Model catchments for testing biosphere assessment models of geological disposal

Yamaguchi, Masaaki; Suzuki, Yuji*; Kabasawa, Satsuki; Kato, Tomoko

JAEA-Data/Code 2024-001, 21 Pages, 2024/03

JAEA-Data-Code-2024-001.pdf:3.45MB
JAEA-Data-Code-2024-001-appendix(CD-ROM).zip:8.0MB

Model catchments have developed for use in testing various assessment models that can consider specific surface environmental conditions such as topography, riverine systems, and land use in the biosphere assessment of HLW geological disposal. The model catchments consist of the topography and riverine system of the catchment area created using existing tools, as well as land use and population distribution, river discharge, sediment flux data set by algorithms from topographical data. Datasets of three types of model watersheds (Types 1 to 3, watershed area: 730 to 770 km) with different topographical characteristics have released as raster data that can be handled by geographic information systems (GIS). Since the model catchments were created virtually reflecting as much as possible the main characteristics of Japan's surface environment, they can be used as a test bed for conducting hydraulic/mass transport analysis to set the GBI and compartment model.

Development of probabilistic risk assessment methodology using artificial intelligence technology, 1; Automatic fault tree creation

Futagami, Satoshi; Yamano, Hidemasa; Kurisaka, Kenichi; Ujita, Hiroshi*

Proceedings of proceedings of PSAM 2023 Topical Conference AI & Risk Analysis for Probabilistic Safety/Security Assessment & Management, 8 Pages, 2023/10

To create an innovation for efficient and effective social implementation of nuclear power plant PRA, automatic construction tool for fault tree architecture and automatic failure judgment tool to construct reliability database are developed by using AI and digitization technology. This paper describes overall development plan of PRA methodology using the AI technology and the progress of automatic FT creation tools development.

Development of ACE file perturbation tool using FRENDY

Tada, Kenichi; Kondo, Ryoichi; Endo, Tomohiro*; Yamamoto, Akio*

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 60(6), p.624 - 631, 2023/06

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2022.2130463

The sensitivity analysis and the uncertainty quantification have an important role in improving the evaluated nuclear data library. The current computational performance enables us to the sensitivity analysis and uncertainty quantification using the continuous energy Monte Carlo calculation code. The ACE file perturbation tool was developed for these calculations using modules of FRENDY. This tool perturbs the microscopic cross section, the number of neutrons per fission, and the fission spectrum. The uncertainty quantification using the random sampling method is also available if the user prepares the covariance matrix. The uncertainty of the k-effective using the perturbation tool was compared to the current sensitivity analysis codes SCALE/TSUNAMI and MCNP/KSEN. The comparison results indicated that the random sampling method using this tool accurately estimates the uncertainty of k-effective.

Development of performance evaluation methods for small unmanned aircraft systems flying in constrained environment

Kawabata, Kuniaki; Sato, Noritaka*

Keisoku To Seigyo, 62(5), p.276 - 279, 2023/05

no abstracts in English

Assessment report on research and development activities in FY2021 Activity: "Research and development in science and technology using neutron and synchrotron radiation" (Ex-ante evaluation)

Materials Sciences Research Center

JAEA-Evaluation 2022-013, 105 Pages, 2023/03

JAEA-Evaluation-2022-013.pdf:13.08MB

Japan Atomic Energy Agency (hereafter referred to as "JAEA") consulted an assessment committee, "Evaluation Committee of Research Activities for Research and Development in Science and Technology Using Neutron and Synchrotron Radiation" (hereafter referred to as "Evaluation Committee") for ex-ante evaluation of "Research and Development in Science and Technology Using Neutron and Synchrotron Radiation", in accordance with "General Guideline for the Evaluation of Government Research and Development (R&D) Activities" by Cabinet Office, Government of Japan, "Guideline for Evaluation of R&D in Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology" and "Regulation on Conduct for Evaluation of R&D Activities" by JAEA. In response to the JAEA's request, the Committee assessed the research program and activities on Research and Development in Science and Technology Using Neutron and Synchrotron Radiation in Materials Sciences Research Center (MSRC) and Neutron Science Section (NSS) in Materials and Life Science Division (MLSD) of J-PARC Center during the period from April 2022 to March 2029. The Committee evaluated the management, research and development activities based on the explanatory documents prepared by MSRC and NSS and oral presentations with questions-and-answers by the Director General and the Division Heads of the MSRC and the Deputy Director General and the NSS Section Leader of J-PARC Center. This report summarizes the results of the assessment by the Evaluation Committee with the Committee report attached.

External exposure assessment in the Fukushima accident area for governmental policy planning in Japan, 2; Matters to be attended for assessments of external exposure

Yoshimura, Kazuya; Sanada, Yukihisa; Sato, Rina; Nakayama, Mariko*; Tsubokura, Masaharu*

Journal of Radiation Research (Internet), 64(2), p.203 - 209, 2023/03

https://doi.org/10.1093/jrr/rrac088

After the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident, individual exposure doses to residents have been assessed by many municipalities, governments and research institutes. Various methods including measurements with personal dosimeters and simulations have been used for this evaluation depending on purposes, but the information of assessments and methods has not been systematically organized. A comprehensive review of the knowledge and experiences of individual exposure doses assessments accumulated so far and understanding the characteristics of the assessment methods will be very useful for radiation protection and risk communication, following to governmental policy planning. We reviewed the efforts made by the Japanese government and research institutes to assess radiation doses to residents after the FDNPS accident in Part1. On the other hand, each method of assessing individual exposure doses includes uncertainties and points to be considered for the appropriate assessment. These knowledge and experiences are important for the assessment implementation and applying the assessment results to the governmental policy planning, and are summarized in Part2 of this article.

Laboratory experiment on runoff of particles deposited on land surface by rainfall at accidents in the decommissioning stage

Shimada, Taro; Namekawa, Masakazu*; Miwa, Kazuji; Takeda, Seiji

Proceedings of Waste Management Symposia 2023 (WM2023) (Internet), 8 Pages, 2023/02

It is supposed that radioactive dust deposited at the land surface will be moved downstream and concentrated at the depression by overland flow at heavy rain after the accidental release of radioactive dusts accumulated at the filters in the decommissioning stage of nuclear facilities. The authors are developing a calculation code to evaluate distribution changes of radioactivity on the surface and public dose considering the conditions such as rainfall, topography and types of cover surface. It is necessary to construct methods for setting parameter values used for the calculations based on the actual situation. Therefore, the parameter values were obtained by the experiments where FeO powder spread on the cover surface such as smooth and aged-asphalt, concrete and bare soil, was eroded by overland flow and raindrops and they were collected at the lower end of the slope at a minute interval. The collected weights of overland flow and FeO powder were measured. Based on the Manning's roughness coefficient for smooth asphalt already known as a fixed value, the erosion velocity coefficient was evaluated. Then Manning's roughness coefficients for other cover surfaces were obtained using the erosion velocity coefficient. Manning's roughness coefficients were slightly smaller than the range of literature values. In addition, elevations for the cover surface were measured by 3D scanner as point cloud data, and the surface roughness were evaluated. The values of surface roughness and Manning's roughness coefficients had a correlation. It indicated a possibility to utilize the surface roughness to set the Manning's roughness coefficient for the evaluation of radioactivity distribution change by heavy rainfall.

Toward realizing near surface disposal of LLW generated from research facilities, etc.; Status of development for safety of the disposal by JAEA

Sakai, Akihiro; Kamei, Gento; Sakamoto, Yoshiaki

Nihon Genshiryoku Gakkai-Shi ATOMO, 65(1), p.25 - 29, 2023/01

https://doi.org/10.3327/jaesjb.65.1_25

Currently, radioactive waste generated from research institutes, etc. is keeping in storage facilities without being disposed of. In order to solve this problem, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) is proceeding with the project for concrete-pit disposal and trench disposal of these waste. This paper introduces the characteristics of the waste and disposal facilities planned by the JAEA, as well as the status of development of the siting criteria for the disposal facility.

Evaluating the effectiveness of a geostatistical approach with groundwater flow modeling for three-dimensional estimation of a contaminant plume

Takai, Shizuka; Shimada, Taro; Takeda, Seiji; Koike, Katsuaki*

Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, 251, p.104097_1 - 104097_12, 2022/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jconhyd.2022.104097

When assessing the risk from an underground environment that is contaminated by radioactive nuclides and hazardous chemicals and planning for remediation, the contaminant plume distribution and the associated uncertainty from measured data should be estimated accurately. While the release history of the contaminant plume may be unknown, the extent of the plume caused by a known source and the associated uncertainty can be calculated inversely from the concentration data using a geostatistical method that accounts for the temporal correlation of its release history and groundwater flow modeling. However, the preceding geostatistical approaches have three drawbacks: (1) no applications of the three-dimensional plume estimation in real situations, (2) no constraints for the estimation of the plume distribution, which can yield negative concentration and large uncertainties, and (3) few applications to actual cases with multiple contaminants. To address these problems, the non-negativity constraint using Gibbs sampling was incorporated into the geostatistical method with groundwater flow modeling for contaminant plume estimation. This method was then tested on groundwater contamination in the Gloucester landfill in Ontario, Canada. The method was applied to three water soluble organic contaminants: 1,4-dioxane, tetrahydrofuran, and diethyl ether. The effectiveness of the proposed method was verified by the general agreement of the calculated plume distributions of the three contaminants with concentration data from 66 points in 1982 (linear correlation coefficient of about 0.7). In particular, the reproduced large spill of organic contaminants of 1,4-dioxane in 1978 was more accurate than the result of preceding minimum relative entropy-based studies. The same peak also appeared in the tetrahydrofuran and diethyl ether distributions approximately within the range of the retardation factor derived from the fraction of organic carbon.

Effect of nitrogen concentration on creep strength and microstructure of 9Cr-ODS ferritic/martensitic steel

Oka, Hiroshi*; Tanno, Takashi; Yano, Yasuhide; Otsuka, Satoshi; Kaito, Takeji; Hashimoto, Naoyuki*

Journal of Nuclear Materials, 572, p.154032_1 - 154032_8, 2022/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2022.154032

9Cr oxide dispersion strengthened steels with slightly different nitrogen concentrations (0.0034 - 0.029 wt%) were prepared and their creep property at 973 K was investigated with microstructural characterization before and after the creep test. The creep strength decreased significantly as the nitrogen concentration increased. Microstructural observation revealed that, in the higher nitrogen concentration specimen, coarse Y-rich inclusions were found along the boundary between transformed ferrite region and residual ferrite region. The solubility difference of nitrogen in and phase would induce the localized increment of nitrogen concentration in the boundary region during the austenitizing process, resulting in the thermodynamic destabilization and subsequent coarsening of the dispersed oxide particles. The rows of creep voids were found near the rupture part of the crept specimen, suggesting that the coarse inclusions were the starting point of creep void formation and the subsequent premature fracture.