A SIMULATION STUDY OF DEPOSITION PARAMETERS FOR 129I DISCHARGED FROM THE ROKKASHO REPROCESSING PLANT

2019 ◽  
Vol 184 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 376-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Koichi Abe ◽  
Hidenao Hasegawa ◽  
Naofumi Akata ◽  
Hideki Kakiuchi ◽  
Jing-Hsien Chiang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Fuel ◽  
Spent Nuclear Fuel ◽  
Mesoscale Model ◽  
Deposition Rates ◽  
Test Operation ◽  
Deposition Parameters ◽  
Penn State ◽  
Atmospheric Discharge ◽  
Atmospheric Concentrations ◽  
Reprocessing Plant

Abstract The first commercial spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plant at Rokkasho in Japan discharged 129I from actual spent nuclear fuel into the atmosphere during its test operation from 2006 to 2008. Previously, we measured monthly atmospheric concentrations of gaseous and particulate 129I and atmospheric deposition rates of 129I from the campus of our institute, which is 2.6 km east of the main stack of the plant. In this study, we simulated the atmospheric concentrations and deposition rates of 129I using a combination of the Fifth-Generation Penn State/NCAR Mesoscale Model and the improved CG-MATHEW/ADPIC models, Version 5.0. Here, we report on the optimised deposition parameters of 129I used to simulate the measured values using 129I atmospheric discharge rates from the main stack.

scholarly journals Concentrations of iodine-129 in coastal surface sediments around spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plant at Rokkasho, Japan, during and after its test operation

2019 ◽  
Vol 322 (3) ◽  
pp. 2019-2024 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuhi Satoh ◽  
Shinji Ueda ◽  
Hideki Kakiuchi ◽  
Yoshihito Ohtsuka ◽  
Shun’ichi Hisamatsu
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Fuel ◽  
Spent Nuclear Fuel ◽  
Spent Fuel ◽  
Brackish Lake ◽  
Spent Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing ◽  
Test Operation ◽  
Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing ◽  
Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Plant ◽  
Reprocessing Plant ◽  
Fuel Reprocessing

Abstract Concentrations of 129I in coastal surface sediment samples from the east coast of Aomori, Japan, 2–65 km away from the wastewater outlet of the nuclear fuel reprocessing plant at Rokkasho, Japan, were measured from 2006 to 2010. No clear effect on 129I/127I atom ratios in marine sediments was observed, although 129I was discharged from the plant, during its test operation using actual spent fuel, mainly between 2006 and 2008. The ratio in sediments collected at a fishing port at the mouth of a brackish lake increased in 2007, showing that the 129I migrated from the lake to the port.

Long Term Storage of Nuclear Spent Fuel as Key Role of Japan’s Nuclear Fuel Cycle Until 2100: Cost and Benefit

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tadahiro Katsuta
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Fuel ◽  
Spent Nuclear Fuel ◽  
Fuel Cycle ◽  
Nuclear Fuel Cycle ◽  
Storage Site ◽  
Spent Fuel ◽  
Final Disposal ◽  
Enriched Uranium ◽  
Interim Storage ◽  
Reprocessing Plant

Political and technical advantages to introduce spent nuclear fuel interim storage into Japan’s nuclear fuel cycle are examined. Once Rokkasho reprocessing plant starts operation, 80,000 tHM of spent Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) fuel must be stored in an Away From Reactor (AFR) interim storage site until 2100. If a succeeding reprocessing plant starts operating, the spent LEU will reach its peak of 30,000 tHM before 2050, and then will decrease until the end of the second reprocessing plant operation. Throughput of the second reprocessing plant is assumed as twice of that of Rokassho reprocessing plant, indeed 1,600tHM/year. On the other hand, tripled number of final disposal sites for High Level Nuclear Waste (HLW) will be necessary with this condition. Besides, large amount of plutonium surplus will occur, even if First Breeder Reactors (FBR)s consume the plutonium. At maximum, plutonium surplus will reach almost 500 tons. These results indicate that current nuclear policy does not solve the spent fuel problems but rather complicates them. Thus, reprocessing policy could put off the problems in spent fuel interim storage capacity and other issues could appear such as difficulties in large amount of HLW final disposal management or separated plutonium management. If there is no reprocessing or MOX use, the amount of spent fuel will reach over 115,000 tones at the year of 2100. However, the spent fuel management could be simplified and also the cost and the security would be improved by using an interim storage primarily.

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