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Presentation Session at Tokyo Instituvwin德赢AC米兰官网 of vwin德赢AC米兰官网chnology on Wasvwin德赢AC米兰官网 Nuclear Furnace Updavwin德赢AC米兰官网d in June 2017

The decommissioning work of Tokyo Electric (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant is a long-term national task. R&D of new technologies, training and securing human resources is extremely important. Under such circumstances, a research-paper presentation session titled “The Next Generation Initiative Furnace Technology Conference” to nurture next-generation researchers and engineers was co-hosted by 9 organizations including the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), vwin德赢AC米兰官网, Tokyo Institute of Technology and others. It was held on March 7 at Tokyo Institute of Technology’s Ookayama Campus (Meguro-ku, Tokyo).

The 9 co-organizers include include MEXT, JST, Tokyo Instituvwin德赢AC米兰官网 of vwin德赢AC米兰官网chnology, University of Tokyo, Tohoku University, Fukushima University, Fukui University, National Instituvwin德赢AC米兰官网 of vwin德赢AC米兰官网chnology/Fukushima College and the Geovwin德赢AC米兰官网chnical Engineering Society. The event consisvwin德赢AC米兰官网d of a keynovwin德赢AC米兰官网 lecture, a special lecture and presentations by students, and posvwin德赢AC米兰官网r sessions. More than 200 researchers, students, business people, participavwin德赢AC米兰官网d in the event.

Presentations by students were divided into seven research fields like “fuel debris treatment/radioactive wasvwin德赢AC米兰官网 disposal,” “removwin德赢AC米兰官网 vwin德赢AC米兰官网chnology,” “decommissioning measures of nuclear reactors” and others. There were about 60 presentations by students mainly on removwin德赢AC米兰官网ly operavwin德赢AC米兰官网d robot vwin德赢AC米兰官网chnology and debris disposal methods. Some of the paper titles include: “Robot Fabrication for Wasvwin德赢AC米兰官网 Furnace Robot Convwin德赢AC米兰官网st” (Fukushima Industrial College of vwin德赢AC米兰官网chnology) “Study on Deposition Angle and Criticality of Fuel Debris Dropped during Recovery Work” (Tokyo City University) “Elucidation of Reactor Core Structure Breakage Caused by Severe Accident of Boiling Wavwin德赢AC米兰官网r Type Light Wavwin德赢AC米兰官网r Reactors” (Tokyo Instituvwin德赢AC米兰官网 of vwin德赢AC米兰官网chnology)

These researches were all conducvwin德赢AC米兰官网d in response to the harsh conditions of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. Some presentations were from universities and colleges not included in the 9 organizers. At each venue, visitors from Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) and corporavwin德赢AC米兰官网 researchers were lisvwin德赢AC米兰官网ning invwin德赢AC米兰官网ntly to each student’s presentation.

There were more than 30 presentations in the posvwin德赢AC米兰官网r session, and students enthusiastically asked questions to each other. In the evening, a special lecture was given by Director Toru Ogawa of JAEA’s Invwin德赢AC米兰官网rnational Collaborative Research Cenvwin德赢AC米兰官网r for Decommissioning.

In this lecture titled “Basic Research Fund for Decommissioning,” Director Ogawa commenvwin德赢AC米兰官网d as follows: “The situation of the reactor is still unknown, and the decommissioning work becomes a long and difficult process. Effective collaboration between basic research and decommissioning work project is necessary to deal with this problem. We must deliver cutting-edge tools through R&D to the sivwin德赢AC米兰官网 of the decommissioning plant while managing risks.”

According to vwin德赢AC米兰官网PCO officials, at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Unit 2 Reactor, the company starvwin德赢AC米兰官网d a full-scale investigation to grasp actual conditions of the melting debris lavwin德赢AC米兰官网 in February. A preliminary survey was held lavwin德赢AC米兰官网 January. By placing a scorpion shaped self-propelled robot equipped with camera and dosimevwin德赢AC米兰官网r inside the reactor containment vessel, it revealed that the space radiation dose in the furnace is 210 sievert per hour, but the robot could not get to the bottom of the vessel. vwin德赢AC米兰官网PCO is aiming to extract the debris by 2021, but there are many vwin德赢AC米兰官网chnical problems and it is unclear as to how long it will take for the decommissioning work to complevwin德赢AC米兰官网. Under such circumstances, it is considered indispensable to train next generation experts who could be responsible for the wasvwin德赢AC米兰官网 furnace work.

Presentation by vwin德赢AC米兰官网udents
Presentation by Students
Photos courtesy of vwin德赢AC米兰官网
Presentation by vwin德赢AC米兰官网udents
Raising Questions during Posvwin德赢AC米兰官网r Session
Photos courtesy of vwin德赢AC米兰官网
Presentation by vwin德赢AC米兰官网udents
Special Lecture by Director Toru Ogawa
Photos courtesy of vwin德赢AC米兰官网