Investigations and consideration on conditions of contamination and measures of decontamination for motor vehicles at a nuclear emergency

Togawa, Orihiko; Hokama, Tomonori; Hiraoka, Hirokazu

JAEA-Review 2023-013, 48 Pages, 2023/08

JAEA-Review-2023-013.pdf:2.11MB

When radionuclides are released into the atmospheric environment at a nuclear emergency, protective measures such as evacuation and temporal relocation are carried out using motor vehicles such as private cars and buses to reduce radiation exposure to residents. To confirm conditions of contamination for the evacuated or relocated residents, contamination inspection is conducted, in which it is important not to spoil its rapidity. In the present inspection, wipers and tires are designated to first measuring parts, and they are basically inspected by persons using GM survey meters. Utilization of portable radiation portal monitors is also being considered for rapid and efficient inspection of motor vehicles. In order to contribute to rapid and efficient operation of contamination inspection, this report investigated conditions of contamination and measures of decontaminations for motor vehicles at a nuclear emergency. Although available documents and information were quite few, results of the investigations described in the related documents were extracted and rearranged according to the objectives of this report. Furthermore, these results were considered from a viewpoint of rapid and efficient operation of contamination inspection.

Development of environmental mitigation technology with novel water purification agents (Contract research); FY2021 Nuclear Energy Science & Technology and Human Resource Development Project

Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced Decommissioning Science; Shinshu University*

JAEA-Review 2022-067, 98 Pages, 2023/03

JAEA-Review-2022-067.pdf:3.72MB

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, 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 "Development of environmental mitigation technology with novel water purification agents" conducted in FY2021. The present study aims to develop a reusable adsorbent for strontium ions through joint research between Japan and the United Kingdom, and to reduce the amount of used adsorbent generated through the decontamination process. This fiscal year, the preparation method of materials was improved based on the results obtained in the first year of the project. Moreover, various metal salts were added as additives to see the influence on the yield and adsorption performance. Structural analyses were conducted by observing the resulting materials with SEM, and theoretical analyses were performed by combining ...

Development of environmental mitigation technology with novel water purification agents (Contract research); FY2020 Nuclear Energy Science & Technology and Human Resource Development Project

Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced Decommissioning Science; Shinshu University*

JAEA-Review 2021-051, 81 Pages, 2022/01

JAEA-Review-2021-051.pdf:4.03MB

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 FY2020. The Project aims to contribute to solving problems in the nuclear energy field represented by the decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, 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 "Development of environmental mitigation technology with novel water purification agents" conducted in FY2020. The present study aims to develop a reusable adsorbent for strontium ions through joint research between Japan and the United Kingdom, and to reduce the amount of used adsorbent generated through the decontamination process. The basic strategy of this research is to produce adsorbents and examine their Sr adsorption performance at Shinshu University. The structural analyses of the adsorbents are conducted by the Institute for Molecular Science (IMS) and the UK teams.

The Effect and effectiveness of decontaminating a pond in a residential area of Fukushima

Katengeza, E. W.*; Ochi, Kotaro; Sanada, Yukihisa; Iimoto, Takeshi*; Yoshinaga, Shinji*

Health Physics, 121(1), p.48 - 57, 2021/07

https://doi.org/10.1097/HP.0000000000001413

Special reconstruction and revitalization bases were designated in Fukushima's difficult-to-return zones by the Japanese government as targets of intensive decontamination to drastically lower air dose rates and enable residents to return. A pond amidst residences of one of these bases was targeted for decontamination and this study aimed at evaluating the effect and effectiveness of the decontamination by decontamination factor, air dose rate reduction factor, and the additional annual effective dose to residents. Air dose rates were measured in-situ with KURAMMA-II while soil core samples were collected and measured for radioactivity in the laboratory by gamma spectrometry. Lower decontamination factors were observed for more deeply distributed radiocesium soil profiles whereas areas covered with gravel demonstrated the largest reduction in air dose rates. Decontamination effectively lowered the radiocesium inventory and air dose rates by 51% and 37-91% respectively. Moreover, the additional annual effective dose to the public changed from 1.70.79 mSv to 1.20.57 mSv because of decontamination representing a dose aversion of 29%. These findings demonstrate how decontaminating ponds in residential areas can help to further lower the external exposure.

Analytical study on removal mechanisms of cesium aerosol from a noble gas bubble rising through liquid sodium pool

Miyahara, Shinya*; Kawaguchi, Munemichi; Seino, Hiroshi

Proceedings of 2020 International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE 2020) (Internet), 6 Pages, 2020/08

https://doi.org/10.1115/ICONE2020-16208

In a postulated accident of fuel pin failure of sodium cooled fast reactor, a fission product cesium will be released as an aerosol such as cesium iodide and/or oxide together with xenon and/or krypton. In this study, cesium aerosol removal behavior due to inertial deposition, sedimentation and diffusion was analyzed by a computer program which deals with the expansion and the deformation of the bubble together with the aerosol absorption. Initial bubble diameter, sodium pool depth and temperature, aerosol particle diameter and density, initial aerosol concentration were changed as parameter. From the results, it was concluded that the initial bubble diameter was most sensitive parameter to the decontamination factor (DF). It was found that the sodium pool depth, the aerosol particle diameter and density have also important effect on the DF, but the sodium temperature has a marginal effect. To meet these results, the experiments are under planning to validate the results.

Development of evaluation method for aerosol particle deposition in a reactor building based on CFD

Horiguchi, Naoki; Miyahara, Naoya; Uesawa, Shinichiro; Yoshida, Hiroyuki; Osaka, Masahiko

Proceedings of 27th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE-27) (Internet), 8 Pages, 2019/05

For source term evaluation from reactor buildings (RBs) in LWR severe accidents, we have launched to develop an evaluation method of FP aerosol particle deposition onto surfaces of internal structures in an RB based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD). This paper describes development of a CFD simulation tool as the base part of the evaluation method. A preliminary simulation for a representative RB under a representative flow condition was conducted to confirm the tool performance by roughly grasping the deposition behaviors of FP aerosol particle and decontamination factor (DF) in the RB. Calculation results showed that most of aerosol particles were deposited along with gas flow formed by the internal structures in the RB, demonstrating the advantageous feature of the present CFD tool. The DFs from 4 to 14 were obtained with increase of the particle diameters from 0.1 to 10 m as expected in terms of the particle movement equation.

Restoration activity of the contamination accident at plutonium fuel research facility

Restoration Activity Team for the PFRF Contamination Incident

JAEA-Review 2019-001, 58 Pages, 2019/03

JAEA-Review-2019-001.pdf:10.74MB

The contamination accident occurred in a laboratory room (Room No.108) of Plutonium Fuel Research Facility (PFRF) in Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), Oarai Research and Development Institute on June 6, 2017. The polyvinyl chloride (PVC) bags burst just after the lid of one storage container was opened during the inspection of storage containers for U and Pu in the ventilation hood. At that time, part of nuclear materials in the storage container were scattered all over the room. Five workers in the room were subjected to plutonium contamination, which resulted in internal exposure. In order to restore the Room No.108 of PFRF, the Restoration Activity Team organized in JAEA carried out the decontamination work after the investigation of the contamination level in the room. The team decontaminated the surface of walls, ceiling, gloveboxes and other experimental instruments. Depending on the contamination distribution and installation state of the instruments, suitable decontamination methods were selected. In addition to the manual wiping using wet clothes, the exfoliation method using a strippable paint was applied for constricted areas. As a result, the loose alpha-contamination level fell below the detection limit throughout the room. On the other hand, the fixed contamination was covered with plastic sheets after the decontamination by a strippable paint. We hope that the restoration activity described in this report will provide useful information for the management of decommissioning facilities, especially for facilities treating alpha-radioactive materials such as plutonium.

New project on the analysis of contamination mechanisms of concrete at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station

Yamada, Kazuo*; Maruyama, Ippei*; Koma, Yoshikazu; Haga, Kazuko*; Igarashi, Go*; Shibuya, Kazutoshi*; Aihara, Haruka

Proceedings of International Waste Management Symposia 2019 (WM2019) (CD-ROM), 6 Pages, 2019/03

Safety assessment for recycling of soil generated from decontamination activities

Takeda, Seiji

Strlevern Rappot 2018:4 (Internet), p.62 - 64, 2018/04

https://www.nrpa.no/publikasjon/straalevernrapport-2018-4-regulatory-supervision-of-legacy-sites-the-process-from-recognition-to-resolution.pdf

The widespread environment was contaminated by radioactive cesium discharged by the severe accident of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. Decontamination measures have been implemented extensively, resulting in the generation of large volume of decontamination soil that has been placed in temporary storage. To reduce the volume of decontamination soil, it can be effective to recycle the soil as construction material. This report shows the concept of safety assessment method for recycle to public projects in which the management system and allocation of responsibility are clarified, scenario construction and parameter selection, and also the results of safe assessment for the recycle to coastal levees.

Implementation of decontamination technologies appropriate to Japanese boundary conditions

Kawase, Keiichi

Global Environmental Research (Internet), 20(1&2), p.83 - 90, 2017/03

http://www.airies.or.jp/ebook/Global_Environmental_Research_Vol.20.pdf

Major challenges to implementing full-scale environmental decontamination were the absence of real-world examples and also lack of experience in planning and implementing decontamination technology appropriate to the physical and social boundary conditions in both Japan and Fukushima. The Japan Atomic Energy Agency was thus charged with conducting a range of Decontamination Pilot Project to examine the applicability of decontamination technologies, with a special focus on reducing dose rates and thus allowing evacuees to return to re-establish their normal lifestyles as quickly as possible, whilst simultaneously maintaining worker safety. In this report, re-edit the report of the Decontamination Pilot Project (Nakayama et al.,2014), do the commentary for the decontamination technology.