Concepts and basic designs of various nuclear fuels, 5; Fuels for high temperature gas-cooled reactor and molten salt reactor

Ueta, Shohei; Sasaki, Koei; Arita, Yuji*

Nihon Genshiryoku Gakkai-Shi ATOMO, 63(8), p.615 - 620, 2021/08

https://doi.org/10.3327/jaesjb.63.8_615

no abstracts in English

Development of the technology for preventing radioactive particles' dispersion during the fuel debris retrieval (Contract research); FY2019 Nuclear Energy Science & Technology and Human Resource Development Project

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

JAEA-Review 2020-043, 116 Pages, 2021/01

JAEA-Review-2020-043.pdf:7.74MB

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 FY2019. 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 FY2018, this report summarizes the research results of the "Development of the technology for preventing radioactive particles' dispersion during the fuel debris retrieval" conducted in FY2019. In this study, a technique to effectively suppress the scattering of fine particles has been developed, and as a result of experiments, a method of spraying with water mist was found to be an effective and applicable method for improving aerosol removal efficiency and removal rate. As a method of solidifying fuel debris to suppress fine particle scattering during cutting, geopolymer was evaluated for its strength, thermal conductivity and cutting powder. In addition, flow status of geopolymer and the temperature distribution inside RPV covered by geopolymer were simulated.

Advanced concepts in TRISO fuel

Minato, Kazuo; Ogawa, Toru

Comprehensive Nuclear Materials, 2nd Edition, Vol.5, p.334 - 360, 2020/08

https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-803581-8.11688-1

TRISO coated particle fuel has been developed for the high temperature gas-cooled reactors, which consists of microspherical fuel kernel and coating layers of pyrolytic carbon and silicon carbide. To improve the high temperature stability, the resistance to the chemical attack by fission products and the retention of fission products of the TRISO coated particle fuels, several types of advanced fuels were proposed and tested. Coated particle fuels for fast reactors were also proposed and tested. In this paper, fuel designs, fabrications, characterization techniques and fuel performance of these advanced coated particle fuels are systematically described. This is the updated version of the paper having the same title in Comprehensive Nuclear Materials published in 2012.

Development of technology to prevent scattering of radioactive materials in fuel debris retrieval (Contract research); FY2018 Center of World Intelligence Project for Nuclear Science/Technology and Human Resource Development

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

JAEA-Review 2019-037, 90 Pages, 2020/03

JAEA-Review-2019-037.pdf:7.0MB

JAEA/CLADS, had been conducting the Center of World Intelligence Project for Nuclear Science/Technology and Human Resource Development (hereafter referred to "the Project") in FY2018. The Project aims to contribute to solving problems in nuclear energy field represented by the decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc. 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 FY2018, this report summarizes the research results of the "Development of Technology to Prevent Scattering of Radioactive Materials in Fuel Debris Retrieval". The objective of the present study is to clarify the behavior of microparticles in gas and liquid phases in order to steadily confine radioactive microparticles at the time of debris retrieval in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. In addition, as measures to prevent scattering, we will evaluate and develop methods by experiments and simulation as to; (1) a method to suppress the scattering with minimum amount of water utilizing water spray etc., and (2) a method to suppress the scattering by solidifying fuel debris.

Code-B-2.5.2 for stress calculation for SiC-TRISO fuel particle

Aihara, Jun; Goto, Minoru; Ueta, Shohei; Tachibana, Yukio

JAEA-Data/Code 2019-018, 22 Pages, 2020/01

JAEA-Data-Code-2019-018.pdf:1.39MB

Concept of Pu-burner high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) was proposed for purpose of more safely reducing amount of recovered Pu. In Pu-burner HTGR concept, coated fuel particle (CFP), with ZrC coated yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) containing PuO (PuO-YSZ) small particle and with tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) coating, is employed for very high burn-up and high nuclear proliferation resistance. ZrC layer is oxygen getter. On the other hand, we have developed Code-B-2.5.2 for prediction of pressure vessel failure probabilities of SiC-tri-isotropic (TRISO) coated fuel particles for HTGRs under operation by modification of an existing code, Code-B-2. The main purpose of modification is preparation of applying code for CFPs of Pu-burner HTGR. In this report, basic formulae are described.

Research and development on high burnup HTGR fuels in JAEA

Ueta, Shohei; Mizuta, Naoki; Sasaki, Koei; Sakaba, Nariaki; Ohashi, Hirofumi; Yan, X.

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

JAEA has been progressing to design HTGR fuels for not only small-type practical HTGRs but also VHTR proposed in GIF which can be utilized for various purposes with high-temperature heat at 750 to 950 C. To increase economy of these HTGRs, JAEA has been upgrading the design method for the HTGR fuel, which can maintain their integrities at the burnup of three to four times higher than that of the conventional HTTR fuel. Design principles and specifications of various concepts of the high burnup HTGR fuels designed by JAEA are reported. As the latest results on post-irradiation examinations of the high burnup HTGR fuel progressing in a framework of international collaboration with Kazakhstan, irradiation shrinkage rate of the fuel compact as a function of fast neutron fluence was obtained at around 100 GWd/thm. Furthermore, the future R&Ds needed for the high burnup HTGR fuel are described based on these experimental results.

Development of security and safety fuel for Pu-burner HTGR; Test and characterization for ZrC coating

Ueta, Shohei; Aihara, Jun; Goto, Minoru; Tachibana, Yukio; Okamoto, Koji*

Mechanical Engineering Journal (Internet), 5(5), p.18-00084_1 - 18-00084_9, 2018/10

https://doi.org/10.1299/mej.18-00084

To develop the security and safety fuel (3S-TRISO fuel) for Pu-burner high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR), R&D on zirconium carbide (ZrC) directly coated on yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) has been started in the Japanese fiscal year 2015. As results of the direct coating test of ZrC on the dummy YSZ particle, ZrC layers with 18 - 21 microns of thicknesses have been obtained with 0.1 kg of particle loading weight. No deterioration of YSZ exposed by source gases of ZrC bromide process was observed by Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope (STEM).

Investigation of uncertainty caused by random arrangement of coated fuel particles in HTTR criticality calculations

Ho, H. Q.; Honda, Yuki; Goto, Minoru; Takada, Shoji

Annals of Nuclear Energy, 112, p.42 - 47, 2018/02

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2017.09.043

Numerical investigation of the random arrangement effect of coated fuel particles on the criticality of HTTR fuel compact using MCNP6

Ho, H. Q.; Honda, Yuki; Goto, Minoru; Takada, Shoji

Annals of Nuclear Energy, 103, p.114 - 121, 2017/05

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2017.01.026

Irradiation performance of HTGR fuel in WWR-K research reactor

Ueta, Shohei; Shaimerdenov, A.*; Gizatulin, S.*; Chekushina, L.*; Honda, Masaki*; Takahashi, Masashi*; Kitagawa, Kenichi*; Chakrov, P.*; Sakaba, Nariaki

Proceedings of 7th International Topical Meeting on High Temperature Reactor Technology (HTR 2014) (USB Flash Drive), 7 Pages, 2014/10

A capsule irradiation test with the high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) fuel is being carried out using WWR-K research reactor in the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Republic of Kazakhstan (INP) to attain 100 GWd/t-U of burnup under normal operating condition of a practical small-sized HTGR. This is the first HTGR fuel irradiation test for INP in Kazakhstan collaborated with Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) in frame of International Science and Technology Center (ISTC) project. In the test, TRISO coated fuel particle with low-enriched UO (less than 10% of U) is used, which was newly designed by JAEA to extend burnup up to 100 GWd/t-U comparing with that of the HTTR (33 GWd/t-U). Both TRISO and fuel compact as the irradiation test specimen were fabricated in basis of the HTTR fuel technology by Nuclear Fuel Industries, Ltd. in Japan. A helium-gas-swept capsule and a swept-gas sampling device installed in WWR-K were designed and constructed by INP. The irradiation test has been started in October 2012 and will be completed up to the end of February 2015. The irradiation test is in the progress up to 69 GWd/t of burnup, and integrity of new TRISO fuel has been confirmed. In addition, as predicted by the fuel design, fission gas release was observed due to additional failure of as-fabricated SiC-defective fuel.