Materials in nuclear power plants can be embrittled by neutron irradiation. According to existing studies, the effect of the material property by irradiation embrittlement can be approximately simulated by cold working (pre-strain). In this study, finite element damage analysis method using the stress-modified fracture strain model is proposed to predict J-Resistance curves of irradiated SUS316 stainless steel. Experimental data of pre-strained SUS316 stainless steel material are obtained from literature and the damage model is determined by simulating the tensile and fracture toughness tests. In order to consider damage caused by the pre-strain, a pre-strain constant is newly introduced. Experimental J-Resistance curves for various degrees of pre-strain are well predicted.

Printed circuit heat exchangers (PCHEs) are widely used with an increasing demand for industrial applications. PCHEs are capable of operating at high temperatures and pressure. We consider a PCHE as a candidate intermediate heat exchanger type for a high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR). For conventional application using stainless steels, design and manufacturing of PCHEs are well established. For applications to HTGR, knowledge of longitudinal conduction and deformation of channel is required to estimate design margin. This paper analyzes the effects of longitudinal conduction and deformation of channel on thermal performance using a code internally developed for design and analysis of PCHEs. The code has a capability of two dimensional simulations. Longitudinal conduction is estimated using the code. In HTGR operating condition, about ten percent of design margin is required to compensate thermal performance. The cross-sectional images of PCHE channels are obtained using an optical microscope. The images are processed with computer image process technique. We quantify the deformation of channel with dimensional parameters. It is found that the deformation has negative effect on structural integrity. The deformation enhances thermal performance when the shape of channel is straight in laminar flow regime. It reduces thermal performance in cases of a zigzag channel and turbulent flow regime.

A compact heat exchanger is one of critical components in a very high temperature gas-cooled reactor (VHTR). Alloy 617 (Ni-Cr-Co-Mo) is considered as one of leading candidates for this application due to its excellent thermal stability and strengths in anticipated operating conditions. On the basis of current ASME code requirements, sixty sheets of this alloy are prepared for diffusion welding, which is the key technology to have a reliable compact heat exchanger. Optical microscopic analysis show that there are no cracks, incomplete bond, and porosity at/near the interface of diffusion weldment, but Cr-rich carbides and Al-rich oxides are identified through high resolution electron microscopic analysis. In high-temperature tensile testing, superior yield strengths of the diffusion weldment compared to the code requirement are obtained up to 1223 K ($950^{\circ}C$). However, both tensile strength and ductility drop rapidly at higher temperature due to the insufficient grain boundary migration across the interface of diffusion weldment. Best fit curves for minimum yield strength and average tensile strength are drawn from the experimental tensile results of this study.

The mechanical design procedure is studied for the PCHE(printed circuit heat exchanger) with electrochemical etched flow channels. The effective heat transfer plates of PCHE are assembled by diffusion bonding to make a module. PCHE is widely used for industrial applications due to its compactness, cost efficiency, and serviceability at high pressure and/or temperature conditions. The limitations and technical barriers of PCHE are investigated for application to nuclear components. Rules for design and fabrication of PCHE are specified in ASME Section VIII but not in ASME Section III of nuclear components. Therefore, the calculation procedure of key dimensions of PCHE is defined based on ASME section VIII. The effective heat transfer region of PCHE is defined by several key dimensions such as the flow channel radius, edge width, wall thickness, and ridge width. The mechanical design procedure of key dimensions was incorporated into a program for easy use in the PCHE design. The effect of assumptions used in the key dimension calculation on stress values is numerically investigated. A comparative analysis is done by comparing finite element analysis results for the semi-circular flow channels with the formula based sizing calculation assuming rectangular cross sections.

When designing high temperature piping system, creep phenomena must be considered. Since ASME code does not provide detailed methods of design by rule (DBR) for high temperature piping, Finite element analysis should be performed. However, In the case of piping system with frequent design changes, creep analysis of the entire piping system for every change is ineffective and practically impossible. Therefore, based on elastic and elastic-plastic analysis, which takes a relatively short time, the creep stress is predicted by using elastic follow-up factor method provided in R5 code and plastic-creep analogy presented by Hoff. The predicted creep stress for a virtual piping system was compared with the creep analysis result and the two results showed similar stress relaxation tendency in time.

For safe operation of nuclear power plants, a loose-part monitoring system (LPMS) is used to detect and locate loose-parts within the reactor coolant system, and to estimate their mass and damage potential. There are several methods to estimate mass, such as the center frequency method based on the Hertz's impact theory, a frequency ratio method and so on, but it is known that these methods cannot provide accurate information on impact response for identifying the impact source. Thanks to increasing computing power, finite element analysis (FEA) method recently become an available option to calculate reliably impact response behavior. In this paper, a finite element analysis model to simulate the propagation behavior of the bending wave, generated by a metal ball impact, is validated by performing a series of impact tests and the corresponding finite element analyses for flat plate and shell structures. Also, a FEA-based metal sphere signal map is developed, and then blind tests are performed to verify the map. This study provides an accurate simulation method for predicting the metal impact behavior and for building a metal sphere signal map, which can be used to estimate the mass of loose-parts on site in nuclear power plants.

Configuration management (CM) is the process of identifying and documenting characteristics of plant structures, systems and components (SSCs), and of ensuring that changes to these characteristics are properly assessed, approved, implemented, verified and recorded. The purpose of this study is to examine regulation and technical standards developed under different concepts and level of depth for classification of nuclear SSCs as an essential prerequisite of the CM. In this context, main contents of currently adopted NSSC Notice 2016-10 are reviewed and compared with those in recently published ANSI/ANS 58.14 and IAEA SSG-30. The technical standards were prototypically used for classification of O-rings in two nuclear systems. It is found that ANSI/ANS 58.14 results in different categories taking into account specific features while IAEA SSG-30 leads to same categorization of the O-rings. Key findings will be summarized for Korean regulatory amendment in the future.

The purpose of this study is to develop a Half Nozzle Repair(HNR) process to prevent the leakage from welds on small bore piping in Reactor Coolant System. The Codes & Standards of tempered bead and design requirements of J-Groove welds are reviewed. Automatic machine GTAW welding and machining equipments are developed to perform HNR process. Single pass welding and overlay welding equipments are conducted in order to obtain the optimal temper bead welding process parameters with Alloy 52M filler wire. Coarse grain heat affected zone(CGHAZ) is formed by rapid cooling rate in heat affected zone after welding. Accordingly, a proper temper bead technique is required to reduce CGHAZ in 1-Layer of welds by 2- and 3-Layers. Mock-up tests show that the developed HNR process is possible to meet ASME Code & Standard requirements without any defect.