Experimental study of AESOP code for aerosol removal behavior from a rising gas bubble in water pool and parametric study for application to sodium pool system

宮原 信哉*; 鯉江 竜輔*; 宇埜 正美*; 河口 宗道*; 佐藤 理花; 清野 裕

Nuclear Engineering and Design, 446(Part A), p.114523_1 - 114523_14, 2026/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2025.114523

In a postulated accident of fuel pin failure of a sodium-cooled fast reactor, a fission product of cesium will be released from the failed pin as an aerosol such as cesium iodide and/or cesium oxide together with a fission product noble gas such as xenon and krypton. The xenon and krypton released with the cesium aerosols into the sodium coolant as bubbles have an influence on the removal of cesium aerosols by the sodium pool in a period of bubble rising to the sodium pool surface. Then, the cesium aerosols could transfer into the containment vessel as an initial inventory of a source term. To meet this phenomenon, the computer program AESOP (AErosol scrubbing in SOdium Pool) has been developed to deal with the expansion and the deformation of the bubble together with the aerosol absorption considering the effects of the particle size distribution and the agglomeration in aerosols. In this study, simulation experiments have been conducted using simulant particles under the condition of room temperature in water pool and nitrogen gas bubble systems and the experimental results were compared with the analysis results calculated under the same condition by the AESOP code. Furthermore, to examine the applicability of the AESOP code to the sodium pool system, the sensitivities of the physical parameters on decontamination factor (DF) of fission product aerosols such as the initial bubble diameter, the sodium pool depth and the temperature, the aerosol particle diameter and the density, the initial aerosol concentration in the bubble had been studied and the analysis results were discussed for the sensitivities of the parameter as same as DF of the aerosol.

自由液面渦によるガス巻込み現象の評価

伊藤 啓*; 松下 健太郎; 江連 俊樹; 田中 正暁; 大平 直也*; 伊藤 大介*; 齊藤 泰司*

日本機械学会2025年度年次大会講演論文集(インターネット), 5 Pages, 2025/09

巻き込まれた気泡によってポンプ等の流体機械の性能低下が引き起こされる可能性があることから、バスタブ渦によって巻き込まれるガスの流量(ガス巻込み流量)の推定が重要となる。本研究では、著者らが提案した旋回環状流モデルに基づくガス巻込み流量の評価モデルの適用性を確認するために、数値解析によって得られた渦の自由表面凹部(ガスコア)周辺の液相流速分布に本評価モデルを適用し、ガス巻込み流量を評価した。その結果、適切な評価領域を設定することで、ガス巻込み流量を評価できる見通しを得た。

Application of the GIF safety design criteria and safety design guidelines on passive reactor shutdown capability to next generation sodium-cooled fast reactor in Japan

山野 秀将; 二神 敏; 佐々 京平*; 中村 博紀*; 時崎 美奈子*; 久保田 龍三朗*

Proceedings of 2025 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2025) (Internet), 12 Pages, 2025/09

本研究では、受動的炉停止能力に関して、第4世代国際フォーラムで開発された安全設計クライテリアとガイドラインを我が国で最近に設計されたナトリウム冷却高速炉へ適用した。

Impact of fast reactor fuel type on backend processes in the nuclear fuel cycle

竹下 健二*; 岡村 知拓*; 中瀬 正彦*; 阿部 拓海; 西原 健司

Progress in Nuclear Science and Technology (Internet), 8, p.52 - 57, 2025/09

https://doi.org/10.15669/pnst.8.52

This study analyzed minor actinide (MA) inventory in scenarios assuming demonstration and subsequent commercialization of fast reactor (FR) in the mid-21st century, focusing on the characteristics of reprocessing processes in oxide and metal fuel FR cycles. At the end of the evaluation period defined in this study, the transition of MA to waste was 138 tons in the oxide fuel FR cycle without an MA separation process, requiring a footprint of geological repository of 3.01 km. In contrast, in the metal fuel FR cycle, when only spent fuel discharged from the FR was subjected to pyro-reprocessing, the MA transition to waste was nearly identical to that of the oxide FR cycle. However, when spent MOX fuel discharged from light water reactor (LWR) was also reduced to metal and processed by the pyro reprocessing, the MA transition decreased to 93 tons, with a correspondingly reduced footprint of 2.12 km2. The results show a strong link between MA transition to waste and repository footprint, highlighting the potential of metal fuel FR cycles which can reduce demand of final disposal by the metallization and pyro-reprocessing of spent MOX fuel from the LWR fuel cycle.

Thermal aging effects on high temperature tensile strength of Mod.9Cr-1Mo steel with stress release treatment

豊田 晃大; 今川 裕也; 鬼澤 高志; 鈴木 章裕*

Proceedings of the ASME 2025 Pressure Vessels & Piping Conference (PVP2025) (Internet), 8 Pages, 2025/07

https://doi.org/10.1115/PVP2025-153101

Sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs) have been focused on to realize a decarbonized society and are being developed in Japan. Since there is concern that Mod.9Cr-1Mo steel, a candidate material for SFR steam generators, will be affected by thermal aging and lose strength when used at high temperatures for long periods of time, it is important to evaluate the effect of thermal aging over long periods of time. Mod.9Cr-1Mo steel requires post weld heat treatment (PWHT) after welding. In the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME)code, Rules on the Design and Construction of Nuclear Power Plants, the allowable values for base metal are set using materials that have undergone stress relief heat treatment (SR) after normalizing and tempering (NT) to simulate the thermal history of the PWHT. This paper describes the post aging tensile strength of materials subjected to prolonged thermal aging in order to provide a more detailed evaluation of the effects of thermal aging on Mod. 9Cr-1Mo steels subjected to NT+SR than has been done in the past. The evaluation in this paper used tensile test results of material that had been actually thermal aged at 550C for approximately 200,000 hours. The results of post aging tensile tests showed that there was a difference in strength loss after aging between the NT materials and NT+SR materials. This paper discusses the differences between NT materials and NT+SR materials from the tensile test results obtained and identifies issues that need to be resolved for further analysis.

Investigation on multi-dimensional short-term behaviour through benchmark analysis of a large-volume sodium combustion experiment

曽根原 正晃; 岡野 靖; 内堀 昭寛; 大木 裕*

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 62(5), p.403 - 414, 2025/05

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2024.2441427

ナトリウム冷却高速炉では、ナトリウム漏えい事故を管理するためにナトリウムの燃焼挙動を理解することが極めて重要である。本研究では、多次元熱流動解析コードAQUA-SFを用いて、サンディア国立研究所(SNL)のT3実験のベンチマーク解析を実施した。この実験は、容器容積100m、ナトリウム流量1kg/sの密閉空間で実施され、ナトリウム注入直後の局所的な温度上昇がもたらす多次元的な影響を明らかにした。本研究では、AQUA-SFの機能を拡張することを目的として、このような多次元的な温度変動、特に容器底部における高温領域の形成のシミュレーションに焦点を当てた。提案したモデルには、ナトリウム液滴着火の一時停止と床面上のナトリウム飛沫の噴霧燃焼が含まれる。さらに、底部高温域の再現性を高めるためには、床部近傍に熱源を追加することが不可欠であることを示した。そこで、噴霧円錐角の感度解析と床面上の液滴の長時間燃焼を含むケーススタディを実施した。この包括的なアプローチにより、ナトリウム冷却高速炉におけるナトリウム燃焼のダイナミクスと安全対策に関する貴重な知見を得ることができた。

Difference in accumulation of plutonium and curium isotopes formed in americium targets irradiated in Joyo and JMTR

大西 貴士; 小山 真一*; 横山 佳祐; 森下 一喜; 渡部 雅; 前田 茂貴; 矢野 康英; 大木 繁夫

Nuclear Engineering and Design, 432, p.113755_1 - 113755_17, 2025/02

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2024.113755

The burning of minor actinide (MA) elements, such as neptunium (Np) and americium (Am), in fast reactors (FRs) has been proposed to reduce the volume of high-level radioactive waste. Evaluation of the transmutation behavior of Am for a wide spectral range from thermal to fast neutrons requires experimental validation based on the irradiation of Am targets with well-known isotopic compositions. Four samples each of two types of Am targets, Am-241 oxide and Am-243 oxide, were prepared and irradiated in the experimental fast reactor Joyo under fast neutron flux. Additionally, a ninth sample consisting of Am-241 oxide contained in a MgO pellet was prepared and irradiated in the JMTR under thermal neutron flux. All irradiated samples were analyzed by a radiochemical method. Indexes of the transmutation behavior such as the transmutation ratio, the ratio between burnup and accumulation of an actinide could be evaluated based on the analytical results.

A Series of experiments on criticality and reflector reactivity worth in FCA-XXIII-1 and FCA-XXIV-1 assemblies simulating a small fast reactor with a thick stainless steel reflector

福島 昌宏; 安藤 真樹; 長家 康展

Nuclear Science and Engineering, 17 Pages, 2025/00

https://doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2025.2583701

A series of integral experiments were conducted at the Fast Critical Assembly (FCA) of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) using the FCA-XXIII-1 and FCA-XXIV-1 assemblies to simulate a small fast reactor with a thick stainless-steel reflector. The objective was to provide systematic data for assessing the effects of reflector configurations on the accuracy of neutronic calculations. FCA-XXIII-1 included multiple configurations with partial voids introduced into the reflector to enhance neutron leakage, while FCA-XXIV-1 utilized a depleted uranium blanket to suppress it. This paper presents a detailed description of measurements of criticality and reflector reactivity worth under various reflector conditions. Calculations were performed using the MVP3 Monte Carlo code with the JENDL-5 nuclear data library. The calculated effective multiplication factors agreed with the experimental values within 300 pcm, with slight overestimations. Reflector reactivity worths were also well reproduced across configurations, regardless of neutron leakage levels. These results serve as benchmarks for validating computational codes and nuclear data libraries, and they thereby support the reliable design and analysis of small fast reactors with reflectors.

First freezing experiments with a molten mixture of boron carbide and stainless steel in core disruptive accidents of sodium-cooled fast reactors

江村 優軌; 松場 賢一; 菊地 晋; 山野 秀将

Proceedings of 13th Korea-Japan Symposium on Nuclear Thermal Hydraulics and Safety (NTHAS13) (Internet), 8 Pages, 2024/11

Assuming the CDA of SFRs, the eutectic melting between BC as a control rod material and stainless steel (SS) as a structural material could occur below their melting points. After that, the mixture produced by eutectic melting between BC and SS (BC-SS mixture) would relocate inside or outside of the original core region. From the viewpoint of core reactivity changes, the relocation behavior of BC-SS mixture induced by its melting/freezing behavior, is one of the key elements to evaluate the CDA consequences. Many experimental studies on freezing behavior using core materials and its simulants, including molten UO, SS, tin, wood's metal have been reported in the past. Based on these experimental findings, the freezing/blockage model for the severe accident simulation code was established and discussed through analyses of freezing process. Specifically, it has been considered that the experimental correlation of melt-penetration length was a key indicator to quantitatively describe freezing behavior. However, there was no experimental data for the freezing behavior of actual BC-SS mixture. Therefore, the freezing experiments of BC-SS mixture were conducted to investigate the freezing and blockage behavior inside a flow path such as fuel pin bundle. In the freezing experiments, BC powder and SS block were heated up to around 1,750 K using a graphite heating furnace, then BC-SS mixture flowed down into an SS pipe for cooling below 750 K. The experimental results showed that the BC-SS mixture solidified and resulted in the blockage in the SS pipe with 4 mm or 6.7 mm in inner diameter, respectively. Furthermore, the observations for cross section of SS pipe suggested that the BC-SS mixture penetrated deeper than molten SS. This difference is considered to be influenced by decrease of the melting point.

汎用炉心解析システムMARBLE3の開発

横山 賢治; 羽様 平; 谷中 裕; 大木 繁夫

JAEA-Data/Code 2024-007, 41 Pages, 2024/10

JAEA-Data-Code-2024-007.pdf:1.1MB

汎用炉心解析システムMARBLEの第3版であるMARBLE3を開発した。MARBLEの開発ではオブジェクト指向スクリプト言語Pythonを用いており、これまでの開発ではPythonバージョン2(Python2)を用いていたが、Pythonのバージョンアップの後方非互換性の問題により、Pythonの最新版であるPythonバージョン3(Python3)では、MARBLEを動作させることができなくなっていた。このため、MARBLE3の開発では全面的に改修を行って、Python3で動作するように整備した。また、MARBLE3では、新しく開発された解析コードのカプセル化や新しく提案された計算手法等の組み込みを行うとともに、メンテナンス性や拡張性、柔軟性の観点からユーザインターフェースの拡張やソルバーの再実装等を行った。MARBLE3では、新規に開発された3次元六角/三角体系輸送計算コードMINISTRIVer.7(MINISTRI7)と3次元六角/三角体系拡散計算コードD-MINISTRIを利用できるように整備した。これらのコードは、MARBLEのサブシステムである核特性解析システムSCHEMEや高速炉燃焼解析システムOPRHEUSで利用できる。また、MARBLEに組み込まれている炉心解析システムCBGのユーザインターフェースを拡張して、CBGの2次元RZ体系の拡散計算ソルバーや輸送計算ソルバーをSCHEME上で利用できるように整備した。一方、計算手法についても改良を加えた。MARBLE3では、チェビシェフ有理関数近似法に基づく燃焼計算手法の改良に関する論文やミニマックス多項式近似法に基づく燃焼計算手法に関する論文で提案された計算手法を利用できるように、燃焼計算ソルバーの機能拡張を行った。また、メンテナンス性の観点から、MARBLE2で導入された一点炉動特性ソルバーPOINTKINETICSを廃止して、MARBLE3ではKINETICSソルバーとして新たに整備し直した。