Analysis of dissolved radionuclides trapped into corrosion products formed on carbon steel and the corresponding increase in radioactivity

青山 高士; 上野 文義; 佐藤 智徳; 加藤 千明; 佐野 成人; 山下 直輝; 大谷 恭平; 五十嵐 誉廣

Annals of Nuclear Energy, 214, p.111229_1 - 111229_6, 2025/05

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2025.111229

To elucidate the effect of dissolved radionuclides on corrosion of carbon steels and on formation of corrosion products of carbon steel, corrosion tests and imaging plate analysis were conducted. Carbon steel samples immersed in 10 mM NaCl containing Sr and Cs were analyzed using an imaging plate. As a result, the distribution of Sr or Cs in the corrosion products formed on carbon steel was successfully visualized. Furthermore, the radioactivity of the corroded specimens was calculated from calibration curves prepared using a Sr standard.

First freezing experiments with a molten mixture of boron carbide and stainless steel in core disruptive accidents of sodium-cooled fast reactors

江村 優軌; 松場 賢一; 菊地 晋; 山野 秀将

Proceedings of 13th Korea-Japan Symposium on Nuclear Thermal Hydraulics and Safety (NTHAS13) (Internet), 8 Pages, 2024/11

Assuming the CDA of SFRs, the eutectic melting between BC as a control rod material and stainless steel (SS) as a structural material could occur below their melting points. After that, the mixture produced by eutectic melting between BC and SS (BC-SS mixture) would relocate inside or outside of the original core region. From the viewpoint of core reactivity changes, the relocation behavior of BC-SS mixture induced by its melting/freezing behavior, is one of the key elements to evaluate the CDA consequences. Many experimental studies on freezing behavior using core materials and its simulants, including molten UO, SS, tin, wood's metal have been reported in the past. Based on these experimental findings, the freezing/blockage model for the severe accident simulation code was established and discussed through analyses of freezing process. Specifically, it has been considered that the experimental correlation of melt-penetration length was a key indicator to quantitatively describe freezing behavior. However, there was no experimental data for the freezing behavior of actual BC-SS mixture. Therefore, the freezing experiments of BC-SS mixture were conducted to investigate the freezing and blockage behavior inside a flow path such as fuel pin bundle. In the freezing experiments, BC powder and SS block were heated up to around 1,750 K using a graphite heating furnace, then BC-SS mixture flowed down into an SS pipe for cooling below 750 K. The experimental results showed that the BC-SS mixture solidified and resulted in the blockage in the SS pipe with 4 mm or 6.7 mm in inner diameter, respectively. Furthermore, the observations for cross section of SS pipe suggested that the BC-SS mixture penetrated deeper than molten SS. This difference is considered to be influenced by decrease of the melting point.

Full-f gyrokinetic simulations of hydrogen isotope mixing in tokamak plasmas

井戸村 泰宏

Physics of Plasmas, 31(10), p.102504_1 - 102504_10, 2024/10

https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0229513

トカマクプラズマにおける水素同位体混合現象をfull-fジャイロ運動論シミュレーションを用いて解析した。モデルプラズマのパラメータは、重水素(D)ペレットを水素(H)プラズマに入射した後にエネルギー閉じ込め時間スケールで水素同位体混合が発生したJETの水素同位体ペレット実験に基づいて選択した。重水素ペレット入射前後のプラズマ分布を用いて2つの数値実験を行った。どちらの場合も、炉心の乱流揺動はイオン温度勾配駆動乱流によって特徴づけられるが、後者の場合、外側の領域に捕捉電子モード乱流が存在する。前者の場合、バルクHイオンの密度分布は準定常状態に保たれ、その粒子閉じ込め時間はエネルギー閉じ込め時間よりも一桁長い。後者の場合、バルクHイオンとペレットDイオンの密度分布は、エネルギー閉じ込め時間の時間スケールで過渡的な緩和を示し、早い水素同位体混合を示す。トロイダル角運動量バランスから、水素同位体混合はトロイダル電場応力によって駆動されることがわかった。

乱流単相流の対向複合対流熱伝達(受託研究、翻訳資料)

茂木 孝介; 柴本 泰照; 日引 俊詞*; 塚本 直史*; 金子 順一*

JAEA-Review 2024-039, 45 Pages, 2024/09

JAEA-Review-2024-039.pdf:2.23MB

既往研究において様々な対向複合対流の熱伝達相関式が提案されているが、それらは様々な試験装置、流路形状、試験流体、熱流動パラメータの範囲で実施された実験結果に基づいている。従って、使用に際してその適用範囲や外挿性を踏まえた上でどの相関式を選択すべきかを整理しておくことは重要である。本稿では既存の対向複合対流の熱伝達相関式についてレビューした。また、複数の既往実験データと各相関式との比較を行い、相関式の予測性能を評価した。その結果、Jackson and Fewster相関式、Churchill相関式、Swanson and Catton (IJHMT)相関式は、全ての実験データを精度良く予測可能であった。さらに、代表長さに水力等価直径を用いることにより流路形状の違いに関わらず相関式が適用可能であり、支配パラメータの無次元化により試験流体によらず相関式が適用可能であることを確認した。

Trivalent lanthanide sorption onto illite in the presence of carbonate; A Study combining thermodynamic sorption modeling, time-resolved laser fluorescence spectroscopy, and parallel factor analysis

杉浦 佑樹; 石寺 孝充; 青柳 登; Mei, H.; 斉藤 拓巳*; 舘 幸男

Applied Clay Science, 258, p.107476_1 - 107476_10, 2024/09

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clay.2024.107476

This study performed batch sorption experiments using Eu and Sm as chemical analogs of trivalent actinides to evaluate their sorption behavior onto illite in the presence of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC). The results were analyzed using a thermodynamic sorption model (TSM), which predicted that Eu/Sm forms ternary-surface complexes with carbonate ions. Time-resolved laser fluorescence spectroscopy (TRLFS) measurements were performed to gather information on the chemical forms of sorbed Eu on illite. Parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) of the TRLFS data indicated the presence of two Eu chemical species. The pH dependence of the chemical species was consistent with that of the surface species predicted by TSM. The dominant chemical species in the presence of carbonate was inferred to be coordinating carbonate ions based on the fluorescence lifetime, supporting the validity of the TSM.

Current status of high temperature gas-cooled reactor development in Japan

永塚 健太郎; 野口 弘喜; 長住 達; 野本 恭信; 清水 厚志; 佐藤 博之; 西原 哲夫; 坂場 成昭

Nuclear Engineering and Design, 425, p.113338_1 - 113338_11, 2024/08

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2024.113338

高温ガス炉は固有の安全性を有し、二酸化炭素を排出することなく大量の水素や高温の熱供給が可能なことから、産業分野の脱炭素化に貢献できる。本報では、原子力機構で進めるHTTR(高温工学試験研究炉)を利用した炉心強制冷却喪失(LOFC)試験等の研究開発成果に加え、現在設計を進めるHTTRを用いた水素製造実証試験(HTTR-熱利用試験)の計画を紹介する。加えて、2030年代後半の運転開始に向け、基本設計が進められている高温ガス炉実証炉計画を紹介する。

The Behavior of a jet passing through a grid-type obstacle; An Experimental investigation

安部 諭; 柴本 泰照

Annals of Nuclear Energy, 202, p.110461_1 - 110461_16, 2024/07

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2024.110461

During a severe accident in a nuclear containment vessel, jets released from the primary system exhibit complex thermohydraulic behavior due to buoyancy effects and impingement on internal obstacles such as inner walls and floors. Thus, the obstacle-influenced jets are of interest in recent research activities. This paper describes an experimental investigation of the behavior of jets passing through a grid-type obstacle. The flow field was acquired by a particle image velocimetry system. The experiment captured the jet fragmentation by the grid-type obstacle and their recoupling. The mean velocity field obtained by postprocessing indicates a "Rectifying effect," with the axial velocity increasing at the center and the magnitude of the radial velocity decreasing. The meandering flow was suppressed due to this effect. In the near grid-obstacle region, the axial turbulence intensity was relatively large at the edge of each fragmented region due to shear stress. Moreover, the spatial distribution of the radial turbulence fluctuation became more complex. Further investigation is required to clarify the budget of the transport equation for turbulence fluctuation. The experimental data shown in this paper is useful for computational fluid dynamics validation.

Thinning behavior of solid boron carbide immersed in molten stainless steel for core disruptive accident of sodium-cooled fast reactor

江村 優軌; 高井 俊秀; 菊地 晋; 神山 健司; 山野 秀将; 横山 博紀*; 坂本 寛*

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 61(7), p.911 - 920, 2024/07

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2023.2287109

Boron carbide (BC)- stainless steel (SS) eutectic reaction behavior is one of the most important issues in the core disruptive accidents (CDAs) of sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs). In this study, the immersion experiments using BC pellets with molten SS were conducted to evaluate the CDA sequences such as contact event of solid BC with degraded core materials including SS at very high temperature. The immersion experiment aims at understanding the kinetic behavior of solid BC-liquid SS reaction based on the reduced thickness of BC pellet after the experiment in the temperature ranges from 1763 to 1943 K, which is higher than the temperature of solid BC-solid SS reaction. Based on the kinetic consideration of the reaction rate constants for solid BC-liquid SS reaction, it was found that similar temperature dependency was identified between solid BC-liquid SS and solid BC-solid SS. Besides, the reaction rate constants of solid BC-liquid SS were smaller than those of solid BC-solid SS extrapolated in higher temperature region by two or more orders of magnitude due to two different evaluation method for BC side/SS side. It was confirmed that this difference was reasonable through the consideration of previous reaction tests in solid-solid contact for BC side/SS side.

Multi-aspect characterization of low-temperature tempering behaviors in high-carbon martensite

Zhang, Y.*; 丸澤 賢人*; 工藤 航平*; 諸岡 聡; Harjo, S.; 宮本 吾郎*; 古原 忠*

ISIJ International, 64(2), p.245 - 256, 2024/01

https://doi.org/10.2355/isijinternational.ISIJINT-2023-251

As-quenched martensite in carbon steels needs to be tempered to restore its ductility and toughness for practical applications. During tempering of martensite, microstructural evolutions induced by a series of reactions relevant to carbon diffusion is known to occur. In this study, multi-aspect characterization using advanced techniques such as in-situ neutron diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and three-dimensional atom probe tomography, was performed to investigate the changes in tetragonality, physical properties, microstructure and solute carbon content in high-carbon martensite, with an aim to clarify its low-temperature tempering behaviors. A binary alloy with a chemical composition of Fe-0.78 mass%C was austenitized and quenched to prepare the as-quenched martensite, followed by tempering in continuous heating at different heating rates. It was found that various reactions occurred sequentially during tempering, starting from the structure modulation generated by carbon clustering in the 0th stage, then followed by the precipitation of metastable -carbide particles on linear features in the 1st stage, towards the later decomposition of retained austenite and precipitation of cementite in the 2nd and 3rd stages, respectively. After analyzing the experimental results, the solute carbon content in martensite tempered under various conditions was found to be in good agreement with that estimated from the lattice volume expansion, whereas the evaluation based on the tetragonality might lead to some underestimation of the solute carbon content in martensite tempered at high temperatures.

Characteristic microstructural phase evolution and the compressive strength development mechanisms of tricalcium silicate pastes under various initial carbonation curing environments

Cho, S.*; Suh, H.*; Im, S.*; Kim, G.*; 兼松 学*; 諸岡 聡; 町田 晃彦*; 菖蒲 敬久; Bae, S.*

Construction and Building Materials, 409, p.133866_1 - 133866_20, 2023/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2023.133866

The effects of various initial carbonation curing environments on the phase evolution and resulting mechanical characteristics of tricalcium silicate paste were studied. For the analyses of the reaction products and microstructure, synchrotron X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetry, Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and high-resolution X-ray computed tomography were utilized. CS cured under carbonation environment pressurized by 0.1 MPa showed excellent mechanical properties owing to the highest degree of reaction and homogeneous generation of CaCO with low-Ca/Si calcium silicate hydrates, resulting in a dense matrix with refined pore structure. CS paste treated under other carbonation conditions underwent deteriorative microstructural phase transitions, including void evolution by decalcification of C-S-H and an inhomogeneous composition of crystalline phases, resulting in inferior properties.