Bulk modulus and electron density distribution of high-pressure polymorphs of Fe-Ti-O minerals

Yamanaka, Takamitsu*; Hattori, Takanori

Physics and Chemistry of Minerals, 53(3), p.21_1 - 21_11, 2026/09

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00269-026-01350-2

Bulk modulus and electron density distribution of high-pressure polymorphs of Fe-Ti-O minerals (FeO magnetite, FeTiO ulvspinel, FeTiO ilmenite, FeTiO pseudobrokite) are investigated by X-ray and neutron diffraction. The vacant sites in the unit cell have much larger volumes than cation sites in the all structures. Cation site partly occupied by Ti atom shows a smaller than that of only Fe atom and the compressibility of unit cell increases with increasing Ti content. The compressibility of the vacant sites is close to that of unit cells, but are much smaller than that of the cation site. The structure changes such as high-low electron spin transition, Jahn-Teller effect and hybridization in the Fe-O bonds are elucidated by present high-pressure experiments. The hybridization in the octahedral cation site was observed by molecular orbital calculation and it brings the deformation of the octahedral cation site, which triggers structure changes in the high-pressure polymorphs.

Superior TRIP effect in a duplex stainless steel and its mechanism studied by neutron diffraction experiments

Tsuchida, Noriyuki*; Fujita, Akinori*; Hirakawa, Naoki*; Hamada, Junichi*; Ishimaru, Eiichiro*; Gong, W.; Kawasaki, Takuro; Harjo, S.

Materials Characterization, 236, p.116436_1 - 116436_13, 2026/06

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchar.2026.116436

Ultrasonic analysis of columnar crystal propagation echo in acoustically anisotropic weld metals; Targeting intergranular cracking of stainless-steel piping in pressurized water reactor primary system "FY2024 Nuclear Regulation Research Technology Infrastructure Construction Project Subsidy 'The Grant to Establish Technology Bases for Enhancement of Nuclear Regulation Research'"

Matsui, Tetsuya; Shimodaira, Masaki; Yamaguchi, Yoshihito; Toyama, Takeshi; Katsuyama, Jinya

JAEA-Research 2025-017, 41 Pages, 2026/03

JAEA-Research-2025-017.pdf:4.52MB

The JAEA Safety Research Center has been conducting fundamental research on advanced inspection and structural integrity assessment technologies since FY2024, including the development of a machine-learning-based ultrasonic flaw detection method using an ultrasonic simulator. To assess the simulator's applicability, phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT) results produced by the simulator were compared with actual measurement data. Due to limited publicly available datasets, an intergranular crack in the pressurizer spray line piping of Kansai Electric Power Co. Inc.'s Ohi Nuclear Power Station Unit 3 was selected as the reference case. PAUT linear scanning analysis at a 45 incident angle detected the crack's corner and edge echoes. Strong columnar-crystal propagation echoes were also observed within the weld metal, with their intensity showing dependence on the symmetric axis angle. Analysis at a 31 incident angle similarly identified strong columnar-crystal propagation echoes, which connected to the crack's corner echoes and propagated into the weld region. These results align with actual measurements, indicating that the observed weld-metal echoes are likely attributable to columnar-crystal propagation.

A Novel kinetic model for dissolution and precipitation of oxide on stainless-steel surface in stagnant liquid sodium

Kawaguchi, Munemichi*; Ikeda, Asuka; Saito, Junichi

Annals of Nuclear Energy, 226, p.111880_1 - 111880_9, 2026/02

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2025.111880

Experimental simulation of high-temperature and high-pressure annular two-phase flow using an HFC134a-ethanol system; Characterization of disturbance wave flow

Zhang, H.*; Umehara, Yutaro*; Horiguchi, Naoki; Yoshida, Hiroyuki; Eto, Atsuro*; Mori, Shoji*

Energy, 335, p.138090_1 - 138090_18, 2025/10

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2025.138090

Nuclear power is a key low-carbon energy source for a carbon-neutral future. In boiling water reactors (BWRs), steam-water annular flow near fuel rods is crucial for reactor safety, but its high-temperature, high-pressure conditions (285C, 7 MPa) make direct measurement challenges. To address this, we used an HFC134a-ethanol system at lower conditions (40C, 0.7 MPa) to simulate BWR annular flow. Using a high-speed camera and the constant electric current method, we analyzed liquid-film characteristics, wave velocity and frequency. We also examined surface tension and interfacial shear stress effects. Furthermore, we proposed a new correlation for base film thickness.

Research on radioactive aerosol control and decontamination at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Decommissioning (Contract research); FY2023 Nuclear Energy Science & Technology and Human Resource Development Project

Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced Decommissioning Science; The University of Tokyo*

JAEA-Review 2025-015, 73 Pages, 2025/09

JAEA-Review-2025-015.pdf:5.9MB

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 FY2023. 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 FY2021, this report summarizes the research results of the "Research on radioactive aerosol control and decontamination at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station decommissioning" conducted from FY2021 to FY2023. The present study aims to develop a safe laser decontamination system that integrates advanced particle detection and characterization systems with aerosol dispersion control, in collaboration with UK researchers. For aerosol dispersion control, new containment methods ranging from simple mechanical containment hoods to optical laser shields are jointly investigated. The Japanese team will develop a radioactive dispersion control method based on the use of water mist and water spray to reduce radiation risks during laser cutting and decontamination applications. Based on data on aerosol particles provided by the UK team, the potential to enhance aerosol scrubbing efficiency will be explored. Additionally, the effect of charge enhancement will be evaluated. The UK team will develop laser-based aerosol containment methods and conducting experiments to improve the condensation of aerosol particles and mist in spray scrubbing. The development of aerosol removal technologies and strategies will be carried out through comprehensive experimental and computational studies. Experiments will be conducted at UTARTS facility to verify simultaneous operations such as laser decontamination, cutting, and spray operations. Aerosol measurements will also be performed to obtain high spatial resolution data that can better validate CFD models. In the final year, mock-up tests will be conducted to verify the system's operation and decontamination performance at full scale, evaluating the decontamination system developed through this research.

Grain refinement of dual phase steel maximizes deformation ability of martensite, leading to simultaneous enhancement of strength and ductility

Park, M.-H.*; Shibata, Akinobu*; Harjo, S.; Tsuji, Nobuhiro*

Acta Materialia, 292, p.121061_1 - 121061_13, 2025/06

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2025.121061

Experimental investigation of phase transformations in steel using X-ray and neutron diffraction

Tomota, Yo*; Harjo, S.; Xu, P. G.; Morooka, Satoshi; Gong, W.; Wang, Y.*

Metals, 15(6), p.610_1 - 610_19, 2025/05

https://doi.org/10.3390/met15060610

Comparative analysis of primary variables selection in modeling non-isothermal two-phase flow; Insights from EBS experiment at Horonobe URL

Kim, M.*; Lee, C.*; Sugita, Yutaka; Kim, J.-S.*; Jeon, M.-K.*

Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment, 41, p.100628_1 - 100628_9, 2025/03

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gete.2024.100628

This study investigates the impact of primary variables selection on the modeling of non-isothermal two-phase flow, by using the numerical work on the full-scale Engineered Barrier System (EBS) experiment conducted at Horonobe URL as part of the DECOVALEX-2023 project. A validated numerical model is employed to simulate the coupled thermo-hydrological behavior of heterogeneous porous media within the EBS. Two different primary variable schemes are compared in discretizing the governing equations, revealing significant difference in results.

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.