Concerning aging of nuclear fuel material use facilities Examination of measures to improve safety assessment methods

Sakamoto, Naoki; Fujishima, Tadatsune; Mizukoshi, Yasutaka

Hozengaku, 19(2), p.125 - 126, 2020/07

The five post-irradiation examination facilities in JAEA's Oarai research and development institute have been operated for over 40 years in order to investigate the irradiation performance of fast reactor fuel materials. The equipment associated with these facilities has been managed to maintain secure from the problems occurred in the process of aging. Therefore, we established a safety assessment method for aging facilities in 2002, and we have been conducting maintenance management of facilities since then. In this study, improvement plans of the safety assessment method are considered in order to solve the issues detected as a result of analysis of past maintenance information.

A Study on sodium-concrete reaction in presence of internal heating

Kawaguchi, Munemichi; Miyahara, Shinya*; Uno, Masayoshi*

Journal of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science, 6(2), p.021305_1 - 021305_9, 2020/04

https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4045898

Sodium-concrete reaction (SCR) is one of the important phenomena during severe accidents in sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs) owing to the generation of large sources of hydrogen and aerosols in the containment vessel. In this study, SCR experiments with an internal heater were performed to investigate the chemical reaction beneath the internal heater (800C), which was used to simulate the obstacle and heating effect on SCR. Furthermore, the effects of the internal heater on the self-termination mechanism were discussed. The internal heater on the concrete hindered the transport of Na into the concrete. Therefore, Na could start to react with the concrete at the periphery of the internal heater, and the concrete ablation depth at the periphery was larger than under the internal heater. The high Na pool temperature of 800C increased largely the Na aerosol release rate, which was explained by Na evaporation and hydrogen bubbling, and formed the porous reaction product layer, whose porosity was 0.54-0.59 from the mass balance of Si and image analyzing EPMA mapping. They had good agreement with each other. The porous reaction products decreased the amount of Na transport into the reaction front. The Na concentration around the reaction front became about 30wt.% despite the position of the internal heater. It was found that the Na concentration condition was one of the dominant parameters for the self-termination of SCR, even in the presence of the internal heater.

Phase 1 code assessment of SIMMER-III; A Computer program for LMFR core disruptive accident analysis

Kondo, Satoru; Tobita, Yoshiharu

JAEA-Research 2019-009, 382 Pages, 2020/03

JAEA-Research-2019-009.pdf:22.82MB

The SIMMER-III computer code, developed at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA, the former Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation), is a two-dimensional, multi-velocity-field, multi-component fluid-dynamics code, coupled with a space- and time-dependent neutron kinetics model. The code is being used widely for simulating complex phenomena during core-disruptive accidents (CDAs) in liquid-metal fast reactors (LMFRs). In parallel to the code development, a comprehensive assessment program was performed in two phases: Phase 1 for verifying individual fluid-dynamics models; and Phase 2 for validating its applicability to integral phenomena important to evaluating LMFR CDAs. The SIMMERIII assessment program was participated by European research and development organizations, and the achievement of Phase 1 was compiled and synthesized in 1996. This report has been edited by revising and reproducing the original 1996 informal report, which compiled the achievement of Phase 1 assessment. A total of 34 test problems were studied in the areas: fluid convection, interfacial area and momentum exchange, heat transfer, melting and freezing, and vaporization and condensation. The problems identified have been reflected to the Phase 2 assessment and later model development and improvement. Although the revisions were made in the light of knowledge base obtained later, the original individual contributions by the participants, both positive and negative, are retained except for editorial changes.

Research on factor analysis for achieving denuclearization, 4; Iraq: Characteristics of Iraq's denuclearization

Tazaki, Makiko; Shimizu, Ryo; Kimura, Takashi; Tamai, Hiroshi; Nakatani, Takayoshi; Suda, Kazunori

Nihon Kaku Busshitsu Kanri Gakkai Dai-40-Kai Nenji Taikai Puroshidhingusu, p.93 - 96, 2019/11

Iraq, defeated by the Gulf War, had to accept denuclearization under UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 687, but did not immediately and accurately report all its past nuclear activities to the IAEA. IAEA, as an internationally authorized nuclear inspection and verification organization to Iraqi denuclearization by the UNSCR 687, gradually revealed existence and the whole picture of Iraqi clandestine nuclear activities and verified destruction of weapon related facilities and equipment as well as removal of nuclear materials outside Iraq. Analyzing Iraq's characteristics of denuclearization could serve as a good reference for not only preventing nuclear weapons development but also considering their denuclearization in current and future states.

Design methodology for fuel debris experiment in the new STACY facility

Gunji, Satoshi; Clavel, J.-B.*; Tonoike, Kotaro; Duhamel, I.*

Proceedings of 11th International Conference on Nuclear Criticality Safety (ICNC 2019) (Internet), 11 Pages, 2019/09

The new criticality experiments facility STACY will be able to contribute to the validation of criticality calculations related to the fuel debris. The experimental core design is in progress in the frame of JAEA/IRSN collaboration. This paper presents the method applied to optimize the design of core configurations of the new STACY to measure the criticality characteristics of pseudo fuel debris focused on Molten Core Concrete Interaction (MCCI) debris. To ensure that a core configuration is relevant for code validation, it is important to evaluate the reactivity worth of the main isotopes and the keff sensitivity to their cross sections. To obtain maximum sensitivity of Si capture reaction, some parameters of the core configuration, as for example the lattice pitch or the core dimensions, were adjusted using optimization algorithm to research efficiently the optimal core configurations.

Study on eutectic melting behavior of control rod materials in core disruptive accidents of sodium-cooled fast reactors, 5; Validation of a multi-phase model for eutectic reaction between molten stainless steel and BC

Liu, X.*; Morita, Koji*; Yamano, Hidemasa

Proceedings of International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Conference / Light Water Reactor Fuel Performance Conference (Global/Top Fuel 2019) (USB Flash Drive), p.47 - 51, 2019/09

Investigation of the eutectic reaction in a core disruptive accident of sodium cooled reactor is of importance since reactor criticality will be affected by the change in reactivity after eutectic reaction. In this study, we performed 1st step of validation analysis using a fast reactor safety analysis code, SIMMER-III, with the developed model based on a new series of experiments, where a BC pellet was immersed into a molten stainless steel (SS) pool. The simulation results showed the general behavior of eutectic material formation measured in the experiments reasonably. The eutectic reaction consumes solid BC and liquid SS, and then the liquid eutectic composition is produced at the early stage of reaction due to the high temperature of molten SS. Movement of the eutectic material in the molten pool leads to the redistribution of boron element. Molten SS pool then freezes to solid SS and movement of eutectic material is stopped by surrounding solid SS. Boron concentration in the pool was measured after molten SS freezes into a solid. Simulation results indicate that boron tends to accumulate in the upper part of the molten pool. This is attributed to the buoyancy force acting on lighter boron in the molten SS pool. A parametric study was also conducted by changing the initial temperature of BC pellet and SS to investigate the temperature sensitivity on the eutectic reaction behavior.

Development of evaluation method for variability of groundwater flow conditions associated with long-term topographic change and climate perturbations

Onoe, Hironori; Kosaka, Hiroshi*; Matsuoka, Toshiyuki; Komatsu, Tetsuya; Takeuchi, Ryuji; Iwatsuki, Teruki; Yasue, Kenichi

Genshiryoku Bakkuendo Kenkyu (CD-ROM), 26(1), p.3 - 14, 2019/06

https://doi.org/10.3327/jnuce.26.1_3

In this study, it is focused on topographic changes due to uplift and denudation, also climate perturbations, a method which is able to assess the long-term variability of groundwater flow conditions using the coefficient variation based on some steady-state groundwater flow simulation results was developed. Spatial distribution of long residence time area which is not much influenced due to long-term topographic change and recharge rate change during the past one million years was able to estimate through the case study of the Tono area, Central Japan. By applying this evaluation method, it is possible to identify the local area that has low variability of groundwater flow conditions due to topographic changes and climate perturbations from the regional area quantitatively and spatially.

Development of a handy criticality analysis tool for fuel debris

Tada, Kenichi

Proceedings of 27th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE-27) (Internet), 4 Pages, 2019/05

The decommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident is one of the most important issues in Japan. The criticality safety of fuel debris is imperative to prevent exposure of workers. The investigating criticality monitoring system cannot detect the criticality of fuel debris quickly. The estimation of criticality of fuel debris is required for the fuel debris retrieval. Though the expert knowledge of reactor physics is necessary to estimate the criticality of fuel debris, many people who make a plan of fuel debris retrieval may not know well about criticality analysis. We developed a handy criticality analysis tool HAND to quickly estimate the criticality of fuel debris without expert knowledge of reactor physics. Since the input data of HAND is so simple and users can intuitively understand the calculation results, this tool is expected to be the effective tool to estimate the criticality of fuel debris.

Holding force tests of Curie Point Electro-Magnet in hot gas for passive shutdown system

Matsunaga, Shoko*; Matsubara, Shinichiro*; Kato, Atsushi; Yamano, Hidemasa; Dderlein, C.*; Guillemin, E.*; Hirn, J.*

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

This paper presents a design of Curie Point Electro-Magnet (CPEM) which will be installed as a passive shutdown system for a French Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (ASTRID) development program which is conducted in collaboration between France and Japan. To confirm CPEM design validity, a qualification program for CPEM is developed on the basis of past comprehensive test series of Self-Actuated Shutdown System (SASS) in Japan. The main outcome of this paper is results of holding force tests in hot gas, which satisfy design requirements. Moreover, the result of a numerical magnetic field analysis showed the same tendency as that of the holding force test.

Prospects based on T-H roadmap through communication

Nakamura, Hideo

Nippon Genshiryoku Gakkai-Shi, 61(4), p.270 - 272, 2019/04

no abstracts in English