Progress of sodium-cooled fast reactor developments in Japan taking into account total lifecycle, risk-informed approach, and sustainability

Kamide, Hideki; Asayama, Tai; Wakai, Takashi; Ezure, Toshiki; Uchibori, Akihiro; Kubo, Shigenobu; Takeuchi, Masayuki

Nuclear Engineering and Design, 421, p.113062_1 - 113062_10, 2024/05

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2024.113062

A sodium cooled fast reactor (SFR) is one of the most relevant and decarbonized energy supply system with higher sustainability on natural resources, footprint, and waste management. It was planned in a strategic roadmap of fast reactor decided by Inter-Ministerial Council for Nuclear Power Japan in 2022 to start a conceptual design of a demonstration reactor from 2024 with a background of accumulated knowledge and experiences of SFR development. For example, a design and lifecycle simulation/evaluation system named ARKADIA has been developed to accelerate such design works. It will enable to take into account plant lifecycle, e.g., operation and maintenance, to the plant design and optimize it based on simulations and knowledgebase. This paper shows research progresses of ARKADIA, safety design and evaluations, codes and standards, fuel cycle, and SFR development projects in Japan.

Spin dependence in the -wave resonance of +

Okudaira, Takuya*; Nakabe, Rintaro*; Auton, C. J.*; Endo, Shunsuke; Fujioka, Hiroyuki*; Gudkov, V.*; Ide, Ikuo*; Ino, Takashi*; Ishikado, Motoyuki*; Kambara, Wataru*; et al.

Physical Review C, 109(4), p.044606_1 - 044606_9, 2024/04

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.109.044606

Numerical simulation technologies for safety evaluation in plant lifecycle optimization method, ARKADIA for advanced reactors

Uchibori, Akihiro; Doda, Norihiro; Aoyagi, Mitsuhiro; Sonehara, Masateru; Sogabe, Joji; Okano, Yasushi; Takata, Takashi*; Tanaka, Masaaki; Enuma, Yasuhiro; Wakai, Takashi; et al.

Nuclear Engineering and Design, 413, p.112492_1 - 112492_10, 2023/11

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2023.112492

The ARKAIDA has been developed to realize automatic optimization of plant design from safety evaluation for the advanced reactors represented by a sodium-cooled fast reactor. ARKADIA-Design offers functions to support design optimization both in normal operating conditions and design basis events. The multi-level simulation approach by the coupled analysis such as neutronics, core deformation, core thermal hydraulics was developed as one of the main technologies. On the other hand, ARKAIDA-Safety aims for safety evaluation considering severe accidents. As a key technology, the numerical methods for in- and ex-vessel coupled phenomena during severe accidents in sodium-cooled fast reactors were tested through a hypothetical severe accident event. Improvement of the ex-vessel model and development of the AI technology to find best design solution have been started.

JSME series in thermal and nuclear power generation Vol.3 (Sodium-cooled fast reactor development; R&Ds on thermal-hydraulics and safety assessment towards social implementation)

Tanaka, Masaaki; Uchibori, Akihiro; Okano, Yasushi; Yokoyama, Kenji; Uwaba, Tomoyuki; Enuma, Yasuhiro; Wakai, Takashi; Asayama, Tai

Dai-27-Kai Doryoku, Enerugi Gijutsu Shimpojiumu Koen Rombunshu (Internet), 5 Pages, 2023/09

The book, JSME Series in Thermal and Nuclear Power Generation Vol.3 Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor, was published as a 30th anniversary memorial project of Power & Energy Systems Division. This paper describes an introduction of the book on a part of key technologies regarding safety assessment, thermal-hydraulics, neutronics, and fuel and material development. This introductory paper also provides an overview of an integrated evaluation system named ARKADIA to offer the best possible solutions for challenges arising during the design process, safety assessment, and operation of a nuclear plant over its life cycle, in active use of the R&D efforts and knowledges on thermal-hydraulics and safety assessment with state-of-the-art numerical analysis technologies.

Experiment of floating seismic isolation system

Mori, Takashi*; Shimada, Takahiro*; Kai, Satoru*; Otani, Akihito*; Yamamoto, Tomohiko; Yan, X.

Proceedings of ASME 2023 Pressure Vessels and Piping Conference (PVP 2023) (Internet), 8 Pages, 2023/07

https://doi.org/10.1115/PVP2023-102224

Development of element functions and design optimization procedures with knowledge- and AI-aided design integration approach for advanced reactor lifecycle in ARKADIA

Tanaka, Masaaki; Enuma, Yasuhiro; Okano, Yasushi; Uchibori, Akihiro; Yokoyama, Kenji; Seki, Akiyuki; Wakai, Takashi; Asayama, Tai

Proceedings of 30th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE30) (Internet), 11 Pages, 2023/05

Development of plant lifecycle optimization method, ARKADIA for advanced reactors

Uchibori, Akihiro; Sogabe, Joji; Okano, Yasushi; Takata, Takashi*; Doda, Norihiro; Tanaka, Masaaki; Enuma, Yasuhiro; Wakai, Takashi; Asayama, Tai; Ohshima, Hiroyuki

Proceedings of Technical Meeting on State-of-the-art Thermal Hydraulics of Fast Reactors (Internet), 10 Pages, 2022/09

The ARKAIDA has been developed to realize automatic optimization of plant design from safety evaluation for the advanced reactors represented by a sodium-cooled fast reactor. ARKADIA-Design offers functions to support design optimization both in normal operating conditions and design basis events. The multi-level simulation approach by the coupled analysis such as neutronics, core deformation, core thermal hydraulics was developed as one of the main technologies of the ARKADIA-Design. On the other hand, ARKAIDA-Safety aims for safety evaluation considering severe accidents. As a key technology, the numerical methods for in- and ex-vessel coupled phenomena during severe accidents in sodium-cooled fast reactors were tested through a hypothetical severe accident event.

The Multiaxial creep-fatigue failure mechanism of Mod. 9Cr-1Mo steel under non-proportional loading; Effect of strain energy on failure lives

Ogawa, Fumio*; Nakayama, Yuta*; Hiyoshi, Noritake*; Hashidate, Ryuta; Wakai, Takashi; Ito, Takamoto*

Transactions of the Indian National Academy of Engineering (Internet), 7(2), p.549 - 564, 2022/06

https://doi.org/10.1007/s41403-021-00279-y

The strain energy-based life evaluation method of Mod. 9Cr-1Mo steel under non-proportional multiaxial creep-fatigue loading is proposed. Inelastic strain energy densities were calculated as the areas inside the hysteresis loops. The effect of mean-stress has been experimentally considered and the relationship between inelastic strain energy densities and creep-fatigue lives was investigated. It was found from the investigation of hysteresis loops, the decrease in maximum stress leads to prolonged failure life, while stress relaxation during strain holding causes strength reduction. The correction method of inelastic strain energy density was proposed considering the effect of maximum stress in hysteresis loop and minimum stress during strain holding, and strain energy densities for uniaxial and non-proportional multiaxial loading were obtained. Based on these results, the mechanisms governing creep-fatigue lives under non-proportional multiaxial loading have been discussed.

Development of the high-power spallation neutron target of J-PARC

Haga, Katsuhiro; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Naoe, Takashi; Wakui, Takashi; Wakai, Eiichi; Futakawa, Masatoshi

Proceedings of 19th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics (NURETH-19) (Internet), 13 Pages, 2022/03

The cross-flow type target was developed as the basic design of mercury target in J-PARC, and the design has been improved to realize the MW-class pulsed spallation neutron source. When the high-power and short-pulsed proton beam is injected into the mercury target, pressure waves are generated in mercury by rapid heat generation. The pressure waves induce the cavitation damages on the target vessel. Two countermeasures were adopted, namely, the injection of microbubbles into mercury and the double walled structure at the beam window. The bubble generator was installed in the target vessel to absorb the volume inflation of mercury and mitigate the pressure waves. Also, the double walled target vessel was designed to suppress the cavitation damage by the large velocity gradient of rapid mercury flow in the narrow channel of double wall. Finally, we could attain 1 MW beam operation with the duration time of 36.5 hours in 2020, and achieved the long term stable operation with 740 kW from April in 2021. This report shows the technical development of the high-power mercury target vessel in view of thermal hydraulics to attain 1 MW operation.

Evaluation of multiaxial low cycle creep-fatigue life for Mod.9Cr-1Mo steel under non-proportional loading

Nakayama, Yuta*; Ogawa, Fumio*; Hiyoshi, Noritake*; Hashidate, Ryuta; Wakai, Takashi; Ito, Takamoto*

ISIJ International, 61(8), p.2299 - 2304, 2021/08

https://doi.org/10.2355/isijinternational.ISIJINT-2020-780

This study discusses the creep-fatigue strength for Mod.9Cr-1Mo steel at a high temperature under multiaxial loading. A low-cycle fatigue tests in various strain waveforms were performed with a hollow cylindrical specimen. The low cycle fatigue test was conducted under a proportional loading with a fixed axial strain and a non-proportional loading with a 90-degree phase difference between axial and shear strains. The low cycle fatigue tests at different strain rates and the creep-fatigue tests at different holding times were also conducted to discuss the effects of stress relaxation and strain holding on the failure life. In this study, two types of multiaxial creep-fatigue life evaluation methods were proposed: the first method is to calculate the strain range using Manson's universal slope method with considering a non-proportional loading factor and creep damage; the second method is to calculate the fatigue damage by considering the non-proportional loading factor using the linear damage law and to calculate the creep damage from the improved ductility exhaustion law. The accuracy of the evaluation methods is much better than that of the methods used in the evaluation of actual machines such as time fraction rule.