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Nuclear Environmental Materials Lab
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The lab investigates materials for safely disposing of radioactive waste over timescales of tens of thousands of years.
AboutAbout the lab
Addressing energy and environmental issues from the standpoint of waste.
The Nuclear Environmental Materials Lab focuses on research on the disposal of radioactive waste.
For nuclear power to be used reliably, one condition is that radioactive waste be treated safely and securely.
To predict how the materials that contain waste will change over hundreds to tens of thousands of years, the lab studies the properties of materials and the mechanisms of the reactions involved.
The lab also works on research related to environmental remediation and decommissioning following the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station accident.
Key terms
- Geological disposal
- A method of disposing of radioactive waste by confining it within stable bedrock deep underground
- Buffer material
- Clay placed around waste containers. It stops the movement of groundwater and adsorbs radioactive substances, slowing their migration
- Decommissioning
- The work of dismantling and removing nuclear facilities that have completed their service and bringing the site to a safe state
NewsLab news
Professor Kozaki received the Back-end Division Distinguished Service Award from the Atomic Energy Society of Japan
A paper on a recurrent education program in nuclear engineering was published in Kogyo Kyoiku (Journal of Engineering Education)
ResearchResearch themes
The lab explores the properties of environmental materials used in the treatment and disposal of radioactive waste, and the mechanisms of the reactions that occur in them. It also studies environmental remediation and decommissioning following the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station accident.
*Illustrative imageGeological Disposal of Radioactive Waste
High-level radioactive waste is solidified in glass, sealed in carbon steel containers, covered with a clay buffer material, and disposed of deep underground. To predict the integrity of these materials hundreds to tens of thousands of years into the future, the lab uses analytical techniques that can detect extremely small changes (joint research with the Japan Atomic Energy Agency and private companies).
*Illustrative imageBehavior of Cesium in Soil
Cesium binds very strongly to the clay components of soil, but the mechanism is not yet fully understood. Using two approaches, experiments and model calculations, the lab investigates how cesium behaves in soil, aiming to contribute to the treatment and disposal of decontamination waste (joint research with the Japan Atomic Energy Agency).
*Illustrative imageDecommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi
The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station is in a very different condition from reactor facilities that have reached the end of their service life. The lab collects basic data for analyzing and evaluating the technologies and costs of decommissioning, and examines methods for that analysis.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Nuclear Environmental Materials Lab consist of faculty, administrative staff, and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- ProfessorTamotsu Kozaki
- ProfessorNaoko Watanabe
- Associate ProfessorYuka Morinaga
VoicesStudent voices
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Onkalo driving tunnel” kallerna / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Geological Disposal of Radioactive Waste: “HURC Horonobe Window 190526” Yauchi / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Behavior of Cesium in Soil: “Bentonite clay to make slurry” Agne27 / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Decommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi: “Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant seen from the sea” ブルーノ・
プラス / CC BY 4.0 (cropped) - Related lab (Nuclear Reactor Engineering Lab): “Cerenkov Effect” United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Nuclear Systems Safety Engineering Lab): “Monju )” IAEA Imagebank / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Quantum Energy Conversion Materials Lab): “TEM image of gold nanoparticles and nanorods” Fionán / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Nuclear Power Support Social Infrastructure Technology Lab): “Advanced Test Reactor” Argonne National Laboratory / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
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