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Fuels and Materials Engineering DivisionTAKANO Masahide

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Activities of Fuels and Materials Engineering Division


To realize the decarbonized society, nuclear power is still one of the essential energy source as well as the renewable energy like solar and wind power. For safer and sustainable supply of nuclear energy, we perform a wide range of research and development concerning the nuclear fuel cycle, keeping the lessons learned from the Fukushima accident in our mind.

In the Fuels and Materials Engineering Division, our main research tasks are;
(1) enhancing safty of light water reactors and nuclear facilities (accident tolerant fuels/claddings, measures for plant aging management),
(2) R&D on partitioning and transmutation of minor actinides (MA) by accelerator driven system (MA separation, nitride fuel, pyrochemica reprocessing, structural materials),
(3) supporting decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (fuel debris characterization, fission products behavior).

For these research activities, we operate hot cell facilities and glove boxes to treat spent fuels and transuranium elements. Numerous apparatus for material properties and analyses are utilized. In addition to the experimental method, we also take advantage of computational science such as first-principle calculation and fuel behavior analysis codes, and develop databases on material properties and thermodynamic properties. By cooperation with industry, government and academia, we make effort to maximize the research results to be implemented.

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