Effect of neutron beam properties on dose distributions in a water phantom for boron neutron capture therapy

Ishikawa, Akihisa; Tanaka, Hiroki*; Nakamura, Satoshi*; Kumada, Hiroaki*; Sakurai, Yoshinori*; Watanabe, Kenichi*; Yoshihashi, Sachiko*; Tanagami, Yuki*; Uritani, Akira*; Kiyanagi, Yoshiaki*

Journal of Radiation Research (Internet), 11 Pages, 2024/10

https://doi.org/10.1093/jrr/rrae076

Introduction to dismantling and decommissioning chemistry

Sato, Nobuaki*; Kameo, Yutaka; Sato, Soichi; Kumagai, Yuta; Sato, Tomonori; Yamamoto, Masahiro*; Watanabe, Yutaka*; Nagai, Takayuki; Niibori, Yuichi*; Watanabe, Masayuki; et al.

Introduction to Dismantling and Decommissioning Chemistry, 251 Pages, 2024/09

This book focuses on the dismantling and decommissioning of nuclear facilities and reactors that have suffered severe accidents. In Part 1, we introduce basic aspects ranging from fuel chemistry, analytical chemistry, radiation chemistry, corrosion, and decontamination chemistry to waste treatment and disposal. Then, Part 2 covers the chemistry involved in the decommissioning of various nuclear facilities, and discusses what chemical approaches are necessary and possible for the decommissioning of TEPCO's Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plants, how decommissioning should be carried out, and what kind of research and development and also human resource development are required for this.

Difference in peripherality of the inclusive and reactions and its implications for a phenomenological reaction model

Nakada, Hibiki*; Nakayama, Shinsuke; Yoshida, Kazuki; Watanabe, Yukinobu*; Ogata, Kazuyuki*

Physical Review C, 110(1), p.014616_1 - 014616_8, 2024/07

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.110.014616

Previous studies have revealed the importance of introducing surface correction into a phenomenological model for inclusive and reactions, and these findings have contributed significantly to the improvement of nuclear data evaluation. However, the necessity for the surface correction in an inclusive reaction has hardly been investigated. The energy spectra and their radial distributions for the and reactions are calculated by the one-step semiclassical distorted wave model. The radial distribution of the energy spectra for the reaction is shifted toward the outer region of the nucleus compared to the reaction. Based on this finding, we consider a larger surface correction into a phenomenological model for the reaction than that for the reaction, and calculated values reproduce the experimental spectra well. The peripherality of the reaction is more prominent than that of the reaction. The stronger surface correction thus should be introduced for the reaction than for the reaction.

Impact of irradiation side on muon-induced single-event upsets in 65-nm Bulk SRAMs

Deng, Y.*; Watanabe, Yukinobu*; Manabe, Seiya*; Liao, W.*; Hashimoto, Masanori*; Abe, Shinichiro; Tampo, Motonobu*; Miyake, Yasuhiro*

IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, 71(4, Part 2), p.912 - 920, 2024/04

https://doi.org/10.1109/TNS.2024.3378216

With the miniaturization of semiconductors and the decrease in operating voltage, there is a growing interest and discussion in whether the muons in cosmic rays may be the source of single event upsets (SEUs). In the case of neutron-induced SEUs, it was reported that the irradiation side has the impact on SEU cross sections. Here, to investigate the impact of irradiation direction on muon-induced SEUs, we have measured and simulate muon-induced SEUs in 65-nm bulk SRAMs with different muon irradiation directions. It was found that the peak SEU cross section for the package side irradiation is about twice large as that for the board side irradiation. We also revealed that the difference in observed SEU cross sections between the package side and the board side irradiation is caused by differences in energy straggling due to changes in penetration depth depending on the incident direction.

Contrast dependence of scattering profiles for poly(ethylene glycol) in water; Investigation by small-angle neutron scattering with He spin filter and small-angle X-ray scattering

Ryoki, Akiyuki*; Watanabe, Fumi*; Okudaira, Takuya*; Takahashi, Shingo*; Oku, Takayuki; Hiroi, Kosuke; Motokawa, Ryuhei; Nakamura, Yo*

Journal of Chemical Physics, 160(11), p.114907_1 - 114907_9, 2024/03

https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0192680

A Raman spectroscopy study of bicarbonate effects on UO

McGrady, J.; Kumagai, Yuta; Watanabe, Masayuki; Kirishima, Akira*; Akiyama, Daisuke*; Kimuro, Shingo; Ishidera, Takamitsu

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 60(12), p.1586 - 1594, 2023/12

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2023.2236104

A Terrestrial SER Estimation Methodology Based on Simulation Coupled With One-Time Neutron Irradiation Testing

Abe, Shinichiro; Hashimoto, Masanori*; Liao, W.*; Kato, Takashi*; Asai, Hiroaki*; Shimbo, Kenichi*; Matsuyama, Hideya*; Sato, Tatsuhiko; Kobayashi, Kazutoshi*; Watanabe, Yukinobu*

IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, 70(8, Part 1), p.1652 - 1657, 2023/08

https://doi.org/10.1109/TNS.2023.3280190

Single event upsets (SEUs) caused by neutrons is a reliability problem for microelectronic devices in the terrestrial environment. Acceleration tests using white neutron beam provide realistic soft error rates (SERs), but only a few facilities can provide white neutron beam in the world. If single-source irradiation applicable to diverse neutron source can be utilized for the evaluation of the SER in the terrestrial environment, it contributes to solve the shortage of beam time. In this study, we investigated the feasibility of the SER estimation in the terrestrial environment by any one of these measured data with the SEU cross sections obtained by PHITS simulation. It was found that the SERs estimated by our proposed method are within a factor of 2.7 of that estimated by the Weibull function. We also investigated the effect of simplification which reduce the computational cost in simulation to the SER estimation.

Removal of spent fuel sheared powder for decommissioning of Main Plant

Nishino, Saki; Okada, Jumpei; Watanabe, Kazuki; Furuuchi, Yuta; Yokota, Satoru; Yada, Yuji; Kusaka, Shota; Morokado, Shiori; Nakamura, Yoshinobu

JAEA-Technology 2023-011, 39 Pages, 2023/06

JAEA-Technology-2023-011.pdf:2.51MB

Tokai Reprocessing Plant (TRP) which shifted to decommissioning phase in 2014 had nuclear fuel materials such as the spent fuel sheared powder, the diluted plutonium solution and the uranium solution in a part of the reprocessing main equipment because TRP intended to resume reprocessing operations when it suspended the operations in 2007. Therefore, we have planned to remove these nuclear materials in sequence as Flush-out before beginning the decommissioning, and conducted removal of the spent fuel sheared powder as the first stage. The spent fuel sheared powder that had accumulated in the cell of the Main Plant (MP) as a result of the spent fuel shearing process was recovered from the cell floor, the shearing machine and the distributor between April 2016 and April 2017 as part of maintenance. Removing the recovered spent fuel sheared powder was conducted between June 2022 and September 2022. In this work, the recovered powder was dissolved in nitric acid at the dissolver in a small amount in order to remove it safely and early, and the dissolved solution was sent to the highly radioactive waste storage tanks without separating uranium and plutonium. Then, the dissolved solution transfer route was rinsed with nitric acid and water. Although about 15 years had passed since previous process operations, the removing work was successfully completed without any equipment failure because of the organization of a system that combines veterans experienced the operation with young workers, careful equipment inspections, and worker education and training. Removing this powder was conducted after revising the decommissioning project and obtaining approval from the Nuclear Regulation Authority owing to operating a part of process equipment.

Neutron production in the interaction of 200-MeV deuterons with Li, Be, C, Al, Cu, Nb, In, Ta, and Au

Watanabe, Yukinobu*; Sadamatsu, Hiroki*; Araki, Shohei; Nakano, Keita; Kawase, Shoichiro*; Kin, Tadahiro*; Iwamoto, Yosuke; Satoh, Daiki; Hagiwara, Masayuki*; Yashima, Hiroshi*; et al.

EPJ Web of Conferences, 284, p.01041_1 - 01041_4, 2023/05

https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202328401041

Intensive fast neutron sources using deuteron accelerators have been proposed for the study of medical RI production, radiation damage for fusion reactor materials, nuclear transmutation of radioactive waste, and so on. Neutron production data from various materials bombarded by deuterons are required for the design of such neutron sources. In the present work, we have conducted a systematic measurement of double-differential neutron production cross sections (DDXs) for a wide atomic number range of targets (Li, Be, C, Al, Cu, Nb, In, Ta, and Au) at an incident energy of 200 MeV in the Research Center for Nuclear Physics (RCNP), Osaka University. A deuteron beam accelerated to 200 MeV was transported to the neutron experimental hall and focused on a thin target foil. Emitted neutrons from the target were detected by two different-size EJ301 liquid organic scintillators located at two distances of 7 m and 20 m, respectively. The neutron DDXs were measured at six angles from 0 to 25). The neutron energy was determined by a conventional time-of-flight (TOF) method. The measured DDXs were compared with theoretical model calculations by the DEUteron-induced Reaction Analysis Code System (DEURACS) and PHITS. The result indicated that the DEURACS calculation provides better agreement with the measured DDXs than the PHITS calculation.

Machine learning sintering density prediction model for MOX fuel pellet

Kato, Masato; Nakamichi, Shinya; Hirooka, Shun; Watanabe, Masashi; Murakami, Tatsutoshi; Ishii, Katsunori

Nihon Genshiryoku Gakkai Wabun Rombunshi (Internet), 22(2), p.51 - 58, 2023/04

https://doi.org/10.3327/taesj.J22.008

Uranium and Plutonium mixed oxide (MOX) pellets used as fast reactor fuels have been produced from several raw materials by mechanical blending method through processes of ball milling, additive blending, granulation, pressing, sintering and so on. It is essential to control the pellet density which is one of the important fuel specifications, but it is difficult to understand relationships among many parameters in the production. Database for MOX production was prepared from production results in Japan, and input data of eighteen types were chosen from production process and made a data set. Machine learning model to predict sintered density of MOX pellet was derived by gradient boosting regressor, and represented the measured sintered density with coefficient of determination of R=0.996