PSTEP: Project for solar-terrestrial environment prediction

Kusano, Kanya*; Ichimoto, Kiyoshi*; Ishii, Mamoru*; Miyoshi, Yoshizumi*; Yoden, Shigeo*; Akiyoshi, Hideharu*; Asai, Ayumi*; Ebihara, Yusuke*; Fujiwara, Hitoshi*; Goto, Tadanori*; et al.

Earth, Planets and Space (Internet), 73(1), p.159_1 - 159_29, 2021/12

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-021-01486-1

The PSTEP is a nationwide research collaboration in Japan and was conducted from April 2015 to March 2020, supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan. It has made a significant progress in space weather research and operational forecasts, publishing over 500 refereed journal papers and organizing four international symposiums, various workshops and seminars, and summer school for graduate students at Rikubetsu in 2017. This paper is a summary report of the PSTEP and describes the major research achievements it produced.

Proposal of simulation materials test technique and their constitutive equations for structural tests and analyses simulating severe accident conditions

Hashidate, Ryuta; Kato, Shoichi; Onizawa, Takashi; Wakai, Takashi; Kasahara, Naoto*

Proceedings of ASME 2020 Pressure Vessels and Piping Conference (PVP 2020) (Internet), 9 Pages, 2020/08

https://doi.org/10.1115/PVP2020-21397

Although it is very essential to clarify how the structure collapses under the severe accident conditions, the failure mechanisms in excessive high temperatures are not clarified. However, it is very difficult and expensive to perform structural tests using actual structural materials. Therefore, we propose to use lead alloys instead of actual structural materials. For demonstration of analogy between the failure mechanisms of lead alloys structure at low temperature and those of the actual structures at high temperature, numerical analyses are required. Although the authors proposed inelastic constitutive equations for numerical analyses in 2019, the equations could not successfully express because of large variations observed in the material tests of the lead alloy. In this study, we propose the improved inelastic constitutive equations of the lead alloy on the basis of the material test results used by aged alloy which can stabilized the material characteristic.

Numerical analysis of air-hydrogen mixture flow in rectangular indoor space with ventilators

Sugiyama, Hitoshi*; Takahashi, Keita*; Kato, Naoto*; Terada, Atsuhiko; Kamiji, Yu; Hino, Ryutaro

Jidosha Gijutsukai Gakujutsu Koenkai Zensatsushu, (109-14), p.5 - 10, 2014/10

Numerical analysis has been performed for vertical buoyant flow of air-hydrogen mixture in rectangular indoor space with ventilators. The unsteady and laminar flow has been calculated by using the coupled conservation equations of hydrogen and momentum. Calculated results are compared with the experiment data of hydrogen concentration and velocity profile in order to confirm the validity of the presented numerical method and clarify the mechanism of hydrogen dispersion. Although agreement is certainly not perfect in all detail, the main features are reasonably reproduced. Adding to this, calculated results suggest that hydrogen concentration depends on Froude number.

Engineering scale development test of MOX fuel fabrication technology to establish commercialized fast reactor fuel, 1; The O/M ratio preparation tests of sintered pellets

Takato, Kiyoto; Murakami, Tatsutoshi; Suzuki, Kiichi; Shibanuma, Kimikazu; Hatanaka, Nobuhiro; Yamaguchi, Bungo; Tobita, Yoshimasa; Shinozaki, Masaru; Iimura, Naoto; Okita, Takatoshi; et al.

JAEA-Technology 2013-026, 42 Pages, 2013/10

JAEA-Technology-2013-026.pdf:3.17MB

In order to cope with making a commercial fast reactor fuel burn-up higher, oxygen-to-metal (O/M) ratio in the fuel specification is designed to 1.95. As the test for the fabrication of such low O/M ratio pellets, two kinds of O/M ratio preparation tests of different reduction mechanism were done. In the first test, we evaluated the technology to prepare the O/M ratio low by annealing the sintered pellets in production scale. In addition, we know from past experience that O/M ratio of the sintered pellets can be reduced by residual carbon when the de-waxed pellets with high carbon content are sintered. Thus, in another test, the green pellets containing a large amount of organic additives were sintered and we evaluated the technology to produce the low O/M ratio sintered pellets by the reduction due to residual carbon. From the first test results, we found a tendency that the higher annealing temperature or the longer annealing time resulted in the lower O/M ratio. However, the amount of O/M ratio reduction was small and it is estimated that a substantial annealing time is necessary to prepare the O/M ratio to 1.95. It is considered that reducing O/M ratio by annealing was difficult because atmosphere gas containing oxygen released from pellets remained and the O/M ratio was changed to the value equilibrated with the gas having high oxygen potential. From another test results, it was confirmed that O/M ratio was reduced by the reduction due to residual carbon. We found that it was important to manage an oxygen potential of atmosphere gas in a sintering furnace low to reduce the O/M ratio effectively.

Aspect-ratio-dependent phase transitions and concentration fluctuations in aqueous colloidal dispersions of charged platelike particles

Yamaguchi, Daisuke; Miyamoto, Nobuyoshi*; Fujita, Takako*; Nakato, Teruyuki*; Koizumi, Satoshi; Ota, Noboru*; Yagi, Naoto*; Hashimoto, Takeji

Physical Review E, 85(1), p.011403_1 - 011403_15, 2012/01

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.85.011403

Phase transition of aqueous colloidal dispersions of charged plate-like particles of niobate nanosheets were investigated as a function of the aspect ratio () and particle volume concentration () by small-angle neutron scattering and small-angle X-ray scattering. The results elucidated the following three pieces of evidence: (1) the macroscopic phase separation of the dispersions into an isotropic phase and a liquid crystalline phase (LC) under the condition of (a) varying at a constant = 0.01, and of (b) varying (0.01 0.025) at a constant = 2.510. (2) the -induced phase transition of the LC phase from a nematic phase to a highly periodic layered phase upon increasing r under the condition (a). (3) the LC phase having remarkable concentration fluctuations of the particles which are totally unexpected for the conventional lyotropic molecular LC but which are anticipated to be general for the plate-like colloidal particles.

Numerical analysis of turbulent flow with heat transfer in a square duct with 45 degree ribs

Okagaki, Yuria*; Sugiyama, Hitoshi*; Kato, Naoto*; Terada, Atsuhiko; Hino, Ryutaro

Proceedings of 19th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE-19) (CD-ROM), 8 Pages, 2011/10

Turbulent flow and heat transfer characteristics in a square duct of 100 mm height with 45 degree square ribs of 10 mm height was analyzed numerically by using algebraic Reynolds stress model including the fixed turbulent Prandtl number and algebraic turbulent heat flux models. In this research, analytical results were compared with the experimental and predicted data reported by Bonhoff et al, which were measured and analyzed turbulent flow fields at Reynolds number 50000 based on bulk velocity and duct height by means of a PIV system and a Reynolds stress model. As a result of this study, it was verified that the presented method was able to predict turbulent flow in duct with ribs through the comparison of calculated results with the experimental data.

Magnetic structure determination of CeAl ( = Ru and Os); Single crystal neutron diffraction studies

Kato, Harukazu*; Kobayashi, Riki; Takesaka, Tomoaki*; Nishioka, Takashi*; Matsumura, Masahiro*; Kaneko, Koji; Metoki, Naoto

Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, 80(7), p.073701_1 - 073701_4, 2011/07

https://doi.org/10.1143/JPSJ.80.073701

Development of elevated temperature structural design method for fast reactor vessels, 1; Concept of development in strength evaluation

Kawasaki, Nobuchika; Nagae, Yuji; Kato, Shoichi; Ando, Masanori; Kasahara, Naoto

Dai-13-Kai Doryoku, Enerugi Gijutsu Shimpojiumu Koen Rombunshu, p.507 - 510, 2008/06

Concept of development in strength evaluation for fast reactor vessels was introduced. Based on the characteristics of reactor vessel for developing fast breeder reactor, creep-fatigue strength and ratcheting deformation criterion are under developing. For the creep-fatigue strength, intermediate dwelling creep-fatigue, aging effect and strain concentration are selected as developing items. The ratcheting deformation criterion will be determined by ratcheting fatigue and ratcheting creep-fatigue test results.

Annual report on the environmental radiation monitoring around Tokai Reprocessing Plant FY2005

Takeishi, Minoru; Miyagawa, Naoto; Nakano, Masanao; Takeyasu, Masanori; Isozaki, Hisaaki; Isozaki, Tokuju; Morisawa, Masato; Fujita, Hiroki; Kokubun, Yuji; Kato, Chiaki; et al.

JAEA-Review 2006-031, 155 Pages, 2006/10

JAEA-Review-2006-031.pdf:7.76MB
JAEA-Review-2006-031(errata).pdf:0.13MB

Environmental radiation monitoring around the Tokai Reprocessing Plant has been performed by the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Engineering Laboratories, based on "Safety Regulations for the Reprocessing Plant of JAEA, Chapter IV - Environmental Monitoring". This annual report presents the results of the environmental monitoring and the dose estimation to the hypothetical inhabitant due to the radioactivity discharged to the atmosphere and the sea during April 2005 to March 2006. Appendices present comprehensive information, such as monitoring program, monitoring methods, monitoring results and its trends, meteorological data and discharged radioactive wastes.

Feasibility Study on Commercialization of Fast Breeder Reactor Cycle System Interim Report of Phase II -Technical Study Report on Synthetic Evaluation for FBR Cycle-

Shiotani, Hiroki; Ohtaki, Akira; Ono, Kiyoshi; Hirao, Kazunori; Kato, Atsushi; Yasumatsu, Naoto*; Kubota, Sadae*

JNC TN9400 2004-052, 514 Pages, 2004/09

JNC-TN9400-2004-052.pdf:8.85MB

This report presents the outline of the development and the results of characteristic evaluation on the candidate Fast Reactor (FR) cycle system concepts, scenario study on FR cycle deployment and cost-benefit analysis on the candidate FR cycle system concepts in the interim evaluation (FY2001 through FY2003) of the second phase of the Japanese "Feasibility Study on Commercialization of Fast Breeder Reactor Cycle System (FS)".