Development of on-site detection system for concealed nuclear materials

Tanabe, Kosuke*; Komeda, Masao; Toh, Yosuke; Kitamura, Yasunori*; Misawa, Tsuyoshi*

Nihon Genshiryoku Gakkai-Shi ATOMO, 67(3), p.198 - 202, 2025/03

https://doi.org/10.3327/jaesjb.67.3_198

no abstracts in English

Development of a hybrid method for evaluating the long-term structural soundness of nuclear reactor buildings using response monitoring and damage imaging technologies (Contract research); FY2022 Nuclear Energy Science & Technology and Human Resource Development Project

Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced Decommissioning Science; Tohoku University*

JAEA-Review 2023-048, 151 Pages, 2024/05

JAEA-Review-2023-048.pdf:8.48MB

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 FY2022. 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 FY2021, this report summarizes the research results of the "Development of a hybrid method for evaluating the long-term structural soundness of nuclear reactor buildings using response monitoring and damage imaging technologies" conducted in FY2022. The present study aims to develop an evaluation method necessary to obtain a perspective on the long term structural soundness of accident-damaged reactor buildings, where accessibility to work sites is extremely limited due to high radiation dose rate and high contamination. In FY2022, the second year of the three-year plan, some tests and other activities on the following research items were conducted following FY2021, based on the specific research methods and research directions clarified in FY2021.

Development of an integrated non-destructive analysis system, Active-N

Tsuchiya, Harufumi; Toh, Yosuke; Ozu, Akira; Furutaka, Kazuyoshi; Kitatani, Fumito; Maeda, Makoto; Komeda, Masao

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 60(11), p.1301 - 1312, 2023/11

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2023.2192529

Accuracy of measuring rebar strain in concrete using a diffractometer for residual stress analysis

Yasue, Ayumu*; Kawakami, Mayu*; Kobayashi, Kensuke*; Kim, J.*; Miyazu, Yuji*; Nishio, Yuhei*; Mukai, Tomohisa*; Morooka, Satoshi; Kanematsu, Manabu*

Quantum Beam Science (Internet), 7(2), p.15_1 - 15_14, 2023/05

https://doi.org/10.3390/qubs7020015

Development of a hybrid method for evaluating the long-term structural soundness of nuclear reactor buildings using response monitoring and damage imaging technologies (Contract research); FY2021 Nuclear Energy Science & Technology and Human Resource Development Project

Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced Decommissioning Science; Tohoku University*

JAEA-Review 2022-071, 123 Pages, 2023/03

JAEA-Review-2022-071.pdf:6.07MB

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 FY2021, this report summarizes the research results of the "Development of a hybrid method for evaluating the long-term structural soundness of nuclear reactor buildings using response monitoring and damage imaging technologies" conducted in FY2021. The present study aims to develop an evaluation method necessary to obtain a perspective on the long-term structural soundness of accident-damaged reactor buildings, where accessibility to work sites is extremely limited due to high radiation dose rate and high contamination. In FY2021, the first year of the three-year plan, the following research items were undertaken by clarifying specific research methods, setting research directions, making necessary preparations, and conducting some tests and other activities.

Potential for remote controllable systematization of the method of testing reinforced concrete using guided-wave on rebar

Furusawa, Akinori; Nishimura, Akihiko; Takenaka, Yusuke; Muramatsu, Toshiharu

Proceedings of International Topical Workshop on Fukushima Decommissioning Research (FDR 2019) (Internet), 4 Pages, 2019/05

The aim of this work presented here is to demonstrate the potential of our method for remote controllable systematization, of testing reinforced concrete based on ultrasonic guided-wave on rebar. In order to investigate how the deteriorated phenomena has the effects on the ultrasonic guided-wave propagating on the rebar, following experiments are conducted. Test pieces used for the experiments are made of bare steel rod and cylindrically pored mortar to be representing the actual reinforced concrete. Irradiating the end face of the rod with nanosecond pulsed laser makes the ultrasonic guided-wave induced, at the other end face, the guided wave signal is measured with ultrasonic receiver. One test piece is with no damage and the other is deteriorated test piece. The deterioration is made by electrolytic corroded method. The guided-wave signal from the deteriorated test piece is measured with respect to each energization time, the change in the waveform is investigated. Analyzing the results from the experiments above, it is found that the deterioration of rebar has remarkable effects on the guided-wave signal. The signal from test piece with no damage has strong peak at both specific frequency and lower region, on the other hand, signals from deteriorated test piece has only at the specific frequency depending on the diameter of the steel rod. Finally, discussion concerning with the experimental results and future perspective for remote controllable systematization of our method is carried out.

Study of the neutron multiplication effect in an active neutron method

Komeda, Masao; Ozu, Akira; Mori, Takamasa; Nakatsuka, Yoshiaki; Maeda, Makoto; Kureta, Masatoshi; Toh, Yosuke

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 54(11), p.1233 - 1239, 2017/11

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2017.1359118

The previous active neutron method cannot remove the influence of the multiplication effect of neutrons produced by second- and subsequent fission reactions, and it might overestimate the amount of nuclear material if an item contains large amounts. In this paper, we discussed the correction method for the neutron multiplication effect on the measured data in the fast neutron direct interrogation (FNDI) method, one of the active neutron methods, supposing that the neutron multiplication effect is caused mainly by third-generation neutrons from the second-fission reactions under the condition that the forth-generation neutrons are much fewer. This paper proposed a correction method for the neutron multiplication effect in the measured data. Moreover we have shown a possibility that this correction method gives rough estimates of the effective neutron multiplication factor and the subcriticality.

Evaluation of annealing and double ion beam irradiation by a laser-induced and laser-detected surface acoustic wave diagnostic system

Kitazawa, Sin-iti*; Wakai, Eiichi; Aoto, Kazumi

Radiation Physics and Chemistry, 127, p.264 - 268, 2016/10

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radphyschem.2016.07.009

The effects of annealing and double ion irradiation on nuclear structural materials were investigated using a novel, non-destructive, non-contact diagnostic method. A laser-induced and laser-detected surface acoustic wave (SAW) was adopted as a diagnostic system. The SAWs propagation velocity and the SAWs vibration velocity along the normal direction of the surface were measured to investigate mechanical properties of the substrates. Change of the shear modulus was detected in the annealed substrates. Non-linear effect on amplitude of the excited SAW was observed on the double ion irradiated materials. The potential of the SAW diagnostic system for assessing nuclear structural materials was demonstrated.

Technique of neutron resonance transmission analysis for active neutron NDA

Tsuchiya, Harufumi; Koizumi, Mitsuo; Kitatani, Fumito; Kureta, Masatoshi; Harada, Hideo; Seya, Michio; Heyse, J.*; Kopecky, S.*; Mondelaers, W.*; Paradela, C.*; et al.

Proceedings of 37th ESARDA Annual Meeting (Internet), p.846 - 851, 2015/08

One of non-destructive techniques using neutron resonance reaction is neutron resonance transmission analysis (NRTA). We are presently developing a new active neutron non-destructive method including NRTA in order to detect and quantify special nuclear materials (SNMs) in nuclear fuels containing MA. We aim at applying the technique to not only particle-like debris but also other materials in high radiation field. For this aim, we make use of fruitful knowledge of neutron resonance densitometry (NRD) that was developed for particle-like debris in melted fuel. NRTA detects and quantifies SNMs by means of analyzing a neutron transmission spectrum via a resonance shape analysis. In this presentation, we explain the basic of NRTA and its role in the active neutron technique. Then, with knowledge obtained in the development of NRD, we discuss items to be investigated for NRTA in our active neutron technique.

Research and development plan for advanced high temperature gas cooled reactor fuels and graphite components (Contract research)

Sawa, Kazuhiro; Ueta, Shohei; Shibata, Taiju; Sumita, Junya; Ohashi, Jumpei; Tochio, Daisuke

JAERI-Tech 2005-024, 34 Pages, 2005/03

JAERI-Tech-2005-024.pdf:2.15MB

The Very-High-Temperature Reactor (VHTR) is one of the strong candidates for the Generation IV Nuclear Energy System. JAERI has developed Zirconium carbide (ZrC)-coated fuel particle and ZrC coating layer is expected to maintain its intactness under higher temperature and burn-up comparing conventional SiC-coating layer. JAERI carries out (1) ZrC-coating process development by large-scale coater, (2) inspection method development and (3) irradiation test and post irradiation experiment of ZrC coated particles. Also, JAERI carries out reactivity insertion tests to clarify the coating failure mechanism and tries to increase allowable temperature limit in case of reactivity insertion accident. Furthermore, JAERI develops non-destructive evaluation methods for mechanical properties of graphite components by ultrasonic testing and micro-indentation technique. This report describes these research and development plan and results of FY 2004 as a MEXT contact research.