Yoshimitsu Suzuki

Effects of humic acid on the sorption of Am(III) and Cm(III) on kaolinite

Sorption coefficients of Am(III) and Cm(III) on kaolinite were determined at pH from 3.5 to 10 and humic acid (HA) concentrations of 0 to 20 ppm at ionic strength of 0.1 M (NaClO4) at 298 K with N2 bubbling. The sorption ratio of HA on kaolinite was also measured under the same experimental conditions. The sorption coefficients of Am(III) and Cm(III) in the absence of HA increased with pH over the whole pH range. The presence of HA enhanced sorption coefficients at pH values up to around 5, above which the sorption coefficients were lowered by introducing HA. The effects of HA on sorption coefficients were interpreted by the use of a linear additive model, modified for metal-humate complex formation in the aqueous phase. The model was found to be in fairly good agreement with the experimental data.

Charpy impact testing using miniature specimens and its application to the study of irradiation behavior of low-activation ferritic steels

Abstract The effectiveness of mini-size Charpy V-notch specimens with a 1.5 or 1.0 mm square cross section in measuring the ductile brittle transition temperature (DBTT) and upper shelf energy (USE) compared with full-size specimens is evaluated for a ferritic steel. It is shown that the data from the mini-size specimens can be used to estimate the DBTT and USE for full-size specimens when the measured absorbed energy-temperature curves are normalized by appropriate parameters. The result is applied to the study of neutron irradiation embrittlement of low-activation ferritic steels.

Am(III) and Eu(III) uptake on hematite in the presence of humic acid

Summary The uptake of Am(III) and Eu(III) on hematite (1.0 g/L) in the presence of humic acid (HA; 4.7×10-5 M) was investigated at ionic strengths of 0.05 to 0.5 M (NaClO4) in the pH range of 4 to 10. The sorption behavior of Am(III) was similar to that of Eu(III). The Am(III) and Eu(III) exhibited 100% retention on the solid in the entire pH region studied at high ionic strength (0.5 M). As the ionic strength was decreased below 0.1 M, Am(III) and Eu(III) sorption which was complete at low pH values decreased stepwise with increasing pH from 5 to 7. In order to test the additivity and to understand the solid–water interface reactions for Am(III) sorption in ternary systems, binary interactions between Am(III), HA, and hematite were also examined under identical conditions. The additive results reproduced the stepwise decreases of sorption up to a pH of about 6 for lower ionic strengths, which can be ascribed to HA adsorption behavior. However, inconsistencies in additivity from experimental results were found in the pH regions above 7 at low ionic strengths and in the entire pH region at an ionic strength of 0.5 M. Some non-additive effects are discussed in this paper.

Irradiation embrittlement of neutron-irradiated low activation ferritic steels

Abstract Effects of neutron irradiation and additions of small amounts of alloying elements on the ductile-brittle transition temperature (DBTT) of three different groups of ferritic steels were investigated by means of the Charpy impact test in order to gain an insight into the development of low-activation ferritic steels suitable for the nuclear fusion reactor. The groups of ferritic steels used in this study were (1) basic 0–5% Cr ferritic steels, (2) low-activation ferritic steels which are FeCrW steels with additions of small amounts of V, Mn, Ta, Ti, Zr, etc. and (3) FeCrMo, Nb or V ferritic steels for comparison. In Fe-0–15% Cr and FeCrMo steels, Fe-3–9% Cr steels showed minimum brittleness and provided good resistance against irradiation embrittlement. Investigations on the effects of additions of trace amounts of alloying elements on the fracture toughness of low-activation ferritic steels made clear the optimum amounts of each alloying element to obtain higher toughness and revealed that the 9Cr-2W-Ta-Ti-B ferritic steel showed the highest toughness. This may result from the refinement of crystal grains and improvement of quenching characteristics caused by the complex effect of Ti and B.

Effects of Calcium Ions on the Sorption of Am(III) and Eu(III) onto Kaolinite in the Presence of Humic Acid

The sorption of actinides onto minerals depending on groundwater chemistry plays an important role in the safety aspects of geological disposal of high-level waste. The effects of Ca(II) on the sorption of Am(III) and Eu(III) onto kaolinite in the presence of humic acid (HA) were examined in this study. Distribution coefficients (Kd) of Am(III) and Eu(III), and the fractional adsorption (fHA) of HA on kaolinite were determined by a batch method under initial Ca(II) concentrations of 0 to 1.0 × 10-3 M at a constant ionic strength of 0.1 M (NaClO4) and pH region from 3.5 to 10 in an N2 atmosphere at 298 K. The Kd increased with increasing Ca(II) concentrations in regions higher than 1.0 X10-4 M and in the range of pH 7 to 10. In this pH region, fHA was also enhanced by introducing Ca(II). Concentrations higher than 1.0 × 10-4 M Ca(II) can be regarded as a bridge between kaolinite and HA. It is very likely that the increase in the adsorbed HA on kaolinite, where the HA includes very stable Am(III) and Eu(M) humates, results in an increase in the Am(III) and Eu(IH) distribution coefficients.

Complexation of americium(III) with humic acid by cation exchange and solvent extraction

Complexation of Am(III) with humic acid was studied at various pHs in 0.1M NaClO4. The stability constants of the Am(III)—humate complexes were determined by a cation-exchange method. The values of logβ1 and logβ2 increased slightly with increases of pH from 4 to 6 and were found to be 6.9 and 11.6, respectively, at a pH of 5. Markedly larger values than these were obtained by a solvent extraction method. This discrepancy was also revealed by summarizing data from several literature sources. It is very likely that this can be ascribed to decreases in either humic acid and/or the extractant from the extraction system due to humate interactions at the aqueous-organic interface.

Diffusion Behavior of Iron Corrosion Products In Buffer Materials

Carbon steel is one of the candidate overpack materials for high-level waste disposal and is expected to assure complete containment of vitrified waste glass during an initial period of 1000 years in Japan. The lifetime of the carbon steel overpack will depend on its corrosion rate. The corrosion rate of carbon steel is reduced by the presence of buffer material such as bentonite. Buffer material will delay the supply of corrosive materials and discharge of corrosion products through it. Carbon steel overpack will be corroded by consuming oxygen introduced by repository construction after closure of repository and then will keep the reducing environment in the vicinity of repository. The reducing condition will be expected to retard the migration of redox-sensitive radionuclides by lowering their solubilities. Therefore, the diffusion of corrosion products of iron in buffer material is important to discuss the corrosion rate of overpack, migration of redox-sensitive radionuclides and properties of buffer material. The purpose of this paper is to study diffusion behavior of a corrosion product of iron in compacted bentonites under a reducing condition with a carbon steel. The diffusion mechanism of iron in the compacted bentonites were discussed by estimation of iron species in the bentonite pore water. There were two diffusion paths of iron in the compacted bentonites used in this study; the fast path has low capacity of iron, ca. 1wt%, and large apparent diffusion coefficient, ca. 10 −12 m 2 /s and the slow path has high capacity of iron, ca. 10wt%, and small apparent diffusion coefficient, ca. 10 −14 m 2 /s.

The improvement of irradiation-enhanced copper embrittlement in FeCu alloys

Abstract The effect of alloying elements on neutron irradiated FeCu alloys has been investigated in order to obtain the fundamental information on the irradiation-enhanced copper embrittlement for power reactor vessel steels. The mechanism of copper-induced irradiation embrittlement in the copper-containing iron alloys was proved to be due to both the interaction of copper atoms with irradiation-produced complex defects within grains, and the preferred grain boundary segregation of copper atoms existing near grain boundaries. The former effect causes the increase of yield strength, and the latter results in the ductility loss and grain boundary crackings. The addition of titanium up to 0.4 wt% to the Fe-0.1 wt% Cu alloy was found to be extremely effective in the improvement of both the irradiation-induced ductility loss and strength. Aluminum and silicon were not as effective as titanium.

Natural alpha-active isotopes contained in modern memory device materials

Coprecipitation methods with SmF3 and BaSO4 were developed in order to evaluate the radioequilibrium of natural decay nuclides series in high purity silica and lead. The present study revealed that228Th,230Th, and231Pa in silica and210Po, probably210Pb, in lead were enriched in much higher concentrations than their precursor nuclides.

Transport properties and specific heat of UTe and USb

Abstract Uranium monochalcogenides and monopnictides crystallize in the NaCl-type structure and exhibit ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic order, respectively. These series reveal interesting properties such as Kondo behavior of UTe. However, such interesting properties are much sample dependent. We grew single crystals of USb and UTe with high purity using the Bridgman technique, and measured transport properties and specific heat.