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Kato, Masato; Hirooka, Shun; Ikusawa, Yoshihisa; Takeuchi, Kentaro; Akashi, Masatoshi; Maeda, Koji; Watanabe, Masashi; Komeno, Akira; Morimoto, Kyoichi
Proceedings of 19th Pacific Basin Nuclear Conference (PBNC 2014) (USB Flash Drive), 12 Pages, 2014/08
Uranium and plutonium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel has been developed for Japan sodium-cooled fast reactors. Science based fuel technologies have been developed to analyse behaviours of MOX pellets in the sintering process and irradiation conditions. The technologies can provide appropriate sintering conditions, irradiation behaviour analysis results and so on using mechanistic models which are derived based on theoretical equations to represent various properties.
Hirooka, Shun; Kato, Masato; Morimoto, Kyoichi; Komeno, Akira; Uchida, Teppei; Akashi, Masatoshi
Journal of Nuclear Materials, 437(1-3), p.130 - 134, 2013/06
Times Cited Count:5 Percentile:38.12(Materials Science, Multidisciplinary)Kato, Masato; Uchida, Teppei; Hirooka, Shun; Akashi, Masatoshi; Komeno, Akira; Morimoto, Kyoichi
Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings, Vol.1444, p.91 - 96, 2012/09
Times Cited Count:1 Percentile:56.47(Materials Science, Multidisciplinary)Komeno, Akira; Kato, Masato; Hirooka, Shun; Sunaoshi, Takeo*
Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings, Vol.1444, p.85 - 89, 2012/09
Times Cited Count:8 Percentile:95.99(Materials Science, Multidisciplinary)Komeno, Akira; Kato, Masato; Uno, Hiroki*; Takeuchi, Kentaro; Morimoto, Kyoichi; Kashimura, Motoaki
IOP Conference Series; Materials Science and Engineering, 9, p.012016_1 - 012016_7, 2010/05
Times Cited Count:9 Percentile:94.52(Chemistry, Inorganic & Nuclear)It is expected that the important data for design of fast reactor fuel can be provided by evaluating the relationship between fuel composition and phase separation with reported and new measurement data. According to evaluation with reported data and new measured data, a relationship between fuel composition and phase separation temperature of MOX fuel was indicated. Higher minor actinides-containing MOX had a lower phase separation temperature at O/M ratio region from 1.92 to 1.96.
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.
Kato, Masato; Komeno, Akira; Uno, Hiroki*; Sugata, Hiromasa*; Nakae, Nobuo; Konashi, Kenji*; Kashimura, Motoaki
Journal of Nuclear Materials, 393(1), p.134 - 140, 2009/08
Times Cited Count:41 Percentile:92.39(Materials Science, Multidisciplinary)In plutonium compounds, the lattice parameter increases due to self-radiation damage by -decay of plutonium isotopes. The lattice parameter change and its thermal recovery in plutonium and uranium mixed dioxide (MOX) were studied. The lattice parameter for samples of MOX powders and pellets that had been left in the air for up to 32 years was measured. The lattice parameter increased and was saturated at about 0.29%. The change in lattice parameter was formulated as a function of self-radiation dose. Three stages in the thermal recovery of the damage were observed in temperature ranges of below 673K, 673-1073K and above 1073K. The activation energies in each recovery stage were estimated to be 0.12 eV, 0.73 eV and 1.2 eV, respectively, and the corresponding mechanism for each stage was considered to be the recovery of the anion Frenkel defect, the cation Frenkel defect and a defect connected with helium, respectively.
Komeno, Akira; Morimoto, Kyoichi; Kato, Masato; Kashimura, Motoaki; Ogasawara, Masahiro*; Sunaoshi, Takeo*
Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, 97(1), p.616 - 617, 2007/11
no abstracts in English
Morimoto, Kyoichi; Kato, Masato; Komeno, Akira; Kashimura, Motoaki
Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, 97(1), p.618 - 619, 2007/11
Plutonium and uranium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel with high Pu-content has been developed as a fuel for fast reactors (FRs). Thermal conductivity of the oxide fuel is among the most important properties for design and performance analyses of fuel rods. Among recent reports, there have been none examining of thermal conductivity of MOX fuel containing Am except our studies. In this study, the thermal conductivities of MOX fuel with 30% Pu-content, as obtained by our group, were evaluated as functions of temperature, oxygen-to-metal (O/M) ratio and Am-content.
Kato, Masato; Morimoto, Kyoichi; Komeno, Akira; Nakamichi, Shinya; Kashimura, Motoaki; Abe, Tomoyuki; Uno, Hiroki*; Ogasawara, Masahiro*; Tamura, Tetsuya*; Sugata, Hiromasa*; et al.
JAEA-Technology 2006-049, 32 Pages, 2006/10
Japan Atomic Energy Agency has developed a fast breeder reactor(FBR), and plutonium and uranium mixed oxide (MOX) having low density and 20-30%Pu content has used as a fuel of the FBR, Monju. In plutonium, Americium has been accumulated during long-term storage, and Am content will be increasing up to 2-3% in the MOX. It is essential to evaluate the influence of Am content on physical properties of MOX on the development of FBR in the future. In this study melting points and thermal conductivities which are important data on the fuel design were measured systematically in wide range of composition, and the effects of Am accumulated were evaluated. The solidus temperatures of MOX were measured as a function of Pu content, oxygen to metal ratio(O/M) and Am content using thermal arrest technique. The sample was sealed in a tungsten capsule in vacuum for measuring solidus temperature. In the measurements of MOX with Pu content of more than 30%, a rhenium inner capsule was used to prevent the reaction between MOX and tungsten. In the results, it was confirmed that the melting points of MOX decrease with as an increase of Pu content and increase slightly with a decrease of O/M ratio. The effect of Am content on the fuel design was negligible small in the range of Am content up to 3%. Thermal conductivities of MOX were evaluated from thermal diffusivity measured by laser flash method and heat capacity calculated by Nuemann- Kopp's law. The thermal conductivity of MOX decreased slightly in the temperature of less than 1173K with increasing Am content. The effect of Am accumulated in long-term storage fuel was evaluated from melting points and thermal conductivities measured in this study. It is concluded that the increase of Am in the fuel barely affect the fuel design in the range of less than 3%Am content.
Komeno, Akira; Morimoto, Kyoichi; Kato, Masato; Kashimura, Motoaki; Ogasawara, Masahiro*
no journal, ,
no abstracts in English
Komeno, Akira; Kato, Masato; Takeuchi, Kentaro; Kashimura, Motoaki; Uno, Hiroki*
no journal, ,
no abstracts in English
Komeno, Akira; Kato, Masato; Sunaoshi, Takeo*
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no abstracts in English
Hirooka, Shun; Kato, Masato; Morimoto, Kyoichi; Komeno, Akira; Uchida, Teppei; Akashi, Masatoshi
no journal, ,
no abstracts in English
Watanabe, Masashi; Komeno, Akira; Kato, Masato; Uno, Hiroki*
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no abstracts in English
Hirooka, Shun; Kato, Masato; Komeno, Akira; Sunaoshi, Takeo*
no journal, ,
MA-bearing MOX pellets with lattice defect accumulated by alpha decay were annealed. The decreased density due to the lattice defect was recovered. However, the density started to decrease again above 1300C. Ceramography of the annealed pellets showed that the density decrease was attributed by helium pores formed along grain.
Hirooka, Shun; Akashi, Masatoshi; Komeno, Akira; Morimoto, Kyoichi; Kato, Masato
no journal, ,
To understand physical property on the fuel debris generated in core melt accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plan, oxidation test and thermal conductivity measurement with simulated fuel debris were performed. By using the data, the status of the fuel debris in the damaged cores were estimated.
Okada, Toyofumi; Shibanuma, Tomohiro; Honda, Fumiya; Komeno, Akira; Kikuno, Hiroshi
no journal, ,
Am is generated by beta-decay of Pu. In the case of treating MOX, it is important for shielding about 60keV gamma-ray emitted by Am. Also getting dose rate data of MOX containing Am is valuable. In this work, we measured gamma-ray dose rate from MOX containing Am by changing thickness of shielding materials and range between MOX and measuring instruments. Also we confirmed that calculating analysis is useful for evaluation of shielding material's performance.
Kato, Masato; Matsumoto, Taku; Uno, Hiroki*; Sunaoshi, Takeo*; Uchida, Teppei; Komeno, Akira
no journal, ,
no abstracts in English
Akashi, Masatoshi; Hirooka, Shun; Watanabe, Masashi; Komeno, Akira; Morimoto, Kyoichi
no journal, ,
Uranium oxide fuels containing GdO had been used to control fuel power in reactors of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant where the severe accident occurred in 2011. JAEA has been evaluating physical properties of the molten fuel debris in the damaged core. However physical properties of the fuel debris containing Gd are not known, hence it is very difficult to select an appropriate debris removal method. Especially, it is important to know the distribution of Gd in the molten fuels for the evaluation of nuclear criticality safety during removal work. In this study, simulated samples of the molten fuel debris, which consisted of ZrO, UO and GdO, were prepared and their properties, which are density, crystal structure, thermal conductivity, thermal expansion and melting temperature, were investigated. This study includes results obtained under the research program entrusted to International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning including Japan Atomic Energy Agency by Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan.