Annual report on the environmental radiation monitoring around the Tokai Reprocessing Plant FY2019

Nakano, Masanao; Fujii, Tomoko; Nemoto, Masashi; Tobita, Keiji; Seya, Natsumi; Nishimura, Shusaku; Hosomi, Kenji; Nagaoka, Mika; Yokoyama, Hiroya; Matsubara, Natsumi; et al.

JAEA-Review 2020-069, 163 Pages, 2021/02

JAEA-Review-2020-069.pdf:4.78MB

Environmental radiation monitoring around the Tokai Reprocessing Plant has been performed by the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Engineering Laboratories, based on "Safety Regulations for the Reprocessing Plant of Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Chapter IV - Environmental Monitoring". This annual report presents the results of the environmental monitoring and the dose estimation to the hypothetical inhabitant due to the radioactivity discharged from the plant to the atmosphere and the sea during April 2019 to March 2020. In this report, some data include the influence of the accidental release from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station of Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. (the trade name was changed to Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc. on April 1, 2016) in March 2011. Appendices present comprehensive information, such as monitoring programs, monitoring methods, monitoring results and their trends, meteorological data and discharged radioactive wastes. In addition, the data which were influenced by the accidental release and exceeded the normal range of fluctuation in the monitoring, were evaluated.

Annual report on the environmental radiation monitoring around the Tokai Reprocessing Plant FY2017

Nakano, Masanao; Fujita, Hiroki; Mizutani, Tomoko; Nemoto, Masashi; Tobita, Keiji; Kono, Takahiko; Hosomi, Kenji; Hokama, Tomonori; Nishimura, Tomohiro; Matsubara, Natsumi; et al.

JAEA-Review 2018-025, 171 Pages, 2019/02

JAEA-Review-2018-025.pdf:3.81MB

Environmental radiation monitoring around the Tokai Reprocessing Plant has been performed by the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Engineering Laboratories, based on "Safety Regulations for the Reprocessing Plant of Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Chapter IV - Environmental Monitoring". This annual report presents the results of the environmental monitoring and the dose estimation to the hypothetical inhabitant due to the radioactivity discharged from the plant to the atmosphere and the sea during April 2016 to March 2017. In this report, some data include the influence of the accidental release from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station of Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc. in March 2011. Appendices present comprehensive information, such as monitoring programs, monitoring methods, monitoring results and their trends, meteorological data and discharged radioactive wastes. In addition, the data which were influenced by the accidental release and were exceeded the normal range of fluctuation in the monitoring, were evaluated.

Annual report on the environmental radiation monitoring around the Tokai Reprocessing Plant FY2016

Nakano, Masanao; Fujita, Hiroki; Mizutani, Tomoko; Nemoto, Masashi; Tobita, Keiji; Hosomi, Kenji; Nagaoka, Mika; Hokama, Tomonori; Nishimura, Tomohiro; Koike, Yuko; et al.

JAEA-Review 2017-028, 177 Pages, 2018/01

JAEA-Review-2017-028.pdf:3.61MB

Environmental radiation monitoring around the Tokai Reprocessing Plant has been performed by the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Engineering Laboratories, based on "Safety Regulations for the Reprocessing Plant of Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Chapter IV - Environmental Monitoring". This annual report presents the results of the environmental monitoring and the dose estimation to the hypothetical inhabitant due to the radioactivity discharged from the plant to the atmosphere and the sea during April 2016 to March 2017. In this report, some data include the influence of the accidental release from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station of Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc. in March 2011. Appendices present comprehensive information, such as monitoring programs, monitoring methods, monitoring results and their trends, meteorological data and discharged radioactive wastes. In addition, the data which were influenced by the accidental release and were exceeded the normal range of fluctuation in the monitoring, were evaluated.

Improvements to the simmer code model for steel wall failure based on EAGLE-1 test results

Toyooka, Junichi; Kamiyama, Kenji; Tobita, Yoshiharu; Suzuki, Toru

Proceedings of 10th Japan-Korea Symposium on Nuclear Thermal Hydraulics and Safety (NTHAS-10) (USB Flash Drive), 7 Pages, 2016/11

An Empirical correlation to predict the distance for fragmentation of simulated Molten-Core materials discharged into a sodium pool

Matsuba, Kenichi; Isozaki, Mikio; Kamiyama, Kenji; Suzuki, Toru; Tobita, Yoshiharu

Proceedings of 11th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics, Operation and Safety (NUTHOS-11) (USB Flash Drive), 8 Pages, 2016/10

In order to evaluate the distance for fragmentation of molten core material discharged into the lower sodium plenum during core disruptive accidents in sodium-cooled fast reactors, experiments with simulated molten materials and coolants (water, sodium) was carried out, where an empirical correlation of the distance for fragmentation was developed. The empirical correlation developed by this study showed a good agreement with the measurement results obtained by the present experiments. It was found that in order to well-predict the distance for fragmentation in sodium, thermal phenomena, such as sodium boiling and resultant vapor expansion, needed to be considered.

Analysis on ex-vessel loss of coolant accident for a water-cooled fusion DEMO reactor

Watanabe, Kazuhito; Nakamura, Makoto; Tobita, Kenji; Someya, Yoji; Tanigawa, Hisashi; Uto, Hiroyasu; Sakamoto, Yoshiteru; Araki, Takao*; Asano, Shiro*; Asano, Kazuhito*

Proceedings of 26th IEEE Symposium on Fusion Engineering (SOFE 2015), 6 Pages, 2016/06

http://doi.org/10.1109/SOFE.2015.7482333

Safety studies of a water-cooled fusion DEMO reactor have been performed. In the event of the blanket cooling pipe break outside the vacuum vessel, i.e. ex-vacuum vessel loss of coolant accident (ex-VV LOCA), the pressurized steam and air may lead to damage reactor building walls which have confinement function, and to release the radioactive materials to the environment. In response to this accident, we proposed three cases of confinement strategies. In each case, the pressure and thermal loads to the confinement boundaries and total mass of tritium released to outside the boundaries were analyzed by accident analysis code MELCOR modified for fusion reactor. These analyses developed design parameters to maintain the integrity of the confinement boundaries.

Development of the evaluation methodology for the material relocation behavior in the core disruptive accident of sodium-cooled fast reactors

Tobita, Yoshiharu; Kamiyama, Kenji; Tagami, Hirotaka; Matsuba, Kenichi; Suzuki, Toru; Isozaki, Mikio; Yamano, Hidemasa; Morita, Koji*; Guo, L.*; Zhang, B.*

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 53(5), p.698 - 706, 2016/05

AA2015-0794.pdf:2.46MB

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2016.1143409

The in-vessel retention (IVR) of core disruptive accident (CDA) is of prime importance in enhancing safety characteristics of sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs). In the CDA of SFRs, molten core material relocates to the lower plenum of reactor vessel and may impose significant thermal load on the structures, resulting in the melt through of the reactor vessel. In order to enable the assessment of this relocation process and prove that IVR of core material is the most probable consequence of the CDA in SFRs, a research program to develop the evaluation methodology for the material relocation behavior in the CDA of SFRs has been conducted. This program consists of three developmental studies, namely the development of the analysis method of molten material discharge from the core region, the development of evaluation methodology of molten material penetration into sodium pool, and the development of the simulation tool of debris bed behavior.

Thermohydraulic responses of a water-cooled tokamak fusion DEMO to loss-of-coolant accidents

Nakamura, Makoto; Tobita, Kenji; Someya, Yoji; Uto, Hiroyasu; Sakamoto, Yoshiteru; Gulden, W.*

Nuclear Fusion, 55(12), p.123008_1 - 123008_7, 2015/12

https://doi.org/10.1088/0029-5515/55/12/123008

Major in- and ex-vessel loss-of-coolant accidents (LOCAs) of a water-cooled tokamak fusion DEMO reactor have been analysed. Analyses have identified responses of the DEMO systems to these accidents and pressure loads to confinement barriers for radioactive materials. The thermohydraulic analysis results suggests that the in- and ex-vessel LOCAs crucially threaten integrity of the primary and final confinement barriers, respectively. As for the in-vessel LOCA, it was found that the pressure in the vacuum vessel reaches its design value due to the LOCA even though a pressure suppression system is in service. As for the ex-vessel LOCA, the pressure load to the tokamak hall due to the double-ended break of the primary cooling pipe was found to be so large that integrity of the hall was crucially challenged. Mitigations of the loads to the confinement barriers are also discussed.

Design study of blanket structure based on a water-cooled solid breeder for DEMO

Someya, Yoji; Tobita, Kenji; Uto, Hiroyasu; Tokunaga, Shinsuke; Hoshino, Kazuo; Asakura, Nobuyuki; Nakamura, Makoto; Sakamoto, Yoshiteru

Fusion Engineering and Design, 98-99, p.1872 - 1875, 2015/10

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fusengdes.2015.05.042

Blanket concept with simplified interior for mass production has been developed with a mixed bed of LiTiO and BeTi pebbles, a coolant condition of 15.5 MPa and 290-325C and cooling tubes only without any partitions. A neutronics analysis ensured the blanket concept meets a self-sufficient supply of tritium. However, this concept is vulnerable to the inner pressure. A plant availability for DEMO may drop to a lower value, because a potential of resume operations after an accident such as a coolant leakage in blanket is not considered. The blanket design will be revisited for the availability. Considering the continuity with the ITER-TBM option of Japan and the engineering feasibility of fabrication, our design study focuses on a water-cooled solid breeding blanket using the mixed pebbles bed. A breakage of the blanket casing should be avoided not to contaminate the plasma chamber with water and breeding materials. A water-cooled solid blanket with inner pressure tightness is estimated by the ANSYS code. As a results, the pressure tightness of 8 MPa (water vapor pressure at 300C) can be compatible with the self-sufficient production of tritium when the blanket is as thick as about 0.9 m and the ribs are arranged in the radial direction. Therefore, the blanket concept with pressure tightness of 8 MPa is adopted with depressurization system as which a tritium recovery system such as helium purge-gas line is posteriorly arranged in blanket to serve. On the other hand, a handling of decay heat is a serious problem at an accident such as LOCA. Coolant flow is divided into the blanket to secure heat removal for the safety. Finally, the blanket segmentation with the shape and dimension of blanket and routing of coolant flow has also been proposed. Moreover, overall TBR is estimated with torus configuration based in the segmentation using three-dimensional MCNP calculation.

Management strategy for radioactive waste in the fusion DEMO reactor

Someya, Yoji; Tobita, Kenji; Uto, Hiroyasu; Asakura, Nobuyuki; Sakamoto, Yoshiteru; Hoshino, Kazuo; Nakamura, Makoto; Tokunaga, Shinsuke

Fusion Science and Technology, 68(2), p.423 - 427, 2015/09

https://doi.org/10.13182/FST15-101

The radioactive waste is generated in every replacement of an in-vessel component. Maintenance scheme is to replace the blanket segment and divertor cassette independently, as the lifetime of them is different. The blanket segment consists of some blanket modules mounted to back-plate. Total weight is estimated to amount to about 6,648 ton (1,575 ton of blanket module, 3,777 ton of back-plate, 372 ton of conducting shell and 924 ton of divertor cassette). In base case, main parameters of DEMO reactor are 8.2 m of major radius and 1.35 GW of fusion output. The lifetimes of blanket segment and divertor cassette are assumed to be 2.2 years and 0.6 year, respectively, 52,487 ton wastes is generated in plant life of 20 years. Therefore, there is a concern that a contamination controlled area for the radioactive waste may increase because much the waste is generated in every replacement. In this paper, management scenario is proposed to reduce the radioactive waste. The back-plates and cassette bodies (628 ton) of divertor was reused. As a result, the displacement per atom (DPA) of the back-plates of SUS316L was 0.2 DPA/year and that of the cassette bodies of F82H was 0.6 DPA/year. Therefore, reusing the back-plates and cassette bodies would be possible, if re-welding points are arranged under neutron shielding. It was found that radioactive waste could be reduced to 20%, when tritium breeding materials are recycled. Finally, a design of DEMO building such as a hot cell and temporary storage etc. is proposed.