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Ho, H. Q.; Ishii, Toshiaki; Nagasumi, Satoru; Ono, Masato; Shimazaki, Yosuke; Ishitsuka, Etsuo; Goto, Minoru; Simanullang, I. L.*; Fujimoto, Nozomu*; Iigaki, Kazuhiko
Nuclear Engineering and Design, 396, p.111913_1 - 111913_9, 2022/09
Times Cited Count：1 Percentile：31.61(Nuclear Science & Technology)Hamamoto, Shimpei; Ho, H. Q.; Iigaki, Kazuhiko; Goto, Minoru; Shimazaki, Yosuke; Sawahata, Hiroaki; Ishitsuka, Etsuo
Nuclear Engineering and Design, 386, p.111564_1 - 111564_8, 2022/01
Times Cited Count：1 Percentile：31.61(Nuclear Science & Technology)The experience of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident caused by the great earthquake that occurred in eastern Japan in 2011 showed the importance of preparing for the loss of function of the engineered safety features. Increasing the strength of equipment to prevent loss of function in an accident is effective, but the possibility of loss of function remains. Therefore, it is important to have an alternative to lost functions in order to put the accident under control early. Thus, this study designed an alternative shutdown system, namely a portable backup shutdown system (PBSS), to make countermeasures in the event of a loss of shutdown function more robust without impairing economic efficiency of the High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR). The PBSS is portable and capable of being installed manually so that it can operate in a total loss of off-site electricity. Various neutron absorber materials for the PBSS were also considered from the viewpoints of technical and cost-effective properties. As results of optimization, the boron nitride (BN) was selected as it shows a good neutronic property as well as a reasonable cost in comparison with other materials.
Ono, Masato; Shimizu, Atsushi; Ohashi, Hirofumi; Hamamoto, Shimpei; Inoi, Hiroyuki; Tokuhara, Kazumi*; Nomoto, Yasunobu*; Shimazaki, Yosuke; Iigaki, Kazuhiko; Shinozaki, Masayuki
Nuclear Engineering and Design, 386, p.111585_1 - 111585_9, 2022/01
Times Cited Count：0 Percentile：0.01(Nuclear Science & Technology)In the late 1980s during the design stage, the seismic classification of the high temperature engineering test reactor (HTTR) was formulated. Owing to the lack of operation experiences of the HTTR to sufficiently understand the safety characteristics of high temperature gas cooled reactors (HTGR) at that time, the seismic classification of commercial light water reactors (LWR) was applied to HTTR. However, the subsequent operation experiences and test results using HTTR made it clear that the seismic classification of commercial LWR was somewhat too conservative for the HTGR. As a result, Class S facilities were downgraded compared to the commercial LWR. Moreover, the validity of the new seismic classification is confirmed. In June 2020, the Nuclear Regulatory Authority approved that the result of the seismic classification conformed to the standard rules of the reactor installation change.
Hamamoto, Shimpei; Ohashi, Hirofumi; Iigaki, Kazuhiko; Shimazaki, Yosuke; Ono, Masato; Shimizu, Atsushi; Ishitsuka, Etsuo
Proceedings of 2021 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2021) (USB Flash Drive), 6 Pages, 2021/10
Since the HTGR has a large amount of graphite material in the core, it is necessary to assume an accident in which the reactor pressure boundary is damaged and air flows into the core. It is important to state that at the time of this accident, graphite does not burn and the accident does not develop due to the heat of oxidation reaction. Therefore, in this study, in order to evaluate the combustibility of graphite materials, we propose a method to compare the calorific value and heat removal amount of the material. When calculating the calorific value, the structural material of HTTR, a high-temperature gas reactor in Japan, was used as a reference. The amount of air in contact with the structural material is a value determined from the chimney effect. The amount of heat release is the sum of convection and radiation. As a result of comparing the heat generation amount with the heat removal amount, it was shown that the heat release amount was always larger than the heat generation amount. This result shows that the graphite material does not depend on the state at the time of the air inflow accident, the temperature decreases and does not burn. It is important to clearly explain the non-flammability of graphite materials when deciding how to deal with severe accidents in HTGRs. This quantitative evaluation method based on a simple theory is considered useful.
Takeda, Tetsuaki*; Inagaki, Yoshiyuki; Aihara, Jun; Aoki, Takeshi; Fujiwara, Yusuke; Fukaya, Yuji; Goto, Minoru; Ho, H. Q.; Iigaki, Kazuhiko; Imai, Yoshiyuki; et al.
High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors; JSME Series in Thermal and Nuclear Power Generation, Vol.5, 464 Pages, 2021/02
As a general overview of the research and development of a High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR) in JAEA, this book describes the achievements by the High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) on the designs, key component technologies such as fuel, reactor internals, high temperature components, etc., and operational experience such as rise-to-power tests, high temperature operation at 950
C, safety demonstration tests, etc. In addition, based on the knowledge of the HTTR, the development of designs and component technologies such as high performance fuel, helium gas turbine and hydrogen production by IS process for commercial HTGRs are described. These results are very useful for the future development of HTGRs. This book is published as one of a series of technical books on fossil fuel and nuclear energy systems by the Power Energy Systems Division of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Shimazaki, Yosuke; Yamazaki, Kazunori; Iigaki, Kazuhiko
Hozengaku, 18(1), p.16 - 20, 2019/04
no abstracts in English
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
no abstracts in English
Ishii, Toshiaki; Shimazaki, Yosuke; Ono, Masato; Fujiwara, Yusuke; Ishitsuka, Etsuo; Hamamoto, Shimpei
Proceedings of 9th International Topical Meeting on High Temperature Reactor Technology (HTR 2018) (USB Flash Drive), 3 Pages, 2018/10
Ono, Masato; Iigaki, Kazuhiko; Sawahata, Hiroaki; Shimazaki, Yosuke; Shimizu, Atsushi; Inoi, Hiroyuki; Kondo, Toshinari; Kojima, Keidai; Takada, Shoji; Sawa, Kazuhiro
Journal of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science, 4(2), p.020906_1 - 020906_8, 2018/04
On March 11th, 2011, the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake of magnitude 9.0 occurred. When the great earthquake occurred, the High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) had been stopped under the periodic inspection and maintenance of equipment and instruments. A comprehensive integrity evaluation was carried out for the HTTR facility because the maximum seismic acceleration observed at the HTTR exceeded the maximum value of design basis earthquake. The concept of comprehensive integrity evaluation is divided into two parts. One is the "visual inspection of equipment and instruments". The other is the "seismic response analysis" for the building structure, equipment and instruments using the observed earthquake. All equipment and instruments related to operation were inspected in the basic inspection. The integrity of the facilities was confirmed by comparing the inspection results or the numerical results with their evaluation criteria. As the results of inspection of equipment and instruments associated with the seismic response analysis, it was judged that there was no problem for operation of the reactor, because there was no damage and performance deterioration. The integrity of HTTR was also supported by the several operations without reactor power in cold conditions of HTTR in 2011, 2013 and 2015. Additionally, the integrity of control rod guide blocks was also confirmed visually when three control rod guide blocks and six replaceable reflector blocks were taken out from reactor core in order to change neutron startup sources in 2015.
Abe, Tomohisa; Shimazaki, Takejiro; Osugi, Takeshi; Yamada, Naoto*; Yuri, Yosuke*; Sato, Takahiro*
QST-M-8; QST Takasaki Annual Report 2016, P. 61, 2018/03
no abstracts in English
Ono, Masato; Fujiwara, Yusuke; Honda, Yuki; Sato, Hiroyuki; Shimazaki, Yosuke; Tochio, Daisuke; Homma, Fumitaka; Sawahata, Hiroaki; Iigaki, Kazuhiko; Takada, Shoji
Proceedings of 2017 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2017) (CD-ROM), 5 Pages, 2017/04
Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has carried out research and developments towards nuclear heat utilization of High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR) using High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR). The nuclear heat utilization systems connected to HTGR will be designed on the basis of non-nuclear-grade standards in terms of easier entry for the chemical plant companies and the construction economics of the systems. Therefore, it is necessary that the reactor operations continue even if abnormal events occur in the systems. Heat application system abnormal simulating test with HTTR was carried out in non-nuclear heating operation to focus on the thermal effect in order to obtain data of the transient temperature behavior of the metallic components in the Intermediate Heat Exchanger (IHX). The IHX is the key components to connect the HTTR with the heat application system. In the test, the coolant helium gas temperature was heated up to 120C by the compression heat of the gas circulators in the HTTR under the ideal condition to focus on the heat transfer. The tests were conducted by decreasing the helium gas temperature stepwise by increasing the mass flow rate to the air cooler. The temperature responses of the IHX were investigated. For the components such as the heat transfer tubes and heat transfer enhancement plates of IHX, the temperature response was slower in the lower position in comparison with the higher position. The reason is considered that thermal load fluctuation is imposed in the secondary helium gas which flows from the top to the bottom in the heat transfer tubes of the IHX. The test data are useful to verify the numerical model of the safety evaluation code.
Abe, Tomohisa; Shimazaki, Takejiro; Nakayama, Takuya; Osone, Osamu; Osugi, Takeshi; Nakazawa, Osamu; Yuri, Yosuke*; Yamada, Naoto*; Sato, Takahiro*
QST-M-2; QST Takasaki Annual Report 2015, P. 83, 2017/03
no abstracts in English
Shimazaki, Yosuke; Sawahata, Hiroaki; Yanagida, Yoshinori; Shinohara, Masanori; Kawamoto, Taiki; Takada, Shoji
JAEA-Technology 2016-038, 36 Pages, 2017/02
JAEA-Technology-2016-038.pdf:8.75MB
The High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) has three neutron startup sources (NSs) in the reactor core, each of which consists of 
Cf with 3.7GBq The NSs are exchanged at the interval of approximately 7 years. The NS holders including NSs are transported from the dealer's hot cell to the reactor facility of HTTR using a transportation container. The loading work of NS holders to the Control Rod guide blocks is subsequently carried out in the fuel handling machine maintenance pit of HTTR. Following technical issues were extracted from the experiences in the past two exchange works of NSs to develop a safety handling procedure; (1) The reduction and prevention of radiation exposure of workers. (2) The exclusion of falling of NS holder. Then, a new transportation container special to the NSs of HTTR was developed to solve the technical issues while keeping the cost as low as that for overhaul of conventional container and satisfying the regulation of A type transportation package.
Shimazaki, Yosuke; Sawahata, Hiroaki; Shinohara, Masanori; Yanagida, Yoshinori; Kawamoto, Taiki; Takada, Shoji
Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 54(2), p.260 - 266, 2017/02
Times Cited Count：2 Percentile：19.65(Nuclear Science & Technology)The High-Temperature engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) has three neutron startup sources (NSs) in the reactor core, each of which consists of Cf with 3.7 GBq and is contained in a small capsule, installed in NS holder and subsequently in a control guide block (CR block). The NSs are exchanged at the interval of approximately 7 years. The NS holders are transported from the dealer's hot cell to the reactor facility of HTTR using a transportation container. The loading work of NS holders to the CR blocks is subsequently carried out in the fuel handling machine maintenance pit of HTTR. Technical issues, which are the reduction and prevention of radiation exposure of workers and the exclusion of falling of NS holder, were extracted from the experiences in past two exchange works of NSs to develop a safety handling procedure. Then, a new transportation container special to the NSs of HTTR was developed to solve the technical issues while keeping the cost as low as that for overhaul of conventional container. As the results, the NS handling work using the new transportation container was safely accomplished by developing the new transportation container which can reduce the risks of radiation exposure dose of workers and exclude the falling of NS holder.
Shinohara, Masanori; Ishitsuka, Etsuo; Shimazaki, Yosuke; Sawahata, Hiroaki
JAEA-Technology 2016-033, 65 Pages, 2017/01
JAEA-Technology-2016-033.pdf:11.14MB
To reduce the neutron exposure dose for workers during the replacement works of the startup neutron sources of the High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor, calculations of the exposure dose in case of temporary neutron shielding at the bottom of fuels handling machine were carried out by the PHITS code. As a result, it is clear that the dose equivalent rate due to neutron radiation can be reduced to about an order of magnitude by setting a temporary neutron shielding at the bottom of shielding cask for the fuel handling machine. In the actual replacement works, by setting temporary neutron shielding, it was achieved that the cumulative equivalent dose of the workers was reduced to 0.3 man mSv which is less than half of cumulative equivalent dose for the previous replacement works; 0.7 man mSv.
Ono, Masato; Shimizu, Atsushi; Kondo, Makoto; Shimazaki, Yosuke; Shinohara, Masanori; Tochio, Daisuke; Iigaki, Kazuhiko; Nakagawa, Shigeaki; Takada, Shoji; Sawa, Kazuhiro
Journal of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science, 2(4), p.044502_1 - 044502_4, 2016/10
In the loss of forced core cooling test using High Temperature engineering Test Reactor (HTTR), the forced cooling of reactor core is stopped without inserting control rods into the core and cooling by Vessel Cooling System (VCS) to verify safety evaluation codes to investigate the inherent safety of HTGR be secured by natural phenomena to make it possible to design a severe accident free reactor. The VCS passively removes the retained residual heat and the decay heat from the core via the reactor pressure vessel by natural convection and thermal radiation. In the test, the local temperature was supposed to exceed the limit from the viewpoint of long-term use at the uncovered water cooling tube by thermal reflectors in the VCS, although the safety of reactor is kept. Through a cold test, which was carried out by non-nuclear heat input from gas circulators with stopping water flow in the VCS, the local higher temperature position was specified although the temperature was sufficiently lower than the maximum allowable working temperature, and natural circulation of water had insufficient cooling effect on the temperature of water cooling tube below 1C. Then, a new safe and secured procedure for the loss of forced core cooling test was established, which will be carried out soon after the restart of HTTR.
Shimazaki, Yosuke; Sawahata, Hiroaki; Kawamoto, Taiki; Suzuki, Hisashi; Shinohara, Masanori; Honda, Yuki; Katsuyama, Kozo; Takada, Shoji; Sawa, Kazuhiro
Journal of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science, 2(4), p.041008_1 - 041008_5, 2016/10
Maintenance technologies for the reactor system have been developed by using the high-temperature engineering test reactor (HTTR). One of the important purposes of development is to accumulate the experiences and data to satisfy the availability of operation up to 90% by shortening the duration of the periodical maintenance for the future HTGRs by shifting from the time-based maintenance to condition-based maintenance. The technical issue of the maintenance of in-core neutron detector, wide range monitor (WRM), is to predict the malfunction caused by cable disconnection to plan the replacement schedule. This is because that it is difficult to observe directly inside of the WRM in detail. The electrical inspection method was proposed to detect and predict the cable disconnection of the WRM by remote monitoring from outside of the reactor by using the time domain reflectometry and so on. The disconnection position, which was specified by the electrical method, was identified by non-destructive and destructive inspection. The accumulated data is expected to be contributed for advanced maintenance of future HTGRs.
Ono, Masato; Iigaki, Kazuhiko; Shimazaki, Yosuke; Shimizu, Atsushi; Inoi, Hiroyuki; Tochio, Daisuke; Hamamoto, Shimpei; Nishihara, Tetsuo; Takada, Shoji; Sawa, Kazuhiro; et al.
Proceedings of 24th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE-24) (DVD-ROM), 12 Pages, 2016/06
On March 11th, 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake of magnitude 9.0 occurred. When the great earthquake occurred, the HTTR had been stopped under the periodic inspection and maintenance of equipment and instrument. In the great earthquake, the maximum seismic acceleration observed at the HTTR exceeded the maximum value in seismic design. The visual inspection of HTTR facility was carried out for the seismic integrity conformation of HTTR. The seismic analysis was also carried out using the observed earthquake motion at HTTR site to confirm the integrity of HTTR. The concept of comprehensive integrity evaluation for the HTTR facility is divided into two parts. One is the inspection of equipment and instrument. The other is the seismic response analysis using the observed earthquake. For the basic inspections of equipment and instrument were performed for all them related to the operation of reactor. The integrity of the facilities is confirmed by comparing the inspection results or the numerical results with their evaluation criteria. As the result of inspection of equipment and instrument and seismic response analysis, it was judged that there was no problem to operate the reactor, because there was no damage and performance deterioration, which affects the reactor operation. The integrity of HTTR was also supported by the several operations without reactor power in cold conditions of HTTR in 2011, 2013 and 2015.
Sawahata, Hiroaki; Shimazaki, Yosuke; Ishitsuka, Etsuo; Yamazaki, Kazunori; Yanagida, Yoshinori; Fujiwara, Yusuke; Takada, Shoji; Shinozaki, Masayuki; Hamamoto, Shimpei; Tochio, Daisuke
Proceedings of 24th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE-24) (DVD-ROM), 8 Pages, 2016/06
In the HTTR, Cf is loaded in the reactor core as a neutron startup source and changed at frequency. In this exchange work, there were two technical issues; slightly higher radiation exposure of workers by neutron leakage and reliability of neutron source transportation container in handling. To reduce the radiation dose by neutron leakage, detail numerical evaluations using PHITS code were carried out, the effective shielding method for fuel handling machine was proposed. Easily removable polyethylene blocks and particles were used as the neutron shielding, and installed in the cooling paths of the fuel handling machine. As a result, the collective effective dose by neutron was reduced from about 700 man-microSv to about 300 man-microSv. As to the neutron source transportation container, the handling performance was improved and the handling work was safety accomplished by downsizing.
Ono, Masato; Iigaki, Kazuhiko; Shimazaki, Yosuke; Tochio, Daisuke; Shimizu, Atsushi; Inoi, Hiroyuki; Hamamoto, Shimpei; Takada, Shoji; Sawa, Kazuhiro
Proceedings of International Topical Meeting on Research Reactor Fuel Management and Meeting of the International Group on Reactor Research (RRFM/IGORR 2016) (Internet), p.363 - 371, 2016/03
HTTR is graphite moderated and helium gas-cooled reactor with prismatic fuel elements and hexagonal blocks. Here, the graphite block is brittle materials and might be damaged by collision of neighboring blocks by the large earthquake. A seismic observation system is installed in the HTTR site to confirm a behavior of a seismic event. On March 11th, 2011, off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake of magnitude 9.0 occurred. After the accident at the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, the safety of nuclear reactors is the highest importance. To confirm the seismic integrity of HTTR core components, the seismic analysis was carried out using the evaluation waves based on the relationship between the observed earthquake motion at HTTR site and frequency transfer function. In parallel, confirmation tests of primary cooling system on cold state and integrity confirmation of reactor buildings and component support structures were also carried out. As a result, it was found that a stress value of the graphite blocks satisfied an allowable value, and the integrity of the HTTR core components was ensured. The integrity of HTTR core components was also supported by the operation without reactor power in cold conditions of HTTR. The obtained data was compared with the normal plant data before the earthquake. As the result, the integrity of the HTTR facilities was confirmed.
