Isotopic signals in fracture-filling calcite showing anaerobic oxidation of methane in a granitic basement

Mizuno, Takashi; Suzuki, Yohei*; Milodowski, A. E.*; Iwatsuki, Teruki

Applied Geochemistry, 150, p.105571_1 - 105571_11, 2023/03

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeochem.2023.105571

Anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) affects both the redox conditions and carbon cycle in groundwater. However, examples of studies on crystalline rock deep in terrestrial subsurface as well as the potential host rock for geological disposal are few. Therefore, we conducted a paleohydrogeological study on fracture-filling calcite in the Toki Granite. The O value (-32.7 to -0.59 permil) revealed that the groundwater that precipitated the calcite was groundwater derived from hydrothermal fluid, freshwater that came from the surface, and seawater that penetrated during marine transgression. On the other hand, C (-56.6 to 6.0 permil) was wider than the isotopic range of DIC that originated from hydrothermal, freshwater, and seawater sources (-25 to 2 permil). Calcite with C that was lighter than -25 permil was believed to have precipitated DIC, which was provided by AOM. In contrast to previous studies, the Mizunami AOM calcite was precipitated in a freshwater environment, indicating that various processes could have generated AOM in crystalline rocks deep in the terrestrial subsurface.

Direct measurement of the evolution of magnetism and superconductivity toward the quantum critical point

Higemoto, Wataru; Yokoyama, Makoto*; Ito, Takashi; Suzuki, Taiga*; Raymond, S.*; Yanase, Yoichi*

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119(49), p.e2209549119_1 - e2209549119_6, 2022/11

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2209549119

no abstracts in English

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.

Carrying-out of whole nuclear fuel materials in Plutonium Research Building No.1

Inagawa, Jun; Kitatsuji, Yoshihiro; Otobe, Haruyoshi; Nakada, Masami; Takano, Masahide; Akie, Hiroshi; Shimizu, Osamu; Komuro, Michiyasu; Oura, Hirofumi*; Nagai, Isao*; et al.

JAEA-Technology 2021-001, 144 Pages, 2021/08

JAEA-Technology-2021-001.pdf:12.98MB

Plutonium Research Building No.1 (Pu1) was qualified as a facility to decommission, and preparatory operations for decommission were worked by the research groups users and the facility managers of Pu1. The operation of transportation of whole nuclear materials in Pu1 to Back-end Cycle Key Element Research Facility (BECKY) completed at Dec. 2020. In the operation included evaluation of criticality safety for changing permission of the license for use nuclear fuel materials in BECKY, cask of the transportation, the registration request of the cask at the institute, the test transportation, formulation of plan for whole nuclear materials transportation, and the main transportation. This report circumstantially shows all of those process to help prospective decommission.

Development of spin-contrast-variation neutron powder diffractometry for extracting the structure factor of hydrogen atoms

Miura, Daisuke*; Kumada, Takayuki; Sekine, Yurina; Motokawa, Ryuhei; Nakagawa, Hiroshi; Oba, Yojiro; Ohara, Takashi; Takata, Shinichi; Hiroi, Kosuke; Morikawa, Toshiaki*; et al.

Journal of Applied Crystallography, 54(2), p.454 - 460, 2021/04

https://doi.org/10.1107/S1600576721000303

We developed a spin-contrast-variation neutron powder diffractometry technique that extracts the structure factor of hydrogen atoms, namely, the contribution of hydrogen atoms to a crystal structure factor. Crystals of L-glutamic acid were dispersed in a dpolystyrene matrix containing 4-methacryloyloxy-2,2,6,6,-tetramethyl-1-piperidinyloxy (TEMPO methacrylate) to polarize their proton spins dynamically. The intensities of the diffraction peaks of the sample changed according to the proton polarization, and the structure factor of the hydrogen atoms was extracted from the proton-polarization dependent intensities. This technique is expected to enable analyses of the structures of hydrogen-containing materials that are difficult to determine with conventional powder diffractometry.

Development of fireproof sheet on glove box panels

Kawasaki, Kohei; Shinada, Kenta; Okamoto, Naritoshi; Kageyama, Tomio; Eda, Takashi; Okazaki, Hiro; Suzuki, Hiromichi; Yamamoto, Kazuya; Otabe, Jun

JAEA-Technology 2020-025, 80 Pages, 2021/03

JAEA-Technology-2020-025.pdf:3.72MB

Plutonium Fuel Production Facility was built in 1988 for the purpose of mainly producing MOX fuel of the prototype fast breeder reactor MONJU, and large glove boxes were installed for handling unsealed nuclear fuel material remotely. The panels of these glove boxes are made of acrylic, except for those installed after December 2013. For fires inside the glove box, automatic fire extinguishing systems using halides have been introduced since the beginning of construction, but for fires outside the glove box, there have been issues with direct measures for acrylic. Therefore, we have developed a fireproof sheet that mitigates the effect of fire outside the glove box on the panels as much as possible. As a result, fire-retardant sheets have been selected and attached to the glove box panels. We conducted a flammability test of the acrylic plate attached with these fireproof sheets and a usage environment influence test of fireproof sheets, and obtained good results. In addition, we set up a working group in the Plutonium Fuel Development Center in view of reducing external exposure during the work of attaching fireproof sheets, in which we discussed and examined the work procedure, and summarized it in the basic procedure manual.

Behavior of radiocesium in sediments in Fukushima coastal waters; Verification of desorption potential through pore water

Otosaka, Shigeyoshi*; Kambayashi, Shota*; Fukuda, Miho*; Tsuruta, Tadahiko; Misono, Toshiharu; Suzuki, Takashi; Aono, Tatsuo*

Environmental Science & Technology, 54(21), p.13778 - 13785, 2020/11

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c05450

Concentrations of Cs in seawater, seabed sediment, and pore water collected from the area around Fukushima were investigated from 2015 to 2018, and the potential of coastal sediments to supply radiocesium to the bottom environment was evaluated. The Cs concentration in the pore water ranged from 33 to 1934 mBq L and was 10-40 times higher than that in the overlying water (seawater overlying within 30 cm on the seabed). At most stations, the Cs concentrations in the overlying water and the pore water were approximately proportional to those in the sediment. The conditional partition coefficient between pore water and sediment was 0.9-1410 L kg, independent of the year of sampling. These results indicated that an equilibrium of Cs between pore water and sediment has established in a relatively short period, and Cs in the pore water is gradually exported to seawater near the seabed. A simple box model estimation based on these results showed that the Cs in the sediment was decreased by about 6% per year by desorption/diffusion of Cs from the seabed.

Development and application of a He neutron spin filter at J-PARC

Okudaira, Takuya; Oku, Takayuki; Ino, Takashi*; Hayashida, Hirotoshi*; Kira, Hiroshi*; Sakai, Kenji; Hiroi, Kosuke; Takahashi, Shingo*; Aizawa, Kazuya; Endo, Hitoshi*; et al.

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, 977, p.164301_1 - 164301_8, 2020/10

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2020.164301

How different is the core of F from O ?

Tang, T. L.*; Uesaka, Tomohiro*; Kawase, Shoichiro; Beaumel, D.*; Dozono, Masanori*; Fujii, Toshihiko*; Fukuda, Naoki*; Fukunaga, Taku*; Galindo-Uribarri, A.*; Hwang, S. H.*; et al.

Physical Review Letters, 124(21), p.212502_1 - 212502_6, 2020/05

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.212502

The structure of a neutron-rich F nucleus is investigated by a quasifree () knockout reaction. The sum of spectroscopic factors of orbital is found to be 1.0 0.3. The result shows that the O core of F nucleus significantly differs from a free O nucleus, and the core consists of 35% O, and 65% excited O. The result shows that the O core of F nucleus significantly differs from a free O nucleus. The result may infer that the addition of the proton considerably changes the neutron structure in F from that in O, which could be a possible mechanism responsible for the oxygen dripline anomaly.

Reconstruction of residents' thyroid equivalent doses from internal radionuclides after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station accident

Oba, Takashi*; Ishikawa, Tetsuo*; Nagai, Haruyasu; Tokonami, Shinji*; Hasegawa, Arifumi*; Suzuki, Gen*

Scientific Reports (Internet), 10(1), p.3639_1 - 3639_11, 2020/02

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-60453-0

Internal doses of residents after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station accident have been reconstructed. In total 896 behaviour records in the Fukushima Health Management Survey were analysed to estimate thyroid doses via inhalation, using a spatiotemporal radionuclides concentration database constructed by atmospheric dispersion simulations. After a decontamination factor for sheltering and a modifying factor for the dose coefficient were applied, estimated thyroid doses were close to those estimated on the basis of direct thyroid measurement. The median and 95th percentile of thyroid doses of 1-year-old children ranged from 1.2 to 15 mSv and from 7.5 to 30 mSv, respectively.