• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.12
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• pp.4003-4013
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• 2021

During the long-term cooling (LTC) phase of a loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) in a pressurized water reactor (PWR), water is supplied from the containment sump to the reactor coolant system (RCS) by the flooded sump water to the Reactor Vessel (RV) through the broken pipes. As part of the technical efforts for resolving GSI-191 [( Reid and Crytzer, May. 2007) 1, consideration is needed for the consequences of debris penetrating the sump screen and propagating downstream into the RV. Injection of debris (fiberglass) into the RV during the LTC recirculation phase needs special attention to assure that reactor core cooling is maintained. The point of concern is the potential for debris to adversely affect the reactor core flow paths or heat transfer [2]. However, all the experiments for proving the coolability of RV have been done with the assumption of the most of debris would be transferred to the RV and the bottom nozzle of the FAs. The purpose of the tests is to quantify the amount of the debris that would be accumulated at the lower plenum and the debris that passes through the FAs since non-conservatism of other researches assumptions that have been used in the past experimental or analytical programs.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.283-291
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• 2024

Sodium cooled Fast Reactors (SFR) are built with several engineered safety features and hence a severe accident such as a core melt accident is hypothetical with a probability of <10^-6/ry. However, in case of such accidents, the mixture of the molten fuel and structural materials interacts with sodium. This phenomenon is known as Molten Fuel Coolant Interaction (MFCI) and results in fragmentation of the melt due to various instabilities. The fragmented particles settle as a debris bed on the core catcher at the bottom of the reactor vessel, and continue to generate decay heat. Characteristics of the debris particles play a vital role in heat transfer from the bed and need thorough investigation. The size, shape, and physical state of the debris depend on the associated fragmentation mechanism, superheating of the melt, and sodium temperature. Experiments have been conducted by releasing simulated corium, a molten mixture of alumina and iron generated by the aluminothermy process at ~2400 ℃ into liquid sodium, to study the fragmentation phenomena. After the experiment, the fragmented debris was retrieved and the particle size distribution was determined by sieve analysis. The debris was subjected to microscopic investigation for obtaining morphological characteristics. Based on the characteristics of debris, an attempt has been made to assess of fragmentation mechanism of simulated corium in sodium.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.261.1-261.1
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• 2003

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.255.1-255
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• 2001

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.163-170
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• 2013

The correlation and interaction mechanisms between marine debris and the vegetation zone were studied on the Jinu-do natural beach of the Nakdong river estuary. Laboratory wind tunnel experiments were carried out under the wind-field and bottom-sand conditions using wind tunnel test equipment to investigate the sedimentation characteristics of wind-drift sand deposition around marine debris and the vegetation zone. The major environmental factors/loads considered in this study were the motion of sand by wind on the beach, deposition of marine debris, and change in the vegetation zone/line. When the marine debris was installed in the wind tunnel, deposition at the front of the structure appeared first by wind action, and then deposition developed from behind at 70% of the front ground level. In contrast, in the case of vegetation, the deposition phenomenon appeared first from behind the vegetation zone/line, and was 60% higher than the front. When the height of the debris and vegetation was the same, the required experimental time to bury the vegetation completely was about twice that of the marine debris.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.141-153
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• 2022

In this study, a numerical model of debris flow considering driftwood and entrainment erosion is developed. Subsequently, numerical simulations based on the observation data of the 2011 Mt. Umyeon are performed. To develop the debris flow model, the Nays2DFlood model, which is a flooding model based on the shallow water equation, is coupled with the transport diffusion of mixed sediment concentration, debris flow bottom shear stress, and entrainment erosion modules. The simulation closely reproduced the depth, flow velocity, and debris flow volume of Mt. Umyeon. In addition, the reproducibility of the simulation result with driftwood is more accurate than that without driftwood. The results of this study can facilitate in establishing measures to reduce debris disasters, thus alleviating the current increase in debris damage due to climate change.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.8
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• pp.3017-3029
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• 2023

In the late in-vessel phase of a nuclear reactor severe accident, the internal heat transfer and crust evolution during the debris bed melting process have important effects on the thermal load distribution along the vessel wall, and further affect the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) failure mode and the state of melt during leakage. This study coupled the phase change model and large eddy simulation to investigate the variations of the temperature, melt liquid fraction, crust and heat flux distributions during the debris bed melting process in the hypothetical severe accident of HPR1000. The results indicated that the heat flow towards the vessel wall and upper surface were similar at the beginning stage of debris melting, but the upward heat flow increased significantly as the development of the molten pool. The maximum heat flux towards the vessel wall reached 0.4 MW/m². The thickness of lower crust decreased as the debris melting. It was much thicker at the bottom region with the azimuthal angle below 20° and decreased rapidly at the azimuthal angle around 20-50°. The maximum and minimum thicknesses were 2 and 90 mm, respectively. By contrast, the distribution of upper crust was uniform and reached stable state much earlier than the lower crust, with the thickness of about 10 mm. Moreover, the sensitivity analysis of initial condition indicated that as the decrease of time interval from reactor scram to debris bed dried-out, the maximum debris temperature and melt fraction became larger, the lower crust thickness became thinner, but the upper crust had no significant change. The sensitivity analysis of in-vessel retention (IVR) strategies indicated that the passive and active external reactor vessel cooling (ERVC) had little effect on the internal heat transfer and crust evolution. In the case not considering the internal reactor vessel cooling (IRVC), the upper crust was not obvious.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.191-205
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• 2017

We use small-scale modelling to estimate the impact ofrce of debris flows on erosion control dams (ECD) and ring nets. The results indicate that the viscoelastic debris flows produced impact forces of 4.14, 3.66, 1.66 kN from the bottom to the top of the ECD. Ring net tests produced a similar trend with generally smaller impact forces (2.28, 1.95, and 1.49 kN). Numerical analysis showed that the weight of the ECD (e.g., concrete retaining walls) provided resistance against the debris flow, whereas deformation of the ring net by elastic-elongation and aggregate penetration reduced the impact force by up to 45% compared with that of the ECD.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.337-343
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• 2012

The Korean bottom trawl survey was conducted using a trawl designed by the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (NFRDI). The capture efficiency and size selectivity of this trawl for snow crab Chionoecetes opilio was investigated by experimental tows. An auxiliary sampling net (underbag) was attached beneath the trawl net to capture crabs escaping under the trawl footrope. Experimental tows were made by the same vessel speed (3.4 knots) as in the bottom trawl survey, but toing time was shortened from the standard 30 min to 10 min to reduce possible trawl distortion due to the high catch rate of mud and debris in the underbag. In averaged over 17 tows conducted between 110-383 m depth, trawl efficiency of both males and females combined increased from about 10% at 20 mm (carapace width) to about 70% at 100 mm, with a width of 50% capture equal to 78 mm.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.191-198
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• 2014

In this paper, structural integrity evaluation of reactor pressure vessel bottom head without penetration nozzles in core melting accident has been performed. Considering the analysis results of thermal load, weight of molten core debris and internal pressure, thermal load is the most significant factor in reactor vessel bottom head. The failure probability was evaluated according to the established failure criteria and the evaluation showed that the equivalent plastic strain results are lower than critical strain failure criteria. Thermal-structural coupled analyses show that the existence of elastic zone with a lower stress than yield strength is in the middle of bottom head thickness. As a result of analysis, the elastic zone became narrow and moved to the internal wall as the internal pressure increases, and it is evaluated that the structural integrity of reactor vessel is maintained under core melting accident.