahashi, Yoshiro*

Nature Communications (Internet), 12(1), p.6724_1 - 6724_8, 2021/11

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27011-2

Quantum transport is ubiquitous in physics. So far, quantum transport between terminals has been extensively studied in solid state systems from the fundamental point of views such as the quantized conductance to the applications to quantum devices. Recent works have demonstrated a cold-atom analog of a mesoscopic conductor by engineering a narrow conducting channel with optical potentials, which opens the door for a wealth of research of atomtronics emulating mesoscopic electronic devices and beyond. Here we realize an alternative scheme of the quantum transport experiment with ytterbium atoms in a two-orbital optical lattice system. Our system consists of a multi-component Fermi gas and a localized impurity, where the current can be created in the spin space by introducing the spin-dependent interaction with the impurity. We demonstrate a rich variety of localized-impurity-induced quantum transports, which paves the way for atomtronics exploiting spin degrees of freedom.