Decommissioning state of Plutonium Fuel Fabrication Facility; Dismantling the Glove Box W-4,W-5,W-6-1,W-6-2 and equipment interior

Nagai, Yuya; Kimura, Yasuhisa; Takeuchi, Kentaro; Shuji, Yoshiyuki; Kawasaki, Takeshi; Hirano, Koji*; Tomiyama, Noboru*; Usui, Yasuhiro*; Nidaira, Seiichiro*; Shinozaki, Tomohiro*; et al.

JAEA-Technology 2025-003, 110 Pages, 2025/10

JAEA-Technology-2025-003.pdf:11.5MB

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. The following gloveboxes were dismantled between March 2020 and March 2022: Glovebox No. W-4, which houses the roasting furnace, washing and dewatering tank, and washing waste tank; Glovebox No. W-5, which houses the weighing tank; Glovebox No. W-6-1, which houses the flocculation-sedimentation tank, slurry-receiving tank, neutralization tank, and receiving tank; and Glovebox No. W-6-2, which houses the adjustment tank, adjustment liquid agitator, adsorption tower, discharge tank, discharge tank agitator, and adsorption tower. This report summarizes the results of the work and the findings obtained through the dismantling of these gloveboxes.

Neutron imaging for automotive polymer electrolyte fuel cells during rapid cold starts

Yoshimune, Wataru*; Higuchi, Yuki*; Song, F.; Hibi, Shogo*; Matsumoto, Yoshihiro*; Hayashida, Hirotoshi*; Nozaki, Hiroshi*; Shinohara, Takenao; Kato, Satoru*

Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 26(47), p.29466 - 29474, 2024/11

https://doi.org/10.1039/D4CP03646H

Experimental visualization of water/ice phase distribution at cold start for practical-sized polymer electrolyte fuel cells

Higuchi, Yuki*; Yoshimune, Wataru*; Kato, Satoru*; Hibi, Shogo*; Setoyama, Daigo*; Isegawa, Kazuhisa*; Matsumoto, Yoshihiro*; Hayashida, Hirotoshi*; Nozaki, Hiroshi*; Harada, Masashi*; et al.

Communications Engineering (Internet), 3, p.33_1 - 33_7, 2024/02

https://doi.org/10.1038/s44172-024-00176-6

3D water management in polymer electrolyte fuel cells toward fuel cell electric vehicles

Yoshimune, Wataru*; Higuchi, Yuki*; Kato, Akihiko*; Hibi, Shogo*; Yamaguchi, Satoshi*; Matsumoto, Yoshihiro*; Hayashida, Hirotoshi*; Nozaki, Hiroshi*; Shinohara, Takenao; Kato, Satoru*

ACS Energy Letters (Internet), 8(8), p.3485 - 3487, 2023/08

https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.3c01096

Sodium-cooled Fast Reactors

Ohshima, Hiroyuki; Morishita, Masaki*; Aizawa, Kosuke; Ando, Masanori; Ashida, Takashi; Chikazawa, Yoshitaka; Doda, Norihiro; Enuma, Yasuhiro; Ezure, Toshiki; Fukano, Yoshitaka; et al.

Sodium-cooled Fast Reactors; JSME Series in Thermal and Nuclear Power Generation, Vol.3, 631 Pages, 2022/07

https://shop.elsevier.com/books/sodium-cooled-fast-reactors/morishita/978-0-12-824076-2

This book is a collection of the past experience of design, construction, and operation of two reactors, the latest knowledge and technology for SFR designs, and the future prospects of SFR development in Japan. It is intended to provide the perspective and the relevant knowledge to enable readers to become more familiar with SFR technology.

Thermally altered subsurface material of asteroid (162173) Ryugu

Kitazato, Kohei*; Milliken, R. E.*; Iwata, Takahiro*; Abe, Masanao*; Otake, Makiko*; Matsuura, Shuji*; Takagi, Yasuhiko*; Nakamura, Tomoki*; Hiroi, Takahiro*; Matsuoka, Moe*; et al.

Nature Astronomy (Internet), 5(3), p.246 - 250, 2021/03

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-020-01271-2

Here we report observations of Ryugu's subsurface material by the Near-Infrared Spectrometer (NIRS3) on the Hayabusa2 spacecraft. Reflectance spectra of excavated material exhibit a hydroxyl (OH) absorption feature that is slightly stronger and peak-shifted compared with that observed for the surface, indicating that space weathering and/or radiative heating have caused subtle spectral changes in the uppermost surface. However, the strength and shape of the OH feature still suggests that the subsurface material experienced heating above 300 C, similar to the surface. In contrast, thermophysical modeling indicates that radiative heating does not increase the temperature above 200 C at the estimated excavation depth of 1 m, even if the semimajor axis is reduced to 0.344 au. This supports the hypothesis that primary thermal alteration occurred due to radiogenic and/or impact heating on Ryugu's parent body.

Enhancement of element production by incomplete fusion reaction with weakly bound deuteron

Wang, H.*; Otsu, Hideaki*; Chiga, Nobuyuki*; Kawase, Shoichiro*; Takeuchi, Satoshi*; Sumikama, Toshiyuki*; Koyama, Shumpei*; Sakurai, Hiroyoshi*; Watanabe, Yukinobu*; Nakayama, Shinsuke; et al.

Communications Physics (Internet), 2(1), p.78_1 - 78_6, 2019/07

https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-019-0165-1

Searching for effective pathways for the production of proton- and neutron-rich isotopes through an optimal combination of reaction mechanism and energy is one of the main driving forces behind experimental and theoretical nuclear reaction studies as well as for practical applications in nuclear transmutation of radioactive waste. We report on a study on incomplete fusion induced by deuteron, which contains one proton and one neutron with a weak binding energy and is easily broken up. This reaction study was achieved by measuring directly the cross sections for both proton and deuteron for Pd at 50 MeV/u via inverse kinematics technique. The results provide direct experimental evidence for the onset of a cross-section enhancement at high energy, indicating the potential of incomplete fusion induced by loosely-bound nuclei for creating proton-rich isotopes and nuclear transmutation of radioactive waste.

Evaluation of -ray spectra measured inside and outside a house in Fukushima

Tanimura, Yoshihiko; Tomita, Jumpei; Yoshitomi, Hiroshi; Yoshizawa, Michio; Hakozaki, Ryozo*; Takahashi, Sohei*

Hoken Butsuri, 51(3), p.141 - 146, 2016/09

https://doi.org/10.5453/jhps.51.141

Photon spectra were measured inside and outside a house in Minami-Soma city by using a NaI(Tl) scintillation spectrometer. The photons were categorized into three groups according to their energy. The groups were (1) scattered photons, which include low energy photons, (2) direct photons from Cs and Cs sources and (3) the other photons. Then the ratios of the ambient dose equivalents H(10) of the scattered photons to those of the direct photons from the Cs and Cs sources have been evaluated from the measured photon spectra. The ratios are high inside the house compared with those out of the house. It was found that the scattered photons contribute to the H(10) by more than 50 inside the house. The ambient dose equivalent average energies of the scattered photons are around 0.25 MeV both inside and outside the house. These data is worthwhile to design the optimum shielding for the protection against the public radiation exposure.

Beam test of a new radio frequency quadrupole linac for the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex

Kondo, Yasuhiro; Morishita, Takatoshi; Yamazaki, Saishun; Hori, Toshihiko; Sawabe, Yuki; Chishiro, Etsuji; Fukuda, Shimpei; Hasegawa, Kazuo; Hirano, Koichiro; Kikuzawa, Nobuhiro; et al.

Physical Review Special Topics; Accelerators and Beams, 17(12), p.120101_1 - 120101_8, 2014/12

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTAB.17.120101

We performed a beam test of a new radio frequency quadrupole linac (RFQ III) for the beam current upgrade of the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex. First, the conditioning of RFQ III was conducted, and after 20 h of conditioning, RFQ III became very stable with a nominal peak power and duty factor of 400 kW and 1.5%, respectively. An off-line beam test was subsequently conducted before installation in the accelerator tunnel. The transmission, transverse emittance, and energy spread of the 50-mA negative hydrogen beam from RFQ III were measured and compared with simulation results. The experiment and simulation results showed good agreement; therefore, we conclude that the performance of RFQ III conforms to its design.

High-power test and thermal characteristics of a new radio-frequency quadrupole cavity for the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex linac

Kondo, Yasuhiro; Morishita, Takatoshi; Hasegawa, Kazuo; Chishiro, Etsuji; Hirano, Koichiro; Hori, Toshihiko; Oguri, Hidetomo; Sato, Fumiaki; Shinozaki, Shinichi; Sugimura, Takashi*; et al.

Physical Review Special Topics; Accelerators and Beams, 16(4), p.040102_1 - 040102_8, 2013/04

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTAB.16.040102

We performed a high-power test of a new radio-frequency quadrupole (RFQ II) for the J-PARC linac. RFQ II was developed as a spare RFQ because the operating J-PARC RFQ has suffered from a sparking problem. First, the conditioning of RFQ II was carried out; after 50 h of conditioning, RFQ II became very stable with a nominal power and duty of 330 kW and 3%, respectively. Next the thermal properties were measured because the resonant frequency of RFQ II is tuned by changing the temperature of the cooling water. The frequency response was measured and compared to finite-element method simulation results, confirming that the simple two-dimensional model reproduces the experimental data well. The differences in the field distribution with changes in the rf loading and the cooling-water temperature were also measured, and no serious field distortion was observed. Therefore, we conclude that RFQ II can perform well as a high-power rf cavity.