Development of high-resolution imaging camera for alpha dust (Contract research); FY2021 Nuclear Energy Science & Technology and Human Resource Development Project

Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced Decommissioning Science; Tohoku University*

JAEA-Review 2022-065, 111 Pages, 2023/03

JAEA-Review-2022-065.pdf:6.8MB

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, 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 FY2018, this report summarizes the research results of the "Development of high-resolution imaging camera for alpha dust" conducted from FY2018 to FY2021. Since the final year of this proposal was FY2021, the results for four fiscal years were summarized. The present study aims to develop a novel alpha-ray camera consisting of imaging and an energy spectrometer to find the alpha dust to reduce the risk of health damage in decommissioning. We have developed the camera with a position resolution of less than 10 m, and the measurement test for the energy spectra was operated using several alpha-ray sources with an unfolding method.

The Formation mechanism of radiocesium-bearing microparticles derived from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant using electron microscopy

Hagiwara, Hiroki; Kondo, Keietsu; Hidaka, Akihide

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, 331(12), p.5905 - 5914, 2022/12

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-022-08434-7

Development of high-resolution imaging camera for alpha dust (Contract research); FY2020 Nuclear Energy Science & Technology and Human Resource Development Project

Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced Decommissioning Science; Tohoku University*

JAEA-Review 2021-044, 58 Pages, 2022/01

JAEA-Review-2021-044.pdf:3.53MB

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 FY2020. The Project aims to contribute to solving problems in the nuclear energy field represented by the decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, 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 FY2018, this report summarizes the research results of the "Development of high-resolution imaging camera for alpha dust" conducted in FY2020. The present study aims to develop a novel alpha-ray camera consisting of imaging and an energy spectrometer to find the alpha dust to reduce the risk of health damage in Decommissioning. We have developed the camera in FY2020, and the measurement test for the energy spectra. Moreover, the imaging test has been operated. In addition, we have also developed a high-dose-rate monitor system using novel scintillators with red/infra-red emission.

Measurement methods for the radioactive source distribution inside reactor buildings using a one-dimensional optical fiber radiation sensor (Contract research); FY2019 Nuclear Energy Science & Technology and Human Resource Development Project

Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced Decommissioning Science; Nagoya University*

JAEA-Review 2020-063, 44 Pages, 2021/01

JAEA-Review-2020-063.pdf:2.55MB

JAEA/CLADS had been conducting the Nuclear Energy Science & Technology and Human Resource Development Project in FY2019. Among the adopted proposals in FY2019, this report summarizes the research results of the "Measurement methods for the radioactive source distribution inside reactor buildings using a one-dimensional optical fiber radiation sensor" conducted in FY2019.

A Large area position-sensitive scintillation neutron detector for upgrading SENJU diffractometer

Nakamura, Tatsuya; To, Kentaro; Ebine, Masumi; Birumachi, Atsushi; Sakasai, Kaoru

Proceedings of 2019 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference (NSS/MIC 2019), Vol.1, p.735 - 736, 2020/08

https://doi.org/10.1109/NSS/MIC42101.2019.9059981

A large area, position-sensitive scintillation neutron detector was developed for upgrading the SENJU, time-of-flight Laue single crystal neutron diffractometer, in J-PARC MLF. The detector has a neutron-sensitive area of 512 512 mm with a pixel size of 4 4 mm. The detector was developed for upgrading of the SENJU instrument. The large area detector is to be installed below the vacuum tank to enlarge a covering solid angle. A Li:ZnS (Ag) scintillator and wavelength-shifting fiber technologies are employed. Each fiber channel is read out individually with photon counting mode. The electronics boards are implemented at the backside of the detector, enabling the detector depth as short as 20 cm. The detector exhibited a detection efficiency of 45% for thermal neutron. No degradation in fiber position and in neutron sensitivity has been observed over one year after production. In this paper, detector design and detector performances are presented.

Poro-elastic parameter acquisition test using siliceous mudstone (Wakkanai formation)

Aoki, Tomoyuki*; Tani, Takuya*; Sakai, Kazuo*; Koga, Yoshihisa*; Aoyagi, Kazuhei; Ishii, Eiichi

JAEA-Research 2020-002, 83 Pages, 2020/06

JAEA-Research-2020-002.pdf:8.25MB
JAEA-Research-2020-002-appendix(CD-ROM).zip:6.63MB

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has conducted with the Horonobe Underground Research Project in Horonobe, Teshio-gun, Hokkaido for the purpose of research and development related to geological disposal technology for high-level radioactive wastes in sedimentary soft rocks. The geology around the Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory (HURL) is composed of the Koetoi diatomaceous mudstone layer and the Wakkanai siliceous layer, both of which contain a large amount of diatom fossils. Since these rocks exhibit relatively high porosity but low permeability, it is important to investigate the poro-elastic characteristics of the rock mass. For this objective, it is necessary to measure parameters based on the poro-elastic theory. However, there are few measurement results of the poro-elastic parameters for the geology around HURL, and the characteristics such as dependence on confining pressure are not clearly understood. One of the reasons is that the rocks show low permeability and the pressure control during testing is difficult. Therefore, a poro-elastic parameter measurement test was conducted on the siliceous mudstone of the Wakkanai formation to accumulate measurement results on the poro-elastic parameters and to examine the dependence of the parameters on confining pressure. As a result, some dependency of the poro-elastic parameters on confining pressure was observed. Among the measured or calculated poro-elastic parameters, the drained bulk modulus increased, while the Skempton's pressure coefficient, and the Biot-Wills coefficient in the elastic region decreased with the increase in confining pressure. The measurement results also inferred that the foliation observed in the rock specimens might impact a degree of dependency of those parameters on confining pressure.

Development of remote sensing technique using radiation resistant optical fibers under high-radiation environment

Ito, Chikara; Naito, Hiroyuki; Ishikawa, Takashi; Ito, Keisuke; Wakaida, Ikuo

JPS Conference Proceedings (Internet), 24, p.011038_1 - 011038_6, 2019/01

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSCP.24.011038

A high-radiation resistant optical fiber has been developed in order to investigate the interiors of the reactor pressure vessels and the primary containment vessels at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. The tentative dose rate in the reactor pressure vessels is assumed to be up to 1 kGy/h. We developed a radiation resistant optical fiber consisting of a 1000 ppm hydroxyl doped pure silica core and 4 % fluorine doped pure silica cladding. We attempted to apply the optical fiber to remote imaging technique by means of fiberscope. The number of core image fibers was increased from 2000 to 22000 for practical use. The transmissive rate of infrared images was not affected after irradiation of 1 MGy. No change in the spatial resolution of the view scope by means of image fiber was noted between pre- and post-irradiation. We confirmed the applicability of the probing system, which consists of a view scope using radiation-resistant optical fibers.

Evaluation of internal stress in short-carbon-fiber reinforced plastics by transmission X-ray diffraction

Shimizu, Kenichi*; Koike, Yuki*; Yamada, Taiki*; Oharada, Kazuya*; Tanaka, Keisuke*; Shobu, Takahisa

Zairyo, 65(9), p.657 - 664, 2016/09

https://doi.org/10.2472/jsms.65.657

The internal stress in crystalline thermoplastics, polyphenylene sulphide (PPS), reinforced by carbon fibers of 30 mass% was measured by the diffraction method using synchrotron with energy of 12.3 keV. The stress in the matrix was determined by the sin2psi method with side-inclination optics of transmitted X-ray diffractions. Using skin-layer strips cut parallel, perpendicular and 45 degree to the molding direction of the injection molded plates, the matrix stress was measured under the uniaxial applied stress. The experimental values were at least qualitatively agreed with the prediction derived based on micromechanics. The quantitative difference between experiment and prediction is mainly due to the neglect of the distribution of fiber orientations in the micromechanics prediction. These residual stresses were caused by the mismatch of the thermal expansion coefficient between matrix and fibers.

Interactive visualization for singular fibers of functions :

Sakurai, Daisuke; Saeki, Osamu*; Carr, H.*; Wu, H.-Y.*; Yamamoto, Takahiro*; Duke, D.*; Takahashi, Shigeo*

IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 22(1), p.945 - 954, 2016/01

https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2015.2467433

Scalar topology in the form of Morse theory has provided computational tools that analyze and visualize data from scientific and engineering tasks. Contracting isocontours to single points encapsulates variations in isocontour connectivity in the Reeb graph. For multivariate data, isocontours generalize to fibers inverse images of points in the range, and this area is therefore known as fiber topology. However, fiber topology is less fully developed than Morse theory, and current efforts rely on manual visualizations. This paper therefore shows how to accelerate and semi-automate this task through an interface for visualizing fiber singularities of multivariate functions : . This interface exploits existing conventions of fiber topology, but also introduces a 3D view based on the extension of Reeb graphs to Reeb spaces. Validation of the interface is performed by assessing whether the interface supports the mathematical workflow both of experts and of less experienced mathematicians.

Preparation of an extractant-impregnated porous membrane for the high-speed separation of a metal ion

Asai, Shiho; Watanabe, Kazuo; Sugo, Takanobu*; Saito, Kyoichi*

Journal of Chromatography A, 1094(1-2), p.158 - 164, 2005/11

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chroma.2005.07.095

The analysis of radioactive species in radioactive wastes is essential to the safe and economical disposal of such wastes. Among radioactive species, alpha- and beta-emitting nuclides should be purified prior to various radiometric determinations. To overcome the disadvantages of the conventional separation techniques, we have proposed functional porous hollow-fiber membranes that achieve a high speed operation assisted by convective flow. Stable immobilization in aqueous media is ensured by the hydrophobic interaction between the hydrophobic moiety of the extractant and octadecyl part of octadecylamino group. In this study, HDEHP, which shows the selectivity for rare earth elements, such as yttrium, was immobilized onto the porous membrane. The amount of immobilized HDEHP increased with increasing molar conversion. This can be explained by the fact that an increase in the CNH group allows the polymer brush to extend itself due to electrostatic repulsion originating from the amino part of the CNH group.