Design of a portable backup shutdown system for the high temperature gas cooled reactor

Hamamoto, Shimpei; Ho, H. Q.; Iigaki, Kazuhiko; Goto, Minoru; Shimazaki, Yosuke; Sawahata, Hiroaki; Ishitsuka, Etsuo

Nuclear Engineering and Design, 386, p.111564_1 - 111564_8, 2022/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2021.111564

The experience of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident caused by the great earthquake that occurred in eastern Japan in 2011 showed the importance of preparing for the loss of function of the engineered safety features. Increasing the strength of equipment to prevent loss of function in an accident is effective, but the possibility of loss of function remains. Therefore, it is important to have an alternative to lost functions in order to put the accident under control early. Thus, this study designed an alternative shutdown system, namely a portable backup shutdown system (PBSS), to make countermeasures in the event of a loss of shutdown function more robust without impairing economic efficiency of the High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR). The PBSS is portable and capable of being installed manually so that it can operate in a total loss of off-site electricity. Various neutron absorber materials for the PBSS were also considered from the viewpoints of technical and cost-effective properties. As results of optimization, the boron nitride (BN) was selected as it shows a good neutronic property as well as a reasonable cost in comparison with other materials.

Visualization of the boron distribution in core material melting and relocation specimen by neutron energy resolving method

Abe, Yuta; Tsuchikawa, Yusuke; Kai, Tetsuya; Matsumoto, Yoshihiro*; Parker, J. D.*; Shinohara, Takenao; Oishi, Yuji*; Kamiyama, Takashi*; Nagae, Yuji; Sato, Ikken

JPS Conference Proceedings (Internet), 33, p.011075_1 - 011075_6, 2021/03

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSCP.33.011075

Study on eutectic melting behavior of control rod materials in core disruptive accidents of sodium-cooled fast reactors, 2; Thermophysical properties of eutectic mixture containing of high concentration boron in a solid state

Takai, Toshihide; Furukawa, Tomohiro; Yamano, Hidemasa

Proceedings of 2020 International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE 2020) (Internet), 6 Pages, 2020/08

https://doi.org/10.1115/ICONE2020-16091

Preparation, thermoelectric properties, and crystal structure of boron-doped MgSi single crystals

Hayashi, Kei*; Saito, Wataru*; Sugimoto, Kazuya*; Oyama, Kenji*; Hayashi, Koichi*; Happo, Naohisa*; Harada, Masahide; Oikawa, Kenichi; Inamura, Yasuhiro; Miyazaki, Yuzuru*

AIP Advances (Internet), 10(3), p.035115_1 - 035115_7, 2020/03

https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5143839

Thermophysical properties of stainless steel containing 5 mass%BC in the solid phase

Takai, Toshihide; Furukawa, Tomohiro; Yamano, Hidemasa

Nuclear Technology, 205(9), p.1164 - 1174, 2019/09

https://doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2019.1607136

Chemical reaction kinetics dataset of Cs-I-B-Mo-O-H system for evaluation of fission product chemistry under LWR severe accident conditions

Miyahara, Naoya; Miwa, Shuhei; Horiguchi, Naoki; Sato, Isamu*; Osaka, Masahiko

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 56(2), p.228 - 240, 2019/02

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2018.1544939

In order to improve LWR source term under severe accident conditions, the first version of a fission product (FP) chemistry database named "ECUME" was developed. The ECUME is intended to include major chemical reactions and their effective kinetic constants for representative SA sequences. It is expected that the ECUME can serve as a fundamental basis from which FP chemical models in the SA analysis codes can be elaborated. The implemented chemical reactions in the first version were those for representative gas species in Cs-I-B-Mo-O-H system. The chemical reaction kinetic constants were evaluated from either literature data or calculated values using ab-initio calculations. The sample chemical reaction calculation using the presently constructed dataset showed meaningful kinetics effects at 1000 K. Comparison of the chemical equilibrium compositions by using the dataset with those by chemical equilibrium calculations has shown rather good consistency for the representative Cs-I-B-Mo-O-H species. From these results, it was concluded that the present dataset should be useful to evaluate FP chemistry in Cs-I-B-Mo-O-H system under LWA SA conditions.

Thermophysical properties of stainless steel containing 5mass%-BC in the solid phase

Takai, Toshihide; Furukawa, Tomohiro; Yamano, Hidemasa

Proceedings of 2018 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2018) (CD-ROM), p.1007 - 1013, 2018/04

Examination of I and Cs releases during late phase of Fukushima Daiichi NPP accident by using I/Cs ratio of source terms evaluated reversely by WSPEEDI code with environmental monitoring data

Hidaka, Akihide; Yokoyama, Hiroya

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 54(8), p.819 - 829, 2017/08

AA2016-0500.pdf:0.44MB

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2017.1323691

To clarify what happened during the Fukushima accident, the phenomena within RPV and the discussion of ties with the environmental monitoring are very important. However, the previous study has not necessarily advanced until the present that passed almost six years from the accident. The present study investigated I and Cs release behaviors during the late phase of the accident based on I/Cs ratio of the source terms that were recently evaluated backward by WSPEEDI code based on environmental monitoring data. The I release from the contaminated water in the basement of 1F2 and 1F3 reactor buildings was evaluated to be about 10% of I source term. The increase in Cs release from March 21 to 23 and from March 30 to 31 could be explained by the release of CsBO which is formed as a result of chemical reactions of Cs with BC due to re-ascension of the core temperature caused by slight shortage of the core cooling water.

Basic visualization experiments on eutectic reaction between boron carbide and stainless steel under sodium-cooled fast reactor conditions

Yamano, Hidemasa; Suzuki, Toru; Kamiyama, Kenji; Kudo, Isamu*

Proceedings of International Conference on Fast Reactors and Related Fuel Cycles; Next Generation Nuclear Systems for Sustainable Development (FR-17) (USB Flash Drive), 11 Pages, 2017/06

This paper describes basic visualization experiments on eutectic reaction and relocation of boron carbide (BC) and stainless steel (SS) under a high temperature condition exceeding 1500C as well as the importance of such behaviors in molten core during a core disruptive accident in a Generation-IV sodium-cooled fast reactor (750 MWe class) designed in Japan. At first, a reactivity history was calculated using an exact perturbation calculation tool taking into account expected behaviors. This calculation indicated the importance of a relocation behavior of the BC-SS eutectic because its behavior has a large uncertainty in the reactivity history. To clarify this behavior, basic experiments were carried out by visualizing the reaction of a BC pellet contacted with molten SS in a high temperature-heating furnace. The experiments have shown the eutectic reaction visualization as well as freezing and relocation of the BC-SS eutectic in upper part of the solidified test piece due to the density separation.

Results and progress of fundamental research on fission product chemistry; Progress report in 2015

Osaka, Masahiko; Miwa, Shuhei; Nakajima, Kunihisa; Di Lemma, F. G.*; Suzuki, Chikashi; Miyahara, Naoya; Kobata, Masaaki; Okane, Tetsuo; Suzuki, Eriko

JAEA-Review 2016-026, 32 Pages, 2016/12

JAEA-Review-2016-026.pdf:6.18MB

A fundamental research program on fission product (FP) chemistry has started since 2012 for the purpose of establishment of a FP chemistry database in each region of LWR under severe accident and improvement of FP chemical models based on the database. Research outputs are reflected as fundamental knowledge to both the research and development of decommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (1F) and enhancement of LWR safety. Four research items have thus been established considering the specific issues of 1F and the priority in the source term research area, as follows: effects of boron (B) release kinetics and thermal-hydraulic conditions on FP behavior, cesium (Cs) chemisorption and reactions with structural materials, enlargement of a thermodynamic and thermophysical properties database for FP compounds and development of experimental and analytical techniques for the reproduction of FP behavior and for direct measurement methods of chemical form of FP compounds. In this report, the research results and progress for the year 2015 are described. The main accomplishment was the installation of a reproductive test facility for FP release and transport behavior. Moreover, basic knowledge about the Cs chemisorption behavior was also obtained. In addition to the four research items, a further research item is being considered for deeper interpretation of FP behavior by the analysis of samples outside of the 1F units.