• 대한전자공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한전자공학회 2001년도 The 6th International Symposium of East Asian Resources Recycling Technology
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• pp.179-182
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• 2001

The chloride volatilization method for the recovery of zirconium and removal of uranium from zirconium containing metallic wastes formed in spent fuel reprocessing was studied using the simulated alloy waste, i.e. the mixture of Zr foil and UO$_2$/U$_3$O$_{8}$ powder. When the simulated waste was heated to react with chlorine gas at 350- l00$0^{\circ}C$, the zirconium metal changed to volatile ZrCl$_4$showing high volatility ratio (Vzr) of 99%. The amount of volatilized uranium increases at higher temperatures causing lowering of decontamination factor (DF) of uranium. This is thought to be caused by the chlorination of UO$_2$ with ZrCl$_4$vapor. The highest DF value of 12.5 was obtained when the reaction temperature was 35$0^{\circ}C$. Addition of 10 vol.% oxygen gas into chlorine gas was effective for suppressing the volatilization of uranium, while the volatilization ratio of zirconium was decreased to 68% with the addition of 20 vol.% oxygen. In the case of the mixture of Zr foil and U$_3$O$_{8}$, the V value of uranium showed minimum (44%) at 40$0^{\circ}C$ with chlorine gas giving the highest DF value 24.3. When the 10 vol.% oxygen was added to chlorine gas, the V value of zirconium decreased to 82% at $600^{\circ}C$, but almost all the uranium volatilized (Vu=99%), which may be caused by the formation of volatile uranium chlorides under oxidative atmosphere.ere.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제46권4호
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• pp.547-556
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• 2014

Korea expects a shortage in storage capacity for spent fuels at reactor sites. Therefore, a need for more metal and/or concrete casks for storage systems is anticipated for either the reactor site or away from the reactor for interim storage. For the purpose of interim storage and transportation, a dual purpose metal cask that can load 21 spent fuel assemblies is being developed by Korea Radioactive Waste Management Corporation (KRMC) in Korea. At first the gamma and neutron flux for the design basis fuel were determined assuming in-core environment (the temperature, pressure, etc. of the moderator, boron, cladding, $UO_2$ pellets) in which the design basis fuel is loaded, as input data. The evaluation simulated burnup up to 45,000 MWD/MTU and decay during ten years of cooling using the SAS2H/OGIGEN-S module of the SCALE5.1 system. The results from the source term evaluation were used as input data for the final shielding evaluation utilizing the MCNP Code, which yielded the effective dose rate. The design of the cask is based on the safety requirements for normal storage conditions under 10 CFR Part 72. A radiation shielding analysis of the metal storage cask optimized for loading 21 design basis fuels was performed for two cases; one for a single cask and the other for a $2{\times}10$ cask array. For the single cask, dose rates at the external surface of the metal cask, 1m and 2m away from the cask surface, were evaluated. For the $2{\times}10$ cask array, dose rates at the center point of the array and at the center of the casks' height were evaluated. The results of the shielding analysis for the single cask show that dose rates were considerably higher at the lower side (from the bottom of the cask to the bottom of the neutron shielding) of the cask, at over 2mSv/hr at the external surface of the cask. However, this is not considered to be a significant issue since additional shielding will be installed at the storage facility. The shielding analysis results for the $2{\times}10$ cask array showed exponential decrease with distance off the sources. The controlled area boundary was calculated to be approximately 280m from the array, with a dose rate of 25mrem/yr. Actual dose rates within the controlled area boundary will be lower than 25mrem/yr, due to the decay of radioactivity of spent fuel in storage.

• 한국세라믹학회지
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• 제33권3호
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• pp.332-338
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• 1996

This study was investigated on the recycle feasibility of the waste AC(Ammonium Carbonate) solution produ-ced in a commercial AUC(Ammonium Uranyl Carbonate) conversion plant. AUC particles were produced with the AC solution which was prepared with AC solid-agent instead of ammonia and carbon-dioxide gases. As the results particles of monoclinic shapes has been obtained regardless of the pH change if the carbonate concentration is sufficient in the mother liquore. Also a lot of twinned or aggregated particles were formed in case of the increase of pH in the reaction system but not affected in the change of temperature. Consequen-tly the characteristics of the particles which converted for AUC were produced withAC solution to UO2, particles specific surface area shape sintered density and others were similar to that of the particles which were produced with gases only when the pellets are fabricated in the nuclear fuel manufacturing process So the waste AC solution which is produced in the commercial AUC conversion plant is possible to recycle.

• 공업화학
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• 제28권3호
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• pp.345-350
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• 2017

원자력연료 제조공정에서 생산되는 우라늄산화물(uranium oxide, UOX) 소결체의 밀도 분석은 일반적으로 소결공정을 거친 후, 소결체의 표본을 가지고 측정한다. 본 연구에서는 우라늄산화물의 중간물질인 중우라늄산암모늄(ammonium diuranate)의 색도를 분광기(spectrophotometer)로 측정함으로써 소결공정 이전에 우라늄산화물 소결체의 밀도를 분석해 보았다. 중우라늄산암모늄 표준 샘플 5개를 통해 얻은 명도 및 색의 좌푯(L, a, b)값과 통상적인 방법으로 얻은 소결체 밀도의 상관관계 추세선을 바탕으로 표적 샘플의 밀도를 분석한 결과, L 값에 대한 소결체의 밀도 분석이 결정계수 $R^2$ 값 0.9967로 가장 신뢰성이 높게 나왔음을 확인하였다. a 값에 대한 결정계수 $R^2$ 값은 0.9534로 상관관계가 높은 편이나 L 값보다는 낮았다. 이에 반해 b 값에 대한 결정계수 $R^2$ 값은 0.4349로 상관관계가 거의 없었다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제52권1호
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• pp.109-114
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• 2020

This work presents the results of laboratory scale tests of the CARBOFLUOREX (CARBOnate FLUORide EXtraction) process - a novel technology for the recovery of U and Pu from the solid fluorides residue (fluorination ash) of Fluoride Volatility Method (FVM) reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel (SNF). To study the oxidative leaching of U from the fluorination ash (FA) by Na₂CO₃ or Na₂CO₃-H₂O₂ solutions followed by solvent extraction by methyltrioctylammonium carbonate in toluene and purification of U from the fission products (FPs) impurities we used a surrogate of FA consisting of UF₄ or UO₂F₂, and FPs fluorides with stable isotopes of Ce, Zr, Sr, Ba, Cs, Fe, Cr, Ni, La, Nd, Pr, Sm. Purification factors of U from impurities at the solvent extraction refining stage reached the values of 10⁴-10⁵, and up to 10⁶ upon the completion of the processing cycle. Obtained results showed a high efficiency of the CARBOFLUOREX process for recovery and separating of U from FPs contained in FA, which allows completing of the FVM cycle with recovery of U and Pu from hardly processed FA.

• 융복합기술연구소 논문집
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• 제4권2호
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• pp.47-50
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• 2014

Voloxidation is a process for converting $UO_2$ into $U_3O_8$ while removing some volatile products in spent fuels (SF). Various oxidative gas conditions including air and mixture of Ar and $O_2$ could be adopted for the process. The gas flows into a reactor under high temperature ($>500^{\circ}C$) and components of SF are reacted with the gas. SF is composed of various components such as actinides, lanthanides, and alkali metals. Therefore, it is of significance to understand their behavior during the reactions for process development. However, due to the limit of available experiments, phase diagram analysis should be preceded. TPP diagram is constructed with respect to temperature-pressure-pressure. It shows a stable phase depending on partial pressures of gas components as well as temperature. In this work, we investigated TPP diagrams for actinides, lanthanides and other oxides to determine stable oxide forms under different gas conditions. The results would be used to set up a material balance under a pyroprocessing scheme of SF and compare the gas conditions for the optimization of fission products removal.

• 한국정보처리학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국정보처리학회 2006년도 춘계학술발표대회
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• pp.669-672
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• 2006

고온가스냉각 원자로에서는 고온 안정성 및 핵분열생성물 차단 성능이 우수한 TRISO(tri-tsotropic) 핵연료를 사용하고 있다. TRISO 핵연료 입자는 직경이 약 1 mm인 구 형태로 입자의 중심에는 직경 $0.5{\mu}m$의 핵연료 커널(kernel)이 포함되며 커널 외곽을 코팅 층이 에워싸고 있다. 이 코팅 층은 완충(buffer) PyC(pyrolytic carbon) 층, 내부 PyC 층, SiC 층, 그리고 외부 PyC 층으로 구성되어 있다. 각 코팅 층의 두께는 수십${\sim}$백 ${\mu}m$ 범위이며, 본 연구에서는 각 코팅 층의 두께를 비파괴적으로 측정하기 위하여 마이크로포커스 X-선 발생장치와 고해상도 X-선 평판(flat panel) 검출기로 구성된 정밀한 X-선 래디오그래피 장치를 구성하고, $UO_2$ 핵물질 대신에 $ZrO_2$를 커널로 사용한 모의 TRISO 핵연료 입자에 대한 래디오그래피 영상을 획득한 후 디지털 영상처리기술을 이용하여 코팅 층 사이의 경계선이 구분 가능하도록 영상을 개선하고 디지털 영상처리 알고리즘을 개발하여 코팅 층의 두께를 측정하였다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제37권1호
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• pp.25-78
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• 2005

As a key and core knowledge for the design of various types of nuclear reactors, the discipline of reactor physics has been advanced continually in the past six decades and has led to a very sophisticated fabric of analysis methods and computer codes in use today. Notwithstanding, the discipline faces interesting challenges from next-generation nuclear reactors and innovative new fuel designs in the coming. After presenting a brief overview of important tasks and steps involved in the nuclear design and analysis of a reactor, this article focuses on the currently-used design and analysis methods, issues and limitations, and current activities to resolve them as follows: (1) Derivation of the multi group transport equations and the multi group diffusion equations, with representative solution methods thereof. (2) Elements of modem (now almost three decades old) diffusion nodal methods. (3) Limitations of nodal methods such as transverse integration, flux reconstruction, and analysis of UO2-MOX mixed cores. Homogenization and related issues. (4) Description of the analytic function expansion nodal (AFEN) method. (5) Ongoing efforts for three-dimensional whole-core heterogeneous transport calculations and acceleration methods. (6) Elements of spatial kinetics calculation methods and coupled neutronics and thermal-hydraulics transient analysis. (7) Identification of future research and development areas in advanced reactors and Generation-IV reactors, in particular, in very high temperature gas reactor (VHTR) cores.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제47권7호
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• pp.875-883
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• 2015

The use of subcritical aqueous homogenous reactors driven by accelerators presents an attractive alternative for producing $^{99}Mo$. In this method, the medical isotope production system itself is used to extract $^{99}Mo$ or other radioisotopes so that there is no need to irradiate common targets. In addition, it can operate at much lower power compared to a traditional reactor to produce the same amount of $^{99}Mo$ by irradiating targets. In this study, the neutronic performance and $^{99}Mo$, $^{89}Sr$, and $^{131}I$ production capacity of a subcritical aqueous homogenous reactor fueled with low-enriched uranyl nitrate was evaluated using the MCNPX code. A proton accelerator with a maximum 30-MeV accelerating power was used to run the subcritical core. The computational results indicate a good potential for the modeled system to produce the radioisotopes under completely safe conditions because of the high negative reactivity coefficients of the modeled core. The results show that application of an optimized beam window material can increase the fission power of the aqueous nitrate fuel up to 80%. This accelerator-based procedure using low enriched uranium nitrate fuel to produce radioisotopes presents a potentially competitive alternative in comparison with the reactor-based or other accelerator-based methods. This system produces ~1,500 Ci/wk (~325 6-day Ci) of $^{99}Mo$ at the end of a cycle.

• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제3권3호
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• pp.249-256
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• 2005

우라늄 변환시설의 라군 슬러지에 함유된 질산염의 안정적 처리를 위해 물 첨가 용해를 실시한 뒤, 여과 케이크의 안정화 특성에 대하여 알아보았다. 물 용해에 의해 대부분의 질산염은 고농도 질산염 용액으로 제거되었으므로, 여과 케이크의 열분해는 $900^{\circ}C$에서 하나의 단계로 수행하였다. Muffle furnace를 이용하여 $900^{\circ}C$에서 5시간동안 여과 케이크의 열분해를 실시한 결과 라군 1 슬러지에 포함된 U은 $NaNO_3$의 열분해와 함께 $Na_{2}O{\cdot}2UO_3$의 형태로 안정화 되었다. 라군 2 열분해 잔류물의 경우에는 열분해 시 생성된 CaO가 냉각과정에서 수분과 반응하여 $Ca(OH)_2$로 전환되는 것을 TG/DTA 분석과 XRD 분석을 통해 확인할 수 있었지만, 처분장에서 대기중 노출이나 지하수의 침출 등에는 안정한 화합물로 알려져 있으므로, 특별한 첨가제의 첨가 없이 단순 열분해 후 처분이 가능할 것으로 판단된다.