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Nguyen, H. H.
Annals of Nuclear Energy, 239, p.112647_1 - 112647_11, 2026/12
Times Cited Count：0 Percentile：0.00(Nuclear Science & Technology)In this study, the nuclear data sensitivity coefficients of k
for a two-region damaged reactor model were investigated under various conditions, including changes in model temperature, boron concentration in the moderator, and the number of damaged fuel assemblies. The analysis was conducted using the Serpent code with the JENDL-5 nuclear data library. For the reference case, the sensitivity coefficients of cuboid-shaped and cylinder-shaped fuel debris tend to increase as the moderator-to-fuel volume ratio increases. In contrast, the sensitivity coefficients of spherical and conical fuel debris remain unaffected by changes in the moderator-to-fuel volume ratio. In general, changes in model temperature or boron concentration in the moderator do not alter how the fuel debris geometry and the moderator-to-fuel volume ratio affect the sensitivity coefficients. Regarding the impact of the number of damaged fuel assemblies, an increase in the number of damaged fuel assemblies results in a significant increase in the magnitude of the sensitivity coefficients. More detailed investigations revealed that the sensitivity coefficients related to the elastic scattering of 
H contribute significantly to the overall sensitivity coefficients resulting from perturbations in the cross-sections of all nuclides present in the model. Additionally, the findings demonstrated that the hardness of the neutron spectrum plays a significant role in influencing the sensitivity coefficients.
Irie, Kenta; Terada, Hiroaki; Kawamura, Hideyuki; Takano, Masahide
Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 299, p.108140_1 - 108140_20, 2026/09
Times Cited Count：0 Percentile：0.00(Environmental Sciences)This study develops an Explosive-release Particle Tracking Model (EPTM) and couples it with the Worldwide version of System for Prediction of Environmental Emergency Dose Information (WSPEEDI) to explicitly represent the explosion-induced initial condition in atmospheric dispersion simulation. The developed model is designed to resolve the particle dynamics immediately after an explosive release and to provide a physically based initial condition for subsequent atmospheric transport simulations. To demonstrate the capability and impact of EPTM, numerical experiments were conducted under the idealized meteorological field. The results show that the impact of explosion-induced initial motion on concentration and surface deposition is substantial near the explosion point but diminishes with transport distance. Immediately after explosive release, the explosive case produces a rapid vertical redistribution of radioactive materials. This vertical redistribution increases concentration near the surface and increases surface deposition near the release point compared with the non-explosive case. As a result, air concentration maxima and surface deposition patterns near the explosion point are controlled by the explosion-driven initial conditions represented by EPTM. In contrast, in the downwind area, differences in air concentration and surface deposition between the explosive and non-explosive cases become small because horizontal advection and turbulent diffusion govern the spatial distribution of the concentration and deposition, reducing the relative influence of the initial explosion as the plume evolves. Consequently, increasing explosive energy amplifies the contrast of air concentration and surface deposition near the explosion point while exerting limited influence on downwind concentration and deposition distributions.
Tatsumi, Masahiro*; Nagaya, Yasunobu; Tada, Kenichi
Proceedings of International Conference on the Physics of Reactors (PHYSOR 2026) (Internet), 8 Pages, 2026/04
The development of novel reactor cores challenges neutronics design due to incomplete evaluated nuclear data and declining access to critical integral experiments. We present a data-assimilation framework that systematically integrates archived integral-experiment information, sensitivity data, covariance data, and adjustment tools to quantify and reduce nuclear-data-induced uncertainties for new core concepts without performing new critical experiments. The framework centers on an intermediate data-management layer that imports and indexes sensitivity and covariance input data and produces MARBLE3-compatible data management objects for downstream analysis. MARBLE3 is a modern and Python 3-compatible reactor analysis framework that implements various tools including cross-section adjustment tools to update nuclear data consistently and predict post-adjustment uncertainties. Verification using the OECD/NEA SG33 benchmark reproduced reference results, improved calculated-to-experimental agreement, reduced predicted uncertainties, and yielded cross-section adjustments remaining within stated uncertainties. Application to a representative target core produced a breakdown of 
uncertainty by nuclide and reaction, enabling prioritization of contributors for further study. Current limitations include a fixed energy-group structure and the need for expanded and re-evaluated integral datasets; planned enhancements include dynamic group-transformation capability and systematic database improvements. The proposed framework provides a practical and extensible pathway to assess and improve neutronics prediction accuracy for next-generation reactor cores when new integral experiments are impractical.
Maruyama, Shuhei; Yamamoto, Akio*; Endo, Tomohiro*
Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 63(1), p.31 - 44, 2026/01
Times Cited Count：1 Percentile：0.00(Nuclear Science & Technology)Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced Decommissioning Science; NAIS*
JAEA-Research 2025-004, 102 Pages, 2025/08
JAEA-Research-2025-004.pdf:3.33MB
For planning radioactive waste management at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station of the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Incorporated, estimation of radioactivity is essential with considering both contamination from the damaged fuel and activation during reactor operation; with regard to the latter, biological shielding is an important object due to its large amount. It is difficult to conduct field investigations or collect analysis samples at the site, hence the radioactivity should be estimated by calculative analysis with considering the actual conditions of the constituent materials, especially for activation of minor components and water, which affects the neutron flux. Besides it is important to assess the uncertainties involved in the calculation analysis. In this study, the trace composition and water content in the biological shielding concrete were investigated, and a three-dimensional computational model was constructed for the Unit 2 reactor building at the site to estimate the radioactivity concentration. In order to evaluate the uncertainty in the results, the factors contributing to the uncertainty were extracted and the uncertainty resulted from those factors on the calculation results, i.e. the influence of the diversity of the calculation model the parameters used in the calculation model. Based on the results, the dominant factors contributing to the uncertainty were extracted, and the handling as radioactive waste was discussed.
Takeda, Takeshi
JAEA-Data/Code 2025-005, 106 Pages, 2025/06
JAEA-Data-Code-2025-005.pdf:2.93MB
JAEA has been creating input data for pressurized water reactor (PWR) analysis with RELAP5/MOD3.3 code, mainly based on design information for the four-loop PWR's Tsuruga Power Station Unit-2 as the reference reactor of the Large Scale Test Facility (LSTF). The cold leg large-break loss-of-coolant accident (LBLOCA) calculation in the flamework of the BEMUSE program is cited as a representative OECD/NEA activity related to the PWR analysis. The new regulatory requirements for PWRs in Japan include the event of loss of recirculation functions from emergency core cooling system (ECCS) in the cold leg LBLOCA. This event should be evaluated the effectiveness of measures against severe core damage. The input data for this study were made preparations to analyze the PWR LBLOCA, which is one of the design basis accidents that should be postulated in the safety design. This report describes the main features of the input data for the PWR LBLOCA analysis. The PWR model comprised a reactor vessel, pressurizer (PZR), hot legs, steam generators (SGs), SG secondary-side system, crossover legs, cold legs, and ECCS. A four-loop PWR was simulated by two loops in the LBLOCA calculation. Specifically, loop-A attached with the PZR corresponded to three loops, and loop-B mounted with the break was equal to one loop. The nodalization schemes of the PWR components were referred to those of the LSTF components. Moreover, interpretations were added to the main input data for the PWR LBLOCA analysis, and further information such as the basis for determining the input data was provided. In addition, transient analysis was performed employing the prepared input data for the loss of ECCS recirculation functions event. The present transient analysis was confirmed to be appropriate generally by comparing with the calculation in the previous study using the RELAP5/MOD3.3 code. Furthermore, sensitivity analyses were executed exploiting the RELAP5/MOD3.3 code to clarify the effects of a discharge coefficient through the break and water injection flow rate of the alternative recirculation on the fuel rod cladding surface temperature. This report explains the results of the sensitivity analyses within the defined ranges, which complement some of the content of the previous study's calculation for the loss of ECCS recirculation functions event.
Katano, Ryota; Yamamoto, Akio*; Endo, Tomohiro*
Nuclear Science and Engineering, 196(10), p.1194 - 1208, 2022/10
Times Cited Count：1 Percentile：8.97(Nuclear Science & Technology)In this study, we propose the ROM-Lasso method that enables efficient evaluation of sensitivity coefficients of neutronics parameters to cross-sections. In the proposed method, a vector of sensitivity coefficients is expanded by subspace bases, so-called Active Subspace (AS) based on the idea of Reduced Order Modeling (ROM). Then, the expansion coefficients are evaluated by the Lasso linear regression between cross-sections and neutronics parameters obtained by the random sampling. The proposed method can be applied in the case where the adjoint method is difficult to be applied since the proposed method uses only forward calculations. In addition, AS is an effective subspace that can expand the vector of sensitivity coefficients with the lower number of dimension. Thus, the number of unknows is reduced from the original number of input parameters and the calculation cost is dramatically improved compared to the Lasso regression without AS. In this paper, we conducted ADS burnup calculations as a verification. We have shown how AS bases are obtained and the applicability of the proposed method.
-eigenvalue perturbation in Monte Carlo calculationTuya, D.; Nagaya, Yasunobu
Annals of Nuclear Energy, 169, p.108919_1 - 108919_9, 2022/05
Times Cited Count：10 Percentile：71.75(Nuclear Science & Technology)Estimating an effect of a perturbation in a fissile system on its -eigenvalue requires special technique called perturbation theory when the considered perturbation is small. In this study, we develop an adjoint-weighted correlated sampling (AWCS) method based on the exact perturbation theory without any approximation by combining the correlated sampling (CS) method with iterated-fission probability (IFP) based adjoint-weighting method. With the advantages of the CS method being good at providing very small uncertainty for small perturbations and the IFP-based adjoint-weighting method being suitable for continuous-energy Monte Carlo calculation, the developed AWCS method based on the exact perturbation theory offers a new rigorous approach for perturbation calculations. The obtained results by the developed AWCS method for verification problems involving Godiva and simplified STACY density perturbations showed good agreement with the reference calculations.
Katano, Ryota; Yamamoto, Akio*; Endo, Tomohiro*
Proceedings of International Conference on Physics of Reactors 2022 (PHYSOR 2022) (Internet), p.2032 - 2041, 2022/05
We have proposed the ROM-Lasso method to perform an efficient evaluation of the sensitivity coefficients of ADS core parameters to cross sections without major modification of the core analysis system. In the ROM-Lasso method, the sensitivity coefficient vector is expanded via the subspace bases so-called Active Subspace (AS), and the effective number of unknowns is reduced. Then, the expansion coefficients are determined via the penalized linear regression with the core parameters obtained by the random sampling, and the sensitivity coefficient vector is estimated. Owing to the AS, the required number of the core calculations is dramatically reduced in the ROM-Lasso method. In this work, we take the sensitivity coefficient evaluation of the coolant void reactivity at the end of the cycle for example and demonstrate how estimation accuracy depends on the number of samples and the AS.
Yokoyama, Kenji; Ishikawa, Makoto*
Annals of Nuclear Energy, 154, p.108100_1 - 108100_11, 2021/05
Times Cited Count：2 Percentile：14.75(Nuclear Science & Technology)In the design of innovative nuclear reactors such as fast reactors, the improvement of the prediction accuracies for neutronics properties is an important task. The nuclear data adjustment is a promising methodology for this issue. The idea of the nuclear data adjustment was first proposed in 1964. Toward its practical application, however, a great deal of study has been conducted over a long time. While it took about 10 years to establish the theoretical formulation, the research and development for its practical application has been conducted for more than half a century. Researches in this field are still active, and the fact suggests that the improvement of the prediction accuracies is indispensable for the development of new types of nuclear reactors. Massimo Salvatores, who passed away in March 2020, was one of the first proposers to develop the nuclear data adjustment technique, as well as one of the great contributors to its practical application. Reviewing his long-time works in this area is almost the same as reviewing the history of the nuclear data adjustment methodology. The authors intend that this review would suggest what should be done in the future toward the next development in this area. The present review consists of two parts: a) the establishment of the nuclear data adjustment methodology and b) the achievements related to practical applications. Furthermore, the former is divided into two aspects: the study on the nuclear data adjustment theory and the numerical solution for sensitivity coefficient that is requisite for the nuclear data adjustment. The latter is separated to three categories: the use of integral experimental data, the uncertainty quantification and design target accuracy evaluation, and the promotion of nuclear data covariance development.
Gunji, Satoshi; Tonoike, Kotaro; Clavel, J.-B.*; Duhamel, I.*
Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 58(1), p.51 - 61, 2021/01
Times Cited Count：2 Percentile：13.42(Nuclear Science & Technology)The new critical assembly STACY will be able to contribute to the validation of criticality calculations related to the fuel debris. The experimental core designs are in progress in the frame of JAEA/IRSN collaboration. This paper presents the method applied to optimize the design of the new STACY core to measure the criticality characteristics of pseudo fuel debris that simulated Molten Core Concrete Interaction (MCCI) of the fuel debris. To ensure that a core configuration is relevant for code validation, it is important to evaluate the reactivity worth of the main isotopes of interest and their k
sensitivity to their cross sections. In the case of the fuel debris described in this study, especially for the concrete composition, silicon is the nucleus with the highest k sensitivity to the cross section. For this purpose, some parameters of the core configuration, as for example the lattice pitches or the core dimensions, were adjusted using optimization algorithm to find efficiently the optimal core configurations to obtain high sensitivity of silicon capture cross section. Based on these results, realistic series of experiments for fuel debris in the new STACY could be defined to obtain an interesting feedback for the MCCI. This methodology is useful to design other experimental conditions of the new STACY.
Sugita, Yutaka; Taniguchi, Naoki; Makino, Hitoshi; Kanamaru, Shinichiro*; Okumura, Taisei*
Nihon Genshiryoku Gakkai Wabun Rombunshi, 19(3), p.121 - 135, 2020/09
A series of structural analysis of disposal containers for direct disposal of spent fuel was carried out to provide preliminary estimates of the required pressure resistance thickness of the disposal container. Disposal containers were designed to contain either 2, 3 or 4 spent fuel assemblies in linear, triangular or square arrangements, respectively. The required pressure resistance thickness was evaluated using separation distance of the housing space for each spent fuel assembly as a key model parameter to obtain the required thickness of the body and then the lid of the disposal container. This work also provides additional analytical technical knowledge, such as the validity of the setting of the stress evaluation line and the effect of the model length on the analysis. These can then be referred to and used again in the future as a basis for conducting similar evaluations under different conditions or proceeding with more detailed evaluations.
Sugino, Kazuteru; Numata, Kazuyuki*; Ishikawa, Makoto; Takeda, Toshikazu*
Annals of Nuclear Energy, 130, p.118 - 123, 2019/08
Times Cited Count：0 Percentile：0.00(Nuclear Science & Technology)In MA sample irradiation test data calculations, the neutron fluence during irradiation period is generally scaled by using dosimetry data in order to improve calculation accuracy. In such a case, appropriate correction is required to burnup sensitivity coefficients obtained by the conventional generalized perturbation theory because some cancellations occur in the burnup sensitivity coefficients. Therefore, a new formula for the burnup sensitivity coefficient has been derived with the consideration of the neutron fluence scaling effect (NFS). In addition, the cross-section-induced uncertainty is evaluated by using the obtained burnup sensitivity coefficients and the covariance data based on the JENDL-4.0.
for MYRRHA using a Monte Carlo techniqueIwamoto, Hiroki; Stankovskiy, A.*; Fiorito, L.*; Van den Eynde, G.*
EPJ Nuclear Sciences & Technologies (Internet), 4, p.42_1 - 42_7, 2018/11
This paper presents a nuclear data sensitivity and uncertainty analysis of the effective delayed neutron fraction for critical and subcritical cores of the MYRRHA reactor using the continuous-energy Monte Carlo transport code MCNP. The sensitivities are calculated by the modified -ratio method proposed by Chiba. Comparing the sensitivities obtained with different scaling factors 
introduced by Chiba shows that a value of 
is the most suitable for the uncertainty quantification of . Using the calculated sensitivities and the JENDL-4.0u covariance data, the uncertainties for the critical and subcritical cores are determined to be 2.2 
0.2% and 2.0 0.2%, respectively, which are dominated by delayed neutron yield of 
Pu and 
U.
Katano, Ryota; Endo, Tomohiro*; Yamamoto, Akio*; Tsujimoto, Kazufumi
Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 55(10), p.1099 - 1109, 2018/10
Times Cited Count：5 Percentile：35.28(Nuclear Science & Technology)In this study, we propose the penalized regression "adaptive smooth-lasso" for the estimation of sensitivity coefficients of the neutronics parameters. The proposed method estimates the sensitivity coefficients of the neutronics parameters using the variation of the microscopic cross sections and the neutronics parameter obtained by random sampling. The proposed method utilizes only the forward calculations. Thus, the proposed method can be applied for the complex reactor analysis for which the application of the adjoint method is difficult. In this study, we proposed a penalty term considering the characteristics of the sensitivity coefficients of the neutronics parameter to the microscopic multi-group cross sections. Through verification calculation, we show that the proposed method achieves high accuracy with less computational cost compared to the method based on random sampling proposed in the previous studies.
Tamaki, Hitoshi; Ishikawa, Jun; Sugiyama, Tomoyuki; Maruyama, Yu
Proceedings of Asian Symposium on Risk Assessment and Management 2018 (ASRAM 2018) (USB Flash Drive), 6 Pages, 2018/10
In the accidents at Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station, Tsunami caused loss of electric power supply and this event led to core melt and failure of Containment vessel. Finally, fission products were released to the environment. Currently, the activities for understanding of accident progressions are carried out based on the measured data during the accident, accident progression analysis using integrated severe accident analysis codes and investigation of inside of reactor buildings and containment vessels. On the other hand, there are some research activities with combination of accident progression analysis and accident consequence analysis. In Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), the research project of combination of these analyses using the computational simulation codes has been started. The results obtained from the combination analysis are expected to have broad width of uncertainty because of many uncertainty factors in this combined analysis. In order to perform the analysis efficiently, sensitivity analysis for failure location on containment vessel and its failure size were carried out by THALES2/KICHE developed by JAEA at first. This analysis was performed on unit 1, since it was the first plant to release radioactive materials to the environment during the accident and its consequence had no effect from other plants. The authors focused on the failure of containment vessel head flange, penetration seal and vacuum breaker pipe, and possibility of partial open of vent valve based on the investigations of reactor building inside performed by TEPCO. This paper presents the results obtained from this sensitivity analysis.
Hirouchi, Jun; Takahara, Shogo; Komagamine, Hiroshi*; Watanabe, Masatoshi*; Munakata, Masahiro
Proceedings of Asian Symposium on Risk Assessment and Management 2017 (ASRAM 2017) (USB Flash Drive), 11 Pages, 2017/11
no abstracts in English
Okano, Yasushi; Yamano, Hidemasa
Mechanical Engineering Journal (Internet), 4(3), p.16-00517_1 - 16-00517_10, 2017/06
A sensitivity study on forest fire hazard curves was performed. The probability fluctuation on forest fire breakout time affects the reaction intensity and the fireline intensity around 4% and 14% respectively. The probability fluctuation on forest fire breakout points affects the hazard curve frequency around +70% to -40%. The probability fluctuation due to forest firefighting operation only affects the frequency of the hazard curves, but not the intensity. The hazard curves without the effect of firefighting remarkably increase around 40 to 80 times in frequency in comparison with those with considering the forest firefighting operation effect outside the plant. This study indicated that the most significant factor in the forest fire hazard risk is whether the forest firefighting operation outside the plant is expected before the forest fire arrival at the plant.
Choi, B.; Nishida, Akemi; Itoi, Tatsuya*; Takada, Tsuyoshi*; Furuya, Osamu*; Muta, Hitoshi*; Muramatsu, Ken
Proceedings of 13th Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Management Conference (PSAM-13) (USB Flash Drive), 8 Pages, 2016/10
In this study, we address epistemic uncertainty in structure fragility estimation of nuclear power plants (NPPs). In order to identify and quantify dominant factors in fragility assessment, sensitivity analyses of seismic analysis results are conducted for a target NPP building using a three-dimensional finite element model and a conventional lumped mass model (embedded sway rocking model), and the uncertainty caused by the major factors is then evaluated. The results are used to classify epistemic uncertainty levels in a fragility estimation workflow for NPPs in several stages, and a graded knowledge tree technique, which can be used for future fragility estimations, is proposed.
Zheng, X.; Ito, Hiroto; Tamaki, Hitoshi; Maruyama, Yu
Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 53(3), p.333 - 344, 2016/03
Times Cited Count：16 Percentile：75.72(Nuclear Science & Technology)