Long-term changes in the chemical, microstructural, and transport properties of a low-pH cement shotcrete during operation of the Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory, Japan

Mochizuki, Akihito; Matsui, Hiroya; Nakayama, Masashi; Sakamoto, Ryo*; Shibata, Masahito*; Motoshima, Takayuki*; Jo, Mayumi*

Case Studies in Construction Materials, 22, p.e04648_1 - e04648_20, 2025/07

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cscm.2025.e04648

The properties of low-pH cement used in the geological disposal of radioactive waste may change through atmospheric carbonation and degradation caused by groundwater during the long-term operation of a repository. In this study, we investigated the effects of atmospheric carbonation and groundwater contact on the chemical, microstructural, and transport properties of shotcrete made from low-pH, high-fly-ash silica-fume cement (HFSC) over a period of 16 years in an underground research laboratory. In both carbonated and degraded zones of the HFSC shotcrete, capillary porosity increased for pores of 300 nm in diameter, and the total porosity was higher than in undegraded zones. These changes in porosity may be associated with the decalcification of calcium-silicate-hydrate and decomposition of ettringite. Such changes were minor in altered zones of OPC shotcrete, indicating that HFSC shotcrete is less resistant to atmospheric carbonation and groundwater leaching under the studied conditions. However, the hydraulic conductivity in HFSC was low enough to fulfill the specific functional requirements of low-pH cements for geological disposal.

Ordered graphane nanoribbons synthesized via high-pressure diels-alder polymerization of 2,2'-bipyrazine

Li, F.*; Tang, X.*; Fei, Y.*; Zhang, J.*; Liu, J.*; Lang, P.*; Che, G.*; Zhao, Z.*; Zheng, Y.*; Fang, Y.*; et al.

Journal of the American Chemical Society, 147(17), p.14054 - 14059, 2025/04

https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5c03116

We synthesized a crystalline graphane nanoribbon (GANR) via pressure-induced polymerization of 2,2'-bipyrazine (BPZ). By performing Rietveld refinement of in situ neutron diffraction data, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, infrared spectra, and theoretical calculation, we found that BPZ experienced Diels-Alder polymerization between the stacked aromatic rings, and formed extended boat-GANR structures with exceptional long-range order. The unreacted -C=N- groups bridge the two ends of the boat, and ready for further functionalization. The GANR has a bandgap of 2.25 eV, with booming photoelectric response (/ =18.8). Our work highlights that the high-pressure topochemical polymerization is a promising method for the precise synthesis of graphane with specific structure and desired properties.

Reduction and phase transformation of Ce-doped zirconolites

Hayashizaki, Kohei; Hirooka, Shun; Yamada, Tadahisa*; Sunaoshi, Takeo*; Murakami, Tatsutoshi; Saito, Kosuke

Ceramics (Internet), 8(1), p.24_1 - 24_12, 2025/03

https://doi.org/10.3390/ceramics8010024

Measurements of neutron capture cross-section for nuclides of interest in decommissioning (II); Fe(n,)Fe

Nakamura, Shoji; Shibahara, Yuji*; Endo, Shunsuke; Rovira Leveroni, G.; Kimura, Atsushi

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 62(3), p.300 - 307, 2025/03

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2024.2427244

Directional vector-based quick evaluation method for protective plate effects in X-ray fluoroscopy (DQPEX)

Hizukuri, Kyoko*; Fujibuchi, Toshio*; Han, D.*; Arakawa, Hiroyuki*; Furuta, Takuya

Radiological Physics and Technology, 18(1), p.196 - 208, 2025/03

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12194-024-00873-z

One of the radiation protection measures for medical personnel engaged in X-ray fluoroscopy is the use of radiation-protective plates and a simulation tool to evaluate effect of the plates is desired. Monte Carlo simulation has an advantage of being able to accurately calculate the interaction between radiations and various objects present in the X-ray room. However, Monte Carlo simulation has a disadvantage of being computationally time-consuming. Therefore, we developed a new simplified method to calculate the dose distribution in a short time with the presence of protective plates using pre-computed directional vectors (SCV). Using the Monte Carlo code PHITS, we simulated the ambient dose equivalent distribution the X-ray fluoroscopy room without the presence of protective plates. Assuming the dose at each voxel was all contributed from radiations in the direction indicated by the directional vector, the shielding effect of the protective plates for the dose at the voxel was determined whether the line toward backtrace of the directional vector has a intersect with the protective plate or not. With SCV, the computational time for the whole dose distribution with the presence of a protective plate was reduced approximately 1/6000 of the full PHITS simulation keeping the good accuracy to evaluate the effect of the plate.

Characterization of neutrons emitted by an expected small amount of fuel debris in a trial retrieval from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station

Matsumura, Taichi; Okumura, Keisuke; Sakamoto, Masahiro; Terashima, Kenichi; Riyana, E. S.; Kondo, Kazuhiro*

Nuclear Engineering and Design, 432, p.113791_1 - 113791_9, 2025/02

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2024.113791

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(2), p.170021_1 - 170021_9, 2025/01

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

Development of a high-resolution imaging camera for alpha dust and high-dose rate monitor (Contract research); FY2022 Nuclear Energy Science & Technology and Human Resource Development Project

Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced Decommissioning Science; Tohoku University*

JAEA-Review 2024-016, 61 Pages, 2024/12

JAEA-Review-2024-016.pdf:2.88MB

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 FY2022. The Project aims to contribute to solving problems in the nuclear energy field represented by the decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, 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 FY2022, this report summarizes the research results of the "Development of a high-resolution imaging camera for alpha dust and high-dose rate monitor" conducted in FY2022. The present study aims to develop a high-resolution imaging camera for alpha dust and a high-dose rate monitor. To realize the high-resolution imaging camera for alpha dust, we have developed novel scintillation materials with emission bands of 500-800 nm. Moreover, we have prepared several materials for the camera and software. We have also developed novel scintillation materials with emission bands of 650-1,000 nm, and simulation studies have been conducted for the high-dose-rate monitor system consisting of optical fiber.

Quantitative evaluation of leakage flow rate in the sealing part using graphite gland packing to mount a hydrogen separation membrane tube for HI decomposition membrane reaction

Sugimoto, Chihiro; Myagmarjav, O.; Tanaka, Nobuyuki; Noguchi, Hiroki; Takegami, Hiroaki; Kubo, Shinji

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 95, p.98 - 107, 2024/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2024.10.334

Deep learning-based bubble detection with Swin Transformer

Uesawa, Shinichiro; Yoshida, Hiroyuki

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 61(11), p.1438 - 1452, 2024/11

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2024.2348023

We developed a deep learning-based bubble detector with a Shifted window Transformer (Swin Transformer) to detect and segment individual bubbles among overlapping bubbles. To verify the performance of the detector, we calculated its average precision (AP) with different number of training images. The mask AP increased with the increase in the number of training images when there were less than 50 images but remained constant when there were more than 50 images. It was observed that the AP for the Swin Transformer and ResNet were almost the same when there were more than 50 images; however, when few training images were used, the AP of the Swin Transformer were higher than that of the ResNet. Furthermore, with regard to the increase in void fraction, the AP of the Swin Transformer showed a decrease similar to that in the case of the ResNet; however, for few training images, the AP of the Swin Transformer was higher than that of the ResNet in all void fractions. Moreover, we confirmed the detector trained with synthetic bubble images was able to segment overlapping bubbles and deformed bubbles in a bubbly flow experiment. Thus, we verified that the new bubble detector with Swin Transformer provided higher AP than the detector with ResNet for fewer training images.