R&D status of digital technology on inverse estimation of radioactive source distributions and related source countermeasures; Fast Digital Twin Tech. in Decommissioning Field: 3D-ADRES-Indoor FrontEnd

Machida, Masahiko; Yamada, Susumu; Kim, M.; Tanaka, Satoshi*; Tobita, Yasuhiro*; Iwata, Ayako*; Aoki, Yuto; Aoki, Kazuhisa; Yanagisawa, Kenichi*; Yamaguchi, Takashi; et al.

RIST News, (70), p.3 - 22, 2024/09

Inside the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (1F), there are many locations with high radiation levels due to contamination by radioactive materials that leaked from the reactor. These pose a significant obstacle to the smooth progress of decommissioning work. To help solve this issue, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), under a subsidy from the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry's decommissioning and contaminated water management project, is conducting research and development on digital technologies to improve the radiation environment inside the decommissioning site. This project, titled "Development of Technology to Improve the Environment Inside Reactor Buildings (Enhancing Digital Technology for Environment and Source Distribution to Reduce Radiation Exposure)," began in April of FY 2023. In this project, the aim is to develop three interconnected systems: FrontEnd, Pro, and BackEnd. The FrontEnd system, based on the previously developed 3D-ADRES-Indoor (prototype) from FY 2021-2022, will be upgraded to a high-speed digital twin technology usable on-site. The Pro system will carry out detailed analysis in rooms such as the new office building at 1F, while the BackEnd system will serve as a database to centrally manage the collected and analyzed data. This report focuses on the FrontEnd system, which will be used on-site. After point cloud measurement, the system will quickly create a 3D mesh model, estimate the radiation source from dose rate measurements, and refine the position and intensity of the estimated source using recalculation techniques (re-observation instructions and re-estimation). The results of verification tests conducted on Unit 5 are also presented. Furthermore, the report briefly discusses the future research and development plans for this project.

Separation/removal of steel surface coating film by laser cleaning

Yamane, Ikumi; Takahashi, Nobuo; Sawayama, Kengo; Nishiwaki, Hiroki; Matsumoto, Takashi; Ogawa, Jumpei; Nomura, Mitsuo; Arima, Tatsumi*

JAEA-Technology 2021-038, 18 Pages, 2022/02

JAEA-Technology-2021-038.pdf:1.61MB

We have dismantled uranium enrichment facilities in Ningyo-toge Environmental Engineering Center since their operation finished in 2001, and the total amount of metallic wastes is estimated to be about 130 thousand tons. Eighty percent of them can be disposed as nonradioactive waste (NR), but there are some steel parts possibly uranium-contaminated. We need removing painted surface of such steels and radiologically surveying to dispose them as NRs. Though painted surfaces have been conventionally removed through hand working with grinders, this manual work requires installation of green house, protective clothing, and full-face mask, in order to prevent dispersion and inhalation of airborne dusts. We desire further developments of surface cleaning techniques to reduce time, cost, workload, and secondary waste generation caused by excessive grinding. Therefore, in this study, we focused on the laser cleaning technology used for the separation and removal of paint films at construction sites. In order to improve the coating separation and removal technology for NR objects, we evaluated the coating separation and removal performance of NR steel surface by laser cleaning system, observed the coating scattering behavior by high-speed camera and investigated the coating recovery method, evaluated the laser separation and removal performance of steel surface powder, and thermodynamically evaluated the uranium compounds on steel surface. We additionally evaluated the feasibility of laser cleaning techniques in our works basing on these results, and discussed future work plans for further developments of laser cleaning techniques.

Quantum proton entanglement on a nanocrystalline silicon surface

Matsumoto, Takahiro*; Sugimoto, Hidehiko*; Ohara, Takashi; Tokumitsu, Akio*; Tomita, Makoto*; Ikeda, Susumu*

Physical Review B, 103(24), p.245401_1 - 245401_9, 2021/06

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.103.245401

High-temperature antiferromagnetism in Yb based heavy fermion systems proximate to a Kondo insulator

Suzuki, Shintaro*; Takubo, Ko*; Kuga, Kentaro*; Higemoto, Wataru; Ito, Takashi; Tomita, Takahiro*; Shimura, Yasumichi*; Matsumoto, Yosuke*; Bareille, C.*; Wadachi, Hiroki*; et al.

Physical Review Research (Internet), 3(2), p.023140_1 - 023140_12, 2021/05

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.3.023140

We report our experimental discovery of the transition temperature reaching 20 K in a Yb-based compound at ambient pressure. The Mn substitution at the Al site in an intermediate valence state of -YbAlB not only induces antiferromagnetic transition at a record high temperature of 20 K but also transforms the heavy-fermion liquid state in -YbAlB into a highly resistive metallic state proximate to a Kondo insulator.

Development of three-dimensional distribution visualization technology for boron using energy resolved neutron-imaging system (RADEN)

Abe, Yuta; Tsuchikawa, Yusuke; Kai, Tetsuya; Matsumoto, Yoshihiro*; Parker, J. D.*; Shinohara, Takenao; Oishi, Yuji*; Kamiyama, Takashi*; Nagae, Yuji; Sato, Ikken

Proceedings of 2020 International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE 2020) (Internet), 6 Pages, 2020/08

https://doi.org/10.1115/ICONE2020-16723

Structural characterization and magnetic behavior of uranium compound UPtAl

Haga, Yoshinori; Sugai, Takashi*; Matsumoto, Yuji*; Yamamoto, Etsuji

JPS Conference Proceedings (Internet), 29, p.013003_1 - 013003_5, 2020/02

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSCP.29.013003

Experimental analysis of neutron and background -ray energy spectra of 80-400 MeV Li(p,n) reactions under the quasi-monoenergetic neutron field at RCNP, Osaka University

Iwamoto, Yosuke; Sato, Tatsuhiko; Satoh, Daiki; Hagiwara, Masayuki*; Yashima, Hiroshi*; Masuda, Akihiko*; Matsumoto, Tetsuro*; Iwase, Hiroshi*; Shima, Tatsushi*; Nakamura, Takashi*

EPJ Web of Conferences, 153, p.08019_1 - 08019_3, 2017/09

https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/201715308019

To develop 100-400 MeV quasi-monoenergetic neutron field, we measured neutron and unexpected -ray energy spectra of the Li(p,n) reaction with 80-389 MeV protons in the 100-m time-of-flight (TOF) tunnel at the Research Center for Nuclear Physics (RCNP). Neutron energy spectra with energies above 3 MeV were measured by the TOF method and energy spectra with energies above 0.1 MeV were measured by the automatic unfolding function of the radiation dose monitor DARWIN. For neutron spectra, the contribution of peak intensity to the total intensity integrated with energies above 3 MeV varied between 0.38 and 0.48. For -ray spectra, high-energetic -rays at around 70 MeV originated from the decay of were observed over 200 MeV. For the 246-MeV proton incident reaction, the contribution of -ray dose to neutron dose is negligible because the ratio of -ray to neutron is 0.014.

Shielding experiments of concrete and iron for the 244 MeV and 387 MeV quasi-mono energetic neutrons using a Bonner sphere spectrometer (at RCNP, Osaka Univ.)

Matsumoto, Tetsuro*; Masuda, Akihiko*; Nishiyama, Jun*; Iwase, Hiroshi*; Iwamoto, Yosuke; Satoh, Daiki; Hagiwara, Masayuki*; Yashima, Hiroshi*; Yashima, Hiroshi*; Shima, Tatsushi*; et al.

EPJ Web of Conferences, 153, p.08016_1 - 08016_3, 2017/09

https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/201715308016

Neutron energy spectra behind concrete and iron shields were measured for quasi-monoenergetic neutrons above 200 MeV using a Bonner sphere spectrometer (BSS). Quasi-monoenergetic neutrons were produced by the Li(p,xn) reaction with 246-MeV and 389-MeV protons. The response function of BSS was also measured at neutron energies from 100 MeV to 387 MeV. In data analysis, the measured response function was used and the multiple neutron scattering effect between the BSS and the shielding material was considered. The neutron energy spectra behind the concrete and iron shields were obtained by the unfolding method using the MAXED code. Ambient dose equivalents were obtained as a function of a shield thickness successfully. For the case of the 244 MeV neutron incidence, the multiple neutron scattering effect on the effective dose is large under 50 cm thickness of the concrete shield.

Non-aqueous selective synthesis of orthosilicic acid and its oligomers

Igarashi, Masayasu*; Matsumoto, Tomohiro*; Yagihashi, Fujio*; Yamashita, Hiroshi*; Ohara, Takashi; Hanashima, Takayasu*; Nakao, Akiko*; Moyoshi, Taketo*; Sato, Kazuhiko*; Shimada, Shigeru*

Nature Communications (Internet), 8, p.140_1 - 140_8, 2017/07

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-00168-5

Current status of a decommissioning project in the Enrichment Engineering Facility; Results in the second-half of the fiscal year of 2014

Matsumoto, Takashi; Takahashi, Nobuo; Hayashibara, Kenichi; Ishimori, Yuu; Mita, Yutaka; Kakiya, Hideyoshi

JAEA-Technology 2016-020, 80 Pages, 2016/11

JAEA-Technology-2016-020.pdf:17.8MB

The Enrichment Engineering Facility of the Ningyo-toge Environmental Engineering Center was constructed in order to establish the technological basis of plant engineering for uranium enrichment in Japan. Uranium enrichment tests, using natural and reprocessed uranium, were carried out from 1979 to 1989 with two types of centrifuges in the facility. According to the decommissioning plan of the facility, UF handling equipment and supplemental equipment in these plants are intended to be dismantled by 2019 in order to make vacant spaces for future projects use, for example, inventory investigation, precipitation treatment, etc. This report shows the current state of the decommissioning project in the second-half of the fiscal year of 2014.