Influence of steam flow rate on oxidation kinetics of silicon carbide at 1400-1600 C

Pham, V. H.; Kurata, Masaki; Nagae, Yuji; Ishibashi, Ryo*; Sasaki, Masana*

Corrosion Science, 255, p.113098_1 - 113098_9, 2025/10

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.corsci.2025.113098

Nuclear hydrogen demonstration project using the HTTR; Demarcation of nuclear-industrial laws and design standards

Aoki, Takeshi; Shimizu, Atsushi; Ishii, Katsunori; Morita, Keisuke; Mizuta, Naoki; Kurahayashi, Kaoru; Yasuda, Takanori; Noguchi, Hiroki; Nomoto, Yasunobu; Iigaki, Kazuhiko; et al.

Annals of Nuclear Energy, 220, p.111503_1 - 111503_7, 2025/09

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2025.111503

Aiming to establish coupling technologies between a high temperature gas cooled reactor and a hydrogen production plant, JAEA has initiated the HTTR Heat Application Test Project and is conducting the safety design and the safety analysis for the licensing of the HTTR Heat Application Test Facility. The present study proposed a relative evaluation methodology for the demarcation of applicable laws and design standards for the nuclear hydrogen production system and applied it to the HTTR Heat Application Test Facility. The evaluation results showed that a candidate applying the High Pressure Gas Safety Act to the Heat Application Test Facility (hydrogen production plant) and design standards established under the High Pressure Gas Safety Act to the steam reformer did not show the lowest category in any of the metrics, and was proposed as the most superior demarcation option for the HTTR Heat Application Test Facility.

Composition dependence of the anomalous Nernst effect in FeMnN and FeCoN films

Yin, W.*; Ito, Keita*; Tsubowa, Yusuke*; Tsujikawa, Masahito*; Shirai, Masafumi*; Umetsu, Rie*; Takanashi, Koki

Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, 628, p.173157_1 - 173157_8, 2025/09

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmmm.2025.173157

Long-term changes in the chemical, microstructural, and transport properties of a low-pH cement shotcrete during operation of the Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory, Japan

Mochizuki, Akihito; Matsui, Hiroya; Nakayama, Masashi; Sakamoto, Ryo*; Shibata, Masahito*; Motoshima, Takayuki*; Jo, Mayumi*

Case Studies in Construction Materials, 22, p.e04648_1 - e04648_20, 2025/07

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cscm.2025.e04648

The properties of low-pH cement used in the geological disposal of radioactive waste may change through atmospheric carbonation and degradation caused by groundwater during the long-term operation of a repository. In this study, we investigated the effects of atmospheric carbonation and groundwater contact on the chemical, microstructural, and transport properties of shotcrete made from low-pH, high-fly-ash silica-fume cement (HFSC) over a period of 16 years in an underground research laboratory. In both carbonated and degraded zones of the HFSC shotcrete, capillary porosity increased for pores of 300 nm in diameter, and the total porosity was higher than in undegraded zones. These changes in porosity may be associated with the decalcification of calcium-silicate-hydrate and decomposition of ettringite. Such changes were minor in altered zones of OPC shotcrete, indicating that HFSC shotcrete is less resistant to atmospheric carbonation and groundwater leaching under the studied conditions. However, the hydraulic conductivity in HFSC was low enough to fulfill the specific functional requirements of low-pH cements for geological disposal.

Which radionuclides contribute most to seafood ingestion dose?

Johansen, M. P.*; Gwynn, J. P.*; Carpenter, J. G.*; Charmasson, S.*; Mori, Airi; Orr, B.*; Simon-Cornu, M.*; Osvath, I.*; McGinnity, P.*

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 287, p.107706_1 - 107706_8, 2025/07

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2025.107706

Non-condensable gas accumulation and distribution due to condensation in the CIGMA Facility; Implications for Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 (1F3)

Hamdani, A.; Soma, Shu; Abe, Satoshi; Shibamoto, Yasuteru

Progress in Nuclear Energy, 185, p.105771_1 - 105771_13, 2025/07

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnucene.2025.105771

Complementary layer thickness effects of Q235 and SUS304 layers of multilayered steels for improving of tensile strength and plasticity simultaneously

Lin, Z. M.*; Liu, B. X.*; Ming, K. S.*; Xu, P. G.; Yin, F. X.*; Zheng, S. J.*

Scripta Materialia, 263, p.116692_1 - 116692_7, 2025/07

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scriptamat.2025.116692

Introduce of pin-indentation deformation model into fuel pin bundle deformation analysis code "BAMBOO"

Uwaba, Tomoyuki; Ito, Masahiro*; Ishitani, Ikuo*

JAEA-Technology 2025-002, 25 Pages, 2025/06

JAEA-Technology-2025-002.pdf:2.06MB

In spacer wire-type fast reactor fuel assemblies, when the bundle-duct interaction (BDI) becomes severe, contact loads applied to claddings via wires cause oval-deformation of the cladding cross-sections. The cladding oval-deformation may become significant especially in the pins at the outermost periphery of the bundle because they are subjected to a large load from the duct via their wires. In this case the cladding oval-deformation occurs in such a manner that the wire is partially sinking into the cladding, and as a result the cladding is locally dented. We developed a model to simulate such cladding local deformation and integrated the model into the BDI analysis code "BAMBOO". In the out-of-pile bundle compression tests, the gaps between pins and the duct became smaller than the wire diameter when the bundle was compressed despite the existence of a wires between the bundle outermost pins and the duct. The bundle compression test analyses by BAMBOO equipped with the model showed that the local deformation of claddings of outermost pins reproduced the similar trend to the compression test results.

Development of extremely small amount analysis technology for fuel debris analysis (Contract Research); FY2023 Nuclear Energy Science & Technology and Human Resource Development Project

Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced Decommissioning Science; Tohoku University*

JAEA-Review 2024-064, 118 Pages, 2025/06

JAEA-Review-2024-064.pdf:6.73MB

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 FY2019, this report summarizes the research results of the "Development of extremely small amount analysis technology for fuel debris analysis" conducted from FY2019 to FY2023. Understanding the properties of fuel debris is necessary for handling, criticality control, storage control, etc. A key technique is the chemical analysis of actinide nuclides. We developed sample pretreatment technology and separation / analysis process required for chemical analysis. The purpose of this study is to streamline future planned fuel debris analysis. To promote 1F decommissioning, we will train human resources through on-the-job training. In particular, we applied the extremely small amount analysis (ICP-MS/MS), which has recently been successful in the fields of analytical chemistry and radiochemistry, to the nuclear field. This method allows high-accuracy analysis without pretreatment to isolate the nuclide to be measured. The separation pretreatment can be skipped and a rapid analysis process can be established.

Detailed computational models for nuclear criticality analyses on the first startup cores of NSRR: A TRIGA annular core pulse reactor

Yanagisawa, Hiroshi; Motome, Yuiko

JAEA-Research 2025-001, 99 Pages, 2025/06

JAEA-Research-2025-001.pdf:1.98MB

The detailed computational models for nuclear criticality analyses on the first startup cores of NSRR (Nuclear Safety Research Reactor), which is categorized as a TRIGA-ACPR (Annular Core Pulse Reactor), were created for the purposes of deeper understandings of safety inspection data on the neutron absorber rod worths of reactivity and improvement of determination technique of the reactivity worths. The uncertainties in effective neutron multiplication factor (k) propagated from errors in the geometry, material, and operation data for the present models were evaluated in detail by using the MVP version 3 code with the latest Japanese nuclear data library, JENDL-5, and the previous versions of JENDL libraries. As a result, the overall uncertainties in k for the present models were evaluated to be in the range of 0.0027 to 0.0029 k. It is expected that the present models will be utilized as the benchmark on k for TRIGA-ACPR. Moreover, it is confirmed that the overall uncertainties were sufficiently smaller than the values of absorber rod worths determined in NSRR. Thus, it is also considered that the present models are applicable to further analyses on the absorber rod worths in NSRR.