Appearance of Unit 1 and 2 reactor buildings at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (June 2022). Photo: Japan Nuclear Regulation Authority

 The FACE project is a constructive extension of the BSAF, PreADES and ARC-F projects. Based on the Japanese needs and expected needs of the potential project partners, the FACE project is implemented with the following general objectives:

• refining the interpretation of accident scenarios including the effects of accident management measures, which is consistent with insights obtained from FDNPS plant investigation;
• clarifying current capability and directions to further improvement of modelling for severe accident progression;
• interpreting the results of analysis for uranium-bearing particles and determining suitable hot laboratory analysis techniques and procedures for future application to fuel debris analysis;
• maintaining communication channels between Japanese organisations and international partners to share data, information and expertise towards the resolution of FDNPS D&D related issues and improvement of reactor safety in various countries.

Three main scopes of work in the FACE project are proposed in light of the general objectives. The first scope (scope 1) is in-depth discussions for accident progression and associated fission product (FP) behaviour and hydrogen (H₂) combustion. This scope considers technical issues identified in recent FDNPS investigation, which are far from previous knowledge, and the quantification of uncertainties in severe accident modelling (melt progression, MCCI, FP and H₂ issues) taking into account those in boundary conditions such as the rate of alternative water injection and leakage from the CVs. It is also important to maintain flexibility on the choice of technical tasks based on newly obtained insights from ongoing and future FDNPS investigation.

The second scope is related to the characterisation of uranium-bearing particles and the establishment of techniques for future fuel debris analysis for D&D. Scope 2 includes a study on the plausible mechanisms for the formation of uranium-bearing particles. This will contribute to the understanding of the progression of the FDNPS accident and which fuel debris analysis technology and evaluation methods may be most useful. An international round-robin analysis activity with debris simulants is also included in this scope.

Data and information obtained from activities associated with the FDNPS investigation are collected and shared with the project partners in the third scope. This scope is continuation of one of tasks in the ARC-F project with an expansion of the information contributed (e.g. U-bearing particles).

Management Board, Programme Review Group Chairs, Operating Agent

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