Radioactivity and radionuclides in deciduous teeth formed before the Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident

Takahashi, Atsushi*; Chiba, Mirei*; Tanahara, Akira*; Aida, Jun*; Shimizu, Yoshinaka*; Suzuki, Toshihiko*; Murakami, Shinobu*; Koarai, Kazuma; Ono, Takumi*; Oka, Toshitaka; et al.

Scientific Reports (Internet), 11(1), p.10355_1 - 10355_11, 2021/05

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-89910-0

Strong magnetic anisotropy and unusual magnetic field reinforced phase in URhSn with a quasi-kagome structure

Shimizu, Yusei*; Miyake, Atsushi*; Maurya, A.*; Honda, Fuminori*; Nakamura, Ai*; Sato, Yoshiki*; Li, D.*; Homma, Yoshiya*; Yokoyama, Makoto*; Tokunaga, Yo; et al.

Physical Review B, 102(13), p.134411_1 - 134411_11, 2020/10

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.102.134411

Investigation of countermeasure against local temperature rise in vessel cooling system in loss of core cooling test without nuclear heating

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

https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4032478

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.

Investigation of characteristics of natural circulation of water in vessel cooling system in loss of core cooling test without nuclear heating

Takada, Shoji; Shimizu, Atsushi; Kondo, Makoto; Shimazaki, Yosuke; Shinohara, Masanori; Seki, Tomokazu; Tochio, Daisuke; Iigaki, Kazuhiko; Nakagawa, Shigeaki; Sawa, Kazuhiro

Proceedings of 23rd International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE-23) (DVD-ROM), 5 Pages, 2015/05

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 demonstrate the inherent safety of HTGR be secured by natural phenomena to make it possible to design a severe accident free reactor. 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. 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.

Applicability of meteorological statistics over a 5-year period to evaluation of annual average of radionuclide concentration in surface air; Based on meteorological statistics for 20 years at Oarai Research and Development Center, JAEA

Seya, Natsumi; Hashimoto, Makoto; Nemoto, Koji*; Shimizu, Takehiko; Takasaki, Koji

Hoken Butsuri, 49(1), p.29 - 38, 2014/03

http://doi.org/10.5453/jhps.49.29

http://doi.org/10.5453/jhps.49.1

Evaluation of annual average of radionuclide concentration in surface air obtained from atmospheric dispersion factor is intended to determine a public dose as a primary source for the safety analysis of nuclear facilities in normal operation. Oarai Research and Development Center (ORDC) of the JAEA have used fixed 5-year meteorological statistics for derivation of atmospheric dispersion factors as average conditions. To show that the meteorological statistics for any 5-year period could be used as representative data for evaluation of average conditions, annual average (1-year average) and 5-year average of evaluated radionuclide concentrations derived from the meteorological data observed from 1991 to 2010 at ORDC were analyzed. The fluctuations of evaluated radionuclide concentrations of any 5-year averages were smaller than those of 1-year averages during 20 years, and any 5-year averages contained no rejections by the F-test (5% significance level). It means that any 5-year averages of radionuclide concentration evaluations are well representative for the safety analysis under normal condition in ORDC.

Investigation of advanced divertor magnetic configuration for Demo tokamak reactor

Asakura, Nobuyuki; Shinya, Kichiro*; Tobita, Kenji; Hoshino, Kazuo; Shimizu, Katsuhiro; Uto, Hiroyasu; Someya, Yoji; Nakamura, Makoto; Ono, Noriyasu*; Kobayashi, Masahiro*; et al.

Fusion Science and Technology, 63(1T), p.70 - 75, 2013/05

https://doi.org/10.13182/FST13-A16876

Design study of poloidal field coil (PFC) locations and current distribution for the advanced divertor in the Demo tokamak reactor was presented. Concept of the super-X divertor (SXD) for Demo reactor has an outer divertor leg longer than the conventional divertor, and it extends outboard to increase both the target wetted area and connection length to the outer target (). Equilibrium calculation code, TOSCA, was developed by introducing two parameters, i.e. super-X null radius () and a ratio of the poloidal flux at the super-X null to that at the separatrix (). Some SXD magnetic configurations with minimal number of PFCs located outside toroidal field coil (TFC) were Demonstrated. Locations of the divertor target were also investigated. It was found that the flux expansion can be increased up to 4-10 depending on the target location and , and that SXD has an advantage to increase with . Thus, the divertor plasma temperature is expected to decrease at the same upstream plasma density. On the other hand, large currents for the divertor PFCs were necessary. Other arrangements of PFCs such as (1) larger and (2) inside TFC, can reduce the PFC currents.

In-vessel tritium

Ueda, Yoshio*; Oya, Kaoru*; Ashikawa, Naoko*; Ito, Atsushi*; Ono, Tadayoshi*; Kato, Daiji*; Kawashima, Hisato; Kawamura, Gakushi*; Kenmotsu, Takahiro*; Saito, Seiki*; et al.

Purazuma, Kaku Yugo Gakkai-Shi, 88(9), p.484 - 502, 2012/09

http://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/110009518478

no abstracts in English

Structural and valence changes of europium hydride induced by application of high-pressure H

Matsuoka, Takahiro*; Fujihisa, Hiroshi*; Hirao, Naohisa*; Oishi, Yasuo*; Mitsui, Takaya; Masuda, Ryo; Seto, Makoto*; Yoda, Yoshitaka*; Shimizu, Katsuya*; Machida, Akihiko; et al.

Physical Review Letters, 107(2), p.025501_1 - 025501_4, 2011/07

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.025501

Europium-hydride EuH exposed to high-pressure H conditions has been found to exhibit structural and valence changes, (=2, divalent) 63/ (=2, 7.2-8.7 GPa) 4/ (2, 8.7-9.7 GPa) 4/ (2, 9.7 GPa-, trivalent). Having trivalent character and distorted cubic fcc structure, the 4/ structure is the -phase which has been commonly observed for other rare-earth metal hydrides. Our study clearly demonstrates that EuH is no longer an "irregular" member of the rare earth metal hydrides.

Characteristics of Nicrosil versus Nisil thermocouples for the in-core temperature monitoring system in HTTR

Saito, Kenji; Shimizu, Atsushi; Hirato, Yoji; Kondo, Makoto; Kawamata, Takanori; Nemoto, Masumi; Motegi, Toshihiro

JAEA-Technology 2009-015, 52 Pages, 2009/05

JAEA-Technology-2009-015.pdf:10.17MB

As In-core temperature monitoring system, Type N thermocouples arranged at hot plenum block measures the primary coolant temperature at each hot plenum block in order to monitor the condition of the reactor core during the reactor operation. Type N thermocouples should have a long lifetime with high reliability under the high temperature environment of about 1000C, because they are used in HTTR reactor pressure vessel. This report shows that the characteristic change of Type N thermocouples was confirmed from operation and maintenance data of current HTTR.

Periodic flux jump in superconducting Pb networks as consequence of the extended Little-Parks effect

Ishida, Takekazu*; Matsushima, Yoshiaki*; Shimizu, Makoto*; Hayashi, Masahiko*; Ebisawa, Hiromichi*; Sato, Osamu*; Kato, Masaru*; Koyama, Tomio*; Machida, Masahiko; Sato, Kazuo*; et al.

Physica C, 468(7-10), p.576 - 580, 2008/04

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physc.2007.11.080

The extended Little-Parks effect of superconducting network is known as a periodic variation as a function of magnetic field. Superconducting Pb honeycomb networks of matching field 0.106 G and triangular microhole lattice of Pb of matching field 0.425 G have been fabricated by the combination of electron-beam lithography and a lift-off process of evaporated Pb films. The application of magnetic field corresponds to the vortex filling into superconducting networks. We measured the magnetization of the networks systematically by using a SQUID magnetometer. We found that flux jump appears rather periodically as a function of magnetic field. Flux jumps may be induced by a periodic decrease of the critical current density of the network. To the authors' knowledge, this is for the first time to observe the regular flux jumps due to the critical current modification coming from the extended Little-Parks effect of the superconducting networks.