Measurements of neutron total and capture cross sections of La and evaluation of resonance parameters

Endo, Shunsuke; Kawamura, Shiori*; Okudaira, Takuya*; Yoshikawa, Hiromoto*; Rovira Leveroni, G.; Kimura, Atsushi; Nakamura, Shoji; Iwamoto, Osamu; Iwamoto, Nobuyuki

European Physical Journal A, 59(12), p.288_1 - 288_12, 2023/12

https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/s10050-023-01203-4

no abstracts in English

Sodium diffusion in hard carbon studied by small- and wide-angle neutron scattering and muon spin relaxation

Oishi, Kazuki*; Igarashi, Daisuke*; Tatara, Ryoichi*; Kawamura, Yukihiko*; Hiroi, Kosuke; Suzuki, Junichi*; Umegaki, Izumi*; Nishimura, Shoichiro*; Koda, Akihiro*; Komaba, Shinichi*; et al.

Journal of Physics; Conference Series, 2462, p.012048_1 - 012048_5, 2023/03

https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/2462/1/012048

Impact assessment for internal overflow in JRR-3

Tokunaga, Sho; Iguchi, Shintaro; Kawamura, Sho; Hirane, Nobuhiko

JAEA-Technology 2022-004, 74 Pages, 2023/02

JAEA-Technology-2022-004.pdf:2.46MB

In JRR-3, in response to the new regulatory standard for research reactors that is enforced December 2013, we submitted the application document of reactor installation license for the JRR-3 on September 2014, and acquired the permission on November 2018. Thereafter, we carried out impact assessment for internal overflow based on the design principles as described in the application document of reactor installation license for the JRR-3. There are two legal requirements for internal overflow. The first is to ensure that the necessary safety functions are not lost due to internal overflow that occur in the facility. The second is to prevent leakage of liquid containing radioactive materials outside the radiation controlled area in the event of an internal overflow. For these requirements, assuming each overflow source, it was confirmed that the necessary safety functions would not be lost and that liquid containing radioactive materials would not leak outside the controlled area. Regarding these assessments, design and construction plans were submitted in installments, and the approvals were obtained sequentially. This report shows the result that is impact assessment for internal overflow in JRR-3.

Seismic evaluation of the CRDM and the CRDM guide tube for JRR-3

Kikuchi, Masanobu; Kawamura, Sho; Hosoya, Toshiaki

JAEA-Technology 2021-040, 86 Pages, 2023/02

JAEA-Technology-2021-040.pdf:3.26MB

In JRR-3, in response to new regulatory standard for research and test reactor which is enforced December 2013, we established new design basis ground motion for confirming new regulatory standard and carried out seismic evaluations of the appointments, instruments and structures which are installed in JRR-3 by using that earthquake motion. This report shows that the result of evaluations by fatigue strength evaluation, which is more detailed evaluation approach, about Control Rod Drive Mechanism (CRDM) and the CRDM Guide Tube that have gotten the serious result of seismic safety margin by using time history response analysis method. As a result, it was confirmed that CRDM and the CRDM Guide Tube have sufficient seismic safety margin.

Design for detecting recycling muon after muon-catalyzed fusion reaction in solid hydrogen isotope target

Okutsu, Kenichi*; Yamashita, Takuma*; Kino, Yasushi*; Nakashima, Ryota*; Miyashita, Konan*; Yasuda, Kazuhiro*; Okada, Shinji*; Sato, Motoyasu*; Oka, Toshitaka; Kawamura, Naritoshi*; et al.

Fusion Engineering and Design, 170, p.112712_1 - 112712_4, 2021/09

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fusengdes.2021.112712

A muonic molecule which consists of two hydrogen isotope nuclei (deuteron (d) or tritium (t)) and a muon decays immediately via nuclear fusion and the muon will be released as a recycling muon, and start to find another hydrogen isotope nucleus. The reaction cycle continues until the muon ends up its lifetime of 2.2 s. Since the muon does not participate in the nuclear reaction, the reaction is so called a muon catalyzed fusion (CF). The recycling muon has a particular kinetic energy (KE) of the muon molecular orbital when the nuclear reaction occurs. Since the KE is based on the unified atom limit where distance between two nuclei is zero. A precise few-body calculation estimating KE distribution (KED) is also in progress, which could be compared with the experimental results. In the present work, we observed recycling muons after CF reaction.

Time evolution calculation of muon catalysed fusion; Emission of recycling muons from a two-layer hydrogen film

Yamashita, Takuma*; Okutsu, Kenichi*; Kino, Yasushi*; Nakashima, Ryota*; Miyashita, Konan*; Yasuda, Kazuhiro*; Okada, Shinji*; Sato, Motoyasu*; Oka, Toshitaka; Kawamura, Naritoshi*; et al.

Fusion Engineering and Design, 169, p.112580_1 - 112580_5, 2021/08

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fusengdes.2021.112580

A muon () having 207 times larger mass of electron and the same charge as the electron has been known to catalyze a nuclear fusion between deuteron (d) and triton (t). These two nuclei are bound by and form a muonic hydrogen molecular ion, dt. Due to the short inter-nuclear distance of dt, the nuclear fusion, d +t + n + 17.6 MeV, occurs inside the molecule. This reaction is called muon catalyzed fusion (CF). Recently, the interest on CF is renewed from the viewpoint of applications, such as a source of high-resolution muon beam and mono-energetic neutron beam. In this work, we report a time evolution calculation of CF in a two-layered hydrogen isotope target.

Invention of automatic movement and dynamic positioning control method of unmanned vessel for mud mining

Fujii, Shun*; Kato, Tetsu*; Kawamura, Yamato*; Tahara, Junichiro*; Baba, Shoichiro*; Sanada, Yukihisa

Proceedings of 26th International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics (AROB 26th 2021), p.280 - 285, 2021/01

In recent years, autonomously navigating unmanned vessels have been actively studied, and many of these vessels are designed to perform unmanned operations such as observation and transportation. On the other hand, this study uses an unmanned ship with a moon pool that collects seabed mud, which is difficult for ordinary ships. Vessels used since the area are highly turbulent due to wind, so it is necessary to maintain a fixed point and orientation when removing mud. The ship is equipped with side thrusters to maintain a fixed point and bow direction. In this study, the control method was devised to maintain fixed point and orientation, and the control method is based on robust sliding mode control. The proposed control method was verified by simulation, and the desired behavior was confirmed.

Colossal barocaloric effects in plastic crystals

Li, B.*; Kawakita, Yukinobu; Kawamura, Seiko; Sugahara, Takeshi*; Wang, H.*; Wang, J.*; Chen, Y.*; Kawaguchi, Saori*; Kawaguchi, Shogo*; Ohara, Koji*; et al.

Nature, 567(7749), p.506 - 510, 2019/03

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1042-5

Refrigeration is of vital importance for modern society for example, for food storage and air conditioning- and 25 to 30% of the world's electricity is consumed for refrigeration. Current refrigeration technology mostly involves the conventional vapour compression cycle, but the materials used in this technology are of growing environmental concern because of their large global warming potential. As a promising alternative, refrigeration technologies based on solid-state caloric effects have been attracting attention in recent decades. However, their application is restricted by the limited performance of current caloric materials, owing to small isothermal entropy changes and large driving magnetic fields. Here we report colossal barocaloric effects (CBCEs) (barocaloric effects are cooling effects of pressure-induced phase transitions) in a class of disordered solids called plastic crystals. The obtained entropy changes in a representative plastic crystal, neopentylglycol, are about 389 joules per kilogram per kelvin near room temperature. Pressure-dependent neutron scattering measurements reveal that CBCEs in plastic crystals can be attributed to the combination of extensive molecular orientational disorder, giant compressibility and highly anharmonic lattice dynamics of these materials. Our study establishes the microscopic mechanism of CBCEs in plastic crystals and paves the way to next-generation solid-state refrigeration technologies.

Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility (MLF) at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex, 2; Neutron scattering instruments

Nakajima, Kenji; Kawakita, Yukinobu; Ito, Shinichi*; Abe, Jun*; Aizawa, Kazuya; Aoki, Hiroyuki; Endo, Hitoshi*; Fujita, Masaki*; Funakoshi, Kenichi*; Gong, W.*; et al.

Quantum Beam Science (Internet), 1(3), p.9_1 - 9_59, 2017/12

https://doi.org/10.3390/qubs1030009

The neutron instruments suite, installed at the spallation neutron source of the Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility (MLF) at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC), is reviewed. MLF has 23 neutron beam ports and 21 instruments are in operation for user programs or are under commissioning. A unique and challenging instrumental suite in MLF has been realized via combination of a high-performance neutron source, optimized for neutron scattering, and unique instruments using cutting-edge technologies. All instruments are/will serve in world-leading investigations in a broad range of fields, from fundamental physics to industrial applications. In this review, overviews, characteristic features, and typical applications of the individual instruments are mentioned.

Beam commissioning of the linac for iBNCT

Naito, Fujio*; Anami, Shozo*; Ikegami, Kiyoshi*; Uota, Masahiko*; Ouchi, Toshikatsu*; Onishi, Takahiro*; Oba, Toshiyuki*; Obina, Takashi*; Kawamura, Masato*; Kumada, Hiroaki*; et al.

Proceedings of 13th Annual Meeting of Particle Accelerator Society of Japan (Internet), p.1244 - 1246, 2016/11

http://www.pasj.jp/web_publish/pasj2016/proceedings/PDF/TUP1/TUP118.pdf

The proton linac installed in the Ibaraki Neutron Medical Research Center is used for production of the intense neutron flux for the Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT). The linac consists of the 3-MeV RFQ and the 8-MeV DTL. Design average beam current is 10mA. Target is made of Beryllium. First neutron production from the Beryllium target was observed at the end of 2015 with the low intensity beam as a demonstration. After the observation of neutron production, a lot of improvement s was carried out in order to increase the proton beam intensity for the real beam commissioning. The beam commissioning has been started on May 2016. The status of the commissioning is summarized in this report.