Flux distribution tallies using proper orthogonal decomposition in Monte Carlo calculations

Kondo, Ryoichi; Endo, Tomohiro*; Yamamoto, Akio*

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 61(12), p.1536 - 1545, 2024/12

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2024.2365445

In this paper, a new tallying method for a neutron flux distribution using the proper orthogonal decomposition is proposed for dimensionality reduction. The target spatial flux distribution is expanded by orthogonal basis vectors. Expansion coefficients are tallied during the random walk of the Monte Carlo calculation. The orthogonal basis vectors are extracted from the pre-calculated snapshots by the singular value decomposition. The proposed method is verified in the multi-group Monte Carlo calculation with the one-dimensional heterogeneous whole core geometry as a feasibility study. The flux distribution for each of the assemblies and energy groups is expanded by the basis vectors. The fewer basis vectors obtained from snapshots can reconstruct the target distribution well compared with the conventional Legendre polynomials used in the functional expansion tallies. The dimension of the solution in the proposed method is reduced by a factor of twenty compared with the conventional cell tally. In addition, the statistical error is reduced through dimensionality reduction thanks to the methodological feature of the proposed method. The results indicate that the proposed method has the capability of dimensionality reduction to tally the finely discretized flux distribution.

Ca-induced phonon softening in BaTiO revealed by inelastic X-ray and neutron scattering

Kimura, Koji*; Tsutsui, Satoshi*; Yamamoto, Yuta*; Nakano, Akitoshi*; Kawamura, Keisuke*; Kajimoto, Ryoichi; Kamazawa, Kazuya*; Martin, A.*; Webber, K. G.*; Kakimoto, Kenichi*; et al.

Physical Review B, 110(13), p.134314_1 - 134314_10, 2024/10

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.110.134314

Assessment of caesium-137 detections at CTBTO radionuclide monitoring stations in East Asia and their relationship to Asian dust dispersion

Furuno, Akiko; Omori, Ryuta*; Tateoka, Hisanori*; Minakawa, Yuya*; Kurihara, Toshiyuki; Yamamoto, Yoichi; Tomita, Yutaka

Pure and Applied Geophysics, 14 Pages, 2024/00

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-024-03620-y

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) Okinawa radionuclide monitoring station (JPP37) is located on a hill facing the East China Sea at the center of the main island of Okinawa. It occasionally detects Cs-137, although no nuclear facilities are located on the island. This study focused on the detection of Cs-137 at JPP37 and examined the ratio of simultaneous detections at nearby stations of the International Monitoring System (IMS) of the CTBTO and the relationship with Asian dust from inland East Asia. The detection of Cs-137 in JPP37 from 2020 to 2023, which motivated this study, was high in spring. Among the nine IMS radionuclide stations in East Asia, the detections in Beijing, Lanzhou, and Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, were also high in spring. This suggested a high association with the detection of Asian dust in East Asia. Thus, we confirmed the detection of Cs-137 at nine nearby IMS stations when Asian dust was observed at any of the sites in Japan. In addition, we observed that the detection rates were high in Takasaki, Beijing, Lanzhou, and Ulaanbaatar. It can be inferred that the Cs-137 observed mainly in spring at the IMS particulate radionuclide stations in the East Asian region around Japan were likely to pick up the effects of global fallout conveyed by Asian dust. Thereafter, we conducted a preliminary source estimation analysis for Asian dust arrival near Japan. Atmospheric dispersion simulations explained the detection of Cs-137 at nearby IMS particulate radionuclide stations, assuming that Cs-137 was emitted from the desert, the source of the Asian dust.

Secondary consolidation characteristic of bentonite by long-term consolidation tests of 2.7, 3.7 and 4 years

Takayama, Yusuke; Yamamoto, Yoichi*; Goto, Takahiro*

Jiban Kogaku Janaru (Internet), 18(3), p.317 - 330, 2023/09

https://doi.org/10.3208/jgs.18.317

It has been reported that the deformation greatly increased in the secondary consolidation process in the past long-term consolidation test of 1.8 years on Na-type bentonite/sand mixed soil. Therefore, we analyzed potential contributing factors in this behavior. A long-term consolidation test for about 10 years on bentonite and kaolinite was started using the test equipment with countermeasures against these factors. In this paper, the secondary consolidation behavior of bentonite was investigated based on the long-term consolidation test data for 2.7, 3.7 and 4 years. The results were generally consistent with the conventional findings on soil mechanics that the deformation due to secondary consolidation progresses linearly with respect to logarithm of time. This test will be continued for about 10 years and longer-term secondary consolidation behavior will be investigated.

Semiconductor pulse power supplies for accelerators at J-PARC

Takayanagi, Tomohiro; Ono, Ayato; Fuwa, Yasuhiro; Shinozaki, Shinichi; Horino, Koki*; Ueno, Tomoaki*; Sugita, Moe; Yamamoto, Kazami; Oguri, Hidetomo; Kinsho, Michikazu; et al.

Proceedings of 19th Annual Meeting of Particle Accelerator Society of Japan (Internet), p.242 - 246, 2023/01

At J-PARC, semiconductor short pulse power supplies to replace kicker power supplies and semiconductor long pulse power supplies to replace klystron power supply systems are under construction. We have fabricated a 40kV/2kA/1.2s unit power supply that employs a linear transformer drivers (LTD) system for kickers. Currently, we are working on a high voltage insulating cylinder insulator that suppresses corona discharges using only the insulator structure, without using insulating oil. In addition, the MARX system was adopted for klystron power supply system. A main circuit unit for 8kV/60A/830s rectangular pulse output and an 800V/60A correction circuit unit that improves the flat top droop from 10% to 1% were manufactured. Furthermore, a 2.2kV/2.4kW high voltage SiC inverter charger has been fabricated for this MARX power supply. The presentation will report the evaluation results of each test and prospects for semiconductor pulse power supplies.

Report of summer holiday practical training 2020; Feasibility study on nuclear battery using HTTR core; Feasibility study for nuclear design, 3

Ishitsuka, Etsuo; Mitsui, Wataru*; Yamamoto, Yudai*; Nakagawa, Kyoichi*; Ho, H. Q.; Ishii, Toshiaki; Hamamoto, Shimpei; Nagasumi, Satoru; Takamatsu, Kuniyoshi; Kenzhina, I.*; et al.

JAEA-Technology 2021-016, 16 Pages, 2021/09

JAEA-Technology-2021-016.pdf:1.8MB

As a summer holiday practical training 2020, the feasibility study for nuclear design of a nuclear battery using HTTR core was carried out, and the downsizing of reactor core were studied by the MVP-BURN. As a result, it is clear that a 1.6 m radius reactor core, containing 54 (183 layers) fuel blocks with 20% enrichment of U, and BeO neutron reflector, could operate continuously for 30 years with thermal power of 5 MW. Number of fuel blocks of this compact core is 36% of the HTTR core. As a next step, the further downsizing of core by changing materials of the fuel block will be studied.

The -electron state of the heavy fermion superconductor NpPdAl and the isostructural family

Metoki, Naoto; Aczel, A. A.*; Aoki, Dai*; Chi, S.*; Fernandez-Baca, J. A.*; Griveau, J.-C.*; Hagihara, Masato*; Hong, T.*; Haga, Yoshinori; Ikeuchi, Kazuhiko*; et al.

JPS Conference Proceedings (Internet), 30, p.011123_1 - 011123_6, 2020/03

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSCP.30.011123

Rare earths (4) and actinides (5) provide variety of interesting states realized with competing interactions between the increasing number of electrons. Since crystal field splitting of many-body electron system is smaller than the bandwidth, (1) high resolution experiments are needed, (2) essentially no clear spectrum with well defined peaks is expected in itinerant Ce and U compounds, and (3) Np and Pu is strictly regulated. Therefore, systematic research on magnetic excitations by neutron scattering experiments of localized compounds and rare earth iso-structural reference is useful. We describe the electron states of heavy electron compounds NpPdAl and actinide and rare earth based iso-structural family.

International Noble Gas joint measurement at Mutsu City, Aomori for CTBT verification

Kijima, Yuichi; Yamamoto, Yoichi; Oda, Tetsuzo

JAEA-Technology 2017-028, 33 Pages, 2018/01

JAEA-Technology-2017-028.pdf:38.85MB

The International Noble Gas Experiment related to monitoring network for radioactive noble gas (xenon) has been carried out all over the world, as part of the International Monitoring System (IMS) of CTBT. Thirty IMS radionuclide stations including the Takasaki station in Japan are monitoring radioxenon. The past measurement results show that several stations often detect radioxenon and the major emission source of these radioxenon is medical radioisotope production facilities. And nuclear power plants and medical institutions used radioxenon for nuclear medicine diagnosis, and so on are also considered as the possible sources of radioxenon, and it is therefore important to understand the background behavior of radioxenon originated from above facilities for enhancement of monitoring capability for nuclear tests. The international joint measurement was conducted in 2012 by the Preparatory Commission for the CTBT Organization, US Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Japan Chemical Analysis Center and JAEA at the Ohminato site of JAEA Aomori Research and Development Center in Mutsu city, Aomori, as part of investigation on radioxenon background in East Asia region. In 2014, the additional measurement was carried out at the same place for further investigation. A high sensitive Transportable Xenon Laboratory developed by PNNL was used for this measurement. This paper describes the outline and the results of the joint measurement conducted in 2012 and 2014.

Status of J-PARC accelerators

Hasegawa, Kazuo; Kinsho, Michikazu; Oguri, Hidetomo; Yamamoto, Kazami; Hayashi, Naoki; Yamazaki, Yoshio; Naito, Fujio*; Hori, Yoichiro*; Yamamoto, Noboru*; Koseki, Tadashi*

Proceedings of 14th Annual Meeting of Particle Accelerator Society of Japan (Internet), p.1317 - 1321, 2017/12

After the summer shutdown in 2016, the J-PARC restarted user operation late in October for the neutrino experiments (NU) and early in November for the materials and life science experimental facility (MLF). The beam power for the NU was 420 kW in May 2016, but increased to 470 kW in February 2017 thanks to the change and optimization of operation parameters. For the hadron experimental facility (HD), we started beam tuning in April, but suspended by a failure of the electro static septum. After the treatment, we delivered beam at the power of 37 kW. We delivered beam at 150kW for the MLF. In the fiscal year of 2016, the linac, the 3 GeV synchrotron (RCS) and the MLF were stable and the availability was high at 93%. On the contrary, the main ring has several failures and the availabilities were 77% and 84% for NU and HD, respectively.

Conceptual design of main magnets for the J-PARC RCS energy upgrade

Tani, Norio; Watanabe, Yasuhiro; Hotchi, Hideaki; Harada, Hiroyuki; Yamamoto, Masanobu; Kinsho, Michikazu; Igarashi, Susumu*; Sato, Yoichi*; Shirakata, Masashi*; Koseki, Tadashi*

Proceedings of 13th Annual Meeting of Particle Accelerator Society of Japan (Internet), p.708 - 711, 2016/11

http://www.pasj.jp/web_publish/pasj2016/proceedings/PDF/MOP1/MOP113.pdf

At the J-PARC Main Ring (MR), there have been various investigation carried out at the moment aiming at the beam operation of MW order. As one of the investigations, a study of the Rapid-Cycling Synchrotron (RCS) magnets was implemented. Increase of the extraction energy of RCS was needed to reduce beam loss, as beam loss in the MR injection region was large under influence of Space Charge effect at the injection beam of 3GeV. Therefore conceptual design of the extraction energy upgrade using dipole and quadrupole magnets of RCS was performed. In this paper, we will report the contents of the study in extraction energy upgrade of RCS magnets and problems which became clear as a result.