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Sato, Hinata; Mori, Amami; Kuno, Sorato; Horigome, Kazushi; Goto, Yuichi; Yamamoto, Masahiko; Taguchi, Shigeo
JAEA-Technology 2024-011, 56 Pages, 2024/10
JAEA-Technology-2024-011.pdf:2.5MB
Flush-out, which recovers remaining nuclear materials in the process and transfer it to a highly radioactive liquid waste storage tank, has been performed at main plant of Tokai Reprocessing Plant. The flush-out has been composed from three steps: first step is to remove of spent fuel sheared powder, second step is to collect plutonium solution stored in the process, and third step is to convert uranium solution into uranium trioxide powder. The first step of flush-out activity has been completed in 2022. Second and third steps of flush-out have been completed from March 2023 to February 2024. Process control analysis has been performed for operation of the facility, and material accountancy analysis has been performed to control the accountancy of nuclear materials. In addition, related analytical work such as pretreatment for transporting inspection samples for safeguards analysis laboratories in IAEA has been also performed. This report describes results of analytical work performed in collections of plutonium and uranium solutions in second and third steps of the flush-out, including calibration of analytical equipment, waste generation, and education and training of analytical operator.
Yamamoto, Masahiko; Horigome, Kazushi; Goto, Yuichi; Taguchi, Shigeo
Proceedings of International Conference on Nuclear Fuel Cycle (GLOBAL2024) (Internet), 4 Pages, 2024/10
Flush-out activities of Tokai Reprocessing Plant were completed in February, 2024. Since it contained remaining nuclear materials in main process of the facility, purpose of activities was to flush-out them and to rinse with nitric acid solution. This paper describes analysis of nuclear materials related to flush-out activities.
Ishibashi, Atsushi; Masui, Kenji; Goto, Yuichi; Yamamoto, Masahiko; Taguchi, Shigeo; Ishikawa, Satoshi*; Ishikawa, Tomoya*
Nihon Hozen Gakkai Dai-19-Kai Gakujutsu Koenkai Yoshishu, p.18 - 21, 2023/08
An inner-box typed hot cell for analysis of highly radioactive samples has been operated for about 40 years in Tokai Reprocessing Plant since its installation in 1980. During the operation of analytical hot cell, improvement and upgrades including auxiliary equipment have been performed, in addition to keep the equipment in proper condition through periodic inspections and maintenance. This paper describes about these efforts for analytical hot cell and its results.
Aoya, Juri; Mori, Amami; Sato, Hinata; Kono, Soma; Morokado, Shiori; Horigome, Kazushi; Goto, Yuichi; Yamamoto, Masahiko; Taguchi, Shigeo
JAEA-Technology 2023-008, 34 Pages, 2023/06
JAEA-Technology-2023-008.pdf:1.92MB
Flush-out, by which nuclear materials in the Tokai Reprocessing Plant process are recovered, has been started in June 2022 as the first step of decommissioning. Flush-out consists of removal of spent fuel sheared powder, plutonium solution, uranium solution, and the other nuclear materials. Removal of spent fuel sheared powder has been completed in September 2022. During removal of spent fuel sheared powder, uranium concentration, plutonium concentration, acid concentration, radioactivity concentration, and solution density have been analyzed for process control. For nuclear material accountancy, uranium concentration, plutonium concentration, isotope ratio, and solution density have been analyzed. Analysis work including sample pretreatment before transportation to IAEA analytical facility for safeguards, and the other operations related to Flush-out such as calibration of analytical instruments, education, and training of operators are reported.
Ishibashi, Atsushi; Saegusa, Yu; Aoya, Juri; Yamamoto, Masahiko; Taguchi, Shigeo; Kuno, Takehiko
Nihon Hozen Gakkai Dai-18-Kai Gakujutsu Koenkai Yoshishu, p.241 - 244, 2022/07
no abstracts in English
Taguchi, Shigeo; Taguchi, Katsuya; Makino, Risa; Yamanaka, Atsushi; Suzuki, Kazuyuki; Takano, Masato; Koshino, Katsuhiko; Ishida, Michihiko; Nakano, Takafumi; Yamaguchi, Toshiya
Nihon Hozen Gakkai Dai-17-Kai Gakujutsu Koenkai Yoshishu, p.499 - 502, 2021/07
In 2018, Tokai Reprocessing Plan (TRP) shifted to the decommissioning stage. In order to proceed with steady decommissioning work, TRP effort to enhance project management function. This paper describes the establishment and role of the Decommissioning Project Management Office, effectiveness of applying the project management tool and its utilization concept, and the method of materialize the equipment dismantling plan.
Yamamoto, Masahiko; Do, V. K.; Taguchi, Shigeo; Kuno, Takehiko; Takamura, Yuzuru*
Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, 327(1), p.433 - 444, 2021/01
Times Cited Count：0 Percentile：0.00(Chemistry, Analytical)A simple, practical, and reliable analytical method for determination of Na, K, Ca, Sr, and Ba by liquid electrode plasma optical emission spectrometry is developed. Appropriate emission lines for quantification, interferences from co-existing elements, and effect of measurement conditions with cell damage have been investigated. The spike and recovery tests using actual sample have been performed for method validation, and negligible sample matrix effect has been observed. Consequently, the method is successfully applied to several radioactive wastes. The obtained data have been agreed well with data from computer calculation and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry within 10% difference.
Yamamoto, Masahiko; Taguchi, Shigeo; Do, V. K.; Kuno, Takehiko; Surugaya, Naoki
Applied Radiation and Isotopes, 152, p.37 - 44, 2019/10
Times Cited Count：9 Percentile：64.25(Chemistry, Inorganic & Nuclear)An online measurement system using an alpha liquid scintillation counter (
-LSC) coupled to microchip solvent extraction has been developed. A flow-through cell of -LSC has been prepared by packing PTFE tube into glass tube to combine microchip. Two-phase flow in microchannel has been stabilized by using coiled tube. The Pu in organic phase has been mixed with scintillation cocktail by T-junction connectors. The system separates and detects Pu by online with detection limit of 6.5 Bq/mL, generating only 
L-level wastes.
Yamamoto, Masahiko; Do, V. K.; Taguchi, Shigeo; Kuno, Takehiko; Takamura, Yuzuru*
Spectrochimica Acta, Part B, 155, p.134 - 140, 2019/05
Times Cited Count：7 Percentile：42.19(Spectroscopy)The emission spectra of technetium (Tc) by liquid electrode plasma optical emission spectrometry have been investigated in this study. From the spectra, 52 emission peaks of Tc were observed in the 250-500 nm wavelength range. All peaks were assigned to the neutral state or singly ionized state. The relative intensities of these peaks were similar to those excited by an electric spark. The strongest intensity peaks were found at 254.3 nm, 261.0 nm, and 264.7 nm. Spectral interferences of coexisting elements in highly active liquid waste of reprocessing stream on those three strongest peaks were investigated using simulated sample. No spectral interferences were observed around the 264.7 nm Tc peak. Therefore, analytical performance using 264.7 nm peak was evaluated. The detection limit, estimated on standard and blank samples in 0.4 M nitric acid, was 1.9 mg/L. The relative standard deviation of Tc standard sample (12.0 mg/L) was 3.8% (N = 5, 1
).
Taguchi, Shigeo; Miyauchi, Hironari*; Horigome, Kazushi; Yamamoto, Masahiko; Kuno, Takehiko
Bunseki Kagaku, 67(11), p.681 - 686, 2018/11
In thermal ionization mass spectrometry, de-gassing is one of the important treatments to release impurities of filaments and to minimize the influence of background. In this work, the effect of the surface change in the tungsten filament induced by the conductively heating treatment on uranium isotopic (
U/
U) measurement has been investigated. It was found that the conductively heating treatment of the filament has the effect of smoothing the surface of the filament and also has the effect of improving the deposition of the sample on the filament surface. As a result of either these effects, the precision of uranium isotopic (U/U) measurement was improved.
Yamamoto, Masahiko; Taguchi, Shigeo; Horigome, Kazushi; Kuno, Takehiko
Proceedings of IAEA Symposium on International Safeguards; Building Future Safeguards Capabilities (Internet), 8 Pages, 2018/11
In this study, the single-column extraction chromatographic separation has been developed for analysis of U and Pu in highly active liquid waste by isotope dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS). The commercially available TEVA
resin is selected as an extraction chromatography resin. The U is chromatographically separated from fission products (FP) elements by nitric acid while Pu(IV) is adsorbed on the resin. After that, Pu is eluted by reducing to Pu(III). The method has been successfully achieved the separation with yielding the enough recovery and sufficient decontamination factors for subsequent IDMS analysis. The column dose rate after the FP removal is decreased to the background. The analytical results obtained by the developed method are in a good agreement with those of the conventional method. It provides simple and rapid separation and expected that the method can be applied to join IAEA/Japan on-site analytical laboratory.
Taguchi, Shigeo; Yamamoto, Masahiko; Furuse, Takahiro*; Masaki, Yuji*; Kuno, Takehiko
JAEA-Technology 2018-005, 14 Pages, 2018/06
JAEA-Technology-2018-005.pdf:0.94MB
The method to remove Pu, Am and Np from plutonium nitrate solution recovered from spent nuclear fuel prior to ICP-OES measurement has been developed for the determination of 18 impurity metal elements (Fe, Cr, Ni, Mn, Al, Cd, V, Cu, Si, Zn, Mo, Sn, Ca, Mg, Na, Ag, Pb, B). In this method, two TRU resin packed columns were used for separation. In the first column, Pu and Am were mainly removed by adsorption. The recovered solution from the fist column was added to the second column after reduction of Np, and Am(III) and Np(IV) were removed by adsorption. The Pu nitrate solution (22g/L) of 2mL were treated by proposed method. The alpha emission nuclide was decreased to 
5.8 Bq/mL in a solution diluted to 100mL. As a result of ICP-OES measurement, the recoveries of impurity metals separated by proposed method were almost 100%. This separation scheme can apply to the metal impurity elemental analysis in Pu nitrate solution recovered from spent nuclear fuel.
Do, V. K.; Yamamoto, Masahiko; Taguchi, Shigeo; Takamura, Yuzuru*; Surugaya, Naoki; Kuno, Takehiko
Talanta, 183, p.283 - 289, 2018/06
Times Cited Count：11 Percentile：38.24(Chemistry, Analytical)We develop a novel analytical method employing liquid electrode plasma optical emission spectrometry for measurement of total cesium in highly active liquid wastes. Limit of detection and limit of quantification are 0.005 mg/L and 0.02 mg/L, respectively. The method is validated and applied to the real samples.
Do, V. K.; Yamamoto, Masahiko; Taguchi, Shigeo; Kuno, Takehiko; Surugaya, Naoki
Current Analytical Chemistry, 14(2), p.111 - 119, 2018/00
Times Cited Count：4 Percentile：13.14(Chemistry, Analytical)A direct coupling of two-phase flow solvent extraction microfluidics with ICP-MS for element-selective analysis is successfully established. Two-phase flow in microchannels of two combined glass chips for continuous extraction and back-extraction is stabilized through balancing the pressure by using an external coiled tube that functions as a flow resistor. The difference of fluid flow rate between microchannels and ICP-MS is adjusted by a proposed interface system including T-junction mixer and a switching valve. An online measurement of rhenium is successfully demonstrated. The calibration curve for Re is carried out in the range of 1 g/L to 20 g/L. The limit of detection is 0.2 g/L with a needed sample volume of one milliliter. Total time including extraction, back-extraction, and measurement is less than one hour. The development of the online coupling is a first step towards future applications to the selective measurement of highly radioactive elements.
Horigome, Kazushi; Taguchi, Shigeo; Nishida, Naoki; Goto, Yuichi; Inada, Satoshi; Kuno, Takehiko
Nihon Hozen Gakkai Dai-14-Kai Gakujutsu Koenkai Yoshishu, p.381 - 384, 2017/08
no abstracts in English
Horigome, Kazushi; Taguchi, Shigeo; Yamamoto, Masahiko; Kuno, Takehiko; Surugaya, Naoki
JAEA-Technology 2017-016, 20 Pages, 2017/07
JAEA-Technology-2017-016.pdf:1.68MB
Mixed spikes of uranium and plutonium have been prepared for the determination of uranium and plutonium in dissolved MOX solution by isotope dilution mass spectrometry. Enriched uranium metal NBL CRM116 and plutonium metal NBL CRM126 were accurately weighed and then dissolved in nitric acid, respectively. Their dissolved solutions were mixed in a mass ratio of 1 to 2. The preparation values of uranium and plutonium were 1.0530 
0.0008 mg/g (k=2) of uranium with a U relative mass fraction of 93.114 wt% and 2.0046 0.0019 mg/g (k=2) of plutonium with a 
Pu relative mass fraction of 97.934 wt%, respectively. The concentrations of uranium and plutonium in spike were confirmed by reverse isotope dilution mass spectrometry using tracer of 
U and 
Pu. Finally, the prepared spike was validated by parallel analysis of simulated sample of dissolved MOX solution. This spike was applied to measure the uranium and plutonium amount content of dissolved MOX solutions using isotope dilution mass spectrometry.
2016.10Horigome, Kazushi; Taguchi, Shigeo; Ishibashi, Atsushi; Inada, Satoshi; Kuno, Takehiko; Surugaya, Naoki
JAEA-Technology 2017-008, 14 Pages, 2017/05
JAEA-Technology-2017-008.pdf:1.15MB
The plutonium solution had been converted into MOX powder to mitigate the potential hazards of storage plutonium solution such as hydrogen generation at the Plutonium Conversion Development Facility. The plutonium conversion operations had been started in April, 2014, and had been finished in July, 2016. With respect to the samples taken from the conversion process, about 2,200 items of plutonium/uranium solutions and MOX powders had been analyzed for the operation control in the related analytical laboratories at the Tokai Reprocessing Plant. This paper describes the reports on analytical activities and related maintenance works in the analytical laboratories conducted from December, 2015 to October, 2016.
Furuse, Takahiro*; Taguchi, Shigeo; Kuno, Takehiko; Surugaya, Naoki
JAEA-Technology 2016-028, 19 Pages, 2016/12
JAEA-Technology-2016-028.pdf:1.79MB
Metal impurities in MOX powder obtained from uranium and plutonium recovered from reprocessing process of spent nuclear fuel are needed to be determined for its characterization. Direct current arc atomic emission spectroscopy (DCA-AES) is one of the useful methods for direct analysis of powder sample without dissolving the analyte into aqueous solution. However, the selection of standard material, which can overcome concerns such as matrix matching, is quite important to create adequate calibration curves for DCA-AES. In this study, we apply standard addition method using the certified U
O
containing known amounts of metal impurities to avoid the matrix problems. The proposed method provides good results for determination of Fe, Cr and Ni at a significant quantity level contained in MOX samples.
2015.12Horigome, Kazushi; Suzuki, Hisanori; Suzuki, Yoshimasa; Ishibashi, Atsushi; Taguchi, Shigeo; Inada, Satoshi; Kuno, Takehiko; Surugaya, Naoki
JAEA-Technology 2016-026, 21 Pages, 2016/12
JAEA-Technology-2016-026.pdf:1.14MB
In order to mitigate potential hazards of storage plutonium in solution such as hydrogen generation, conversion of plutonium solution into MOX powder has been carried out since 2014 in the Plutonium Conversion Development Facility. With respect to the samples taken from the conversion process, about 3500 items of plutonium/uranium solutions and MOX powders have been analyzed for the operation control in the related analytical laboratories at the Tokai Reprocessing Plant. This paper describes the reports on analytical activities and related maintenance works in the analytical laboratories conducted from April 2014 to December 2015.
Kinuhata, Hiroshi*; Yamamoto, Masahiko; Taguchi, Shigeo; Surugaya, Naoki; Sato, Soichi; Kodama, Takashi*; Tamauchi, Yoshikazu*; Shibata, Yuki*; Anzai, Kiyoshi*; Matsuoka, Shingo*
Nuclear Technology, 192(2), p.155 - 159, 2015/11
Times Cited Count：0 Percentile：0.00(Nuclear Science & Technology)Experiments using a small-scale apparatus with 30 ml actual high-level liquid waste from the Tokai Reprocessing Plant were carried out to show that the hydrogen concentration in the gas phase reaches a steady-state value of much less than 4% (lower explosive limit) in the absence of sweeping-air. The H
concentration reached a steady-state value as was expected and it was compared with a value predicted from an equation with parameters which had been obtained using the simulated solution. Satisfactory agreement showed that the Pd-ion catalytic H consumption reaction previously found in the simulated solution proceeded equally well in the actual solution.
