Experimental study on the localization and estimation of radioactivity in concrete rubble using image reconstruction algorithms

Takai, Shizuka; Namekawa, Masakazu*; Shimada, Taro; Takeda, Seiji

IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, 69(7), p.1789 - 1798, 2022/07

https://doi.org/10.1109/TNS.2022.3181241

To reduce a large amount of contaminated concrete rubble stored in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station site, recycling low-radioactivity rubble within the site is a possible remedy. To promote recycling while ensuring safety, not only the average radioactivity but also the radioactivity distribution of concrete rubble should be efficiently evaluated because the details of rubble contamination caused by the accident remain unclear and likely include hotspots. However, evaluating inhomogeneous contamination of thick and/or dense materials is difficult using previous measurement systems, such as clearance monitors. This study experimentally confirmed the potential applicability of image reconstruction algorithms for radioactivity distribution evaluation in concrete rubble filled in a chamber. Radiation was measured using plastic scintillation fiber around the chamber (50 50 40 cm). Localized hotspots were simulated using standard sources of Cs, which is one of the main nuclides of contaminated rubble. The radioactivity distribution was calculated for 100 or 50 voxels (voxel size: (10 cm) or 10 10 20 cm) constituting the chamber. For 100 voxels, inner hotspots were undetected, whereas, for 50 voxels, both inner and surface hotspots were reconstructible. The distribution evaluated using the maximum likelihood expectation maximization algorithm was the most accurate; the average radioactivity was estimated within 70% accuracy in all seven cases.

Characterizing energetic dependence of low-energy neutron-induced SEU and MCU and its influence on estimation of terrestrial SER in 65-nm Bulk SRAM

Liao, W.*; Ito, Kojiro*; Abe, Shinichiro; Mitsuyama, Yukio*; Hashimoto, Masanori*

IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, 68(6), p.1228 - 1234, 2021/06

https://doi.org/10.1109/TNS.2021.3077266

Secondary cosmic-ray neutron-induced single event upset (SEU) is a cause of soft errors on micro electronic devices. Multiple cell upsets (MCUs) are particularly serious problems since it is difficult to recover MCUs. In this study, we have performed irradiation tests of neutrons on 65-nm bulk SRAM at the national metrology institute of Japan (NMIJ) in Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and measured SEU cross sections and MCU cross sections to investigate the effect on neutrons with the energies below 10 MeV on soft errors. It was found that SEU cross sections change drastically around 6 MeV. The proportion of MCU to total events does not change very much over the wide range of neutron energy. We also analyzed the total soft error rate (SER) of SEU and MCU by folding the neutron energy-dependent cross section and the flux spectra of the terrestrial neutron at New York and Tokyo. The calculated result indicates that the SER originating from the low-energy neutrons below 10 MeV is mostly negligible in the terrestrial environment.

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

Abe, Shinichiro; Liao, W.*; Manabe, Seiya*; Sato, Tatsuhiko; Hashimoto, Masanori*; Watanabe, Yukinobu*

IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, 66(7, Part2), p.1374 - 1380, 2019/07

https://doi.org/10.1109/TNS.2019.2902176

Single event upsets (SEUs) caused by secondary cosmic-ray neutrons have recognized as a serious reliability problem for microelectronic devices. Acceleration tests at neutron facilities are convenient to validate soft error rates (SERs) quickly, but some corrections caused from measurement conditions are required to derive realistic SERs at actual environment or to compare other measured data. In this study, the effect of irradiation side on neutron-induced SEU cross sections was investigated by performing neutron transport simulation using PHITS. SERs for 65-nm bulk CMOS SRAMs are estimated using the sensitive volume model. It was found from simulation that SERs for the sealant side irradiation are 30-50% larger than those for the board side irradiation. This difference comes from the difference of production yield and angular distribution of secondary H and He ions, which are the main cause of SEUs. Thus the direction of neutron irradiation should be reported when the result of acceleration tests are published. This result also indicates that SERs can be reduced by equipping device with sealant side facing downward.

Development of a radiological characterization submersible ROV for use at Fukushima Daiichi

Nancekievill, M.*; Jones, A. R.*; Joyce, M. J.*; Lennox, B.*; Watson, S.*; Katakura, Junichi*; Okumura, Keisuke; Kamada, So*; Kato, Michio*; Nishimura, Kazuya*

IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, 65(9), p.2565 - 2572, 2018/09

https://doi.org/10.1109/TNS.2018.2858563

In order to contribute to the development of technology to search fuel debris submerged in water inside the primary containment vessel of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, we are developing a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) system equipped with a compact radiation detector and sonar. A cerium bromide (CeBr) scintillator detector for dose rate monitoring and ray spectroscopy was integrated into ROV and experimentally validated with a Cs source, both in the conditions of laboratory and submerged. In addition, the ROV combined with the IMAGENEX 831L sonar could characterize the shape and size of a simulated fuel debris at the bottom of the water pool facility.

Measurement and mechanism investigation of negative and positive muon-induced upsets in 65-nm Bulk SRAMs

Liao, W.*; Hashimoto, Masanori*; Manabe, Seiya*; Watanabe, Yukinobu*; Abe, Shinichiro; Nakano, Keita*; Sato, Hikaru*; Kin, Tadahiro*; Hamada, Koji*; Tampo, Motonobu*; et al.

IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, 65(8), p.1734 - 1741, 2018/08

https://doi.org/10.1109/TNS.2018.2825469

Soft error induced by secondary cosmic-ray muon is concerned since susceptibility of semiconductor device to soft error increases with the scaling of technology. In this study, we have performed irradiation tests of muons on 65-nm bulk CMOS SRAM in the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC) and measured soft error rate (SER) to investigate mechanism of muon-induced soft errors. It was found that SER by negative muon increases above 0.5 V supply voltage, although SER by positive muon increases monotonically as the supply voltage lowers. SER by negative muon also increases with forward body bias. In addition, negative muon causes large multiple cell upset (MCU) of more than 20 bits and the ratio of MCU events to all the events is 66% at 1.2V supply voltage. These tendencies indicate that parasitic bipolar action (PBA) is highly possible to contribute to SER by negative muon. Experimental data are analyzed by PHITS. It was found that negative muon can deposit larger charge than positive muon, and such events that can deposit large charge may trigger PBA.

Investigation of single-event damages on silicon carbide (SiC) power MOSFETs

Mizuta, Eiichi*; Kuboyama, Satoshi*; Abe, Hiroshi; Iwata, Yoshiyuki*; Tamura, Takashi*

IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, 61(4), p.1924 - 1928, 2014/08

https://doi.org/10.1109/TNS.2014.2336911

Heavy-ion induced anomalous charge collection from 4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes

Makino, Takahiro; Deki, Manato; Iwamoto, Naoya; Onoda, Shinobu; Hoshino, Norihiro*; Tsuchida, Hidekazu*; Hirao, Toshio*; Oshima, Takeshi

IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, 60(4), p.2647 - 2650, 2013/08

https://doi.org/10.1109/TNS.2013.2243469

Heavy ion induced anomalous charge collection was observed from 4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes. It is suggested that the incident ion range with suspect to the thickness of the epi-layer of the SBD in key to understanding these observation and the understanding mechanism.

Applicability of redundant pairs of SOI transistors for analog circuits and their applications to phase-locked loop circuits

Makihara, Akiko*; Yokose, Tamotsu*; Tsuchiya, Yoshihisa*; Miyazaki, Yoshio*; Abe, Hiroshi; Shindo, Hiroyuki*; Ebihara, Tsukasa*; Maru, Akifumi*; Morikawa, Koichi*; Kuboyama, Satoshi*; et al.

IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, 60(1), p.230 - 235, 2013/02

https://doi.org/10.1109/TNS.2012.2237039

no abstracts in English

Response measurement of a Bonner sphere spectrometer for high-energy neutrons

Masuda, Akihiko*; Matsumoto, Tetsuro*; Harano, Hideki*; Nishiyama, Jun*; Iwamoto, Yosuke; Hagiwara, Masayuki*; Satoh, Daiki; Iwase, Hiroshi*; Yashima, Hiroshi*; Nakamura, Takashi*; et al.

IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, 59(1), p.161 - 166, 2012/02

https://doi.org/10.1109/TNS.2011.2175406

In this study, responses of Bonner sphere spectrometer (BSS) for 245 and 388 MeV neutrons was measured at RCNP, Osaka University. The neutrons are generated in the Li(p,n) reaction and its spectra consist of a high-energy peak and a continuum down to the low energy. Therefore, the observed counts of BSS caused by the continuum need to be subtracted. Adjusting a Li target angle and a collimator position, 0 deg and 30 deg component of generated neutron are available. While the 0 deg component contains both the peak and the continuum, the 30 deg component is considered to contain only the continuum. Therefore, the response of the peak is obtained. The spectra were measured using the time-of-flight (TOF) method with a NE213 scintillator.

Status of development on Mo production technologies in JMTR

Inaba, Yoshitomo; Iimura, Koichi; Hosokawa, Jinsaku; Izumo, Hironobu; Hori, Naohiko; Ishitsuka, Etsuo

IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, 58(3), p.1151 - 1158, 2011/06

https://doi.org/10.1109/TNS.2011.2144620

The Japan Materials Testing Reactor (JMTR) is now under refurbishment, and the operation of the new JMTR will start in FY 2011. The new JMTR has a plan to produce Mo, which is the parent nuclide of Tc, and two Mo production technologies have been developed: one is a solid irradiation method, and the other is a solution irradiation method. In this paper, the present status of the development on the Mo production technologies with the solid and solution irradiation methods was described. In the solid irradiation method, it was found that JMTR can provide about 20% of the Mo imported into Japan. In the solution irradiation method, the fundamental characteristics of the aqueous molybdate solutions selected as candidates for the irradiation target were cleared by the -ray irradiation test.