Improvement of JASMINE code for ex-vessel molten core coolability in BWR

Matsumoto, Toshinori; Kawabe, Ryuhei*; Iwasawa, Yuzuru; Sugiyama, Tomoyuki; Maruyama, Yu

Annals of Nuclear Energy, 178, p.109348_1 - 109348_13, 2022/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2022.109348

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency extended the applicability of their fuel-coolant interaction analysis code JASMINE to simulate the relevant phenomena of molten core in a severe accident. In order to evaluate the total coolability, it is necessary to know the mass fraction of particle, agglomerated and cake debris and the final geometry at the cavity bottom. An agglomeration model that considers the fusion of hot particles on the cavity floor was implemented in the JASMINE code. Another improvement is introduction of the melt spreading model based on the shallow water equation with consideration of crust formation at the melt surface. For optimization of adjusting parameters, we referred data from the agglomeration experiment DEFOR-A and the under-water spreading experiment PULiMS conducted by KTH in Sweden. The JASMINE analyses reproduced the most of the experimental results well with the common parameter set, suggesting that the primary phenomena are appropriately modelled.

Assessment report on "Technical Supports for Nuclear Safety Regulation and Safety Research for their Purpose" in FY 2021 (Post- and pre-review assessment)

Planning and Co-ordination Office, Sector of Nuclear Safety Research and Emergency Preparedness

JAEA-Evaluation 2022-008, 68 Pages, 2022/11

JAEA-Evaluation-2022-008.pdf:2.01MB
JAEA-Evaluation-2022-008-appendix(CD-ROM).zip:64.08MB

Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) consulted an assessment committee, "Evaluation Committee of Research and Development (R&D) Activities for Nuclear Safety Research", for post-review and pre-review assessments of Nuclear Safety Research, in accordance with "General Guideline for Evaluation of Government R&D Activities" by Cabinet Office, Government of Japan, "Guideline for Evaluation of R&D in Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology" and "Regulation on Conduct for Evaluation of R&D Activities" by JAEA. In response to the JAEA's consult, the Committee assessed the results and outcomes of the R&D programs during the 3rd mid-/long-term plan (from April 2015 to March 2022, including the expected results and outcomes) and the validity of the 4th mid-/long-term plan (7 years from FY2022), according to the above-mentioned guidelines. The Committee concluded that the rationale behind the R&D programs, the relevance of the program outcome and the efficiency of the program implementation during the 3rd mid-/long-term plan are comprehensively evaluated as "A", and the R&D programs for the 4th mid-/long-term plan is generally appropriate. This report summarizes the results of the assessment by the Committee. In addition, the appendices of the report contain the responses from JAEA on the comments and suggestions by the Committee and the presentation materials submitted to the Committee.

CFD analysis on stratification dissolution and breakup of the air-helium gas mixture by natural convection in a large-scale enclosed vessel

Hamdani, A.; Abe, Satoshi; Ishigaki, Masahiro; Shibamoto, Yasuteru; Yonomoto, Taisuke

Progress in Nuclear Energy, 153, p.104415_1 - 104415_16, 2022/11

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnucene.2022.104415

Improvement of the return mapping algorithm based on the implicit function theorem with application to ductile fracture analysis using the GTN model

Mano, Akihiro; Imai, Ryuta*; Miyamoto, Yuhei*; Lu, K.; Katsuyama, Jinya; Li, Y.

International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping, 199, p.104700_1 - 104700_13, 2022/10

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpvp.2022.104700

Elastic-plastic analyses based on finite element methods are widely applied to simulate the nonlinear behaviors of materials. When the analysis is conducted by an implicit method, the stress values are generally updated with a time increment by using the so-called return mapping algorithm. This algorithm requires solving simultaneous nonlinear equations related to a constitutive model. In the present paper, we proposed a general method to reduce the number of equations in the return mapping algorithm based on the implicit function theorem. In addition, the proposed method was applied to the Gurson-Tvergaard-Needleman (GTN) model that considers the influence of damage due to nucleation and growth of microscopic void in materials in the simulation of the nonlinear behaviors. By using the GTN model with the proposed method, an elastic-plastic analysis was performed by the implicit method for a 4-point bending test of pipe with a through-wall crack. The numerical solution of the variation of the load-load line displacement from the analysis agreed with experimental result. Thus, we concluded that the proposed method is useful for simulating nonlinear behaviors, including void nucleation and growth in materials.

Safety assessment of allowable through-wall crack angles for pipes subjected to tensile loading

Hasegawa, Kunio; Strnadel, B.*; Lacroix, V.*; Udyawar, A.*

International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping, 199, p.104722_1 - 104722_5, 2022/10

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpvp.2022.104722

Fully plastic collapse stresses for high toughness pipes with circumferential cracks subjected to tensile loading can be predicted by Limit Load Criteria. The Limit Load Criteria are provided by the ASME Code Section XI. Allowable membrane stresses for part-through cracks were determined by plastic collapse stresses in combination with safety factors. The allowable stresses decrease with increasing angles of the part-through cracks. When crack angles are large, the allowable stresses of the part-through cracks are larger than the collapse stresses of through-wall cracks. For such large cracks, allowable stresses greater than the collapse stresses cause instability, and are thus detrimental to pipe integrity, especially in thin-wall pipes. In order to avoid the anxiety, it is necessary to establish maximum allowable crack angles. This paper proposes maximum allowable crack angles for allowable stresses.

Allowable cracks related to penetration for part-through cracks in pipes subjected to bending stresses

Hasegawa, Kunio; Li, Y.; Strnadel, B.*; Udyawar, A.*

Journal of Pressure Vessel Technology, 144(5), p.051305_1 - 051305_6, 2022/10

https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4053482

Fully plastic collapse stresses for circumferentially part-through cracked pipes subjected to bending stresses are estimated by Limit Load Criteria provided by the ASME Code Section XI. Allowable crack depths were determined by using the Limit Load Criteria and that are tabulated in the ASME Code Section XI for different plant service level conditions. On the other hand, crack penetration bending stresses for part-through cracked pipes were estimated by using the Local Approach of Limit Load Criteria. By using these Criteria, the study presented in this paper obtained allowable crack depths at penetration for circumferentially part-through cracked pipes. Comparing the allowable crack depths obtained by both methods for each service level, it is evident that the allowable crack depths at penetration calculated by the Local Approach of Limit Load Criteria are almost always smaller than those at fully plastic collapse stresses calculated by the Limit Load Criteria. It was found that the allowable crack depths provided by the ASME Code Section XI are less conservative for crack penetrations.

Radiation exposure to the lens of the eye for Japanese nuclear power plant workers

Yokoyama, Sumi*; Tatsuzaki, Hideo*; Tanimura, Yoshihiko; Yoshitomi, Hiroshi; Hirao, Shigekazu*; Aoki, Katsunori; Tachiki, Shuichi*; Ezaki, Iwao*; Hoshi, Katsuya; Tsujimura, Norio

Journal of Radiological Protection, 42(3), p.031504_1 - 031504_17, 2022/09

https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6498/ac7913

In Japan, the radiation-dose limit for the lens of the eye was revised in April 2021. Consequently, for workers, the numerical values of the equivalent dose to the lens of the eye are equal to those of the effective dose. Radiation workers, radiation safety officers and licensees must comply with regulations related to radiation protection and optimize protection. The new guidelines on dose monitoring of the lens of the eye developed by the Japan Health Physics Society recommend for the dose to be estimated near the eye for accurate estimation, when the dose to the lens approaches or exceeds the management criteria. However, there is limited information regarding the non-uniform exposure of nuclear power plant workers. In this study, the dose equivalents of high-dose-rate workplaces and the personal doses of 88 workers were estimated at four Japanese commercial nuclear power plant sites (RWR: 3 units and BWR: 3 units) and the dose to the lens of the eye and the exposure situations of the workers were analyzed.

Local damage to reinforced concrete panels subjected to oblique impact by projectiles; Numerical analysis on test results

Kang, Z.; Okuda, Yukihiko; Nishida, Akemi; Tsubota, Haruji; Li, Y.

Proceedings of 29th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE 29) (Internet), 9 Pages, 2022/08

Most of the empirical formulas that have been proposed seeking to quantitatively investigate local damage to reinforced concrete (RC) structures caused by a rigid projectile impact. These formulas have been derived based on impact tests performed normal to the target structure, while only a few impact tests involving soft projectile to the target structure have been studied. The purpose of this study is to develop a local damage evaluation method that takes into account the oblique impact due to soft projectile, which should be considered in realistic impact conditions. In this paper, we compare the test results with the analytical results to examine and validate the parameter setting of analytical method for evaluating local damage in RC panel. The obtained knowledge is presented.

Examinations of performance for utilization of radiation portal monitors in contamination inspection for motor vehicles in nuclear emergency (Contract research)

Hiraoka, Hirokazu; Komatsuzaki, Joji*; Hanaka, Norihiko*; Okamoto, Akiko; Saito, Yoshihiko*; Munakata, Masahiro; Togawa, Orihiko

JAEA-Technology 2022-003, 70 Pages, 2022/07

JAEA-Technology-2022-003.pdf:2.53MB

In contamination inspections for public in nuclear emergency, it is assumed that a large number of motor vehicles and evacuees will be inspected. At present, first measurement points of vehicles are tires and around a wiper, and they are basically inspected by persons using portable radiation surface contamination meters such as GM survey meters. However, in order to efficiently inspect contamination of vehicles, utilization of portable radiation portal monitors is being considered for the inspection. In this study, examination of performance of the portal monitor was conducted in order to obtain basic data. In this examinations, sealed radiation sources, Ba, were substituted for the contamination of Operational Intervention Level 4 (OIL4), the evaluation criteria to conduct simple decontamination in the contamination inspection. The radiation source was attached practically to a tire and around the wipers of a vehicle, and the counting rate of -rays from the radiation sources was measured using the portal monitor. Three examinations were conducted: static examination with a vehicle stationary, moving examination to mock the actual inspection, and high back ground examination to investigate performance of the equipment in high back ground environment. The vehicle mainly used in the experiments was a sedan, which is generally used as standard vehicles. And, a van whose front body is like that of a bus was used at this experiment. In addition, the "Gamma Pole" manufactured by the Chiyoda Technol Corporation was used as the portal monitor. As the result, it was estimated that the case of contamination equivalent to 40,000 cpm, the default value of the OIL4, deposited on the tread on a vehicle tire, when the vehicle passes through the portal monitor at 10 km/h or less, the contamination would be detected with a probability of 99% or more. Similarly, when the contamination deposited on around the wipers and the vehicle speed is 5 km/h or less,

Differential pressure changes of a high airflow-type HEPA filter during solvent fire in reprocessing facilities

Tashiro, Shinsuke; Uchiyama, Gunzo; Ono, Takuya; Amano, Yuki; Yoshida, Ryoichiro; Abe, Hitoshi

Nuclear Technology, 208(7), p.1205 - 1213, 2022/07

https://doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2021.2018272

A clogging behavior of a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter at solvent fire accidents for reprocessing facilities has been studied. In this study, the burning rates of 30% tri-butyl phosphate (TBP)/dodecane (DD) mixed solvent and DD solvent and the differential pressure (P) of a high airflow typed HEPA filter applied in the actual facilities in japan were measured. It was confirmed that the mainly burned was DD at the early stage of the mixed solvent burning and the TBP at the late stage. Furthermore, it was found that the P rapidly rose at the late stage of the mixed solvent burning. The increase of the release ratio of the unburned particulate composition (TBP, its degraded solvent and inorganic phosphorus (PO)) was considered to contribute to the rapid rise. The correlating formulas with the P and the mass of the loading particulates, except for the region of the rapid rise of P, could be induced.