Development of safety design criteria and safety design guidelines for Generation IV sodium-cooled fast reactors

Futagami, Satoshi; Kubo, Shigenobu; Sofu, T.*; Ammirabile, L.*; Gauthe, P.*

Proceedings of International Conference on Topical Issues in Nuclear Installation Safety; Strengthening Safety of Evolutionary and Innovative Reactor Designs 2022 (IAEA TIC 2022) (Internet), 10 Pages, 2022/10

Technical basis of ECCS acceptance criteria for light-water reactors and applicability to high burnup fuel

Nagase, Fumihisa; Narukawa, Takafumi; Amaya, Masaki

JAEA-Review 2020-076, 129 Pages, 2021/03

JAEA-Review-2020-076.pdf:3.9MB

Each light-water reactor (LWR) is equipped with the Emergency Core Cooling System (ECCS) to maintain the coolability of the reactor core and to suppress the release of radioactive fission products to the environment even in a loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) caused by breaks in the reactor coolant pressure boundary. The acceptance criteria for ECCS have been established in order to evaluate the ECCS performance and confirm the sufficient safety margin in the evaluation. The limits defined in the criteria were determined in 1975 and reviewed based on state-of-the-art knowledge in 1981. Though the fuel burnup extension and necessary improvements of cladding materials and fuel design have been conducted, the criteria have not been reviewed since then. Meanwhile, much technical knowledge has been accumulated regarding the behavior of high-burnup fuel during LOCAs and the applicability of the criteria to the high-burnup fuel. This report provides a comprehensive review of the history and technical bases of the current criteria and summarizes state-of-the-art technical findings regarding the fuel behavior during LOCAs. The applicability of the current criteria to the high-burnup fuel is also discussed.

A Conceptual design study of pool-type sodium-cooled fast reactor with enhanced anti-seismic capability

Kubo, Shigenobu; Chikazawa, Yoshitaka; Ohshima, Hiroyuki; Uchita, Masato*; Miyagawa, Takayuki*; Eto, Masao*; Suzuno, Tetsuji*; Matoba, Ichiyo*; Endo, Junji*; Watanabe, Osamu*; et al.

Mechanical Engineering Journal (Internet), 7(3), p.19-00489_1 - 19-00489_16, 2020/06

https://doi.org/10.1299/mej.19-00489

The authors are developing the design concept of pool-type sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) that addresses Japan's specific siting conditions such as earthquakes and meets safety design criteria (SDC) and safety design guidelines (SDGs) for Generation IV SFRs. The development of this concept will broaden not only options for reactor types in Japan but also the range and depth of international cooperation. A design concept of 1,500 MWt (650 MWe) class pool-type SFR was thought up by applying design technology obtained from the design of advanced loop-type SFR, named JSFR, equipped with safety measures that reflect results from the feasibility study on commercialized fast reactor cycle systems and fast reactor cycle technology development, improved maintainability and repairability, and lessons learned from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plants accident.

Validation and verification for the melting and eutectic models in JUPITER code

Chai, P.; Yamashita, Susumu; Nagae, Yuji; Kurata, Masaki

Proceedings of 9th Conference on Severe Accident Research (ERMSAR 2019) (Internet), 14 Pages, 2019/03

In order to obtain a precise understanding of molten material behavior inside RPV and to improve the accuracy of the SA code, a new computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code with multi-phase, multi-physics models, which is called JUPITER, was developed. It optimized the algorithms of the multi-phase calculation. Besides, the chemical reactions are also modeled carefully in the code so that the melting process could be treated precisely. A series of verification and validation studies are conducted, which show good agreement with analytical solutions and previous experiments. The capabilities of the multi-physics models in JUPITER code provide us another useful tool to investigate the molten material behaviors in the relevant severe accident scenario.

Validation of free-convective heat transfer analysis with JUPITER to evaluate air-cooling performance of fuel debris in dry method

Uesawa, Shinichiro; Yamashita, Susumu; Shibata, Mitsuhiko; Yoshida, Hiroyuki

Mechanical Engineering Journal (Internet), 5(4), p.18-00115_1 - 18-00115_13, 2018/08

https://doi.org/10.1299/mej.18-00115

The Safety design guideline development for Generation-IV SFR systems

Nakai, Ryodai

Proceedings of International Conference on Fast Reactors and Related Fuel Cycles; Next Generation Nuclear Systems for Sustainable Development (FR-17) (USB Flash Drive), 10 Pages, 2017/06

The GIF Safety Design Criteria Task Force (SDC TF) has been developing a set of safety design guidelines (SDG) to support practical application of SDC since the completion of the "SDC Phase I Report" that clarifies safety design requirements for Gen-IV SFR systems. The main objective of the SDG development is to assist SFR developers and vendors to utilize the SDC in their design process for improving the safety in specific topical areas including the use of inherent/passive safety features and the design measures for prevention and mitigation of severe accidents. The first report on "Safety Approach SDGs" aims to provide guidance on safety approaches covering specific safety issues on fast reactor core reactivity and on loss of heat removal. The second report on "SDGs on key Structures, Systems and Components (SSCs)" focuses on the functional requirements for SSCs important to safety; reactor core system, reactor coolant system, and containment system.

A Trajectory generation method for mobile robot based on iterative extension-like process

Kawabata, Kuniaki

Artificial Life and Robotics, 21(4), p.500 - 509, 2016/12

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10015-016-0305-6

In this paper, we propose a trajectory generation method for mobile robot based on iterative extension-like process. Due to use mobile robots in the real world, trajectory generation must be done depending on the faced situation on each occasion. Proposed method enables online iterative trajectory extension process based on a low-order polynomial curve named as trajectory segment. The waypoints on the existing trajectory segment and a waypoint designated every fixed interval are the constraints to trigger the trajectory extension. For maintaining the smooth continuity of the trajectory, the velocity state must be sustained at the connecting point. Resultantly, the trajectory segments are organized into a single smooth trajectory.

Assessment report of research and development activities in FY2014; Activity "Fusion Research and Development" (In-advance evaluation)

Fusion Research and Development Directorate

JAEA-Evaluation 2016-002, 40 Pages, 2016/03

JAEA-Evaluation-2016-002.pdf:2.66MB

Japan Atomic Energy Agency (hereinafter referred to as "JAEA") asked the assessment committee, "Evaluation Committee of Research and Development Activities for Fusion" (hereinafter referred to as "Committee") for in-advance evaluation of "Research and Development of the technical system for extraction of fusion energy," in accordance with "General Guideline for the Evaluation of Government R&D Activities" by Cabinet Office, Government of Japan, "Guideline for Evaluation of R&D in Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology" and "Regulation on Conduct for Evaluation of R&D Activities" by JAEA. In response to the JAEA's request, the Committee assessed the research program of the Fusion Research and Development Directorate (hereinafter referred to as "FRDD") during the period from April 2015 to March 2022. The Committee evaluated the management and research activities of the FRDD based on the explanatory documents prepared by the FRDD, the oral presentations with questions-and-answers by the Director General and the Deputy Director Generals.

Progress of ITER full tungsten divertor technology qualification in Japan

Ezato, Koichiro; Suzuki, Satoshi; Seki, Yohji; Mori, Kensuke; Yokoyama, Kenji; Escourbiac, F.*; Hirai, Takeshi*; Kuznetsov, V.*

Fusion Engineering and Design, 98-99, p.1281 - 1284, 2015/10

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fusengdes.2015.03.009

Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) is now devoting to development of Full-W ITER divertor outer vertical target (OVT), especially, PFU that needs to withstand the repetitive heat load as high as 20MW/m. JAEA have succeeded in demonstrating that the soundness of a bonding technology is sufficient for the full-W ITER divertor. For the development of bonding technology, the load carrying capability test on the W monoblock with a leg attachment to an OVT support structure was carried out and shows that the attachment can withstand against the uniaxial load more than 20 kN which is three times higher than the IO requirement. JAEA manufactured 6 small-scale mock-ups and tested under the repetitive heat load of 10 and 20 MW/m to examine the durability of the divertor structure including W tile bonding and the cooling tube. All of the mock-ups could survived 5000 cycles at 10 MW/m and 1000 cycles 20 MW/m with no failure such as debonding of the W tile and water leak from the cooling tube. The number of cycles at 20 MW/m is three times longer than the requirement of ITER divertor.

Study on application of kriging to evaluation of radioactivity concentration for ensuring compliance with the criterion of site release

Ishigami, Tsutomu; Shimada, Taro

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 52(9), p.1186 - 1204, 2015/09

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2014.1001458

In the field of decommissioning of nuclear facilities, a reliable method for ensuring compliance with the criterion of site release is an important technical issue to be resolved in Japan. Considering that kriging can consider the spatial correlation of radioactivity concentrations, we propose a method of applying kriging to ensure compliance with the site release criterion. Estimated radioactivity concentrations exhibit uncertainty, which results in a certain probability of the occurrence of decision errors regarding site release. We describe a method for calculating the uncertainty and establish a minimum number of measurement points required. We applied the proposed method and a conventional statistical method to two sample cases. It was observed that the proposed method appropriately estimated the mean radioactivity concentration and led to an efficient measurement requiring fewer measurement points relative to the conventional method when spatial correlation existed.