8Nuclear Science and Engineering Research

Promoting Basic R&D on Nuclear Energy and Creation of Innovative Technology to Meet Social Needs
Nuclear Science and Engineering Research

Supporting various government activities
and projects both inside and outside JAEA

Providing technological platform
to industries and universities

Tackling the recovery
from Fukushima-Daiichi accident

Conservation and improvement of basis
for nuclear science and engineering

Preparing basic codes and databases

Creating innovative technology(Partitioning and transmutation, etc.)

Cultivating human resources and basic technology

Fig.8-1 Roles of nuclear science and engineering research
We play various roles in the conservation and improvement of the basis for nuclear science and engineering.

Nuclear science and engineering research aims to promotevarious activities, as shown in Fig.8-1, including recovery
from the accident at the Tokyo Electric Power Company,
Incorporated Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (1F).
To this end, research is being conducted in the areas of nuclear
data and reactor engineering, fuels and materials engineering,
nuclear chemistry, and environment and radiation science. Joint
research with industry and academia is also being promoted via
the Nuclear Engineering Research Collaboration Center.
In the area of nuclear data and reactor engineering, theJapanese Evaluated Nuclear Data Library (JENDL) is beingedited, and nuclear data are being measured to improve it.
Calculation methods for nuclear reactor design (Topic 8-1),transmutation technologies to reduce the amount of long-lived
radioactive waste (Fig.8-2), and so on are also being studied.
Regarding the accident at 1F, the decay heat in the reactor cores
was evaluated (Chapter 1, Topic 1-17).
In the area of fuels and materials engineering, research on
the nuclear fuels and materials used in nuclear reactors andfuel cycle facilities is being promoted (Fig.8-3, Topic 8-3).
Regarding the accident at 1F, the properties of the fuel debris
and materials immersed in sea water are being investigated.
In the area of nuclear chemistry, research is being promoted
on basic data for reprocessing, separation of long-lived
nuclides from nuclear wastes, and detection of extremely small
amounts of nuclear materials (Topics 8-4, 8-5, 8-6, 8-7). These
technologies are also being applied to the recovery from theaccident at 1F.
In the area of environmental and radiation science, studiesof the behavior of radionuclides in the environment and thedevelopment of a database for radiation protection are beingpromoted (Topics 8-2, 8-8, 8-9). The behaviors of 137Cs releasedby the accident at 1F in the marine sediment and forest topsoil arebeing studied in order to predict the long-term environmental
consequences (Chapter 1, Topics 1-1, 1-8).
In collaboration with industry, a production technique for
medical radio-isotopes using an accelerator-driven neutron
source has been being developed. A new corrosion-resistantmaterial is also being developed.

Proton Beam
Spallation
Neutron TargetCore(with MAs)

Fig.8-2 Accelerator-driven system (ADS) to transmute
minor actinides (MAs)
An 800 MWt ADS can be operated with a 1.5 GeV, 30 MW
proton beam at maximum power. Through operation of one
ADS, the amount of long-lived MA nuclides discharged from
10 units of a 1 GWe light water reactor can be transmuted
into short-lived or stable ones.

Manipulators

Fig.8-3 TRU High-Temperature Chemistry (TRU-HITEC)
module installed at NUCEF
Various thermochemical data are being measured for highly
radioactive trans-uranic (TRU) elements in an inert gas
atmosphere.
JAEA R&D Review 201383