External dose evaluation based on detailed air dose rate measurements in living environments

Sato, Tetsuro*; Ando, Masaki; Sato, Masako*; Saito, Kimiaki

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 210, p.105973_1 - 105973_7, 2019/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2019.05.005

A method was devised for estimation of external doses of Fukushima residents expected to return to their homes after evacuation orders are lifted. 211 residents expected to return to six towns and villages were surveyed in FY 2014, FY 2015, and FY2016. Interviewing returning residents about their expected life patterns after returning, air dose rate were measured along the reported personal trails representing their patterns of movement in daily life. Excluding 15 residents from whose homes we were unable to take air dose rate measurements, the maximum external effective dose and the average external effective dose were estimated respectively as 4.9 mSv/y and 0.86 mSv/y. Although the mean values and dispersion of external effective doses differ depending on the evacuation level, for 93.3% of all residents, the estimated external effective doses were less than 2 mSv/y. The average exposure dose at home accounts for 66.8% of the annual exposure dose.

Repeatability and reproducibility of measurements of low dissolved radiocesium concentrations in freshwater using different pre-concentration methods

Kurihara, Momo*; Yasutaka, Tetsuo*; Aono, Tatsuo*; Ashikawa, Nobuo*; Ebina, Hiroyuki*; Iijima, Takeshi*; Ishimaru, Kei*; Kanai, Ramon*; Karube, Jinichi*; Konnai, Yae*; et al.

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, 322(2), p.477 - 485, 2019/11

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-019-06696-2

We assessed the repeatability and reproducibility of methods for determining low dissolved radiocesium concentrations in freshwater in Fukushima. Twenty-one laboratories pre-concentrated three of 10 L samples by five different pre-concentration methods (prussian-blue-impregnated filter cartridges, coprecipitation with ammonium phosphomolybdate, evaporation, solid-phase extraction disks, and ion-exchange resin columns), and activity of radiocesium was measured. The z-scores for all of the Cs results were within 2, indicating that the methods were accurate. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) indicating the variability in the results from different laboratories were larger than the RSDs indicating the variability in the results from each separate laboratory.

Improvement of plant reliability based on combining of prediction and inspection of crack growth due to intergranular stress corrosion cracking

Uchida, Shunsuke; Chimi, Yasuhiro; Kasahara, Shigeki; Hanawa, Satoshi; Okada, Hidetoshi*; Naito, Masanori*; Kojima, Masayoshi*; Kikura, Hiroshige*; Lister, D. H.*

Nuclear Engineering and Design, 341, p.112 - 123, 2019/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2018.10.021

Improvement of plant reliability based on reliability-centered-maintenance (RCM) is going to be undertaken in NPPs. RCM is supported by risk-based maintenance (RBM). The combination of prediction and inspection is one of the key issues to promote RBM. Early prediction of IGSCC occurrence and its propagation should be confirmed throughout the entire plant systems which should be accomplished by inspections at the target locations followed by timely application of suitable countermeasures. From the inspections, accumulated data will be applied to confirm the accuracy of the code, to tune some uncertainties of the key data for prediction, and then, to increase their accuracy. The synergetic effects of prediction and inspection on application of effective and suitable countermeasures are expected. In the paper, the procedures for the combination of prediction and inspection are introduced.

Confirmation tests for Warm Pre-stress (WPS) effect in reactor pressure vessel steel (Contract research)

Chimi, Yasuhiro; Iwata, Keiko; Tobita, Toru; Otsu, Takuyo; Takamizawa, Hisashi; Yoshimoto, Kentaro*; Murakami, Takeshi*; Hanawa, Satoshi; Nishiyama, Yutaka

JAEA-Research 2017-018, 122 Pages, 2018/03

JAEA-Research-2017-018.pdf:44.03MB

Warm pre-stress (WPS) effect is a phenomenon that after applying a load at a high temperature fracture does not occur in unloading during cooling, and then the fracture toughness in reloading at a lower temperature increases effectively. Engineering evaluation models to predict an apparent fracture toughness in reloading are established using experimental data with linear elasticity. However, there is a lack of data on the WPS effect for the effects of specimen size and surface crack in elastic-plastic regime. In this study, fracture toughness tests were performed after applying load-temperature histories which simulate pressurized thermal shock transients to confirm the WPS effect. The experimental results of an apparent fracture toughness tend to be lower than the predictive results using the engineering evaluation models in the case of a high degree of plastic deformation in preloading. Considering the plastic component of preloading can refine the engineering evaluation models.

CIELO collaboration summary results; International evaluations of neutron reactions on uranium, plutonium, iron, oxygen and hydrogen

Chadwick, M. B.*; Capote, R.*; Trkov, A.*; Herman, M. W.*; Brown, D. A.*; Hale, G. M.*; Kahler, A. C.*; Talou, P.*; Plompen, A. J.*; Schillebeeckx, P.*; et al.

Nuclear Data Sheets, 148, p.189 - 213, 2018/02

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nds.2018.02.003

The CIELO collaboration has studied neutron cross sections on nuclides that significantly impact criticality in nuclear facilities - U, U, Pu, Fe, O and H - with the aim of improving the accuracy of the data and resolving previous discrepancies in our understanding. This multi-laboratory pilot project, coordinated via the OECD/NEA Working Party on Evaluation Cooperation (WPEC) Subgroup 40 with support also from the IAEA, has motivated experimental and theoretical work and led to suites of new evaluated libraries that accurately reflect measured data and also perform well in integral simulations of criticality. This report summarizes our results and outlines plans for the next phase of this collaboration.

RELAP5 uncertainty evaluation using ROSA/LSTF test data on PWR 17% cold leg intermediate-break LOCA with single-failure ECCS

Takeda, Takeshi; Otsu, Iwao

Annals of Nuclear Energy, 109, p.9 - 21, 2017/11

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2017.05.007

Development of the severe accident evaluation method on second coolant leakages from the PHTS in a loop-type sodium-cooled fast reactor

Yamada, Fumiaki; Imaizumi, Yuya; Nishimura, Masahiro; Fukano, Yoshitaka; Arikawa, Mitsuhiro*

Proceedings of 25th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE-25) (CD-ROM), 10 Pages, 2017/07

The loss-of-reactor-level (LORL) is one of the loss-of-heat-removal-system (LOHRS) of beyond-DBA (BDBA) severe accident. An evaluation method for the LORL which is caused by the coolant leakage in two positions of the primary heat transport system (PHTS) was developed for prototype JSFR which is loop-type sodium-cooled fast reactor. The secondary leakage in cold standby which occurred in different loop from that of the first leakage in rated power operation can lead LORL by excessive declining of the sodium level. Therefore, the sodium level behavior in RV was studied in a representative accident sequence by considering the sodium pumping up into RV, siphon-breaking to stop pumping out from RV and maintain the sodium level, and calculation programs for the transient sodium level in RV. The representative sequence with lowest sodium level was selected by considering combinations of possible leakage positions. As a result of the evaluation considering the countermeasures above, it was revealed that the LOHRS can be prevented by maintaining the sodium level for the operation of decay heat removal system, even in the leakages in two positions of PHTS which corresponds to BDBA.

Determination of optimal vapor pressure data by the second and third law methods

Nakajima, Kunihisa

Mass Spectrometry (Internet), 5(2), p.S0055_1 - S0055_6, 2016/12

https://doi.org/10.5702/massspectrometry.S0055

Though equilibrium vapor pressures are utilized to determine thermodynamic properties of not only gaseous species but also condensed phases, the obtained data often disagree by a factor of 100 and more. A new data analysis method is proposed using the so-called second and third law procedures to improve accuracy of vapor pressure measurements. It was found from examination of vapor pressures of cesium metaborate and silver that the analysis of the difference between the second and third law values can result in determination of an optimal data set. Since the new thermodynamic method does not require special techniques and or experiences in dealing with measured data, it is reliable and versatile to improve the accuracy of vapor pressure evaluation.

Proceedings of the 2015 Symposium on Nuclear Data; November 19-20, 2015, Ibaraki Quantum Beam Research Center, Tokai-mura, Ibaraki, Japan

Iwamoto, Osamu; Sanami, Toshiya*; Kunieda, Satoshi; Koura, Hiroyuki; Nakamura, Shoji

JAEA-Conf 2016-004, 247 Pages, 2016/09

JAEA-Conf-2016-004.pdf:26.48MB

The 2015 Symposium on Nuclear Data was held at Ibaraki Quantum Beam Research Center, on November 19 and 20, 2015. The symposium was organized by the Nuclear Data Division of the Atomic Energy Society of Japan in cooperation with Nuclear Science and Engineering Center of Japan Atomic Energy Agency and North Kanto Branch of Atomic Energy Society of Japan. In the symposium, there were two tutorials, "Theory of Few-Body Systems and Recent Topics" and "Use of Covariance Data 2015" and four oral sessions, "Recent Research Topics", "Progress of AIMAC Project", "Present Status of JENDL Evaluated Files", and "Nuclear Data Applications". In addition, recent research progress on experiments, evaluation, benchmark and application was presented in a poster session. Among 99 participants, all presentations and following discussions were very active and fruitful. This report consists of total 46 papers including 13 oral and 33 poster presentations.

Gas-liquid bubbly flow structure in a vertical large-diameter square duct

Shen, X.*; Sun, Haomin; Deng, B.*; Hibiki, Takashi*; Nakamura, Hideo

Progress in Nuclear Energy, 89, p.140 - 158, 2016/05

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnucene.2016.02.014

An experimental study was performed on the local structure of upward air-water two-phase flow in a vertical large diameter square duct by using a four-sensor probe. The four-sensor probe method classifying spherical and non-spherical bubbles was applied as a key measurement way to obtain local parameters such as 3-D bubble velocity vector, bubble diameter and interfacial area concentration. Both the local void fraction and interfacial area concentration indicated radial core-peak and wall-peak distributions at low and high liquid flow rates respectively. The 2 components of the bubble velocity vector in the cross-section revealed that there exists a rotating secondary flow in the octant symmetric triangular area and the magnitude of the rotating secondary flow increases with the liquid flow rate. Some of constitutive correlations of drift-flux model and interfacial area concentration are reviewed to study their predictabilities against the present data.