Synthesis report on the R&D for the Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory; Project carried out during fiscal years 2015-2019

Nakayama, Masashi; Saiga, Atsushi; Kimura, Shun; Mochizuki, Akihito; Aoyagi, Kazuhei; Ono, Hirokazu; Miyakawa, Kazuya; Takeda, Masaki; Hayano, Akira; Matsuoka, Toshiyuki; et al.

JAEA-Research 2019-013, 276 Pages, 2020/03

JAEA-Research-2019-013.pdf:18.72MB

The Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory (URL) Project is being pursued by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) to enhance the reliability of relevant disposal technologies for geological disposal of High-level Radioactive Waste through investigations of the deep geological environment within the host sedimentary rock at Horonobe Town in Hokkaido, north Japan. The investigations will be conducted in three phases, namely "Phase 1: Surface based investigations", "Phase 2: Construction phase" (investigations during construction of the underground facilities) and "Phase 3: Operation phase" (research in the underground facilities). According to the research plan described in the 3rd Mid- and Long- term Plan of JAEA, "Near-field performance study", "Demonstration of repository design option", and "Verification of crustal-movement buffering capacity of sedimentary rocks" are important issues of the Horonobe URL Project, and schedule of future research and backfill plans of the project will be decided by the end of 2019 Fiscal Year. The present report summarizes the research and development activities of these 3 important issues carried out during 3rd Medium to Long-term Research Phase.

Collection of measurement data from in-situ experiment for performance confirmation of engineered barrier system at Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory (until March, 2018)

Nakayama, Masashi; Ono, Hirokazu; Nakayama, Mariko*; Kobayashi, Masato*

JAEA-Data/Code 2019-003, 57 Pages, 2019/03

JAEA-Data-Code-2019-003.pdf:18.12MB
JAEA-Data-Code-2019-003-appendix(CD-ROM).zip:99.74MB

The Horonobe URL Project has being pursued by JAEA to enhance the reliability of relevant disposal technologies through investigations of the deep geological environment within the host sedimentary formation at Horonobe, northern Hokkaido. The URL Project consists of two major research areas, Geoscientific Research and Research and Development on Geological Disposal Technologies, and proceeds in 3 overlapping phases, Phase I: Surface-based investigations, Phase II: Investigations during tunnel excavation and Phase III: Investigations in the URL, over a period of around 20 years. Phase III investigation was started in 2010 FY. The in-situ experiment for performance confirmation of engineered barrier system had been prepared from 2013 to 2014 FY at GL-350 m gallery, and heating by electric heater in simulated overpack had started in January, 2015. One of objectives of the experiment is acquiring data concerned with THMC coupled behavior. These data will be used in order to confirm the performance of engineered barrier system. This report summarizes the measurement data acquired from the experiment from December, 2014 to March, 2018. The summarized data of the EBS experiment will be published periodically.

Evaluating test conditions for in situ tracer migration test in fractured siliceous mudstone involving groundwater with dissolved gas

Takeda, Masaki; Ishii, Eiichi; Ono, Hirokazu; Kawate, Satoshi*

Genshiryoku Bakkuendo Kenkyu (CD-ROM), 25(1), p.3 - 14, 2018/06

https://doi.org/10.3327/jnuce.25.1_3

Fault zones and excavation damaged zones have the potential to act as flow paths, and the characterization of solute transport in such zones in mudstones is important for the safe geological disposal of radioactive waste. However, few in situ tracer migration tests have been conducted on fractures in mudstones. The Japan Atomic Energy Agency has conducted in situ tracer migration experiments using uranine, for fractures in siliceous mudstone of the Wakkanai Formation. 18 experiments were conducted under various conditions An injection flow rate that is slightly higher than the pumping flow rate is ideal for tracer migration experiments involving injection and pumping, as conducted in this study. In situ tracer migration experiments involving injection and pumping conducted in a groundwater environment with dissolved gases allow empirical evaluation of the relationship of the tracer recovery ratio and the groundwater degassing with the injection and pumping flow rate ratio. This evaluation is effective for the design of experimental conditions that account for degassing and ensure high levels of tracer recovery.

Development of CdTe pixel detectors combined with an aluminum Schottky diode sensor and photon-counting ASICs

Toyokawa, Hidenori*; Saji, Choji*; Kawase, Morihiro*; Wu, S.*; Hurukawa, Yukihito*; Kajiwara, Kentaro*; Sato, Masugu*; Hirono, Toko*; Shiro, Ayumi*; Shobu, Takahisa; et al.

Journal of Instrumentation (Internet), 12(1), p.C01044_1 - C01044_7, 2017/01

https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/12/01/C01044

We have been developing CdTe pixel detectors combined with a Schottky diode sensor and photon-counting ASICs. The hybrid pixel detector was designed with a pixel size of 200 micro-meter by 200 micro-meter and an area of 19 mm by 20 mm or 38.2 mm by 40.2 mm. The photon-counting ASIC, SP8-04F10K, has a preamplifier, a shaper, 3-level window-type discriminators and a 24-bits counter in each pixel. The single-chip detector with 100 by 95 pixels successfully operated with a photon-counting mode selecting X-ray energy with the window comparator and stable operation was realized at 20C. We have performed a feasibility study for a white X-ray microbeam experiment. Laue diffraction patterns were measured during the scan of the irradiated position in a silicon steel sample. The grain boundaries were identified by using the differentials between adjacent images at each position.

The In-situ experiment for performance confirmation of engineered barrier system at Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory; Examination of backfill material using muck from URL construction

Nakayama, Masashi; Ono, Hirokazu; Tanai, Kenji; Sugita, Yutaka; Fujita, Tomo

JAEA-Research 2016-002, 280 Pages, 2016/06

JAEA-Research-2016-002.pdf:16.21MB

The Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory (URL) Project has being pursued by Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) to enhance the reliability of relevant disposal technologies through investigations of the deep geological environment within the host sedimentary formation at Horonobe, northern Hokkaido. The URL Project consists of two major research areas, "Geoscientific Research" and "Research and Development on Geological Disposal Technologies", and proceeds in three overlapping phases, "Phase I: Surface-based investigations", "Phase II: Investigations during tunnel excavation" and "Phase III: Investigations in the underground facilities", over a period of around 20 years. Phase III investigation was started in 2010 fiscal year. The in-situ experiment for performance confirmation of engineered barrier system (EBS experiment) had been prepared from 2013 to 2014 fiscal year at G.L.-350m gallery (Niche No.4), and heating by electric heater in simulated overpack had started in January, 2015. One of objectives of the experiment is acquiring data concerned with Thermal-Hydrological-Mechanical-Chemical (THMC) coupled behavior. These data will be used in order to confirm the performance of engineered barrier system. In EBS experiment, the backfill material using mixture of bentonite and muck from Horonobe URL construction was used for backfilling a part of Niche No.4. This report shows the results of properties of the backfill material, confirmation test of compaction method and making backfill material block, and so on. From these results, it was confirmed that the backfill material would satisfy target value of the permeability and the swelling pressure.

Collection of measurement data from in-situ experiment for performance confirmation of engineered barrier system at Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory (FY2014)

Nakayama, Masashi; Ono, Hirokazu; Nakayama, Mariko*; Kobayashi, Masato*

JAEA-Data/Code 2015-013, 53 Pages, 2015/09

JAEA-Data-Code-2015-013.pdf:9.78MB
JAEA-Data-Code-2015-013(errata).pdf:0.37MB
JAEA-Data-Code-2015-013-appendix(CD-ROM).zip:5.76MB

The Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory (URL) Project has being pursued by Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) to enhance the reliability of relevant disposal technologies through investigations of the deep geological environment within the host sedimentary formation at Horonobe, northern Hokkaido. The URL Project consists of two major research areas, "Geoscientific Research" and "Research and Development on Geological Disposal Technologies", and proceeds in three overlapping phases, "Phase I: Surface-based investigations", "Phase II: Investigations during tunnel excavation" and "Phase III: Investigations in the underground facilities", over a period of around 20 years. Phase III investigation was started in 2010 fiscal year. The in-situ experiment for performance confirmation of engineered barrier system (EBS experiment) had been prepared from 2013 to 2014 fiscal year at G.L.-350m gallery, and heating by electric heater in simulated overpack had started in January, 2015. One of objectives of the experiment is acquiring data concerned with Thermal-Hydrological-Mechanical-Chemical (THMC) coupled behavior. These data will be used in order to confirm the performance of engineered barrier system. This report summarizes the measurement data acquired from the EBS experiment. The period of data acquisition is from December, 2014 to March, 2015. It will be periodically published summarized data of EBS experiment.

Genome analysis of high ethyl caproate producing sake yeasts generated by ion beam breeding

Masubuchi, Takashi*; Hyuga, Hirokazu*; Ueda, Ryoshiro; Hayashi, Hidenori*; Ikenaga, Hiroshi*; Sato, Katsuya; Ono, Yutaka

JAEA-Review 2014-050, JAEA Takasaki Annual Report 2013, P. 123, 2015/03

https://jopss.jaea.go.jp/pdfdata/JAEA-Review-2014-050.pdf#page=155

Experimental results of the -ray imaging capability with a Si/CdTe semiconductor Compton camera

Takeda, Shinichiro*; Aono, Hiroyuki*; Okuyama, Sho*; Ishikawa, Shinnosuke*; Odaka, Hirokazu*; Watanabe, Shin*; Kokubun, Motohide*; Takahashi, Tadayuki*; Nakazawa, Kazuhiro*; Tajima, Hiroyasu*; et al.

IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, 56(3), p.783 - 790, 2009/06

https://doi.org/10.1109/TNS.2008.2012059

Analysis of pedestal characteristics in JT-60U H-mode plasmas based on Monte-Carlo neutral transport simulation

Nakashima, Yosuke*; Higashizono, Yuta*; Kawano, Hirokazu*; Takenaga, Hidenobu; Asakura, Nobuyuki; Oyama, Naoyuki; Kamada, Yutaka

Proceedings of 22nd IAEA Fusion Energy Conference (FEC 2008) (CD-ROM), 8 Pages, 2008/10

http://www-naweb.iaea.org/napc/physics/FEC/FEC2008/html/node280.htm#58945

This paper describes the results of pedestal characteristics in H-mode plasmas of JT-60U based on neutral transport simulation using the DEGAS Monte-Carlo code. A three-dimensional (3-D) mesh structure including isolated dome, baffle and divertor plates is precisely built-up and the simulation space is extended from SOL to core plasma region. In this simulation background plasma parameters and the intensity of particle flux on the divertor plates are determined from the UEDGE plasma code. The dependence of plasma density on the neutral penetration and ionization area were investigated in two cases of ELMy H-mode discharge with gas puffing and without gas puffing. The simulation results showed noticeable differences in 1/e scale length in the neutral penetration and in ionization width near edge transport barrier region. Dependence of the plasma density from the pedestal edge to SOL region on the ionization region and the 3-D effect of local gas puffing are discussed in terms of neutral transport.

Growth of -FeSi thin films on -FeSi (110) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy

Muroga, Masataka*; Suzuki, Hirokazu*; Udono, Haruhiko*; Kikuma, Isao*; Zhuravlev, A. V.; Yamaguchi, Kenji; Yamamoto, Hiroyuki; Terai, Takayuki*

Thin Solid Films, 515(22), p.8197 - 8200, 2007/08

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2007.02.040

Semiconducting -FeSi has received much attention as a material for Si-based optoelectronic devices. There are a number of studies on heteroepitaxy of -FeSi film on Si. However, growth experiments of -FeSi film on single crystalline -FeSi substrate have not been investigated yet. Recently, single crystalline -FeSi with large growth facets by solution growth method using Ga solvent. By obtaining a smooth surface on the substrate, we have succeeded in growing -FeSi film on -FeSi(110) substrate using molecular-beam epitaxy.