Development of real-time mapping software for wide-area radiation survey

Takahashi, Tone; Koizumi, Mitsuo; Yoshimi, Yuki*; Mochimaru, Takanori*

JAEA-Technology 2025-007, 26 Pages, 2025/11

JAEA-Technology-2025-007.pdf:1.6MB

To prevent the smuggling of nuclear and radioactive materials into event venues for the purpose of terrorism, it is common practice to individually inspect people and vehicles entering and exiting using radiation detectors. However, since there remains a risk of such inspections being bypassed, it is necessary to complement them with a wide-area radiation survey to ensure that no nuclear or radioactive materials have been brought in. Radiation mapping is an effective method for efficiently surveying large areas. In this method, a gamma-ray detector equipped with GPS is used to record location data and radiation dose rates while moving. By utilizing network connectivity, measurement data from multiple detectors can be aggregated at a central command post, allowing real-time monitoring of survey progress. This system helps to prevent both redundant and missing measurements and enables the prompt detection of suspicious radiation sources. Furthermore, by incorporating spectrometers into the gamma -ray detectors, it becomes possible to identify radioactive isotopes, thereby enabling appropriate responses. To enable such wide-area radiation surveys, we developed real-time mapping software. The developed software receives measurement data transmitted from GPS-equipped gamma-ray spectrometers, processes it sequentially in real time, and plots it onto pre -downloaded map data. Additionally, by integrating the spectral data collected from regions showing abnormal radiation levels can be displayed immediately. To enhance information security, the software is designed to function within local networks without requiring internet connectivity. In this report, we introduce an overview of the developed software and provide a simplified version of the source code as an appendix. The provided code is developed using open and free operating systems, libraries, and environments, making it freely available and usable by anyone.

The Rechargeable battery using uranium as an active material

Ouchi, Kazuki; Ueno, Katsuhiro; Watanabe, Masayuki

Scientific Reports (Internet), 15, p.18515_1 - 18515_7, 2025/05

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-01384-6

We first demonstrate a nonaqueous rechargeable battery using uranium and iron as active materials. This uranium-iron battery achieves an open-circuit voltage of approximately 1.3 V, exhibits stable cycling performance, and delivers a good Coulombic efficiency of 862%. These characteristics suggest a promising avenue for utilizing depleted uranium in innovative applications.

Investigation of chemical substances affect the fluidity of paste on cement solidification

Taniguchi, Takumi; Matsumoto, Saori; Hiraki, Yoshihisa; Sato, Junya; Fujita, Hideki*; Kaneda, Yoshihisa*; Kuroki, Ryoichiro; Osugi, Takeshi

JAEA-Review 2024-059, 20 Pages, 2025/03

JAEA-Review-2024-059.pdf:1.0MB

The basic performance required for solidifying waste into cement, such as fluidity before curing and strength after curing, is expected to be affected by the chemical effects of substances and components contained in the waste. The fluidity before curing and the strength properties after curing are greatly influenced by the curing speed of the cement. We investigated existing knowledge with a focus on chemical substances that affect the curing speed of cement. In this report, chemical substances that affect fluidity are broadly classified into inorganic substances such as (1) anion species, (2) metal elements such as heavy metals, (3) inorganic compounds as cement admixtures, and (4) organic compounds as cement admixtures. Based on the investigation, we actually added chemicals and measured the setting time. As a result, it was found that there are multiple mechanisms contributing to accelerated hardening. We investigated chemical substances that inhibit the curing reaction of cement, and were able to compile information to consider ingredients that are contraindicated in cement curing.

In-situ detection of high-energy beta ray emitter Sr/Y inside the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Unit 3 reactor building using a liquid light guide Cherenkov counter

Terasaka, Yuta; Sato, Yuki; Furuta, Yoshihiro*; Kubo, Shin*; Ichiba, Yuta*

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, 1070, Part 2 , p.170021_1 - 170021_9, 2025/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2024.170021

Investigation of random beam trips in a linear accelerator at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex for the development of an accelerator-driven nuclear transmutation system

Takei, Hayanori

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 61(8), p.1075 - 1088, 2024/08

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2023.2296039

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.

Pushing the high count rate limits of scintillation detectors for challenging neutron-capture experiments

Balibrea-Correa, J.*; Kimura, Atsushi; 133of others*

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, 1064, p.169385_1 - 169385_13, 2024/07

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2024.169385

Measurements of the neutron total and capture cross sections and derivation of the resonance parameters of Ta

Endo, Shunsuke; Kimura, Atsushi; Nakamura, Shoji; Iwamoto, Osamu; Iwamoto, Nobuyuki; Rovira Leveroni, G.; Toh, Yosuke; Segawa, Mariko; Maeda, Makoto

Nuclear Science and Engineering, 198(4), p.786 - 803, 2024/04

https://doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2023.2227826

Neutron resonance fission neutron analysis for nondestructive fissile material assay

Hironaka, Kota; Lee, J.; Koizumi, Mitsuo; Ito, Fumiaki*; Hori, Junichi*; Terada, Kazushi*; Sano, Tadafumi*

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, 1054, p.168467_1 - 168467_5, 2023/09

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2023.168467

A New application technique of a position-sensitive liquid light guide Cerenkov counter for the simultaneous position detection of Sr/Y and Cs radioactivity

Terasaka, Yuta; Uritani, Akira*

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, 1049, p.168071_1 - 168071_7, 2023/04

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2023.168071

Measurement methods for the radioactive source distribution inside reactor buildings using a one-dimensional optical fiber radiation sensor (Contract research); FY2021 Nuclear Energy Science & Technology and Human Resource Development Project

Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced Decommissioning Science; Nagoya University*

JAEA-Review 2022-033, 80 Pages, 2022/12

JAEA-Review-2022-033.pdf:4.08MB

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 FY2021. 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 "Measurement methods for the radioactive source distribution inside reactor buildings using a one-dimensional optical fiber radiation sensor" conducted from FY2019 to FY2021. Since the final year of this proposal was FY2021, the results for three fiscal years were summarized. The present study aims to develop an optical fiber type radiation sensor that can measure the radiation distribution one-dimensionally along the fiber under a high radiation field for the decommissioning of 1F. Based on the conventional time-of-flight method, we found several promising sensor candidates for the radiation distribution measurement under high dose rate and many scattered gamma-rays.