Current status and prospects of technology development for hydrogen production using high temperature gas-cooled reactor

Kubo, Shinji

Suiso Enerugi Shisutemu, 48(2), p.126 - 132, 2023/06

no abstracts in English

Sodium-cooled Fast Reactors

Ohshima, Hiroyuki; Morishita, Masaki*; Aizawa, Kosuke; Ando, Masanori; Ashida, Takashi; Chikazawa, Yoshitaka; Doda, Norihiro; Enuma, Yasuhiro; Ezure, Toshiki; Fukano, Yoshitaka; et al.

Sodium-cooled Fast Reactors; JSME Series in Thermal and Nuclear Power Generation, Vol.3, 631 Pages, 2022/07

https://shop.elsevier.com/books/sodium-cooled-fast-reactors/morishita/978-0-12-824076-2

This book is a collection of the past experience of design, construction, and operation of two reactors, the latest knowledge and technology for SFR designs, and the future prospects of SFR development in Japan. It is intended to provide the perspective and the relevant knowledge to enable readers to become more familiar with SFR technology.

Introduction of loop operating system to improve the stability of continuous hydrogen production for the thermochemical water-splitting iodine-sulfur process

Tanaka, Nobuyuki; Takegami, Hiroaki; Noguchi, Hiroki; Kamiji, Yu; Myagmarjav, O.; Kubo, Shinji

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 46(55), p.27891 - 27904, 2021/08

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2021.06.072

The thermochemical water-splitting iodine-sulfur (IS) process enables producing hydrogen. In a previous operation procedure, after the components of the unit operations were individually started, they were connected at the same time. However, it was challenging to stably interconnect the components. This study introduces a new loop operation, subdividing the process configuration into four sections before transferring the continuous operation. The proposed loop operation was validated analyzing the material and heat balances of each section. The calculated results showed that the material balances of respective loop sections were closed. The loop operation mode would transfer to the continuous operation by connect all sections. Regarding the switching of operation modes, the material and heat balance showed no or little difference, indicating that two operation modes could only be changed by switching the pipelines. Consequently, the loop sections could be individually operated to stabilize the IS process system, and the loop operation could be smoothly transferred to the continuous operation.

Deexcitation dynamics of muonic atoms revealed by high-precision spectroscopy of electronic X rays

Okumura, Takuma*; Azuma, Toshiyuki*; Bennet, D. A.*; Caradonna, P.*; Chiu, I. H.*; Doriese, W. B.*; Durkin, M. S.*; Fowler, J. W.*; Gard, J. D.*; Hashimoto, Tadashi; et al.

Physical Review Letters, 127(5), p.053001_1 - 053001_7, 2021/07

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.053001

We observed electronic X rays emitted from muonic iron atoms using a superconducting transition-edge-type sensor microcalorimeter. The energy resolution of 5.2 eV in FWHM allowed us to observe the asymmetric broad profile of the electronic characteristic and X rays together with the hypersatellite X rays around 6 keV. This signature reflects the time-dependent screening of the nuclear charge by the negative muon and the -shell electrons, accompanied by electron side-feeding. Assisted by a simulation, this data clearly reveals the electronic - and -shell hole production and their temporal evolution during the muon cascade process.

Hydrogen production using thermochemical water-splitting iodine-sulfur process test facility made of industrial structural materials; Engineering solutions to prevent iodine precipitation

Noguchi, Hiroki; Kamiji, Yu; Tanaka, Nobuyuki; Takegami, Hiroaki; Iwatsuki, Jin; Kasahara, Seiji; Myagmarjav, O.; Imai, Yoshiyuki; Kubo, Shinji

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 46(43), p.22328 - 22343, 2021/06

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2021.02.071

An iodine-sulfur process offers the potential for mass producing hydrogen with high-efficiency, and it uses high-temperature heat sources, including HTGR, solar heat, and waste heat of industries. R&D tasks are essential to confirm the integrity of the components that are made of industrial materials and the stability of hydrogen production in harsh working conditions. A test facility for producing hydrogen was constructed from corrosion-resistant components made of industrial materials. For stable hydrogen production, technical issues for instrumental improvements (i.e., stable pumping of the HIx solution, improving the quality control of glass-lined steel, prevention of I precipitation using a water removal technique in a Bunsen reactor) were solved. The entire process was successfully operated for 150 h at the rate of 30 L/h. The integrity of components and the operational stability of the hydrogen production facility in harsh working conditions were demonstrated.

Corrosion property of container using hybrid material for thermal decomposition process of sulfuric acid

Ioka, Ikuo; Kuriki, Yoshiro*; Iwatsuki, Jin; Kawai, Daisuke*; Yokota, Hiroki*; Inagaki, Yoshiyuki; Kubo, Shinji

Proceedings of 2020 International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE 2020) (Internet), 5 Pages, 2020/08

https://doi.org/10.1115/ICONE2020-16783

A thermochemical water-splitting iodine-sulfur processes (IS process) is one of candidates for the large-scale production of hydrogen using heat from solar power. Severe corrosive environment which is thermal decomposition of sulfuric acid exists in the IS process. A hybrid material with the corrosion-resistance and the ductility was made by a plasma spraying and laser treatment. The specimen had excellent corrosion resistance in the condition of 95 mass% boiling sulfuric acid. This was attributed to the formation of SiO on the surface. The container using the hybrid material was experimentally made. The pre-oxidized container using hybrid technique was prepared for the corrosion test in boiling sulfuric acid to evaluate the corrosion characteristics of the container. There was no detaching of the surface with the weld part and the R processing. We proposed the calculation method of corrosion rate from the ions dissolved in the sulfuric acid solution after the corrosion test.

Study of container using hybrid technique for sulfuric acid decomposition of thermochemical water-splitting iodine-sulfur process

Ioka, Ikuo; Iwatsuki, Jin; Kuriki, Yoshiro*; Kawai, Daisuke*; Yokota, Hiroki*; Kubo, Shinji; Inagaki, Yoshiyuki; Sakaba, Nariaki

Mechanical Engineering Journal (Internet), 7(3), p.19-00377_1 - 19-00377_11, 2020/06

https://doi.org/10.1299/mej.19-00377

A thermochemical water-splitting iodine-sulfur processes (IS process) is one of candidates for the large-scale production of hydrogen with high cost performance. Severe corrosive environment which is thermal decomposition of sulfuric acid exists in the IS process. A hybrid material with the corrosion-resistance and the ductility was made by a plasma spraying and laser treatment. The specimen had excellent corrosion resistance in the condition of 95 mass% boiling sulfuric acid. This was attributed to the formation of SiO on the surface. To confirm the production characteristics of a container using the hybrid material, the container which has a welded part, a chamfer, a curved surface was experimentally made. There was no detachment in the plasma spraying and laser treated layer of the container after the laser treatment. It was confirmed that the construction of the container with high corrosion resistance in sulfuric acid was possible in the hybrid technique.

Reliability improvements of corrosion-resistant equipment for thermochemical water splitting hydrogen production iodine-sulfur process

Kamiji, Yu; Noguchi, Hiroki; Takegami, Hiroaki; Tanaka, Nobuyuki; Iwatsuki, Jin; Kasahara, Seiji; Kubo, Shinji

Nuclear Engineering and Design, 361, p.110573_1 - 110573_6, 2020/05

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2020.110573

JAEA has been conducting R&D on the thermochemical iodine-sulfur (IS) process for nuclear-powered hydrogen production. The IS process is one of the promising candidates of heat application of the high-temperature gas-cooled reactors. The glass-lined steel is one of the candidate materials which has both corrosion resistance and structural strength. This paper reveals technical matters to improve reliability of the glass-lined steel equipment. It found that the improved glass-lined steel showed soundness in the process environment from the results of stress analyses for the glass layer by FEM, tests for heat cycle, bending load and corrosion.

Internal residual stress evaluation of bearing balls for automobile parts

Miyakawa, Susumu*; Ito, Toshimasa*; Iwahori, Keisuke*; Aoyama, Yoshihiko*; Kubo, Ryosuke*; Murata, Shinji*; Shobu, Takahisa; Shiro, Ayumi*; Kajiwara, Kentaro*

Zairyo, 69(4), p.308 - 314, 2020/04

https://doi.org/10.2472/jsms.69.308

White etching area which looks white with nital corrosive liquid may be recognized at the flaking part of a rolling bearing on which high contact stress of several GPa is applied repeatedly. Up to now, studies of white etching area of a ball have been less than studies of white etching area of inner and outer rings. In this study, as part of the flaking mechanism explication with white etching area of a ball, internal residual stress distributions of ball by using high energy white X-ray of SPring-8 (A method) and laboratorial X-ray measurement equipment (B method) were investigated. The former was modified by surface residual stress according to B method. The latter was modified by releasing stress in the form of electrolytic polishing. The results showed modified residual stress distributions almost agree qualitatively.

Research and development on membrane IS process for hydrogen production using solar heat

Myagmarjav, O.; Iwatsuki, Jin; Tanaka, Nobuyuki; Noguchi, Hiroki; Kamiji, Yu; Ioka, Ikuo; Kubo, Shinji; Nomura, Mikihiro*; Yamaki, Tetsuya*; Sawada, Shinichi*; et al.

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 44(35), p.19141 - 19152, 2019/07

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.03.132