Study on the evaluation method of radioactivity for dismantling wastes generated from test and research reactors using ORIGEN attached to SCALE6.2.4

Tomioka, Dai; Kochiyama, Mami; Ozone, Kenji; Nakata, Hisakazu; Sakai, Akihiro

JAEA-Technology 2024-023, 38 Pages, 2025/03

JAEA-Technology-2024-023.pdf:1.54MB

Japan Atomic Energy Agency is an implementing organization of near-surface disposal for low-level radioactive wastes generated from research, industrial and medical facilities in Japan. Information on the radioactivity concentration of these radioactive wastes is dispensable for the design and conformity assessment of the waste disposal facilities for the licensing application of the disposal project and its safety review. Radioactive Wastes Disposal Center has been improving the radioactivity evaluation procedure for the dismantling waste generated from the research reactors based on the activation calculation. In order to investigate the applicability of the ORIGEN code (included in SCALE6.2.4), which enables more accurate activation calculations using multigroup neutron spectra, we performed activation calculations with the ORIGEN-code and the ORIGEN-S code (included in SCALE6.0), which has been widely used in the past, for the dismantled wastes from the Rikkyo University Research Reactor, where radioactivity analysis data for the structural materials around the reactor core were compiled. As a result, the calculation time difference between ORIGEN and ORIGEN-S was small and the evaluated radioactivity concentrations of the former were in the range of 0.8-1.0 times those of the latter, which was in good agreement with those of radiochemical analysis in the range of 0.5-3.0 times. The applicability of ORIGEN was confirmed. In addition, activation calculations assuming trace elements in structural materials of nuclear reactor were performed with ORIGEN and ORIGEN-S and the results were compared. The causes of the large differences among 170 nuclides that are important for dose assessment in near-surface disposal were assessed each nuclide.

Reactive-transport model analyses of bentonite alteration behavior at alkaline condition generated by cement-water interaction in a TRU wastes repository

Oda, Chie; Honda, Akira; Takase, Hiroyasu*; Ozone, Kenji*; Sasaki, Ryoichi*; Yamaguchi, Kohei*; Sato, Tsutomu*

Nendo Kagaku, 51(2), p.34 - 49, 2013/02

http://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/110009594110

Proposed TRU repository designs for geological disposal envisage the use of a bentonite buffer to limit the migration of radionuclides by impeding groundwater flow. Under highly alkaline conditions due to cementitious materials could cause a complex series of coupled changes in the porewater chemistry, mineralogy and, ultimately, the mass transport properties of the bentonite buffer. To elucidate the consequences of these coupled changes, reactive-transport model analyses have been conducted for eight bentonite alteration test cases using different combinations of secondary minerals that could form in the bentonite buffer. It was found that after 100,000 years the amount of dissolved bentonite was at a maximum when metastable secondary minerals precipitated. It was also found that the diffusion and hydraulic coefficients after 100,000 years in all test cases were on the same order of magnitude as the initial values.