• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.71-79
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• 2023

Air ingress incidents are major safety accidents in very-high-temperature reactors (VHTRs). Air containing a high volume fraction of oxygen may cause severe oxidation of core components at the VHTR, especially for the significantly thin alloy tube wall in the intermediate heat exchanger (IHE). The research objects of this study are Inconel 617 and Incoloy 800H, two candidate alloys for IHE in VHTR. The air ingress accident scenario is simulated with high-temperature air flow at 950 ℃. A continuous oxide scale was formed on the surfaces of both the alloys after the experiment. Because the oxide scale of Inconel 617 has a loose structure, whereas that of Incoloy 800H is denser, Inconel 617 exhibited significantly more severe internal oxidation than Incoloy 800H. Further, Inconel 617 showed a significant decrease in ultimate tensile strength and plasticity after aging for 200 h, whereas Incoloy 800H maintained its tensile properties satisfactorily. Through control experiment under vacuum, we preliminarily concluded that serious internal oxidation is the primary reason for the decline in the tensile properties of Inconel 617.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.375-387
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• 2004

This paper presents a transient multicomponent mixture analysis tool developed to analyze the molecular diffusion, natural convection, and chemical reactions related to air ingress phenomena that occur during a primary-pipe rupture of a high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HIGR). The present analysis tool solves the one-dimensional basic equations for continuity, momentum, energy of the gas mixture, and the mass of each gas species. In order to obtain numerically stable and fast computations, the implicit continuous Eulerian scheme is adopted to solve the governing equations in a strongly coupled manner. Two types of benchmark calculations were performed with the data of prerious Japanese inverse U-tube experiments. The analysis program, based on the ICE technique, runs about 36 times faster than the FLUENT6 for the simulation of the two experiments. The calculation results are within a 10% deviation from the experimental data regarding the concentrations of the gas species and the onset times of natural convection.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.45-46
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• 2005

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.66-69
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• 2003

Chloride ingress into concrete followed by reinforcement corrosion and deterioration of concrete structures is a major problem for many structures under chloride attacks. It is necessary to investigate the environmental conditions of concrete structures exposed to chloride attacks. In this study, the air-borne chloride contents in domestic marine environment were investigated.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.537-556
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• 2005

A primary-pipe rupture accident is one of the design-basis accidents of a High-Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR). When the primary-pipe rupture accident occurs, air is expected to enter the reactor core from the breach and oxidize in-core graphite structures. This paper describes an experiment and analysis of the air ingress phenomena and the method fur the prevention of air ingress into the reactor during the primary-pipe rupture accident. The numerical results are in good agreement with the experimental ones regarding the density of the gas mixture, the concentration of each gas species produced by the graphite oxidation reaction and the onset time of the natural circulation of air. A hydrogen production system connected to the High-Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) Is being designed to be able to produce hydrogen by themo-chemical iodine-Sulfur process, using a nuclear heat of 10 MW supplied by the HTTR. The HTTR hydrogen production system is first connected to a nuclear reactor in the world; hence a permeation test of hydrogen isotopes through heat exchanger is carried out to obtain detailed data for safety review and development of analytical codes. This paper also describes an overview of the hydrogen permeation test and permeability of hydrogen and deuterium of Hastelloy XR.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.117-117
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• 2003

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.329-329
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• 2004

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.117.1-117.1
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• 2004

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.237-245
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• 2018

Potential air ingress scenarios during accidents in nuclear reactors or spent fuel pools have raised the question of the influence of air, especially of nitrogen, on the oxidation of zirconium alloys, which are used as fuel cladding tubes and other structure materials. In this context, the reaction of zirconium with nitrogen-containing atmospheres and the formation of zirconium nitride play an important role in understanding the oxidation mechanism. This article presents the results of analysis of the interaction of the oxygen-preloaded niobium-bearing alloy $M5^{(R)}$ with nitrogen over a wide range of temperatures ($800-1400^{\circ}C$) and oxygen contents in the metal alloy (1-7 wt.%). A strongly increasing nitriding rate with rising oxygen content in the metal was found. The highest reaction rates were measured for the saturated ${\alpha}-Zr(O)$, as it exists at the metal-oxide interface, at $1300^{\circ}C$. The temperature maximum of the reaction rate was approximately 100 K higher than for Zircaloy-4, already investigated in a previous study. The article presents results of thermogravimetric experiments as well as posttest examinations by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and microprobe elemental analyses. Furthermore, a comparison with results obtained with Zircaloy-4 will be made.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2006.11b
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• pp.1385-1390
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• 2006

Concrete structure can be deteriorated by ingress of moisture and aggressive agents. To maintain the sound performance of concrete structure during the service life, it needs to protect concrete from ingress of moisture and aggressive agents before arising deterioration of concrete. Protection of concrete is possible by surface treatment. In this study, durability of the functional nano composite inorganic activated carbon based coatings which can provide a barrier against the ingress of moisture or aggressive ions to concrete is discussed. For the durability evaluation of the coatings, fine void structure evaluation test, chloride penetration acceleration test, accelerated carbonation test, freezing and thawing test, and the accelerated test of chemical erosion are conducted. As the result of this study, the functional nano composite inorganic activated carbon based coatings which became one formed complex compound with adsorption and porosity on concrete surface, had an effect on the function of far infrared radiation, antimicrobial action, air cleaning, airing assurance, and the interception of moisture of deterioration factor, chloride ion, carbon dioxide, sulfate, and so on.