DOI QR코드

DOI QR Code

Physical protection system vulnerability assessment of a small nuclear research reactor due to TNT-shaped charge impact on its reinforced concrete wall

  • Moo, Jee Hoon (Research & Development Center, INNOSE TECH CO. LTD) ;
  • Chirayath, Sunil S. (Department of Nuclear Engineering, Texas A&M University) ;
  • Cho, Sung Gook (Research & Development Center, INNOSE TECH CO. LTD)
  • Received : 2021.04.12
  • Accepted : 2021.12.07
  • Published : 2022.06.25

Abstract

A nuclear energy facility is one of the most critical facilities to be safely protected during and after operation because the physical destruction of its barriers by an external attack could release radioactivity into the environment and can cause harmful effects. The barrier walls of nuclear energy facilities should be sufficiently robust to protect essential facilities from external attack or sabotage. Physical protection system (PPS) vulnerability assessment of a typical small nuclear research reactor was carried out by simulating an external attack with a tri-nitro toluene (TNT) shaped charge and results are presented. The reinforced concrete (RC) barrier wall of the research reactor located at a distance of 50 m from a TNT-shaped charge was the target of external attack. For the purpose of the impact assessment of the RC barrier wall, a finite element method (FEM) is utilized to simulate the destruction condition. The study results showed that a hole-size of diameter 342 mm at the front side and 364 mm at the back side was created on the RC barrier wall as a result of a 143.35 kg TNT-shaped charge. This aperture would be large enough to let at least one person can pass through at a time. For the purpose of the PPS vulnerability assessment, an Estimate of Adversary Sequence Interruption (EASI) model was used, which enabled the determination of most vulnerable path to the target with a probability of interruption equal to 0.43. The study showed that the RC barrier wall is vulnerable to a TNT-shaped charge impact, which could in turn reduce the effectiveness of the PPS.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the Nuclear Power Core Technology Development Program of Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) grant financial resource from Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy, Republic of Korea (Number 20181520102780). The authors would like to thank for the financial support.

References

  1. Dennis Baum, "Shaped Charge Technology." [https://str.llnl.gov/str/Baum.html].
  2. Tamer Abd Elazim Elshenawy, CRITERIA OF DESIGN IMPROVEMENT OF SHAPED CHARGES USED AS OIL WELL PERFORATORS, 2012. Doctoral Dissertations.
  3. Fredrik Johnsson-Bengt Vretblad-Ake Sivertun, Shaped charge calculation models for explosive ordnance disposal operations, J. Mil. Stud. 3 (1) (2012). Introduction to Shaped Charge.
  4. K. Guendouz, A. Sayhi, W. Cheng, Autodyn-2D simulation of shaped charge jet formation and penetration mechanism into multi-layered shielded target, in: Applied Mechanics and Materials, vol. 664, Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland, 2014, pp. 128-137.
  5. Amir H.Abbassi, "General Birkhoff's Theorem." Department of Physics, School of Sciences, Tarbiat Modarres University.
  6. W. Galuta E Regig, Numerical simulations of RC panels subjected to high speed projectile-erosion selection in AUTODYN-3D code, IJISET-Int. J. Innovat. Sci. Eng. Technol. 4 (2017).
  7. W. Riedel, 10 Years RHT: a review of concrete modelling and hydrocode applications, in: S. Hiermaier (Ed.), Predictive Modeling of Dynamic Processes, vol. 5, Springer, Boston, 2009.
  8. ANSYS AUTODYN User's Manual Theoretical Manual 2005, ANSYS Inc. Southpointe, 2600 ANSYS Drive, Canonsburg, PA, 15317 USA.
  9. Xiaohua Zhao, Gaohui Wang, Wenbo Lu, Yan Peng, Ming Chen, Chuangbing Zhou, Damage features of RC walls subjected to air and underwater contact explosions, Ocean. Eng. 147 (2018) 531-545. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2017.11.007
  10. J. Wu, J. Liu, Y. Du, Experimental and numerical study on the flight and penetration properties of explosively-formed projectile, Int. J. Impact Eng, 34 (2007) 1147-1162. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijimpeng.2006.06.007
  11. Gerald Neville, Concrete manual: based on the 2015 Ibc and Aci 318-14 concrete quality and field practices, Icc Publications, https://shop.iccsafe.org/media/wysiwyg/material/9090S15-Sample.pdf, 2015.
  12. M.L. Garcia, The Design and Evaluation of Physical Protection Systems, second ed., Butterworth Heinemann, Boston, 2008.
  13. M.A. Hawila, S.S. Chirayath, Nuclear security risk analysis: an insider-outsider collusion scenario, Int. J. Nucl. Secur. 2 (No. 2) (2016), https://doi.org/10.7290/V7B56GNN. Available at:.
  14. M.A. Hawila, S.S. Chirayath, W. Charlton, Nuclear security risk evaluation using adversary pathway analysis methodology for an insider-outsider collusion scenario, in: Proceedings of the 56th INMM Annual Meeting, Indian Wells, California, USA, 2015. July 12-16.
  15. ANSYS Tutorial, ANSYS Inc. "Introduction to ANSYS Explicit STR & Introduction to ANSYS Autodyn Part" Southpointe, 2600 ANSYS Drive, 2012. Canonsburg, PA, 15317 USA.