Toward long-term storage of nuclear materials in MOX fuels fabrication facility

Hirooka, Shun; Nakamichi, Shinya; Matsumoto, Taku; Tsuchimochi, Ryota; Murakami, Tatsutoshi

Frontiers in Nuclear Engineering (Internet), 2, p.1119567_1 - 1119567_7, 2023/03

https://doi.org/10.3389/fnuen.2023.1119567

Storage of plutonium (Pu)-containing materials requires extremely strict attention in terms of physical safety and material accounting. Despite the emphasized importance of storage management, only a few reports are available in the public, e.g., experience in PuO storage in the UK and safety standards in the storage of Pu-containing materials in the US. Japan also stores more U-Pu mixed oxide (MOX) mostly in powder form. Adopting an appropriate storage management is necessary depending on the characteristics of MOX items such as raw powder obtained by reprocessing of spent Light Water Reactor fuels, research and development on the remains of fuel fabrication, which can contain organic materials, and dry-recycled powder during fuel fabrication. Stagnation in fuel fabrications and experience in degradation of MOX containers during extended period of storage have led to the review of the storage method in the Plutonium Fuel Development Center in Japan Atomic Energy Agency. The present work discusses the various nuclear materials, storage methods, experience in degradation of containers that occur during storage, and strategies for future long-term storage.

Evolution of austenite lattice parameter during isothermal transformation in a 0.4 C low alloyed steel

Wang, Y.*; Tomota, Yo*; Omura, Takahito*; Gong, W.; Harjo, S.

Materialia, 27, p.101685_1 - 101685_9, 2023/03

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtla.2023.101685

Statistical optimization of nZVI chemical synthesis approach towards P and NO removal from aqueous solutions; Cost-effectiveness & parametric effects

Maamoun, I.; Eljamal, R.*; Eljamal, O.*

Chemosphere, 312, Part 1, p.137176_1 - 137176_11, 2023/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.137176

Chloramphenicol removal from water by various precursors to enhance graphene oxide-iron nanocomposites

Idham, M. F.*; Falyouna, O.*; Eljamal, R.*; Maamoun, I.; Eljamal, O.*

Journal of Water Process Engineering (Internet), 50, p.103289_1 - 103289_16, 2022/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwpe.2022.103289

Continuous improvement activities on nuclear facility maintenance in Nuclear Science Research Institute of Japan Atomic Energy Agency in 2021

Task Force on Maintenance Optimization of Nuclear Facilities

JAEA-Technology 2022-006, 80 Pages, 2022/06

JAEA-Technology-2022-006.pdf:4.24MB

The Task force on maintenance optimization of nuclear facilities was organized in the Nuclear Science Research Institute (NSRI) of Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) since November 2020, in order to adequately respond to "the New nuclear regulatory inspection system since FY 2020" and to continuously improve the facility maintenance activities. In 2021, the task force has studied (1) optimization of the importance classification on maintenance and inspection of nuclear facilities, and (2) improvement in setting and evaluation of the performance indicators on safety, maintenance and quality management activities, considering "the Graded approach" that is one of the basic methodologies in the new nuclear regulatory inspection system. Each nuclear facility (research reactors, nuclear fuel material usage facilities, others) in the NSRI will steadily improve their respective safety, maintenance and quality management activities, referring the review results suggested by the task force.

Additive-free hydrothermal leaching method with low environmental burden for screening of strontium in soil

Kato, Takuma*; Nagaoka, Mika; Guo, H.*; Fujita, Hiroki; Aida, Taku*; Smith, R. L. Jr.*

Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 28(39), p.55725 - 55735, 2021/10

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-14916-0

In this work, hydrothermal leaching was applied to simulated soils (clay minerals vermiculite, montmorillonite, kaolinite) and actual soils (Terunuma, Japan) to generate organic acids with the objective to develop an additive-free screening method for determination of Sr in soil. Stable strontium (SrCl) was adsorbed onto soils for study and ten organic acids were evaluated for leaching Sr from simulated soils under hydrothermal conditions (120 to 200C) at concentrations up to 0.3 M. For strontium-adsorbed vermiculite (Sr-V), 0.1 M citric acid was found to be effective for leaching Sr at 150C and 1 h treatment time. Based on these results, the formation of organic acids from organic matter in Terunuma soil was studied. Hydrothermal treatment of Terunuma soil produced a maximum amount of organic acids at 200C and 0.5 h reaction time. To confirm the possibility for leaching of Sr from Terunuma soil, strontium-adsorbed Terunuma soil (Sr-S) was studied. For Sr-S, hydrothermal treatment at 200C for 0.5 h reaction time allowed 40% of the Sr to be leached at room temperature, thus demonstrating an additive-free method for screening of Sr in soil. The additive-free hydrothermal leaching method avoids calcination of solids in the first step of chemical analysis and has application to both routine monitoring of metals in soils and to emergency situations.

Supercritical water pretreatment method for analysis of strontium and uranium in soil (Andosols)

Nagaoka, Mika; Fujita, Hiroki; Aida, Taku*; Guo, H.*; Smith, R. L. Jr.*

Applied Radiation and Isotopes, 168, p.109465_1 - 109465_6, 2021/02

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apradiso.2020.109465

The radioactivities in the environmental samples are analyzed to monitor the nuclear power facilities. The pretreatment of radioactive nuclides of alpha and beta emitters in the environmental samples is performed with acid to decompose organic matter and extract object nuclide such as Sr, U and Pu. However, the pretreatment methods are time-consuming and used many concentrated acid solutions that are unsafe and hazardous. Therefore, we develop to the new pretreatment method using supercritical water instead of acid. Hydrothermal pretreatment of soils (Andosols) from Ibaraki prefecture (Japan) was used to improve methods for monitoring radioactive Sr and U. Calcined samples were pretreated with subcritical or supercritical water (SCW) followed by extraction with 0.5 M HNO solutions. With SCW pretreatment, recoveries of Sr and U were 70% and 40%, respectively. Experimental recoveries obtained can be described by a linear relationship in water density. The proposed method is robust and can lower environmental burden of routine analytical protocols.

Study on sample description, composition, and preparation for dating of altered volcanic rocks

Niwa, Masakazu; Ueki, Tadamasa*; Hoshi, Hiroyuki*; Sugisaki, Yuichi*

JAEA-Research 2020-003, 33 Pages, 2020/07

JAEA-Research-2020-003.pdf:5.69MB

Ages of volcanic rocks are helpful information to understand the impact of volcanism concerning a site characterization and a safety assessment for geological disposal. In this study, mineralogical and geochemical data of altered volcanic rocks were collected using a polarizing microscope, X-ray diffractometer, X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, X-ray analytical microscope, and electron probe microanalyzer, to select targets suitable for reliable K-Ar dating. In addition, sample preparation procedures such as freeze-thawing and HCl treatment were examined to concentrate unaltered plagioclase which is one of major phenocrysts in volcanic rocks. These data and procedures were compiled in this report.

Research and development on pyrochemical treatment of spent nitride fuels for MA transmutation in JAEA

Hayashi, Hirokazu; Sato, Takumi; Shibata, Hiroki; Tsubata, Yasuhiro

NEA/NSC/R(2017)3, p.427 - 432, 2017/11

Transmutation of long-lived radioactive nuclides including minor actinides (MA: Np, Am, Cm) has been studied in Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA). Pb-Bi cooled sub-critical accelerator-driven system (ADS) is regarded as one of the powerful tools for transmutation of MA under the double strata fuel cycle concept. Uranium-free MA-Pu nitride fuel was chosen as the first candidate for MA transmutation. Reprocessing of spent ADS fuel and reusing MA recovered from the spent ADS fuels is necessary to improve the transmutation ratio. A pyrochemical process has been proposed as the first candidate for reprocessing of the spent nitride fuel for MA transmutation, because this technique has some advantages over aqueous process, such as the resistance to radiation damage, which is an important issue for the fuels containing large amounts of highly radioactive MA, and feasibility for recovering expensive N-15 in the spent fuels to be reused. This paper overviews the current status of the technology development, including our recent study. Development of the anode suitable for electro-refining of nitride fuels and that of the apparatus for renitridation of the metals recovered in Cd cathode for 100g-Cd scale cold tests are main topics. Evaluation of the batch sizes of each process, which is necessary for estimating the scale of the engineering-apparatus, with considering the decay heat of MA and FP, will also be introduced.

Estimation of the inventory of the radioactive wastes in Fukushima Daiichi NPS with a radionuclide transport model in the contaminated water

Shibata, Atsuhiro; Koma, Yoshikazu; Oi, Takao

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 53(12), p.1933 - 1942, 2016/12

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2016.1196625