Development of an innovative n/ scintillation detection system for simple non-destructive measurements (Contract research); FY2023 Nuclear Energy Science & Technology and Human Resource Development Project

Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced Decommissioning Science; Tohoku University*

JAEA-Review 2025-046, 70 Pages, 2026/01

JAEA-Review-2025-046.pdf:5.46MB

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 FY2023. The Project aims to contribute to solving problems in the nuclear energy field represented by the decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (1F), 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 FY2023, this report summarizes the research results of the "Development of an innovative n/ scintillation detection system for simple non-destructive measurements" conducted in FY2023. At 1F, removal of fuel debris from the primary containment vessel (PCV) is scheduled for FY2023, and a phased expansion of the removal scale is being considered in the future. As a solution to the above problem, this study will develop an innovative scintillation radiation detection system for screening and continuous monitoring during target sample removal. To develop a remote measurement system that contributes to in-vessel investigations for decommissioning of nuclear facilities such as 1F. More specifically, we will develop vertically integrated research into the following elemental technologies: (1) development of innovative high-performance scintillation materials for thermal neutron / gamma-ray discrimination (Tohoku University), (2) downsizing of censer and signal processing system (the University of Tokyo), (3) construction and characterization of various radiation fields (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology), and (4) development of a simple non-destructive measurement system and hot cell demonstration test (JAEA). By vertically integrating elemental technologies, R&D on each research item planned in FY2023 was conducted to develop a detector that can discriminate gamma-ray and neutron radiation in environments exceeding 10 Gy/h and simultaneously identify the dose rate and nuclide of each in PCVs and in each acceptance cell.

Evaluation report for sludge measurement by nondestructive assay (Plutonium Scrap Multiplicity Counter)(Joint research)

Tanigawa, Masafumi; Seya, Kazuhito*; Asakawa, Naoya*; Hayashi, Hiroyuki*; Horigome, Kazushi; Mukai, Yasunobu; Kitao, Takahiko; Nakamura, Hironobu; Henzlova, D.*; Swinhoe, M. T.*; et al.

JAEA-Technology 2024-014, 63 Pages, 2025/02

JAEA-Technology-2024-014.pdf:3.02MB

The liquid waste treatment process generated sludge items at the plutonium conversion development facility. They are highly heterogeneous and contain large amounts of impurities (Na, Fe, Ni etc.). Therefore, the sludge items have very large sampling uncertainty and so the total measurement uncertainty is very large (approximately 24%). The plutonium scrap multiplicity counter (PSMC) measurement technique for sludge items was developed by joint research between the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The technical validity for sludge items using the PSMC was evaluated using various types of sample measurements and Monte Carlo N-Particle transport code calculations. The PSMC measurement parameters were found to be valid for use with sludge items and the validity of multiplicity analysis was confirmed and demonstrated through comparisons with standard MOX powder and a standard sludge. As a result, the PSMC measurement values were shown to be consistent and reasonable and the large amount of impurity (Fe, Ni etc.) did not impact the results. Therefore, the measurement uncertainty of the improved nuclear material accountancy (NMA) procedure by combined PSMC and high-resolution gamma spectrometry was shown to be 6.5%. In addition, an acceptance test was conducted using PSMC/HRGS and IAEA benchmark equipment. Measured Pu mass by both equipment agrees within the measurement uncertainty of each method, and so the validity for Pu mass measurement by PSMC/HRGS was confirmed. The above results confirm the applicability of PSMC/HRGS as an additional NMA method for sludge and a newly designed NDA procedure based on this study is applied to sludge for NMA in PCDF.

Estimation for mass transfer coefficient under two-phase flow conditions using two gas components

Nanjo, Kotaro; Shiotsu, Hiroyuki; Maruyama, Yu; Sugiyama, Tomoyuki; Okamoto, Koji*

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 60(7), p.816 - 823, 2023/07

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2022.2146015

Revolatilization of iodine by bubbly flow in the suppression pool during an accident

Nanjo, Kotaro; Ishikawa, Jun; Sugiyama, Tomoyuki; Pellegrini, M.*; Okamoto, Koji*

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 59(11), p.1407 - 1416, 2022/11

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2022.2062065

A Comparative CFD exercise on bubble hydrodynamics using Euler-Euler and interface tracking approaches

Dehbi, A.*; Cheng, X.*; Liao, Y.*; Okagaki, Yuria; Pellegrini, M.*

Proceedings of 19th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics (NURETH-19) (Internet), 15 Pages, 2022/03

A Proposed method to discriminate a gas derived from deep underground by focusing on the relationship between changes in methane and carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere

Miyakawa, Kazuya; Shimo, Michito*; Niwa, Masakazu; Amano, Kenji; Tokunaga, Tomochika*; Tonokura, Kenichi*

Fukada Chishitsu Kenkyujo Nempo, (22), p.139 - 153, 2021/00

no abstracts in English

Development of neutron transport calculation codes for 3-D hexagonal geometry, 2; Improvement and enhancement of the MINISTRI code

Sugino, Kazuteru; Takino, Kazuo

JAEA-Data/Code 2019-011, 110 Pages, 2020/01

JAEA-Data-Code-2019-011.pdf:3.37MB

A deterministic discrete ordinates method (SN method) transport calculation code for three-dimensional hexagonal geometry has been developed as the MINISTRI code (Ver. 7.0). MINISTRI is based on the triangle-mesh finite difference method, which can perform neutron transport calculations with high accuracy for cores of fast power reactors and assemblies of the Russian BFS critical facility. The present study has derived a proper scheme for remarkably improving the convergence of MINISTRI by investigating the issue of previous MINISTRI (Ver. 1.1), which sometimes plays a poor convergence performance in calculations for large-scale power reactor cores. The verification test of improved MINISTRI has been carried out for various cores by setting the reference result as the multi-group Monte-Carlo calculation with the same cross-sections as used in MINISTRI. As a result, it is found that the agreements are within 0.1% for eigenvalues and within 0.7% for power distributions. Thus, the satisfying accuracy of MINISTRI has been confirmed. In order to reduce the calculation time, the initial diffusion calculation scheme and the parallel processing have been implemented. As a result, the calculation time is reduced to the approximately one tenth compared with previous MINISTRI. Furthermore, adoption of the treatment of the anisotropic cell streaming effect, preparation of the perturbation calculation tool, implementation of the function for specification of the triangle-mesh-wise material and merging of the hexagonal-mesh calculation code MINIHEX have been carried out. Thus, the versatility of MINISTRI has been enhanced.

Study of the screening survey using an ambient dose equivalent rate survey meter in criticality accidentsy

Hoshi, Katsuya; Tsujimura, Norio; Yoshida, Tadayoshi; Kurihara, Osamu*; Kim, E.*; Yajima, Kazuaki*

Progress in Nuclear Science and Technology (Internet), 6, p.152 - 155, 2019/01

https://doi.org/10.15669/pnst.6.152

Petrographic data of silicic igneous rocks in the Tono area, central Japan

Ueki, Tadamasa; Niwa, Masakazu

JAEA-Data/Code 2018-005, 94 Pages, 2018/08

JAEA-Data-Code-2018-005.pdf:15.6MB

Mountain development has an influence on long-term changes of uplift, erosion, and groundwater flow related to change in hydraulic gradient. Provenance analysis is one of promising geological methods to understand origin and formation process of mountains. Case study in the Tono area, central Japan has been done for research and development of individual technique to estimate a provenance. In this report, petrological descriptions by meso- and microscopic observations and elemental distributions using scanning X-ray analytical microscope of basement rocks (silicic igneous rocks) from the study area were compiled.

Elastically-homogeneous lattice models of damage in geomaterials

Asahina, Daisuke*; Aoyagi, Kazuhei; Kim, K.*; Birkholzer, J.*; Birkholzer, J. T.*; Bolander, J. E.*

Computers and Geotechnics, 81, p.195 - 206, 2017/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2016.08.015