Development of a non-destructive specific activity inspection system for mushroom logs

Following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, a specific activity inspection system is required to ensure that raw wood used for cultivating shiitake (Lentinus edodes) is safe. Although most radioactive materials adhere to tree bark, as of 2016, the current inspection method measures the specific activity of the whole log. To resolve issues with the current inspection method and contribute to the reconstruction of agriculture and forestry in the disaster area, we developed an inspection system to measure the specific activity of the bark without cutting the tree in the forest. The gamma-ray detector used in this system consisted of four radiation detection modules that could enclose the tree. The external surfaces of the four detectors were covered with lead to block background radiation from the environment. Log samples were analyzed by this system and by an HP-Ge semiconductor detector, and the results were compared. A quantification factor was determined to convert the counts measured by this system into the specific activity of the bark. The field test was conducted in the northern parts of Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures. The results confirmed that the system had reasonable measurement accuracy and could determine the direction from which radiocesium had been transported.     

Radiation imaging using a compact Compton camera mounted on a crawler robot inside reactor buildings of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station

ABSTRACT

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS), operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc., went into meltdown in the aftermath of a large tsunami caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake of 11 March 2011. Measurement of radiation distribution inside the FDNPS buildings is indispensable to execute decommissioning tasks in the reactor buildings. We conducted a radiation imaging experiment inside the reactor building of Unit 1 of FDNPS by using a compact Compton camera mounted on a crawler robot and remotely visualized gamma-rays streaming from deep inside the reactor building. Moreover, we drew a radiation image obtained using the Compton camera onto the three-dimensional (3-D) structural model of the experimental environment created using photogrammetry. In addition, the 3-D model of the real working environment, including the radiation image, was imported into the virtual space of the virtual reality system. These visualization techniques help workers recognize radioactive contamination easily and decrease their own exposure to radiation because the contamination cannot be observed with the naked eye.     

Effect of quenching on molten core-concrete interaction product

ABSTRACT

Characterization of fuel debris is required to develop fuel debris removal tools for decommissioning Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (1F). Especially, knowledge about the characteristics of molten core-concrete interaction (MCCI) product is needed because of the limited information available at present. Samples from a large-scale MCCI test performed under quenching conditions, VULCANO VW-U1 were analyzed to evaluate the characteristics of the surface of MCCI product. Four samples were selected from test sections at different locations. As a result, the characteristics of the samples were found to be similar. Several corium phases, such as cubic-(U,Zr)O₂ and tetragonal ZrO₂, were detected by X-ray diffraction (XRD), but concrete-based phases, such as the crystalline SiO₂ phase, were not detected by XRD because the quantity of the SiO₂ phase was too small to be measured. The Vickers hardness of each phase in these samples was higher than that of previously analyzed samples in another VULCANO test campaign, VBS-U4. Based on a comparison between MCCI product generated under quenching condition, such as VW-U1, and gently cooled MCCI product, such as VBS-U4, the MCCI product generated under quenching condition is more homogeneous, and its hardness is higher than that of the gently cooled MCCI product.     

Spatial distributions of atmospheric concentrations of radionuclides on 15 March 2011 discharged by the Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident estimated from NaI(Tl) pulse height distributions measured in Ibaraki Prefecture

ABSTRACT

A hybrid method for estimation of atmospheric concentrations of multiple radionuclides was developed and applied to NaI(Tl) pulse height records measured in Ibaraki Prefecture in the morning of 15 March 2011 when three radioactive plumes from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident passed. The method is based on the simple principle for separation from deposited radionuclides’ contribution and the concentration estimation for multiple radionuclides. Difficulty in the concentration estimation due to complexity of surrounding terrains and geometry was overcome to obtain spatiotemporal variations in atmospheric concentrations of Xe-133, Te-132, I-131, I-132 and I-133 in the three plumes at 21 monitoring stations. The plume axis with higher I-131 concentration of 5.40 kBq m-3 than the previous estimations during the second plume was found in the northwestern inland area. A substantially lower Xe-133/I-131 concentration ratio of the first plume than those of the others was again recognized. The details of non-uniform spatial distribution of the radionuclide composition were found for each of the three plumes.     

Anticoincidence-Shielded Ge(Li) Gamma-Ray Spectrometer for Marine Environmental Radionuclide Analysis

An anti-Compton γ-ray spectrometer has been developed, which possesses a number of characteristics particularly adapted to direct measurement of low-level complex mixtures of radionuclides in marine environmental samples.

The detector assembly consists of a 42.7 cm³ coaxial Ge(Li) detector and a well-type 6″diam. × 4″ Nal(Tl) detector for the anticoincidence shield. The sample to be measured is placed on the Ge(Li) detector inside the well of the Nal(Tl) crystal.

Suppression of the Compton background is particularly marked at the Compton edge when the assembly is operated in anticoincidence mode. The anticoincidence shield reduces the ¹³⁷Cs Compton edge by a factor of 6.6 to provide a peak-to-Compton edge ratio of 210: 1 without reducing the full-energy peak efficiency by more than 2%. Similarly, for the 1,332.5 keV ⁶⁰Co γ-rays the Compton edge is reduced by a factor of 7 to give a peak-to-Compton ratio of 85:1, though in this case the peak efficiency is reduced by a factor of 1.8 due to the cascade decay.

This spectrometer has permitted the detection of a few pCi of fallout nuclides such as ¹³⁷Cs and ⁹⁵Zr, contained in 30 g environmental wet samples counted at intervals of 1,000 min.     

An inversion decomposition method for better energy resolution of NaI(Tl) scintillation detectors based on a Gaussian response matrix

NaI(T1) scintillation detectors have been widely applied for gamma-ray spectrum measurements owing to advantages such as high detection efficiency and low price.However,the mitigation of the limited energy resolution of these detectors,which detracts from an accurate analysis of the instrument spectra obtained,remains a crucial need.Based on the physical properties and spectrum formation processes of NaI(T1) scintillation detectors,the detector response to gamma photons with different energies is represented by photopeaks that are approximately Gaussian in shape with unique full-width-at-half-maximum(FWHM) values.The FWHM is established as a detector parameter based on resolution calibrations and is used in the construction of a general Gaussian response matrix,which is employed for the inverse decomposition of gamma spectra obtained from the detector.The Gold and Boosted Gold iterative algorithms are employed to accelerate the decomposition of the measured spectrum.Tests of the inverse decomposition method on multiple simulated overlapping peaks and on experimentally obtained U and Th radionuclide series spectra verify the practicability of the method,particularly in the low-energy region of the spectrum,providing for the accurate qualitative and quantitative analysis of radionuclides.     

Quantities of I-131 and Cs-137 in accumulated water in the basements of reactor buildings in process of core cooling at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants accident and its influence on late phase source terms

During the process of core cooling at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants accident, large amount of contaminated water was accumulated in the basements of the reactor buildings at Units 1–4. The present study estimated the quantities of I-131 and Cs-137 in the water as of late March based on the press-opened data. The estimated ratios of I-131 and Cs-137 quantities to the core inventories are 0.51%, 0.85% at Unit 1, 74%, 38% at Unit 2 and 26%, 18% at Unit 3, respectively. According to the Henry's law, certain fraction of iodine in water could be released to atmosphere due to gas–liquid partition and contribute to increase in the release to environment. A lot of evaluations for I-131 release have been performed so far by the MELCOR calculation or the SPEEDI reverse estimation. The SPEEDI reverse predicted significant release until 26 March, while no prediction in MELCOR after 17 March. The present study showed that iodine release from accumulated water may explain the release between 17 and 26 March. This strongly suggests a need for improvement of current MELCOR approach which treats the release only from containment breaks for several days after the core melt.     

基于LaBr3(Ce)晶体耦合SiPM阵列的可变角分辨率伽玛相机的设计与研制

编码孔径成像技术由于探测效率高、信噪比高、角分辨率好、成像质量稳定可靠等优点而广泛应用于核安全、核设施的去污及退役的测量、核医学等领域。建立通过改变编码准直器和探测器之间距离进而实现可变角分辨的伽玛成像系统。整个成像系统主要由编码准直器、位置灵敏探测(position sensitive detector, PSD)、数据采集卡以及图像重建系统组成。该成像系统的编码准直器采用修正均匀冗余阵列(modified uniformly redundant array, MURA)编码方式,为了保障对较高能量射线的探测能力,编码准直器的材料采用含钨量90%的钨铜合金,PSD通过LaBr₃(Ce)晶体耦合SiPM阵列组成,重建算法采用的是直接互卷积算法,快速高效。测试结果显示,整个位置灵敏探测器的平均能量分辨率为4.96%(662 keV);该辐射成像系统可以准确地对Am-241、Cs-137、Co-60进行清晰成像,并通过改变编码准直器和探测器之间的距离成功分辨出两个Cs-137点源的位置。     

基于多层流模型的核电站警报分析系统的开发

开发了基于多层流模型(MFM)的核电站警报分析系统。系统通过在复杂的故障状态下自动识别主要根本原因,能够减轻运行人员的工作负荷。另外,由于多层流模型提供了一组蕴涵因果关系的图形符号,操作维护人员可以通过符号分析来验证诊断结果,从而可以提高警报分析过程的可理解性以及维护工作的可靠性。取自RELAP5/MOD2的19组数据用于评价系统性能。仿真实验结果显示了该系统在停堆前具有较好的及时检测和诊断故障的能力。     

Development of supercritical water heat-transfer correlation for vertical bare tubes

This paper presents an analysis of heat-transfer to supercritical water in bare vertical tubes. A large set of experimental data, obtained in Russia, was analyzed and a new heat-transfer correlation for supercritical water was developed. This experimental dataset was obtained within conditions similar to those in supercritical water-cooled nuclear reactor (SCWR) concepts.The experimental dataset was obtained in supercritical water flowing upward in a 4-m long vertical bare tube with 10-mm ID. The data were collected at pressures of about 24 MPa, inlet temperatures from 320 to 350 °C, values of mass flux ranged from 200 to 1500 kg/m² s and heat fluxes up to 1250 kW/m² for several combinations of wall and bulk-fluid temperatures that were below, at, or above the pseudocritical temperature.A dimensional analysis was conducted using the Buckingham Π-theorem to derive the general form of an empirical supercritical water heat-transfer correlation for the Nusselt number, which was finalized based on the experimental data obtained at the normal and improved heat-transfer regimes. Also, experimental heat transfer coefficient (HTC) values at the normal and improved heat-transfer regimes were compared with those calculated according to several correlations from the open literature, with CFD code and with those of the proposed correlation.The comparison showed that the Dittus-Boelter correlation significantly overestimates experimental HTC values within the pseudocritical range. The Bishop et al. and Jackson correlations tended also to deviate substantially from the experimental data within the pseudocritical range. The Swenson et al. correlation provided a better fit for the experimental data than the previous three correlations at low mass flux (∼500 kg/m² s), but tends to overpredict the experimental data within the entrance region and does not follow up closely the experimental data at higher mass fluxes. Also, HTC and wall temperature values calculated with the FLUENT CFD code might deviate significantly from the experimental data, for example, the k-? model (wall function). However, the k-? model (low Reynolds numbers) shows better fit within some flow conditions.Nevertheless, the proposed correlation showed the best fit for the experimental data within a wide range of flow conditions. This correlation has an uncertainty of about ±25% for calculated HTC values and about ±15% for calculated wall temperature. A final verification of the proposed correlation was conducted through a comparison with other datasets. It was determined that the proposed correlation closely represents the experimental data and follows trends closely, even within the pseudocritical range. Finally, a recent study determined that in the supercritical region, the proposed correlation showed the best prediction of the data for all three sub-regions investigated.Therefore, the proposed correlation can be used for HTC calculations in SCW heat exchangers, for preliminary HTC calculations in SCWR fuel bundles as a conservative approach, for future comparison with other datasets and for the verification of computer codes and scaling parameters between water and modelling fluids.