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.

Sensitivity of charged particle activation analysis for long-lived radioactive nuclide determination

Oshima, Masumi*; Yamaguchi, Yurie*; Asai, Masato; Tsukada, Kazuaki; Goto, Jun*; Bamba, Shigeru*; Bi, C.*; Morimoto, Takao*

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 56(9-10), p.866 - 872, 2019/09

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2019.1593892

Sensitivity of charged particle activation analysis with 8 MeV proton beam was studied for determination of 35 long-lived radioactive nuclides. Reaction cross sections for those nuclides were estimated with ALICE-91 code and isomer yield ratios were estimated from those of neighboring isotopes by taking into account their spins and parities. It was found that the proposed charged particle activation analysis should show high sensitivity for the determination of several hardly measurable nuclides with long half-lives such as Cs, Pu, I, Sn, Mo, Pd, U, Cm, and Np.

Development of regional downscaling capability in STEAMER ocean prediction system based on multi-nested ROMS model

Kamidaira, Yuki; Kawamura, Hideyuki; Kobayashi, Takuya; Uchiyama, Yusuke*

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 56(8), p.752 - 763, 2019/08

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2019.1613269

Oceanic regional downscaling capability was implemented into Short-Term Emergency Assessment system of Marine Environmental Radioactivity (STEAMER) developed by Japan Atomic Energy Agency to enable us to predict more realistically the oceanic dispersion of radionuclides at higher spatiotemporal resolutions for broader applications. The system consisted of a double-nested oceanic downscaling circulation model with tidal forcing and an oceanic radionuclide dispersion model. This system was used to comparatively examine downscaling and tidal effects on the dispersion of radionuclides hypothetically released from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in the colder season. The simulated dissolved Cs distribution was different from that obtained using coarser-resolution models because downscaling enhanced both horizontal and vertical mixing. The suppression of horizontal mixing and the promotion of vertical mixing by tidal forcing synergistically reduced offshore Cs transport. In addition, the submesoscale effects strengthened the three-dimensional Cs fluctuations by 10 times, while the tidal effects promoted slightly increased the intensity of three-dimensional Cs fluctuations by approximately 3%. This indicated that the submesoscale effects substantially surpassed tidal forcing in oceanic mixing in the coastal margin off Fukushima in the colder season.

Oxidation behavior of high-burnup advanced fuel cladding tubes in high-temperature steam

Narukawa, Takafumi; Amaya, Masaki

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 56(7), p.650 - 660, 2019/07

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2019.1613268

Measurements of the Am neutron capture and total cross sections with ANNRI at J-PARC

Kimura, Atsushi; Nakamura, Shoji; Terada, Kazushi*; Nakao, Taro*; Mizuyama, Kazuhito*; Iwamoto, Nobuyuki; Iwamoto, Osamu; Harada, Hideo; Katabuchi, Tatsuya*; Igashira, Masayuki*; et al.

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 56(6), p.479 - 492, 2019/06

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2019.1598508

Measurements of thermal-neutron capture cross-section and resonance integral of neptunium-237

Nakamura, Shoji; Kitatani, Fumito; Kimura, Atsushi; Uehara, Akihiro*; Fujii, Toshiyuki*

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 56(6), p.493 - 502, 2019/06

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2019.1598304

The thermal-neutron capture cross-section()and resonance integral(I) were measured for the Np(n,)Np reaction by an activation method. A method with a Gadolinium filter, which is similar to the Cadmium difference method, was used to measure the with paying attention to the first resonance at 0.489 eV of Np, and a value of 0.133 eV was taken as a cut-off energy. Neptunium-237 samples were irradiated at the pneumatic tube of the Kyoto University Research Reactor in Institute for Integral Radiation and Nuclear Science, Kyoto University. Wires of Co/Al and Au/Al alloys were used as monitors to determine thermal-neutron fluxes and epi-thermal Westcott's indices at an irradiation position. A -ray spectroscopy was used to measure activities of Np, Np and neutron monitors. On the basis of Westcott's convention, the and I values were derived as 186.96.2 barn, and 100990 barn, respectively.

Melting behavior and thermal conductivity of solid sodium-concrete reaction product

Kawaguchi, Munemichi; Miyahara, Shinya; Uno, Masayoshi*

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 56(6), p.513 - 520, 2019/06

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2019.1599744

This study revealed melting points and thermal conductivities of four samples generated by sodium-concrete reaction (SCR). We prepared the samples using two methods such as firing mixtures of sodium and grinded concrete powder, and sampling depositions after the SCR experiments. In the former, the mixing ratios were determined from the past experiment. The latter simulated the more realistic conditions such as the temperature history and the distribution of Na and concrete. The thermogravimetry-differential thermal analyzer (TG-DTA) measurement showed the melting points were 865-942C, but those of the samples containing metallic Na couldn't be clarified. In the two more realistic samples, the compression moldings in a furnace were observed. The observation revealed the softening temperature was 800-840C and the melting point was 840-850C, which was 10-20C lower than the TG-DTA results. The thermodynamics calculation of FactSage 7.2 revealed the temperature of the onset of melting was caused by melting of the some components such as NaSiO and/or NaSiO. Moreover, the thermal conductivity was =1-3W/m-K, which was comparable to xNaO-1-xSiO (x=0.5, 0.33, 0.25), and those at 700C were explained by the equation of .