In-situ dismantling of the liquid waste storage tank in the decommissioning program of the JRTF

Mimura, Ryuji; Muraguchi, Yoshinori; Nakashio, Nobuyuki; Nemoto, Koichi; Shiraishi, Kunio

Proceedings of 23rd International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE-23) (DVD-ROM), 5 Pages, 2015/05

The JAERI's Reprocessing Test Facility (JRTF) was the first engineering-scale reprocessing facility constructed in Japan. The JRTF was operated from 1968 to 1969 to reprocess spent fuels from the Japan Research Reactor No.3 (JRR-3). As a result of the operation (total 3 runs) by PUREX process, 200 g of highly purified plutonium (Pu) were extracted. In this operation, about 70 m of liquid waste was generated and part of this waste, which including Pu, with relatively high radioactivity, was stored in six large tanks. After shutdown of the facility, the JRTF decommissioning program was started in 1990 to develop decommissioning technologies and to obtain experiences and data on dismantling of fuel cycle facilities. Liquid waste in the tanks was treated from 1982 to 1998. Dismantling of tanks started in 2002. The tanks were installed in narrow concrete cells and inside of the cell was high dose area. Dismantling method for the tank is important factor to decide manpower and time for dismantlement. In this paper, in-situ dismantling of the liquid waste storage tank and its preparation work are discussed.

Environmental radiation monitoring resulting from the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, conducted by Oarai Research and Development Center, JAEA; Results of ambient gamma-ray dose rate, atmospheric radioactivity and meteorological observation

Yamada, Junya; Seya, Natsumi; Haba, Risa; Muto, Yasunobu; Numari, Hideyuki*; Sato, Naomitsu*; Nemoto, Koji*; Takasaki, Hiroichi*; Shimizu, Takehiko; Takasaki, Koji

JAEA-Data/Code 2013-006, 100 Pages, 2013/06

JAEA-Data-Code-2013-006.pdf:12.04MB

This report presents the results of emergency radiation monitoring, including ambient -ray dose rate, atmospheric radioactivity, meteorological observation and estimation of internal exposure resulting from the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant triggered by the earthquake off the pacific coast of Tohoku on 11th March 2011, conducted by Oarai Research and Development Center (ORDC), Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) from March to May, 2011. ORDC is located in the central part of Ibaraki prefecture and approximately 130 km southwest of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. From around 15th to 21st March, 2011, the ambient -ray dose rate increased and many radioactive nuclides were detected in the atmosphere.

Removal of the liquid waste storage tank LV-2 in JRTF, 2; Removal works

Kanayama, Fumihiko; Hagiya, Kazuaki; Sunaoshi, Mizuho; Muraguchi, Yoshinori; Satomi, Shinichi; Nemoto, Koichi; Terunuma, Akihiro; Shiraishi, Kunio; Ito, Shinichi

JAEA-Technology 2011-011, 36 Pages, 2011/06

JAEA-Technology-2011-011.pdf:2.53MB

Dismantling activities of equipments in JAERI's Reprocessing Test Facility (JRTF) started from 1996 as a part of decommissioning of this facility. Removing out of the large liquid waste storage tank LV-2 as a whole tank without cutting in pieces from the annex building B to confirm safety and efficiency of this method started from 2006. After preparatory works, ceiling of LV-2 room was opened, and LV-2 was transferred. Useful data were collected on manpower, radiation control and waste amount through the preparatory works, and work efficiency was analyzed by use of these data.

Decommissioning five facilities in Nuclear Science Research Institute

Terunuma, Akihiro; Naito, Akira; Nemoto, Koichi; Usami, Jun; Tomii, Hiroyuki; Shiraishi, Kunio; Ito, Shinichi

JAEA-Review 2010-038, 96 Pages, 2010/09

JAEA-Review-2010-038.pdf:5.9MB

Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has midterm plan for decommissioning the facilities being finished their role and the facilities that became unnecessary by shifting their functions to other facilities. In the first midterm plan (from the latter half of fiscal year 2005 to fiscal year 2009), decommissioning of five facilities (Ceramic Research Facility, Plutonium Research Facility No.2, Metallurgy Research Facility, Isotope Separation Research Facility and Reprocessing Test Facility) had been carried out in order to release controlled area and dismantle the facilities in Nuclear Science Research Institute (NSRI), JAEA. The decommissioning activity for each facility had been reported to the regulatory body and municipalities. On this report, we summarize the each activity for five facilities by reviewing the reports to the regulatory body and municipalities. We also added the knowledge obtained through the activity.

A Novel technique for monitoring the reproducibility of laser tape-target interactions using an X-ray pinhole camera

Ogura, Koichi; Fukumi, Atsushi*; Li, Z.*; Orimo, Satoshi; Sagisaka, Akito; Nishiuchi, Mamiko; Kado, Masataka; Mori, Michiaki; Yogo, Akifumi; Hayashi, Yukio; et al.

Journal of the Vacuum Society of Japan, 52(10), p.570 - 574, 2009/10

https://doi.org/10.3131/jvsj2.52.570

For accurate control of relativistic laser-plasma interaction under the repetitive operation, we have to measure and control the laser irradiation conditions such as laser parameters, the target shooting accuracy and so on as well as measuring proton parameter on each laser shot. The displacement of the laser shooting position on a tape target, that are used in the high energy proton generation using an ultra-short Ti:sapphire laser system, is measured by observing an X-ray image from laser plasma with an X-ray pinhole camera for each laser shot. The displacement of the shooting position on the target is about 20micron and the accuracy of the target positioning is within 20micron which is small enough for present laser focusing optics with an F number of 3.6 (f=179mm). The technique contributes to accurate control of a repetitive laser driven proton accelerators.

Proton-induced nuclear reactions using compact high-contrast high-intensity laser

Ogura, Koichi; Shizuma, Toshiyuki; Hayakawa, Takehito; Yogo, Akifumi; Nishiuchi, Mamiko; Orimo, Satoshi; Sagisaka, Akito; Pirozhkov, A. S.; Mori, Michiaki; Kiriyama, Hiromitsu; et al.

Applied Physics Express, 2(6), p.066001_1 - 066001_3, 2009/05

https://doi.org/10.1143/APEX.2.066001

Protons with energies up to 3.5 MeV have been generated by a 10 Hz compact laser with an intensity of about 10 W/cm, focused on a 7.5 mm thick polyimide target. These protons were used to induce a nuclear reaction of B(p,n)C. A total activity of 11.1 Bq was created after 60-shot laser irradiation. The possibility of thin layer activation (TLA) using a high-intensity ultra-short pulsed laser is discussed.

Simultaneous generation of UV harmonics and protons from a thin-foil target with a high-intensity laser

Sagisaka, Akito; Daido, Hiroyuki; Pirozhkov, A. S.; Ma, J.-L.; Yogo, Akifumi; Ogura, Koichi; Orimo, Satoshi; Mori, Michiaki; Nishiuchi, Mamiko; Kawachi, Tetsuya; et al.

IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, 36(4), p.1812 - 1816, 2008/08

https://doi.org/10.1109/TPS.2008.2000897

We observe UV harmonics and protons with a thin-foil target irradiated with a high-intensity Ti:sapphire laser. The laser intensity dependency of UV harmonics and proton signal is measured by varying the distance between the target surface and the best focus of the laser beam. In the case of appropriate condition for proton generation with a maximum energy of 2.7 MeV, the weak broad spectrum in the UV region is generated. The UV harmonics up to fourth-order are generated as the target is moved away from the best focus position. In this condition the maximum energy of protons is reduced to 1 MeV.

Efficient production of a collimated MeV proton beam from a Polyimide target driven by an intense femtosecond laser pulse

Nishiuchi, Mamiko; Daido, Hiroyuki; Yogo, Akifumi; Orimo, Satoshi; Ogura, Koichi; Ma, J.-L.; Sagisaka, Akito; Mori, Michiaki; Pirozhkov, A. S.; Kiriyama, Hiromitsu; et al.

Physics of Plasmas, 15(5), p.053104_1 - 053104_10, 2008/05

https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2928161

High-flux energetic protons whose maximum energies are up to 4 MeV are generated by an intense femtosecond Titanium Sapphire laser pulse interacting with a 7.5, 12.5, and 25m thick Polyimide tape targets. The laser pulse energy is 1.7 J, duration is 34 fs, and intensity is 310Wcm. The amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) has the intensity contrast ratio of 410. The conversion efficiency from laser energy into proton kinetic energies of 3% is achieved, which is comparable or even higher than those achieved in the previous works with nanometer-thick targets and the ultrahigh contrast laser pulses (10).

Laser-driven proton acceleration from a near-critical density target

Yogo, Akifumi; Daido, Hiroyuki; Bulanov, S. V.; Esirkepov, T. Z.; Nemoto, Koshichi*; Oishi, Yuji*; Nayuki, Takuya*; Fujii, Takashi*; Ogura, Koichi; Orimo, Satoshi; et al.

Journal of Physics; Conference Series, 112, p.042034_1 - 042034_4, 2008/00

https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/112/4/042034

In this work, we present a new method to enhance the proton generation by a 10-contrast laser. High-energy protons up to 3.8 MeV are observed with 7.5-m-thick insulator (Polyimide) target irradiated by a laser pulse having energy of 0.8 J and an intensity of 10-W/cm. Using two time-of-flight (TOF) spectrometers simultaneously in different directions, we measure the direction dependency of proton-energy spectra. As a result, we find that high-energy component of proton beam is shifted away from the target normal toward the laser-propagation direction, when the laser is focused with 45 incident angle. The TOF measurements over 130 laser shots confirm that the generation of the high-energy protons, which are steered away from the target normal, depends strongly on the laser-focusing condition.

Simultaneous proton and X-ray imaging with femtosecond intense laser driven plasma source

Orimo, Satoshi; Nishiuchi, Mamiko; Daido, Hiroyuki; Yogo, Akifumi; Ogura, Koichi; Sagisaka, Akito; Li, Z.*; Pirozhkov, A. S.; Mori, Michiaki; Kiriyama, Hiromitsu; et al.

Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Part 1, 46(9A), p.5853 - 5858, 2007/09

https://doi.org/10.1143/JJAP.46.5853

A laser-driven proton beam with a maximum energy of a few MeV is stably obtained using an ultra-short and high-intensity Titanium Sapphire laser. At the same time, keV X-ray is also generated at almost the same place where protons are emitted. Here, we show the successful demonstration of simultaneous proton and X-ray projection images of a test sample placed close to the source with a resolution of 10m, which is determined from the source sizes. Although the experimental configuration is very simple, the simultaneity is better than a few hundreds of ps. A CR-39 track detector and imaging plate, which are placed as close as possible to the CR-39, are used as detectors of protons and X-ray. The technique is applicable to the precise observation of microstructures.