Study on chemical form of tritium in coolant helium of high temperature gas-cooled reactor with tritium production device

Hamamoto, Shimpei; Ishitsuka, Etsuo; Nakagawa, Shigeaki; Goto, Minoru; Matsuura, Hideaki*; Katayama, Kazunari*; Otsuka, Teppei*; Tobita, Kenji*

Proceedings of 2021 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2021) (USB Flash Drive), 5 Pages, 2021/10

Impurity concentrations of hydrogen and hydride in the coolant were investigated in detail for the HTTR, a block type high-temperature gas reactor owned by Japan. As a result, it was found that CH was 1/10 of H concentration, which was under the conventional detection limit. If the ratio of H to CH in the coolant is the same as the ratio of HT to CHT, the CHT has a larger dose conversion factor, and this compositional ratio is an important finding for the optimal dose evaluation. Further investigation of the origin of CH suggested that CH was produced as a result of a thermal equilibrium reaction rather than being released as an impurity from the core.

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.

Nuclear and thermal feasibility of lithium-loaded high temperature gas-cooled reactor for tritium production for fusion reactors

Goto, Minoru; Okumura, Keisuke; Nakagawa, Shigeaki; Inaba, Yoshitomo; Matsuura, Hideaki*; Nakaya, Hiroyuki*; Katayama, Kazunari*

Fusion Engineering and Design, 136(Part A), p.357 - 361, 2018/11

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fusengdes.2018.02.029

A High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR) is proposed as a tritium production device, which has the potential to produce a large amount of tritium using Li(n,)T reaction. In the HTGR design, generally, boron is loaded into the core as a burnable poison to suppress excess reactivity. In this study, lithium is loaded into the HTGR core instead of boron and is used as a burnable poison aiming to produce thermal energy and tritium simultaneously. The nuclear characteristics and the fuel temperature were calculated to confirm the feasibility of the lithium-loaded HTGR. It was shown that the calculation results satisfied the design requirements and hence the feasibility was confirmed for the lithium-loaded HTGR, which produce thermal energy and tritium.

Numerical analysis of the grout injection conducted in the ventilation shaft of the Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory

Nakashima, Hiroyoshi*; Koyama, Tomofumi*; Tatsuta, Keisuke*; Katayama, Tatsuo*; Aoyagi, Kazuhei

Dai-14-Kai Iwa No Rikigaku Kokunai Shimpojiumu Koen Rombunshu (Internet), 6 Pages, 2017/01

In this study, we created the three dimensional model based on equivalent continuum approach to study the penetration length and enhancement of the hydraulic conductivity of the rock mass. The developed numerical model was applied to the in situ grout injection conducted in the ventilation shaft of the Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory. We evaluated the hydraulic conductivity of the rock mass after the grout operation. As a result, hydraulic conductivity of the highly permeable fault was decreased in 4 orders of magnitude, which is almost consistent with the in situ hydraulic conductivity obtained from in situ Luegeon test after the grout injection. Thus the simulation method described in this paper can be applied to the evaluation of the efficiency of in situ grout injection.

Study on operation scenario of tritium production for a fusion reactor using a high temperature gas-cooled reactor

Kawamoto, Yasuko*; Nakaya, Hiroyuki*; Matsuura, Hideaki*; Katayama, Kazunari*; Goto, Minoru; Nakagawa, Shigeaki

Fusion Science and Technology, 68(2), p.397 - 401, 2015/09

https://doi.org/10.13182/FST14-977

To start up a fusion reactor, it is necessary to provide a sufficient amount of tritium from an external device. Herein, methods for supplying a fusion reactor with tritium are discussed. Use of a high temperature gas cooled reactor (HTGR) as a tritium production device has been proposed. So far, the analyses have been focused only on the operation in which fuel is periodically exchanged (batch) using the block type HTGR. In the pebble bed type HTGR, it is possible to design an operation that has no time loss for refueling. The pebble bed type HTGR (PBMR) and the block type HTGR (GTHTR300) are assumed as the calculation and comparison targets. Simulation is made using the continuous-energy Monte Carlo transport code MVPBURN. It is shown that the continuous operation using the pebble bed type HTGR has almost the same tritium productivity compared with the batch operation using the block type HGTR. The issues for pebble bed type HTGR as a tritium production device are discussed.

Design and performance of high-pressure PLANET beamline at pulsed neutron source at J-PARC

Hattori, Takanori; Sano, Asami; Arima, Hiroshi*; Komatsu, Kazuki*; Yamada, Akihiro*; Inamura, Yasuhiro; Nakatani, Takeshi; Seto, Yusuke*; Nagai, Takaya*; Utsumi, Wataru; et al.

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, 780, p.55 - 67, 2015/04

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2015.01.059

PLANET is a time-of-flight (ToF) neutron beamline dedicated to high-pressure and high-temperature experiments. The large six-axis multi-anvil high-pressure press designed for ToF neutron diffraction experiments enables routine data collection at high pressures and high temperatures up to 10 GPa and 2000 K, respectively. To obtain clean data, the beamline is equipped with the incident slits and receiving collimators to eliminate parasitic scattering from the high-pressure cell assembly. The high performance of the diffractometer for the resolution ( / 0.6%) and the accessible -spacing range (0.2-8.4 ) together with low-parasitic scattering characteristics enables precise structure determination of crystals and liquids under high pressure and temperature conditions.

Overview of plasma-material interaction experiments on EAST employing MAPES

Ding, F.*; Luo, G.-N.*; Pitts, R.*; Litnovsky, A.*; Gong, X.*; Ding, R.*; Mao, H.*; Zhou, H.*; Wampler, W. R.*; Stangeby, P. C.*; et al.

Journal of Nuclear Materials, 455(1-3), p.710 - 716, 2014/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2014.09.017

The International Atomic Energy Agency Nuclear Energy Management School 2012

Ohgama, Kazuya; Ando, Yoko; Yamaguchi, Mika; Ikuta, Yuko; Shinohara, Nobuo; Murakami, Hiroyuki; Yamashita, Kiyonobu; Uesaka, Mitsuru*; Demachi, Kazuyuki*; Komiyama, Ryoichi*; et al.

JAEA-Review 2013-004, 76 Pages, 2013/05

JAEA-Review-2013-004.pdf:13.53MB

JAEA together with the Japan Nuclear Human Resource Development Network (JN-HRD Net), the University of Tokyo (UT) and the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF) cohosted the IAEA-Nuclear Energy Management School in Tokai Village, aiming that Japan will be the center of nuclear HRD in the Asian region. In the school, not only lectures by IAEA experts, but also lectures by Japanese experts and technical visits were included for foreign participants. The school contributed to the internationalization of Japanese young professionals, development of nuclear human resource of other countries, and enhancement of cooperation between IAEA and Japan. Additionally, collaborative relationship within JN-HRD Net was strengthened by the school. In this report, findings obtained during the preparatory work and the school period are reported for future international nuclear HRD activities in Japan.

Characteristic densities of low- and high-pressure liquid SnI

Fuchizaki, Kazuhiro*; Hamaya, Nozomu*; Katayama, Yoshinori

Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, 82(3), p.033003_1 - 033003_4, 2013/03

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSJ.82.033003

An in situ synchrotron X-ray absorption measurement was carried out to estimate the density of liquid SnI. The characteristic densities of the low- and high-pressure liquids were found to be 4.6-4.7 and 4.9-5.0 g/cm, respectively, and their region is separated at around 1.7 GPa. The difference in density, although a slight amount of 0.3-0.4 g/cm, strongly suggests the existence of a weak but discontinuous phase transition at that pressure between the two liquid regions.

XAFS analysis of Ni diffused in compacted bentonite

Takahashi, Hiroaki; Nemoto, Kazuaki; Tachi, Yukio; Katayama, Misaki*; Inada, Yasuhiro*

2012-Nendo Ritsumeikan Daigaku Sogo Kagaku Gijutsu Kenkyu Kiko Sentan Kenkyu Shisetsu Kyoyo Sokushin Jigyo Seika Hokokusho (Internet), 2 Pages, 2013/00

http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/acd/re/src/kyoyo/seikahoukoku2012/R1228.pdf

The diffusion profiles of strongly sorbing nuclides such as Cm, Am, Ni, in a compacted bentonite show two parts with different slopes which cannot be fitted by simple one-dimensional diffusion model considering single species. The reason for this anomalous diffusion behavior is not understood. Some XANES spectral shape of Ni diffused in compacted montmorillonite, which is main content of bentonite, at relatively higher concentrated region exhibit slight broadening of a feature on the high-energy side of the white line. The broadening of a feature doesn't appear in the case of Ni aqueous solution and Ni-montmorillonite. These results indicate that the inner coordination geometry of the Ni(II) ion diffused in compacted montmorillonite at relatively higher concentrated region.