Numerical analysis of a potential Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) boundary failure mechanism in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Unit-2

Li, X.; 山路 哲史*; 佐藤 一憲*; 山下 拓哉

Annals of Nuclear Energy, 214, p.111217_1 - 111217_13, 2025/05

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2025.111217

The decommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi NPP Unit-2 requires understanding of reactor damage and fuel debris distribution for effective debris retrieval. This study numerically analyzes potential Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) boundary failure due to eutectic melting of Control Rod Drive (CRD) housings during reheating after debris bed dryout. The Moving Particle Semi-implicit (MPS) method, with an enthalpy-based temperature algorithm and Boussinesq approximation, is applied to simulate melt/solid interactions in a 2-D model of the lower plenum. The CRD housing melting temperature is set at 1523 K based on a quasi-binary phase diagram of 304 Stainless Steel (SS) and Zirconium (Zr) and ELSA experiments. Results suggest local RPV failure at CRD housings, leading to melt release and refreezing. The estimated failure occurs 8-12 hours post-dryout (ca. 12:00-16:00 on 3/15/2011), providing insights into melt progression and boundary breach scenarios in Unit-2.

Feasibility study of reactor radiation photon spectroscopy in Fugen for nuclear decommissioning

冠城 雅晃; 宮本 勇太; 森 教匡; 岩井 紘基; 手塚 将志; 黒澤 俊介*; 田川 明広; 高崎 浩司

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 62(3), p.308 - 316, 2025/03

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2024.2417786

Nuclear decommissioning has recently accelerated, particularly following the accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, Tokyo Electric Power Holdings. -ray/X-ray (radiation photon) spectroscopy provides information on the types of radionuclides with radiation photon emissions. Radiation photon spectroscopy in a control rod guide tube positioned at the center of Fugen was conducted. Fugen is a prototype advanced thermal reactor with 165 MWe electric power generation that is being decommissioned. The dose rates measured in a control rod guide tube positioned at the center of the reactor were 4.1 - 9.1 Gy/h. The dose rate considerably increased at a position close to a tank that contained Co caused by the radioactivation of stainless steel. Radiation photon spectroscopy was performed without radiation shielding, identifying Co with an energy resolution better than 5.4% at 1333 keV and Nb with an energy resolution better than 5.9% at 871 keV.

Vicinage effect on the yield of convoy electrons emitted from thin carbon foil induced by the penetration of 3.5 MeV/atom C ions

椎名 陽子*; 木下 亮*; 舟田 周平*; 松田 誠; 今井 誠*; 川面 澄*; 左高 正雄*; 笹 公和*; 金子 敏明*; 冨田 成夫*

Physical Review A, 110(6), p.062826_1 - 062826_7, 2024/12

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.110.062826

We investigated the target thickness dependence of convoy electron yields resulting from bombardments with 3.5 MeV/atom C (n = 1 - 3) cluster ions. We observed that for bombardments with C and C ions, the convoy electron yield per atom, Y/n, reaches a maximum around 3-5 g/cm and decreases with increasing target thickness from 3.1 to 10.5 g/cm, and ultimately reaches an asymptotic value. This asymptotic value of the convoy electron yield was nearly proportional to the size of the cluster n, that is, Y n, consistent with previous observations. We found that the escape length of the convoy electrons for C and C is much longer than that of C bombardment. The present result suggests that the enhancement of the escape length could be the origin of this vicinage effect (i.e., Y nY) on the convoy electron yield.

Understanding muon diffusion in perovskite oxides below room temperature based on harmonic transition state theory

伊藤 孝; 髭本 亘; 下村 浩一郎*

Physical Review B, 108(22), p.224301_1 - 224301_11, 2023/12

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.108.224301

In positive muon spin rotation and relaxation (SR) spectroscopy, positive muons () implanted into solid oxides are conventionally treated as immobile spin-probes at interstitial sites below room temperature. This is because each is thought to be tightly bound to an oxygen atom in the host lattice to form a muonic analogue of the hydroxy group. On the basis of this concept, anomalies in SR spectra observed in oxides have been attributed in most cases to the intrinsic properties of host materials. On the other hand, global diffusion with an activation energy of 0.1~eV has been reported in some chemically-substituted perovskite oxides at cryogenic temperatures, although the reason for the small activation energy despite the formation of the strong O bond has not yet been quantitatively understood. In this study, we investigated interstitial diffusion in the perovskite oxide lattice using KTaO cubic perovskite as a model system. We used the SR method and density functional theory calculations along with the harmonic transition state theory to study this phenomenon both experimentally and theoretically. Experimental activation energies for global diffusion obtained below room temperature were less than a quarter of the calculated classical potential barrier height for a bottleneck transfer path. The reduction in the effective barrier height could be explained by the harmonic transition state theory with a zero-point energy correction; a significant difference in zero-point energies for at the positions in the O bonding equilibrium state and a bond-breaking transition state was the primary cause of the reduction. This suggests that the assumption of immobile in solid oxides is not always satisfied since such a significant decrease in diffusion barrier height can also occur in other oxides.

Elucidation of solid particle interfacial phenomena in liquid sodium; Magnetic interactions on liquid metal and solid atoms at the solid interface

Tei, C.; 大高 雅彦; 桑原 大介*

Chemical Physics Letters, 829, p.140755_1 - 140755_6, 2023/10

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cplett.2023.140755

固体金属粒子の界面に付着した液体ナトリウムの核磁気共鳴(NMR)信号を初めて検出することに成功した。本研究では、液体ナトリウムと液体ナトリウム中に浮遊する金属粒子との相互作用の違いによる緩和時間の違いを確認した。その結果、微小チタン粒子表面と液体金属ナトリウムは化学的ではなく物理的に相互作用していることが明らかとなった。

Local electronic structure of interstitial hydrogen in MgH inferred from muon study

門野 良典*; 平石 雅俊*; 岡部 博孝*; 幸田 章宏*; 伊藤 孝

Journal of Physics; Condensed Matter, 35(28), p.285503_1 - 285503_13, 2023/07

https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-648X/acccc7

Magnesium hydride has great potential as a solid hydrogen (H) storage material because of its high H storage capacity of 7.6 wt%. However, its slow hydrogenation and dehydrogenation kinetics and the high temperature of 300 C required for decomposition are major obstacles to small-scale applications such as automobiles. The local electronic structure of interstitial H in MgH is an important fundamental knowledge in solving this problem, which has been studied mainly based on density functional theory (DFT). However, few experimental studies have been performed to assess the results of DFT calculations. We have therefore introduced muon (Mu) as pseudo-H into MgH and investigated the corresponding interstitial H states by analyzing their electronic and dynamical properties in detail. As a result, we observed multiple Mu states similar to those observed in wide-gap oxides, and found that their electronic states can be attributed to relaxed-excited states associated with donor/acceptor levels predicted by the recently proposed ambipolarity model. This provides an indirect support for the DFT calculations on which the model is based via the donor/acceptor levels. An important implication of the muon results for improved hydrogen kinetics is that dehydrogenation, serving as a reduction for hydrides, stabilises the interstitial H state.

Status report of the n_TOF facility after the 2nd CERN long shutdown period

Patronis, N.*; 木村 敦; 他130名*

EPJ Techniques and Instrumentation (Internet), 10, p.13_1 - 13_10, 2023/05

https://doi.org/10.1140/epjti/s40485-023-00100-w

During the second long shutdown period of the CERN accelerator complex (LS2, 2019-2021), several upgrade activities took place at the n_TOF facility. The most important have been the replacement of the spallation target with a next generation nitrogen-cooled lead target. Additionally, a new experimental area, at a very short distance from the target assembly (the NEAR Station) was established. In this paper, the core commissioning actions of the new installations are described. The improvement in the n_TOF infrastructure was accompanied by several detector development projects. All these upgrade actions are discussed, focusing mostly on the future perspectives of the n_TOF facility. Furthermore, some indicative current and future measurements are briefly reported.

Data of groundwater chemistry obtained in the Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory Project (FY2022)

宮川 和也; 中田 弘太郎*

JAEA-Data/Code 2022-013, 19 Pages, 2023/03

JAEA-Data-Code-2022-013.pdf:1.88MB

幌延深地層研究計画において、2019年度までは主に地下施設建設時の坑道掘削に伴う地下水の水質変化の調査や地球化学モデルの構築および見直しを目的として、2020年度からは必須の課題へ対応するため、地下水の水質データを取得している。2022年度は、引き続き必須の課題に対応するため、地下施設を利用して得られた地下水の水質データを取得している。地下施設の140m,250mおよび350m調査坑道から掘削されたボーリング孔や3本の立坑に設置されている集水リングなどから54試料の地下水を採取し、分析を実施した。本報告は、2022年度に得られた地下水の水質データとして、pHや電気伝導度、溶存成分(Na, K, Ca, Mg, Li, NH, F, Cl, Br, NO, NO2, PO, SO,Total-Mn,Total-Fe,Al,B,Sr,Ba,I,アルカリ度,溶存有機炭素,溶存無機炭素,CO, HCO, Fe,硫化物)および酸素水素同位体比の測定・分析結果を取りまとめたものである。

原子力施設の環境影響評価における観測・測定とモデル推定の役割及び相互の関係性に関する検討

外川 織彦; 大倉 毅史; 木村 仁宣

JAEA-Review 2022-049, 76 Pages, 2023/01

JAEA-Review-2022-049.pdf:3.74MB

原子力施設の建設前及び操業開始後には、平常運転時及び事故時に対する環境影響評価が行われる。これらは、周辺住民の安全の確認と安心の醸成を図ることを主たる目的としている。環境影響評価には、施設周辺の環境モニタリング等による観測・測定と計算モデルによるモデル推定が用いられ、状況や必要性などに応じてそれらのどちらか、あるいは両方を併用して実施される。本報告書では、原子力施設の環境影響評価において利用される観測・測定とモデル推定について、青森県六ヶ所村再処理施設を主たる例として、まず各々の方法、役割と長短、相互の関係性を調査する。次に、観測・測定データとモデル推定結果の代表的な用途例を示し、使用に際しての留意点などを検討する。最後に、観測・測定とモデル推定の高度化や両者の融合という今後の方向性を記述する。

Accumulation mechanisms of radiocaesium within lichen thallus tissues determined by means of microscale localisation observation

土肥 輝美; 飯島 和毅; 町田 昌彦; 数納 広哉*; 大村 嘉人*; 藤原 健壮; 木村 茂*; 菅野 太志*

PLOS ONE (Internet), 17(7), p.e0271035_1 - e0271035_21, 2022/07

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0271035

Many lichens are well known to accumulate radiocaesium and, thus acting as biomonitors of contamination levels. Here, we use autoradiography and demonstrate for the first time microscale localisation of radiocaesium within thallus tissues to investigate the radiocaesium forms and their accumulation mechanism. The radiocaesium was localised in the brown pigmented parts i.e., melanin-like substances, in the lower cortex of lichen thallus. Quantum chemical calculations showed that functional group of melanin-like substances can chelate Cs ion, which indicates that the Cs ions form complexes with the substances. Based on these findings, we suggest that radiocaesium ions may be retained stably in melanin-like substances for long periods (two to six years) due to steric factors, such as those seen in porphyrin-like structures and multimer formation in the lower cortex.