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

Effective use of uranium resources; Communicate the power of a closed cycle

Sagayama, Yutaka; Sawada, Tetsuo*; Tanaka, Harukuni*

Enerugi Foramu, (807), p.18 - 22, 2022/03

Discussing the necessity of the nuclear fuel cycle, its future, and issues (costs, pros and cons of the LWR cycle, etc.). The trend toward carbon neutrality will lead to a rush to build nuclear (light water reactor) power plants in many countries. As a result, the price of natural uranium is expected to skyrocket, increasing the need for fast reactor cycle development. It is essential to present to the world the concept of commercialization of fast reactors that combine high safety and economic efficiency, and to proceed with development steadily in order to realize it promptly, without dissipating the technologies for design, construction, operation, and maintenance of fast reactors that Japanese industry and JAEA have accumulated through the development of MONJU and other projects.

Zircon U-Pb-Hf isotopic and trace element analyses for oceanic mafic crustal rock of the Neoproterozoic-early Paleozoic Oeyama ophiolite unit and implication for subduction initiation of proto-Japan arc

Sawada, Hikaru*; Niki, Sota*; Nagata, Mitsuhiro; Hirata, Takafumi*

Minerals (Internet), 12(1), p.107_1 - 107_15, 2022/01

https://doi.org/10.3390/min12010107

The Oeyama ophiolite is one of the oldest components in Japanese Islands and important to reveal the initiation of plate subduction along proto-Japan. This study performed U-Pb-Hf isotopic and trace element analyses of zircon in gabbroic rocks. The weight mean of Pb/U dates from zircons of the Oeyama ophiolite is 544 4 Ma (2 sigma). Trace element analysis of the zircons exhibit that the host rock was derived from the mantle depleted of incompatible elements like mid-oceanic ridge basalt. The present igneous age and geochemical feature of the zircons is consistent with previous work for other part of the Oeyama ophiolite. Zircon Lu-Hf isotopic analysis also indicate that the gabbroic rock was derived from the depleted mantle domain. The Hf isotopic signature is more depleted than those of the zircons in jadeitite associated with the Oeyama ophiolite. This result implies that the older crustal material was involved into the initial oceanic plate subduction along the proto-Japan arc.

Improvement of HI concentration performance for hydrogen production iodine-sulfur process using crosslinked cation-exchange membrane

Tanaka, Nobuyuki; Sawada, Shinichi*; Yamaki, Tetsuya*; Kodaira, Takahide*; Kimura, Takehiro*; Nomura, Mikihiro*

Chemical Engineering Science, 237, p.116575_1 - 116575_11, 2021/06

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ces.2021.116575

We have been developing the ion exchange membranes by a radiation grafted polymerization method to improve HI concentration performance for Electro-electrodialysis (EED) in the thermochemical water-splitting hydrogen production iodine-sulfur process. In this work, the crosslinking structures were introduced to the ion exchange membranes. The proton conductivity (), transport number (t), and water permeation factor () of these crosslinked ion exchange membranes were measured and the effect of crosslinks to these performance indexes were investigated. The introduction of crosslinks was found to improve the selectivity of H and water transport (increase of t and decrease of ), although the somewhat decreased. The EED model that we established to discuss the permeation mechanism of EED system was used to theoretically analyze the effect of crosslink on the performance indexes. Based on this analysis of measurement results, the introduction of the crosslink was found to little affect the absorbed amount of HIx solution and H diffusion coefficient in the tested membranes, whereas it could lead to decrease I diffusion coefficient. The results of and t could reflect these effects. In addition, we found the fact that crosslink can inhibit the swelling due to the absorption of the HIx solution. As a result, the value decreased owing to the introduction of crosslink.

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.

Development of technique for acquiring fracture void structure data for a single fracture and acquisition of hydraulic/mass transport properties in a fracture

Sato, Hisashi*; Sawada, Atsushi; Takayama, Yusuke

JAEA-Research 2020-012, 37 Pages, 2020/11

JAEA-Research-2020-012.pdf:2.66MB
JAEA-Research-2020-012-appendix(DVD-ROM).zip:468.23MB

In the safety assessment of the geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste, it is important to fully understand the permeability and mass transport properties of actual fractures when setting parameters for permeability and mass transport properties of fractures. Permeability and mass transport properties of a fracture are affected by the void structure of the fracture. Therefore, it is necessary not only to conduct a hydraulic test but also to evaluate hydraulic properties based on the void structure of the fracture. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to develop a technique to acquire a three-dimensional void structure of a fracture from fracture surface shape data, and to obtain a dataset of three- dimensional void structure data and hydraulic data of the fracture. Specifically, we made a transparent replica sample of fracture and measure the fracture surface shape data in the exact coordinates. The three-dimensional void structure data was constituted from fracture surface shape data in the same coordinates. In addition, we conducted a permeability test and tracer test for the same sample to obtain a permeability and mass transport properties of the fracture. To assess the validity of the acquired data, we compared it with the apertures evaluated based on different methods. As a result, the average aperture from the fracture void structure was almost same as the average aperture acquired by different methods, from the above that the test result was validated.

Decontamination simulation and future prediction of air dose rate in difficult to return zone in Fukushima Prefecture

Yamashita, Takuya; Sawada, Noriyoshi*

JAEA-Research 2019-010, 227 Pages, 2020/03

JAEA-Research-2019-010.pdf:21.44MB
JAEA-Research-2019-010(errata).pdf:0.5MB

In order to support the decontamination activities proceeded by the national government and municipalities in terms of technology, we have developed a simulation system "RESET" which predicts the effect of decontamination. We also developed a "two-component model" for the purpose of predicting long-term changes in the air dose rate. We use these tools to perform decontamination simulation and predictive analysis of the air dose rate after decontamination, and provide information to the national government and municipalities aiming for reconstruction. In this report, the verification result of the prediction methods implemented using actual measurement data obtained in the "Decontamination model demonstration project in difficult-to-return zone" and "Survey result on transition of air dose rate after decontamination model demonstration project" conducted by Ministry of the Environment. In addition, the decontamination simulation conducted for the entire difficult-to-return area and the results of future prediction of the air dose rate after decontamination are shown.

Identification of advanced spin-driven thermoelectric materials via interpretable machine learning

Iwasaki, Yuma*; Sawada, Ryoto*; Stanev, V.*; Ishida, Masahiko*; Kirihara, Akihiro*; Omori, Yasutomo*; Someya, Hiroko*; Takeuchi, Ichiro*; Saito, Eiji; Yorozu, Shinichi*

npj Computational Materials (Internet), 5, p.103_1 - 103_6, 2019/10

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41524-019-0241-9

Development of cation and anion exchange membranes for saline water concentration using high-energy heavy-ion beams

Sawada, Shinichi*; Yasukawa, Masahiro*; Koshikawa, Hiroshi*; Kitamura, Akane; Higa, Mitsuru*; Yamaki, Tetsuya*

Nihon Kaisui Gakkai-Shi, 73(4), p.208 - 216, 2019/08

For applications to saline water concentration by electrodialysis, we prepared nano-structure-controlled cation and anion exchange membranes (CEMs and AEMs) by a so-called ion-track grafting technique. This new technique involves irradiation of a polymer substrate with an MeV-GeV heavy-ion beam to form the nano-sized cylindrical ion tracks and the graft polymerization only into the ion tracks for the creation of one-dimensional transport pathways. A 25-m-thick poly(ethylene-co-tetrafluoroethylene) film was irradiated with 560 MeV Xe or 310 MeV Kr. The irradiated films were immersed in grafting solutions of ethyl p-styrenesulfonate (EtSS) and chloromethylstyrene (CMS), and then subjected to the hydrolysis of EtSS units and quaternization of CMS units to prepare CEMs and AEMs, respectively. These CEMs and AEMs showed lower resistance than the commercially-available membranes even at the very low water uptake. This would be due to the signifcantly-effcient transport of ions through the unique one-dimensional highly-connected transport pathways. In the saline water concentration experiment, a pair of our CEM and a commercial AEM or vice versa led to a higher salt concentration in the concentration chamber than did a pair of the commercial membranes. This result demonstrated great applicability of our ion-track-grafted CEMs and AEMs for saline water concentration.

The Surface composition of asteroid 162173 Ryugu from Hayabusa2 near-infrared spectroscopy

Kitazato, Kohei*; Milliken, R. E.*; Iwata, Takahiro*; Abe, Masanao*; Otake, Makiko*; Matsuura, Shuji*; Arai, Takehiko*; Nakauchi, Yusuke*; Nakamura, Tomoki*; Matsuoka, Moe*; et al.

Science, 364(6437), p.272 - 275, 2019/04

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aav7432

The near-Earth asteroid 162173 Ryugu, the target of Hayabusa2 sample return mission, is believed to be a primitive carbonaceous object. The Near Infrared Spectrometer (NIRS3) on Hayabusa2 acquired reflectance spectra of Ryugu's surface to provide direct measurements of the surface composition and geological context for the returned samples. A weak, narrow absorption feature centered at 2.72 micron was detected across the entire observed surface, indicating that hydroxyl (OH)-bearing minerals are ubiquitous there. The intensity of the OH feature and low albedo are similar to thermally- and/or shock-metamorphosed carbonaceous chondrite meteorites. There are few variations in the OH-band position, consistent with Ryugu being a compositionally homogeneous rubble-pile object generated from impact fragments of an undifferentiated aqueously altered parent body.