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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Panel Session 4 and 15: Japan Fukushima Daiichi D and D Update and Technological Challenges at Japan Fukushima Daiichi D and D and Update on Nuclear Overview and Development in Japan - Nuclear Fuel Cycle

Sessions 4 and 15 represent a two-part panel series that discusses progress and challenges associated with cleanup at Fukushima. Severe limitations on availability of original panelists from Japan due to strict restrictions put in place to alleviate the spread of coronavirus necessitated changes to both panels. The result was a significantly modified panel for Session 04 (shown above) and the elimination of all panelists for Session 15. The 4 and 15 Panel Sessions provide an overview of activities related to both the progress and challenges of cleanup and decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (NPS) in Japan. Five panelists discussed perspectives of the cleanup following a Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) video showing the progress on site since the devastating Great East Earthquake and tsunami that caused the explosions at three of the six reactors on the site. Three of the five panelists discussed on-going work being performed for the effort, while the other two provided expert perspectives of on strategic efforts at the site. The panel was attended by over 80 technologists and policy makers spanning the globe and was opened by Dr. Monica Regalbuto of Idaho National Laboratory and a short video provided by TEPCO. The video described changes at the site that spanned the cleanup efforts from stabilizing water intrusion into the contaminated reactor buildings to construction of new administrative facilities. The video explained the processes underway to retrieve spent fuel rods and challenges in retrieval of the compromised fuel debris. The video highlighted working condition improvements that included establishment of rest housing and a small convenience store on the site, and the rollback of protective equipment around the site due to decreases contamination. Panelists with presentations: Revision of 'the Mid-and-Long-Term Road-map towards the Decommissioning of TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station' (Paul Dickman); Sharing UK experience at Fukushima Daiichi (Adrian Simper); SRNL Japan (Andrew Fellinger); ABLE's Initiative to Dismantle the Exhaust Stack (Daniel Walter); JAEA R and D in Fukushima (Tokio Fukahori); TEPCO - Overview and Update of the Fukushima Decommissioning Process (Monica Regalbuto); Toshiba's Involvement in the Decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (Yasuhiro Yuguchi); Remote Dismantling of the Exhaust Stack At Fukushima Dai-ichi NPS (Takashi Okutsu)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2015

Study on criticality control of fuel debris by Japan atomic energy agency to support regulation authority of Japan - 14571

From the viewpoint of safety regulation, criticality control of the fuel debris in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station would be a risk-informed control to mitigate consequences of criticality events, instead of a deterministic control to prevent such events. The Nuclear Regulation Authority of Japan has set up a research and development program to tackle this challenge. The Nuclear Safety Research Center of Japan Atomic Energy Agency, commissioned by the authority, has launched activities such as computations of criticality characteristics of the fuel debris, development of criticality risk assessment method, and preparation of criticality experiments to support them. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Eruption mass estimation using infrasound waveform inversion and ash and gas measurements: Evaluation at Sakurajima Volcano, Japan [Comparison of eruption masses at Sakurajima Volcano, Japan calculated by infrasound waveform inversion and ground-based sampling]

Eruption mass and mass flow rate are critical parameters for determining the aerial extent and hazard of volcanic emissions. Infrasound waveform inversion is a promising technique to quantify volcanic emissions. Although topography may substantially alter the infrasound waveform as it propagates, advances in wave propagation modeling and station coverage permit robust inversion of infrasound data from volcanic explosions. The inversion can estimate eruption mass flow rate and total eruption mass if the flow density is known. However, infrasound-based eruption flow rates and mass estimates have yet to be validated against independent measurements, and numerical modeling has only recently been applied to the inversion technique. Furthermore we present a robust full-waveform acoustic inversion method, and use it to calculate eruption flow rates and masses from 49 explosions from Sakurajima Volcano, Japan.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1986

Trends of Sr and Nd isotopes through time near the Japan Sea in northeastern Japan

Nd and Sr isotopic analyses were performed on selected volcanic rocks of 27-6 Ma age in the Green Tuff region of northeastern Japan, in adjacent areas, and in two ultramafic inclusions from Ichinomegata. The isotopic data plot generally along the region of the mantle array, and the volcanic rocks vary in epsilon(Nd) from -0.9 to 5.7, and in epsilon(Sr) from 14.1 to -16.3. It is found that the volcanic rocks are part of an evolutionary pattern over a time period of 27 Ma, and that the pattern goes from an initially enriched source to that of a very depleted source. A greater-than-15-Ma preopening stage, characterized by an enriched isotopic signature, and a less-than-15-Ma postopening stage, characterized by a depleted signature, are identified. It is suggested that the degree of continental crust involvement is high during the preopening stages of a back-arc basin when it is associated with a rifted continental mass.

Nohda, S.↗
DOE OSTI2014

Interannual and interdecadal variations in typhoon tracks around Japan

This study employs Geographical Information Systems software to develop a classification system for typhoons (TYs) affecting Japan (1951–2011) and uses that system to investigate the spatial and temporal variations of storm tracks and their connection to the location and strength of the North Pacific subtropical high (NPSH). TYs coming within a 300-km buffer zone around the four main islands of Japan (JZOI) are grouped into two main types: those that remain on the Pacific Coast (PC) and those that enter the Japan Sea (JS). Results indicate that fewer TYs enter the JZOI when the NPSH extends strongly to the west and more reach Japan when it extends to the northwest. The winds around the periphery of the NPSH affect the recurvature of TYs directing them either west towards the China Mainland or around the western edge of the high towards Japan. More importantly, during periods when greater numbers of TYs affect the PC side of Japan (PC+), the NPSH extends to the southwest. However, during periods when greater numbers of TYs affect JS side of Japan (JS+), the NPSH extends to the northwest closer to Japan. The southwest extension of the NPSH enables TYs to recurve and pass to the eastern side (PC) of Japan while the northwest extension forces TYs around or across Japan into the JS. An important finding is that the moderately different positions of the NPSH change the atmospheric circulation around Japan dramatically and affect whether TYs pass over the PC side or the JS coast side of Japan. At the interannual time scale, increased JS+ years were observed since 1980 because of the frequent occurrence of the Pacific-Japan pattern. We also found that at the interdecadal time scale, PC+ years have increased due to the southwestward extension of the NPSH since 1980.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2015

Criticality safety control of fuel debris produced by the accident of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants - technical development in Japan from 2012 and the future

Full text of publication follows: On 11 March 2011, Japan was attacked by the '2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake'. It was the greatest earthquake ever recorded around Japan. It caused big tsunami and it also attacked Tohoku sea coast area severely and violently. Approximately 16,000 people passed away and still about 2,600 people are lost by the earthquake and the tsunami. This extraordinary natural disaster affected the society of Japan deeply. But more serious problem is the severe accident occurred in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plants (1FNPP) after the earthquake and tsunami attack. By the tsunami after the earthquake, because of loss of ultimate heat sink (LUHS), three reactors of 1FNPP were damaged and the intact fuel became fuel debris. After the accident, Government of Japan setup the council for the decommissioning of TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and it released the general plan for countermeasure of the severe accident occurred in Japan, i.e. 'Mid-and-long-Term Road map towards the Decommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Units 1-4'. According to the road map, nuclear power reactor vendors and research institutes in Japan have started the national project to carry out the decommissioning activity. International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning (IRID) is the association for technical development for Fukushima site decommissioning. Under this umbrella, nuclear power reactor vendors in Japan, i.e. Toshiba, Hitachi and Mitsubishi, and Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) have carried out the technical development required for the criticality safety control of the Fukushima fuel debris. Furthermore, JAEA has a plan to use the criticality assembly STACY for obtaining the neutronics characteristics of the fuel debris by modifying STACY from the solution system to heterogeneous system. This program is conducted by entrustment of Nuclear Regulation Authority of Japan, independently from IRID framework. It is expected that it will reach first criticality in FY2018. Researchers in universities in Japan also have own research program to control reactivity of fuel debris. This presentation will summarize the on-going research programs in Japan for the criticality safety control in order to remove and store the fuel debris from Fukushima site. (author)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2018

An Alternative to the Continued Accumulation of Separated Plutonium in Japan: Dry Cask Storage of Spent Fuel

As of the end of 2017, Japan had a stockpile of 48 tons of separated plutonium. It will take more than a decade for Japan to convert most of that plutonium into “mixed-oxide” (MOX) fuel and load it into power reactors licensed to use such fuel. This is a very costly program. Including the cost of reprocessing, MOX fuel costs about ten times more than the low-enriched-uranium fuel that otherwise would be used by these reactors. Yet Japan has a policy to start separating more plutonium from spent reactor fuel as soon as the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant can be put into operation – currently projected for 2021 after 24 years of delay due to a variety of technical problems and upgrades in safety requirements. Japan’s government remains committed to this costly and troubled program primarily because, pending the availability of additional spent-fuel storage space on or off site, reprocessing is seen as the only way to get spent fuel out of reactor pools that are getting full. Because of concerns about the safety of dense-packed spent-fuel pools, however, the prefectures and towns hosting Japan’s power reactors are beginning to accept on-site storage of spent fuel in dry casks. This is the option the United States and many other countries chose after they cancelled their reprocessing programs and their powerplant pools filled up. Its increasing availability in Japan, if backed by a determined policy to accelerate its introduction, should make it possible to cancel reprocessing in Japan as well.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Genetic structure of Miscanthus sinensis and Miscanthus sacchariflorus in Japan indicates a gradient of bidirectional but asymmetric introgression

Unilateral introgression from diploids to tetraploids has been hypothesized to be an important evolutionary mechanism in plants. However, few examples have been definitively identified, perhaps because data of sufficient depth and breadth were difficult to obtain before the advent of affordable high-density genotyping. Throughout Japan, tetraploid Miscanthus sacchariflorus and diploid Miscanthus sinensis are common, and occasionally hybridize. In this study, 667 M. sinensis and 78 M. sacchariflorus genotypes from Japan were characterized using 20 704 SNPs and ten plastid microsatellites. Similarity of SNP genotypes between diploid and tetraploid M. sacchariflorus indicated that the tetraploids originated through autopolyploidy. Structure analysis indicated a gradient of introgression from diploid M. sinensis into tetraploid M. sacchariflorus throughout Japan; most tetraploids had some M. sinensis DNA. Among phenotypically M. sacchariflorus tetraploids, M. sinensis ancestry averaged 7% and ranged from 1-39%, with introgression greatest in southern Japan. Unexpectedly, rare (~1%) diploid M. sinensis individuals from northern Japan were found with 6-27% M. sacchariflorus ancestry. Population structure of M. sinensis in Japan included three groups, and was driven primarily by distance, and secondarily by geographic barriers such as mountains and straits. Miscanthus speciation is a complex and dynamic process. In contrast to limited introgression between diploid M. sacchariflorus and M. sinensis in northern China, selection for adaptation to a moderate maritime climate probably favoured cross-ploidy introgressants in southern Japan. Ultimately, these results will help guide the selection of Miscanthus accessions for the breeding of biomass cultivars.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1995

Electronic manufacturing and packaging in Japan

This report summarizes the status of electronic manufacturing and packaging technology in Japan in comparison to that in the United States, and its impact on competition in electronic manufacturing in general. In addition to electronic manufacturing technologies, the report covers technology and manufacturing infrastructure, electronics manufacturing and assembly, quality assurance and reliability in the Japanese electronics industry, and successful product realization strategies. The panel found that Japan leads the United States in almost every electronics packaging technology. Japan clearly has achieved a strategic advantage in electronics production and process technologies. Panel members believe that Japanese competitors could be leading U.S. firms by as much as a decade in some electronics process technologies. Japan has established this marked competitive advantage in electronics as a consequence of developing low-cost, high-volume consumer products. Japan's infrastructure, and the remarkable cohesiveness of vision and purpose in government and industry, are key factors in the success of Japan's electronics industry. Although Japan will continue to dominate consumer electronics in the foreseeable future, opportunities exist for the United States and other industrial countries to capture an increasingly large part of the market. The JTEC panel has identified no insurmountable barriers that would prevent the United States from regaining a significant share of the consumer electronics market; in fact, there is ample evidence that the United States needs to aggressively pursue high-volume, low-cost electronic assembly, because it is a critical path leading to high-performance electronic systems.

Kelly, Michael J.↗
DOE OSTI2015

Battery collection in municipal waste management in Japan: Challenges for hazardous substance control and safety

Highlights: • Consumers need to pay attention to the specific collection rules for each type of battery in each municipality in Japan. • 6–10% of zinc carbon and alkaline batteries discarded in Japan currently could be regarded as containing mercury. • Despite announcements by producers and municipalities, only 2.0% of discarded cylindrical dry batteries were insulated. • Batteries made up an average of 4.6% of the total collected small WEEE under the small WEEE recycling scheme in Japan. • Exchangeable batteries were used in almost all of mobile phones, but the removal rate was as low as 22% for mobile phones. - Abstract: To clarify current collection rules of waste batteries in municipal waste management in Japan and to examine future challenges for hazardous substance control and safety, we reviewed collection rules of waste batteries in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. We also conducted a field survey of waste batteries collected at various battery and small waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE) collection sites in Tokyo. The different types of batteries are not collected in a uniform way in the Tokyo area, so consumers need to pay attention to the specific collection rules for each type of battery in each municipality. In areas where small WEEE recycling schemes are being operated after the enforcement of the Act on Promotion of Recycling of Small Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment in Japan in 2013, consumers may be confused about the need for separating batteries from small WEEE (especially mobile phones). Our field survey of collected waste batteries indicated that 6–10% of zinc carbon and alkaline batteries discarded in Japan currently could be regarded as containing mercury. More than 26% of zinc carbon dry batteries currently being discarded may have a lead content above the labelling threshold of the EU Batteries Directive (2006/66/EC). In terms of safety, despite announcements by producers and municipalities about using insulation (tape) on waste batteries to prevent fires, only 2.0% of discarded cylindrical dry batteries were insulated. Our field study of small WEEE showed that batteries made up an average of 4.6% of the total collected small WEEE on a weight basis. Exchangeable batteries were used in almost all of mobile phones, digital cameras, radios, and remote controls, but the removal rate was as low as 22% for mobile phones. Given the safety issues and the rapid changes occurring with mobile phones or other types of small WEEE, discussion is needed among stakeholders to determine how to safely collect and recycle WEEE and waste batteries.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
NASA NTRS1991

High definition systems in Japan

The successful implementation of a strategy to produce high-definition systems within the Japanese economy will favorably affect the fundamental competitiveness of Japan relative to the rest of the world. The development of an infrastructure necessary to support high-definition products and systems in that country involves major commitments of engineering resources, plants and equipment, educational programs and funding. The results of these efforts appear to affect virtually every aspect of the Japanese industrial complex. The results of assessments of the current progress of Japan toward the development of high-definition products and systems are presented. The assessments are based on the findings of a panel of U.S. experts made up of individuals from U.S. academia and industry, and derived from a study of the Japanese literature combined with visits to the primary relevant industrial laboratories and development agencies in Japan. Specific coverage includes an evaluation of progress in R&D for high-definition television (HDTV) displays that are evolving in Japan; high-definition standards and equipment development; Japanese intentions for the use of HDTV; economic evaluation of Japan's public policy initiatives in support of high-definition systems; management analysis of Japan's strategy of leverage with respect to high-definition products and systems.

Elkus, Richard J., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1992

A test of present-day plate geometries for northeast Asia and Japan

Alternative geometries for the present-day configuration of plate boundaries in northeast Asia and Japan are tested using NUVEL-1 and 256 horizontal earthquake slip vectors from the Japan and northern Kuril trenches. Statistical analysis of the slip vectors is used to determine whether the North American, Eurasian, or Okhotsk plate overlies the trench. Along the northern Kuril trench, slip vectors are well-fit by the NUVEL-1 Pacific-North America Euler pole, but are poorly fit by the Pacific-Eurasia Euler pole. Results for the Japan trench are less conclusive, but suggest that much of Honshu and Hokkaido are also part of the North American plate. The simplest geometry consistent with the trench slip vectors is a geometry in which the North American plate extends south to 41 deg N, and possibly includes northern Honshu and southern Hokkaido. Although these results imply that the diffuse seismicity that connects the Lena River delta to Sakhalin Island and the eastern Sea of Japan records motion between Eurasia and North America, onshore geologic and seismic data define an additional belt of seismicity in Siberia that cannot be explained with this geometry. Assuming that these two seismic belts constitute evidence for an Okhotsk block, two published kinematic models for motion of the Okhotsk block are tested. The first model, which predicts motion of up to 15 mm/yr relative to North America, is rejected because Kuril and Japan trench slip vectors are fit more poorly than for the simpler geometry described above. The second model gives a good fit to the trench slip vectors, but only if Okhotsk-North America motion is slower than 5 mm/yr.

Demets, Charles↗
NASA NTRS1992

JTEC panel report on machine translation in Japan

The goal of this report is to provide an overview of the state of the art of machine translation (MT) in Japan and to provide a comparison between Japanese and Western technology in this area. The term 'machine translation' as used here, includes both the science and technology required for automating the translation of text from one human language to another. Machine translation is viewed in Japan as an important strategic technology that is expected to play a key role in Japan's increasing participation in the world economy. MT is seen in Japan as important both for assimilating information into Japanese as well as for disseminating Japanese information throughout the world. Most of the MT systems now available in Japan are transfer-based systems. The majority of them exploit a case-frame representation of the source text as the basis of the transfer process. There is a gradual movement toward the use of deeper semantic representations, and some groups are beginning to look at interlingua-based systems.

Carbonell, Jaime↗
NASA NTRS1995

Electronics manufacturing and assembly in Japan

In the consumer electronics industry, precision processing technology is the basis for enhancing product functions and for minimizing components and end products. Throughout Japan, manufacturing technology is seen as critical to the production and assembly of advanced products. While its population has increased less than 30 percent over twenty-five years, Japan's gross national product has increase thirtyfold; this growth has resulted in large part from rapid replacement of manual operations with innovative, high-speed, large-scale, continuously running, complex machines that process a growing number of miniaturized components. The JTEC panel found that introduction of next-generation electronics products in Japan goes hand-in-hand with introduction of new and improved production equipment. In the panel's judgment, Japan's advanced process technologies and equipment development and its highly automated factories are crucial elements of its domination of the consumer electronics marketplace - and Japan's expertise in manufacturing consumer electronics products gives it potentially unapproachable process expertise in all electronics markets.

Kukowski, John A.↗
DOE OSTI2019

Panel Session 54: Robotics/Remote Control Technology at Japan Fukushima Daiichi (2/2)

The panel focused on Robotics/Remote Control Technology considered and implemented at the Japan Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and the surrounding clean-up efforts. Suzuki san recognized that a significant amount of progress had been made during the 8 years since that accident, and that a key component of the progress includes the development and application of robotic technologies. Presentations proposed include: 1 - Development of Robotics technologies in Hitachi-GE (Satoshi Okada, Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy, Ltd. (Japan)); 2 - Remote Control Technology for Fuel Removal of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Unit 3 (Shinya Okada, Kajima Cooperation (Japan)); 3 - VNS Fukushima Remote Handling (Matthew Cole, Veolia Nuclear Solutions (USA)); 4 - Education of the Robotics/Remote Technology for Decommissioning (Mio Kasai, National Institute of Technology, Fukushima College (Japan))

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2018

Increasing risk of uterine cervical cancer among young Japanese women: Comparison of incidence trends in Japan, South Korea and Japanese‐Americans between 1985 and 2012

In Japan, cervical cancer incidence has increased since the late 1990s especially among young women, despite a decreasing trend in most developed countries. Here, we examined age, period and birth cohort trends in cervical cancer incidence rates from 1985 to 2012. Incidence rates were ascertained using three population‐based cancer registries and analyzed using Joinpoint regression and age‐period‐cohort models. We compared the findings in Japan to trends among Japanese‐Americans in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Registries and among women in South Korea using the Korea Central Registry. Age‐standardized incidence rates in Japan decreased by 1.7% per year (95% confidence interval − 3.3%, 0.0%) until 1997 and thereafter increased by 2.6% per year (1.1%, 4.2%). Incidence rates increased among women under age 50, were stable among women aged 50–54, and decreased or remained stable among women aged 55 and over. The age‐standardized incidence rate ratio by birth cohort showed a U‐shaped pattern with the lowest rates in women born in the late 1930s and 1940s. In comparison, women born before 1920 and after 1970 had about double the incidence. Increasing risk in recent birth cohorts was not evident in Japanese‐American or South Korean women. The trends in Japan may be attributable to increasing prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection among young women. Screening and vaccination have been shown to be highly effective and would help reverse these trends.

Utada, Mai↗