• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.87-100
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• 2022

Unit capacity factor (utilization rate) of nuclear power plants (NPPs) is an important performance indicator. Since the first commercial operation of Kori Unit 1 began in April 1978, the utilization rate of domestic NPPs has gradually increased, reaching 90% from the end of the 1990s. However, due to various issues such as the Fukushima accident in 2011, corrosion of the CLP, the utilization rate dropped to 65~80%. In the early 1980s, the utilization rate of the U.S. NPPs was around 60%. However, since 2004, it has been consistently maintained above 90%. Therefore, in this study, we first examined the causes of declining the utilization rate in domestic NPPs. Next, the significances of the utilization rates are reviewed in five aspects: investment capability, electricity rate, safety and export, etc., with discussion on the current status of the utilization rates in the U.S. Based on this, three key factors are derived as the reasons of the increasing: equipment reliability program, on-line maintenance and the pursuit of institutional rationality. And finally, by synthesizing above results, the measures for increasing the utilization rate of domestic NPPs are proposed in terms of equipment management, institutional improvements, and personnel resources.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.555-561
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• 1994

The program of performing a fast and automatic analysis of gamma ray spectra obtained by a Multi-Channel Analyzer (MCA) is developed for the surveillance of the nuclear fuel integrity. The integrity of the nuclear fuel is confirmed by the measurement of the radiation level of the reactor coolant through the real time monitoring and the periodic sampling analysis. In Yonggwang nuclear power plane 3 and 4, the Process Radiation Monitoring System (PRMS), which is a real time monitoring system, provides a measure of the fuel integrity. Currently, its spectrometer channel can identify only one radionuclide at a time since the signal processing unit of the spectrometer channel is a Single Channel Analyzer (SCA). To improve the PRMS, it is necessary to substitute the MCA for the SCA The program is operated in a real time mode and an on-demand mode, and automatically performed for all procedures. The test results by using the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) mixed standard source are in good agreement with those from Canberra System 100 which is a commercial MCA Consequently, the developed program seems to be employed for automatic monitoring of gamma rays in nuclear power plants.