Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory Project Investigation report for the 2024 fiscal year

Nakayama, Masashi; Ishii, Eiichi; Aoyagi, Kazuhei; Hayano, Akira; Murakami, Hiroaki; Ono, Hirokazu; Takeda, Masaki; Fukatsu, Yuta; Mochizuki, Akihito; Ozaki, Yusuke; et al.

JAEA-Review 2025-042, 136 Pages, 2025/12

JAEA-Review-2025-042.pdf:12.95MB

The Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory (URL) Project is being pursued by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) to enhance the reliability of relevant technologies for geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste through investigating the deep geological environment within the host sedimentary rocks at Horonobe-cho in Hokkaido, north Japan. In the fiscal year 2024, we continued R&D on "Study on near-field system performance in geological environment", "Demonstration of repository design options", and "Understanding of buffering behaviour of sedimentary rock to natural perturbations". These are identified as key R&D on challenges to be tackled in the Horonobe underground research plan for the fiscal year 2020 onwards. Specifically, "full-scale engineered barrier system (EBS) performance experiment" and "solute transport experiment with model testing" were carried out as part of "Study on near-field system performance in geological environment". "Demonstration of engineering feasibility of repository technology" and "evaluation of EBS behaviour over 100C" were addressed for "Demonstration of repository design options". The validation of a method for assessing permeability using the Ductility Index and a method for estimating the state of in-situ ground pressure from hydraulic perturbation tests were investigated as part of the study "Understanding of buffering behaviour of sedimentary rock to natural perturbations". In FY2024, we continued construction of the East Access Shaft and the Ventilation Shaft, and construction of these shafts were completed to a depth of 500 m. After the completion of the East Access Shaft, excavation of the West Access Shaft and 500 m gallery has began. As of the end of FY2024, excavation progress is as follows, the East Access Shaft and the Ventilation Shaft were 500 m depth, the West Access Shaft was 472 m depth, 500 m gallery was 112.9 m, respectively. In the Horonobe International Project (HIP), Management Board and Joint Task Meeting was held at the Horonobe URL in June 2024 to review the progress of construction of galleries and preparations of experiments. Task Meetings to review the implementation plan for in-situ testing and analysis were also held. HIP will be implemented in two phases: Phase 1 (from FY2022 to FY2024) and Phase 2 (from FY2025 to FY2028), the research results of Phase 1 were compiled in FY2024.

Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory Project; Investigation program for the fiscal year 2025

Nakayama, Masashi; Ishii, Eiichi; Hayano, Akira; Aoyagi, Kazuhei; Murakami, Hiroaki; Ono, Hirokazu; Takeda, Masaki; Mochizuki, Akihito; Ozaki, Yusuke; Kimura, Shun; et al.

JAEA-Review 2025-027, 80 Pages, 2025/09

JAEA-Review-2025-027.pdf:6.22MB

The Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory Project is being pursued by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency to enhance the reliability of relevant technologies for geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste through investigating the deep geological environment within the host sedimentary rocks at Horonobe Town in Hokkaido, north Japan. In the fiscal year 2025, we continue R&D on "Study on near-field system performance in geological environment" and "Demonstration of repository design options". These are identified as key R&D challenges to be tackled in the Horonobe underground research plan for the fiscal year 2020 onwards. In the "Study on near-field system performance in geological environment", we continue to obtain data from the full-scale engineered barrier system performance experiment, and work on the specifics of the full-scale engineered barrier system dismantling experiment. As for "Demonstration of repository design options", the investigation, design, and evaluation techniques are to be systemized at various scales, from the tunnel to the pit, by means of an organized set of evaluation methodologies for confinement performance at these respective scales. Preliminary borehole investigations will be conducted within a 500 m gallery, with the objectives of obtaining rock strength and rock permeability data, as well as surveying the extent of the excavation damaged zone surrounding the test tunnel via tomographic analysis. A planning study for the in-situ construction test will be conducted to investigate the construction of backfill material and watertight plugs. The volume of water inflow associated with the excavation of the 500 m gallery will be observed, and its magnitude will be compared with the range of water inflow predicted in the analysis. The test plan to determine the extent of the excavation damaged zone around the pit, which is planned to be constructed in the 500 m gallery, will be studied to determine the in-situ excavation damaged zone. In addition, the investigation and evaluation methods for the amount of water inflow from fractures and the extent of the excavation damaged zone around the pit will be organized. Concerning the construction and maintenance of the subsurface facilities, excavation of the West Access Shaft and the 500 m gallery will continue. It is anticipated that the construction of the facilities will be completed by the end of the fiscal year 2025. In addition, we continue R&D on the following three tasks in the Horonobe International Project; Task A: Solute transport experiment with model testing, Task B: Systematic integration of repository technology options, and Task C: Full-scale engineered barrier system dismantling experiment.

Missing-mass measurement of the C reaction at 1.8 GeV/ with the Superconducting Kaon spectrometer

Ichikawa, Yudai; Fujita, Manami; Hasegawa, Shoichi; Imai, Kenichi*; Nanamura, Takuya; Naruki, Megumi; Sato, Susumu; Sako, Hiroyuki; Tamura, Hirokazu; Tanida, Kiyoshi; et al.

Progress of Theoretical and Experimental Physics (Internet), 2024(9), p.091D01_1 - 091D01_13, 2024/09

https://doi.org/10.1093/ptep/ptae133

X ray spectroscopy on atoms (J-PARC E03, E07 and future)

Yamamoto, Takeshi; Fujita, Manami; Gogami, Toshiyuki*; Harada, Takeshi*; Hayakawa, Shuhei*; Hosomi, Kenji; Ichikawa, Yudai; Ishikawa, Yuji*; Kamata, K.*; Kanauchi, H.*; et al.

EPJ Web of Conferences, 271, p.03001_1 - 03001_5, 2022/11

https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202227103001

Recent progress and future prospects of hyperon nucleon scattering experiment

Miwa, Koji*; Fujita, Manami; Harada, Takeshi; Hasegawa, Shoichi; Hosomi, Kenji; Ichikawa, Masaya; Imai, Kenichi*; Sako, Hiroyuki; Sato, Susumu; Tamura, Hirokazu; et al.

EPJ Web of Conferences, 271, p.04001_1 - 04001_7, 2022/11

https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202227104001

Development of a Ge detector array and an in-beam calibration system for highly precise measurement of atomic X-rays

Fujita, Manami; Hosomi, Kenji; Ishikawa, Yuji*; Kanauchi, H.*; Koike, Takeshi*; Ogura, Yu*; Tamura, Hirokazu; Tanida, Kiyoshi; Ukai, Mifuyu*; Yamamoto, Takeshi

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, 1042, p.167439_1 - 167439_9, 2022/11

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2022.167439

Precise measurement of differential cross sections of the reaction in momentum range 470-650 MeV/

Miwa, Koji*; Fujita, Manami; Hasegawa, Shoichi; Hosomi, Kenji; Ichikawa, Yudai*; Imai, Kenichi*; Nanamura, Takuya; Sako, Hiroyuki; Sato, Susumu; Tamura, Hirokazu; et al.

Physical Review Letters, 128(7), p.072501_1 - 072501_6, 2022/02

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.072501

First observation of a nuclear -state of a hypernucleus,

Yoshimoto, Masahiro*; Fujita, Manami; Hashimoto, Tadashi; Hayakawa, Shuhei; Ichikawa, Yudai; Ichikawa, Masaya; Imai, Kenichi*; Nanamura, Takuya; Naruki, Megumi; Sako, Hiroyuki; et al.

Progress of Theoretical and Experimental Physics (Internet), 2021(7), p.073D02_1 - 073D02_19, 2021/07

https://doi.org/10.1093/ptep/ptab073

Study of identification method by the reaction for a scattering experiment at J-PARC

Sakao, Tamao*; Fujita, Manami; Hasegawa, Shoichi; Hosomi, Kenji; Ichikawa, Masaya; Ichikawa, Yudai; Imai, Kenichi*; Nanamura, Takuya; Naruki, Megumi; Sako, Hiroyuki; et al.

JPS Conference Proceedings (Internet), 33, p.011133_1 - 011133_6, 2021/03

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSCP.33.011133

Observation of Coulomb-assisted nuclear bound state of -N system

Hayakawa, Shuhei; Fujita, Manami; Hasegawa, Shoichi; Hashimoto, Tadashi; Hosomi, Kenji; Ichikawa, Yudai; Imai, Kenichi*; Nanamura, Takuya; Naruki, Megumi; Sako, Hiroyuki; et al.

Physical Review Letters, 126(6), p.062501_1 - 062501_6, 2021/02

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.062501