Radiation monitoring via manned helicopter around the nuclear power station in the fiscal year 2022 (Contract research)

Futemma, Akira; Sanada, Yukihisa; Nagakubo, Azusa; Kawasaki, Yoshiharu*; Iwai, Takeyuki*; Hiraga, Shogo*; Haginoya, Masashi*; Matsunaga, Yuki*; Akutsu, Yuichiro*; Arai, Yoshinori*; et al.

JAEA-Technology 2023-027, 146 Pages, 2024/03

JAEA-Technology-2023-027.pdf:18.12MB

By the accident at Tokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO's) Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS), caused by tsunami triggered by the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake, a large amount of radioactive material was released into the surrounding environment. After the accident, Airborne Radiation Monitoring (ARM) via manned helicopter has been applied as a method to quickly and extensively measure the distribution of radiation. Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has continuously conducted ARM via manned helicopter around FDNPS. In this report, we summarize the results of the ARM around FDNPS in the fiscal year 2022, evaluate the changes of ambient dose rates and other parameters based on the comparison to the past ARM results, and discuss the causes of such changes. In order to contribute to improve the accuracy of ambient dose rate conversion, we analyzed the ARM data taking into account undulating topography, and evaluated the effect of this method. Furthermore, the effect of radon progenies in the air on the ARM was evaluated by applying the discrimination method to the measurement results.

Promotion for establishing and maintaining appropriate responses in the safeguards activities, 2; Case study activities

Shirafuji, Masaya; Hasegawa, Rie; Akutsu, Narumi*; Maruyama, Hajime; Miyaji, Noriko

Dai-44-Kai Nihon Kaku Busshitsu Kanri Gakkai Nenji Taikai Kaigi Rombunshu (Internet), 4 Pages, 2023/11

To maintain transparency in the use of nuclear materials in Japan, it is important for operators to appropriately respond to safeguards activities conducted by the IAEA/Japan. Failure to appropriately respond to these activities could have significant impacts, such as raising suspicion from the international community about the misuse of nuclear materials by not only the operators but also Japan. To appropriately respond to safeguards activities, JAEA has conducted some activities such as education on safeguards for all employees and case study activities for the employees engaged in responding to safeguards activities. This paper focused on case study activities that started in FY2022. In FY2022, we created documents based on scenarios with problems in safeguards responses in order to promote understanding among participants. We also conducted a questionnaire survey for participants, and we evaluated the result of the questionnaire. The evaluation results showed that the case study activities contributed to raising awareness of safeguards responses, although there were improvements. After making improvements, we are conducting these activities again in FY2023. Since case study activities are expected to be effective if carried out continuously, we plan to continue them in combination with other activities.

Discovery of Early Paleocene (Danian) tuff from the Yezo Group in the Yubari area, Hokkaido, Northeast Japan

Kubomi, Ko*; Nagata, Mitsuhiro; Ota, Hiroto*; Miyata, Kazunori*; Oto, Shigeru*

Chishitsugaku Zasshi (Internet), 129(1), p.453 - 460, 2023/09

https://doi.org/10.5575/geosoc.2023.0011

The Hakobuchi Formation in Hokkaido, NE Japan, consists of marine to terrestrial clastic rocks of the uppermost part of the Yezo Group, was previously interpreted to range from Early Campanian to Late Paleocene age, with a hiatus near the K/Pg boundary. No definitive evidence of the depositional age indicating Lower Paleocene (Danian) has been reported from the formation so far. We reported the LA-ICPMS zircon U-Pb dates of a tuff layer of the Hakobuchi Formation in the Yubari area. The weighted average date of the youngest cluster was 64.1 1.1 Ma (2), suggesting the depositional age of the formation is Danian. The result is the first radiometric evidence indicating that the Hakobuchi Formation, at least partly, is correlated with the Danian, and is essential to discuss the depositional age of the Hakobuchi Formation and geochronology of the Yezo Group.

Incommensurate nature of the antiferromagnetic order in GdCu

Kaneko, Koji; Tabata, Chihiro; Hagihara, Masato; Yamauchi, Hiroki; Kubota, Masato; Osakabe, Toyotaka; Onuki, Yoshichika*

Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, 92(8), p.085001_1 - 085001_2, 2023/08

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSJ.92.085001

Development of nondestructive elemental analysis system for Hayabusa2 samples using muonic X-rays

Osawa, Takahito; Nagasawa, Shunsaku*; Ninomiya, Kazuhiko*; Takahashi, Tadayuki*; Nakamura, Tomoki*; Wada, Taiga*; Taniguchi, Akihiro*; Umegaki, Izumi*; Kubo, Kenya*; Terada, Kentaro*; et al.

ACS Earth and Space Chemistry (Internet), 7(4), p.699 - 711, 2023/04

https://doi.org/10.1021/acsearthspacechem.2c00303

The concentrations of carbon and other major elements in asteroid samples provide very important information on the birth of life on the Earth and the solar-system evolution. Elemental analysis using muonic X-rays is one of the best analytical methods to determine the elemental composition of solid materials, and notably, is the only method to determine the concentration of light elements in bulk samples in a non-destructive manner. We developed a new analysis system using muonic X-rays to measure the concentrations of carbon and other major elements in precious and expectedly tiny samples recovered from the asteroid Ryugu by spacecraft Hayabusa2. Here we report the development process of the system in 4 stages and their system configurations, The analysis system is composed of a stainless-steel analysis chamber, an acrylic glove box for manipulating asteroid samples in a clean environment, and Ge semiconductor detectors arranged to surround the analysis chamber. The performance of the analysis system, including the background level, which is crucial for the measurement, was greatly improved from the first stage to the later ones. Our feasibility study showed that the latest model of our muonic X-ray analysis system is capable of determining the carbon concentration in Hayabusa2's sample model with an uncertainty of less than 10 percent in a 6-day measurement.

Decommissioning of uranium handling facility for development of nuclear fuel manufacturing equipment

Kageyama, Tomio; Denuma, Akio; Koizumi, Jin*; Odakura, Manabu*; Haginoya, Masahiro*; Isaka, Shinichi*; Kadowaki, Hiroyuki*; Kobayashi, Shingo*; Morimoto, Taisei*; Kato, Yoshiaki*; et al.

JAEA-Technology 2022-033, 130 Pages, 2023/03

JAEA-Technology-2022-033.pdf:9.87MB

Uranium handling facility for development of nuclear fuel manufacturing equipment (Mockup room) was constructed in 1972. The Mockup room has a weak seismic resistance and is deteriorating with age. Also, the original purpose with this facility have been achieved and there are no new development plans using this facility. Therefore, interior equipment installed in this facility had been dismantled and removed since March 2019. After that, the Mockup room was inspected for contamination, and then controlled area in the Mockup room was cancelled on March 29th 2022. A total of 6,549 workers (not including security witnesses) were required for this work. The amount of non-radioactive waste generated by this work was 31,300 kg. The amount of radioactive waste generated by this work was 3,734 kg of combustible waste (103 drums), 4,393 kg of flame resistance waste (61 drums), 37,790 kg of non-combustible waste (124 drums, 19 containers). This report describes about the dismantling and removing the interior equipment in the Mockup room, the amount of waste generated by this work, and procedure for cancellation the controlled area in the facility.

Investigation of hydrogen superoxide adsorption during ORR on Pt/C catalyst in acidic solution for PEFC by high energy resolution XAFS

Yamamoto, Naoki*; Matsumura, Daiju; Hagihara, Yuto*; Tanaka, Kei*; Hasegawa, Yuta*; Ishii, Kenji*; Tanaka, Hirohisa*

Journal of Power Sources, 557, p.232508_1 - 232508_10, 2023/02

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2022.232508

Research plan on geosphere stability for long-term isolation of radioactive waste (Scientific program for fiscal year 2022)

Sasao, Eiji; Ishimaru, Tsuneari; Niwa, Masakazu; Shimada, Akiomi; Shimada, Koji; Watanabe, Takahiro; Sueoka, Shigeru; Yokoyama, Tatsunori; Fujita, Natsuko; Ogita, Yasuhiro; et al.

JAEA-Review 2022-022, 29 Pages, 2022/09

JAEA-Review-2022-022.pdf:0.97MB

This report is a plan of research and development (R&D) on geosphere stability for long-term isolation of high-level radioactive waste (HLW) in Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), in fiscal year 2022. The objectives and contents in fiscal year 2022 are described in detail based on the JAEA 4th Medium- and Long-term Plan (fiscal years 2022-2028). In addition, the background of this research is described from the necessity and the significance for site investigation and safety assessment, and the past progress. The plan framework is structured into the following categories: (1) Development and systematization of investigation techniques, (2) Development of models for long-term estimation and effective assessment, (3) Development of dating techniques

Benchmark analysis of ductile fracture simulation for circumferentially cracked pipes subjected to bending

Kumagai, Tomohisa*; Miura, Yasufumi*; Miura, Naoki*; Marie, S.*; Almahdi, R.*; Mano, Akihiro; Li, Y.; Katsuyama, Jinya; Wada, Yoshitaka*; Hwang, J.-H.*; et al.

Journal of Pressure Vessel Technology, 144(1), p.011509_1 - 011509_18, 2022/02

https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4052852

To predict fracture behavior for ductile materials, some ductile fracture simulation methods different from classical approaches have been investigated based on appropriate models of ductile fracture. For the future use of the methods to overcome restrictions of classical approaches, the applicability to the actual components is of concern. In this study, two benchmark problems on the fracture tests supposing actual components were provided to investigate prediction ability of simulation methods containing parameter decisions. One was the circumferentially through-wall and surface cracked pipes subjected to monotonic bending, and the other was the circumferentially through-wall cracked pipes subjected to cyclic bending. Participants predicted the ductile crack propagation behavior by their own approaches, including FEM employed GTN yielding function with void ratio criterion, are FEM employed GTN yielding function, FEM with fracture strain or energy criterion modified by stress triaxiality, XFEM with J or delta J criterion, FEM with stress triaxiality and plastic strain based ductile crack propagation using FEM, and elastic-plastic peridynamics. Both the deformation and the crack propagation behaviors for monotonic bending were well reproduced, while few participants reproduced those for cyclic bending. To reproduce pipe deformation and fracture behaviors, most of groups needed parameters which were determined toreproduce pipe deformation and fracture behaviors in benchmark problems themselves and it is still difficult to reproduce them by using parameters only from basic materials tests.

PSTEP: Project for solar-terrestrial environment prediction

Kusano, Kanya*; Ichimoto, Kiyoshi*; Ishii, Mamoru*; Miyoshi, Yoshizumi*; Yoden, Shigeo*; Akiyoshi, Hideharu*; Asai, Ayumi*; Ebihara, Yusuke*; Fujiwara, Hitoshi*; Goto, Tadanori*; et al.

Earth, Planets and Space (Internet), 73(1), p.159_1 - 159_29, 2021/12

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-021-01486-1

The PSTEP is a nationwide research collaboration in Japan and was conducted from April 2015 to March 2020, supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan. It has made a significant progress in space weather research and operational forecasts, publishing over 500 refereed journal papers and organizing four international symposiums, various workshops and seminars, and summer school for graduate students at Rikubetsu in 2017. This paper is a summary report of the PSTEP and describes the major research achievements it produced.