Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Nuclear Criticality Safety (ICNC2023); October 1-6, 2023, Sendai International Center, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan

Suyama, Kenya; Gunji, Satoshi; Watanabe, Tomoaki; Araki, Shohei; Fukuda, Kodai; Shimada, Kazuya; Fujita, Tatsuya; Ueki, Taro; Nguyen, H.

JAEA-Conf 2024-001, 40 Pages, 2024/07

JAEA-Conf-2024-001.pdf:1.28MB
JAEA-Conf-2024-001-appendix(CD-ROM).zip:163.97MB

The 12th International Conference on Nuclear Criticality Safety (ICNC2023) was held from October 1 to October 6, 2023, at the Sendai International Center (Aobayama, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi-prefecture 980-0856, Japan), organized by Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) and co-organized by the Reactor Physics Division of the Atomic Energy Society of Japan (AESJ) and the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD/NEA). 224 presentations passed peer review and 273 technical session registrations, bringing the total number of registered participants to 289, including accompanying persons. Technical tours were also conducted to i) Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station of TEPCO holdings and Interim Storage Facility Information Center, ii) Nuclear Science Research Institute of JAEA (STACY Renewable Reactor and FCA), iii) NanoTerasu of Tohoku University (synchrotron radiation facility) and Onagawa Nuclear Power Station of Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc. This report summarizes the conference and compiles the papers that were presented and agreed to be published in the Proceedings.

Comparison between neutron bragg dip and electron backscatter diffraction images of TlBr semiconductors

Watanabe, Kenichi*; Sugai, Yusuke*; Hasegawa, Sota*; Hitomi, Keitaro*; Nogami, Mitsuhiro*; Shinohara, Takenao; Su, Y. H.; Parker, J. D.*; Kockelmann, W.*

Sensors and Materials, 36(1), p.149 - 154, 2024/01

https://doi.org/10.18494/SAM4629

Development of nondestructive elemental analysis system for Hayabusa2 samples using muonic X-rays

Osawa, Takahito; Nagasawa, Shunsaku*; Ninomiya, Kazuhiko*; Takahashi, Tadayuki*; Nakamura, Tomoki*; Wada, Taiga*; Taniguchi, Akihiro*; Umegaki, Izumi*; Kubo, Kenya*; Terada, Kentaro*; et al.

ACS Earth and Space Chemistry (Internet), 7(4), p.699 - 711, 2023/04

https://doi.org/10.1021/acsearthspacechem.2c00303

The concentrations of carbon and other major elements in asteroid samples provide very important information on the birth of life on the Earth and the solar-system evolution. Elemental analysis using muonic X-rays is one of the best analytical methods to determine the elemental composition of solid materials, and notably, is the only method to determine the concentration of light elements in bulk samples in a non-destructive manner. We developed a new analysis system using muonic X-rays to measure the concentrations of carbon and other major elements in precious and expectedly tiny samples recovered from the asteroid Ryugu by spacecraft Hayabusa2. Here we report the development process of the system in 4 stages and their system configurations, The analysis system is composed of a stainless-steel analysis chamber, an acrylic glove box for manipulating asteroid samples in a clean environment, and Ge semiconductor detectors arranged to surround the analysis chamber. The performance of the analysis system, including the background level, which is crucial for the measurement, was greatly improved from the first stage to the later ones. Our feasibility study showed that the latest model of our muonic X-ray analysis system is capable of determining the carbon concentration in Hayabusa2's sample model with an uncertainty of less than 10 percent in a 6-day measurement.

A Safer preprocessing system for analyzing dissolved organic radiocarbon in seawater

Otosaka, Shigeyoshi*; Jeon, H.*; Hou, Y.*; Watanabe, Takahiro; Aze, Takahiro*; Miyairi, Yosuke*; Yokoyama, Yusuke*; Ogawa, Hiroshi*

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B, 527, p.1 - 6, 2022/09

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2022.07.003

The measurement the radiocarbon of dissolved organic matter (DOC) in seawater can provide information about a timescale of the dynamics of dissolved organic matter as well as about its sources in the ocean. Due to the low DOC concentration in seawater, in spite of the development of accelerator mass spectrometry, a relatively large volume of seawater (1 L) is required for that analysis. In addition, complicated processing such as UV irradiation that emits high heat is required. In this study, we have developed a safer and easier method to analyze DOC in seawater than the conventional method. A particularly significant change was the adoption of a low-pressure mercury lamp in the decomposition system, which enabled direct decomposition of organic matter at lower temperatures. We also propose a method to quantitatively evaluate the accuracy of this system by analyzing simulated seawater consists of a soluble reference material of organic matter and sodium chloride. This method is expected to be applied not only to carbon isotope ratio analysis but also to analysis of trace elements and isotopes of various dissolved organic substances.

Strain distribution visualization of punched electrical steel sheets using neutron Bragg-edge transmission imaging

Sasada, Seiji*; Takahashi, Yoshihito*; Takeuchi, Keisuke*; Hiroi, Kosuke; Su, Y. H.; Shinohara, Takenao; Watanabe, Kenichi*; Uritani, Akira*

Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, 61(4), p.046004_1 - 046004_8, 2022/03

https://doi.org/10.35848/1347-4065/ac5153

Deexcitation dynamics of muonic atoms revealed by high-precision spectroscopy of electronic X rays

Okumura, Takuma*; Azuma, Toshiyuki*; Bennet, D. A.*; Caradonna, P.*; Chiu, I. H.*; Doriese, W. B.*; Durkin, M. S.*; Fowler, J. W.*; Gard, J. D.*; Hashimoto, Tadashi; et al.

Physical Review Letters, 127(5), p.053001_1 - 053001_7, 2021/07

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.053001

We observed electronic X rays emitted from muonic iron atoms using a superconducting transition-edge-type sensor microcalorimeter. The energy resolution of 5.2 eV in FWHM allowed us to observe the asymmetric broad profile of the electronic characteristic and X rays together with the hypersatellite X rays around 6 keV. This signature reflects the time-dependent screening of the nuclear charge by the negative muon and the -shell electrons, accompanied by electron side-feeding. Assisted by a simulation, this data clearly reveals the electronic - and -shell hole production and their temporal evolution during the muon cascade process.

Spallation and fragmentation cross sections for 168 MeV/nucleon Xe ions on proton, deuteron, and carbon targets

Sun, X. H.*; Wang, H.*; Otsu, Hideaki*; Sakurai, Hiroyoshi*; Ahn, D. S.*; Aikawa, Masayuki*; Fukuda, Naoki*; Isobe, Tadaaki*; Kawakami, Shunsuke*; Koyama, Shumpei*; et al.

Physical Review C, 101(6), p.064623_1 - 064623_12, 2020/06

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.101.064623

The spallation and fragmentation reactions of Xe induced by proton, deuteron and carbon at 168 MeV/nucleon were studied at RIKEN Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory via the inverse kinematics technique. The cross sections of the lighter products are larger in the carbon-induced reactions due to the higher total kinetic energy of carbon. The energy dependence was investigated by comparing the newly obtained data with previous results obtained at higher reaction energies. The experimental data were compared with the results of SPACS, EPAX, PHITS and DEURACS calculations. These data serve as benchmarks for the model calculations.

Enhancement of element production by incomplete fusion reaction with weakly bound deuteron

Wang, H.*; Otsu, Hideaki*; Chiga, Nobuyuki*; Kawase, Shoichiro*; Takeuchi, Satoshi*; Sumikama, Toshiyuki*; Koyama, Shumpei*; Sakurai, Hiroyoshi*; Watanabe, Yukinobu*; Nakayama, Shinsuke; et al.

Communications Physics (Internet), 2(1), p.78_1 - 78_6, 2019/07

https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-019-0165-1

Searching for effective pathways for the production of proton- and neutron-rich isotopes through an optimal combination of reaction mechanism and energy is one of the main driving forces behind experimental and theoretical nuclear reaction studies as well as for practical applications in nuclear transmutation of radioactive waste. We report on a study on incomplete fusion induced by deuteron, which contains one proton and one neutron with a weak binding energy and is easily broken up. This reaction study was achieved by measuring directly the cross sections for both proton and deuteron for Pd at 50 MeV/u via inverse kinematics technique. The results provide direct experimental evidence for the onset of a cross-section enhancement at high energy, indicating the potential of incomplete fusion induced by loosely-bound nuclei for creating proton-rich isotopes and nuclear transmutation of radioactive waste.

New isomers in Pd and Pd; Competing proton and neutron excitations in neutron-rich palladium nuclides towards the shell closure

Watanabe, Hiroshi*; Wang, H. K.*; Lorusso, G.*; Nishimura, Shunji*; Xu, Z. Y.*; Sumikama, Toshiyuki*; Orlandi, R.; 47 of others*

Physics Letters B, 792, p.263 - 268, 2019/05

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2019.03.053

Physical and electrical characterizations of AlGaN/GaN MOS gate stacks with AlGaN surface oxidation treatment

Yamada, Takahiro*; Watanabe, Kenta*; Nozaki, Mikito*; Shih, H.-A.*; Nakazawa, Satoshi*; Anda, Yoshiharu*; Ueda, Tetsuzo*; Yoshigoe, Akitaka; Hosoi, Takuji*; Shimura, Takayoshi*; et al.

Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, 57(6S3), p.06KA07_1 - 06KA07_6, 2018/06

https://doi.org/10.7567/JJAP.57.06KA07

Thermal oxidation of AlGaN surface and its impact on the electrical properties of AlGaN/GaN MOS capacitors were investigated by means of synchrotron radiation photoelectron spectroscopy (SR-PES), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and C-V measurements. SR-PES analysis revealed that the AlGaN surface is oxidized even at low temperature of 400C, in contrast to no oxide formation on GaN surface. However, since no noticeable change in the surface morphology was observed at temperatures up to 800C, it can be concluded that an ultrathin oxide overlayer is formed on the AlGaN surface. On the other hand, for the oxidation treatments above 850C, the formation of small oxide grains was observed over the entire area of the AlGaN surface, and the growth of oxide grains significantly degraded the surface morphology. Therefore, the AlGaN/GaN MOS capacitors were fabricated on the AlGaN surface oxidized at moderate temperatures up to 800C. While we have confirmed that relatively good interface properties are obtained for direct AlON deposition without oxidation treatment, it was found that the oxidation treatment at 400C leads to further improvement of interface properties and reduction of C-V hysteresis.