Measurements of capture cross-section of Nb by activation method and half-life of Nb by mass analysis

Nakamura, Shoji; Shibahara, Yuji*; Endo, Shunsuke; Kimura, Atsushi

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 60(11), p.1361 - 1371, 2023/11

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2023.2198526

The thermal-neutron capture cross section () and resonance integral (I) for Nb among nuclides for decommissioning were measured by an activation method and the half-life of Nb by mass analysis. Niobium-93 samples were irradiated with a hydraulic conveyer installed in the research reactor in Institute for Integral Radiation and Nuclear Science, Kyoto University. Gold-aluminum, cobalt-aluminum alloy wires were used to monitor thermal-neutron fluxes and epi-thermal Westcott's indexes at an irradiation position. A 25-m-thick gadolinium foil was used to sort out reactions ascribe to thermal-and epi-thermal neutrons. Its thickness provided a cut-off energy of 0.133 eV. In order to attenuate radioactivity of Ta due to impurities, the Nb samples were cooled for nearly 2 years. The induced radio activity in the monitors and Nb samples were measured by -ray spectroscopy. In analysis based on Westcott's convention, the and I values were derived as 1.110.04 barn and 10.50.6 barn, respectively. After the -ray measurements, mass analysis was applied to the Nb sample to obtain the reaction rate. By combining data obtained by both -ray spectroscopy and mass analysis, the half-life of Nb was derived as (2.000.15)10 years.

The Development of a Multiphysics Coupled Solver for Studying the Effect of Dynamic Heterogeneous Configuration on Particulate Debris Bed Criticality and Cooling Characteristics

Li, C.-Y.; Wang, K.*; Uchibori, Akihiro; Okano, Yasushi; Pellegrini, M.*; Erkan, N.*; Takata, Takashi*; Okamoto, Koji*

Applied Sciences (Internet), 13(13), p.7705_1 - 7705_29, 2023/07

https://doi.org/10.3390/app13137705

Thermal-neutron capture cross-section measurements of neptunium-237 with graphite thermal column in KUR

Nakamura, Shoji; Shibahara, Yuji*; Endo, Shunsuke; Kimura, Atsushi

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 59(11), p.1388 - 1398, 2022/11

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2022.2058639

The present study selected Np among radioactive nuclides and aimed to measure the thermal-neutron capture cross-section for Np in a well-thermalized neutron field by an activation method. A Np standard solution was used for irradiation samples. A thermal-neutron flux at an irradiation position was measured with neutron flux monitors: Sc, Co, Mo, Ta and Au. The Np sample and flux monitors were irradiated together for 30 minutes in the graphite thermal column equipped with the Kyoto University Research Reactor. The similar irradiation was carried out twice. After the irradiations, the Np samples were quantified using 312-keV gamma ray emitted from Pa in a radiation equilibrium with Np. The reaction rates of Np were obtained from gamma-ray peak net counts given by Np, and then the thermal-neutron capture cross-section of Np was found to be 173.84.4 barn by averaging the results obtained by the two irradiations. The present result was in agreement with the reported data given by a time-of-flight method within the limit of uncertainty.

Recent improvements of probabilistic fracture mechanics analysis code PASCAL for reactor pressure vessels

Lu, K.; Takamizawa, Hisashi; Katsuyama, Jinya; Li, Y.

International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping, 199, p.104706_1 - 104706_13, 2022/10

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpvp.2022.104706

Integral experiment of I(n, ) using fast neutron source in the "YAYOI" reactor

Nakamura, Shoji; Toh, Yosuke; Kimura, Atsushi; Hatsukawa, Yuichi*; Harada, Hideo

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 59(7), p.851 - 865, 2022/07

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2021.2011794

The present study performed integral experiments of I using a fast-neutron source reactor "YAYOI" of the University of Tokyo to validate evaluated nuclear data libraries. The iodine-129 sample and flux monitors were irradiated by fast neutrons in the Glory hole of the YAYOI reactor. Reaction rates of I were obtained by measurement of decay gamma-rays emitted from I. The validity of the fast-neutron flux spectrum in the Glory hole was confirmed by the ratios of the reaction rates of flux monitors. The experimental reaction rate of I was compared with that calculated with both the fast-neutron flux spectrum and evaluated nuclear data libraries. The present study revealed that the evaluated nuclear data of I cited in JENDL-4.0 should be reduced as much as 18% in neutron energies ranging from 10 keV to 3 MeV, and supported the reported data by Noguere below 100 keV.

Development of the unified cross-section set ADJ2017R

Yokoyama, Kenji; Maruyama, Shuhei; Taninaka, Hiroshi; Oki, Shigeo

JAEA-Data/Code 2021-019, 115 Pages, 2022/03

JAEA-Data-Code-2021-019.pdf:6.21MB
JAEA-Data-Code-2021-019-appendix(CD-ROM).zip:435.94MB

In JAEA, several versions of unified cross-section set for fast reactors have been developed so far; we have developed a new unified cross-section set ADJ2017R, which is an improved version of the unified cross-section setADJ2017 for fast reactors. The unified cross-section set is used for reflecting information of C/E values (analysis / experiment values) obtained by integral experiment analyses in reactor core design via the cross-section adjustment methodology; the values are stored in the standard database for FBR core design. In the methodology, the cross-section set is adjusted by integrating the information such as uncertainty (covariance) of nuclear data, uncertainty of integral experiment / analysis, sensitivity of integral experiment with respect to nuclear data. ADJ2017R basically has the same performance as ADJ2017, but we conducted an additional investigation on ADJ2017 and revised the following two points. The first is to unify the evaluation method of the correlation coefficient of uncertainty caused by experiments (hereinafter referred to as the experimental correlation coefficient). Because it was found that the common uncertainty used in the evaluation of the experimental correlation coefficient was evaluated by two different methods, the experimental correlation coefficients were revised for all experimental data, and the evaluation method was unified. The second is the review of the integral experiment data used for the cross-section adjustment calculation. It was found that one of the experimental values of composition ratio after irradiation of the Am-243 sample has a problem in uncertainty evaluation because its experimental uncertainty is extremely small compared to the others. The cross-section adjustment calculation was, therefore, redone by excluding the experimental value. In the creation of ADJ2017, a total of 719 data sets were analyzed and evaluated, and eventually adopted 620 integral experimental data sets. In contrast, a total of 61

Calculation of transient parameters of the integral kinetic model with delayed neutrons for space-dependent kinetic analysis of coupled reactors

Takezawa, Hiroki*; Tuya, D.; Obara, Toru*

Nuclear Science and Engineering, 195(11), p.1236 - 1246, 2021/11

https://doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2021.1920797

This study introduces new methodologies for integrating fission reactions induced by delayed neutrons into the Multi-Region Integral Kinetic (MIK) code by using a Monte Carlo neutron transport calculation. First, it was confirmed that it is feasible to solve the Integral Kinetic Model (IKM) with delayed neutrons by the forward Euler discretization method in terms of the number of time steps. This can be done with the help of the law of radioactive decay to reflect the delay in the emission of delayed neutrons in the discretized IKM. Second, a new Monte Carlo-based methodology was introduced for calculating the cumulative distribution functions of secondary fission induced by prompt and delayed neutrons. These functions are necessary for the discretized IKM. The results of preliminary verification using the Godiva reactor confirmed the applicability of the new Monte Carlo-based methodology.

Multiple wavelengths texture measurement using angle dispersive neutron diffraction at WOMBAT

Xu, P. G.; Liss, K.-D.*

Quantum Beam Science (Internet), 5(2), p.11_1 - 11_14, 2021/06

AA2020-0801.pdf:11.28MB

https://doi.org/10.3390/qubs5020011

Feasibility study on tritium recoil barrier for neutron reflectors of research and test reactors

Kenzhina, I.*; Ishitsuka, Etsuo; Ho, H. Q.; Sakamoto, Naoki*; Okumura, Keisuke; Takemoto, Noriyuki; Chikhray, Y.*

Fusion Engineering and Design, 164, p.112181_1 - 112181_5, 2021/03

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fusengdes.2020.112181

Tritium release into the primary coolant during operation of the JMTR (Japan Materials Testing Reactor) and the JRR-3M (Japan Research Reactor-3M) had been studied. It is found that the recoil release by Li(n,)H reaction, which comes from a chain reaction of beryllium neutron reflectors, is dominant. To prevent tritium recoil release, the surface area of beryllium neutron reflectors needs to be minimum in the core design and/or be shielded with other material. In this paper, as the feasibility study of the tritium recoil barrier for the beryllium neutron reflectors, various materials such as Al, Ti, V, Ni, and Zr were evaluated from the viewpoint of the thickness of barriers, activities after long-term operations, and effects on the reactivities. From the results of evaluations, Al would be a suitable candidate as the tritium recoil barrier for the beryllium neutron reflectors.

Evaluation of tritium release into primary coolant for research and testing reactors

Kenzhina, I.*; Ishitsuka, Etsuo; Okumura, Keisuke; Ho, H. Q.; Takemoto, Noriyuki; Chikhray, Y.*

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 58(1), p.1 - 8, 2021/01

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2020.1791760

The sources and mechanisms for the tritium release into the primary coolant in the JMTR and the JRR-3M containing beryllium reflectors are evaluated. It is found that the recoil release from chain reaction of Be is dominant and its calculation results agree well with trends derived from the measured variation of tritium concentration in the primary coolant. It also indicates that the simple calculation method used in this study for the tritium recoil release from the beryllium reflectors can be utilized for an estimation of the tritium release into the primary coolant for a research and testing reactors containing beryllium reflectors.