• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1996.11a
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• pp.15-20
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• 1996

We present the result of physical studies for three integral-type burnable absorbers of gadolinia, erbia and IFBA, in the hexagonal fuel assembly. The analysis of nuclear characteristics for gadolinia and IFBA cases shows that the spectrum hardening of hexagonal fuel assembly compared to rectangular one leads to smaller reactivity hold-down worth(RHW) and less change of MTC in the negative direction per insertion of one burnable absorber rod. Erbia case, on the other hand, exhibits reversed trend in RHW and MTC due to the enhanced absorption of large resonance of Erbium at 0.5 eV It turns out to be that Erbia performs best in terms of minimizing the peak pin power and maintaining as more negative MTC as practically attainable during the entire operational phase, and IFBA provides the least residual reactivity penalty at EOC. Therefore, we take Erbium as the suitable burnable absorber and provide optimal designs of 60, 120, 180, 240 and 300 erbia-shimmed hexagonal fuel assemblies with regard to minimizing the peak pin power.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.7
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• pp.2756-2766
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• 2024

Small rod-controlled pressurized water reactors (PWR) are the ideal energy source for vessel propulsion, benefiting from their high reactivity control efficiency. Since the control rods (CRs) increase the complexity of reactivity control, this paper seeks to study the performance of CRs in small rod-controlled PWRs to extend the lifetime and reduce power offset due to CRs. This study investigates CR grouping, move-in/out strategies, and axially non-uniform design effects on core neutron physics metrics. These metrics include axial offset (AO), core lifetime (CL), fuel utilization (FU), and radial power peaking factor (R-PPF). To simulate the movement of the CRs, a "Critical-CR-burnup" function was developed in OpenMC. In CR designs, the CRs are grouped into three banks to study the simultaneous and prioritized move-in/out strategies. The results show CL extension from 590 effective full power days (EFPDs) to 638-698 EFPDs. A lower-worth prioritized strategy minimizes AO and the extremum values decrease from -0.69 and + 0.81 to -0.28 and + 0.51. Although an axially non-uniform CR design can improve AO at the beginning of cycle (BOC), considering the overall CR worth change is crucial, as a significant decrease can adversely impact axial power distribution during the middle of cycle (MOC).

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.10 no.2 s.41
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• pp.41-45
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• 2007

The shutoff unit was designed to provide rapid insertion of neutron absorbing material into the reactor core to shutdown the reactor quickly and also to withdraw the absorber slowly to avoid a log-rate trip. Four shutoff units were installed on the HANARO reactor but the half-core test facility was equipped with one shutoff unit. The reactor trip or shutdown is accomplished by four shutoff units by insertion of the shutoff rods. The shutoff rod(SOR) is actuated by a directly linked hydraulic cylinder on the reactor chimney, which is pressurized by a hydraulic pump. The rod is released to drop by gravity, when triplicate solenoid valves are de-energized to vent the cylinder. The hydraulic pump, pipe and air supply system are provided to be similar with the HANARO reactor. The shutoff rod drops for 647mm stroke within 1.13 seconds to shut down the reactor and it is slowly inserted to the full down position, 700mm, with a damping. We have conducted the drop test of the shutoff rod in order to show the performance and the structural integrity of operating system of the shutoff unit. The present paper deals with the 647mm drop time and the withdrawal time according to variation of the pool water temperature, the water level and the core flow.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.7
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• pp.1367-1379
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• 2020

The small modular sodium-cooled fast reactor (SMSFR) is an important component of Generation-IV reactors. The objective of this work is to improve the reactivity control in SMSFR by using innovative systems, including burnable poisons and optimized control rods. SMSFR with MOX fuel usually exhibits high burnup reactivity loss that leads to high excess reactivity and potential fuel melting in control rod withdrawal (CRW) accidents, which becomes an important constraint on the safety and economic efficiency of SMSFR. This work applies two types of burnable poisons in a SMSFR to reduce the excess reactivity. The first one homogenously loads minor actinides in the fuel. The second one combines absorber and moderators in specific assemblies. The influence of burnable poisons on the core characteristics is discussed and integrated into the analysis of CRW accidents. The results show that burnable poisons improve the safety performance of the core in a significant way. Burnable poisons also lessen the demand for the number, absorption ability, and insertion depth of control rods. Two optimized control rod designs with rare earth oxides (Eu₂O₃ and Gd₂O₃) and moderators are compared to the conventional design with natural boron carbide (B₄C). The optimized designs show improved neutronic and safety performance.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.35-42
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• 2018

This article presents clean core criticality calculations and control rod worth calculations for TRIGA (Training, Research, Isotope production-General Atomics) Mark II research reactor benchmark cores using Winfrith Improved Multi-group Scheme-D/4 (WIMS-D/4) and Program for Reactor In-core Analysis using Diffusion Equation (PRIDE) codes. Cores 133 and 134 were analyzed in 2-D (r, ${\theta}$) and 3-D (r, ${\theta}$, z), using WIMS-D/4 and PRIDE codes. Moreover, the influence of cross-section data was also studied using various libraries based on Evaluated Nuclear Data File (ENDF/B-VI.8 and VII.0), Joint Evaluated Fission and Fusion File (JEFF-3.1), Japanese Evaluated Nuclear Data Library (JENDL-3.2), and Joint Evaluated File (JEF-2.2) nuclear data. The simulation results showed that the multiplication factor calculated for all these data libraries is within 1% of the experimental results. The reactivity worth of the control rods of core 134 was also calculated with different homogenization approaches. A comparison was made with experimental and reported Monte Carlo results, and it was found that, using proper homogenization of absorber regions and surrounding fuel regions, the results obtained with PRIDE code are significantly improved.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society for Energy Engineering kosee Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.71-79
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• 2002

Nuclear design characteristics of duplex burnable poison rod were evaluated based on 24 month cycle fuel for Korean Standard Nuclear Plant. A fuel assembly with duplex burnable poison rod was designed for an equivalent assembly to 16 gadolinia BPs. Duplex BP is composed of inner region of natural U-12wt%Gd$_2$O$_3$ and outer shell of 4.95wt%UO$_2$-2wt%Er$_2$O$_3$. In order to compare this duplex option, assemblies with 140 erbia pins were designed as an alternative option. The variation of k-infinitive, rod worth, pin peaking and MTC were compared. Duplex BP had the better neutronic performance than gadolinia BP in all parameters. However, Duplex BP was worse than erbia BP in the aspect of safety.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1994.11a
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• pp.314-316
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• 1994

The operation of RC(Rod Consolidation) technology carry out highly radiation environment. It requires remote operation and automation for efficient handling and for minimizing radiation exposure to the operator. So we investigated up and down position control of shock absorber device in RC system. To verify the research experimentally, a RC system was set up and PI control method was applied. Fuzzy control method was also tested to further improve control behavior.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.1099-1109
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• 2020

The performance of gadolinium burnable absorber (GdBA) for reactivity control in UO₂ and (U, Th)O₂ fuels and its impact on spent fuel characteristics was performed. Five fuel assemblies: one without GdBA fuel rod and four each containing 16, 24, 34 and 44 GdBA fuel rods in both fuels were investigated. Reactivity swing in all the FAs with GdBA rods in UO₂ fuel was higher than their counterparts with similar GdBA fuel rods in (U, Th)O₂ fuel. The excess reactivity in all FAs with (U, Th)O₂ fuel was higher than UO₂ fuel. At the end of single discharge burn-up (~ 49.64 GWd/tHM), the excess reactivity of (U, Th) O₂ fuel remained positive (16,000 pcm) while UO₂ fuel shows a negative value (-6,000 pcm), which suggest a longer discharge burn-up in (U, Th)O₂ fuel. The concentration of plutonium isotopes and minor actinides were significantly higher in UO₂ fuel than in (U, Th)O₂ fuel except for ²³⁶Np. However, the concentration of non-actinides (gadolinium and iodine isotopes) except for ¹³⁵Xe were respectively smaller in (U, Th)O₂ fuel than in UO₂ fuel but may be two times higher in (U, Th)O₂ fuel due to its potential longer discharge burn-up.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.6-11
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• 2019

Methylammonium lead halide ($MAPbX_3$, X = I, Br) thin films, used as the light absorber of perovskite solar cells, were prepared using the dual feed ultrasonic spray method. Going through a deposition at a substrate temperature of below $60^{\circ}C$ and then a final heat treatment at $75^{\circ}C$ for 5 minutes using dual feed ultrasonic spray method, $MAPbI_3$ single phase could be formed. Whereas undergoing a deposition at temperatures above $80^{\circ}C$, the spheroidal grains could be changed into rod-shaped fractal structures due to the decomposition of the perovskite phase. Furthermore, using the same method at a higher heat treatment temperature of $100^{\circ}C$, $MAPbI_{3-x}Br_x$ thin films could also be formed from $MAPbI_3$ and $MAPbIBr_2$ solution.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.14-18
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• 2020

Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) has carried out various neutronics experiments in the commissioning stage of the Jordan Research and Training Reactor (JRTR), and this paper introduces the results of first criticality prediction and experiment for the JRTR. The Monte Carlo Code for Advanced Reactor Design and analysis (McCARD) with the ENDF/B-VII.0 nuclear library was used for prediction calculations in the process of the first criticality approach, which was performed to provide reference for the first criticality experiment. In the experiment, fuel loading was carried out by measuring the inverse multiplication factor (1/M) to predict the number of fuel assemblies at the first criticality, and the first critical was reached on April 25, 2016. Comparing the first criticality prediction and experiment, the calculated and measured CAR (Control Absorber Rod) heights for the first criticality were 575 mm and 570.5 mm, respectively, that is, the difference between the two results was approximately 5 mm. From this result, it was confirmed that JRTR manufacturing and various experiments had successfully progressed as designed.