[en] This article was newly written for useful discussion on energy policy based on the lecture at the Japan Science Council symposium 'How to amend energy policy after the Fukushima nuclear accident' held in July 2012. Basic standpoints of energy policy and positioning of nuclear power according to the 2010 energy basic program were reviewed. Nuclear power capacity was expected to increase from 49.5 GWe in 2007 to 68 GWe in 2030 to assure energy security. The accident forced energy policy to be amended starting with nuclear power zero base. The accident actualized the safety risks of nuclear power utilization, which were discussed from fragilities of three areas: (1) design basis, (2) emergency preparedness/response and (3) regulation system. Concrete measures to reduce risks of nuclear disaster were proposed. Role and responsibility of scientists was commented. Trend of energy policy based on basic philosophy selection for three scenarios in 2030 at the lecture time was confirmed and significance of nuclear power utilization was summarized from many-sided view points. (T. Tanaka)

[en] AESJ's Investigation Committee on the Nuclear Accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station was decided to be established by board meeting in June 2011 and tried to identify and analyze root cause of the giant accident of complicated nuclear system, estimate reality and extract effective lessons learned for future nuclear safety activities as a conclusion judging from experiences and knowledge of experts and obtained information with no heating and experiments. Interim report was published for member's review and focused on risk of radioactive materials release with nuclear energy use and their environmental effects. Report mentioned six points to assure nuclear safety responding to several factors of accident initiation: (1) comprehensive safety assurance with risk assessment and defense-in-depth concept, (2) response to external events. (3) severe accident management and its effectiveness assurance, (4) emergency preparedness and its response, (5) environmental restoration and decontamination and (6) response of academia for needed reform. Based on above subjects and investigation of future response to specific individual points, comprehensive and logical proposals would be derived at the end of the year with reflecting member's frank opinions to be submitted. (T. Tanaka)

[en] A model for dissolution of CaO-SiO₂-H₂O (C-S-H) gel is proposed by considering a Margules type of non-ideal mixture of binary solid solutions at Ca/Si (C/S)<1. The Guggenheim and Prausnitz equations are used to represent the activities of model solids as a function of mole fractions. The Gibbs-Duhem equation, together with the activities of model solids, is applied to express the conditional solubility products of model solids as a function of C/S ratio. The determination of Guggenheim's empirical parameters is performed with the geochemical code PHREEQE on experimental data. The dissolution model is developed by considering the effect of disorder in the structure of C-S-H gel at C/S<1. The solubility results predicted by the proposed model are comparable with experimental data. The study predicts some structural information of C-S-H gel at C/S<1

[en] The atoms dissociated from desorbed molecules occupy a large fraction of the neutrals in edge plasmas. Experiments of Balmer line emission, both in our linear device MAP and in TEXTOR, show a group of atoms at very low energy (<1 eV). This paper evaluates the energy distributions of dissociated atoms of the most important reaction channels of H₂. It is shown that the vibrational excitation can lead to a broad range energy distribution for the H₂ dissociated into ground state atoms. However, the contribution to the dissociated atoms at energies below 0.5 eV, is not so significant. The photon emission rate starting from H(2s) excitation is calculated and implemented in the DEGAS 2 modelling for our experiment case. From Hα modelling via DEGAS 2, it is concluded that the reaction channel, H₂+e→H₂(1sσ, n lχ vertical bar ¹Λ) e + H (1s) + H (2s), and especially one of the dissociated products H(2s) may be the main source contributing to the Balmer line emissions where the low-energy component was observed. (author)

No abstract available

[en] The world fusion community is now launching construction of ITER, the first nuclear-grade fusion machine in the world. In parallel to the ITER program, Broader Approach (BA) activities are to be initiated in this year by EU and Japan, mainly at Rokkasho BA site in Japan, as complementary activities to ITER toward DEMO. The BA activities include IFMIFEVEDA (International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility-Engineering Validation and Engineering Design Activities) and DEMO design activities with generic technology R and Ds, both of which are critical to the rapid development of DEMO and commercial fusion power plants. The Atomic Energy Commission of Japan reviewed on-going third phase fusion program and issued the results of the review, 'On the policy of Nuclear Fusion Research and Development' in November 2005. In this report, it is anticipated that the ITER will be made operational in a decade and the programmatic objective can be met in the succeeding seven or eight years. Under this condition, the report presents a roadmap toward the DEMO and beyond and R and D items on fusion nuclear technology, indispensable for fusion energy utilization, are re-aligned. In the present paper, Japanese view and policy on ITER and beyond is summarized mainly from the viewpoints of nuclear fusion technology, and a minimum set of R and D elements on fusion nuclear technology, essential for fusion energy utilization, is presented. (orig.)

[en] Bonding nature of hydrogen isotopes on the surface of Li₂O has been studied with the CRYSTAL92, ab-initio Hartree-Fock calculation code for periodic systems. It was found that the exothermic dissociative adsorption of H₂O molecule could occur on the relaxed surface. The adsorption energy for the most stable site was 0.438eV per one H₂O. The nature of -OH on the surface of Li₂O was also analyzed. Calculation results showed that the stretching vibration of O-H is affected by the chemical species around the -OH. 11 refs., 5 figs., 4 tabs

[en] A case of Ig D myeloma with meningeal myelomatosis is reported. A 64-year-old man, who complained of fatigue and loss of appetite, had nuchal rigidity, bilateral sixth nerve palsy, and choked disks. His cerebrospinal fluid contained plasma cells and a monoclonal protein band identical with that in the serum. CT scans showed, in the bilateral subdural spaces, brain edema and enhanced masses which disappeared after successful chemotherapy. Meningeal involvement in multiple myeloma is a rare occurrence. A cytologic examination of the cerebrospinal fluid and CT scans were valuable in this case. (author)

[en] The interaction of hydrogen isotopes with defects in Li₂O was studied by ab-initio quantum chemical calculations. Three kinds of F-centers and the lithium vacancy were considered. The relaxation of ions around the vacancy and the stable position of a proton were calculated when the vacancy was produced in the Li₂O crystal. From the obtained energies and the electronic charge density maps for each configuration, the effects of the vacancies on the proton were discussed

No abstract available