Analysis work report on removal of spent fuel sheared powder for decommissioning of main plant

Aoya, Juri; Mori, Amami; Sato, Hinata; Kono, Soma; Morokado, Shiori; Horigome, Kazushi; Goto, Yuichi; Yamamoto, Masahiko; Taguchi, Shigeo

JAEA-Technology 2023-008, 34 Pages, 2023/06

JAEA-Technology-2023-008.pdf:1.92MB

Flush-out, by which nuclear materials in the Tokai Reprocessing Plant process are recovered, has been started in June 2022 as the first step of decommissioning. Flush-out consists of removal of spent fuel sheared powder, plutonium solution, uranium solution, and the other nuclear materials. Removal of spent fuel sheared powder has been completed in September 2022. During removal of spent fuel sheared powder, uranium concentration, plutonium concentration, acid concentration, radioactivity concentration, and solution density have been analyzed for process control. For nuclear material accountancy, uranium concentration, plutonium concentration, isotope ratio, and solution density have been analyzed. Analysis work including sample pretreatment before transportation to IAEA analytical facility for safeguards, and the other operations related to Flush-out such as calibration of analytical instruments, education, and training of operators are reported.

Japanese Evaluated Nuclear Data Library version 5; JENDL-5

Iwamoto, Osamu; Iwamoto, Nobuyuki; Kunieda, Satoshi; Minato, Futoshi; Nakayama, Shinsuke; Abe, Yutaka*; Tsubakihara, Kosuke*; Okumura, Shin*; Ishizuka, Chikako*; Yoshida, Tadashi*; et al.

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 60(1), p.1 - 60, 2023/01

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2022.2141903

Design and actual performance of J-PARC 3 GeV rapid cycling synchrotron for high-intensity operation

Yamamoto, Kazami; Kinsho, Michikazu; Hayashi, Naoki; Saha, P. K.; Tamura, Fumihiko; Yamamoto, Masanobu; Tani, Norio; Takayanagi, Tomohiro; Kamiya, Junichiro; Shobuda, Yoshihiro; et al.

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 59(9), p.1174 - 1205, 2022/09

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2022.2038301

In the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex, the purpose of the 3 GeV rapid cycling synchrotron (RCS) is to accelerate a 1 MW, high-intensity proton beam. To achieve beam operation at a repetition rate of 25 Hz at high intensities, the RCS was elaborately designed. After starting the RCS operation, we carefully verified the validity of its design and made certain improvements to establish a reliable operation at higher power as possible. Consequently, we demonstrated beam operation at a high power, namely, 1 MW. We then summarized the design, actual performance, and improvements of the RCS to achieve a 1 MW beam.

Novel Sr analysis of environmental samples by ion-laser interaction mass spectrometry

Honda, Maki; Martschini, M.*; Marchhart, O.*; Priller, A.*; Steier, P.*; Golser, R.*; Sato, Tetsuya; Tsukada, Kazuaki; Sakaguchi, Aya*

Analytical Methods, 14(28), p.2732 - 2738, 2022/07

https://doi.org/10.1039/D2AY00604A

The sensitive Sr analysis with accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) was developed for the advances of environmental radiology. One advantage of AMS is the ability to analyze various environmental samples with Sr/Sr atomic ratios of 10 in a simple chemical separation. Three different IAEA samples with known Sr concentrations (moss-soil, animal bone, Syrian soil: 1 g each) were analyzed to assess the validity of the chemical separation and the AMS measurement. The Sr measurements were conducted on the AMS system combined with the Ion Laser InterAction MasSpectrometry (ILIAMS) setup at the University of Vienna, which has excellent isobaric separation performance. The isobaric interference of Zr in the Sr AMS was first removed by chemical separation. The separation factor of Zr in two-step column chromatography with Sr resin and anion exchange resin was 10. The Zr remaining in the sample was removed by ILIAMS effectively. This simple chemical separation achieved a limit of detection 0.1 mBq in the Sr AMS, which is lower than typical -ray detection. The agreement between AMS measurements and nominal values for the Sr concentrations of IAEA samples indicated that the new highly-sensitive Sr analysis in the environmental samples with AMS is reliable even for high matrix samples of soil and bone.

Abrupt change in electronic states under pressure in new compound EuPtAl

Koizumi, Takatsugu*; Honda, Fuminori*; Sato, Yoshiki*; Li, D.*; Aoki, Dai*; Haga, Yoshinori; Gochi, Jun*; Nagasaki, Shoko*; Uwatoko, Yoshiya*; Kaneko, Yoshio*; et al.

Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, 91(4), p.043704_1 - 043704_5, 2022/04

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSJ.91.043704

Radiation monitoring using manned helicopter around the Nuclear Power Station in the fiscal year 2020 (Contract research)

Futemma, Akira; Sanada, Yukihisa; Ishizaki, Azusa; Kawasaki, Yoshiharu*; Iwai, Takeyuki*; Hiraga, Shogo*; Sato, Kazuhiko*; Haginoya, Masashi*; Matsunaga, Yuki*; Kikuchi, Hikaru*; et al.

JAEA-Technology 2021-029, 132 Pages, 2022/02

JAEA-Technology-2021-029.pdf:24.58MB

By the nuclear disaster of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS), Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake and the following tsunami on March 11, 2011, a large amount of radioactive material was released from the FDNPS. After the nuclear disaster, airborne radiation monitoring using manned helicopter has been conducted around FDNPS. The results of the airborne radiation monitoring and the evaluation for temporal change of dose rate in the fiscal 2020 were summarized in this report. Analysis considering topographical effects was applied to the result of the airborne monitoring to improve the accuracy of conventional method. In addition, technique for discriminating gamma rays from the ground and those from the airborne Rn-progenies was also utilized to evaluate their effect on airborne radiation monitoring.

PSTEP: Project for solar-terrestrial environment prediction

Kusano, Kanya*; Ichimoto, Kiyoshi*; Ishii, Mamoru*; Miyoshi, Yoshizumi*; Yoden, Shigeo*; Akiyoshi, Hideharu*; Asai, Ayumi*; Ebihara, Yusuke*; Fujiwara, Hitoshi*; Goto, Tadanori*; et al.

Earth, Planets and Space (Internet), 73(1), p.159_1 - 159_29, 2021/12

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-021-01486-1

The PSTEP is a nationwide research collaboration in Japan and was conducted from April 2015 to March 2020, supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan. It has made a significant progress in space weather research and operational forecasts, publishing over 500 refereed journal papers and organizing four international symposiums, various workshops and seminars, and summer school for graduate students at Rikubetsu in 2017. This paper is a summary report of the PSTEP and describes the major research achievements it produced.

Background radiation monitoring using manned helicopter for application of technique of nuclear emergency response in the fiscal year 2020 (Contract research)

Futemma, Akira; Sanada, Yukihisa; Sasaki, Miyuki; Kawasaki, Yoshiharu*; Iwai, Takeyuki*; Hiraga, Shogo*; Sato, Kazuhiko*; Haginoya, Masashi*; Matsunaga, Yuki*; Kikuchi, Hikaru*; et al.

JAEA-Technology 2021-020, 138 Pages, 2021/11

JAEA-Technology-2021-020.pdf:17.11MB

A large amount of radioactive material was released by the nuclear disaster of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS), Tokyo Electric Power Company, caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake and the following tsunami on March 11, 2011. After the nuclear disaster, airborne radiation monitoring via manned helicopter has been utilized to grasp rapidly and widely the distribution of the radioactive materials surrounding FDNPS. We prepare the data of background radiation dose, geomorphic characteristics and the controlled airspace surrounding nuclear facilities of the whole country in order to make effective use of the monitoring technique as a way of emergency radiation monitoring and supply the results during an accident of a facility. This report is summarized that the knowledge as noted above achieved by the aerial radiation monitoring around Tsuruga and Mihama nuclear power station, research reactors in Kindai University Atomic Energy Research Institute and Institute for Integrated Radiation and Nuclear Science, Kyoto University. In addition, examination's progress aimed at introduction of airborne radiation monitoring via unmanned plane during nuclear disaster and the technical issues are summarized in this report.

Time evolution calculation of muon catalysed fusion; Emission of recycling muons from a two-layer hydrogen film

Yamashita, Takuma*; Okutsu, Kenichi*; Kino, Yasushi*; Nakashima, Ryota*; Miyashita, Konan*; Yasuda, Kazuhiro*; Okada, Shinji*; Sato, Motoyasu*; Oka, Toshitaka; Kawamura, Naritoshi*; et al.

Fusion Engineering and Design, 169, p.112580_1 - 112580_5, 2021/08

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fusengdes.2021.112580

A muon () having 207 times larger mass of electron and the same charge as the electron has been known to catalyze a nuclear fusion between deuteron (d) and triton (t). These two nuclei are bound by and form a muonic hydrogen molecular ion, dt. Due to the short inter-nuclear distance of dt, the nuclear fusion, d +t + n + 17.6 MeV, occurs inside the molecule. This reaction is called muon catalyzed fusion (CF). Recently, the interest on CF is renewed from the viewpoint of applications, such as a source of high-resolution muon beam and mono-energetic neutron beam. In this work, we report a time evolution calculation of CF in a two-layered hydrogen isotope target.

Oxygen enhancement ratios of cancer cells after exposure to intensity modulated X-ray fields; DNA damage and cell survival

Matsuya, Yusuke; McMahon, S. J.*; Butterworth, K. T.*; Naijo, Shingo*; Nara, Isshi*; Yachi, Yoshie*; Saga, Ryo*; Ishikawa, Masayori*; Sato, Tatsuhiko; Date, Hiroyuki*; et al.

Physics in Medicine & Biology, 66(7), p.075014_1 - 075014_11, 2021/04

https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6560/abf011

Hypoxic cancer cells within solid tumours show radio-resistance, leading to malignant progression in fractionated radiotherapy. When prescribing dose to tumours under heterogeneous oxygen pressure with intensity-modulated radiation fields, intercellular signalling could have an impact on radiosensitivity between in-field and out-of-field cells. However, the impact of hypoxia on radio-sensitivity under modulated radiation intensity remains uncertain. In this study, we investigate the impact of hypoxia on in-field and out-of-field radio-sensitivities using two types of cancer cells. These in vitro measurements indicate that hypoxia apparently impacts out-of-field cells, although the OER values in out-of-field cells were smaller compared to those for in-field and uniformly irradiated cells. These decreased radio-sensitivities of out-of-field cells were shown as a consistent tendency for both DSB and cell death endpoints, suggesting that radiation-induced intercellular communication is of importance in treatment planning with intensity-modulated radiotherapy.