Decommissioning state of Plutonium Fuel Fabrication Facility; Dismantling the glove box W-9 and equipment interior, and a part of tunnel F1

Nagai, Yuya; Shuji, Yoshiyuki; Kawasaki, Takeshi; Aita, Takahiro; Kimura, Yasuhisa; Nemoto, Yasunori*; Onuma, Takeshi*; Tomiyama, Noboru*; Hirano, Koji*; Usui, Yasuhiro*; et al.

JAEA-Technology 2022-039, 117 Pages, 2023/06

JAEA-Technology-2022-039.pdf:11.96MB

Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) manages wide range of nuclear facilities. Many of these facilities are required to be performed adjustment with the aging and complement with the new regulatory standards and the earthquake resistant, since the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station accident. It is therefore desirable to promote decommissioning of facilities that have reached the end of their productive life in order to reduce risk and maintenance costs. However, the progress of facility decommissioning require large amount of money and radioactive waste storage space. In order to address these issues, JAEA has formulated a "The Medium/Long-Term Management Plan of JAEA Facilities" with three pillars: (1) consolidation and prioritization of facilities, (2) assurance of facility safety, and (3) back-end countermeasures. In this plan, Plutonium Fuel Fabrication Facility has been selected as primary decommissioned facility, and dismantling of equipment in the facilities have been underway. In this report, size reduction activities of the glove box W-9 and a part of tunnel F-1, which was connected to W-9, are presented, and the obtained findings are highlighted. The glovebox W-9 had oxidation & reduction furnace, and pellet crushing machine as equipment interior. The duration of activity took six years from February 2014 to February 2020, including suspended period of 4 years due to the enhanced authorization approval process

Comparisons between passive RCCSs on degree of passive safety features against accidental conditions and methodology to determine structural thickness of scaled-down heat removal test facilities

Takamatsu, Kuniyoshi; Matsumoto, Tatsuya*; Liu, W.*; Morita, Koji*

Annals of Nuclear Energy, 162, p.108512_1 - 108512_10, 2021/11

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2021.108512

The objectives of this study are as follows: to understand the characteristics, degree of passive safety features for heat removal were compared for RCCSs based on atmospheric radiation and based on atmospheric natural circulation under the same conditions. Next, simulations on accidental conditions, such as increasing average heat-transfer coefficient via natural convection due to natural disasters, were performed with STAR-CCM+, and methodology to control the amount of heat removal was discussed. As a result, a new RCCS based on atmospheric radiation is recommended because of the excellent degree of passive safety features/conditions, and the amount of heat removal by heat transfer surfaces which can be controlled. Finally, methodology to determine structural thickness of scaled-down heat removal test facilities for reproducing natural convection and radiation was developed, and experimental methods by using pressurized and decompressed chambers was also proposed.

Comparison between passive reactor cavity cooling systems based on atmospheric radiation and atmospheric natural circulation

Takamatsu, Kuniyoshi; Matsumoto, Tatsuya*; Liu, W.*; Morita, Koji*

Annals of Nuclear Energy, 151, p.107867_1 - 107867_11, 2021/02

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2020.107867

A new RCCS with passive safety features consists of two continuous closed regions. One is a region surrounding RPV. The other is a cooling region with heat transferred to the ambient air. The new RCCS needs no electrical or mechanical driving devices. We compared the RCCS using atmospheric radiation with that using atmospheric natural circulation in terms of passive safety features and control methods for heat removal. The magnitude relationship for passive safety features is heat conduction radiation natural convection. Therefore, the magnitude for passive safety features of the former RCCS can be higher than that of the latter RCCS. In controlling the heat removal, the former RCCS changes the heat transfer area only. On the other hand, the latter RCCS needs to change the chimney effect. It is necessary to change the air resistance in the duct. Therefore, the former RCCS can control the heat removal more easily than the latter RCCS.

Heavy fermion state of YbNiSi without local inversion symmetry

Nakamura, Shota*; Hyodo, Kazushi*; Matsumoto, Yuji*; Haga, Yoshinori; Sato, Hitoshi*; Ueda, Shigenori*; Mimura, Kojiro*; Saiki, Katsuyoshi*; Iso, Kosei*; Yamashita, Minoru*; et al.

Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, 89(2), p.024705_1 - 024705_5, 2020/02

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSJ.89.024705

The Surface composition of asteroid 162173 Ryugu from Hayabusa2 near-infrared spectroscopy

Kitazato, Kohei*; Milliken, R. E.*; Iwata, Takahiro*; Abe, Masanao*; Otake, Makiko*; Matsuura, Shuji*; Arai, Takehiko*; Nakauchi, Yusuke*; Nakamura, Tomoki*; Matsuoka, Moe*; et al.

Science, 364(6437), p.272 - 275, 2019/04

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aav7432

The near-Earth asteroid 162173 Ryugu, the target of Hayabusa2 sample return mission, is believed to be a primitive carbonaceous object. The Near Infrared Spectrometer (NIRS3) on Hayabusa2 acquired reflectance spectra of Ryugu's surface to provide direct measurements of the surface composition and geological context for the returned samples. A weak, narrow absorption feature centered at 2.72 micron was detected across the entire observed surface, indicating that hydroxyl (OH)-bearing minerals are ubiquitous there. The intensity of the OH feature and low albedo are similar to thermally- and/or shock-metamorphosed carbonaceous chondrite meteorites. There are few variations in the OH-band position, consistent with Ryugu being a compositionally homogeneous rubble-pile object generated from impact fragments of an undifferentiated aqueously altered parent body.

Experimental study on heat removal performance of a new Reactor Cavity Cooling System (RCCS)

Hosomi, Seisuke*; Akashi, Tomoyasu*; Matsumoto, Tatsuya*; Liu, W.*; Morita, Koji*; Takamatsu, Kuniyoshi

Proceedings of 11th Korea-Japan Symposium on Nuclear Thermal Hydraulics and Safety (NTHAS-11) (Internet), 7 Pages, 2018/11

A new RCCS with passive safety features consists of two continuous closed regions. One is a region surrounding RPV. The other is a cooling region with heat transferred to the ambient air. The new RCCS needs no electrical or mechanical driving devices. We started experiment research with using a scaled-down test section. Three experimental cases under different emissivity conditions were performed. We used Monte Carlo method to evaluate the contribution of radiation to the total heat released from the heater. As a result, after the heater wall was painted black, the contribution of radiation to the total heat could be increased to about 60%. A high emissivity of RPV surface is very effective to remove more heat from the reactor. A high emissivity of the cooling part wall is also effective because it not only increases the radiation emitted to the ambient air, but also may increase the temperature difference among the walls and enhance the convection heat transfer in the RCCS.

Sedimentation behavior of mixed solid particles

Sheikh, Md. A. R.*; Son, E.*; Kamiyama, Motoki*; Morioka, Toru*; Matsumoto, Tatsuya*; Morita, Koji*; Matsuba, Kenichi; Kamiyama, Kenji; Suzuki, Toru*

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 55(6), p.623 - 633, 2018/06

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2017.1419888

During core-disruptive accidents in sodium-cooled fast reactors, the sedimentation behavior of fragmented debris is crucial for in-vessel retention. The height of the beds formed may influence both the cooling of the bed and the neutronic characteristics. To develop an experimental database of bed formation behavior, a series of experiments using simulant materials, namely, AlO, ZrO, and stainless steel, were performed under gravity-driven discharge of solid particles from a nozzle into a quiescent cylindrical water pool. The bed height was measured for particles of different size, density, and sphericity, and an injection nozzle with varying diameter, injection velocity, and injection height. From these experiments, an empirical correlation was established to predict the bed height for both homogeneous and mixed particles for the different properties. This correlation reproduces reasonably well the experimental trend in bed height.

Numerical simulation of solid-particle sedimentation behavior using a multi-fluid model coupled with DEM

Kawata, Ryo*; Ohara, Yohei*; Sheikh, Md. A. R.*; Liu, X.*; Matsumoto, Tatsuya*; Morita, Koji*; Guo, L.*; Kamiyama, Kenji; Suzuki, Toru

Proceedings of 17th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics (NURETH-17) (USB Flash Drive), 14 Pages, 2017/09

Experimental database for bed formation behaviors of solid particles

Sheikh, M. A. R.*; Son, E.*; Kamiyama, Motoki*; Morioka, Toru*; Matsumoto, Tatsuya*; Morita, Koji*; Matsuba, Kenichi; Kamiyama, Kenji; Suzuki, Toru

Proceedings of 10th Japan-Korea Symposium on Nuclear Thermal Hydraulics and Safety (NTHAS-10) (USB Flash Drive), 10 Pages, 2016/11

During the material relocation phase of core disruptive accidents in sodium-cooled fast reactors, the sedimentation behavior of fragmented debris leading to the formation of debris beds is crucial for in-vessel retention by debris bed cooling. In this study, a series of experiments using simulant materials was performed to develop an experimental database of bed formation behavior by gravity driven discharge of solid particles from a nozzle into a quiescent cylindrical water pool. The bed height as well as the bed shape was measured. Three types of spherical and non-spherical particles, namely AlO, ZrO and stainless steel with different size were employed to study the effect of key experimental parameter on debris bed mound shape. Based on the experimental results, an empirical correlation as experimental database was proposed to predict the particle bed height. The proposed correlation reasonably reproduces the experimental trend of the bed height variation on the crucial factors. This result demonstrates a wide applicability of the proposed empirical model to predict the bed height in terms of all crucial factors with reasonable accuracy.

Experimental investigation on characteristics of mixed particle debris in sedimentation and bed formation behavior

Sheikh, M. A. R.*; Son, E.*; Kamiyama, Motoki*; Morioka, Toru*; Matsumoto, Tatsuya*; Morita, Koji*; Matsuba, Kenichi; Kamiyama, Kenji; Suzuki, Toru

Proceedings of 11th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics, Operation and Safety (NUTHOS-11) (USB Flash Drive), 12 Pages, 2016/10

This paper reports an experimental evaluation on debris bed formation characteristics in core-disruptive accidents cogitating the heterogeneous mixture of particles. In the present study, to appraise the characteristics, a series of experiments was accomplished by gravity driven discharge of solid binary mixtures of particles as simulant debris from a nozzle into a quiescent water pool in isothermal condition at room temperature. Currently, two types of spherical particles, namely Alumina and stainless steel with different diameter are employed to study the effect of key experimental parameters on bed mound shape. In experimental investigation both convex and concave mound shapes were perceived based on the effect of particle size and nozzle diameter. The present outcomes could be useful to validate numerical models and simulation codes of particulate debris sedimentation.