• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제29권3호
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• pp.201-210
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• 1997

A thermal conductivity correlation has been proposed which can be applied to high turnup fuel by considering both of thermal conductivity with turnup across fuel pellet and additional degradation at pellet rim due to very high porosity. In addition, a correlation has been developed that can estimate the porosity of rim region as a function of rim burnup under the assumptions that all the produced fission gases are retained in the in porosity and threshold pellet average burnup required for the formation of rim region is 40 MWD/㎏U. Rim width is correlated to rim burnup using measured data. For the RISO experimental data obtained at pellet average turnup of 43.5 MWD/㎏U for three linear heat generation rates of 30, 35 and 40 ㎾/m, radial temperature distributions ore calculated using the present correlation and compared with the measured ones. This comparison shows that the present correlation gives the best agreement with the measured data when it is combined with the HALDEN's correlation for thermal conductivity considering its degradation with burnup. Another comparison with the HALDEN's measured fuel centerline temperature as a function of burnup at 25 ㎾/m up to about 44 MWD/㎾U also suggest that the present correlation yields the best agreement when it is combined with the HALDEN's thermal conductivity.

• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제5권3호
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• pp.189-197
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• 2007

레이저유도파열검출 기술을 이용하여 우라늄(VI) 가수분해물의 용해도를 측정하였다. 측정 용액의 우라늄 농도 범위는 $2{\times}10^{-4}{\sim}4{\times}10^{-6}\;M$, pH 범위는 $3.8{\times}7.0$, 그리고 이온 강도는 0.1 M $NaClO_4$이며, 온도는 $25.0{\pm}0.1^{\circ}C$로 유지하였다. 문헌에 제시된 가수분해 상수와 specific ion interaction theory(SIT)를 이용하여 이온 강도 I=0 일 때의 용해도 곱 (solubility product) 상수 ${\log}K^{\circ}_{sp}=-22.85{\pm}0.23$를 구하였다. 동일한 시료에 대해 흡수 및 형광 스펙트럼을 측정하여 가수분해 화학종의 존재를 확인하였다. $2{\times}10^{-4}\;M$ 우라늄 농도에서 용액 중에 존재하는 주요 가수분해 화학종은 $(UO_2)_2(OH)_2^{2+}$와 $(UO_2)_3(OH)_5^+$임을 보였다.

• 한국원자력학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국원자력학회 1998년도 춘계학술발표회논문집(2)
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• pp.279-284
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• 1998

Applicability of the threshold burnup for rim formation was investigated as a function of temperature by Rest's model. The threshold burnup was the lowest in the intermediate temperature region, while on the other temperature regions the threshold burnup is higher. The rim porosity was predicted by the van der Waals equation based of the rim pore radius of 0.75${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ and the overpressurization model on rim pores. The calculated centerline temperature is in good agreement with the measured temperature. However, more efforts seem to be necessary for the mechanistic model of the rim effect including rim growth with the fuel burnup.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제37권4호
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• pp.309-316
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• 2005

The contents of a new book currently in preparation are described. The dearth of books in the field of nuclear materials has left both students in nuclear materials classes and professionals in the same field without a resource for the broad fundamentals of this important sub-discipline of nuclear engineering. The new book is devoted entirely to materials problems in the core of light-water reactors, from the pressure vessel into the fuel. Key topics deal with the $UO_2$ fuel, Zircaloy cladding, stainless steel, and of course, water. The restriction to LWR materials does not mean a short monograph; the enormous quantity of experimental and theoretical work over the past 50 years on these materials presents a challenge of culling the most important features and explaining them in the simplest quantitative fashion. Moreover, LWRs will probably be the sole instrument of the return of nuclear energy in electric power production for the next decade or so. By that time, a new book will be needed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권1호
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• pp.1-10
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• 2022

This study discusses the effect of using ²³²Th instead of ²³⁸U on the neutronic characteristics and the main operating parameters of the pressurized water reactor (PWR). MCNPX version 2.7 was used to compare the neutronic characteristics of UO₂ with (Th, ²³⁵U)O₂ and (Th, ²³³U) O₂. Firstly, the infinity multiplication factor (K_inf), thermal neutron flux, and power distribution have been studied for the investigated fuel types. Secondly, the effect of Gd₂O₃ and Er₂O₃ on the K_inf and on the radial thermal neutron flux and thermal power has been investigated to distinguish which of them is more suitable than the other in reactivity management. Thirdly, to illustrate the effectiveness of ²³²Th in decreasing the inventory of both the actinides and non-actinides, the concentration of plutonium (Pu) isotopes and minor actinides (MAs) has been simulated with the fuel burnup. Besides, due to their large thermal neutron absorption cross-section, the concentrations of ¹³⁵Xe, ¹⁴⁹Sm, and ¹⁵¹Sm with the fuel burnup have been investigated. Finally, the main safety parameters such as the reactivity worth of the control rods (ρ_CR), the effective delayed neutron fraction β_eff, and the Doppler reactivity coefficient (DRC) were calculated to determine to which extent these fuel types achieve the acceptable limits.

• 한국전산유체공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국전산유체공학회 2011년 춘계학술대회논문집
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• pp.269-274
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• 2011

A CFD analysis was performed to examine the inner channel blockage of dual-cooled fuel which has being developed for the power uprate of a pressurized water reactor (PWR). The dual-cooled fuel consists of an annular fuel pellet($UO_2$) and dual claddings as well as internal and external cooling channels. The dual-cooled annular fuel is different from a conventional solid 려el by employing an internal cooling channel for each fuel pellet as well as an external cooling channel. One of the key issues is the hypothetical event of inner channel blockage because the inner channel is an isolated flow channel without the coolant mixing between the neighboring flow channels. The inner channel blockage could cause the Departure from Nucleate Boiling (DNB) in the inner channel that eventually causes a fuel failure. This paper presents the CFD simulation of the flow through the side holes of the bottom end plug for the complete entrance blockage of the inner channel. Since the amount of coolant supply to the inner channel depends on largely the pressure loss at the side hole, the pressure loss coefficient of the side hole was estimated by the CFD analysis. The CFD prediction of the loss coefficient showed a reasonable agreement with an experimental data for the complete blockage of both the inner channel entrance and the outer channel. The CFD predictions also showed the decrease of the loss coefficient as the outer channel blockage increases.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제42권1호
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• pp.79-88
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• 2010

Spent $UO_2$ nuclear fuel discharged from a nuclear power plant (NPP) contains fission products, U, Pu, and other actinides. Due to neutron capture by $^{238}U$ in the rim region and a temperature gradient between the center and the rim of a fuel pellet, a considerable increase in the concentration of fission products, Pu, and other actinides are expected in the pellet periphery of high burnup fuel. The characterization of the radial profiles of the various isotopic concentrations is our main concern. For an analysis, spent nuclear fuels originating from the Yeonggwang-2 pressurized water reactor (PWR) were chosen as the test specimens. In this work, the distributions of some actinide isotopes were measured from center to rim of the spent fuel specimens by a radiation shielded laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (LA-ICP-MS) system. Sampling was performed along the diameter of the specimen by reducing the sampling intervals from 500 ${\mu}m$ in the center to 100 ${\mu}m$ in the pellet periphery region. It was observed that the isotopic concentration ratios for minor actinides in the center of the specimen remain almost constant and increase near the pellet periphery due to the rim effect apart from the $^{236}U$ to $^{235}U$ ratio, which remains approximately constant. In addition, the distributions of local burnup were derived from the measured isotope ratios by applying the relationship between burnup and isotopic ratio for plutonium and minor actinides calculated by the ORIGEN2 code.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제28권4호
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• pp.366-372
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• 1996

The simulated spent PWR fuel pellet which is corresponding to the turnup of 33,000 MWD/MTU is prepared by adding 11 fission-product elements to UO$_2$. The simulated spent fuel pellet is treated at 40$0^{\circ}C$ in air (oxidation), at 110$0^{\circ}C$ in air (high-temperature treatment), and at $600^{\circ}C$ in hydrogen (reduction). The product is treated through additional addition and reduction up to 3 cycles. Pellets are completely pulverized by the first oxidation, and the high-temperature treatment causes particle and crystallite to grow and surface to be smooth, and thus particle size significantly increases and surface area decreases. The reduction following the high-temperature treatment decreases much the particle size by means of the formation of intercrystalline cracks. The particle size decreases a little during the second oxidation and reduction cycle and then remains nearly constant during the third and fourth cycles. Surface area of pounder increases progressively with the repetition of oxidation and reduction cycles, mainly due to the formation of Surface cracks. The degradation of surface area resulting from high-temperature treatment is restored by too subsequent resulting oxidation and reduction cycles.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권9호
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• pp.2830-2838
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• 2021

This work deals with the assessment of the burnup capabilities of the Serpent Monte Carlo code to predict spent nuclear fuel (SNF) isotopic concentrations for low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel at different burnup levels up to 47 MWd/kgU. The irradiation of six UO₂ experimental samples in three different VVER-1000 reactor units has been simulated and the predicted concentrations of actinides up to ²⁴⁴Cm have been compared with the corresponding measured values. The results show a global good agreement between calculated and experimental concentrations, in several cases within the margins of the nuclear data uncertainties and in a few cases even within the reported experimental uncertainties. The differences in the performances of the JEFF3.1.1, ENDF/B-VII.1 and ENDF/B-VIII.0 nuclear data libraries (NDLs) have also been assessed and the use of the newly released ENDF/B-VIII.0 library has shown an increased accuracy in the prediction of the C/E's for some of the actinides considered, particularly for the plutonium isotopes. This work represents a step forward towards the validation of advanced simulation tools against post irradiation experimental data and the obtained results provide an evidence of the capabilities of the Serpent Monte-Carlo code with the associated modern NDLs to accurately compute SNF nuclide inventory concentrations for VVER-1000 type reactors.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권3호
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• pp.1022-1028
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• 2024

A neutronics study of a supercritical CO₂-cooled fast reactor core for nuclear propulsion has been performed in this work. The thermal power of the reactor core is 30 MWth and a ceramic UO₂ fuel can be used to achieve a 20-year lifetime without refueling. In order to make a compact core with inherent safety features, the drum-type reactivity control system and folding-type shutdown system are adopted. In addition, we suggest a cold shutdown system using gadolinium as a spectral shift absorber (SSA) against flooding. Although there is a penalty of U-235 enrichment for the core embedded with the cold shutdown system, it effectively mitigates the increment of reactivity at the flooding of seawater. In this study, the neutronics analyses have been performed by using the continuous energy Monte Carlo Serpent 2 code with the evaluated nuclear data file ENDF/B-VII.1 Library. The supercritical CO₂-cooled fast reactor core is characterized in view of important safety parameters such as the reactivity worth of reactivity control systems, fuel temperature coefficient (FTC), coolant temperature coefficient (CTC), and coolant temperature-density coefficient (CTDC). We can say that the suggested core has inherent safety features and enough flexibility for load-following operation.