Applicability evaluation of Type A transport container for off-site transportation of small-amount of fuel debris

Sakamoto, Masahiro; Okumura, Keisuke; Kanno, Ikuo; Matsumura, Taichi; Terashima, Kenichi; Riyana, E. S.; Mizokami, Masato*; Mizokami, Shinya*

JAEA-Research 2024-017, 14 Pages, 2025/03

JAEA-Research-2024-017.pdf:1.34MB

In the TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (1F), a trial retrieval of fuel debris with small-amount from Unit 2 is planned. The retrieved fuel debris will be transported out of 1F to Institutes in Ibaraki prefecture for analysis. The analyzed results will be utilized for the improvement of the processes (retrieval, transportation and storage) in the fuel debris management as feedback, and also for the development of technologies necessary in the future. The weight of fuel debris in the trial retrieval is planned to be a few grams. After the trial, the scale of retrieval will be expanded step by step. In the trial retrieval, a rational transportation container should be considered beforehand, according to the laws and regulations associated with the off-site transportation. The transportation container has a classification and the classification is decided according to the radioactivity of the material in the container. In this report, we evaluated the applicability of the Type A transport container to contribute to the safety assessment of retrieved fuel debris.

Thinning behavior of solid boron carbide immersed in molten stainless steel for core disruptive accident of sodium-cooled fast reactor

Emura, Yuki; Takai, Toshihide; Kikuchi, Shin; Kamiyama, Kenji; Yamano, Hidemasa; Yokoyama, Hiroki*; Sakamoto, Kan*

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 61(7), p.911 - 920, 2024/07

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2023.2287109

Summary report in FY2022 of subsidy program for "the Project of Decommissioning and Contaminated Water Management (Development of Analysis and Estimation Technology for Characterization of Fuel Debris (Development of Technologies for Enhanced Analysis Accuracy, Thermal behavior Estimation, and Simplified Analysis of Fuel Debris)" started in FY2011

Koyama, Shinichi; Ikeuchi, Hirotomo; Mitsugi, Takeshi; Maeda, Koji; Sasaki, Shinji; Onishi, Takashi; Tsai, T.-H.; Takano, Masahide; Fukaya, Hiroyuki; Nakamura, Satoshi; et al.

Hairo, Osensui, Shorisui Taisaku Jigyo Jimukyoku Homu Peji (Internet), 216 Pages, 2023/11

https://en.dccc-program.jp/wp-content/uploads/20231117_JAEA.pdf

In FY 2021 and 2022, JAEA perfomed the subsidy program for "the Project of Decommissioning and Contaminated Water Management (Development of Analysis and Estimation Technology for Characterization of Fuel Debris (Development of Technologies for Enhanced Analysis Accuracy, Thermal Bahavior Estimation, and Simplified Analysis of Fuel Debris)" started in FY 2021. This presentation material summarized the results of the project, which will be available shortly on the website of Management Office for the Project of Decommissioning, Contaminated Water and Treated Water Management.

Alloy design and characterization of a recrystallized FeCrAl-ODS cladding for accident-tolerant BWR fuels; An Overview of research activity in Japan

Ukai, Shigeharu; Sakamoto, Kan*; Otsuka, Satoshi; Yamashita, Shinichiro; Kimura, Akihiko*

Journal of Nuclear Materials, 583, p.154508_1 - 154508_24, 2023/09

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2023.154508

Modelling heterogeneous hydration behaviour of bentonite by a FracMan-Thames coupling method for the Bentonite Rock Interaction Experiment (BRIE) at sp HRL

Sawada, Atsushi; Sakamoto, Kazuhiko*; Watahiki, Takanori*; Imai, Hisashi*

SKB P-17-06, 154 Pages, 2023/08

Study on eutectic melting behavior of control rod materials in core disruptive accidents of sodium-cooled fast reactors, 2; Kinetic study on eutectic reaction process between stainless steel with low boron carbide concentration and stainless steel

Kikuchi, Shin; Takai, Toshihide; Yamano, Hidemasa; Sakamoto, Kan*

Proceedings of 28th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE 28) (Internet), 9 Pages, 2021/08

https://doi.org/10.1115/ICONE28-62252

In a postulated severe accidental condition of sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR), eutectic melting between boron carbide (BC) and stainless steel (SS) may occur. Thus, behavior of BC-SS eutectic melting is one of the phenomena to evaluate the core disruptive accidents in SFR. In this study, the reaction experiments using SS crucibles and the pellets of SS with low BC concentration as samples were performed to simulate the state of the reaction interface in which the eutectic reaction and interdiffusion of BC-SS have progressed to a certain extent. It was revealed that the rate constants of eutectic reaction between SS and SS with low BC concentration are smaller than that of BC-SS eutectic reaction at high temperatures.

Kinetic study on eutectic melting process between boron carbide and stainless steel in sodium-cooled fast reactor

Kikuchi, Shin; Sakamoto, Kan*; Takai, Toshihide; Yamano, Hidemasa

Nihon Kikai Gakkai 2020-Nendo Nenji Taikai Koen Rombunshu (Internet), 4 Pages, 2020/09

In a postulated severe accidental condition of sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR), eutectic melting between boron carbide (BC) as control rod element and stainless steel (SS) as control rod cladding or related structure may occur. Thus, behavior of BC-SS eutectic melting is one of the phenomena to evaluate the core disruptive accidents in SFR. In order to clarify the kinetic feature of BC-SS eutectic melting process in the interface, the thinning test for SS crucibles using the pellets of BC or SS with low BC concentration were performed to obtain the rate constant with dependence of BC concentration against SS. It was found that the rate constants of eutectic melting between SS and SS low BC concentration were smaller than that of BC-SS in the high temperature range. Besides, the rate constant of eutectic melting between SS and BC containing SS became small when decreasing the BC concentration against SS.

Microstructure and texture evolution and ring-tensile properties of recrystallized FeCrAl ODS cladding tubes

Aghamiri, S. M. S.*; Sowa, Takashi*; Ukai, Shigeharu*; Ono, Naoko*; Sakamoto, Kan*; Yamashita, Shinichiro

Materials Science & Engineering A, 771, p.138636_1 - 138636_12, 2020/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2019.138636

Oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) FeCrAl ferritic steels are being developed as potential accident tolerance fuel cladding materials for the light water reactors (LWRs) due to significant improvement in steam oxidation by alumina forming scale and good mechanical properties up to high temperatures. In this study, the microstructural characteristics and tensile properties of the two FeCrAl ODS cladding tubes with different extrusion temperatures of 1100C and 1150C were investigated during processing conditions. While the hot extruded sample showed micron sized elongated grains with strong -fiber in 110 texture, cold pilger rolling process change the microstructure to submicron/micron size grain structure along with texture evolution to both -fiber (110 texture) and -fiber ({111} texture) via crystalline rotations. Subsequently, final annealing resulted in evolution of microstructure to large grain recrystallized structure starting at recrystallization temperature of 810-850C. Two distinct texture development happened in recrystallized cladding tubes, i.e., only large elongated grains of (110) 211 texture following extrusion temperature of 1100C; and two texture components of (110) 211 and {111} 112 following higher extrusion temperature of 1150C. The different texture development and retarding of recrystallization progress in 1100C-extruded cladding tubes were attributed to higher distribution of oxide particles.

Overview of accident-tolerant fuel R&D program in Japan

Yamashita, Shinichiro; Ioka, Ikuo; Nemoto, Yoshiyuki; Kawanishi, Tomohiro; Kurata, Masaki; Kaji, Yoshiyuki; Fukahori, Tokio; Nozawa, Takashi*; Sato, Daiki*; Murakami, Nozomu*; et al.

Proceedings of International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Conference / Light Water Reactor Fuel Performance Conference (Global/Top Fuel 2019) (USB Flash Drive), p.206 - 216, 2019/09

After the nuclear accident at Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant, research and development (R&D) program for establishing technical basis of accident-tolerant fuel (ATF) started from 2015 in Japan. Since then, both experimental and analytical studies necessary for designing a new light water reactor (LWR) core with ATF candidate materials are being conducted within the Japanese ATF R&D Consortium for implementing ATF to the existing LWRs, accompanying with various technological developments required. Until now, we have accumulated experimental data of the candidate materials by out-of-pile tests, developed fuel evaluation codes to apply to the ATF candidate materials, and evaluated fuel behavior simulating operational and accidental conditions by the developed codes. In this paper, the R&D progresses of the ATF candidate materials considered in Japan are reviewed based on the information available such as proceedings of international conference and academic papers, providing an overview of ATF program in Japan.

Isotope-selective microscale imaging of radioactive Cs without isobaric interferences using sputtered neutral mass spectrometry with two-step resonant ionization employing newly-developed Ti:Sapphire lasers

Sakamoto, Tetsuo*; Morita, Masato*; Kanenari, Keita*; Tomita, Hideki*; Sonnenschein, V.*; Saito, Kosuke*; Ohashi, Masaya*; Kato, Kotaro*; Iguchi, Tetsuo*; Kawai, Toshihide*; et al.

Analytical Sciences, 34(11), p.1265 - 1270, 2018/11

https://doi.org/10.2116/analsci.18P249