Feasibility study of the one-dimensional radiation distribution sensing method using an optical fiber sensor based on wavelength spectrum unfolding

Terasaka, Yuta; Watanabe, Kenichi*; Uritani, Akira*; Yamazaki, Atsushi*; Sato, Yuki; Torii, Tatsuo; Wakaida, Ikuo

Journal of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science, 7(4), p.042002_1 - 042002_7, 2021/10

https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4048841

For the application in the measurement of the high dose rate hot spots inside the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS) buildings, we propose a novel one-dimensional radiation distribution sensing method using an optical fiber sensor based on wavelength spectrum unfolding. The proposed method estimates the incident position of radiation to the fiber by the unfolding of the wavelength spectrum output from the fiber edge using the fact that the attenuation length of light along the fiber depends on the wavelength. Because this method measures the integrated light intensity, this method can avoid the problem of counting loss and signal pile-up, which occurs in the radiation detector with pulse counting mode under high dose rate field. Through basic experiments using the ultraviolet light source and Sr/Y radioactive point source, basic properties of source position detection were confirmed.

Nodal lines and boundary modes in topological Dirac semimetals with magnetism

Araki, Yasufumi; Watanabe, Jin*; Nomura, Kentaro*

Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, 90(9), p.094702_1 - 094702_9, 2021/09

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSJ.90.094702

While nodal-line semimetals with magnetism have been theoretically predicted and experimentally observed in a few compounds, idea on the relation between the magnetic order and the electronic structure is still limited. We theoretically explore the electronic structure in bulk and boundary of such a magnetic nodal-line state by introducing magnetism in topological Dirac semimetal (TDSM). TDSMs, such as and ,are characterized by a pair of spin-degenerate Dirac points protected by rotational symmetries of crystals. By introducing local magnetic moments coupled to the electron spins in the lattice model of TDSM, we show that the TDSM can turn into either a Weyl semimetal or a nodal-line semimetal, which is determined by the orbital dependence in the exchange coupling and the direction of magnetization formed by the magnetic moments. In this magnetic nodal-line semimetal state, we find zero modes with drumhead-like band structure at the boundary that are characterized by the topological number of . Those zero modes are numerically demonstrated by introducing magnetic domain walls in the lattice model.

Evaluation of a one-dimensional position-sensitive quartz optical fiber sensor based on the time-of-flight method for high radiation dose rate applications

Terasaka, Yuta; Watanabe, Kenichi*; Uritani, Akira*

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, 996, p.165151_1 - 165151_8, 2021/04

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2021.165151

For the measurement of radiation distribution inside the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS) buildings, the evaluation of a small-diameter quartz optical fiber as a one-dimensional position-sensitive sensor was conducted. The sensor determines the incident position of radiation into the fiber using the time-of-flight information of emitted Cerenkov photons in the optical fiber. Compared with the conventional sensor using the plastic scintillating fiber, the quartz optical fiber has much higher position resolution, which may be the result of the improvement of timing characteristics caused by the prompt emission mechanism of the Cerenkov radiation. Additionally, the response of position-sensitive quartz optical fiber sensor under high radiation field was evaluated, and good count rate linearity was confirmed using the 10 m long quartz optical fiber with a diameter of 0.4 mm up to the dose rate at least 20 mSv/h, and the radiation tolerance property up to the accumulated dose of 1 kGy was evaluated.

Upgrade history and present status of the general control system for the Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility at J-PARC

Sakai, Kenji; Oi, Motoki; Haga, Katsuhiro; Kai, Tetsuya; Nakatani, Takeshi; Kobayashi, Yasuo*; Watanabe, Akihiko*

JPS Conference Proceedings (Internet), 33, p.011151_1 - 011151_6, 2021/03

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSCP.33.011151

For safely and efficiently operating a spallation neutron source and a muon target, a general control system (GCS) operates within Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility (MLF), GCS administers operation processes and interlocks of many instruments for various operation statuses. It consists of several subsystems such as an integral control system (ICS), interlock systems (ILS), shared servers, network system, and timing distribution system (TDS). Although GCS is an independent system that controls the target stations, it works closely with the control systems of other facilities in J-PARC. Since the first beam injection in 2008, GCS has operated stably without any serious troubles after modification based on commissioning for operation and control. Then, significant improvements in GCS such as upgrade of ICS by changing its framework software and function enhancement of ILS were proceeded until 2015, in considering sustainable long-term operation and maintenance. In recent years, many instruments in GCS have replaced due to end of production and support of them. In this way, many modifications have been proceeded in the entire GCS after start of beam operation. Under these situation, it is important to comprehend upgrade history and present status of GCS in order to decide its upgrade plan for the coming ten years. This report will mention upgrade history, present status and future agenda of GCS.

Annual report on the environmental radiation monitoring around the Tokai Reprocessing Plant FY2019

Nakano, Masanao; Fujii, Tomoko; Nemoto, Masashi; Tobita, Keiji; Seya, Natsumi; Nishimura, Shusaku; Hosomi, Kenji; Nagaoka, Mika; Yokoyama, Hiroya; Matsubara, Natsumi; et al.

JAEA-Review 2020-069, 163 Pages, 2021/02

JAEA-Review-2020-069.pdf:4.78MB

Environmental radiation monitoring around the Tokai Reprocessing Plant has been performed by the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Engineering Laboratories, based on "Safety Regulations for the Reprocessing Plant of Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Chapter IV - Environmental Monitoring". This annual report presents the results of the environmental monitoring and the dose estimation to the hypothetical inhabitant due to the radioactivity discharged from the plant to the atmosphere and the sea during April 2019 to March 2020. In this report, some data include the influence of the accidental release from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station of Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. (the trade name was changed to Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc. on April 1, 2016) in March 2011. Appendices present comprehensive information, such as monitoring programs, monitoring methods, monitoring results and their trends, meteorological data and discharged radioactive wastes. In addition, the data which were influenced by the accidental release and exceeded the normal range of fluctuation in the monitoring, were evaluated.

Conceptual design of an abnormality sign determination system for the general control system of the Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility at J-PARC

Sakai, Kenji; Oi, Motoki; Teshigawara, Makoto; Naoe, Takashi; Haga, Katsuhiro; Watanabe, Akihiko*

Journal of Neutron Research, 22(2-3), p.337 - 343, 2020/10

https://doi.org/10.3233/JNR-190133

For operating a spallation neutron source and a muon target safely and efficiently, a general control system (GCS) operates within Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility (MLF). GCS administers operation and interlock processes of many instruments under various operation status. Since the first beam injection in 2008, it has operated stably without any serious troubles for more than ten years. GCS has a data storage server storing operational data on status around target stations. It has functioned well to detect and investigate unusual situations by checking data in this server. For continuing stable operation of MLF in future, however, introduction of abnormality sign determination system (ASDS) will be necessary for picking up potential abnormalities of target stations caused by radiation damages, time-related deterioration and so on. It will judge abnormalities from slight state transitions of target stations based on analysis with various operational data throughout proton beams, target stations, and secondary beams during long-term operations. This report mentions present status of GCS, conceptual design of ASDS, and installation of an integral data storage server which can deal with various data for ASDS integrally.

Impact of hydrided and non-hydrided materials near transistors on neutron-induced single event upsets

Abe, Shinichiro; Sato, Tatsuhiko; Kuroda, Junya*; Manabe, Seiya*; Watanabe, Yukinobu*; Liao, W.*; Ito, Kojiro*; Hashimoto, Masanori*; Harada, Masahide; Oikawa, Kenichi; et al.

Proceedings of IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium (IRPS 2020) (Internet), 6 Pages, 2020/04

https://doi.org/10.1109/IRPS45951.2020.9128951

Single event upsets (SEUs) caused by neutrons have been recognized as a serious reliability problem for microelectronic devices on the ground level. In our previous work, it was found that hydride placed in front of the memory chip has considerably impact on SEU cross sections because H ions generated via elastic scattering of neutrons with hydrogen atoms are only emitted in a forward direction. In this study, the effect of components neighboring transistors on neutron-induced SEUs was investigated for 65-nm bulk SRAMs by using PHITS. It was found that the shape of the SEU cross section around few MeV comes from the thickness and the position of components placed in front of transistors when that components do not contains hydrogen atoms. By considering components adjoin memory cells in the test board used in the simulation, measured data at J-PARC BL10 were reproduced well. In addition, it was found that the effect of components neighboring transistors on neutron-induced SERs does not negligible in terrestrial environment.

Hydrochemical investigation at the Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory; Compilation of groundwater chemistry data in the Mizunami group and the Toki granite (fiscal year 2018)

Fukuda, Kenji; Watanabe, Yusuke; Murakami, Hiroaki; Amano, Yuki; Aosai, Daisuke*; Kumamoto, Yoshiharu*; Iwatsuki, Teruki

JAEA-Data/Code 2019-019, 74 Pages, 2020/03

JAEA-Data-Code-2019-019.pdf:3.53MB

Japan Atomic Energy Agency has been investigating groundwater chemistry to understand the influence of excavation and maintenance of underground facilities as part of the Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory (MIU) Project in Mizunami, Gifu, Japan. In this report, we compiled data of groundwater chemistry and microbiology obtained at the MIU in the fiscal year 2018. In terms of ensuring traceability of data, basic information (e.g. sampling location, sampling time, sampling method and analytical method) and methodology for quality control are described.

JENDL/ImPACT-2018; A New nuclear data library for innovative studies on transmutation of long-lived fission products

Kunieda, Satoshi; Furutachi, Naoya; Minato, Futoshi; Iwamoto, Nobuyuki; Iwamoto, Osamu; Nakayama, Shinsuke; Ebata, Shuichiro*; Yoshida, Toru*; Nishihara, Kenji; Watanabe, Yukinobu*; et al.

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 56(12), p.1073 - 1091, 2019/12

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2019.1647889

A new nuclear data library, JENDL/ImPACT-2018, is developed for an innovative study on the transmutation of long-lived fission products. Nuclear reaction cross- sections are newly evaluated for incident neutrons and protons up to 200 MeV for 163 nuclides including long-lived nuclei such as Se, Zr, Pd and Cs. Our challenge is an evaluation of cross-sections for a number of unstable nuclei over a wide energy range where the experimental data are very scarce. We estimated cross- sections based on a nuclear model code CCONE that incorporates an advanced knowledge on the nuclear structure theory and a model-parameterization based on a new experimental cross-sections measured by the inverse kinematics. Through comparisons with available experimental data on the stable isotopes, it is found that the present data give predictions of cross-sections better than those in the existing libraries.

Immortal experimental loop at JAEA; Post-process and validation

Watanabe, Nao; Obayashi, Hironari; Sugawara, Takanori; Sasa, Toshinobu; Nishihara, Kenji; Castelliti, D.*

Proceedings of 18th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics (NURETH-18) (USB Flash Drive), p.248 - 261, 2019/08

For the R&D for lead-bismuth eutectic alloy (LBE) cooled Accelerator Driven System (ADS), installation of experimental facility using LBE spallation target dedicated for ADS materials irradiation under flowing high temperature LBE environment is planned within the J-PARC project. JAEA has recently finalized the construction of "IMMORTAL", a demonstrative test loop representing a 1:1 model of the above LBE spallation target system. Such facility pursues several different objectives such as studies on the thermal-hydraulic behavior of the target, and validation of the LBE physical properties, the pressure drops and the heat transfer correlations. These results will be useful for design of the facility and LBE target/cooled ADS. In the frame of a bi-lateral collaboration between JAEA and SCK-CEN, a benchmark exercise on the experimental results from IMMORTAL has been carried out. The calculations have been performed with RELAP5-3D System Thermal-Hydraulic code. To assess and predict the thermal-hydraulic behavior of its primary loop, RELAP5-3D calculation models have been configured. The calculated results from these models represented that a valid contribution towards the validation of the LBE properties and empirical correlations present in RELAP5-3D code.