A Phoswich alpha/beta detector for monitoring in the site of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station

Morishita, Yuki; Takasaki, Koji; Kitayama, Yoshiharu; Tagawa, Akihiro; Shibata, Takuya; Hoshi, Katsuya; Kaneko, Junichi*; Higuchi, Mikio*; Oura, Masatoshi*

Radiation Measurements, 160, p.106896_1 - 106896_10, 2023/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radmeas.2022.106896

This study proposes a newly developed phoswich alpha/beta detector that can discriminate alpha and beta particles emitted from the alpha and beta contaminations in the FDNPS site. The phoswich alpha/beta detector is made up of two layers of scintillators that detect alpha and beta particles. The pulse shape discrimination (PSD) method was used to detect alpha particles in high beta particle and high gamma-ray (comparable to gamma-ray dose rate near the FDNPS reactor building) environments. Due to a 23.3% full width at half maximum (FWHM) energy resolution for alpha particles, the detector can be used to distinguish between nuclear fuel materials such as plutonium and its radon progeny (Po-214). Moreover, the detector could distinguish alpha particles from Cs gamma rays with a dose rate background up to 9.0 mSv/h. It is the first to demonstrate that the developed phoswich detector can be used to discriminate and measure alpha and beta particles of the actual contaminated FDNPS samples.

Development of an alpha dust monitor using a GPS scintillator plate

Morishita, Yuki; Kaneko, Junichi*; Higuchi, Mikio*; Izaki, Kenji; Yajima, Tatsuo*; Matsuura, Mitsugu*; Tamura, Ken; Torii, Tatsuo

Radiation Measurements, 122, p.115 - 120, 2019/03

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radmeas.2019.01.011

Development of a new detector system to evaluate position and activity of plutonium particles in nasal cavities

Morishita, Yuki; Yamamoto, Seiichi*; Momose, Takumaro; Kaneko, Junichi*; Nemoto, Norio

Radiation Protection Dosimetry, 178(4), p.414 - 421, 2018/03

https://doi.org/10.1093/rpd/ncx127

Plutonium dioxide (PuO) is used to fabricate a mixed oxide fuel for fast breeder reactors. When a glove box containing PuO fails, such as by rupture of a glove or a vinyl bag, airborne contamination of plutonium (Pu) can occur. If the worker inhale PuO particles, they deposit in the lung and cause lung cancer. The nasal smear and nose blow methods are useful for checking workers for PuO intake in the field. However, neither method can evaluate the quantitative activity of Pu. No alpha-particle detector that can be used for direct measurements in the nasal cavity has been developed. Therefore, we developed a nasal monitor capable of directly measuring the activity of Pu in the nasal cavity to precisely evaluate the internal exposure dose of a worker. Prismatic-shaped 22 acrylic light guides were used to compose a detector block, and a ZnS(Ag) scintillator was adhered to the surface of these light guides. Silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) arrays with 88 channels were used as a photodetector. Actual PuO particles were measured using the nasal monitor. The nasal monitor could be directly inserted in the nasal cavities. The activity distribution of Pu was obtained by the nasal monitor. The average efficiencies in 4 were 11.43% and 11.58% for the left and right nasal cavities, respectively. The effect of and rays on the detection of the alpha particles of Pu was negligible. The difference in the measured Pu activity between the ZnS(Ag) scintillation counter and the nasal monitor was within 4.0%. The developed nasal monitor can solve the uncertainty problem encountered with the nasal smear and the nose blow methods. We expect this monitor to be useful for accurately estimating the internal exposure dose of workers.

Charge-collection efficiency of single-crystal CVD diamond detector for low-energy charged particles with energies ranging from 100 keV to 2 MeV

Sato, Yuki; Murakami, Hiroyuki*; Shimaoka, Takehiro*; Tsubota, Masakatsu*; Kaneko, Junichi*

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, 834, p.218 - 222, 2016/10

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2016.08.020

Charge-collection efficiency and long-term stability of single-crystal CVD diamond detector under different carrier-drift conditions

Sato, Yuki; Murakami, Hiroyuki*; Shimaoka, Takehiro*; Tsubota, Masakatsu*; Kaneko, Junichi*

Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, 55(4), p.046401_1 - 046401_5, 2016/04

https://doi.org/10.7567/JJAP.55.046401

We investigated the performance of a charged particle detector fabricated using single-crystal diamond grown by chemical vapor deposition. The detector was able to identify four different Am -particle energies (5.389, 5.443, 5.486, and 5.545 MeV) because of its superior intrinsic energy resolution of 0.4% (full width at half maximum). The charge collection efficiency inside the diamond crystal was 98% for both electrons and holes. The diamond detector also exhibited no significant degradation in terms of pulse height spectra and energy resolution during operation for more than 100 h in the case of mainly electron drift inside the diamond crystal. In contrast, the shapes of the pulse height spectra measured under hole drift condition deteriorated due to the polarization phenomenon.

Development of a Si-PM based alpha camera for plutonium detection in nuclear fuel facilities

Morishita, Yuki; Yamamoto, Seiichi*; Izaki, Kenji; Kaneko, Junichi*; Toi, Kohei*; Tsubota, Yoichi*

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, 747, p.81 - 86, 2014/05

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2013.12.052

Alpha particles are monitored for detecting nuclear fuel material (i.e., plutonium and uranium) at nuclear fuel facilities. In this study, we developed a new alpha-particle imaging system by combining an Si-PM array, which is insensitive to noise, with a Ce-doped GdAlGaO (GAGG) scintillator, and evaluated our developed system's fundamental performance. The scintillator was 0.1-mm thick, and the light guide was 3.0 mm thick. An Am source was used for all the measurements. We evaluated the spatial resolution by taking an image of a resolution chart. A 1.6 lp/mm slit was clearly resolved, and the spatial resolution was estimated to be less than 0.6-mm FWHM. The energy resolution was 13% FWHM. A slight distortion was observed in the image, and the uniformity near its center was within 24%. We conclude that our developed alpha-particle imaging system is promising for plutonium detection at nuclear fuel facilities.

Measurement of internal strain in materials using high energy white X-ray at SPring-8

Shibano, Junichi*; Shobu, Takahisa; Suzuki, Kenji*; Kiriyama, Koji; Kajiwara, Kentaro*; Kaneko, Hiroshi; Kobayashi, Michiaki*

Materials Science Forum, 571-572, p.267 - 270, 2008/00

Strain measurements using high energy white X-rays at SPring-8

Shobu, Takahisa; Kaneko, Hiroshi; Mizuki, Junichiro; Konishi, Hiroyuki; Shibano, Junichi*; Hirata, Tomoyuki*; Suzuki, Kenji*

AIP Conference Proceedings 879, p.1581 - 1585, 2007/01

https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2436368

The third generation synchrotron X-ray source such as SPring-8 provides us intense beams of high energy X-rays. The techniques of non-destructive internal residual stress measurement for industrial applications are well established by angle dispersive diffractometry with high energy synchrotron radiation and provide valuable information. The energy dispersive diffraction techniques using white radiation is the advantage of a stress measurement compared with the angular dispersive one. For example, the multitudes of reflections recorded in one spectrum offers additional information that can be used for stress gradient evaluation. The purpose of present study is to apply high energy white X-rays to the measurement of the residual strain in the bulk specimen. The experiment was carried out on the beamline BL14B1 at SPring-8. A diffraction pattern was collected by a Ge Solid State Detector (SSD) mounted on the arm of a 2-axes diffractometer behind two sets of secondary collimating slits. The beam size of white X-rays was 0.05 0.3 mm. The specimens were JIS-S45C carbon steel and JIS-SUS304 austenitic stainless steel with a thickness of 5mm. The bending stress was applied with the four-point bending and the strain at the surface of the specimen was measured by a strain gauge as shown in the figure. X-rays diffraction measurement was carried out simultaneously. The figure shows each diffraction profile of SUS304 taken with white X-rays. The strain was calculated by the ratio of the energy shift to the peak energy. Though many peaks appeared in every measured positions Y, each diffraction pattern depended on the number and the orientation of crystal grains in irradiated volume by X-rays. The calculated strain by using a single peak is depending on peak quality. The accurate internal stress can be obtained with white X-rays by selecting the peak at high energy, high peak counts and close to Gaussian peak profile.

The Intelligent catalyst having the self-regenerative function of Pd, Rh and Pt for automotive emissions control

Tanaka, Hirohisa*; Uenishi, Mari*; Taniguchi, Masashi*; Tan, Isao*; Narita, Keiichi*; Kimura, Mareo*; Kaneko, Kimiyoshi*; Nishihata, Yasuo; Mizuki, Junichiro

Catalysis Today, 117(1-3), p.321 - 328, 2006/09

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cattod.2006.05.029

no abstracts in English

Study on the prediction accuracy of nuclide generation and depletion with JENDL

Okumura, Keisuke; Oki, Shigeo*; Yamamoto, Munenari*; Matsumoto, Hideki*; Ando, Yoshihira*; Tsujimoto, Kazufumi; Sasahara, Akihiro*; Katakura, Junichi; Matsumura, Tetsuo*; Aoyama, Takafumi*; et al.

JAERI-Research 2004-025, 154 Pages, 2005/01

JAERI-Research-2004-025.pdf:19.46MB

This report summarizes the activity (FY2000-2003) of Working Group (WG) on Evaluation of Nuclide Generation and Depletion under Subcommittee on Nuclear Fuel Cycle of Japanese Nuclear Data Committee. In the WG, analyses of Post Irradiation Examinations have been carried out for UO and MOX fuels irradiated in PWRs, BWRs and FBRs, and for actinide samples irradiated in fast reactors, by using ORIGEN or more detailed calculation codes with their libraries based on JENDL-3.2, JENDL-3.3 and other foreign nuclear data files. From these results, current prediction accuracy and problems for evaluation of nuclide generation and depletion are discussed. Furthermore, this report covers other products of our activity; development of the ORIGEN libraries for PWR, BWR and FBR based on JENDL-3.3, study on introduction of neutron spectrum index to ORIGEN calculations, and results of questionnaire survey on desirable accuracy of ORIGEN calculations.