Fluorination method for classification of the waste generated by fuel debris removal (Contract research); FY2021 Nuclear Energy Science & Technology and Human Resource Development Project

Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced Decommissioning Science; Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy*

JAEA-Review 2022-058, 191 Pages, 2023/02

JAEA-Review-2022-058.pdf:16.99MB

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 FY2021. The Project aims to contribute to solving problems in the nuclear energy field represented by the decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (1F), 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 FY2019, this report summarizes the research results of the "Fluorination method for classification of the waste generated by fuel debris removal" conducted from FY2019 to FY2021. Since the final year of this proposal was FY2021, the results for three fiscal years were summarized. The present study aims to develop a method for separating nuclear fuel material from waste by fluorination in order to contribute to the classification of waste generated by fuel debris removal at 1F. In order to comprehensively evaluate the fluorination behavior for the generated phase in various MCCI products, some simulated wastes were prepared by controlling redox conditions, and the fluorination experiment was carried out.

R&D of digital technology on inverse estimation of radioactive source distributions and related source countermeasures; R&D status of digital platform including 3D-ADRES-indoor

Machida, Masahiko; Yamada, Susumu; Kim, M.; Okumura, Masahiko; Miyamura, Hiroko; Malins, A.; Shikaze, Yoshiaki; Sato, Tomoki*; Numata, Yoshiaki*; Tobita, Yasuhiro*; et al.

RIST News, (68), p.3 - 19, 2022/09

https://www.rist.or.jp/rnews/68/68s2.pdf

no abstracts in English

Estimation of temporal variation of discharged tritium from port of Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant; Analysis of the temporal variation and comparison with released tritium from Japan and major nuclear facilities worldwide

Machida, Masahiko; Iwata, Ayako; Yamada, Susumu; Otosaka, Shigeyoshi*; Kobayashi, Takuya; Funasaka, Hideyuki*; Morita, Takami*

Nihon Genshiryoku Gakkai Wabun Rombunshi, 21(1), p.33 - 49, 2022/03

https://doi.org/10.3327/taesj.J20.036

We estimate monthly discharge inventory of tritium from the port of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (1F) from Jun 2013 to Mar 2020 by using the Voronoi tessellation scheme, following that the tritium monitoring inside the port has started since Jun 2013. As for the missing period from the initial month, Apr 2011 to May 2013, we calculate it by utilizing the concentration ratio of tritium to that of Cs in stagnant contaminant water during the initial direct discharged period to Jun 2011 and the discharge inventory correlation between tritium and Cs for the next-unknown continuously-discharged period up to May 2013. From the all- estimated results over 9 years, we find that the monthly discharge inventory sharply dropped just after closing the sea-side impermeable sea-wall in Oct. 2015 and subsequently coincided well with the sum of those of drainage and subdrain. By comparing the estimated results with those in the normal operation period before the accident, we point out that the discharge inventory from 1F port is not so large compared to those during the normal operation. Even the estimated one in year 2011 is found to be comparable to the maximum of operating pressurized water reactors discharging relatively large inventory in the order. In the nation level, the whole Japan domestic discharge inventory significantly decreased after the accident due to operation shutdown of most plants. Furthermore, 1F and even Japanese total discharge inventory are found to be entirely minor when comparing those of nuclear reprocessing plants and heavy-water reactors in world-wide level. From the above, we suggest that various scenarios can be openly discussed on the management in tritium stored inside 1F with help of the present estimated data and its comparison with the past discharge inventory.

Seven-year temporal variation of caesium-137 discharge inventory from the port of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant; Continuous monthly estimation of caesium-137 discharge in the period from April 2011 to June 2018

Machida, Masahiko; Yamada, Susumu; Iwata, Ayako; Otosaka, Shigeyoshi; Kobayashi, Takuya; Watanabe, Masahisa; Funasaka, Hideyuki; Morita, Takami*

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 57(8), p.939 - 950, 2020/08

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2020.1740809

After direct discharges of highly contaminated water of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (1F) from April to May 2011, Kanda suggested that relatively small amounts of run-off of radionuclides from the 1F port into the Fukushima coastal region subsequently continued by his estimation method. However, the estimation period was limited to up to September 2012. Therefore, this paper estimates the discharge inventory up to June 2018. In the missing period, the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings have continued efforts to stop the discharge, and consequently, the radionuclide concentration in seawater inside the 1F port has gradually diminished. We show the monthly discharge inventory of Cs up to June 2018 by two methods, i.e., Kanda method partially improved by the authors and a more sophisticated method using Voronoi tessellation reflecting the increase in the number of monitoring points inside the 1 F port. The results show that the former always yields overestimated results compared with the latter, but the ratio of the former to the latter is less than one order of magnitude. Using these results, we evaluate the impact of the discharge inventory from the 1F port into the coastal area and radiation dose upon fish ingestion.

Report of the erosion-corrosion of metallic materials under solid-liquid two phase flow

Otani, Kyohei; Sato, Tomonori; Kaji, Yoshiyuki; Yamamoto, Masahiro

JAEA-Review 2019-007, 15 Pages, 2019/06

JAEA-Review-2019-007.pdf:2.35MB

Metallic pipes under solid-liquid two phase flow is damaged by collision of solid particle to the pipe walls, and this phenomenon is named "erosion". In the case of the liquid is corrosive solution, further damage is occurred on the pipe walls chemically, and this named "erosion-corrosion". In the Fukushima Daiichi decommissioning project, the fuel debris will be crushed during removal operation of the debris and micro debris particles would be generated. It is estimated that the pipes of the circulating cooling system would be damaged under the solid-liquid two phase flow containing fuel debris particles. For the reason, the previous study about erosion and erosion-corrosion of metallic materials under solid-liquid two phase flow was surveyed. The survey showed that the damage rate by erosion and erosion-corrosion is influence by a lot of parameter in comparison to the corrosion rate which occurred in no-flow solution. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to selecting the experimental method and condition before the investigation about erosion-corrosion of metallic materials under solid-liquid two phase flow is carried out.

Current situation of OECD/NEA, Preparatory Study on Analysis of Fuel debris (PreADES) project

Nakayoshi, Akira; Bottomley, D.; Washiya, Tadahiro

Proceedings of 56th Annual Meeting on Hot Laboratories and Remote Handling (HOTLAB 2019) (Internet), 3 Pages, 2019/00

Cutting operation of simulated fuel assembly heating examination by AWJ

Abe, Yuta; Nakagiri, Toshio; Watatani, Satoshi*; Maruyama, Shinichiro*

JAEA-Technology 2017-023, 46 Pages, 2017/10

JAEA-Technology-2017-023.pdf:8.01MB

This is a report on Abrasive Water Jet (AWJ) cutting work carried out on specimen, which was used for Simulated Fuel Assembly Heating Examination by Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced Decommissioning Science (CLADS) molten core behavior analysis group in February 2016. The simulated fuel assembly is composed of Zirconia for the outer crucible/simulated fuel, stainless steel for the control blade and Zircaloy (Zr) for the cladding tube/channel box. Therefore, it is necessary to cut at once substances having a wide range of fracture toughness and hardness. Moreover, it is a large specimen with an approximate size of 300 mm. In addition, epoxy resin has high stickiness, making it more difficult to cut. Considering these effects, AWJ cutting was selected. The following two points were devised, and this specimen could be cut with AWJ. If it was not possible to cut at one time like a molten portion of boride, it was repeatedly cut. By using Abrasive Suspension Jet (ASJ) system with higher cutting ability than Abrasive Injection Jet (AIJ, conventional method) system, cutting time was shortened. As a result of this work, the cutting method in Simulated Fuel Assembly Heating Examination was established. Incidentally, in the cutting operation, when the cutting ability was lost at the tip of the AWJ, a curved cut surface, which occurs when the jet flowed away from the feeding direction, could be confirmed at the center of the test body. From the next work, to improve the cutting efficiency, we propose adding a mechanism such as turning the cutting member itself for re-cutting from the exit side of the jet and appropriate traverse speed to protect cut surface.

Outline of Japan Atomic Energy Agency's Okuma Analysis and Research Center, 3; Laboratory-2

Ito, Masayasu; Ogawa, Miho; Inoue, Toshihiko; Yoshimochi, Hiroshi; Koyama, Shinichi; Koyama, Tomozo; Nakayama, Shinichi

Proceedings of 54th Annual Meeting of Hot Laboratories and Remote Handling (HOTLAB 2017) (Internet), 7 Pages, 2017/00

http://hotlab.sckcen.be/proceedings

Laboratory-2 of the Okuma Analysis and Research Center will be used for the technological development of techniques to treat and dispose fuel debris, etc. The specific analytical content and its importance has been discussed by an experts committee in FY 2016. The committee regarded fuel debris retrieval and criticality control related topics as the most important content. As a result, it will be a priority to introduce equipment to perform examination such as shape and size measurement, compositional and nuclide analysis, hardness and toughness test, and radiation dose rate measurement. In addition, since sample will have high dose rates (1 Sv/h or more) at the time of reception, hot cells with enough radiation shielding ability will be used. In the hot cell, the pre-processing will be performed, such as cutting and dissolution of samples. Processed samples will be examined in concrete cells, steel cells, glove boxes and fume hoods. Detail design of Laboratory-2 started on FY 2017.

Fukushima cleanup; Status and lessons

Miyahara, Kaname; McKinley, I. G.*; Saito, Kimiaki; Iijima, Kazuki; Hardie, S. M. L.*

Nuclear Engineering International, 60(736), p.12 - 14, 2015/11

http://www.neimagazine.com/features/featurefukushima-cleanup-status-and-lessons-learned-4724423/

Remediation work in Fukushima is based on a comprehensive technical knowledge base, which is translated into actions that enable the rapid return of evacuees but also provides a globally valuable resource for disaster planning and contaminated site remediation.

Corrosion properties of PCV equivalent materal for simulated severe accident

Nakano, Hiroko; Takeuchi, Tomoaki; Otsuka, Kaoru; Hirota, Noriaki; Tsuchiya, Kunihiko

no journal, , 

no abstracts in English