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Birkholzer, J. T.*; Graupner, B. J.*; Harrington, J.*; Jayne, R.*; Kolditz, O.*; Kuhlman, K. L.*; LaForce, T.*; Leone, R. C.*; Mariner, P. E.*; McDermott, C.*; et al.
Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment, 42, p.100685_1 - 100685_17, 2025/06
Times Cited Count:0Sugita, Yutaka; Ono, Hirokazu; Beese, S.*; Pan, P.*; Kim, M.*; Lee, C.*; Jove-Colon, C.*; Lopez, C. M.*; Liang, S.-Y.*
Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment, 42, p.100668_1 - 100668_21, 2025/06
Times Cited Count:1 Percentile:0.00(Energy & Fuels)The international cooperative project DECOVALEX 2023 focused on the Horonobe EBS experiment in the Task D, which was undertaken to study, using numerical analyses, the thermo-hydro-mechanical (or thermo-hydro) interactions in bentonite based engineered barriers. One full-scale in-situ experiment and four laboratory experiments, largely complementary, were selected for modelling. The Horonobe EBS experiment is a temperature-controlled non-isothermal experiment combined with artificial groundwater injection. The Horonobe EBS experiment consists of the heating and cooling phases. Six research teams performed the THM or TH (depended on research team approach) numerical analyses using a variety of computer codes, formulations and constitutive laws.
Takei, Hayanori
Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 45 Pages, 2025/06
The Japan Atomic Energy Agency is working on the research and development of an accelerator-driven nuclear transmutation system (ADS) for transmuting minor actinides. This system combines a subcritical nuclear reactor with a high-power superconducting proton linear accelerator (JADS-linac). One of the factors limiting the advancement of the JADS-linac is beam trips, which often induce thermal cycle fatigue, thereby damaging the components in the subcritical core. The average beam current of the JADS-linac is 32 times higher than that of the linear accelerator (linac) of the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC). Therefore, according to the development stage, comparing the beam trip frequency of the JADS-linac with the allowable beam trip frequency (ABTF) is necessary. Herein the beam trip frequency of the JADS-linac was estimated through a Monte Carlo program using the reliability functions based on the operational data of the J-PARC linac. The Monte Carlo program afforded the distribution of the beam trip duration, which cannot be obtained using traditional analytical methods. Results show that the frequency of the beam trips with a duration exceeding 5 min must be reduced to 27% of the current J-PARC linac level to be below the ABTF.
Katano, Ryota; Abe, Takumi; Cibert, H.*
JAEA-Research 2024-019, 22 Pages, 2025/05
An accelerator-driven system (ADS) dedicated to transmutation of minor actinides (MAs) is driven in subcritical states. It is important for establishment of the subcriticality control of ADS to predict the burnup reactivity. To validate the prediction accuracy, the burnup reactivity, especially at the first cycle, must be measured with sufficient accuracy. In this study, we focus on Current-To-Flux (CTF) method. We have simulated the burnup reactivity monitoring during the ADS normal operation with the CTF method by performing fixed-source-burnup calculations using a continuous energy Monte Carlo code SERPENT2 with some tallies that models in-core fission chambers and have estimated its measurement uncertainty. We have clarified that the 10% biases of measure burnup reactivities appear independently of the burnup duration and their detector position dependence is particularly small in the outer region of the system.
HPC Technology Promotion Office, Center for Computational Science & e-Systems
JAEA-Review 2024-044, 121 Pages, 2025/01
Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) conducts research and development (R&D) in various fields related to nuclear power as a comprehensive institution of nuclear energy R&Ds, and utilizes computational science and technology in many activities. Over the past 10 years or so, the publication of papers utilizing computational science and technology at JAEA has accounted for about 20 percent of the total publications each fiscal year. The supercomputer system of JAEA has become an important infrastructure to support computational science and technology. In FY2023, the system was utilized in R&D activities that were prioritized in the Fourth Medium- to Long-Term Plan, including contributing to carbon neutrality through the development of innovative technologies such as improving safety, creating innovation by promoting diverse R&D related to nuclear science and technology, promoting R&D in response to the accident at TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, steadily implementing technological developments for the treatment and disposal of high-level radioactive waste, and supporting nuclear safety regulatory administration and nuclear disaster prevention by promoting safety research for these purposes. This report presents a great number of R&D results accomplished by using the system in FY2023, as well as user support, operational records and overviews of the system, and so on.
Onoda, Yuichi; Uchita, Masato*; Tokizaki, Minako*; Okazaki, Hitoshi*
Nuclear Technology, 20 Pages, 2025/00
Times Cited Count:0 Percentile:0.00(Nuclear Science & Technology)Sato, Yuki; Minemoto, Kojiro*; Nemoto, Makoto*; Matsuura, Yasutaka*; Hayashi, Keisuke*
Proceedings of International Conference on Nuclear Decommissioning; Addressing the Past and Ensuring the Future 2023 (Internet), 4 Pages, 2025/00
The development of technology to visualize the distribution of radioactive substances at the decommissioning site of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS) is important for reducing worker exposure and developing a detailed work plan. Sato, one of the authors, developed an integrated Radiation Imaging System (iRIS) that combines a Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) device, a Compton camera (a type of gamma-ray imager), and a survey meter, and have successfully produced a 3-D map of the working environment inside the FDNPS that visualizes the location of radioactive hot spots and the distribution of air dose rates. In addition, the authors are developing a system that enables users to experience the radiation environment of the FDNPS in virtual reality (VR) using the 3-D map visualizing such radiation information as input data. This VR system can use a commercially available portable VR head-mounted display, which not only displays the location of the radiation source in a virtual space, but also has the ability to calculate the exposure dose according to the working time. The development status of this VR system, which is expected to be effective in educating inexperienced workers and planning work, will be presented at the conference.
Ono, Hirokazu
Genshiryoku Bakkuendo Kenkyu (CD-ROM), 31(2), p.140 - 143, 2024/12
In the geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste, after emplacement of an EBS, the near-field environment is affected by processes such as heat release from the waste, groundwater infiltration into the EBS, swelling and deformation of the buffer material, and chemical reactions between groundwater and minerals. It is crucial to develop simulation codes to evaluate such coupled thermal-hydraulic-stress-chemical (THMC) processes for safety assessment of geological disposal. The full-scale vertical-emplacement EBS experiment (Horonobe EBS experiment) has been undertaken in the 350 m gallery of the Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory (URL) with the Horonobe geological environment. In the Horonobe EBS experiment, various sensors were installed in the buffer and backfill material to obtain the data required to evaluate coupled THMC processes in near-field. In Task C of the Horonobe International Project (HIP), the dismantling experiment of the Horonobe EBS experiment will be carried out and the data obtained from this experiment will be used to understand the coupled processes and to evaluate the simulation code.
Battulga, B.; Nakayama, Masataka; Matsuoka, Shunsuke*; Kondo, Toshiaki*; Atarashi-Andoh, Mariko; Koarashi, Jun
Water Research, 264, p.122207_1 - 122207_12, 2024/10
Times Cited Count:8 Percentile:91.02(Engineering, Environmental)Growing attention has been given to microbial attachment and biofilm formation on microplastics (MPs; sizes: 5 mm) in the environment. Here, we explore the microbial communities in the plastisphere to improve our understanding of microbial ecology as well as their impacts on aquatic ecosystems. Using the amplicon sequence of 16S and ITS genes, we identified bacterial and fungal community composition and diversity on MPs, surface waters, bottom sediments, and coastal sands in two contrasting coastal areas of Japan. Significantly different microbial diversity and taxonomic composition were detected depending on sample types and research sites. This research highlights the microbial metabolic functions in MP-associated biofilm, which could be the key to uncovering the true impact of plastic debris on the global ecosystem.
Ito, Shinji*; Shimizu, Hiroyuki*; Ono, Shintaro*; Takayama, Yusuke
Doboku Gakkai Rombunshu (Internet), 80(8), p.24-00030_1 - 24-00030_18, 2024/08
In the design consideration of a geological disposal facility for radioactive waste, it is essential to perform a mechanical evaluation that takes into account phenomena that may occur from construction and operation to post-closure. With this background, we have developed the long-term mechanical analysis system MACBECE. In this research, we have built an analysis system that can consistently evaluate the mechanical behavior considering the thermal and hydraulic evolution after the closure of the repository by incorporating the constitutive model for unsaturated soils and coupling with the thermal-hydraulic analysis. As a validation, a mechanical analysis was conducted for the in-situ experiment for full-scale engineered barrier system performance experiment at Horonobe URL. Despite some discrepancies due to constraints in two-dimensional analysis, the extended functionality of the analysis code was confirmed to effectively repro-duce the measured data.
Takei, Hayanori
Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 61(8), p.1075 - 1088, 2024/08
Times Cited Count:0 Percentile:0.00(Nuclear Science & Technology)In the proton linear accelerator (linac), the proton beam is unexpectedly interrupted due to the electrical discharge originating from the radio frequency, failure of the device/equipment, or other factors. Do these beam trips occur randomly? Conventionally, it has been implicitly assumed that beam trips occur randomly. In this study, we investigated whether beam trips in the linac of the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC) occur randomly to estimate the beam trip frequency in a superconducting proton linac for an accelerator-driven nuclear transmutation system. First, the J-PARC linac was classified into five subsystems. Then, the reliability function for the operation time in each subsystem was obtained using the Kaplan-Meier estimation, a reliability engineering methods. Using this reliability function, the randomness of beam trips was examined. Analysis of five-year operational data for five subsystems of the J-PARC linac showed that beam trips occurred randomly in some subsystems. However, beam trips did not occur randomly in many subsystems of the proton linac, including the ion source and the acceleration cavity, the primary subsystems of the proton linac.
Yamano, Hidemasa; Futagami, Satoshi; Shibata, Akihiro*
Proceedings of Advanced Reactor Safety (ARS 2024), p.151 - 160, 2024/08
This study examined the application of safety design criteria (SDC) and safety design guideline (SDG) developed in the Generation-IV international forum on the active reactor shutdown system (RSS) to sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs) recently designed in Japan.
Yamano, Hidemasa; Futagami, Satoshi; Higurashi, Koichi*
Proceedings of Advanced Reactor Safety (ARS 2024), p.121 - 130, 2024/08
This paper describes the application of safety design criteria (SDC) and safety design guideline (SDG) developed in the Generation-IV international forum on decay heat removal system (DHRS) enhancing reliability to sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs) recently designed in Japan.
Ishitsuka, Etsuo; Nagasumi, Satoru; Hasegawa, Toshinari; Kawai, Hiromi*; Wakisaka, Shinji*; Nagase, Sota*; Nakamura, Kento*; Yaguchi, Hiroki*; Ishii, Toshiaki; Nakano, Yumi*; et al.
JAEA-Technology 2024-008, 23 Pages, 2024/07
Five people from three universities participated in the 2023 summer holiday practical training with the theme of "Technical development on HTTR". The participants practiced the analysis of HTTR core, the analysis of behavior on loss of forced cooling test, the analysis of Iodine deposition behavior in primary cooling system and the feasibility study of energy storage system for HTGRs. In the questionnaire after this training, there were impressions such as that it was useful as a work experience and some students found it useful for their own research. These impressions suggest that this training was generally evaluated as good.
Watakabe, Tomoyoshi; Yamamoto, Tomohiko; Okamura, Shigeki; Miyazaki, Masashi; Miyagawa, Takayuki; Uchita, Masato*; Hirayama, Tomoyuki*; Somaki, Takahiro*; Yukawa, Masaki*; Fukasawa, Tsuyoshi*; et al.
Proceedings of ASME 2024 Pressure Vessels & Piping Conference (PVP 2024) (Internet), 10 Pages, 2024/07
To secure the seismic safety of the thin-walled mechanical components and piping under a severe design earthquake level, employing a three-dimensional (3D) seismic isolation system has been planned in a sodium-cooled fast reactor. The development results of the 3D isolation system have been reported in previous papers so far. Its update is reported in Part 7 to Part 9. Part 7 describes the overview of the development, the test plan of the isolation system in the assembled state of each element, and the performance of individual isolation elements. In part 8, the performance of the isolation device that each element was assembled into was investigated through loading tests. Part 9 reports analytical studies by an analysis model validated based on the insight of the test results.
Nemoto, Takahiro; Fujiwara, Yusuke; Arakawa, Ryoki; Choyama, Yuya; Nagasumi, Satoru; Hasegawa, Toshinari; Yokoyama, Keisuke; Watanabe, Masashi; Onishi, Takashi; Kawamoto, Taiki; et al.
JAEA-Technology 2024-003, 17 Pages, 2024/06
In order to investigate the cause of the increase in differential pressure in the primary helium circulator filter that occurred during the RS-14 cycle, a clogged filter was investigated. As a result of the investigation, deposits caused by silicone oil were confirmed on the surface of the filter element. These results revealed that the cause of filter clogging was silicone oil mixed into the primary system due to performance deterioration of the charcoal filter in the gas circulator of primary helium purification system. As a measure to prevent the recurrence of this event, in addition to the conventional management based on operating hours for replacing of charcoal filter in the gas circulator of primary helium purification system, we have established a new replacement plan for every three years.
Katano, Ryota; Oizumi, Akito; Fukushima, Masahiro; Pyeon, C. H.*; Yamamoto, Akio*; Endo, Tomohiro*
Nuclear Science and Engineering, 198(6), p.1215 - 1234, 2024/06
Times Cited Count:0 Percentile:0.00(Nuclear Science & Technology)In this study, we have demonstrated that data assimilation using lead and bismuth sample reactivities measured in the Kyoto University Critical Assembly A-core can successfully reduce the uncertainty of the coolant void reactivity in accelerator-driven systems derived from inelastic-scattering cross-sections of lead and bismuth. We re-evaluated and highlighted the experimental uncertainties and correlations of the sample reactivities for the data assimilation formula. We used the MCNP6.2 code to evaluate the sample reactivities and their uncertainties, and performed data assimilation using the reactor analysis code system MARBLE. The high-sensitivity coefficients of the sample reactivities to lead and bismuth allowed us to reduce the cross-section-induced uncertainty of the void reactivity of the accelerator-driven system from 6.3% to 4.8%, achieving a provisional target accuracy of 5% in this study. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the uncertainties arising from other dominant factors, such as minor actinides and steel, can be effectively reduced by using integral experimental data sets for the unified cross-section dataset ADJ2017.
Seki, Akiyuki; Yoshikawa, Masanori; Nishinomiya, Ryota*; Okita, Shoichiro; Takaya, Shigeru; Yan, X.
Nuclear Technology, 210(6), p.1003 - 1014, 2024/06
Times Cited Count:0 Percentile:0.00(Nuclear Science & Technology)Two types of deep neural network (DNN) systems have been constructed with the intent to assist safety operation of a nuclear power plant. One is a surrogate system (SS) that can estimate physical quantities of a nuclear power plant in a computational time of several orders less than a physical simulation model. The other is an abnormal situation identification system (ASIS) that can estimate the state of the disturbance causing an anomaly from physical quantities of a nuclear power plant. Both systems are trained and tested using data obtained from the analytical code for incore and plant dynamics (ACCORD), which reproduces the steady and dynamic behavior of the actual high Temperature engineering test reactor (HTTR) under various scenarios. The DNN models are built by adjusting, the main hyperparameters. Through these procedures, these systems are shown able to perform with a high degree of accuracy.
Watanabe, So; Takahatake, Yoko; Hasegawa, Kenta; Goto, Ichiro*; Miyazaki, Yasunori; Watanabe, Masayuki; Sano, Yuichi; Takeuchi, Masayuki
Mechanical Engineering Journal (Internet), 11(2), p.23-00461_1 - 23-00461_10, 2024/04
Riyana, E. S.; Okumura, Keisuke; Sakamoto, Masahiro; Matsumura, Taichi; Terashima, Kenichi; Kanno, Ikuo
Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 61(2), p.269 - 276, 2024/02
Times Cited Count:0 Percentile:0.00(Nuclear Science & Technology)