Annual report on the environmental radiation monitoring around the Tokai Reprocessing Plant FY2022

Kokubun, Yuji; Nakada, Akira; Seya, Natsumi; Koike, Yuko; Nemoto, Masashi; Tobita, Keiji; Yamada, Ryohei*; Uchiyama, Rei; Yamashita, Daichi; Nagai, Shinji; et al.

JAEA-Review 2023-046, 164 Pages, 2024/03

JAEA-Review-2023-046.pdf:4.2MB

The Nuclear Fuel Cycle Engineering Laboratories conducts environmental radiation monitoring around the reprocessing plant in accordance with the "Safety Regulations for Reprocessing Plant of JAEA, Part IV: Environmental Monitoring". This report summarizes the results of environmental radiation monitoring conducted during the period from April 2022 to March 2023 and the results of dose calculations for the surrounding public due to the release of radioactive materials into the atmosphere and ocean. In the results of the above environmental radiation monitoring, many items were affected by radioactive materials emitted from the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant of Tokyo Electric Power Company, Incorporated (changed to Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc. on April 1, 2016), which occurred in March 2011. Also included as appendices are an overview of the environmental monitoring plan, an overview of measurement methods, measurement results and their changes over time, meteorological statistics results, radioactive waste release status, and an evaluation of the data which deviated of the normal range.

Development of contamination detection system combined with various remote devices

Morishita, Yuki; Miyamura, Hiroko; Sato, Yuki; Oura, Masatoshi*

Radiation Measurements, 171, p.107064_1 - 107064_7, 2024/02

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radmeas.2024.107064

The detection of alpha and beta contamination locations is important for decontaminating nuclear facilities. In the high radiation dose rate environment at the decommissioning sites, the contamination measurement by the workers is not effective. Thus, we developed a remote automatic contamination measurement system using a new scintillator-based detector. A 50 mm 100-m-thick YAlO(Ce)(YAP:Ce) scintillator was coupled with a flat panel-type multianode photomultiplier tube. The detector was installed downwards at the bottom of a robot. It has an energy measurement capability, and the energy measurement could discriminate the alpha particles from the beta and Rn alpha particles. With the energy information, alpha and beta particles could be identified and mapped simultaneously. In addition, a slow-moving robot could be used to obtain statistically sufficient counts in a single run measurement, allowing the evaluation of surface contamination density using only alpha particles. The remote automatic contamination measurement system will be useful in visualizing the contamination distribution in environments that are inaccessible to workers.

Status of the laser stripping of H beam at J-PARC RCS

Saha, P. K.; Harada, Hiroyuki; Yoneda, Hitoki*; Michine, Yurina*; Sato, Atsushi*; Shibata, Takanori*; Kinsho, Michikazu

Proceedings of 20th Annual Meeting of Particle Accelerator Society of Japan (Internet), p.59 - 63, 2023/11

https://www.pasj.jp/web_publish/pasj2023/proceedings/PDF/WEOB/WEOB5.pdf

Numerical simulation method using a Cartesian grid for oxidation of core materials under steam-starved conditions

Yamashita, Susumu; Sato, Takumi; Nagae, Yuji; Kurata, Masaki; Yoshida, Hiroyuki

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 60(9), p.1029 - 1045, 2023/09

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2022.2162996

Temperature-variable apparatus for measuring Barnett field

Umeda, Maki; Chudo, Hiroyuki; Imai, Masaki; Sato, Nana; Saito, Eiji

Review of Scientific Instruments, 94(6), p.063906_1 - 063906_8, 2023/06

https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0142318

Evaluation of external dose exposure of workers during house demolition and dose reduction work in a difficult-to-return zone

Sanada, Yukihisa; Tokiyoshi, Masanori*; Nishiyama, Kyohei*; Sato, Rina; Yoshimura, Kazuya; Funaki, Hironori; Abe, Tomohisa; Ishida, Mutsushi*; Nagamine, Haruo*; Fujisaka, Motoyuki*

Nihon Genshiryoku Gakkai Wabun Rombunshi (Internet), 22(2), p.87 - 96, 2023/04

https://doi.org/10.3327/taesj.J22.011

Since the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, many decontamination works have been carried out, but it is difficult to say that much data on workers' exposure has necessarily been analyzed in detail. In this paper, based on the GPS location information carried by the workers together with their personal dosimeters, the air dose rate in the work area and the characteristics of each type of work were analyzed. The results showed that more than 50% of the measured actual doses were more than twice the median planned dose calculated from the air dose rate and actual working hours. Furthermore, as a result of the analysis by work type, it was found that the exposure doses of demolition workers tended to be high, and that this was due to the fact that most of the work was carried out before the work was carried out to reduce the dose at the work site. In addition, when the conversion from air dose to effective dose was taken into account, there were many cases of underestimation where the planned values were lower than the measured values, and it is considered important for management to set appropriate working factor.

External exposure assessment in the Fukushima accident area for governmental policy planning in Japan, 2; Matters to be attended for assessments of external exposure

Yoshimura, Kazuya; Sanada, Yukihisa; Sato, Rina; Nakayama, Mariko*; Tsubokura, Masaharu*

Journal of Radiation Research (Internet), 64(2), p.203 - 209, 2023/03

https://doi.org/10.1093/jrr/rrac088

After the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident, individual exposure doses to residents have been assessed by many municipalities, governments and research institutes. Various methods including measurements with personal dosimeters and simulations have been used for this evaluation depending on purposes, but the information of assessments and methods has not been systematically organized. A comprehensive review of the knowledge and experiences of individual exposure doses assessments accumulated so far and understanding the characteristics of the assessment methods will be very useful for radiation protection and risk communication, following to governmental policy planning. We reviewed the efforts made by the Japanese government and research institutes to assess radiation doses to residents after the FDNPS accident in Part1. On the other hand, each method of assessing individual exposure doses includes uncertainties and points to be considered for the appropriate assessment. These knowledge and experiences are important for the assessment implementation and applying the assessment results to the governmental policy planning, and are summarized in Part2 of this article.

External exposure assessment in the Fukushima accident area for governmental policy planning in Japan, 1; Methodologies for personal dosimetry applied after the accident

Sanada, Yukihisa; Yoshimura, Kazuya; Sato, Rina; Nakayama, Mariko*; Tsubokura, Masaharu*

Journal of Radiation Research (Internet), 64(1), p.2 - 10, 2023/01

https://doi.org/10.1093/jrr/rrac079

The evacuation orderareas established due to the accident at the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings' (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) have been reorganized according to the decrease in ambient dose rates and the decontamination progress. The Japanese government decided to decontaminate the difficult-to-return areas and lift the evacuation order by 2030. This radiation protection strategy can be optimized by examining emergency exposure situations to date and the existing exposure after the accident. This article reviews the methods that can determine the individual radiation doses of residents who should return to their homes when the evacuation order is lifted in the specific reconstruction reproduction base area and the difficult-to-return areas outside this base area and summarizes the points to be considered when implementing these methods. In Part 1 of this article, we review the efforts made by the Japanese government and research institutes to assess radiation doses to residents after the FDNPP accident.

Progress of evaluation of beam coupling impedance reduction for the Eddy-current type septum magnet in J-PARC MR

Kobayashi, Aine*; Toyama, Takeshi*; Nakamura, Takeshi*; Shobuda, Yoshihiro; Ishii, Koji*; Tomizawa, Masahito*; Takeuchi, Yasunao*; Sato, Yoichi*

Proceedings of 19th Annual Meeting of Particle Accelerator Society of Japan (Internet), p.19 - 23, 2023/01

https://www.pasj.jp/web_publish/pasj2022/proceedings/PDF/TUOB/TUOB01.pdf

In the J-PARC main ring, density modulation due to longitudinal beam instability occurs during the debunching process of coasting beams. This leads to the generation of an electron cloud, which in turn causes transverse beam instabilities. The transverse beam instability causes beam loss and the electron cloud is assumed to cause vacuum degradation, both of which hinder the beam intensity enhancement, so it is essential to clarify the causes and countermeasures. In particular, the longitudinal impedance of several hundred MHz has been investigated as relevant, and measures to reduce the impedance of individual devices are underway. The Eddy-current type septum magnet, newly installed this year, was found to have a large impedance by simulation. Therefore, we are investigating a method to reduce the impedance by a flange loaded with SiC radio wave absorber, which can be applied to locations where there is no spatial margin to install a taper. In this report, we will discuss the characterization of SiC to be used in actual devices, impedance simulation reflecting the results of SiC evaluation, and evaluation of the effect of impedance countermeasures by impedance measurement using the wire method, and progress in evaluating the effect on the beam by beam simulation and beam study.

Thermodynamic analysis for solidification path of simulated ex-vessel corium

Sato, Takumi; Nagae, Yuji; Kurata, Masaki; Quaini, A.*; Guneau, C.*

CALPHAD; Computer Coupling of Phase Diagrams and Thermochemistry, 79, p.102481_1 - 102481_11, 2022/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.calphad.2022.102481