Thermal conductivity measurement of uranium-plutonium mixed oxide doped with Nd/Sm as simulated fission products

Horii, Yuta; Hirooka, Shun; Uno, Hiroki*; Ogasawara, Masahiro*; Tamura, Tetsuya*; Yamada, Tadahisa*; Furusawa, Naoya*; Murakami, Tatsutoshi; Kato, Masato

Journal of Nuclear Materials, 588, p.154799_1 - 154799_20, 2024/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2023.154799

The thermal conductivities of near-stoichiometric (U,Pu,Am)O doped with NdO/SmO, which is major fission product (FP) generated by a uranium-plutonium mixed oxides (MOX) fuel irradiation, as simulated fission products are evaluated at 1073-1673 K. The thermal conductivities are calculated from the thermal diffusivities that are measured using the laser flash method. To evaluate the thermal conductivity from a homogeneity viewpoint of Nd/Sm cations in MOX, the specimens with different homogeneity of Nd/Sm are prepared using two kinds of powder made by ball-mill and fusion methods. A homogeneous Nd/Sm distribution decreases the thermal conductivity of MOX with increasing Nd/Sm content, whereas heterogeneous Nd/Sm has no influence. The effect of Nd/Sm on the thermal conductivity is studied using the classical phonon transport model (A+BT). The dependences of the coefficients A and B on the Nd/Sm content (C and C, respectively) are evaluated as: A(mK/W)=1.70 10 + 0.93C + 1.20C, B(m/W)=2.39 10.

Sintering and microstructural behaviors of mechanically blended Nd/Sm-doped MOX

Hirooka, Shun; Horii, Yuta; Sunaoshi, Takeo*; Uno, Hiroki*; Yamada, Tadahisa*; Vauchy, R.; Hayashizaki, Kohei; Nakamichi, Shinya; Murakami, Tatsutoshi; Kato, Masato

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 60(11), p.1313 - 1323, 2023/11

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2023.2192725

Additive MOX pellets are fabricated by a conventional dry powder metallurgy method. NdO and SmO are chosen as the additive materials to simulate the corresponding soluble fission products dispersed in MOX. Shrinkage curves of the MOX pellets are obtained by dilatometry, which reveal that the sintering temperature is shifted toward a value higher than that of the respective regular MOX. The additives, however, promote grain growth and densification, which can be explained by the effect of oxidized uranium cations covering to a pentavalent state. Ceramography reveals large agglomerates after sintering, and Electron Probe Micro-Analysis confirms that inhomogeneous elemental distribution, whereas XRD reveals a single face-centered cubic phase. Finally, by grinding and re-sintering the specimens, the cation distribution homogeneity is significantly improved, which can simulate spent nuclear fuels with soluble fission products.

Level structures of Ca cast doubt on a doubly magic Ca

Chen, S.*; Browne, F.*; Doornenbal, P.*; Lee, J.*; Obertelli, A.*; Tsunoda, Yusuke*; Otsuka, Takaharu*; Chazono, Yoshiki*; Hagen, G.*; Holt, J. D.*; et al.

Physics Letters B, 843, p.138025_1 - 138025_7, 2023/08

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2023.138025

Gamma decays were observed in Ca and Ca following quasi-free one-proton knockout reactions from Sc. For Ca, a ray transition was measured to be 1456(12) keV, while for Ca an indication for a transition was observed at 1115(34) keV. Both transitions were tentatively assigned as the decays. A shell-model calculation in a wide model space with a marginally modified effective nucleon-nucleon interaction depicts excellent agreement with experiment for level energies, two-neutron separation energies, and reaction cross sections, corroborating the formation of a new nuclear shell above the N = 34 shell. Its constituents, the and orbitals, are almost degenerate. This degeneracy precludes the possibility for a doubly magic Ca and potentially drives the dripline of Ca isotopes to Ca or even beyond.

Status of decommissioning for prototype ATR Fugen and FBR Monju

Ito, Kenji; Kondo, Tetsuo; Nakamura, Yasuyuki; Matsuno, Hiroki; Nagaoki, Yoshihiro; Sakuma, Yuichi

Dekomisshoningu Giho, (63), p.1 - 26, 2022/05

The prototype advanced thermal reactor Fugen entered into the decommissioning phases with the approval of the decommissioning plan in February 2008. The prototype fast breeder reactor Monju entered into the decommissioning stage with the approval of the decommissioning plan in March 2018. In April 2018, the head office of Tsuruga decommissioning demonstration was newly established to oversee the decommissioning operations in Tsuruga area, and decommissioning projects for two unique reactors have progressed safely and steadily.

Pairing forces govern population of doubly magic Ca from direct reactions

Browne, F.*; Chen, S.*; Doornenbal, P.*; Obertelli, A.*; Ogata, Kazuyuki*; Utsuno, Yutaka; Yoshida, Kazuki; Achouri, N. L.*; Baba, Hidetada*; Calvet, D.*; et al.

Physical Review Letters, 126(25), p.252501_1 - 252501_7, 2021/06

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.252501

Direct proton-knockout reactions of Sc were studied at the RIKEN Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory. Populated states of Ca were investigated through -ray and invariant-mass spectroscopy. Level energies were calculated from the nuclear shell model employing a phenomenological inter-nucleon interaction. Theoretical cross sections to states were calculated from distorted-wave impulse approximation estimates multiplied by the shell model spectroscopic factors. Despite the calculations showing a significant amplitude of excited neutron configurations in the ground-state of Sc, valence proton removals populated predominantly the ground-state of Ca. This counter-intuitive result is attributed to pairing effects leading to a dominance of the ground-state spectroscopic factor. Owing to the ubiquity of the pairing interaction, this argument should be generally applicable to direct knockout reactions from odd-even to even-even nuclei.

High-spin states in S

Go, Shintaro*; Ideguchi, Eiji*; Yokoyama, Rin*; Aoi, Nori*; Azaiez, F.*; Furutaka, Kazuyoshi; Hatsukawa, Yuichi; Kimura, Atsushi; Kisamori, Keiichi*; Kobayashi, Motoki*; et al.

Physical Review C, 103(3), p.034327_1 - 034327_8, 2021/03

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.103.034327

Oxygen potential measurement of (U,Pu,Am)O and (U,Pu,Am,Np)O

Hirooka, Shun; Matsumoto, Taku; Kato, Masato; Sunaoshi, Takeo*; Uno, Hiroki*; Yamada, Tadahisa*

Journal of Nuclear Materials, 542, p.152424_1 - 152424_9, 2020/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2020.152424

The measurement of oxygen potential was conducted at 1,673, 1,773, and 1,873 K for (UPuAm)O and at 1,873 and 1,923 K for (UPuAmNp)O by using a thermo-gravimeter and an oxygen sensor. Am inclusion in terms of substituting the U significantly increased the oxygen potential. Similarly, the inclusion of Np as a substitute for U increased the oxygen potential; however, the effect was not as large as that with the Pu or Am addition at the same rate. The results were analyzed via defect chemistry and certain defect formations were suggested in the reducing region and the near-stoichiometric region by plotting the relationship between PO and the deviation from the stoichiometry. The equilibrium constants of the defect reactions were arranged to reproduce the experiment such that Am/Np contents were included in the entropy with coefficients fitting the experimental data.

Quasifree neutron knockout from Ca corroborates arising neutron magic number

Chen, S.*; Lee, J.*; Doornenbal, P.*; Obertelli, A.*; Barbieri, C.*; Chazono, Yoshiki*; Navrtil, P.*; Ogata, Kazuyuki*; Otsuka, Takaharu*; Raimondi, F.*; et al.

Physical Review Letters, 123(14), p.142501_1 - 142501_7, 2019/10

AA2019-0306.pdf:0.57MB

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.142501

no abstracts in English

Thermal and mechanical properties of CeO

Suzuki, Kiichi; Kato, Masato; Sunaoshi, Takeo*; Uno, Hiroki*; Carvajal-Nunez, U.*; Nelson, A. T.*; McClellan, K. J.*

Journal of the American Ceramic Society, 102(4), p.1994 - 2008, 2019/04

https://doi.org/10.1111/jace.16055

The fundamental properties of CeO were assessed using a range of experimental techniques. The oxygen potential of CeO was measured by the thermogravimetric technique, and a numerical fit for the oxygen potential of CeO is derived based on defect chemistry. Mechanical properties of CeO were obtained using sound velocity measurement, resonant ultrasound spectroscopy and nanoindentation. The obtained mechanical properties of CeO are then used to evaluate the Debye temperature and Gruneisen constant. The heat capacity and thermal conductivity of CeO were also calculated using the Debye temperature and the Gruneisen constant. Finally, the thermal conductivity was calculated based upon laser flash analysis measurements. This result demonstrates that the thermal conductivity has strong dependence upon material purity.

Seismic evaluation for a large-sized reactor vessel targeting SFRs in Japan

Uchita, Masato*; Miyagawa, Takayuki*; Dozaki, Koji*; Chikazawa, Yoshitaka; Kubo, Shigenobu; Hayafune, Hiroki; Suzuno, Tetsuji*; Fukasawa, Tsuyoshi*; Kamishima, Yoshio*; Fujita, Satoshi*

Proceedings of 2018 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2018) (CD-ROM), p.380 - 386, 2018/04

It is well-known that pool-type SFRs are the main streams recently in a field of Generation IV reactors. The pool-type encloses primary pumps and IHXs located around the core barrel in a main vessel. Consequently, the main vessel diameter trends to be larger than that of loop-types. From the viewpoint of commercialization in the future, a target of the vessel diameter and its weight including Sodium coolant will increase further. In this paper, the prospects are described in terms of seismic design and structural integrity for the thermal loadings to prevent buckling of the reactor vessel based on parameter studies with diameters of the vessel. In addition, the seismic isolation device which will be effective as a countermeasure is proposed in order to secure a margin against buckling of a large reactor vessel.