In-situ measurement of radiation driven back-conversion from para to ortho liquid hydrogen state in cold moderators at J-PARC

Teshigawara, Makoto; Lee, Y.*; Tatsumoto, Hideki*; Hartl, M.*; Aso, Tomokazu; Iverson, E. B.*; Ariyoshi, Gen; Ikeda, Yujiro*; Hasegawa, Takumi*

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B, 557, p.165534_1 - 165534_10, 2024/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2024.165534

At Japanese Spallation Neutron Source in J-PARC, the para-hydrogen fraction was measured by using Raman spectroscopy in-situ for an integrated beam power of 9.4 MWh at 1 MW operation, to evaluate the functionality of the ferric oxyhydroxide catalyst. This result showed that full functionality of the catalyst was retained up to the 1 MW operation. We attempted to study the effect of neutron scattering driven para to ortho-hydrogen back-conversion rate in the absence of the catalyst effect with a bypass line without catalyst. The measured increase of ortho-hydrogen fraction was 0.44% for an integrated beam power of 2.4 MWh at 500 kW operation, however, which was considered to be due to not only to neutron collisions in cold moderators but also to the high ortho-hydrogen fraction of initially static liquid hydrogen in the bypass line and passive exudation of quasi-static hydrogen in the catalyst vessel to the main loop.

Decay studies of new isomeric states in No

Bronis, A.*; Heberger, F. P.*; Antalic, S.*; Andel, B.*; Ackermann, D.*; Heinz, S.*; Hofmann, S.*; Khuyagbaatar, J.*; Kindler, B.*; Kojouharov, I.*; et al.

Physical Review C, 106(1), p.014602_1 - 014602_12, 2022/07

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.106.014602

Using two detectors concurrently to monitor ambient dose equivalent rates in vehicle surveys of radiocesium contaminated land

Takeishi, Minoru; Shibamichi, Masaru; Malins, A.; Kurikami, Hiroshi; Murakami, Mitsuhiro*; Saegusa, Jun; Yoneya, Masayuki

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 177, p.1 - 12, 2017/10

AA2016-0534.pdf:1.79MB

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2017.05.010

By convention radiation measurements from vehicle-borne surveys are converted to the dose rate at 1 m above the ground in the absence of the vehicle. To improve the accuracy of the converted results from vehicle-borne surveys, we investigated combining measurements from two detectors mounted on the vehicle at different heights above the ground. A dual-detector setup was added to a JAEA monitoring car and compared against hand-held survey meter measurements in Fukushima Prefecture. The dose rates obtained by combining measurements from two detectors were within 20% of the hand-held reference measurements. The combined results from the two detectors were more accurate than those from either the roof-mounted detector, or the detector inside the vehicle, taken alone. When radiocesium is deficient on a road compared to the adjacent land, mounting detectors high on vehicles yields dose rates closer to the values adjacent to the road. We also investigated mounting heights for vehicle-borne detectors using Monte Carlo -ray simulations.

Completion of solidification and stabilization for Pu nitrate solution to reduce potential risks at Tokai Reprocessing Plant

Mukai, Yasunobu; Nakamichi, Hideo; Kobayashi, Daisuke; Nishimura, Kazuaki; Fujisaku, Sakae; Tanaka, Hideki; Isomae, Hidemi; Nakamura, Hironobu; Kurita, Tsutomu; Iida, Masayoshi*; et al.

Proceedings of 2017 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2017) (CD-ROM), 8 Pages, 2017/04

TRP has stored the plutonium in solution state for long-term since the last PCDF operation in 2007 was finished. After the great east Japan earthquake in 2011, JAEA had investigated the risk against potential hazard of these solutions which might lead to make hydrogen explosion and/or boiling of the solution accidents with the release of radioactive materials to the public when blackout. To reduce the risk for storing Pu solution (about 640 kg Pu), JAEA planned to perform the process operation for the solidification and stabilization of the solution by converted into MOX powder at PCDF in 2013. In order to perform PCDF operation without adaption of new safety regulation, JAEA conducted several safety measures such as emergency safety countermeasures, necessary security and safeguards (3S) measures with understanding of NRA. As a result, the PCDF operation had stared on 28th April, 2014, and successfully completed to convert MOX powder on 3rd August, 2016 for about 2 years as planned.

Development of simple method to incorporate out-of-core cooling effect on thorium conversion in multi-pass fueled reactor and investigation on characteristics of the effect

Fukaya, Yuji

Annals of Nuclear Energy, 81, p.301 - 305, 2015/07

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2015.03.005

Development of a simple method to incorporate the out-of-core cooling effect on the thorium conversion in multi-pass fueled reactors and investigation on characteristics of the effect have been performed. For multi-pass fueled reactors, such as Molten Salt Breeder Reactor (MSBR) and Pebble-Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR), fuel moves in the core and exits from the core. The nuclides decay also out of the core, and it should be also considered if it is important for core characteristics. In the present study, Pa is considered to evaluate the thorium conversion accurately. To take the effect into account, in the present study, an effective decay constant is proposed to make equilibrium concentration of Pa without out-of-core cooling equal to that of out-of-core cooling. With the effective decay constant, the out-of-core cooling effect can be incorporated even with the code system using macroscopic cross sections generated by cell burn-up calculations without any code modification. In addition, the characteristic of out-of-core cooling effect for the thorium conversion is evaluated for thorium fueled reactors of MSBR and PBMR. It is concluded that the out-of-core cooling effect is suitable for MSBR to enhance thorium conversion because of the fast flow rate of fuel salt. On the other hand, the effect is not important and not realistic to employ for PBMR because the in-core residence time of approximately 100 days is longer than the half-life of Pa of 27.0 days, and the effect cannot improve the conversion ratio drastically.

SIMMER-III analyses of local fuel-coolant interactions in a simulated molten fuel pool; Effect of coolant quantity

Cheng, S.; Matsuba, Kenichi; Isozaki, Mikio; Kamiyama, Kenji; Suzuki, Toru; Tobita, Yoshiharu

Science and Technology of Nuclear Installations, 2015, p.964327_1 - 964327_14, 2015/00

https://doi.org/10.1155/2015/964327

Femtosecond time-resolved solvation process of a solution; Constraints of vibrational degrees of freedom in the supercooled state

Murakami, Hiroshi

Chemical Physics Letters, 417(4-6), p.550 - 554, 2006/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cplett.2005.10.072

no abstracts in English

Master plan and current status for feasibility study on thermal/hydraulic performance of reduced-moderation water reactor

Onuki, Akira; Takase, Kazuyuki; Kureta, Masatoshi*; Yoshida, Hiroyuki; Tamai, Hidesada; Liu, W.; Nakatsuka, Toru; Misawa, Takeharu; Akimoto, Hajime

Proceedings of International Conference on Nuclear Energy System for Future Generation and Global Sustainability (GLOBAL 2005) (CD-ROM), 6 Pages, 2005/10

R&D project to investigate thermal-hydraulic performance in tight-lattice rod bundles for Reduced-Moderation Water Reactor (RMWR) is started at Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute in collaboration with power company, reactor vendors, universities since 2002. The RMWR can attain the favorable characteristics such as effective utilization of uranium resources, multiple recycling of plutonium, high burn-up and long operation cycle, based on matured LWR technologies. The confirmation of thermal-hydraulic feasibility is one of the most important R&D items for the RMWR because of the tight-lattice configuration. In this paper, we will show the R&D plan and describe some advances on experimental and analytical studies. Steady-state and transient critical power experiments have been conducted with two 37-rod bundle test facilities (Gap width between rods: 1.3mm and 1.0mm) and the experimental data reveal the feasibility of RMWR.

Advances of study on thermal/hydraulic performance in tight-lattice rod bundles for reduced-moderation water reactors

Onuki, Akira; Takase, Kazuyuki; Kureta, Masatoshi*; Yoshida, Hiroyuki; Tamai, Hidesada; Liu, W.; Nakatsuka, Toru; Akimoto, Hajime

Proceedings of 13th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE-13) (CD-ROM), 8 Pages, 2005/05

R&D project to investigate thermal-hydraulic performance in tight-lattice rod bundles for Reduced-Moderation Water Reactor (RMWR) is started at Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute in collaboration with power company, reactor vendors, universities since 2002. The RMWR can attain the favorable characteristics such as effective utilization of uranium resources, multiple recycling of plutonium, high burn-up and long operation cycle, based on matured LWR technologies. The confirmation of thermal-hydraulic feasibility is one of the most important R&D items for the RMWR because of the tight-lattice configuration. In this paper, we will show the R&D plan and describe some advances on experimental and analytical studies. The experimental study is performed mainly using large-scale (37-rod bundle) test facility and the analytical one aims to develop a predictable technology for geometry effects such as gap between rods etc. using advanced 3-D two-phase flow simulation methods. Steady-state and transient critical power experiments are conducted with the test facility (Gap width between rods: 1.3mm and 1.0mm) and the experimental data reveal the feasibility of RMWR.

Calculation of age-dependent dose conversion coefficients for radionuclides uniformly distributed in air

Tran, V. H.; Satoh, Daiki; Takahashi, Fumiaki; Tsuda, Shuichi; Endo, Akira; Saito, Kimiaki; Yamaguchi, Yasuhiro

JAERI-Tech 2004-079, 37 Pages, 2005/02

JAERI-Tech-2004-079.pdf:5.02MB

no abstracts in English