Liquid film behavior and heat-transfer mechanism near the rewetting front in a single rod air-water system

Wada, Yuki; Le, T. D.; Satou, Akira; Shibamoto, Yasuteru; Yonomoto, Taisuke

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 57(1), p.100 - 113, 2020/01

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2019.1659872

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(11-12), 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.

Formation mechanisms of insoluble Cs particles observed in Kanto district four days after Fukushima Daiichi NPP accident

Hidaka, Akihide

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 56(9-10), p.831 - 841, 2019/09

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2019.1583611

The insoluble Cs particles (Type A) were firstly observed in Tsukuba-city on the morning of March 15. The particles have been considered to be generated in RPV of Unit 2 by evaporation/condensation based on the measured Cs/Cs ratio and the core temperatures of each unit. However, the Type A particles with smaller diameter than the Type B particles of Unit 1 origin, are covered by almost pure silicate glass and have a trace of the quenching. This indicates that the particles could have been generated due to the melting of the HEPA filter in SGTS by the fire of H detonation at Unit 3, and atomization followed by quenching of the molten materials by air blast of the explosion. Although the particles were mostly dispersed to the sea because of the wind direction, some of them deposited onto the lower elevation of R/B at Unit 3, could have been subsequently re-suspended and released into the environment, by the steam flow in the R/B caused by restart of the Unit 3 core cooling water injection at 2:30 of March 15.

Radiation imaging using a compact Compton camera mounted on a crawler robot inside reactor buildings of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station

Sato, Yuki; Terasaka, Yuta; Utsugi, Wataru*; Kikuchi, Hiroyuki*; Kiyooka, Hideo*; Torii, Tatsuo

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 56(9-10), p.801 - 808, 2019/09

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2019.1581111

Application of InGaP space solar cells for a radiation dosimetry at high dose rates environment of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant

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

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 56(9-10), p.851 - 858, 2019/09

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2019.1585987

Decommissioning the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (1F) after the accident caused by a tsunami in 2011 requires characterization of the fuel debris by dose distribution measurement. This paper describes the experimental and theoretical behavior of a radiation detector applied with InGaP solar cells is investigated and allow the localization and characterization of the fuel debris. In the irradiation test, it was observed that the radiation-induced current output of the InGaP solar cells increases linearly with increasing dose rates of Co -ray. For measurements at low dose rates, it becomes clear that the minimum detectable dose rate and resolution can be determined by analyzing the noise characterization. The maximum detection limit of radiation dosimetry for the InGaP solar cell was found to be higher than the highest -ray dose rate observable at the reactor core for 1F plants. Additionally, as an analysis of the radiation-induced current, it is attempted to express a relational expression between the absorbed dose rate and the creation of radiation-induced current pairs in the solar cells. The experimental and simulation results suggest that solar cells can be powerful tools for radiation dosimetry in high dose rate environments near the debris of the 1F plant.

First-principles calculation of mechanical properties of simulated debris ZrUO

Itakura, Mitsuhiro; Nakamura, Hiroki; Kitagaki, Toru; Hoshino, Takanori; Machida, Masahiko

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 56(9-10), p.915 - 921, 2019/09

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2019.1604271

To elucidate the mechanical properties of fuel debris inside the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, we use first-principles calculations to evaluate mechanical properties of cubic ZrUO, which is a main component of the fuel debris. We focus on the dependence of mechanical properties on the fraction x of zirconium, compare our results with recent experiment of simulated debris, in which dependences of elastic moduli and fracture toughness on the ZrO content showed deviation from a simple linear relation. We show that elastic moduli drop at around x=0.25 and increase again for larger values of x, as has been observed in experiments. The reason of the drop is a softening owing to disordered atomistic structures induced by the solute zirconium atoms. We also find that stress-strain curves for the x=0.125 case show marked hysteresis owing to the existence of many meta-stable states. We show that this hysteresis leads to slightly increased fracture toughness, but it is not enough to account for the significant increase of fracture toughness observed in experiments.

investigation of radioactive Cs mobility around litter zone in contaminated forest using spent mushroom substrata

Onuki, Toshihiko*; Sakamoto, Fuminori; Kozai, Naofumi; Yamasaki, Shinya*; Sasaki, Yoshito; Niizato, Tadafumi

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 56(9-10), p.814 - 821, 2019/09

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2019.1588799

We used the spent mushroom substrata (SMSs) which are a kind of by-product after growing edible mushrooms for the investigation of radioactive Cs mobility in litter zone in a forest of Fukushima prefecture, Japan. The powder SMS was filled in a plastic net bag of 0.350.55 m, then was placed in a forest for 6 months under three kinds of different conditions without treatment (No treatment), covered with wooden box (With box), and with zeolite placed on upper position of ground surface (With zeolite). We determined the ratio of radioactivity (TF) in the SMS to that of the soil and litter beneath the SMS bags. TFs of "No treatment" and of "With zeolite" were determined between 0.01 and 0.05 for 6 months. On the other hand, TFs of "With box" were lower by one order at 2 and 4 months than those of "No treatment" and of "With zeolite", and nearly the same values as TFs of "No treatment" and "With zeolite" at 6 months. These results clearly indicate that radioactive Cs accumulates in SMS mainly by throughfall. In addition, for a period of several months, fungi contribute to the accumulation of radioactive Cs in the litter zone, even though radioactive Cs was tightly associated with the soil.

Thermophysical properties of molten stainless steel containing 5mass%BC

Fukuyama, Hiroyuki*; Higashi, Hideo*; Yamano, Hidemasa

Nuclear Technology, 205(9), p.1154 - 1163, 2019/09

https://doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2019.1578572

An electromagnetic-levitation technique performed in a static magnetic field was used to measure the density, surface tension, normal spectral emissivity, heat capacity, and thermal conductivity of molten 316L stainless steel (SS316L) and SS316L that contained 5mass%BC. The addition of 5mass%BC to SS316L yielded reductions of 111 K, 6%, 19%, and 6% in the liquidus temperature, density, normal spectral emissivity, and thermal conductivity at the liquidus temperature of SS316L, respectively. The heat capacity increased by 5% with this addition. Although the 5mass%BC addition had no clear effect on the surface tension, sulfur dissolved in the SS316L resulted in a significant decrease in the surface tension.