Determination of humic substances in deep groundwater from sedimentary formations by the carbon concentration-based DAX-8 resin isolation technique

Terashima, Motoki; Endo, Takashi*; Miyakawa, Kazuya

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 57(4), p.380 - 387, 2020/04

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2019.1688730

Material balance evaluation of pyroprocessing for minor actinide transmutation nitride fuel

Tateno, Haruka; Sato, Takumi; Tsubata, Yasuhiro; Hayashi, Hirokazu

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 57(3), p.224 - 235, 2020/03

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2019.1666056

Fuel cycle technology for the transmutation of long-lived minor actinides (MAs) using an accelerator-driven system has been developed using the double-strata fuel cycle concept. A mononitride solid solution of MAs and Pu diluted with ZrN is a prime fuel candidate for the accelerator-driven transmutation of MAs. Pyro-reprocessing is suitable for recycling the residual MAs in irradiated nitride fuel with high radiation doses and decay heat. Spent nitride fuel is anodically dissolved, and the actinides are recovered simultaneously into a liquid cadmium cathode via molten salt electrorefining. The process should be designed to achieve the target recovery yield of MAs and the acceptable impurity level of rare earths in the recovered material. We evaluated the material balance during the pyro-reprocessing of spent nitride fuel to gain important insight on the design process. We examined the effects of changing processing conditions on material flow and quantity of waste.

Boron chemistry during transportation in the high temperature region of a boiling water reactor under severe accident conditions

Miwa, Shuhei; Takase, Gaku; Imoto, Jumpei; Nishioka, Shunichiro; Miyahara, Naoya; Osaka, Masahiko

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 57(3), p.291 - 300, 2020/03

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2019.1671913

For the evaluation of transport behavior of control material boron in a severe accident of BWR from the viewpoint of chemical effects on cesium and iodine behavior, boron chemistry during transportation in the high temperature region above 400 K was experimentally investigated. The heating tests of boron oxide specimen were conducted using the dedicated experimental apparatus reproducing fission product release and transport in steam atmosphere. Released boron oxide vapor was deposited above 1,000 K by the condensation onto stainless steel. The boron deposits and/or vapors significantly reacted with stainless steel above 1,000 K and formed the stable iron-boron mixed oxide (FeO)BO. These results indicate that released boron from degraded BWR control blade in a severe accident could remain in the high temperature region such as a Reactor Pressure Vessel. Based on these results, it can be said that the existence of boron deposits in the high temperature region would decrease the amount of transported cesium vapors from a Reactor Pressure Vessel due to possible formation of low volatile cesium borate compounds by the reaction of boron deposits with cesium vapors.

Estimation of uncertainty in lead spallation particle multiplicity and its propagation to a neutron energy spectrum

Iwamoto, Hiroki; Meigo, Shinichiro

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 57(3), p.276 - 290, 2020/03

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2019.1671912

This paper presents an approach to uncertainty estimation of spallation particle multiplicity of lead (Pb), primarily focusing on proton-induced spallation neutron multiplicity () and its propagation to a neutron energy spectrum. The uncertainty is estimated from experimental proton-induced neutron-production double-differential cross sections (DDXs) and model calculations with the Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System (PHITS). Uncertainties in multiplicities for , , and reactions are then inferred from the estimated uncertainty and the PHITS calculation. Using these uncertainties, uncertainty in a neutron energy spectrum produced from a thick Pb target bombarded with 500 MeV proton beams, measured in a previous experiment, is quantified by a random sampling technique, and propagation to the neutron energy spectrum is examined. Relatively large uncertainty intervals (UIs) were observed outside the lower limit of the measurement range, which is prominent in the backward directions. Our findings suggest that a reliable assessment of spallation neutron energy spectra requires systematic DDX experiments for detector angles and incident energies below 100 MeV as well as neutron energy spectrum measurements at lower energies below 1.4 MeV with an accuracy below the quantified UIs.

Neutron emission spectrum from gold excited with 16.6 MeV linearly polarized monoenergetic photons

Kirihara, Yoichi; Nakashima, Hiroshi; Sanami, Toshiya*; Namito, Yoshihito*; Itoga, Toshiro*; Miyamoto, Shuji*; Takemoto, Akinori*; Yamaguchi, Masashi*; Asano, Yoshihiro*

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 57(3), p.444 - 456, 2020/03

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2019.1691073

no abstracts in English

Degradation prediction of a gamma-ray radiation dosimeter using InGaP solar cells in a primary containment vessel of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station

Okuno, Yasuki; Yamaguchi, Masafumi*; Okubo, Nariaki; Imaizumi, Mitsuru*

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 57(3), p.457 - 462, 2020/03

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2019.1691072

Indium gallium phosphide (InGaP) solar cell with a superior high-radiation resistance is expected to be a powerful candidate for a dosimeter under a high-radiation dose rate environment. In this study, in order to predict the lifetime as the dosimeter using the InGaP solar cell, we clarify the effect of minority-carrier diffusion length () on a radiation-induced current as a dose signal in the InGaP solar cell by irradiation tests and empirical calculations. In the irradiation tests, the short circuit current density () as a function of the gamma-ray dose rate is measured to estimate the for the InGaP solar cell by irradiation tests. The operational lifetime as a detector using the InGaP solar cell under various dose rates is estimated by using the empirical calculations based on the relation between the L and absorbed dose. The results suggest that the dosimeter using InGaP solar cell is able to be used during more than 10 h in the primary containment vessel of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and it has a high potential of being a radiation-resistant dosimeter that would contribute to the decommissioning.

Measurement of prompt neutron decay constant with spallation neutrons at Kyoto University Critical Assembly using linear combination method

Katano, Ryota; Yamanaka, Masao*; Pyeon, C. H.*

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 57(1), p.169 - 176, 2020/01

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2019.1671911

We proposed the linear combination method as a subcriticality measurement method which estimates the prompt neutron decay constant () correlated with the subcriticality using measurement results obtained at multiple detector positions. In the previous study, we confirmed applicability of the linear combination method through the pulsed neutron experiment with DT neutron source at Kyoto University Critical Assembly (KUCA). In this study, we conduct the pulsed neutron source experiment with spallation neutrons at KUCA and confirm the robustness of the linear combination to neutron sources.

Recent activities in the field of reactor physics

Fukushima, Masahiro; Tojo, Masayuki*

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 56(12), p.1061 - 1062, 2019/12

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2019.1667925

Reactor Physics that treat the essentials of how fission nuclear reactors work fundamentally has important roles on safe operations and design studies of various types of nuclear reactors. From the latest activities in the field of reactor physics, this report summarizes some outstanding researches and developments published in scientific journals including the Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology.

An Experimental investigation of influencing chemical factors on Cs-chemisorption behavior onto stainless steel

Nishioka, Shunichiro; Nakajima, Kunihisa; Suzuki, Eriko; Osaka, Masahiko

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 56(11), p.988 - 995, 2019/11

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2019.1633968

In order to contribute to improvement of Cs chemisorption model used in severe accident analysis codes, the influence of chemical factors (temperature, atmosphere, concentration of affecting chemical elements etc.) on the Cs chemisorption behaviour onto stainless steel was investigated experimentally. It was found that the surface reaction rate constant used in the current Cs-chemisorption model was influenced by not only temperature, as already known, but also atmosphere, cesium hydroxide (CsOH) concentration in the gas phase and silicon content in SS304. Such chemical factors should be considered for the construction of the improved Cs-chemisorption model. Another important finding is that the chemisorption behavior at lower temperatures, around 873 K, could differ from those above 1073 K. Namely, Cs-Fe-O compounds would form as the main Cs-chemisorbed compounds at 873 K while Cs-Si-Fe-O compounds at more than 1073 K.

Development of a laser chipping technique combined with water jet for retrieval of fuel debris at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station

Yamada, Tomonori; Takebe, Toshihiko*; Ishizuka, Ippei*; Daido, Hiroyuki*; Hanari, Toshihide; Shibata, Takuya; Omori, Shinya*; Kurosawa, Koichi*; Sasaki, Go*; Nakada, Masahiro*; et al.

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 56(11), p.1171 - 1179, 2019/11

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2019.1647890

We describe a new chipping technique combined with a water-jet technique as one of the candidate techniques for the retrieval of fuel debris and support structures as part of the decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. We performed proof-of-principle experiments to demonstrate the removal capability of metal parts, where we focused on the observation of removal processes from a metallic sample using a 5.5-kW continuous wave fiber laser combined with continuous and pulsed water jets.