Annual report on the environmental radiation monitoring around the Tokai Reprocessing Plant FY2022

Kokubun, Yuji; Nakada, Akira; Seya, Natsumi; Koike, Yuko; Nemoto, Masashi; Tobita, Keiji; Yamada, Ryohei*; Uchiyama, Rei; Yamashita, Daichi; Nagai, Shinji; et al.

JAEA-Review 2023-046, 164 Pages, 2024/03

JAEA-Review-2023-046.pdf:4.2MB

The Nuclear Fuel Cycle Engineering Laboratories conducts environmental radiation monitoring around the reprocessing plant in accordance with the "Safety Regulations for Reprocessing Plant of JAEA, Part IV: Environmental Monitoring". This report summarizes the results of environmental radiation monitoring conducted during the period from April 2022 to March 2023 and the results of dose calculations for the surrounding public due to the release of radioactive materials into the atmosphere and ocean. In the results of the above environmental radiation monitoring, many items were affected by radioactive materials emitted from the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant of Tokyo Electric Power Company, Incorporated (changed to Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc. on April 1, 2016), which occurred in March 2011. Also included as appendices are an overview of the environmental monitoring plan, an overview of measurement methods, measurement results and their changes over time, meteorological statistics results, radioactive waste release status, and an evaluation of the data which deviated of the normal range.

Microstructural evolution of intermetallic phase precipitates in Cr-coated zirconium alloy cladding in high-temperature steam oxidation up to 1400C

Mohamad, A. B.; Nemoto, Yoshiyuki; Furumoto, Kenichiro*; Okada, Yuji*; Sato, Daiki*

Corrosion Science, 224, p.111540_1 - 111540_15, 2023/11

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.corsci.2023.111540

Fetal and maternal atomic bomb survivor dosimetry using the J45 pregnant female phantom series; Considerations of the kneeling and lying posture with comparisons to the DS02 system

Domal, S. J.*; Correa-Alfonso, C. M.*; Paulbeck, C. J.*; Griffin, K. T.*; Sato, Tatsuhiko; Funamoto, Sachiyo*; Cullings, H. M.*; Egbert, S. D.*; Endo, Akira; Hertel, N. E.*; et al.

Health Physics, 125(4), p.245 - 259, 2023/10

https://doi.org/10.1097/HP.0000000000001710

The RERF Working Group on Organ Dose (WGOD) has established the J45 (Japan 1945) series of high-resolution voxel phantoms, which were derived from the UF/NCI series of hybrid phantoms and scaled to match mid-1940s Japanese body morphometries. In this present study, we present the J45 pregnant female phantoms in both a kneeling and lying posture, and assess the dosimetric impact of these more anatomically realistic survivor models in comparisons to current organ doses given by the DS02 system. For the kneeling phantoms facing the bomb hypocenter, organ doses from bomb source photon spectra were shown to be overestimated by the DS02 system by up to a factor of 1.45 for certain fetal organs and up to a factor of 1.17 for maternal organs. For lying phantoms with their feet in the direction of the hypocenter, fetal organ doses from bomb source photon spectra were underestimated by the DS02 system by factors as low as 0.77 while maternal organ doses were overestimated by up to a factor of 1.38. Results from this study highlight the degree to which the existing DS02 system can differ from organ dosimetry based upon 3D radiation transport simulations using more anatomically realistic models of those survivors exposed during pregnancy while in a kneeling or lying position.

Structural investigation of borosilicate glasses by using XAFS measurement in soft X-ray region, 3 (Joint research)

Nagai, Takayuki; Okamoto, Yoshihiro; Yamagishi, Hirona*; Shibata, Daisuke*; Kojima, Kazuo*; Hasegawa, Takehiko*; Sato, Seiichi*; Fukaya, Akane*; Hatakeyama, Kiyoshi*

JAEA-Research 2023-004, 45 Pages, 2023/09

JAEA-Research-2023-004.pdf:6.07MB

The local structure of glass-forming elements and waste elements in borosilicate glasses varies with its chemical composition. In this study, simulated waste glass samples were prepared and the chemical state regarding boron (B), silicon (Si) and waste elements of iron (Fe), cesium (Cs) were estimated by using XAFS measurement in soft X-ray region. To understand the chemical stability of simulated waste glasses, XANES spectra of B K-edge, Fe L, L-edge, and Cs M, M-edge were measured on the glass surface exposed to the leachate. As a result, it was found that the glass surface exposed to the leachate was changed and it was difficult to obtain a clear XANES spectrum. From the B K-edge XANES spectra on glass surfaces exposed to the leachate, an increase in three-coordination of B-O (BO) and a decrease in four-coordination of B-O (BO) were observed compared to the glass surfaces before immersion. The XANES spectra of Fe L, L-edge, and Cs M, M-edge show that as the exposure time in the leachate increases, the Cs present on the glass surface dissolves into the leachate. The XANES spectra of Si K-edge were measured on simulated waste glass surfaces before immersion, and it was confirmed that the change in XANES spectra given by NaO concentration had a larger effect than the waste component concentration.

First observation of O

Kondo, Yosuke*; Achouri, N. L.*; Al Falou, H.*; Atar, L.*; Aumann, T.*; Baba, Hidetada*; Boretzky, K.*; Caesar, C.*; Calvet, D.*; Chae, H.*; et al.

Nature, 620(7976), p.965 - 970, 2023/08

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06352-6

no abstracts in English

Fetal atomic bomb survivor dosimetry using the J45 series of pregnant female phantoms with realistic survivor exposure scenarios; Comparisons to dose estimates in the DS02 system

Paulbeck, C. J.*; Sato, Tatsuhiko; Funamoto, Sachiyo*; Lee, C.*; Griffin, K. T.*; Cullings, H. M.*; Egbert, S. D.*; Endo, Akira; Hertel, N. E.*; Bolch, W. E.*

Radiation and Environmental Biophysics, 62(3), p.317 - 329, 2023/08

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00411-023-01032-5

In our prior study [Radiat Res 192, 538-561 (2019)], we presented a new J45 (Japanese 1945) series of high-resolution phantoms of the adult pregnant female at 8-week, 15-week, 25-week, and 38-week post-conception. In this present study, we extend this work using realistic angular fluences from the DS02 system for up to nine different radiation categories and five shielding conditions. General findings are that the current DS02 fetal dose surrogate overestimates values of fetal organ dose seen in the J45 phantoms towards the cranial end of the fetus, especially in the later stages of pregnancy. This work supports our previous findings that the J45 pregnant female phantom series offers significate opportunities for gestational age-dependent assessment of fetal organ dose without the need to invoke the uterine wall as a fetal organ surrogate.

Measurement of spent nuclear fuel burn-up using a new H method

Nauchi, Yasushi*; Sato, Shunsuke*; Hayakawa, Takehito*; Kimura, Yasuhiko; Suyama, Kenya; Kashima, Takao*; Futakami, Kazuhiro*

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, 1050, p.168109_1 - 168109_9, 2023/05

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2023.168109

Measurement of neutrons from spent nuclear fuel is performed in this study using the H method, which detects 2.223 MeV rays from neutron capture reaction of hydrogen using a highly pure germanium (HPGe) detector. The detection of the 2.223 MeV ray is affected by intense ray emission from fission products (FPs) because the emission rate of rays from the FP is seven orders of magnitude higher than the emission rate of neutrons. To shield the intense ray from the FP, the HPGe detector is placed off the axis of a collimator, whereas a polyethylene block is placed on the axis. In this geometry, the detector is shielded from the intense rays from the FP, but the detector can measure 2.223 MeV rays from the H reactions in the polyethylene block. The measured count rate of the 2.223 MeV rays is consistent with the expected rate within the statistical error, which is calculated based on the nuclide composition, which is primary Cm, estimated via depletion and decay calculations. Accordingly, the H method is considered feasible to quantify the number of neutron leakage from spent nuclear fuel assembly, which is applicable to certify burn up of the assembly.

Multiple mechanisms in proton-induced nucleon removal at 100 MeV/nucleon

Pohl, T.*; Sun, Y. L.*; Obertelli, A.*; Lee, J.*; Gmez-Ramos, M.*; Ogata, Kazuyuki*; Yoshida, Kazuki; Cai, B. S.*; Yuan, C. X.*; Brown, B. A.*; et al.

Physical Review Letters, 130(17), p.172501_1 - 172501_8, 2023/04

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.172501

We report on the first proton-induced single proton- and neutron-removal reactions from the neutron deficient O nucleus with large Fermi-surface asymmetry at 100 MeV/nucleon. Our results provide the first quantitative contributions of multiple reaction mechanisms including the quasifree knockout, inelastic scattering, and nucleon transfer processes. It is shown that the inelastic scattering and nucleon transfer, usually neglected at such energy regime, contribute about 50% and 30% to the loosely bound proton and deeply bound neutron removal, respectively.

Nuclear Science Research Institute Meteorological Statistics (2017-2021)

Futagawa, Kazuo; Kashimura, Keita; Sato, Daiki*; Kawasaki, Masatsugu

JAEA-Data/Code 2022-011, 75 Pages, 2023/03

JAEA-Data-Code-2022-011.pdf:1.49MB

These statistical results are based on the meteorological data observed at the Nuclear Science Research Institute in Japan Atomic Energy Agency and statistically processed according to "The guideline of meteorological statistics for the safety analysis of nuclear power reactor" (Nuclear Safety Commission on January 28, 1982; revised on March 29, 2001). The statistics are based on 5 years of meteorological data, from January 2017 to December 2021. These are statistical results of wind direction, wind speed, atmospheric stability, etc., which are used for dose assessment of the general public due to radioactive materials discharged into the atmosphere from nuclear reactor facilities.

High-sensitive XANES analysis at Ce L-edge for Ce in bauxites using transition-edge sensors; Implications for Ti-rich geological samples

Li, W.*; Yamada, Shinya*; Hashimoto, Tadashi; Okumura, Takuma*; Hayakawa, Ryota*; Nitta, Kiyofumi*; Sekizawa, Oki*; Suga, Hiroki*; Uruga, Tomoya*; Ichinohe, Yuto*; et al.

Analytica Chimica Acta, 1240, p.340755_1 - 340755_9, 2023/02

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aca.2022.340755

no abstracts in English