Research plan on geosphere stability for long-term isolation of radioactive waste (Scientific program for fiscal year 2023)

Niwa, Masakazu; Shimada, Koji; Sueoka, Shigeru; Fujita, Natsuko; Yokoyama, Tatsunori; Ogita, Yasuhiro; Fukuda, Shoma; Nakajima, Toru; Kagami, Saya; Ogata, Manabu; et al.

JAEA-Review 2023-017, 27 Pages, 2023/10

JAEA-Review-2023-017.pdf:0.94MB

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 2023. The objectives and contents in fiscal year 2023 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.

A Novel method for processing noisy magnetotelluric data based on independence of signal sources and continuity of response functions

Ogawa, Hiroki; Asamori, Koichi; Negi, Tateyuki*; Ueda, Takumi*

Journal of Applied Geophysics, 213, p.105012_1 - 105012_17, 2023/06

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jappgeo.2023.105012

A number of schemes for processing magnetotelluric (MT) data have been reported aiming at suppressing the strong effect of artificial electromagnetic noise, especially coherent noise that is correlated between electric and magnetic time series. Many of the recent denoising schemes are based on decomposing MT data into the responses of the natural signal and noise. Meanwhile, it is crucial to distinguish the natural signal from noise stably without depending on any empirical choice of parameter setting. In addition, improper subtraction of values from the separated signal can lead to the loss of useful values of the natural signal or missing noise-affected values, which may result in failure in deriving the true MT responses. We propose a novel data-processing method that applies frequency-domain independent component analysis (FDICA) to both the local MT data and the reference magnetic data. Among the separated signal, the proposed method can quantitatively distinguish the natural signal from the noise-affected components by calculating the ratio of cross-power spectrum with the reference data to the auto-power spectrum for each component. When determining which values to subtract from the separated signal, we introduce an evaluation index with respect to two characteristics of the MT response function: stationary in the time domain and smoothness in the frequency domain. We conduct the experiments both with MT time series severely contaminated by synthetic coherent noises and with MT field data interfered with DC (direct current) railways. Consequently, we confirm the superiority of the proposed method in the noise-suppression performance over the conventional methods of MT data processing.

Calculation of nuclear core parameters for HTTR; Report of summer holiday practical training 2021

Isogawa, Hiroki*; Naoi, Motomasa*; Yamasaki, Seiji*; Ho, H. Q.; Katayama, Kazunari*; Matsuura, Hideaki*; Fujimoto, Nozomu*; Ishitsuka, Etsuo

JAEA-Technology 2022-015, 18 Pages, 2022/07

JAEA-Technology-2022-015.pdf:1.37MB

As a summer holiday practical training 2021, the impact of 10 years long-term shutdown on critical control rod position of the HTTR and the delayed neutron fraction () of the VHTRC-1 core were investigated using Monte-Carlo MVP code. As a result, a long-term shutdown of 10 years caused the critical control rods of the HTTR to withdraw about 4.00.8 cm compared to 3.9 cm in the experiment. The change in critical control rods position of the HTTR is due to the change of some fission products such as Pu, Am, Pm, Sm, Gd. Regarding the calculation of the VHTRC-1 core, the value is underestimate of about 10% in comparison with the experiment value.

A Proposal of optimum calculation settings of continuous wavelet transform in magnetotelluric data processing

Ogawa, Hiroki; Hama, Yuki*; Asamori, Koichi; Ueda, Takumi*

Butsuri Tansa, 75, p.38 - 55, 2022/00

https://doi.org/10.3124/segj.75.38

In the magnetotelluric (MT) method, so as to identify the subsurface resistivity structure, the apparent resistivity and phase profiles are calculated by transforming time-series data into spectral data. The continuous wavelet transform (CWT) is well known as a new method of time-frequency analysis instead of the short-time Fourier transform. The CWT is superior in processing non-stationary wideband signals like the MT signal by adjusting the size of the wavelet according to the value of frequency. However, the calculation settings of the CWT, such as the type of basis function and the wavelet parameter, are often determined empirically because of the arbitrariness of the shape of the wavelet. Although there might be differences between the calculated MT responses and the true responses due to improper settings of the CWT, there are no detailed studies considering the effect of numerical errors derived from spectral transforms on MT data. In this study, focusing on the frequency band between 0.001 Hz and 1 Hz, we examined the optimum calculation settings of the CWT in processing MT data in terms of suppressing the numerical errors caused by the spectral transform of time-series data. We also show the validity of the proposed calculation settings by applying the CWT to MT survey data of different types. Superiority of the CWT with proposed settings is suggested especially when the signal-to-noise ratio of observed data is low. Consequently, the proposed calculation settings were confirmed to strike a balance between the resolutions of the time and frequency domains well and will therefore be effective in obtaining reliable MT responses.

Numerical experiment for processing noisy magnetotelluric data based on independence of signal sources and continuity of response functions

Ogawa, Hiroki; Asamori, Koichi; Ueda, Takumi*

Proceedings of 14th SEGJ International Symposium (Internet), p.51 - 54, 2021/11

https://doi.org/10.1190/segj2021-014.1

Research plan on geosphere stability for long-term isolation of radioactive waste (Scientific program for fiscal year 2021)

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

JAEA-Review 2021-012, 48 Pages, 2021/08

JAEA-Review-2021-012.pdf:1.64MB

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 2021. The objectives and contents in fiscal year 2021 are described in detail based on the JAEA 3rd Medium- and Long-term Plan (fiscal years 2015-2021). 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.

Thermally altered subsurface material of asteroid (162173) Ryugu

Kitazato, Kohei*; Milliken, R. E.*; Iwata, Takahiro*; Abe, Masanao*; Otake, Makiko*; Matsuura, Shuji*; Takagi, Yasuhiko*; Nakamura, Tomoki*; Hiroi, Takahiro*; Matsuoka, Moe*; et al.

Nature Astronomy (Internet), 5(3), p.246 - 250, 2021/03

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-020-01271-2

Here we report observations of Ryugu's subsurface material by the Near-Infrared Spectrometer (NIRS3) on the Hayabusa2 spacecraft. Reflectance spectra of excavated material exhibit a hydroxyl (OH) absorption feature that is slightly stronger and peak-shifted compared with that observed for the surface, indicating that space weathering and/or radiative heating have caused subtle spectral changes in the uppermost surface. However, the strength and shape of the OH feature still suggests that the subsurface material experienced heating above 300 C, similar to the surface. In contrast, thermophysical modeling indicates that radiative heating does not increase the temperature above 200 C at the estimated excavation depth of 1 m, even if the semimajor axis is reduced to 0.344 au. This supports the hypothesis that primary thermal alteration occurred due to radiogenic and/or impact heating on Ryugu's parent body.

Annual report for research on geosphere stability for long-term isolation of radioactive waste in fiscal year 2018

Ishimaru, Tsuneari; Ogata, Nobuhisa; Hanamuro, Takahiro; Shimada, Akiomi; Kokubu, Yoko; Asamori, Koichi; Niwa, Masakazu; Shimada, Koji; Watanabe, Takahiro; Saiga, Atsushi; et al.

JAEA-Research 2019-006, 66 Pages, 2019/11

JAEA-Research-2019-006.pdf:4.39MB

This annual report documents the progress of research and development (R&D) in the 4th fiscal year during the JAEA 3rd Mid- and Long-term Plan (fiscal years 2015-2021) to provide the scientific base for assessing geosphere stability for long-term isolation of the high-level radioactive waste. The planned 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. In this report, the current status of R&D activities with previous scientific and technological progress is summarized.

The Surface composition of asteroid 162173 Ryugu from Hayabusa2 near-infrared spectroscopy

Kitazato, Kohei*; Milliken, R. E.*; Iwata, Takahiro*; Abe, Masanao*; Otake, Makiko*; Matsuura, Shuji*; Arai, Takehiko*; Nakauchi, Yusuke*; Nakamura, Tomoki*; Matsuoka, Moe*; et al.

Science, 364(6437), p.272 - 275, 2019/04

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aav7432

The near-Earth asteroid 162173 Ryugu, the target of Hayabusa2 sample return mission, is believed to be a primitive carbonaceous object. The Near Infrared Spectrometer (NIRS3) on Hayabusa2 acquired reflectance spectra of Ryugu's surface to provide direct measurements of the surface composition and geological context for the returned samples. A weak, narrow absorption feature centered at 2.72 micron was detected across the entire observed surface, indicating that hydroxyl (OH)-bearing minerals are ubiquitous there. The intensity of the OH feature and low albedo are similar to thermally- and/or shock-metamorphosed carbonaceous chondrite meteorites. There are few variations in the OH-band position, consistent with Ryugu being a compositionally homogeneous rubble-pile object generated from impact fragments of an undifferentiated aqueously altered parent body.

Research plan on geosphere stability for long-term isolation of radioactive waste (Scientific Program for fiscal year 2018)

Ishimaru, Tsuneari; Ogata, Nobuhisa; Shimada, Akiomi; Asamori, Koichi; Kokubu, Yoko; Niwa, Masakazu; Watanabe, Takahiro; Saiga, Atsushi; Sueoka, Shigeru; Komatsu, Tetsuya; et al.

JAEA-Review 2018-020, 46 Pages, 2019/01

JAEA-Review-2018-020.pdf:1.25MB

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, in fiscal year 2018. The objectives and contents in fiscal year 2018 are described in detail based on the outline of 7 years plan (fiscal years 2015-2021). Background of this research is clarified with the necessity and the significance for site investigation and safety assessment, and the past progress in this report. In addition, 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.