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Pu
Am
O
uranium-plutonium-americium mixed oxides at 1573, 1773, and 1873 KVauchy, R.; Sunaoshi, Takeo*; Hirooka, Shun; Nakamichi, Shinya; Murakami, Tatsutoshi; Kato, Masato
Journal of Nuclear Materials, 580, p.154416_1 - 154416_11, 2023/07
Kato, Masato; Nakamichi, Shinya; Hirooka, Shun; Watanabe, Masashi; Murakami, Tatsutoshi; Ishii, Katsunori
Nihon Genshiryoku Gakkai Wabun Rombunshi (Internet), 8 Pages, 2023/00
Uranium and Plutonium mixed oxide (MOX) pellets used as fast reactor fuels have been produced from several raw materials by mechanical blending method through processes of ball milling, additive blending, granulation, pressing, sintering and so on. It is essential to control the pellet density which is one of the important fuel specifications, but it is difficult to understand relationships among many parameters in the production. Database for MOX production was prepared from production results in Japan, and input data of eighteen types were chosen from production process and made a data set. Machine learning model to predict sintered density of MOX pellet was derived by gradient boosting regressor, and represented the measured sintered density with coefficient of determination of R
=0.996
Kato, Masato; Machida, Masahiko; Hirooka, Shun; Nakamichi, Shinya; Ikusawa, Yoshihisa; Nakamura, Hiroki; Kobayashi, Keita; Ozawa, Takayuki; Maeda, Koji; Sasaki, Shinji; et al.
Materials Science and Fuel Technologies of Uranium and Plutonium mixed Oxide, 171 Pages, 2022/10
Innovative and advanced nuclear reactors using plutonium fuel has been developed in each country. In order to develop a new nuclear fuel, irradiation tests are indispensable, and it is necessary to demonstrate the performance and safety of nuclear fuels. If we can develop a technology that accurately simulates irradiation behavior as a technology that complements the irradiation test, the cost, time, and labor involved in nuclear fuel research and development will be greatly reduced. And safety and reliability can be significantly improved through simulation of nuclear fuel irradiation behavior. In order to evaluate the performance of nuclear fuel, it is necessary to know the physical and chemical properties of the fuel at high temperatures. And it is indispensable to develop a behavior model that describes various phenomena that occur during irradiation. In previous research and development, empirical methods with fitting parameters have been used in many parts of model development. However, empirical techniques can give very different results in areas where there is no data. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to construct a scientific descriptive model that can extrapolate the basic characteristics of fuel to the composition and temperature, and to develop an irradiation behavior analysis code to which the model is applied.
Doda, Norihiro; Kato, Shinya; Iida, Masaki*; Yokoyama, Kenji; Tanaka, Masaaki
Proceedings of 12th Japan-Korea Symposium on Nuclear Thermal Hydraulics and Safety (NTHAS12) (Internet), 8 Pages, 2022/10
In the conventional core design in sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs), negative reactivity feedback due to core deformation was neglected because of large uncertainty in analytical evaluation. To optimize core design, it is necessary to develop an analytical evaluation method and eliminate excessive conservativeness. An evaluation method for core deformation reactivity has been developed by coupling analysis of neutronics, thermal-hydraulics, and structural mechanics. For the verification study of the neutronics calculation method, the reactivity was calculated for the deformed core geometry in which the fuel assembly (FA) moved horizontally in the radial direction for each row from the core center. Compared to reference values derived from Monte Carlo calculations, the calculated reactivity due to FA displacement agreed well in the core region and was overestimated in the reflector region. The modification challenges in development of the core deformation model were identified.
Matsuba, Kenichi; Kato, Shinya; Kamiyama, Kenji; Akayev, A. S.*; Baklanov, V. V.*
Proceedings of 28th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE 28) (Internet), 4 Pages, 2021/08
In order to obtain experimental knowledge on fragmentation and cooling behavior of molten core material discharged into regions where the depth and volume of sodium are limited, a series of out-of-pile experiments using molten alumina as a simulant for molten core material was conducted. It was found that following mechanisms might be involved in the fragmentation and cooling behavior in a shallow sodium pool: (1) FCI which occurs at location of impingement of the molten jet on the bottom plate promotes fragmentation. (2) If there is a sufficient amount of sodium as a heat sink outside the region, heat exchange by sodium flow in and out due to vapor expansion and condensation suppresses the sodium temperature rise. (3) This temperature suppression contributes to effective cooling of molten core material. In the future study, in order to confirm the mechanisms which was clarified in this study, analytical evaluation of the experimental result will be carried out using a simulation tool.
X raysOkumura, Takuma*; Azuma, Toshiyuki*; Bennet, D. A.*; Caradonna, P.*; Chiu, I. H.*; Doriese, W. B.*; Durkin, M. S.*; Fowler, J. W.*; Gard, J. D.*; Hashimoto, Tadashi; et al.
Physical Review Letters, 127(5), p.053001_1 - 053001_7, 2021/07
Times Cited Count：3 Percentile：54.27(Physics, Multidisciplinary)We observed electronic X rays emitted from muonic iron atoms using a superconducting transition-edge-type sensor microcalorimeter. The energy resolution of 5.2 eV in FWHM allowed us to observe the asymmetric broad profile of the electronic characteristic 
and 
X rays together with the hypersatellite X rays around 6 keV. This signature reflects the time-dependent screening of the nuclear charge by the negative muon and the 
-shell electrons, accompanied by electron side-feeding. Assisted by a simulation, this data clearly reveals the electronic - and -shell hole production and their temporal evolution during the muon cascade process.
Igarashi, Kai*; Onuki, Ryoji*; Sakai, Takaaki*; Kato, Shinya; Matsuba, Kenichi; Kamiyama, Kenji
Proceedings of 2020 International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE 2020) (Internet), 6 Pages, 2020/08
U
)O
Nakamichi, Shinya; Hirooka, Shun; Kato, Masato; Sunaoshi, Takeo*; Nelson, A. T.*; McClellan, K. J.*
Journal of Nuclear Materials, 535, p.152188_1 - 152188_8, 2020/07
Times Cited Count：5 Percentile：55.75(Materials Science, Multidisciplinary)Oxygen-to-metal ratio (O/M) of uranium and plutonium mixed oxide depends on its oxygen partial pressure. To attain the desirable microstructure and O/M ratio of sintered pellets, it is important to investigate the relation between the sintering behavior and the atmosphere of sintering process. In this study, sintering behavior of (PuU)O
and (PuU)O
in controlled po atmosphere were investigated. It was found activation energy of (PuU)O was higher than that of (PuU)O. On the other hand, it was observed grain growth during sintering was suppressed in hypo-stoichiometric composition.
Kato, Shinya; Matsuba, Kenichi; Kamiyama, Kenji; Ganovichev, D. A.*; Baklanov, V. V.*
Proceedings of 2019 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2019) (Internet), 9 Pages, 2019/05
In order to ensure In-Vessel Retention (IVR) of molten-core in Core Disruptive Accident (CDA), we are investigating the possibility of the molten-core discharge through the control rod guide tube (CRGT) to prevent energetics due to exceeding the prompt criticality. Internal structures of the CRGT, such as a sodium-flow regulator when the CRGT is connected to the high-pressure plenum, may disturb the discharge of molten-core from the core region. Based on above background, an experimental program to clarify characteristics of molten-core discharge through the CRGT has been commenced as one of subjects under a joint study with National Nuclear Center of the Republic of Kazakhstan (NNC-RK) named EAGLE-3 project. An experiment using molten-alumina as fuel simulant and sodium was conducted at the out-of-pile test facility owned by NNC-RK to investigate sodium cooling effect around the sodium flow regulator on its destruction. The experimental result represented that void development at the initiation of molten-alumina discharge eliminated liquid-phase sodium from the discharge path and this also eliminated sodium cooling effect around the sodium flow regulator. As a result, early destruction of the sodium flow regulator and massive discharge of molten alumina occurred in turn.
and (U,Pu)ONakamichi, Shinya; Hirooka, Shun; Sunaoshi, Takeo*; Kato, Masato; Nelson, A.*; McClellan, K.*
Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, 113(1), p.617 - 618, 2015/10
Cerium dioxide has been used as a surrogate material for plutonium dioxide. Dorr et al reported the use of hyper-stoichiometric conditions causes the start of shrinkage of (U,Ce)O at low temperature compared with the sintering in reducing atmosphere. However, the precise stoichiometry of the samples investigated was not controlled or otherwise monitored, preventing any quantitative conclusions regarding the similarities or differences between (U,Ce)O and (U,Pu)O. The motivation for the present work is therefore to compare the sintering behavior of MOX and the (U,Ce)O MOX surrogates under controlled atmospheres to assess the role of oxygen defects on densification in both systems.
Kato, Shinya; Shimomoto, Yoshihiko; Kato, Yuko; Kitano, Akihiro
JAEA-Technology 2014-043, 36 Pages, 2015/02
JAEA-Technology-2014-043.pdf:8.94MB
The core management and operation code system aims to perform core management task efficiently by systematic management of data, analyses and edits, which are needed in the reactor core management and operation. The system consists of the five calculation modules: the reactor constant generation module, the neutronic-thermal calculation module, the radiation analysis module, the core structural integrity estimation module, and the core operation analysis module. In these modules, the neutronic-thermal calculation module is based on the dedicated three-dimensional diffusion and burn-up code HIZER. HIZER can execute core calculations easily for specific design specification and operation patterns of Monju, enabling efficient and accurate evaluation of the Monju core characteristics. This report describes its calculation method and validation results.
Arifi, E.*; Ishimatsu, Koichi*; Iizasa, Shinya*; Namihira, Takao*; Sakamoto, Hiroyuki*; Tachi, Yukio; Kato, Hiroyasu*; Shigeishi, Mitsuhiro*
Construction and Building Materials, 67(Part B), p.192 - 196, 2014/09
Times Cited Count：4 Percentile：24.23(Construction & Building Technology)The Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Plant accident has resulted in a large amount of radioactively contaminated concrete. The possible application of the pulsed power discharge to reduce the amount of contaminated concrete as radioactive waste was investigated. The contaminated concrete was decontaminated by separating contaminated matrix from uncontaminated coarse aggregate under pulsed power discharge process. In this study, a stable Cs isotope was used to simulate radioactively contaminated concrete. As a result, while the volume of reclaimed aggregate from contaminated concrete could be reproduced was up to 60%, nevertheless Cs detected in the reclaimed aggregate was only approximately 3%. Thus most of the Cs were dissolved in water during the discharge process. It is expected that the pulsed power could reduce the contaminated concrete waste by reusing aggregate. Further investigations are requested to test the applicability of this method under the realistic conditions close to the actual waste.
Hirano, Fumio; Sato, Seichi*; Kozaki, Tamotsu*; Inagaki, Yaohiro*; Iwasaki, Tomohiko*; Oe, Toshiaki*; Kato, Kazuyuki*; Kitayama, Kazumi*; Nagasaki, Shinya*; Niibori, Yuichi*
Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 49(3), p.310 - 319, 2012/03
Times Cited Count：0 Percentile：0.01(Nuclear Science & Technology)The thermal impacts of hull and end piece wastes from the reprocessing of MOX spent fuels burned in LWRs on repository performance were investigated. The heat generation rates in MOX spent fuels and the resulting heat generation rates in hull and end piece wastes change depending on the fuel histories including the burn-up of UO spent fuels, the cooling period before reprocessing, the storage period of fresh MOX fuels. The heat generation rates of hull and end piece wastes from the reprocessing of MOX spent fuels with any of those histories are significantly larger than those from UO spent fuels with burn-ups of 45 GWd/THM. If a temperature below 80
C is specified for cement-based materials used in waste packages after disposal, the allowable number of canisters containing compacted hull and end pieces in a package for 45 GWd-MOX needs to be limited to a value of 0.7 to 1.6, which is significantly lower than the value of 4.0 for 45 GWd-UO.
Pu
)O
at 1773 and 1873 K, and its analysis based on point defect chemistryKato, Masato; Nakamichi, Shinya; Takeuchi, Kentaro; Sunaoshi, Takeo*
CALPHAD; Computer Coupling of Phase Diagrams and Thermochemistry, 35(4), p.623 - 626, 2011/12
Times Cited Count：9 Percentile：48.36(Thermodynamics)Uranium and plutonium mixed oxide (MOX) has been used as fuels of fast reactors. The MOX having fluorite structure is an oxygen nonstoichiometric compound which is stable in hyper- and hypo-stoichiometric composition range. The stoichiometry of MOX significantly affects their properties. So, it is essential to know the relation between stoichiometry and oxygen potential to develop MOX fuels. In this work, the oxygen potentials of (UPu)O were measured at high temperatures of 1773, and 1873K. The measurements were carried out by gas equilibrium method using thermo-gravimetry. Th The oxygen partial pressure was adjusted by controlling the ratio of H/HO in the flowing gas atmosphere, and the oxygen potential was determined. The oxygen potentials were determined as functions of O/M ratio, and temperature. The data at stoichiometric composition were estimated to be -311kJ/mol and -299kJ/mol at 1773K, and 1873K based on point defect model.
Nakamichi, Shinya; Kato, Masato; Tamura, Tetsuya*
CALPHAD; Computer Coupling of Phase Diagrams and Thermochemistry, 35(4), p.648 - 651, 2011/12
Times Cited Count：10 Percentile：51.22(Thermodynamics)Japan Atomic Energy Agency has developed homogeneous MOX fuels containing minor actinides (MAs) such as Am and Np elements. In this work, particular attention is paid to the influence of small MA addition on oxygen potential of MOX fuels. Oxygen potentials of (Am
Pu
U
)O and (Am
Np
Pu
U
)O in the near stoichiometric region were measured at 1473, 1573 and 1623K by thermogravimetry. (AmPuU)O and (AmNpPuU)O were slightly higher than those of (Pu
U
)O. From this work, it was found that oxygen potential of MOX is slightly increased by small Am addition and influence of Np addition on oxygen potential is not significant.
Sakanaka, Shogo*; Akemoto, Mitsuo*; Aoto, Tomohiro*; Arakawa, Dai*; Asaoka, Seiji*; Enomoto, Atsushi*; Fukuda, Shigeki*; Furukawa, Kazuro*; Furuya, Takaaki*; Haga, Kaiichi*; et al.
Proceedings of 1st International Particle Accelerator Conference (IPAC '10) (Internet), p.2338 - 2340, 2010/05
Future synchrotron light source using a 5-GeV energy recovery linac (ERL) is under proposal by our Japanese collaboration team, and we are conducting R&D efforts for that. We are developing high-brightness DC photocathode guns, two types of cryomodules for both injector and main superconducting (SC) linacs, and 1.3 GHz high CW-power RF sources. We are also constructing the Compact ERL (cERL) for demonstrating the recirculation of low-emittance, high-current beams using above-mentioned critical technologies.
Kato, Masato; Morimoto, Kyoichi; Komeno, Akira; Nakamichi, Shinya; Kashimura, Motoaki
Proceedings of 10th OECD/NEA Information Exchange Meeting on Actinide and Fission Product Partitioning and Transmutation (CD-ROM), p.201 - 209, 2010/00
Japan Atomic Energy Agency has developed homogeneous MOX fuel containing minor actinide (MA) elements such as Np and Am. To measure physical properties of the fuel is essential for its development, because their data are needed to evaluate irradiation behavior. In this report, the physical properties, melting temperature, thermal conductivity, lattice parameter, oxygen potential and phase separation behavior, were reviewed, and effect of MA content was discussed.
systemNakamichi, Shinya; Kato, Masato; Sunaoshi, Takeo*; Uchida, Teppei; Morimoto, Kyoichi; Kashimura, Motoaki; Kihara, Yoshiyuki
Journal of Nuclear Materials, 389(1), p.191 - 196, 2009/05
Times Cited Count：2 Percentile：18.23(Materials Science, Multidisciplinary)Japan Atomic Energy Agency researchers have developed mixed oxide (MOX) fuels containing minor actinides (MA). These fuels were irradiated for ten minutes in the FBR Joyo in some short-term irradiation tests. The Si-condensed phases were observed at the center of the pellets in the post irradiation examination. Si impurities came to be mixed into the raw materials in the ball milling process, because Si rubber was used as the lining of the milling pot. Content of Si in the pellets was within the specification of the fuel. It is important to investigate the Si state in MOX at high temperatures like the reactor operating temperature of the fuel to evaluate irradiation behavior. In the present work, MOX specimens with mixed SiO impurity were prepared. The ratio of MOX to SiO was controlled at a mol fraction of 3 to 1. The specimens were first heated at 1973K in atmospheres of three different oxygen partial pressures to adjust the O/M ratio. Then these specimens were sealed in a tungsten capsule, and heated at 2273K or 2673K. Compounds consisting of Pu and Si were observed at grain boundaries of the MOX matrix in specimens after heat treatment. These compounds were not observed in grain interior and MOX matrix was not affected significantly by Si impurity. These compounds tended to form in specimens with low O/M ratio and in specimens heated at higher temperatures.
Kato, Masato; Morimoto, Kyoichi; Nakamichi, Shinya; Sugata, Hiromasa*; Konashi, Kenji*; Kashimura, Motoaki; Abe, Tomoyuki
Nihon Genshiryoku Gakkai Wabun Rombunshi, 7(4), p.420 - 428, 2008/12
The melting temperatures of MOX for fast reactor fuel were investigated as functions of Pu content, Am content and oxygen-to-metal (O/M) ratio using thermal arrest technique. Rhenium inner was used for the measurement to prevent the reaction between the sample and capsule materials. The solidus temperatures decreased with increasing Pu and Am content and increased with decreasing O/M ratio. It is considered that the maximum temperature in U-Pu-O system varies in hypostoichiometric composition region. The melting temperatures were evaluated by ideal solid solution model in UO-PuO-AmO-PuO
system, and the model was derived for calculating solidus and liquidus temperature. The derived model reproduced the experimental data with 
25 K.
-ray detectionInoshita, Shinya*; Suzuki, Shogo*; Okada, Yukiko*; Kato, Masahiko*; Hirai, Shoji*; Kimura, Atsushi; Hatsukawa, Yuichi; Toh, Yosuke; Koizumi, Mitsuo; Oshima, Masumi
Tetsu To Hagane, 94(9), p.345 - 350, 2008/09
"Tatara" is Japanese original steel making method. Steel made by "Tatara" is famous as low alloy and suited to "Kaji" process. By authors' study, it turned out that we could estimate the source region of raw material of Tatara by As and Sb concentration ratio in Tatara sample. But the concentration of these element in Tatara sample is very low (ppm or sub-ppm order), therefore, quantitative analysis is very difficult. In this study, we adopted Neutron Activation Analysis combined with Multiple -ray detection (NAAMG) to analyze As and Sb in "Tatara" sample (iron lump and sand iron, slag). NAAMG is high sensitive and non-destructive analysis method which combined NAA (Neutron Activation Analysis) and multiple -ray detectors. Each "Tatara" sample (iron lump, sand iron, slag) were irradiated for 1-2 h (for As measurement), 8-17 h (for Sb measurement) in JRR-3M HR irradiation field (thermal neutron flux was about 9.0
10
n/m s
). And cooling time was 4-5 days (As), and 19-36 days (Sb). Coincidence -rays were measured by -ray detector array, GEMINI-II. Counting time was 1-8 hours (As), and 2-41 hours (Sb). Quantification was made by comparison method. As a result of measurement, the concentration of As and Sb in all "Tatara" samples were determined by NAAMG and these were sub-ppm order. Lower Limit of Determination (LLD) of As was 0.1 ppm order and Sb is 0.01ppm order. From the above-mentioned point, the effectiveness of NAAMG to analyze trace element in "Tatara" sample was confirmed.
