Survey on candidate construction site for the demonstrator of High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor in the UK

Fujiwara, Yusuke; Nakajima, Kunihiro; Urabe, Kohei; Nagatsuka, Kentaro; Asano, Kazuhito; Shimizu, Atsushi; Noguchi, Hiroki; Sato, Hiroyuki; Ohashi, Hirofumi; Sumita, Junya; et al.

JAEA-Technology 2026-001, 43 Pages, 2026/05

JAEA-Technology-2026-001.pdf:2.93MB

High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactors (HTGRs) have excellent safety features and can supply high-temperature heat without emitting carbon dioxide, and therefore are expected to stably produce large amounts of hydrogen to contribute carbon neutrality by 2050. The pertinent material for the "Basic Policy for GX Realization" shows the development process for the HTGR demonstrator with the goal of starting operation in the 2030s. Meanwhile, to achieve net-zero, the UK government has started the Advanced Module Reactor (AMR) Research, development and demonstration (RD&D) programme with the aim of starting operations of the HTGR demonstrator in the early 2030s. Against this background, with the aim of early deployment of HTGR technology, Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), in collaboration with the United Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory (UKNNL), aims to demonstrate Japanese HTGR technology outside Japan and reflect the development of HTGR demonstrator in the UK to Japan. This document summarizes the results of a market survey of HTGR products and surveys of industrial infrastructure in the UK, the environment and social conditions of Hartlepool, a candidate construction site, with the aim of contributing to the design study of the HTGR demonstrator in the UK (UKJ-HTR).

90mA negative hydrogen ion beam experiments at J-PARC ion source

Shibata, Takanori*; Nammo, Kesao*; Okoshi, Kiyonori; Shinto, Katsuhiro; Tobita, Kentaro*

Proceedings of 22nd Annual Meeting of Particle Accelerator Society of Japan (Internet), p.580 - 583, 2026/03

https://www.pasj.jp/web_publish/pasj2025/proceedings/PDF/THP0/THP039.pdf

no abstracts in English

Upgrade of two-dimensional scintillation neutron detectors for single crystal diffractometer SENJU at J-PARC MLF

Nakamura, Tatsuya; To, Kentaro; Kiyanagi, Ryoji; Ohara, Takashi; Hosoya, Takaaki; Tobe, Masahiro; Hishinuma, Yukio*; Ebine, Masumi; Sakasai, Kaoru

Journal of Physics; Conference Series, 3130(1), p.012002_1 - 012002_6, 2025/11

https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/3130/1/012002

Upgrade of two two-dimensional scintillation neutron detectors for SENJU diffractometer at the Materials and Life science experimental Facility in the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC MLF) is underway. The current status of detector development for this project is briefly reviewed. The detector upgrade plan includes detector developments such as thin add-in detectors, high efficiency detectors to replace the original detectors, a large area detector placed under the sample vacuum tank, rectangular shaped one-bank detectors. All of these new detectors are developed based on Li:ZnS scintillators and WLS fibers. Recently, we developed a detector with a detection area four times larger than the original one (2 2 size, 512 512 mm). Based on these results, work is now underway to further expand the detector area with rectangular shape of 1 3 (256 768 mm) and 2 3 (512 768 mm). The design and experimental results of the prototype detectors will be presented.

Evaluation of vortex gas entrainment phenomena

Ito, Kei*; Matsushita, Kentaro; Ezure, Toshiki; Tanaka, Masaaki; Odaira, Naoya*; Ito, Daisuke*; Saito, Yasushi*

Nihon Kikai Gakkai 2025-Nendo Nenji Taikai Koen Rombunshu (Internet), 5 Pages, 2025/09

The estimation of entrained gas flow rate by a bathtub vortex is important in terms of a possibility to causes the performance degradation when the entrained bubbles are mixed into fluid machineries, e.g. pumps. In this study, to confirm the applicability of a model based on circulating annular flow model proposed by the authors, entrained gas flow rate is evaluated using the liquid velocity distribution around free surface dent of vortex (gas core), obtained by CFD data. As a result, it was indicated that it would be possible to evaluate the gas entrainment flow rate by setting an appropriate evaluation region.

Competition between mass-symmetric and asymmetric fission modes in Md produced in the He + Es reaction

Nishio, Katsuhisa; Hirose, Kentaro; Makii, Hiroyuki; Orlandi, R.; Kean, K. R.*; Tsukada, Kazuaki; Toyoshima, Atsushi*; Asai, Masato; Sato, Tetsuya; Chiera, N. M.*; et al.

Physical Review C, 111(4), p.044609_1 - 044609_12, 2025/04

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.111.044609

Current status of high temperature gas-cooled reactor development in Japan

Nagatsuka, Kentaro; Noguchi, Hiroki; Nagasumi, Satoru; Nomoto, Yasunobu; Shimizu, Atsushi; Sato, Hiroyuki; Nishihara, Tetsuo; Sakaba, Nariaki

Nuclear Engineering and Design, 425, p.113338_1 - 113338_11, 2024/08

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2024.113338

HTGR has a potential to contribute to decarbonization of hard-to-abate industries by supplying a large amount of hydrogen and high temperature heat or steam without carbon dioxide emission. JAEA has been conducting R&Ds for HTGR technologies with High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR). This paper shows that HTTR's tests including the loss of core cooing test as a joint the OECD/NEA international research project and a HTTR heat application test plan which demonstrate hydrogen production by coupling the HTTR with a hydrogen production test facility. Additionally, aiming for operation start from the latter half of 2030s, the basic design of the HTGR demonstration reactor has been shown. The Japan's HTGR technology capabilities established by the HTTR project will be fully utilized for the construction of HTGR demonstration reactor.

Development of wide range photon detection system for muonic X-ray spectroscopy

Mizuno, Rurie*; Niikura, Megumi*; Saito, Takeshi*; Matsuzaki, Teiichiro*; Sakurai, Hiroyoshi*; Amato, A.*; Asari, Shunsuke*; Biswas, S.*; Chiu, I.-H.; Gianluca, J.*; et al.

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, 1060, p.169029_1 - 169029_14, 2024/03

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2023.169029

Validation of gas entrainment evaluation method in simplified hot plenum model of sodium cooled fast reactor

Ezure, Toshiki; Akimoto, Yuta; Matsushita, Kentaro; Tanaka, Masaaki

Dai-27-Kai Doryoku, Enerugi Gijutsu Shimpojiumu Koen Rombunshu (Internet), 5 Pages, 2023/09

In hot plenums of sodium-cooled fast reactors, restriction of cover gas entrainment caused by vortex dimples on the free surface is an important thermal-hydraulic issue. For this reason, the authors have developed an evaluation method of gas entrainment with an evaluation tool named, StreamViewer. In this study, evaluation using StreamViewer was applied to a water experiment having a simplified hot pool geometry aiming at the validation of the evaluation method toward the application to the evaluation of a pool-type sodium cooled fast reactor. In StreamViewer, the three-dimensional distribution of pressure decrease along the vortex center line was calculated from the velocity distribution obtained by CFD analyses, and the free surface dimple depth was obtained from the hydraulic balance with the pressure distribution and the cover gas pressure. As the results, it was confirmed that the onset of gas entrainment could be predicted appropriately based on the above-mentioned calculation method.

Measurement of double-differential neutron yields for iron, lead, and bismuth induced by 107-MeV protons for research and development of accelerator-driven systems

Iwamoto, Hiroki; Nakano, Keita; Meigo, Shinichiro; Satoh, Daiki; Iwamoto, Yosuke; Sugihara, Kenta*; Nishio, Katsuhisa; Ishi, Yoshihiro*; Uesugi, Tomonori*; Kuriyama, Yasutoshi*; et al.

EPJ Web of Conferences, 284, p.01023_1 - 01023_4, 2023/05

https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202328401023

For accurate prediction of neutronic characteristics for accelerator-driven systems (ADS) and a source term of spallation neutrons for reactor physics experiments for the ADS at Kyoto University Critical Assembly (KUCA), we have launched an experimental program to measure nuclear data on ADS using the Fixed Field Alternating Gradient (FFAG) accelerator at Kyoto University. As part of this program, the proton-induced double-differential thick-target neutron-yields (TTNYs) and cross-sections (DDXs) for iron, lead, and bismuth have been measured with the time-of-flight (TOF) method. For each measurement, the target was installed in a vacuum chamber on the beamline and bombarded with 107-MeV proton beams accelerated from the FFAG accelerator. Neutrons produced from the targets were detected with stacked, small-sized neutron detectors for several angles from the incident beam direction. The TOF spectra were obtained from the detected signals and the FFAG kicker magnet's logic signals, where gamma-ray events were eliminated by pulse shape discrimination. Finally, the TTNYs and DDXs were obtained from the TOF spectra by relativistic kinematics. The measured TTNYs and DDXs were compared with calculations by the Monte Carlo transport code PHITS with its default physics model of INCL version 4.6 combined with GEM and those with the JENDL-4.0/HE nuclear data library.

CFD-based analysis and experimental study on gas entrainment phenomenon due to free surface vortex

Song, K.*; Ito, Kei*; Ito, Daisuke*; Odaira, Naoya*; Saito, Yasushi*; Matsushita, Kentaro; Ezure, Toshiki; Tanaka, Masaaki

Proceedings of 30th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE30) (Internet), 10 Pages, 2023/05

Gas entrainment (GE) phenomena caused by a free surface vortex may cause the disturbance in core power of sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR). For this reason, the entrained gas flow rate by the GE should be evaluated accurately for the practical safety design of SFRs. In this study, for the purpose of examining the applicability of CFD for the accurate evaluation of GE phenomena, a CFD is applied to the simulation of the free surface vortex and accompanied GE phenomena in a cylindrical vessel with a suction pipe, and the CFD results and the experimental data of the GE are compared. As a result, the CFD and experiments show similar two-phase flow pattern inside the suction pipe, and the shape of the gas core at the free surface is also very similar. Therefore, it is confirmed that the CFD can predict the GE phenomena triggered by a free surface vortex properly and accurately within the acceptable error range.