Decommissioning of the Plutonium Research Building No.1 (Plan and Present Status)

Komuro, Michiyasu; Kanazawa, Hiroyuki; Kokusen, Junya; Shimizu, Osamu; Honda, Junichi; Harada, Katsuya; Otobe, Haruyoshi; Nakada, Masami; Inagawa, Jun

JAEA-Technology 2021-042, 197 Pages, 2022/03

JAEA-Technology-2021-042.pdf:16.87MB

Plutonium Research Building No.1 was constructed in 1960 for the purpose of establishing plutonium handling technology and studying its basic physical properties. Radiochemical research, physicochemical research and analytical chemistry regarding solutions and solid plutonium compounds had been doing for the research program in Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA). In 1964, the laboratory building was expanded and started the researching plutonium-uranium mixed fuel and reprocessing of plutonium-based fuel, playing an advanced role in plutonium-related research in Japan. Since then, the research target has been expanded to include transplutonium elements, and it has functioned as a basic research facility for actinides. The laboratory is constructed by concrete structure and it has the second floor, equipped with 15 glove boxes and 4 chemical hoods. Plutonium Research Building No.1 was decided as one of the facilities to be decommissioned by Japan Atomic Energy Agency Reform Plan in September 2014. So far, the contamination survey of the radioactive materials in the controlled area, the decontamination of glove boxes, and the consideration of the equipment dismantling procedure have been performed as planned. The radioisotope and nuclear fuel materials used in the facility have been transfer to the other facilities in JAEA. The decommissioning of the facility is proceeding with the goal of completing by decommissioning the radiation controlled area in 2026. In this report, the details of the decommissioning plan and the past achievements are reported with the several data.

Decommissioning of the Uranium Enrichment Laboratory

Kokusen, Junya; Akasaka, Shingo*; Shimizu, Osamu; Kanazawa, Hiroyuki; Honda, Junichi; Harada, Katsuya; Okamoto, Hisato

JAEA-Technology 2020-011, 70 Pages, 2020/10

JAEA-Technology-2020-011.pdf:3.37MB

The Uranium Enrichment Laboratory in the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) was constructed in 1972 for the purpose of uranium enrichment research. The smoke emitting accident on 1989 and the fire accident on 1997 had been happened in this facility. The research on uranium enrichment was completed in JFY1998. The decommissioning work was started including the transfer of the nuclear fuel material to the other facility in JFY2012. The decommissioning work was completed in JFY2019 which are consisting of removing the hood, dismantlement of wall and ceiling with contamination caused by fire accident. The releasing the controlled area was performed after the confirmation of any contamination is not remained in the target area. The radioactive waste was generated while decommissioning, burnable and non-flammable are 1.7t and 69.5t respectively. The Laboratory will be used as a general facility for cold experiments.

Decommissioning program and future plan for Research Hot Laboratory, 3

Shiina, Hidenori; Ono, Katsuto; Nishi, Masahiro; Uno, Kiryu; Kanazawa, Hiroyuki; Oi, Ryuichi; Nihei, Yasuo

Dekomisshoningu Giho, (61), p.29 - 38, 2020/03

http://www.randec.or.jp/publish/documents/gihou/Decommissioning%20gihou_61.pdf

The Research Hot Laboratory (RHL) in Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) was constructed in 1961, as the first one in Japan, to perform the examinations of irradiated fuels and materials. RHL consists of 10 heavy concrete cells and 38 lead cells. RHL contributed to research and development program in or out of JAEA for the investigation of irradiation behavior for fuels and nuclear materials. However, RHL is the one of target as the rationalization program for decrepit facilities in former Tokai institute. Therefore the decommissioning works of RHL started on April 2003. The dismantling of 12 lead cells has been progressing since 2010. The dismantling procedure of lead cells was performed in the following order. The peripheral equipment in lead cells were removed and contamination survey of the inner surface of the cells. Then, the backside shield doors were extracted. The lifting frame for the isolation tent was set on the cells. After that, the ceiling plates, isolation walls and lead blocks were removed. The strippable paint was used to remove permeable contamination on the inner surface of structural steel of the cells. The dismantling work will be continued to mention the efficiency of decommissioning works and reduction of radioactive waste with ensuring safety.

Study on loss-of-cooling and loss-of-coolant accidents in spent fuel pool, 4; Investigation of fuel loading effects in BWR spent fuel rack

Tojo, Masayuki*; Kanazawa, Toru*; Nakashima, Kazuo*; Iwamoto, Tatsuya*; Kobayashi, Kensuke*; Goto, Daisuke*; Nemoto, Yoshiyuki; Kaji, Yoshiyuki

Proceedings of 27th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE-27) (Internet), 13 Pages, 2019/05

In this study, fuel loading effects in BWR spent fuel rack accidents are widely investigated using three-dimensional analysis methods from both nuclear and thermal hydraulics viewpoints, including: (a) Decay heat of spent fuel after discharge, (b) The maximum temperature of spent fuel cladding in the spent fuel rack depending on heat transfer phenomena, and (c) Criticality of the spent fuel rack after collapsing of the fuel due to a severe accidents in the BWR spent fuel pool (SFP).

Investigation of Zircaloy-2 oxidation model for SFP accident analysis

Nemoto, Yoshiyuki; Kaji, Yoshiyuki; Ogawa, Chihiro; Kondo, Keietsu; Nakashima, Kazuo*; Kanazawa, Toru*; Tojo, Masayuki*

Journal of Nuclear Materials, 488, p.22 - 32, 2017/05

AA2016-0383.pdf:0.86MB

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2017.03.004

The authors previously conducted thermogravimetric analyses on zircaloy-2 in air. By using the thermogravimetric data, an oxidation model was constructed in this study so that it can be applied for the modeling of cladding degradation in spent fuel pool (SFP) severe accident condition. For its validation, oxidation tests of long cladding tube were conducted, and computational fluid dynamics analyses using the constructed oxidation model were proceeded to simulate the experiments. In the oxidation tests, high temperature thermal gradient along the cladding axis was applied and air flow rates in testing chamber were controlled to simulate hypothetical SFP accidents. The analytical outputs successfully reproduced the growth of oxide film and porous oxide layer on the claddings in oxidation tests, and validity of the oxidation model was proved. Influence of air flow rate for the oxidation behavior was thought negligible in the conditions investigated in this study.

Fabrication techniques of the sample supporting jigs for post irradiation examination with 3 dimension printer

Miyai, Hiromitsu; Suzuki, Miho; Kanazawa, Hiroyuki

Proceedings of 54th Annual Meeting of Hot Laboratories and Remote Handling (HOTLAB 2017) (Internet), 4 Pages, 2017/00

http://hotlab.sckcen.be/proceedings

In the Reactor Fuel Examination Facility (RFEF) of Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), Post Irradiation Examinations (PIEs) have been carried out for a long time in order to verify the reliability and the safety of the nuclear fuels irradiated in nuclear power plants. Samples for the PIEs are small and have various shapes. In order to facilitate the handling of the samples using a manipulator, the several kinds of jigs have been used for PIEs at RFEF. Those jigs are usually manufactured by machining process. We tried to make the jigs, which is PLA resin, with 3D printer and instead of machining process for the reduction of the manufacturing time and the improvement of the dimensional accuracy of the jig this time. It became clear that the actual dimensions of the jigs manufactured with 3D printer were roughly smaller at the concave section and larger at the convex section compared with the dimensions of the plan. So it is necessary to make a plan for the jigs after consideration of the characteristic of the 3D printer. The jigs can be applied to SEM observation, because the deposition of carbon film onto the jigs was well. And the jigs can be used to for the metallography, because the jigs were applicable without any harmful effects on polishing and etching processes.

Evaluation of the performance of the shields in the EPMAs used for radioactive samples

Matsui, Hiroki; Suzuki, Miho; Obata, Hiroki; Kanazawa, Hiroyuki

JAEA-Technology 2014-017, 57 Pages, 2014/06

JAEA-Technology-2014-017.pdf:20.43MB

The Reactor Fuel Examination Facility in JAEA has been used for Post Irradiation Examinations to verify the reliability and safety of the nuclear fuels irradiated in commercial reactors. EPMA (Electron Probe Micro Analyzer) has been utilized for the qualitative analysis of the fission product in the fuel pellet and the detailed observation of the oxide layers formed at the inner and outer surfaces of fuel cladding. Commercial EPMAs were remodeled so that the EPMAs can be applied for radioactive samples. Several shields was set in the EPMA to avoid the -rays which radiate from a radioactive sample to the proportional counter in the EPMA. It is important to calculate this shielding performance adequately to maintain the precision of analysis. This report describes the results of re-evaluation of the performance of the shields in the EPMAs in the RFEF by using the Particle and Heavy Ion Transport Code System and the examination results of -ray effect to the X-ray spectrum data by using a radioactive sample.

Current status and future prospects of "J-KAREN"; High contrast, high intensity laser for studying relativistic laser-matter interactions

Kiriyama, Hiromitsu; Mori, Michiaki; Okada, Hajime; Shimomura, Takuya; Nakai, Yoshiki*; Tanoue, Manabu; Kondo, Shuji; Kanazawa, Shuhei; Yogo, Akifumi; Sagisaka, Akito; et al.

JPS Conference Proceedings (Internet), 1, p.015095_1 - 015095_5, 2014/03

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSCP.1.015095

We present the design and characterization of a high-contrast, petawatt-class Ti:sapphire chirped-pulse amplification (CPA) laser system. Two saturable absorbers and low-gain optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA) preamplifier in the double CPA laser chain have improved the temporal contrast to 1.410 on the subnanosecond time scale at 70 terawatt level. Final uncompressed broadband pulse energy is 28 J, indicating the potential for reaching peak power near 600 terawatt. We also discuss our upgrade to over petawatt level at a 0.1 Hz repetition rate briefly.

Ultra-intense, high spatio-temporal quality petawatt-class laser system and applications

Kiriyama, Hiromitsu; Shimomura, Takuya; Mori, Michiaki; Nakai, Yoshiki*; Tanoue, Manabu; Kondo, Shuji; Kanazawa, Shuhei; Pirozhkov, A. S.; Esirkepov, T. Z.; Hayashi, Yukio; et al.

Applied Sciences (Internet), 3(1), p.214 - 250, 2013/03

https://doi.org/10.3390/app3010214

This paper reviews techniques for improving the temporal contrast and spatial beam quality in an ultra-intense laser system that is based on chirped-pulse amplification (CPA). We describe the design, performance, and characterization of our laser system, which has the potential for achieving a peak power of 600 TW. We also describe applications of the laser system in the relativistically dominant regime of laser-matter interactions and discuss a compact, high efficiency diode-pumped laser system.

The Water supply system in Nuclear Fuel Cycle Engineering Laboratories

Kanazawa, Yusaku; Abiko, Shosuke; Terada, Hideyuki; Kawasaki, Ichio; Isozaki, Norio; Matsumoto, Takenari

JAEA-Technology 2012-029, 82 Pages, 2012/09

JAEA-Technology-2012-029.pdf:7.79MB

Water Supply Facility (WSF) is the facility that products and feed water for Tokai Reprocessing Plant (TRP), Plutonium Fuel Production Facility (PFPF), etc. The kinds of feeding water are drinking water and industrial water that are used for life and operation of TRP, etc. WSF had been constructed in 1958, then it has been operated to 2008. It was received the water from AKOGI pond, then the water was conditioned and fed for many facilities. But it needed high cost for trouble and maintenance because of long-term use. Then new WSF was designed and constructed. The new design is that WSF accepts drinking water and industrial water from local governments; each receiving tank is constructed for new. And operating system and remote monitoring system are installed in WSF that is able to monitor from TUC. This report describes about various activities of the backgrounds, the design, the construction and a future action.