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Journal Articles

Now is the time of fast reactor

Negishi, Hitoshi; Kamide, Hideki; Maeda, Seiichiro; Nakamura, Hirofumi; Abe, Tomoyuki

Nihon Genshiryoku Gakkai-Shi ATOMO$$Sigma$$, 62(8), p.438 - 441, 2020/08

Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor, Monju, was under decommission since April, 2018. It is the first time for Japan to make a sodium cooled reactor into decommission. It is significant work and will take 30 years. The Monju has provided wide spectrum and huge amount of findings and knowledge, e.g., design, R&D, manufacturing, construction, and operation up to 40% of full power over 50 years of development history. It is significant to utilize such findings and knowledge for the development and commercialization of a fast rector in Japan.

Journal Articles

Oxygen potential analysis to evaluate irradiation behavior in MOX and MA-bearing MOX fuels

Kato, Masato; Abe, Tomoyuki

Journal of Energy and Power Engineering, 7(10), p.1865 - 1870, 2013/10

Journal Articles

Japanese FR deployment scenario study after the Fukushima accident

Ono, Kiyoshi; Shiotani, Hiroki; Ohtaki, Akira; Mukaida, Kyoko; Abe, Tomoyuki

Proceedings of International Conference on Fast Reactors and Related Fuel Cycles; Safe Technologies and Sustainable Scenarios (FR-13) (USB Flash Drive), 10 Pages, 2013/03

In parallel to the mid-term analyses by the AEC after the Fukushima-accident, JAEA implemented the long-term scenario analyses for the nuclear fuel cycle options including FR cycle deployment. As a result, it was revealed that FR cycle deployment brings great benefits to reduction of uranium demand, spent fuel storage, radioactive waste generation, and Pu stockpiles in addition to potential hazard of HLW in "20 GWe constant after 2030" case. Meanwhile, it was also revealed the benefits of reduction of radioactive waste generation and Pu stockpiles in "Gradual decrease from 20 GWe after 2030" case.

Journal Articles

Effect of oxygen-to-metal ratio on melting temperature of uranium and plutonium mixed oxide fuel for fast reactor

Kato, Masato; Morimoto, Kyoichi; Nakamichi, Shinya; Sugata, Hiromasa*; Konashi, Kenji*; Kashimura, Motoaki; Abe, Tomoyuki

Nihon Genshiryoku Gakkai Wabun Rombunshi, 7(4), p.420 - 428, 2008/12

The melting temperatures of MOX for fast reactor fuel were investigated as functions of Pu content, Am content and oxygen-to-metal (O/M) ratio using thermal arrest technique. Rhenium inner was used for the measurement to prevent the reaction between the sample and capsule materials. The solidus temperatures decreased with increasing Pu and Am content and increased with decreasing O/M ratio. It is considered that the maximum temperature in U-Pu-O system varies in hypostoichiometric composition region. The melting temperatures were evaluated by ideal solid solution model in UO$$_{2}$$-PuO$$_{2}$$-AmO$$_{2}$$-PuO$$_{1.7}$$ system, and the model was derived for calculating solidus and liquidus temperature. The derived model reproduced the experimental data with $$pm$$25 K.

Journal Articles

Demonstration of remote fabrication for FBR MOX fuel at the PFPF

Takahashi, Saburo; Kikuno, Hiroshi; Shiromo, Hideo; Kuba, Meiji; Abe, Tomoyuki; Takeda, Seiichiro

Proceedings of 16th Pacific Basin Nuclear Conference (PBNC-16) (CD-ROM), 6 Pages, 2008/10

Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has been accumulating various experience and knowledge on development of MOX fuel technologies for more than 40 years since 1966. Plutonium Fuel Production Facility (PFPF) has introduced a fully automated and remote operation in 1988 as a pioneer in the world, based on the operational and technical experience obtained in the existing facilities. The PFPF has fabricated MOX fuel assemblies for a fast reactor "JOYO" and a fast breeder reactor "MONJU" so far. Through MOX fuel fabrication for JOYO and MONJU, many operational experiences such as a hold-up material problem have been gained. Based on the experiences, process equipments have been newly developed and a process technology has been improved. As the results, fully automated and remote fabrication technologies including easy contact maintenance of process equipments for FBR MOX fuel have been demonstrated in the PFPF on a large scale.

Journal Articles

Thermal conductivities of (U,Pu,Am)O$$_{2}$$ solid solutions

Morimoto, Kyoichi; Kato, Masato; Ogasawara, Masahiro*; Kashimura, Motoaki; Abe, Tomoyuki

Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 452(1), p.54 - 60, 2008/03

 Times Cited Count:28 Percentile:77.26(Chemistry, Physical)

Plutonium and uranium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel with high Pu content have been developed as a fuel of fast reactor (FR). As the storage time of Pu raw material between reprocessing and fabrication increases, americium content of the fabricated MOX fuel increases up to a few percent. In this work, the thermal conductivity of MOX fuel containing Am was investigated as a part of clarifying the effect of Am content on thermal physical properties. The pellets of (Am$$_{0.007}$$ Pu$$_{0.3}$$ U)O$$_{2.00}$$, (Am$$_{0.02}$$ Pu$$_{0.3}$$ U)O$$_{2.00}$$ and (Am$$_{0.03}$$ Pu$$_{0.3}$$ U)O$$_{2.00}$$ were prepared. The oxygen to metal ratio (O/M ratio) of sintered pellet was adjusted to 2.00. The thermal diffusivity measurement was carried out in the range of temperature from 900 K to 1700 K by the laser flash method, and thermal conductivity of these pellets was evaluated. The heat capacity for evaluating thermal conductivity was derived from heat capacity of UO$$_{2}$$, PuO$$_{2}$$ and AmO$$_{2}$$ by using the Kopp-Neumann rule.

Journal Articles

Solidus and liquidus of plutonium and uranium mixed oxide

Kato, Masato; Morimoto, Kyoichi; Sugata, Hiromasa*; Konashi, Kenji*; Kashimura, Motoaki; Abe, Tomoyuki

Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 452(1), p.48 - 53, 2008/03

 Times Cited Count:29 Percentile:77.26(Chemistry, Physical)

Plutonium and uranium mixed oxide has been developed as a fuel of a fast reactor. The maximum temperature of the fuel pellet is limited within a design criterion to prevent fuel melting. So, the melting points of the mixed oxide have been investigated since the development of fast reactor started. However the measured data are limited. In this work, the melting points of (U1-yPuy)O$$_{2-x}$$ (y: 0, 0.12, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4) were measured by the thermal arrest method. The evaluated melting point of this study underestimates in case of MOX with high Pu contents of 30% and 40%. The solidus of UO$$_{2}$$, (Pu$$_{0.12}$$U$$_{0.88}$$)O$$_{2.00}$$ and (Pu$$_{0.2}$$U$$_{0.8}$$)O$$_{2.00}$$ were determined to be 3128K, 3077K and 3052K, respectively. The solidus temperature of hypostoichiometric MOX slightly increased with decreasing O/M.

Journal Articles

Solidus and liquidus temperatures in the UO$$_{2}$$-PuO$$_{2}$$ system

Kato, Masato; Morimoto, Kyoichi; Sugata, Hiromasa*; Konashi, Kenji*; Kashimura, Motoaki; Abe, Tomoyuki

Journal of Nuclear Materials, 373(1-3), p.237 - 245, 2008/02

 Times Cited Count:59 Percentile:96.07(Materials Science, Multidisciplinary)

The melting of plutonium and uranium mixed oxide (MOX) containing Pu of more than 30% was investigated using a tungsten capsule and a rhenium inner capsule. In the conventional measurement of MOX in the tungsten capsule, a liquid phase of tungsten and plutonium oxide appeared in the MOX during melting. This liquid phase was found to have an effect on the measurement of melting point. Therefore the rhenium inner capsule was used to avoid the effect. The solidus and liquidus temperatures in the UO$$_{2}$$-PuO$$_{2}$$ system were decided from the MOX data measured using the rhenium capsule, and the effect of the Am content on the solidus temperature was evaluated. The variation of the solidus and liquidus temperatures in the UO$$_{2}$$-PuO$$_{2}$$-AmO$$_{2}$$ ternary system was represented to an accuracy of $$sigma$$=$$pm$$9K and $$sigma$$=$$pm$$16K, respectively, by the ideal solution model.

Journal Articles

Evaluation of melting temperature in (Pu$$_{0.43}$$Am$$_{0.03}$$U$$_{0.54}$$)O$$_{2.00}$$

Nakamichi, Shinya; Kato, Masato; Morimoto, Kyoichi; Sugata, Hiromasa*; Kashimura, Motoaki; Abe, Tomoyuki

Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, 96(1), p.191 - 192, 2007/06

JAEA has developed plutonium and uranium mixed oxide (MOX) containing 20-32%Pu content as a fuel of the fast breeder reactor. During irradiation, large temperature gradient in radial direction of a fuel pellet causes redistribution of Pu and U, and the Pu content increases to about 43% at the pellet center. The maximum temperature of the fuel pellet during irradiation is limited within the design criterion to prevent fuel melting. So, it is important to evaluate melting points of MOX containing 43%Pu. In this work, it is confirmed that the MOX with 43%Pu content is not melted by heat treatment just below the melting point which was determined by thermal arrest technique using Re inner capsule. The MOX specimen with 43%Pu content was heated at 2978K for 40s using Re inner capsule. Optical micrograph and XRD results show the specimen was heated at the temperature less than solidus temperature. So it was confirmed that (Pu$$_{0.43}$$Am$$_{0.03}$$U$$_{0.54}$$)O$$_{2.00}$$ was solid phase at 2978K$$pm$$20K.

Journal Articles

The Effect of O/M ratio on the melting of plutonium and uranium mixed oxides

Kato, Masato; Morimoto, Kyoichi; Sugata, Hiromasa*; Konashi, Kenji*; Kashimura, Motoaki; Abe, Tomoyuki

Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, 96(1), p.193 - 194, 2007/06

Melting point of a nuclear fuel is one of the important physical properties for its development, because it limits maximum temperature of the fuel during operation. A rhenium inner capsule was used to prevent the reaction with capsule for measuring melting points of MOX. In this work melting points of MOX with 40% and 46%Pu were investigated as a function of an O/M ratio using Re inner, and the effect of the O/M ratio on the melting points was evaluated. The solidus and liquidus temperatures in (Pu$$_{0.4}$$U$$_{0.6}$$)O$$_{2-x}$$ and (Pu$$_{0.46}$$U$$_{0.56}$$)O$$_{2-x}$$ were measured by thermal arrest method. It was observed that the melting points in the both samples increased with a decrease of the O/M from 2.00, and their data were 50-100K higher than existing data measured in previous works which were measured with W capsule.

JAEA Reports

Evaluation of thermal physical properties for fast reactor fuels; Melting point and thermal conductivities

Kato, Masato; Morimoto, Kyoichi; Komeno, Akira; Nakamichi, Shinya; Kashimura, Motoaki; Abe, Tomoyuki; Uno, Hiroki*; Ogasawara, Masahiro*; Tamura, Tetsuya*; Sugata, Hiromasa*; et al.

JAEA-Technology 2006-049, 32 Pages, 2006/10

JAEA-Technology-2006-049.pdf:19.46MB
JAEA-Technology-2006-049(errata).pdf:0.32MB

Japan Atomic Energy Agency has developed a fast breeder reactor(FBR), and plutonium and uranium mixed oxide (MOX) having low density and 20-30%Pu content has used as a fuel of the FBR, Monju. In plutonium, Americium has been accumulated during long-term storage, and Am content will be increasing up to 2-3% in the MOX. It is essential to evaluate the influence of Am content on physical properties of MOX on the development of FBR in the future. In this study melting points and thermal conductivities which are important data on the fuel design were measured systematically in wide range of composition, and the effects of Am accumulated were evaluated. The solidus temperatures of MOX were measured as a function of Pu content, oxygen to metal ratio(O/M) and Am content using thermal arrest technique. The sample was sealed in a tungsten capsule in vacuum for measuring solidus temperature. In the measurements of MOX with Pu content of more than 30%, a rhenium inner capsule was used to prevent the reaction between MOX and tungsten. In the results, it was confirmed that the melting points of MOX decrease with as an increase of Pu content and increase slightly with a decrease of O/M ratio. The effect of Am content on the fuel design was negligible small in the range of Am content up to 3%. Thermal conductivities of MOX were evaluated from thermal diffusivity measured by laser flash method and heat capacity calculated by Nuemann- Kopp's law. The thermal conductivity of MOX decreased slightly in the temperature of less than 1173K with increasing Am content. The effect of Am accumulated in long-term storage fuel was evaluated from melting points and thermal conductivities measured in this study. It is concluded that the increase of Am in the fuel barely affect the fuel design in the range of less than 3%Am content.

Journal Articles

Fuel-cladding chemical interaction in MOX fuel rods irradiated to high burnup in an advanced thermal reactor

Tanaka, Kosuke; Maeda, Koji; Sasaki, Shinji; Ikusawa, Yoshihisa; Abe, Tomoyuki

Journal of Nuclear Materials, 357(1-3), p.58 - 68, 2006/10

 Times Cited Count:11 Percentile:60.35(Materials Science, Multidisciplinary)

The performance of MOX fuel irradiated in the advanced thermal reactor, FUGEN, to the burnup of 47.5 GWd/t, was investigated by using a telescotpe, optical microscope, SEM and EPMA. Observations focused on elucidating the corrosion behavior of the cladding inner surface. A reaction layer was observed at burnups higher than about 35 GWd/t. The relationship between the thickness of the reaction layer and burnup was similar to that reported in the literature for conventional UO$$_{2}$$ fuel and other MOX fuels. The existence of a plutonium spot near the outer surface of the fuel pellet had no significant effect on the thickness of the reaction layer. A bonding layer was observed on the cladding inner surface. Its morphology and elemental distributions were not so different from those in BWR UO$$_{2}$$ fuel pins irradiated to high burnup, in which the fission gas release rate is high. In addition, the dependences of bonding layer formation on the burnup and linear heat rating were similar to results of UO2 fuel pins. It was, thus, suggested that the bonding layer formation mechanism was similar in both UO2 and MOX fuel pins.

Journal Articles

Development and verifications of fast reactor fuel design code CEPTAR

Ozawa, Takayuki; Abe, Tomoyuki

Nuclear Technology, 156(1), p.39 - 55, 2006/10

 Times Cited Count:16 Percentile:76.34(Nuclear Science & Technology)

The annular fuel is very beneficial for fast reactor because of availability for both high power and high burn-up. Most of annular pellets irradiated up to high burn-up showed the central-hole shrinkage due to deformation and restructuring during irradiation. This shrinkage has a great influence on power-to-melt which is a main factor to decide the maximum power in the fuel design. In order to predict precisely the central-hole shrinkage during irradiation, CEPTAR code was developed and verified by using the results of various experiments. In this code, the central-hole diameter is decided in accordance with law of conservation of mass by using the radial profile of fuel density computed with the void migration model, and its deformation caused by the thermal expansion, swelling and creep is computed by the stress-strain analysis using the approximation of plane-strain. Furthermore, this code can also estimate the effect of Joint-Oxide-Gain (JOG) observed in a gap between the cladding and the fuel pellet with high burn-up, which is to decrease the fuel swelling and to improve the gap conductance due to deposition of solid fission product to JOG layer. In this paper, the outline of CEPTAR code and the results of verification are mentioned.

JAEA Reports

Power ramp tests of MOX fuel rods; HBWR Irradiation with the Instrument Rig, IFA-591

Ozawa, Takayuki; Abe, Tomoyuki

JAEA-Technology 2006-026, 300 Pages, 2006/03

JAEA-Technology-2006-026.pdf:117.55MB

no abstracts in English

Journal Articles

Development of probabilistic design method for fast reactor fuel rod

Ozawa, Takayuki; Abe, Tomoyuki

Nuclear Science and Engineering, 152(1), p.37 - 47, 2006/01

 Times Cited Count:0 Percentile:0.01(Nuclear Science & Technology)

In order to proceed with the improvement of fast reactor performance, the optimization of design margin is required. The application of probabilistic method to fuel rod design is under consideration as one of measures aimed at realizing it, and a probabilistic code named

Journal Articles

Development and demonstration of ATR-MOX fuel

Abe, Tomoyuki; Maeda, Seiichiro; Nakazawa, Hiroaki

Proceedings of 13th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE-13), 0 Pages, 2005/05

Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute (JNC) developed plutonium and uranium mixed oxide (MOX) fuels for an advanced thermal reactor (ATR) for a flexible utilization of plutonium. JNC made endeavors to obtain well-homogenized MOX pellets by a ball mill mixing method with a variety of raw powders, including MOX powder by a microwave-heating denitration process. A total of 772 MOX fuel assemblies were utilized in the ATR prototype reactor

JAEA Reports

Post Irradiation Examination for The FUGEN High Burn-up MOX Fuel Assembly (II) Destructive Examination

Ikusawa,Yoshihisa; Kikuchi, Keiichi; Ozawa, Takayuki; Nakazawa, Hiroaki; Abe, Tomoyuki; Isozaki,Takao*; Nagayama, Masahiro*

JNC TN8410 2004-008, 106 Pages, 2004/10

JNC-TN8410-2004-008.pdf:25.96MB

The "E09" was irradiated in the FUGEN from February 1990 to January 1997, and its average burn-up reached 37.7GWd/t at the end of irradiation. In order to be irradiated up to high burn-up, this fuel assembly had the design improved by applying the fissile content with axial distribution, four UO$$_{2}$$- Gd$$_{2}$$O$$_{3}$$fuel rods located with MOX fuel rods and so on. The E09 fuel assembly had been cooled in the FUGEN spent fuel pool for four years after irradiation.After that, it was transported to Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) Tokai in 2001.Post Irradiation Examinations (PIE) were started in July 2001 at Reactor Fuel Examination Facility in JAERI, and a part of destructive examinations(Puncture examination, Ceramography, Metallography and alpha-autoradiography) were completed in March 2003. The destructive examinations will be completed by December 2004.In this report, the data obtained from destructive examinations completed in March 2003 were summarized, and the evaluation results of irradiation performance of MOX fuel and cladding were discussed. Consequently, the MOX fuel rod integrity during irradiation was confirmed from the result of the destructive PIE. These results will be used for CANDU-OPTION program, which is one of Russian surplus weapon plutonium disposition programs with AECL in Canada, and available for LWR plutonium recycle program in Japan.

JAEA Reports

Post Irradiation Examination for The FUGEN High Burn-up MOX Fuel Assembly (II) Destructive Examination (Part 1)

Ikusawa,Yoshihisa; Kikuchi, Keiichi; Nakazawa, Hiroaki; Abe, Tomoyuki; Isozaki,Takao*; Nagayama, Masahiro*

JNC TN8410 2003-015, 251 Pages, 2004/01

JNC-TN8410-2003-015.pdf:16.07MB

The FUGEN High Burn-up MOX Fuel Assembly E09 was developed for high burn-up fuel of DATR. The E09 MOX fuel assembly was irradiated at the FUGEN from February 1990 to January 1997, and its average burn-up reached 37.7GWd/t. In order to be irradiated up to high burn-up, they had the design improved by applying the fissile content with axial distribution, four UO2-Gd2O3 fuel rods and so on. The E09 fuel assembly had been cooled in the FUGEN spent fuel pool for four years after irradiation. After that, it was transported to Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) Tokai Research Establishment in 2001. Post Irradiation Examinations (PIE) were started in July 2001 at Reactor Fuel Examination Facility in JAERI, and a part of destructive examinations(Puncture examination ,Metallography and Alpha Autoradiography) were completed in March 2003. In this report, the data from destructive examinations will be summarized, and evaluation results of irradiation performance will be discussed. The integrity of fuel assembly during irradiation was confirmed in the destructive PIE.

Journal Articles

Performance of ATR MOX Fuel Assemblies Irradiated to 40 GWd/t

Ozawa, Takayuki; Abe, Tomoyuki; Ikusawa, Yoshihisa; Maeda, Koji

CD-ROM, 8P., 8 Pages, 2004/00

Focusing on the cover layer materials (as the Radon Barrier Materials), which could have the effect to restrain the radon from scattering into the air and the effect of the radiation shielding, we produced the radon barrier materials with crude bentonite on an experimental basis, using the rotary type comprehensive unit for grinding and mixing, through which we carried out the evaluation of the characteristics thereof.

Journal Articles

Dielectric Properties of Uranium and Plutonium Nitrate Solution and the Oxide Compounds Formed in the De-nitratiin Process by the Microwave Heating Method

Kato, Yoshiyuki; Kurita, Tsutomu; Abe, Tomoyuki

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 41(8), p.857 - 862, 2004/00

 Times Cited Count:11 Percentile:61.61(Nuclear Science & Technology)

The application of the fluoride volatility process in the reprocessing of fuel from the fast breeder reactor is regarded as one of the economical methods. Plutonium hexafluoride (PuF$$_{6}$$), however, reacting with fluorine (F2) and plutonium dioxide (PuO$$_{2}$$) as the raw material, is in an unstable condition and tends to remain as a solid compound in the process after decomposing into plutonium tetrafluoride (PuF$$_{4}$$). Suitable conditions should be established for the practical use of this process. One of them is to enhance the stability of PuF$$_{6}$$. The behaviour of plutonium fluorination and relevant chemical reactions were investigated by referring to sundry literature and by thermodynamic calculation. It was then compared with recent data from laboratory scale experiments for this paper. Results from the theoretical analysis agreed with experimental observation that PuF$$_{6}$$ could be formed stably under a high temperature condition (approx.1000 K) with over supply of figher concentration of F2.

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