Achievement of safety demonstration tests using HTTR; Loss of forced cooling test at 100% reactor power (30 MW)

Nagasumi, Satoru; Hasegawa, Toshinari; Nakagawa, Shigeaki; Kubo, Shinji; Iigaki, Kazuhiko; Shinohara, Masanori; Saikusa, Akio; Nojiri, Naoki; Saito, Kenji; Furusawa, Takayuki; et al.

JAEA-Research 2025-005, 23 Pages, 2025/07

JAEA-Research-2025-005.pdf:2.68MB

A safety demonstration test under abnormal operating conditions using the HTTR (High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor) was conducted to demonstrate safety features of the HTGRs (High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactors). Under a simulation of a control rod shutdown failure, all primary helium gas circulators were intentionally stopped during a steady-state operation at 100% reactor thermal power (30 MW), temporal changes of the reactor power and temperatures around the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) were obtained after the complete loss of forced heat removal from the reactor core. After the event (primary coolant flow stopped), the reactor power quickly decreased due to the negative reactivity feedback associated with the core temperature rise, and then the reactor power spontaneously shifted to a stable state of low power (about 1.2%) even after a recriticality. Heat dissipation from RPV surface to a surrounding vessel cooling system (water-cooled panels) ensured the amount of heat removal required to maintain the reactor temperature constant in the low power state. In this way, the transition from the event occurrence to the stable and safety state, i.e., inherent safety features of HTGRs, were demonstrated in the case of core forced cooling loss without active shutdown operations.

Effect of the ratio of water to rice on the molecular dynamics of cooked rice starch during retrogradation; Implications for amorphous structure in gelatinized state

Hirata, Yoshinobu*; Nakagawa, Hiroshi; Yamauchi, Hiroki; Kaneko, Koji; Hagihara, Masato; Yamaguchi, Hideyuki*; Imaizumi, Teppei*; Nishizu, Takahisa*

International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, 306, p.141668_1 - 141668_7, 2025/03

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2025.141668

We used quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS) to investigate the effect of the ratio of water to rice on the molecular dynamics of cooked rice starch during retrogradation. X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetric measurements revealed that the degree of recrystallization and change in enthalpy were smaller with an increase in the amount of water added for cooking rice, whereas little difference in the crystallinity of the gelatinized rice starch was detected. The QENS measurements determined that the elastic incoherent structure factor (EISF) values of gelatinized samples were smaller with an increase in the amount of water added for cooking rice, indicating that the molecular dynamics of gelatinized rice starch with higher added water content were spatially more extended.

Kinetics of structural changes in starch retrogradation observed by simultaneous SANS/FTIR-ATR measurements

Hirata, Yoshinobu*; Kaneko, Fumitoshi*; Radulescu, A.*; Nishizu, Takahisa*; Katsuno, Nakako*; Imaizumi, Teppei*; Motokawa, Ryuhei; Kumada, Takayuki; Nakagawa, Hiroshi

Journal of Applied Glycoscience, 72(1), p.7201102_1 - 7201102_9, 2025/02

https://doi.org/10.5458/jag.7201102

A simultaneous measurement system of SANS/FTIR-ATR was applied to record multiple structural changes in potato starch during retrogradation. In the SANS patterns, the shoulder-like peak becomes more pronounced with time. The peak intensity, Imax, which represents the amount of orderly arranged double helical structures, increased over time, showing that starch reassembled orderly on the nanoscale upon retrogradation. In the FTIR-ATR spectra, the increase of the ratio of absorptions at 1042 cm and 1016 cm, indicating the amount of short-range ordered structure in starch increased during retrogradation. The time to obtain half of the equilibrium value for was larger than that for Imax. Changes in the short-range ordered structure of starch were observed to converge prior to changes in the nanostructure. These results indicate that the double-helix structures are initially formed by amylopectin side chains, and then these double-helical structures are arranged orderly.

Reviewing codes and standards for long term operation in Japan

Murakami, Kenta*; Arai, Taku*; Yamada, Koji*; Momma, Kensuke*; Tsuji, Takashi*; Nakagawa, Nobuyuki*; Onizawa, Kunio

Transactions of the 27th International Conference on Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology (SMiRT 27) (Internet), 3 Pages, 2024/03

This paper studied the future vision of codes and standards in Japan by systematically comparing Japanese regulatory rules, standards, and industry guides related to long term operation with international safety standards, and confirmed that the Japanese standard system generally meets their recommendations. The recommendation for the future improvements of Japanese codes and standards were summarized into five items.

Effect of starch retrogradation on molecular dynamics of cooked rice by quasi-elastic neutron scattering

Hirata, Yoshinobu*; Nakagawa, Hiroshi; Yamauchi, Hiroki; Kaneko, Koji; Hagihara, Masato; Yamaguchi, Hideyuki*; Omoto, Chie*; Katsuno, Nakako*; Imaizumi, Teppei*; Nishizu, Takahisa*

Food Hydrocolloids, 141, p.108728_1 - 108728_7, 2023/08

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodhyd.2023.108728

Crystallinity is reflected in the mechanical properties of foods and materials. Crystallinity should be related to the structural dynamics of starch. In this study, we used quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS) to investigate changes in the molecular dynamics of cooked rice starch during retrogradation. The width of the measured QENS narrowed with retrogradation. The elastic incoherent structure factor (EISF) increased, which indicated that the molecular dynamics are spatially suppressed upon retrogradation. Analysis of EISF with a bimodal continuous diffusion model, where low and high mobilities are assumed to correspond to crystalline and amorphous phases, respectively, showed that the fraction of the low-mobility component increases with retrogradation.

Geochemical and grain composition analysis of embankment and debris flow deposits in the Izusan area, Atami City, Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan

Kitamura, Akihisa*; Okazaki, Sota*; Kondo, Mitsuru*; Watanabe, Takahiro; Nakanishi, Toshimichi*; Hori, Rie*; Ikeda, Masayuki*; Ichimura, Koji*; Nakagawa, Yuki*; Mori, Hideki*

Shizuoka Daigaku Chikyu Kagaku Kenkyu Hokoku, (49), p.73 - 86, 2022/07

https://doi.org/10.51053/shizuoka.49.0_73

On July 3 2021, a debris flow caused by a landslide from a landfill occurred along the Aizome River in the Izusan area of Atami City, Shizuoka. In this study, debris flow deposits and soil samples were characterized in terms of their sedimentology and geochemically analyzed.

MIRS: an imaging spectrometer for the MMX mission

Barucci, M. A.*; Reess, J.-M.*; Bernardi, P.*; Doressoundiram, A.*; Fornasier, S.*; Le Du, M.*; Iwata, Takahiro*; Nakagawa, Hiromu*; Nakamura, Tomoki*; Andr, Y.*; et al.

Earth, Planets and Space (Internet), 73(1), p.211_1 - 211_28, 2021/12

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-021-01423-2

The MMX InfraRed Spectrometer (MIRS) is an imaging spectrometer on board of MMX JAXA mission. MIRS is built at LESIA-Paris Observatory in collaboration with four other French laboratories, collaboration and financial support of CNES and close collaboration with JAXA and MELCO. The instrument is designed to fully accomplish MMX's scientific and measurement objectives. MIRS will remotely provide near-infrared spectral maps of Phobos and Deimos containing compositional diagnostic spectral features that will be used to analyze the surface composition and to support the sampling site selection. MIRS will also study Mars atmosphere, in particular to spatial and temporal changes such as clouds, dust and water vapor.

Conformational dynamics of a multidomain protein by neutron scattering and computational analysis

Nakagawa, Hiroshi; Saio, Tomohide*; Nagao, Michihiro*; Inoue, Rintaro*; Sugiyama, Masaaki*; Ajito, Satoshi; Tominaga, Taiki*; Kawakita, Yukinobu

Biophysical Journal, 120(16), p.3341 - 3354, 2021/08

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2021.07.001

A multi-domain protein can have various conformations in solution. Interactions with other molecules result in the stabilization of one of the conformations and change in the domain dynamics. SAXS, a well-established experimental technique, can be employed to elucidate the conformation of a multi-domain protein in solution. NSE spectroscopy is a promising technique for recording the domain dynamics in nanosecond and nanometer scale. Despite the great efforts, there are still under development. Thus, we quantitatively removed the contribution of diffusion dynamics and hydrodynamic interactions from the NSE data via incoherent scattering, revealing the differences in the domain dynamics of the three functional states of a multi-domain protein, MurD. The differences among the three states can be explained by two domain modes.

Basic policy for rational measures of radioactive waste processing and disposal; Results of studies for acceleration of waste processing

Nakagawa, Akinori; Oyokawa, Atsushi; Murakami, Masashi; Yoshida, Yukihiko; Sasaki, Toshiki; Okada, Shota; Nakata, Hisakazu; Sugaya, Toshikatsu; Sakai, Akihiro; Sakamoto, Yoshiaki

JAEA-Technology 2021-006, 186 Pages, 2021/06

JAEA-Technology-2021-006.pdf:54.45MB

Radioactive wastes generated from R&D activities have been stored in Japan Atomic Energy Agency. In order to reduce the risk of taking long time to process legacy wastes, countermeasures for acceleration of waste processing and disposal were studied. Work analysis of waste processing showed bottleneck processes, such as evaluation of radioactivity concentration, segregation of hazardous and combustibles materials. Concerning evaluation of radioactivity concentration, a radiological characterization method using a scaling factor and a nondestructive gamma-ray measurement should be developed. The number of radionuclides that are to be selected for the safety assessment of the trench type disposal facility can decrease using artificial barriers. Hazardous materials, will be identified using records and nondestructive inspection. The waste identified as hazardous will be unpacked and segregated. Preliminary calculations of waste acceptance criteria of hazardous material concentrations were conducted based on environmental standards in groundwater. The total volume of the combustibles will be evaluated using nondestructive inspection. The waste that does not comply with the waste acceptance criteria should be mixed with low combustible material waste such as dismantling concrete waste in order to satisfy the waste acceptance criteria on a disposal facility average. It was estimated that segregation throughput of compressed waste should be increased about 5 times more than conventional method by applying the countermeasures. Further study and technology development will be conducted to realize the plan.

Development of spin-contrast-variation neutron powder diffractometry for extracting the structure factor of hydrogen atoms

Miura, Daisuke*; Kumada, Takayuki; Sekine, Yurina; Motokawa, Ryuhei; Nakagawa, Hiroshi; Oba, Yojiro; Ohara, Takashi; Takata, Shinichi; Hiroi, Kosuke; Morikawa, Toshiaki*; et al.

Journal of Applied Crystallography, 54(2), p.454 - 460, 2021/04

AA2020-0724.pdf:2.05MB

https://doi.org/10.1107/S1600576721000303

We developed a spin-contrast-variation neutron powder diffractometry technique that extracts the structure factor of hydrogen atoms, namely, the contribution of hydrogen atoms to a crystal structure factor. Crystals of L-glutamic acid were dispersed in a dpolystyrene matrix containing 4-methacryloyloxy-2,2,6,6,-tetramethyl-1-piperidinyloxy (TEMPO methacrylate) to polarize their proton spins dynamically. The intensities of the diffraction peaks of the sample changed according to the proton polarization, and the structure factor of the hydrogen atoms was extracted from the proton-polarization dependent intensities. This technique is expected to enable analyses of the structures of hydrogen-containing materials that are difficult to determine with conventional powder diffractometry.