A Model intercomparison of atmospheric Cs concentrations from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, phase III; Simulation with an identical source term and meteorological field at 1-km resolution

Sato, Yosuke*; Sekiyama, Tsuyoshi*; Fang, S.*; Kajino, Mizuo*; Qurel, A.*; Qulo, D.*; Kondo, Hiroaki*; Terada, Hiroaki; Kadowaki, Masanao; Takigawa, Masayuki*; et al.

Atmospheric Environment; X (Internet), 7, p.100086_1 - 100086_12, 2020/10

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeaoa.2020.100086

The third model intercomparison project for investigating the atmospheric behavior of Cs emitted during the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident (FDNPP-MIP) was conducted. A finer horizontal grid spacing (1 km) was used than in the previous FDNPP-MIP. Nine of the models used in the previous FDNPP-MIP were also used, and all models used identical source terms and meteorological fields. Our analyses indicated that most of the observed high atmospheric Cs concentrations were well simulated, and the good performance of some models improved the performance of the multi-model ensemble. The analyses also confirmed that the use of a finer grid resolution resulted in the meteorological field near FDNPP being better reproduced. The good representation of the wind field resulted in the reasonable simulation of the narrow distribution of high deposition amount to the northwest of FDNPP and the reduction of the overestimation over the area to the south of FDNPP. In contrast, the performance of the models in simulating plumes observed over the Nakadori area, the northern part of Gunma, and the Tokyo metropolitan area was slightly worse.

Annual report on the environmental radiation monitoring around the Tokai Reprocessing Plant FY2018

Nakano, Masanao; Fujii, Tomoko; Nemoto, Masashi; Tobita, Keiji; Kono, Takahiko; Hosomi, Kenji; Nishimura, Shusaku; Matsubara, Natsumi; Maehara, Yushi; Narita, Ryosuke; et al.

JAEA-Review 2019-048, 165 Pages, 2020/03

JAEA-Review-2019-048.pdf:2.69MB

Environmental radiation monitoring around the Tokai Reprocessing Plant has been performed by the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Engineering Laboratories, based on "Safety Regulations for the Reprocessing Plant of Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Chapter IV - Environmental Monitoring". This annual report presents the results of the environmental monitoring and the dose estimation to the hypothetical inhabitant due to the radioactivity discharged from the plant to the atmosphere and the sea during April 2018 to March 2019. In this report, some data include the influence of the accidental release from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station of Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. (the trade name was changed to Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc. on April 1, 2016) in March 2011. Appendices present comprehensive information, such as monitoring programs, monitoring methods, monitoring results and their trends, meteorological data and discharged radioactive wastes. In addition, the data which were influenced by the accidental release and exceeded the normal range of fluctuation in the monitoring, were evaluated.

Impact of stellar superflares on planetary habitability

Yamashiki, Yosuke*; Maehara, Hiroyuki*; Airapetian, V.*; Notsu, Yuta*; Sato, Tatsuhiko; Notsu, Shota*; Kuroki, Ryusuke*; Murashima, Keiya*; Sato, Hiroaki*; Namekata, Kosuke*; et al.

Astrophysical Journal, 881(2), p.114_1 - 114_24, 2019/08

https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab2a71

The impact of Stellar flares on extrasolar planetary systems has been discussed and argued, especially whether there is a potential impact on their life systems. Here, we propose a comprehensive evaluation system for stellar flares, focusing on Stellar Proton Events (SPE) on selected extrasolar planets with hypothetical atmospheres and oceans. This is done by cross-linking KIC flare-observed and flare-estimated stars by their start pots that are directly linked with the Monte Carlo simulation system PHITS through the exoplanetary database system ExoKyoto. The estimated dose at ground level for each planetary surface did not exceed the critical dose for complex animals.

Micro-PIXE analysis study of ferrite products synthesized from simulated radioactive liquid waste containing chemical hazardous elements

Abe, Tomohisa; Shimazaki, Takejiro; Osugi, Takeshi; Nakazawa, Osamu; Yamada, Naoto*; Yuri, Yosuke*; Sato, Takahiro*

QST-M-16; QST Takasaki Annual Report 2017, P. 140, 2019/03

http://id.nii.ac.jp/1657/00074822/

no abstracts in English

Establishment of a novel detection system for measuring primary knock-on atoms

Tsai, P.-E.; Iwamoto, Yosuke; Hagiwara, Masayuki*; Sato, Tatsuhiko; Ogawa, Tatsuhiko; Satoh, Daiki; Abe, Shinichiro; Ito, Masatoshi*; Watabe, Hiroshi*

Proceedings of 2017 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference (NSS/MIC 2017) (Internet), 3 Pages, 2018/11

https://doi.org/10.1109/NSSMIC.2017.8532975

The energy spectra of primary knock-on atoms (PKAs) are essential for radiation damage assessment in design of accelerator facilities. However up to date the experimental data are still limited, due to the poor mass resolution and the high measurement threshold energies in the conventional setup of nuclear physics experiments using solid state detectors, which are typically above a few MeV/nucleon. In this study, a novel detection system consisting of two time detectors and one dE-E energy detector is proposed and being constructed to measure the PKA spectra. The system and detector design was based on Monte Carlo simulations by using the PHITS code. The PHITS simulations show that the system is able to distinguish the PKA isotopes above 0.2-0.3 MeV/nucleon for A=2030 amu; the PKA mass identification thresholds decrease to 0.1 MeV/nucleon for PKAs lighter than 20 amu. The detection system will be tested in the summer of 2017, and the test results will be presented at the conference.

Model intercomparison of atmospheric Cs from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident; Simulations based on identical input data

Sato, Yosuke*; Takigawa, Masayuki*; Sekiyama, Tsuyoshi*; Kajino, Mizuo*; Terada, Hiroaki; Nagai, Haruyasu; Kondo, Hiroaki*; Uchida, Junya*; Goto, Daisuke*; Qulo, D.*; et al.

Journal of Geophysical Research; Atmospheres, 123(20), p.11748 - 11765, 2018/10

https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD029144

A model intercomparison of the atmospheric dispersion of Cs emitted following the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident was conducted by 12 models to understand the behavior of Cs in the atmosphere. The same meteorological data, horizontal grid resolution, and an emission inventory were applied to all the models to focus on the model variability originating from the processes included in each model. The multi-model ensemble captured 40% of the observed Cs events, and the figure-of-merit in space for the total deposition of Cs exceeded 80. Our analyses indicated that the meteorological data were most critical for reproducing the Cs events. The results also revealed that the differences among the models were originated from the deposition and diffusion processes when the meteorological field was simulated well. However, the models with strong diffusion tended to overestimate the Cs concentrations.

The User manual of the simplified decommissioning cost estimation code for nuclear facilities "DECOST"

Takahashi, Nobuo; Suekane, Yurika; Sakaba, Ryosuke*; Kurosawa, Takuya*; Sato, Koichi; Meguro, Yoshihiro

JAEA-Testing 2018-002, 45 Pages, 2018/07

JAEA-Testing-2018-002.pdf:4.44MB

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency has many nuclear facilities such as research reactors, nuclear fuel facilities and research facilities. Although these facilities will be decommissioned due to the termination of the purpose of use of the facility and aging, it is necessary to evaluate the decommissioning cost of these facilities prior to the decommissioning. We have developed an evaluation method called DECOST code that can efficiently calculate the decommissioning cost in a short time based on factors such as features, similarity, and dismantling methods. This report is as a manual of the DECOST code prepared for improving convenience. Here, the evaluation formulae used for DECOST are presented and the method of using them is explained for each kind of nuclear facilities to be evaluated. In addition, the preparation method of facility information and dismantled waste amount that are need for evaluation is also shown.

2018 Annual Meeting of Japan Atomic Energy Society, Joint Session of Nuclear Data Subcommittee and Sigma Special Advisory Committee; Present status and future of nuclear data evaluation code in Japan, 4; Role and improvement of nuclear reaction models in the PHITS code

Hashimoto, Shintaro; Sato, Tatsuhiko; Iwamoto, Yosuke; Ogawa, Tatsuhiko; Furuta, Takuya; Abe, Shinichiro; Niita, Koji*

Kaku Deta Nyusu (Internet), (120), p.26 - 34, 2018/06

http://www.aesj.or.jp/~ndd/ndnews/No120.html

Particle and heavy-ion transport code system PHITS has been used for calculations of radiation shielding in accelerator facilities. PHITS describes physical phenomena induced by radiation as combination of transport and collision processes. The collision process including nuclear reactions is simulated by the three-step calculation: a generation of a reaction, pre-equilibrium, and compound processes. In the simulation, many physics models are used. This report explains roles of the models in PHITS and shows their developments we recently performed.

Shielding performance of newly developed boron-loaded concrete for DT neutrons

Sato, Satoshi*; Konno, Chikara; Nakashima, Hiroshi; Shionaga, Ryosuke*; Nose, Hiroyuki*; Ito, Yuji*; Hashimoto, Hirohide*

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 55(4), p.410 - 417, 2018/04

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2017.1403380

In order to enhance the neutron shielding performance, we developed concrete with boron of more than 10 wt%. We performed a neutron shielding experiment using the mockup of the newly developed boron-loaded concrete and DT neutrons at FNS in JAEA, and measured the reaction rates of the Nb(n,2n)Nb and Au(n,)Au reactions in the mockup. The calculations were conducted by using MCNP-5.14 and FENDL-2.1. The calculation results agreed well with the measured ones, and we confirmed that the accuracy was very good on the atomic composition data of the boron-loaded concrete and their nuclear data. In addition, we calculated effective dose rates and reaction rates of the Co(n,)Co and Eu(n,)Eu reactions in the boron-loaded concrete and other concretes. It is concluded that the boron-loaded concrete has much better shielding performance for DT neutrons than other concretes.

Photonuclear reactions triggered by lightning discharge

Enoto, Teruaki*; Wada, Yuki*; Furuta, Yoshihiro*; Nakazawa, Kazuhiro*; Yuasa, Takayuki*; Okuda, Kazufumi*; Makishima, Kazuo*; Sato, Mitsuteru*; Sato, Yosuke*; Nakano, Toshio*; et al.

Nature, 551(7681), p.481 - 484, 2017/11

https://doi.org/10.1038/nature24630