Investigation of environment induced property change and cracking behavior in fuel debris (Contract research); FY2021 Nuclear Energy Science & Technology and Human Resource Development Project

Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced Decommissioning Science; The University of Tokyo*

JAEA-Review 2022-036, 115 Pages, 2023/01

JAEA-Review-2022-036.pdf:7.15MB

The Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced Decommissioning Science (CLADS), Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), had been conducting the Nuclear Energy Science & Technology and Human Resource Development Project (hereafter referred to "the Project") in FY2021. The Project aims to contribute to solving problems in the nuclear energy field represented by the decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (1F), Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc. (TEPCO). For this purpose, intelligence was collected from all over the world, and basic research and human resource development were promoted by closely integrating/collaborating knowledge and experiences in various fields beyond the barrier of conventional organizations and research fields. The sponsor of the Project was moved from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to JAEA since the newly adopted proposals in FY2018. On this occasion, JAEA constructed a new research system where JAEA-academia collaboration is reinforced and medium-to-long term research/development and human resource development contributing to the decommissioning are stably and consecutively implemented. Among the adopted proposals in FY2020, this report summarizes the research results of the "Investigation of environment induced property change and cracking behavior in fuel debris" conducted in FY2021. The present study aims to investigate the environment induced property change and cracking behavior in fuel debris from the viewpoints of materials science. The research objective is cracking behavior in fuel debris which is presumed to be influenced by environment during long-term fuel debris processing period. The degradation models will be established to simulate the oxidation and hydrogenation processes possibly occurred at fuel debris. The evolution of phase constitution and the corresponding property change in the simulated fuel debris under various environmental conditions …

Result of measurement of the ambient dose equivalent rates by car-borne surveys using KURAMA-II from 2012 until 2019

Ando, Masaki; Saito, Kimiaki

JAEA-Technology 2021-032, 66 Pages, 2022/03

JAEA-Technology-2021-032.pdf:3.84MB

Since the occurrence of the accident at the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has been conducting a series of car-borne survey over a wide area in the eastern part of Japan using the monitoring system KURAMAII. In this report, outline of the car-borne surveys are summarized and the following characteristics of the temporal changes in each prefecture and region were investigated using the measured data obtained from 2012 to 2019; 1) Average and maximum values for each prefecture for the six years from 2014 to 2019, 2) Average values for each prefecture from 2012 to 2019, 3) Average values for each evacuation order area category, regional category, and northern Soso-area municipality in Fukushima Prefecture from 2012 to 2019, and 4) Average and maximum values for each municipality in each prefecture for four times (at almost two-year intervals) of the measurement results from 2012 to 2018.

Design of microchannel suitable for packing with anion exchange resins; Uranium separation from seawater containing a large amount of cesium

Ouchi, Kazuki; Tsukahara, Takehiko*; Brandt, A.*; Muto, Yuki*; Nabatame, Nozomi*; Kitatsuji, Yoshihiro

Analytical Sciences, 37(12), p.1789 - 1794, 2021/12

https://doi.org/10.2116/analsci.21P110

We attempted to scale down a separation process of uranium (U) using the microchip column loaded with anion exchange resin to develop safety and waste-reducing separation technique. The ideal separation performance of U was obtained by the properly design of a microchannel. The concentration of U in seawater as a real-world sample could be quantified with the prepared microchip column. It indicates that the microchip column is sufficiently practical. Compared to separation of U with a general column, the column size was successfully scaled down to 1/5000.

Dependence of charge-exchange efficiency on cooling water temperature of a beam transport line

Yamamoto, Kazami; Hatakeyama, Shuichiro; Saha, P. K.; Moriya, Katsuhiro; Okabe, Kota; Yoshimoto, Masahiro; Nakanoya, Takamitsu; Fujirai, Kosuke; Yamazaki, Yoshio; Suganuma, Kazuaki

EPJ Techniques and Instrumentation (Internet), 8(1), p.9_1 - 9_9, 2021/07

https://doi.org/10.1140/epjti/s40485-021-00067-6

The 3 GeV Rapid Cycling Synchrotron at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex supplies a high-intensity proton beam for neutron experiments. Various parameters are monitored to achieve a stable operation, and it was found that the oscillations of the charge-exchange efficiency and cooling water temperature were synchronized. We evaluated the orbit fluctuations at the injection point using a beam current of the injection dump, which is proportional to the number of particles that miss the foil and fail in the charge exchange, and profile of the injection beam. The total width of the fluctuations was approximately 0.072 mm. This value is negligible from the user operation viewpoint as our existing beam position monitors cannot detect such a small signal deviation. This displacement corresponds to a 1.6310 variation in the dipole magnetic field. Conversely, the magnetic field variation in the L3BT dipole magnet, which was estimated by the temperature change directly, is 4.0810. This result suggested that the change in the cooling water temperature is one of the major causes of the efficiency fluctuation.

Study of neutron-nuclear spin correlation term with a polarized Xe target

Sakai, Kenji; Oku, Takayuki; Okudaira, Takuya; Kai, Tetsuya; Harada, Masahide; Hiroi, Kosuke; Hayashida, Hirotoshi*; Kakurai, Kazuhisa*; Shimizu, Hirohiko*; Hirota, Katsuya*; et al.

JPS Conference Proceedings (Internet), 33, p.011116_1 - 011116_6, 2021/03

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSCP.33.011116

In neutron fundamental physics, study of correlation term of a neutron spin and a target nuclear spin is important because term interferes to parity non-conserving (PNC) and time reversal non-conserving terms. For this study, a xenon (Xe) is an interesting nucleus because it has been observed an enhancement of PNC effect around neutron resonance peaks, and polarizes up to by using a spin exchange optical pumping (SEOP) method. We would plan to develop a polarized Xe gas target with a compact in-situ SEOP system, and to study term by utilizing epithermal neutron beams supplied from a high intense pulsed spallation neutron source. As the first step, we attempted to measure neutron polarizing ability caused by term at a 9.6 eV s-wave resonance peak of Xe at BL10 in MLF, by detecting change of ratio between neutron transmissions with the polarized and unpolarized Xe target. After demonstrating that our apparatus could detect small change () of neutron transmissions caused by Doppler broadening effect, a signified value of has been obtained as preliminary results. For analyzing the obtained in detail, we are improving our nuclear magnetic resonance and electron paramagnetic resonance systems for evaluating Xe polarization independently of neutron beams.

Proceedings of Information and Opinion Exchange Conference on Geoscientific Study, 2019

Nishio, Kazuhisa*; Shimizu, Mayuko; Iyatomi, Yosuke; Hama, Katsuhiro

JAEA-Review 2020-013, 59 Pages, 2020/08

JAEA-Review-2020-013.pdf:19.64MB

The Tono Geoscience Center (TGC) of Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has been conducting geoscientific study in order to establish a scientific and technological basis for the geological disposal of HLW. Technical information of the result on the geoscientific study conducted at TGC is provided at the annual Information and Opinion Exchange Conference on Geoscientific Study of TGC for exchanging opinions among researchers and engineers from universities, research organizations and private companies. This document compiles the research presentations and posters of the conference in Mizunami on November 20, 2019.

Unique anion-exchange properties of 3,3'-diaminobenzidine resulting in high selectivity for rhodium(III) over palladium(II) and platinum(IV) in a concentrated hydrochloric acid solution

Suzuki, Tomoya*; Ogata, Takeshi*; Tanaka, Mikiya*; Kobayashi, Toru; Shiwaku, Hideaki; Yaita, Tsuyoshi; Narita, Hirokazu*

Analytical Sciences, 35(12), p.1353 - 1360, 2019/12

https://doi.org/10.2116/analsci.19P204

no abstracts in English

The Deposition densities of radiocesium and the air dose rates in undisturbed fields around the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant; Their temporal changes for five years after the accident

Mikami, Satoshi; Tanaka, Hiroyuki*; Matsuda, Hideo*; Sato, Shoji*; Hoshide, Yoshifumi*; Okuda, Naotoshi*; Suzuki, Takeo*; Sakamoto, Ryuichi*; Ando, Masaki; Saito, Kimiaki

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 210, p.105941_1 - 105941_12, 2019/12

AA2019-0019.pdf:2.65MB

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2019.03.017

The deposition densities of radiocesium and the air dose rates were repeatedly measured in a large number of undisturbed fields within the 80km zone that surrounds the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant site between 2011 and 2016, and features of their temporal changes were clarified. The average air dose rate excluding background radiation in this zone decreased to about 20% of the initial value during the period from June 2011 to August 2016, which was essentially a result of the radioactive decay of Cs with a half-life of 2.06y. The air dose rate reduction was faster than that expected from the decay of radiocesium by a factor of about two, with most of this reduction being attributed to the penetration of radiocesium into the soil. The average deposition densities of Cs and Cs in fields that were not decontaminated were found to have decreased nearly according to their expected radioactive decay, which indicated that the movement of radiocesium in the horizontal direction was relatively small. The effect of decontamination was apparently observed in the measurements of air dose rates and deposition densities. Nominally, the average air dose rates in the measurement locations were reduced by about 20% by decontamination and other human activities, of which accurate quantitative analysis is and continue to be a challenge.

Preliminary analysis of sodium experimental apparatus PLANDTL-2 for development of evaluation method for thermal hydraulics in reactor vessel of sodium fast reactor under decay heat removal system operation condition

Ono, Ayako; Tanaka, Masaaki; Miyake, Yasuhiro*; Hamase, Erina; Ezure, Toshiki

Proceedings of 27th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE-27) (Internet), 7 Pages, 2019/05

https://doi.org/10.1299/jsmeicone.2019.27.2318

Decay heat removal system (DHRS) by using the natural circulation without depending on the pump as the mechanical equipment is recognized as one of the most effective methodologies for the sodium-cooled fast reactor from the viewpoint of the safety enhancement. In this paper, the numerical simulation results of the preliminary analysis for the sodium experiment with the apparatus of PLANDTL-2, in which the core and the upper plenum with a dipped-type direct heat exchanger (DHX) were modeled, were discussed, in order to establish appropriate numerical models for the reactor core including the gap region among the subassemblies and the DHX.

Hydrological and climate changes in southeast Siberia over the last 33 kyr

Katsuta, Nagayoshi*; Ikeda, Hisashi*; Shibata, Kenji*; Kokubu, Yoko; Murakami, Takuma*; Tani, Yukinori*; Takano, Masao*; Nakamura, Toshio*; Tanaka, Atsushi*; Naito, Sayuri*; et al.

Global and Planetary Change, 164, p.11 - 26, 2018/05

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2018.02.012

Paleoenvironmental and paleoclimate changes in Siberia were reconstructed by continuous, high-resolution records of chemical compositions from a sediment core retrieved from the Buguldeika Saddle, Lake Baikal, dating back to the last 33 cal. ka BP. The Holocene climate followed by a shift at ca. 6.5 cal. ka BP toward warm and dry, suggesting that the climate system transition from the glacial to interglacial state occurred. In the last glacial period, the deposition of carbonate mud from the Primorsky Range was associated with Heinrich events (H3 and H1) and the Selenga River inflow was caused by meltwater of mountain glaciers in the Khamar-Daban Range. The anoxic bottom-water during Allerod-Younger Dryas was probably a result of weakened ventilation associated with reduced Selenga River inflow and microbial decomposition of organic matters from the Primorsky Range. The rapid decline in precipitation during the early Holocene may have been a response to the 8.2 ka cooling event.