ARKADIA; For the innovation of advanced nuclear reactor design

Ohshima, Hiroyuki; Asayama, Tai; Furukawa, Tomohiro; Tanaka, Masaaki; Uchibori, Akihiro; Takata, Takashi; Seki, Akiyuki; Enuma, Yasuhiro

Journal of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science, 9(2), p.025001_1 - 025001_12, 2023/04

https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4054726

This paper describes the outline and development plan for ARKADIA to transform advanced nuclear reactor design to meet expectations of a safe, economic, and sustainable carbon-free energy source. ARKADIA will realize Artificial Intelligence (AI)-aided integrated numerical analysis to offer the best possible solutions for the design and operation of a nuclear plant, including optimization of safety equipment. State-of-the-art numerical simulation technologies and a knowledge base that stores data and insights from past nuclear reactor development projects and R&D are integrated with AI. In the first phase of development, ARKADIA-Design and ARKADIA-Safety will be constructed individually, with the first target of sodium-cooled reactor. In a subsequent phase, everything will be integrated into a single entity applicable not only to advanced rectors with a variety of concepts, coolants, configurations, and output levels but also to existing light-water reactors.

A Quantitative method of eutectic reaction study between boron carbide and stainless steel

Hong, Z.*; Pellegrini, M.*; Erkan, N.*; Liao, H.*; Yang, H.*; Yamano, Hidemasa; Okamoto, Koji*

Annals of Nuclear Energy, 180, p.109462_1 - 109462_9, 2023/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2022.109462

A series of experiments were conducted using BC material and SUS304 tubes as a simulant of the real control rods. Reaction rate constant data in the 1450K-1500K range were obtained, and are consistent with the reference values. The reaction layer microstructure observation and the associated chemical composition analysis were also carried onto the experiment samples.

Fatigue crack non-propagation behavior of a gradient steel structure from induction hardened railway axles

Zhang, H.*; Wu, S. C.*; Ao, N.*; Zhang, J. W.*; Li, H.*; Zhou, L.*; Xu, P. G.; Su, Y. H.

International Journal of Fatigue, 166, p.107296_1 - 107296_11, 2023/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijfatigue.2022.107296

Improvement of JASMINE code for ex-vessel molten core coolability in BWR

Matsumoto, Toshinori; Kawabe, Ryuhei*; Iwasawa, Yuzuru; Sugiyama, Tomoyuki; Maruyama, Yu

Annals of Nuclear Energy, 178, p.109348_1 - 109348_13, 2022/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2022.109348

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency extended the applicability of their fuel-coolant interaction analysis code JASMINE to simulate the relevant phenomena of molten core in a severe accident. In order to evaluate the total coolability, it is necessary to know the mass fraction of particle, agglomerated and cake debris and the final geometry at the cavity bottom. An agglomeration model that considers the fusion of hot particles on the cavity floor was implemented in the JASMINE code. Another improvement is introduction of the melt spreading model based on the shallow water equation with consideration of crust formation at the melt surface. For optimization of adjusting parameters, we referred data from the agglomeration experiment DEFOR-A and the under-water spreading experiment PULiMS conducted by KTH in Sweden. The JASMINE analyses reproduced the most of the experimental results well with the common parameter set, suggesting that the primary phenomena are appropriately modelled.

Evaluation of doped potassium concentrations in stacked two-Layer graphene using real-time XPS

Ogawa, Shuichi*; Tsuda, Yasutaka; Sakamoto, Tetsuya*; Okigawa, Yuki*; Masuzawa, Tomoaki*; Yoshigoe, Akitaka; Abukawa, Tadashi*; Yamada, Takatoshi*

Applied Surface Science, 605, p.154748_1 - 154748_6, 2022/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2022.154748

Immersion of graphene in KOH solution improves its mobility on SiO/Si wafers. This is thought to be due to electron doping by modification with K atoms, but the K atom concentration C in the graphene has not been clarified yet. In this study, the C was determined by XPS analysis using high-brilliance synchrotron radiation. The time evolution of C was determined by real-time observation, and the C before irradiation of synchrotron radiation was estimated to be 0.94%. The C 1s spectrum shifted to the low binding energy side with the desorption of K atoms. This indicates that the electron doping concentration into graphene is decreasing, and it is experimentally confirmed that K atoms inject electrons into graphene.

Si-addition contributes to overcoming the strength-ductility trade-off in high-entropy alloys

Wei, D.*; Gong, W.; Tsuru, Tomohito; Lobzenko, I.; Li, X.*; Harjo, S.; Kawasaki, Takuro; Do, H.-S.*; Bae, J. W.*; Wagner, C.*; et al.

International Journal of Plasticity, 159, p.103443_1 - 103443_18, 2022/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijplas.2022.103443

Numerical reproduction of the seasonal variation in dissolved uranium in Lake Biwa

Saito, Tatsuo; Yamazawa, Hiromi*; Mochizuki, Akihito

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 255, p.107035_1 - 107035_14, 2022/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2022.107035

The seasonal variation of dissolved U (DU) in Lake Biwa was reproduced by the following model and parameter research. The introduced models are the water-DU mass balance, and the ion exchange between UO and H on the lakeshore soil. The optimized parameters were the CEC of the lakeshore, TU as the sum of DU and AU (soil adsorbed U), kads and kdes as the first order reaction rate coefficients during rapid soil adsorption and desorption of U, respectively. Tabulated by the chemical equilibria constituting DU and analyzed the contribution of each chemical species, it is shown that the seasonal variation of DU is caused by the seasonal variation of pH. A correction to the ion-exchange equilibrium to shift to first order rate reaction only when the daily AU ratio increased above kads or decreased below kdes, improved the reproducibility of DU measurements and reproduced the delay of the DU peak from the pH peak.

Laser heating induced spatial homogenization of phase separated NaO-BO-SiO glass plate with bearing NiO for heat center and structural probe

Tomita, Kana*; Kishi, Tetsuo*; Matsumura, Daiju; Yano, Tetsuji*

Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, 597, p.121891_1 - 121891_10, 2022/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnoncrysol.2022.121891

Stability of allowable flaw angles for high toughness ductile pipes subjected to bending stress in the ASME Code Section XI

Hasegawa, Kunio; Strnadel, B.*; Li, Y.; Lacroix, V.*

Journal of Pressure Vessel Technology, 144(6), p.061202_1 - 061202_6, 2022/12

https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4054620

When pipe walls are thin, part-through flaws are easily develop into through-wall flaws, and the likelihood of coolant leakage is high. The ASEM Code Section XI provides final allowable flaw angles of through-wall flaw for thin-wall pipes. The final allowable angles are applied to pipes in order to maintain structural integrity if the part-through flaws become through-wall flaws. To ensure that this stability is compromised, plastic collapse stresses for through-wall flaws are combined with allowable stresses. However, the final allowable angles of through-wall flaws are not identified for thin-walled pipes. This paper compares plastic collapse stresses of through-wall flaws and allowable stresses of part-through flaws for pipes. The comparison of these stresses is used to derive the final allowable angles of through-wall flaws. The angles can be expressed either in the form of exact solutions or as conventional options that are appropriate for various service level conditions.

Study on evaluation method of kernel migration of TRISO fuel for High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor

Fukaya, Yuji; Okita, Shoichiro; Sasaki, Koei; Ueta, Shohei; Goto, Minoru; Ohashi, Hirofumi; Yan, X.

Nuclear Engineering and Design, 399, p.112033_1 - 112033_9, 2022/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2022.112033

Kernel migration of TRi-structural ISOtropic (TRISO) fuel for High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR) has been analyzed to investigate the potential dominating effects. Kernel migration is a major fuel failure mode and dominant to determine the lifetime of the fuel for High Temperature engineering Test Reactor (HTTR). However, this study shows that the result and reliability depend on the evaluation method. The evaluation method used in this study takes into account of actual distribution of Coated Fuel Particles (CFPs) and the resulting heterogeneous fuel temperature calculation with such distribution. The result shows that the Kernel Migration Rate (KMR) is predicted to be about 10% less compared with the most conservative evaluation.