Radiation heating effects on BC-SS eutectic melting and its relocation behaviour

Ahmed, Z.*; Sharma, A. K.*; Pellegrini, M.*; Yamano, Hidemasa; Okamoto, Koji*

Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering, 50(5), p.3361 - 3371, 2025/03

https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-024-09412-9

Impact of earthquakes occuring around the Horonobe Underground Research Center to the excavation damaged zone around the shaft

Niunoya, Sumio*; Hata, Koji*; Aoyagi, Kazuhei; Matsui, Hiroya

Tonneru Kogaku Hokokushu (CD-ROM), 34, p.IV-1_1 - IV-1_6, 2024/12

A multi-optical measurement probe consisting of an optical fiber AE sensor, a pore pressure sensor, and a thermometer was installed at a depth from 350 to 370 m of the East access shaft. Using this measurement system, we continuously monitored the EDZ around the shaft and changes in pore water pressure. In this report, we summarized the measured AE and pore pressure data during the maintenance period after the completion of excavation to a depth of 350 m, and analyze the waveform data when earthquake occurred. We also investigated whether the measurement system can capture the effect of seismic motion to the EDZ. As a result, the AE count was slightly increased and pore pressure was slightly changed owing to the seismic motion, however, there is little impact to the EDZ.

A Preliminary study for boron mixing effect on severe accident scenario in sodium-cooled fast reactor

Yamano, Hidemasa; Morita, Koji*

Proceedings of 13th Korea-Japan Symposium on Nuclear Thermal Hydraulics and Safety (NTHAS13) (Internet), 9 Pages, 2024/11

Application of the GIF safety design criteria and safety design guidelines on natural circulation capability to next generation sodium-cooled fast reactor in Japan

Yamano, Hidemasa; Futagami, Satoshi; Higurashi, Koichi*

Proceedings of 14th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal-Hydraulics, Operation, and Safety (NTHOS-14) (Internet), 12 Pages, 2024/08

This paper describes the application of safety design criteria (SDC) and safety design guidelines (SDG) developed in the Generation-IV International Forum on the natural circulation of sodium to sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs) recently designed in Japan.

Study on eutectic melting behavior of control rod materials in severe accidents of sodium-cooled fast reactors, 2; Modeling of multi-phase eutectic reaction behavior

Morita, Koji*; Yamano, Hidemasa

Proceedings of 14th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal-Hydraulics, Operation, and Safety (NTHOS-14) (Internet), 12 Pages, 2024/08

This paper describes the generalized model developed for these eutectic reactions between boron carbide (BC) and stainless steel (SS) as well as for the reactions that occur between eutectic reaction products in the solid and liquid states and SS or BC. We also describe the thermophysical property model based on thermophysical property data.

Assessment of advection dispersion through excavation damaged zone in sedimentary rock by in situ tracer tests

Takeda, Masaki; Ishii, Eiichi

Genshiryoku Bakkuendo Kenkyu (CD-ROM), 31(1), p.3 - 10, 2024/06

https://doi.org/10.3327/jnuce.31.1_3

Uunderstanding nuclide transport characteristics in the EDZ of disposal and access tunnels is an essential issue in the safety assessment of geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste. Although tracer tests are effective in evaluating the transport of nuclides in rock masses, the transport properties of EDZ in sedimentary rock, to our best knowledge, have not been investigated by in situ tracer tests. The authors conducted cross-hole tracer tests on EDZ fractures at the Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory to evaluate their longitudinal dispersibility. One-dimensional advection-dispersion analyses based on the tracer test data were performed, and the longitudinal dispersibility was estimated to be 0.12 m for the test scale of 4.2 m. This longitudinal dispersibility is 1/100 to 1/10 of the test scale, comparable with the empirical relationship between the test scale and longitudinal dispersibility for natural fractures and rock matrices. The series of tracer tests and analyses reported in this paper demonstrate that advection-dispersion occurs also in EDZ fractures similarly to natural fractures and rock matrices, and that longitudinal dispersibility in EDZ fractures can be assessed also by conventional in situ tracer test methods.

Eutectic melting and relocation behavior of BC pellet-stainless steel under radiative heating

Ahmed, Z.*; Sharma, A. K.*; Pellegrini, M.*; Yamano, Hidemasa; Kano, Sho*; Okamoto, Koji*

Ceramics International, 50(10), p.17665 - 17680, 2024/05

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2024.02.256

In this study, we identified two distinct failure mechanisms: the separation of stainless steel from the BC pellet, resulting in the formation of a later melting drop, and the fracture of the BC pellet into multiple pieces, possibly due to thermal stress. The visualization technique and thermal interfacial resistance analysis precisely captured the eutectic temperature.

Latent ion tracks were finally observed in diamond

Amekura, Hiroshi*; Chettah, A.*; Narumi, Kazumasa*; Chiba, Atsuya*; Hirano, Yoshimi*; Yamada, Keisuke*; Yamamoto, Shunya*; Leino, A. A.*; Djurabekova, F.*; Nordlund, K.*; et al.

Nature Communications (Internet), 15, p.1786_1 - 1786_10, 2024/02

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-45934-4

Injecting high-energy heavy ions in the electronic stopping regime into solids can create cylindrical damage zones called latent ion tracks. Although these tracks form in many materials, none have ever been observed in diamond, even when irradiated with high-energy GeV uranium ions. Here we report the first observation of ion track formation in diamond irradiated with 2-9 MeV C fullerene ions. Depending on the ion energy, the mean track length (diameter) changed from 17 (3.2) nm to 52 (7.1) nm. High resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (HR-STEM) indicated the amorphization in the tracks, in which -bonding signal from graphite was detected by the electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS).

Meso-timescale atomistic simulations on coalescence process of He bubbles in Fe by SEAKMC method

Yamamoto, Yojiro*; Hayakawa, Sho*; Okita, Taira*; Itakura, Mitsuhiro

Computational Materials Science, 229, p.112389_1 - 112389_9, 2023/10

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.commatsci.2023.112389

He bubbles are characteristic microstructures under fusion reactor conditions. They approach and coalesce through their own migration, which significantly impacts the microstructure and material properties. However, these processes, which involve multiple migrations of metal atoms, cannot be treated by molecular dynamics (MD) due to its timescale limitation. In this study, self-evolving atomistic kinetic Monte Carlo (SEAKMC) was used to expand the timescale and reproduce bubble coalescences in Fe. To enhance selections of events that led to the process by avoiding trivial events with an extremely low activation energy such as tiny vibrations of a He atom or short-range displacements of the Fe atom, we introduced two algorithms into SEAKMC, a two-step saddle point search for the former measure and setting a threshold for a displacement distance of the Fe atom for the latter. Furthermore, by adding another algorithm to set an upper bound for the activation energy to prevent selections of events with an impractically high activation energy, we succeeded to reproduce the change in the configuration from dumbbell to elliptical up to a simulated time of s, 8 orders longer than MD timescales. The developed method is effective for analyzing microstructures of metallic materials containing light elements and is the only method that can reach timescales comparable to those of experiments.

Development of experimental core configurations to clarify k variations by nonuniform core configurations

Gunji, Satoshi; Araki, Shohei; Suyama, Kenya

Nuclear Science and Engineering, 197(8), p.2017 - 2029, 2023/08

https://doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2022.2164151

The fuel debris generated by the accident at the Tokyo Electric Power Company's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant is expected to have not only heterogeneous but also nonuniform compositions. Similarly, damaged fuel assemblies remaining in the reactor vessels also have nonuniform configurations due to some missing fuel rods. This non-uniformity may cause changing neutron multiplication factors. The effect of non-uniformity on the neutron multiplication factor is clarified by computations, and the possibility of experimentally validating the computations used for criticality management is being investigated. For this purpose, in this study the criticality effects of several core configurations of a new critical assembly, STACY, of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency with nonuniform arrangements of uranium oxide fuel rods, concrete rods, and stainless-steel rods were studied to confirm benchmarking potential. The difference in these arrangements changed the neutron multiplication factor by more than 1 $. We confirmed that changes in local neutron moderation conditions and the clustering of specific components caused this effect. In addition, the feasibility of benchmark experimental cores with nonuniform arrangements is evaluated. If benchmarking of such experiments could be realized, it would help to validate calculation codes and to develop criticality management methods by machine learning.