Production rates of long-lived radionuclides Be and Al under direct muon-induced spallation in granite quartz and its implications for past high-energy cosmic ray fluxes

Sakurai, Hirohisa*; Kurebayashi, Yutaka*; Suzuki, Soichiro*; Horiuchi, Kazuho*; Takahashi, Yui*; Doshita, Norihiro*; Kikuchi, Satoshi*; Tokanai, Fuyuki*; Iwata, Naoyoshi*; Tajima, Yasushi*; et al.

Physical Review D, 109(10), p.102005_1 - 102005_18, 2024/05

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.109.102005

Secular variations of galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) are inseparably associated with the galactic activities and should reflect the environments of the local galactic magnetic field, interstellar clouds, and nearby supernova remnants. The high-energy muons produced in the atmosphere by high-energy GCRs can penetrate deep underground and generate radioisotopes in the rock. As long lived radionuclides such as Be and Al have been accumulating in these rocks, concentrations of Be and Al can be used to estimate the long-term variations in high-energy muon yields, corresponding to those in the high-energy GCRs over a few million years. This study measured the production cross sections for muon induced Be and Al by irradiating positive muons with the momentum of 160 GeV/c on the synthetic silica plates and the granite core at the COMPASS experiment line in CERN SPS. In addition, it the contributions of the direct muon spallation reaction and the nuclear reactions by muon-induced particles on the production of long lived radionuclides in the rocks were clarified.

Comprehensive analysis and evaluation of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Unit 3

Yamashita, Takuya; Honda, Takeshi*; Mizokami, Masato*; Nozaki, Kenichiro*; Suzuki, Hiroyuki*; Pellegrini, M.*; Sakai, Takeshi*; Sato, Ikken; Mizokami, Shinya*

Nuclear Technology, 209(6), p.902 - 927, 2023/06

https://doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2022.2157663

Optimization of mercury flow with microbubbles in the target-vessel design by means of machine learning

Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Futakawa, Masatoshi; Haga, Katsuhiro; Tsuzuki, Takayuki*; Murai, Tetsuro*

JAEA-Technology 2022-023, 128 Pages, 2022/11

JAEA-Technology-2022-023.pdf:9.0MB

In a mercury target of the J-PARC (Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex), pulsed proton beams repeatedly bombard the flowing mercury which is confined in a stainless-steel vessel (target vessel). Cavitation damage caused by the propagation of the pressure waves is a factor of the life of the target vessel. As a measure to reduce damages, we developed a bubbler to inject the gas microbubbles into the flowing mercury, which can reduce the pressure waves. To operate the mercury target vessel stably with the 1 MW high-intensity proton beams, further reduction of the damage is required. The bubbler setting position should be closer to the beam window to increase the bubble population, which could enhance the reduction effect on the pressure waves and damage. However, the space at the beam window of the target vessel is restricted. The bubbler design and setting position as well as the vane design for the mercury flowing pattern are optimized by means of a machine learning technique to get more suitable bubble distribution, increasing in bubble population and optimizing bubble size nearby the beam window of the target vessel. The results of CFD analyses performed with 1000 cases were used for machine learning. Since the flow rate of mercury affects the temperature of the target vessel, this was used for the constraint condition. As a result, we found a design of mercury target vessel that can increase the bubble population by ca. 20% higher than the current design.

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.

Database for corrosion under irradiation

Sato, Tomonori; Hata, Kuniki; Kaji, Yoshiyuki; Taguchi, Mitsumasa*; Seito, Hajime*; Inoue, Hiroyuki*; Tada, Eiji*; Abe, Hiroshi*; Akiyama, Eiji*; Suzuki, Shunichi*

Isotope News, (782), p.40 - 44, 2022/08

https://www.jrias.or.jp/pdf/2208_TRACER_SATO_HOKA.pdf

The stagnant water in the reactor building at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (1F) is exposed to the radiation from fuel debris and radioactive species. This water contains much amounts of impurities from the seawater which was injected in the emergency cooling. The impurities will affect the radiolysis and corrosive conditions in the water under irradiation. So, the water radiolysis data, corrosion data of steels under irradiations, and the evaluated potential impacts of corrosion in the decommissioning process of 1F are arranged as the database for corrosion under irradiation. This paper introduces the outline of this database.

Hyperfine splitting and nuclear spin polarization in NdPdAl and NdPdGe

Metoki, Naoto; Shibata, Kaoru; Matsuura, Masato*; Kitazawa, Hideaki*; Suzuki, Hiroyuki*; Yamauchi, Hiroki; Hagihara, Masato; Frontzek, M. D.*; Matsuda, Masaaki*

Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, 91(5), p.054710_1 - 054710_6, 2022/05

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSJ.91.054710

Hyperfine splitting of Nd nuclei in NdPdAl has been studied by means of high-resolution neutron spectroscopy. We observed inelastic peaks at eV coming from the hyperfine splitting in the magnetically ordered phase due to the hyperfine interactions between Nd nuclei (=7/2) and the 4 electrons with ground state composed of mainly . At very low temperatures, nuclear spin of Nd is polarized with increasing occupation probability of low energy levels and contributes to the enhancement of the antiferromagnetic Bragg intensities: the elastic non-spin-flip channel is dominant. As an application of this phenomenon, we determined the Nd moment and hyperfine splitting from the temperature dependence of an antiferromagnetic Bragg intensities for NdPdGe.

Numerical simulation of two-phase flow in fuel assemblies with a spacer grid using a mechanistically based method

Ono, Ayako; Yamashita, Susumu; Suzuki, Takayuki*; Yoshida, Hiroyuki

Proceedings of 19th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics (NURETH-19) (Internet), 16 Pages, 2022/03

JAEA is developing the methodology to predict the critical heat flux based on a mechanism in order to reduce the cost for full mock-up test. The evaluation method based on a mechanism is expected to be able to predict in the wide range of parameter under the unexpected conditions including the severe accident. In this study, the JUPITER code developed by JAEA is examined to apply for the two-phase flow simulation of LWR fuel assembly with the spacer grid. The benchmark data of single-phase flow in the bundle with the spacers by KAERI were used to validate the simulation result by JUPITER. Moreover, the single-phase flow simulation was conducted by another simulation method, STAR-CCM+, as a supplemental analysis to consider the effect of the different simulation methods. Finally, the two-phase flow simulation for the bundle with the spacer was conducted by JUPITER. The effect of the spacer with a vane on the bubble behavior is discussed.

Study on the evaluation method to determine the radioactivity concentration in radioactive waste on Oarai Research and Development Institute (FY2020)

Asakura, Kazuki; Shimomura, Yusuke; Donomae, Yasushi; Abe, Kazuyuki; Kitamura, Ryoichi; Miyakoshi, Hiroyuki; Takamatsu, Misao; Sakamoto, Naoki; Isozaki, Ryosuke; Onishi, Takashi; et al.

JAEA-Review 2021-020, 42 Pages, 2021/10

JAEA-Review-2021-020.pdf:2.95MB

The disposal of radioactive waste from the research facility need to calculate from the radioactivity concentration that based on variously nuclear fuels and materials. In Japan Atomic Energy Agency Oarai Research and Development Institute, the study on considering disposal is being advanced among the facilities which generate radioactive waste as well as the facilities which process radioactive waste. This report summarizes a study result in FY2020 about the evaluation method to determine the radioactivity concentration in radioactive waste on Oarai Research and Development Institute.

Database for corrosion under irradiation conditions (Contract research)

Sato, Tomonori; Hata, Kuniki; Kaji, Yoshiyuki; Ueno, Fumiyoshi; Inoue, Hiroyuki*; Taguchi, Mitsumasa*; Seito, Hajime*; Tada, Eiji*; Abe, Hiroshi*; Akiyama, Eiji*; et al.

JAEA-Review 2021-001, 123 Pages, 2021/06

JAEA-Review-2021-001.pdf:10.33MB

In the implement of the decommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (1F), there are many problems to be solved. Specially, the mitigation of the aging degradation by the corrosion of the structural materials is important to implement the decommissioning safely and continuously. However, there are limited data for the environmental factors of corrosion in 1F, and the condition of 1F is continuously changing. So, the literature data for the water radiolysis and the corrosion under irradiation are listed as the database of corrosion under irradiation in this report. And the new obtained radiolysis and corrosion data, which have not been reported in the literature and will be required in the decommissioning of 1F, are reported.

Corrosion resistance of a cast steel overpack for high-level radioactive waste disposal in Japan

Ogawa, Yusuke*; Suzuki, Satoru*; Taniguchi, Naoki; Kawasaki, Manabu*; Suzuki, Hiroyuki*; Takahashi, Rieko*

Materials and Corrosion, 72(1-2), p.52 - 66, 2021/01

https://doi.org/10.1002/maco.202011781

Cast steel is one of the promising alternative to forged steel that is the current reference material for carbon steel overpack. In this study, the full-scale cast steel overpack was produced experimentally and the distribution of casting defects were investigated. The corrosion test regarding corrosion rate and stress corrosion cracking (SCC) susceptibility were also conducted using samples taken from the full-scale cast steel overpack and the corrosion resistance of cast steel was compared with that of forged steel. From above two corrosion tests, it can be said that the corrosion resistance of cast steel is mostly the same as that of forged steel.