Atmospheric resuspension of insoluble radioactive cesium bearing particles found in the difficult-to-return area in Fukushima

Tang, P.*; 北 和之*; 五十嵐 康人*; 佐藤 志彦; 畑中 恒太郎*; 足立 光司*; 木名瀬 健*; 二宮 和彦*; 篠原 厚*

Progress in Earth and Planetary Science (Internet), 9(1), p.17_1 - 17_15, 2022/03

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40645-022-00475-6

The deposition of insoluble radiocesium bearing microparticles (CsMPs), which were released from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (F1NPP) accident in March 2011, has resulted in the widespread contamination of eastern Japan. Obviously, these deposited insoluble CsMPs may become the secondary contamination sources by atmospheric migration or other environmental transferring process, however, the understanding of the transport mechanism remains non-elucidation, and the relevant evidence has not been directly provided. This study, for the first time, provides the direct evidence for the resuspension of these insoluble CsMPs to the atmosphere from (1) proximity of Cs radioactivity and resemblance of the morphology and the elemental compositions of CsMPs in the samples of soil and aerosol derived from the same sampling site, (2) the special characteristics of the resuspended CsMPs of which the ratios of Na/Si, K/Si and/or Cs/Si were smaller than those from the initially released CsMPs collected at either long distance or near F1NPP, which can be ascribed to the slowly natural corrosion of CsMPs by the loss of the small amount of soluble contents in CsMPs, and (3) high CsMPs concentration of 10 granules/gram in the surface soil of our sampling site, and high resuspension frequency of CsMPs in spring when predominant suspended particles were soil dust.

High temperature gas-cooled reactors

武田 哲明*; 稲垣 嘉之; 相原 純; 青木 健; 藤原 佑輔; 深谷 裕司; 後藤 実; Ho, H. Q.; 飯垣 和彦; 今井 良行; et al.

High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors; JSME Series in Thermal and Nuclear Power Generation, Vol.5, 464 Pages, 2021/02

https://doi.org/10.1016/C2018-0-05383-9

本書は、原子力機構における今までの高温ガス炉の研究開発の総括として、HTTRの設計、燃料、炉内構造物や中間熱交換器などの要素技術の開発、出力上昇試験、950Cの高温運転、安全性実証試験などの運転経験及び成果についてまとめたものである。また、HTTRでの知見をもとに、商用炉の設計、高性能燃料、ヘリウムガスタービン、ISプロセスによる水素製造などの要素技術開発の現状について記述しており、今後の高温ガス炉の開発に非常に有用である。本書は、日本機械学会の動力エネルギーシステム部門による化石燃料及び原子力によるエネルギーシステムの技術書のシリーズの一冊として刊行されるものである。

Transient ionization of the mesosphere during auroral breakup; Arase satellite and ground-based conjugate observations at Syowa Station

片岡 龍峰*; 西山 尚典*; 田中 良昌*; 門倉 昭*; 内田 ヘルベルト陽仁*; 海老原 祐輔*; 江尻 省*; 冨川 喜弘*; 堤 雅基*; 佐藤 薫*; et al.

Earth, Planets and Space (Internet), 71, p.9_1 - 9_10, 2019/01

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-019-0989-7

2017年6月30日22時21分から26分(世界時)にかけて、昭和基地にあるPANSYレーダーによってオーロラ爆発時の中間圏における過渡電離が観測された。通常、中間圏における過渡電離は100keV以上の高エネルギー電子が中間圏まで到達することにより引き起こされるが、同時間帯においてあらせ衛星が観測した100keV以上の電子フラックスは有意な上昇を示していなかった。このことから、本イベントは、10keV以下の低エネルギー電子が大量に熱圏に降り注ぐことにより発生したX線による電離であるとの仮説を立てた。この仮説の妥当性を検証するため、粒子・重イオン挙動解析コードPHITSを用いて様々なエネルギースペクトルを持つ電子が大気上空に進入した場合の電離分布を計算した。その結果、10keV以下の電子でも中間圏において十分な電離を引き起こすことが可能であることが分かり、仮説の妥当性が証明された。

Speciation of ruthenium(III) chloro complexes in hydrochloric acid solutions and their extraction characteristics with an amide-containing amine compound

鈴木 智也*; 尾形 剛志*; 田中 幹也*; 小林 徹; 塩飽 秀啓; 矢板 毅; 成田 弘一*

Metals, 8(7), p.558_1 - 558_10, 2018/07

AA2018-0670.pdf:2.11MB

https://doi.org/10.3390/met8070558

白金族元素の精製は主に溶媒抽出法によって行われるが、Ruは蒸留によってRuOとして回収される。この蒸留による方法を抽出法に置き換えることができれば、精製プロセスの簡素化が期待される。本研究では、Ruの効率的な抽出法を開発することを目的に、Ruの塩酸中での化学種についてUV-vis分光およびEXAFS法で分析し、N-2-ethylhexyl-bis(N-di-2-ethylhexyl-ethylamide) amine (EHBAA)によって抽出されたRuの特性を調査した。その結果、塩酸濃度が0.5から10MにおけるRuの主たる化学種は、塩酸濃度の上昇に伴って[RuCl(HO)]から[RuCl]へと変化することが明らかとなった。また、EHBAAによるRuの抽出率は塩酸濃度の上昇に伴って増加し、塩酸濃度が5Mで最大に達し、さらに塩酸濃度が上昇すると抽出率は下降に転ずる。抽出錯体のEXAFS分析の結果からは、Ruの内圏には5つのClと1つのHOが存在することが示された。さらに塩酸濃度が増加したときのEHBAAによるRuの抽出率の変化と[RuCl(HO)]の分布曲線がよく似ていることから、EHBAAは[RuCl(HO)]を抽出すると考えられる。

Recent progress in the chopper spectrometer 4SEASONS at J-PARC

梶本 亮一; 中村 充孝; 稲村 泰弘; 蒲沢 和也*; 池内 和彦*; 飯田 一樹*; 石角 元志*; 中島 健次; 河村 聖子; 中谷 健; et al.

JAEA-Conf 2015-002, p.319 - 329, 2016/02

https://doi.org/10.11484/jaea-conf-2015-002

4SEASONS () is one of the three chopper spectrometers operating in MLF at J-PARC, and covers thermal neutron region ( - meV) with relaxed resolution and high flux. The repetition rate multiplication by the Fermi chopper on this short length (18 m between the source and the sample) spectrometer enables wide-band multiple-incident-energy (multi-) measurements, which proved to be useful in observing hierarchical structures in excitations over a large energy scale. On the other hand, the upgrading work of the spectrometer has been continued since the first inelastic scattering experiment in 2009. For examples, we took several measures to suppress background, installed new detectors recently, and are developing a new Fermi chopper now. In the presentation, we show examples of scientific outputs from the spectrometer which benefit from the multi- measurements, and recent or planned upgrades of the instrument.

Radiation response of silicon carbide metal-oxide-semiconductor transistors in high dose region

大島 武; 横関 貴史; 村田 航一; 松田 拓磨; 三友 啓; 阿部 浩之; 牧野 高紘; 小野田 忍; 土方 泰斗*; 田中 雄季*; et al.

Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, 55(1S), p.01AD01_1 - 01AD01_4, 2016/01

https://doi.org/10.7567/JJAP.55.01AD01

In this study, we report the effects of -ray irradiation and subsequent annealing on the electrical characteristics of vertical structure power 4H Silicon Carbide (SiC) Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors (MOSFETs) with the blocking voltage of 1200 V. The MOSFETs were irradiated with -rays up to 1.2 MGy in a N atmosphere at room temperature (RT). During the irradiation, no bias was applied to each electrode of the MOSFETs. After the irradiation, the MOSFETs were kept at RT for 240 h to investigate the stability of their degraded characteristics. Then, the irradiated MOSFETs were annealed up to 360 C in the atmosphere. The current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of the MOSFETs were measured at RT. By 1.2 MGy irradiation, the shift of threshold voltage (V) for the MOSFETs was -3.39 V. After RT preservation for 240 h, MOSFETs showed no significant recovery in V. By annealing up to 360 C, the MOSFETs showed remarkable recovery, and the values of V become 91 % of the initial values. Those results indicate that the degraded characteristics of SiC MOSFETs can be recovered by thermal annealing at 360 C.

Effect of humidity and temperature on the radiation response of SiC MOSFETs

武山 昭憲; 松田 拓磨; 横関 貴史; 三友 啓; 村田 航一; 牧野 高紘; 小野田 忍; 田中 雄季*; 神取 幹郎*; 吉江 徹*; et al.

Proceedings of 11th International Workshop on Radiation Effects on Semiconductor Devices for Space Applications (RASEDA-11) (Internet), p.134 - 137, 2015/11

Influence of -ray irradiation under high temperature and high humidity circumstance on the electrical characteristics of Silicon Carbide (SiC) Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors (MOSFETs) was investigated. The drain current (I)-gate voltage (V) curves shifted to the negative voltage side and no significant further shift was observed with increasing the dose above 10 kGy. Suppression of the negative shift of threshold voltage (V) means that positive charges generated by irradiation were thermally annealed by elevated temperature during irradiation. The leakage current slightly increased at 5 and 10 kGy, however, those values recovered to be approximately the initial value above 40 kGy. Humidity circumstance attributed to remarkable suppression of the leakage current in comparison with dry circumstance.

Recovery of the electrical characteristics of SiC-MOSFETs irradiated with gamma-rays by thermal treatments

横関 貴史; 阿部 浩之; 牧野 高紘; 小野田 忍; 田中 雄季*; 神取 幹郎*; 吉江 徹*; 土方 泰斗*; 大島 武

Materials Science Forum, 821-823, p.705 - 708, 2015/07

https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.821-823.705

Since silicon carbide (SiC) has high radiation resistance, it is expected to be applied to electronic devices used in harsh radiation environments, such as nuclear facilities. Especially, extremely high radiation resistant devices (MGy order) are required for decommissioning of TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors. The development of radiation resistant devices based on Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (MOS) FETs is important since MOSFETs can easily realize normally-off and low-loss power devices. In this study, we irradiated vertical power 4H-SiC MOSFETs with gamma-rays up to 1.2 MGy, and investigated the recovery of their degraded characteristics due to thermal annealing up to 360 C. The drain current (I) - gate voltage (V) curves of SiC MOSFETs shift to the negative voltage side and the leakage of I increased by irradiation at 1.2 MGy. After the irradiation, the MOSFETs were kept at RT for 240 h. By the RT-annealing, no significant change in the degraded electrical characteristics of SiC MOSFETs was observed. The degraded characteristics of SiC MOSFETs began to recover by annealing above 120 C, and their characteristics reach almost the initial ones by annealing at 360 C.

Density and X-ray emission profile relationships in highly ionized high-Z laser-produced plasmas

吉田 健祐*; 藤岡 慎介*; 東口 武史*; 鵜篭 照之*; 田中 のぞみ*; 川崎 将人*; 鈴木 悠平*; 鈴木 千尋*; 富田 健太郎*; 廣瀬 僚一*; et al.

Applied Physics Letters, 106(12), p.121109_1 - 121109_5, 2015/03

https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4916395

We present a benchmark measurement of the electron density profile in the region where the electron density is 10 cm and where the bulk of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) emission occurs from isotropically expanding spherical high-Z gadolinium plasmas. It was found that, due to opacity effects, the observed EUV emission is mostly produced from an underdense region. We have analyzed time-resolved emission spectra with the aid of atomic structure calculations, and find that while the multiple ion charge states around 18+ during the laser pulse irradiation.

Nano-meter size modification of metal surfaces induced by soft X-ray laser single pulse

石野 雅彦; Faenov, A.*; 田中 桃子; Pikuz, T.; 保 智己*; 長谷川 登; 錦野 将元; Starikov, S. V.*; Stegailov, V. V.*; Norman, G.*; et al.

X-Ray Lasers 2012; Springer Proceedings in Physics, Vol.147, p.121 - 124, 2014/00

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00696-3_20

We show experimentally the possibility of the precise nano-meter size surface structuring of metal surfaces induced by ultra low fluencies of pico-second soft X-ray laser single pulse. After irradiation processes, we observed the modified surfaces to understand the interactions between the soft X-ray laser pulses and various materials by a scanning electron microscope. The formations of unique modified structures caused by irradiations of the soft X-ray laser pulses were seen. On Al surface, the formations of conical structures were observed in the shallow features. On Au surface, the ripple-like structures were observed. The atomistic model of ablation is developed that reveals the ultra-low threshold fluency values of this process. Calculated ablation depth as a function of irradiation fluency is in good agreement with the experimental data presented as well as with the existing data on optical ablation. Our results will open new opportunities for nano-meter size processing for metal surfaces.