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.

Development of the multi-cubic -ray spectrometer and its performance under intense Cs and Co radiation fields

Kaburagi, Masaaki; Shimazoe, Kenji*; Kato, Masahiro*; Kurosawa, Tadahiro*; Kamada, Kei*; Kim, K. J.*; Yoshino, Masao*; Shoji, Yasuhiro*; Yoshikawa, Akira*; Takahashi, Hiroyuki*

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, 1010, p.165544_1 - 165544_9, 2021/09

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2021.165544

The number of nuclear facilities being decommissioned has been increasing worldwide, in particular following the accident of the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings' Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in 2011. In these nuclear facilities, proper management of radioactive materials is required. Then, A -ray spectrometer with four segmentations using small volume CeBr scintillators with a dimension of was developed. The four scintillators were coupled to a multi-anode photomultiplier tube specific to intense radiation fields. We performed the -ray exposure study under Cs and Co radiation fields. Under the Cs radiation field, the relative energy resolution at 1375 mSv/h was the relative energy resolution at 1375 mSv/h was 9.20.05%, 8.00.08%, 8.00.03%, and 9.00.04% for the four channels, respectively.

Investigation and consideration on evaluation of radiation doses to residents in the case of a nuclear emergency

Hashimoto, Makoto; Kinase, Sakae; Munakata, Masahiro; Murayama, Takashi; Takahashi, Masa; Takada, Chie; Okamoto, Akiko; Hayakawa, Tsuyoshi; Sukegawa, Masato; Kume, Nobuhide*; et al.

JAEA-Review 2020-071, 53 Pages, 2021/03

JAEA-Review-2020-071.pdf:2.72MB

In the case of a nuclear accident or a radiological emergency, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), as a designated public corporation assigned in the Disaster Countermeasures Basic Act and the Armed Attack Situation Response Law, undertakes technical supports to the national government and local governments. The JAEA is requested to support to evaluate radiation doses to residents in a nuclear emergency, which is specified in the Basic Disaster Management Plan and the Nuclear Emergency Response Manual. For the dose evaluation, however, its strategy, target, method, structure and so on have not been determined either specifically or in detail. This report describes the results of investigation and consideration discussed in the "Working Group for Radiation Dose Evaluation at a Nuclear Emergency" established within the Nuclear Emergency Assistance and Training Center to discuss technical supports for radiation dose evaluation to residents in the case of a nuclear emergency, and aims at contributing to specific and detailed discussion and activities in the future for the national government and local governments, also within the JAEA.

Simple pretreatment method for tritium measurement in environmental water samples using a liquid scintillation counter

Nakasone, Shunya*; Yokoyama, Sumi*; Takahashi, Tomoyuki*; Ota, Masakazu; Kakiuchi, Hideki*; Sugihara, Shinji*; Hirao, Shigekazu*; Momoshima, Noriyuki*; Tamari, Toshiya*; Shima, Nagayoshi*; et al.

Plasma and Fusion Research (Internet), 16, p.2405035_1 - 2405035_5, 2021/02

https://doi.org/10.1585/pfr.16.2405035

Removal of impurities such as organic and other types of dissolved matters from environmental water samples is required for precise analysis of tritium with a liquid scintillation counting method. In general, a distillation method is a conventional one for tritium analysis in environmental water samples, but is a time-consuming process that takes 24 hours for removal of impurities. We have proposed a rapid pretreatment method for tritium analysis, that uses ion exchange resins. In this study, we performed batch experiments, to evaluate the effectiveness of the ion exchange resins on the tritium measurement. The results obtained demonstrated that removal of impurities in the sample water by ion exchange resins can be achieved during a short period of time (i.e., in 5 min).

Japanese population dose from natural radiation

Omori, Yasutaka*; Hosoda, Masahiro*; Takahashi, Fumiaki; Sanada, Tetsuya*; Hirao, Shigekazu*; Ono, Koji*; Furukawa, Masahide*

Journal of Radiological Protection, 40(3), p.R99 - R140, 2020/09

https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6498/ab73b1

UNSCEAR and the Nuclear Safety Research Association report the annual effective doses from cosmic rays, terrestrial radiation, inhalation and ingestion from natural sources. In this study, radiation doses from natural radiation sources in Japan were reviewed with the latest knowledge and data. Total annual effective dose from cosmic-ray exposure can be evaluated as 0.29 mSv. The annual effective dose from external exposure to terrestrial radiation for Japanese population can be evaluated as 0.33 mSv using the data of nationwide survey by the National Institute of Radiological Sciences. The Japan Chemical Analysis Center (JCAC) performed the nationwide radon survey using a unified method for radon measurements in indoor, outdoor and workplace. The annual effective dose for radon inhalation was estimated using a current dose conversion factor, and the values were estimated to be 0.50 mSv. The annual effective dose from thoron was reported as 0.09 mSv by UNSCEAR and then the annual effective dose from inhalation can be described as 0.59 mSv. According to the report of large scale survey of foodstuff by JCAC, the effective dose from main radionuclides due to dietary intake can be evaluated to be 0.99 mSv. Finally, Japanese population dose from natural radiation can be assessed as 2.2 mSv which is near to the world average value of 2.4 mSv.

Confinement of hydrogen molecules at graphene-metal interface by electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction

Yasuda, Satoshi; Tamura, Kazuhisa; Terasawa, Tomoo; Yano, Masahiro; Nakajima, Hideaki*; Morimoto, Takahiro*; Okazaki, Toshiya*; Agari, Ryushi*; Takahashi, Yasufumi*; Kato, Masaru*; et al.

Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 124(9), p.5300 - 5307, 2020/03

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.0c00995

Confinement of hydrogen molecules at graphene-substrate interface has presented significant importance from the viewpoints of development of fundamental understanding of two-dimensional material interface and energy storage system. In this study, we investigate H confinement at a graphene-Au interface by combining selective proton permeability of graphene and the electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (electrochemical HER) method. After HER on a graphene/Au electrode in protonic acidic solution, scanning tunneling microscopy finds that H nanobubble structures can be produced between graphene and the Au surface. Strain analysis by Raman spectroscopy also shows that atomic size roughness on the graphene/Au surface originating from the HER-induced strain relaxation of graphene plays significant role in formation of the nucleation site and H storage capacity.

Improvement of motor control system in J-PARC linac and RCS

Takahashi, Hiroki; Miura, Akihiko; Sawabe, Yuki; Yoshimoto, Masahiro; Suzuki, Takahiro*; Kawase, Masato*

Proceedings of 9th International Particle Accelerator Conference (IPAC '18) (Internet), p.2180 - 2182, 2018/06

https://doi.org/10.18429/JACoW-IPAC2018-WEPAL015

The stepping motor control system used in the profile monitor and RCS collimator of J-PARC is configured by VME-based. Most of these pieces of control equipment are in use for more than 10 years. Therefore, countermeasures against aging of equipment are necessary. In addition, it is necessary to implement countermeasures against malfunction of the control system, which is thought to be caused by radiation. In 2016, a malfunction occurred in the motor control system of the RCS collimator. Taking this as a starting point, we began developing a motor control system that can ensure equipment safety even if a malfunction occurs. In this paper, we show the inference of the cause of this malfunction and present details of the developed high-safety motor control system.

Present status of the injector for IFMIF Linear Prototype Accelerator (LIPAc)

Shinto, Katsuhiro; Ichikawa, Masahiro; Takahashi, Hiroki; Kondo, Keitaro; Kasugai, Atsushi; Gobin, R.*; Sene, F.*; Chauvin, N.*; Ayala, J.-M.*; Marqueta, A.*; et al.

Proceedings of 12th Annual Meeting of Particle Accelerator Society of Japan (Internet), p.493 - 495, 2015/09

http://www.pasj.jp/web_publish/pasj2015/proceedings/PDF/WEP0/WEP032.pdf

Development of the prototype accelerator (LIPAc) for the engineering validation of the International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility (IFMIF) which is an accelerator driven neutron source has been progressed at Rokkasho. The LIPAc is a deuteron linear accelerator consisting of an injector, a radio-frequency quadrupole (RFQ) linac and a superconducting linac. The objective of LIPAc is to produce a CW beam with the energy and current of 9 MeV and 125 mA, respectively. The injector was developed at CEA/Saclay and succeeded to produce CW proton and deuteron beams of 100 keV/140 mA by autumn 2012. After the test at CEA/Saclay, the injector was shipped to the International Fusion Energy Research Centre (IFERC) in Rokkasho, Aomori and started to reassemble from the end of 2013. It was successfully produced proton beams in November 2014 at Rokkasho. While the ion source conditioning was done, the beam test was progressed. In this paper, the present status of the LIPAc injector at Rokkasho with some experimental results will be presented.

Non-destructive examination of jacket sections for ITER central solenoid conductors

Takahashi, Yoshikazu; Suwa, Tomone; Nabara, Yoshihiro; Ozeki, Hidemasa; Hemmi, Tsutomu; Nunoya, Yoshihiko; Isono, Takaaki; Matsui, Kunihiro; Kawano, Katsumi; Oshikiri, Masayuki; et al.

IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, 25(3), p.4200904_1 - 4200904_4, 2015/06

https://doi.org/10.1109/TASC.2014.2364632

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) is responsible for procuring all amounts of Central Solenoid (CS) Conductors for ITER, including CS jacket sections. The conductor is cable-in-conduit conductor (CICC) with a central spiral. A total of 576 NbSn strands and 288 copper strands are cabled around the central spiral. The maximum operating current is 40 kA at magnetic field of 13 T. CS jacket section is circular in square type tube made of JK2LB, which is high manganese stainless steel with boron added. Unit length of jacket sections is 7 m and 6,300 sections will be manufactured and inspected. Outer/inner dimension and weight are 51.3/35.3 mm and around 90 kg, respectively. Eddy Current Test (ECT) and Phased Array Ultrasonic Test (PAUT) were developed for non-destructive examination. The defects on inner and outer surfaces can be detected by ECT. The defects inside jacket section can be detected by PAUT. These technology and the inspected results are reported in this paper.

Pairwise packing of anthracene fluorophore; Hydrogen-bonding-assisted dimer emission in solid state

Hisamatsu, Shugo; Masu, Hyuma*; Takahashi, Masahiro*; Kishikawa, Keiki*; Komoto, Shigeo*

Crystal Growth & Design, 15(5), p.2291 - 2302, 2015/04

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.cgd.5b00081

Anthracene derivatives possessing a carbamate group and an ester group at their 9- and 10-positions, respectively, were prepared to furnish pairwise packing of anthracene fluorophores in their crystal structures. They were nonluminescent in ethanol solution and showed AIE (aggregation-induced emission) in aqueous ethanol solution and in solid state. Crystal structure analysis of them showed that the H-bonding networks involved in their crystal structures could be classified into four patterns, H-bonding between the carbamate and the ester carbonyl (motifA), H-bonding between the carbamate and the ester oxygen atom (motif B), H-bonded cyclic dimer of carbamate moieties (motif C), and H-bonded chain among carbamate moieties (motif D). Compounds with pairwisely packed anthracene fluorophores showed dimer emission with the longer fluorescence wavelength than others without the pair formation.