• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제43권5호
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• pp.413-420
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• 2011

In Korea, although the concept of dry storage system for PWR spent fuels first emerged in the early 1990s, wet storage inside nuclear reactor buildings remains the dominant storage paradigm. Furthermore, as the amount of discharged fuel from nuclear power plants increases, nuclear power plants are confronted with the problem of meeting storage capacity demand. Various measures have been taken to resolve this problem. Dry storage systems along with transportation of spent fuel either on-site or off-site are regarded as the most feasible measure. In order to develop dry storage and transportation system safety analyses, development of design techniques, full scale performance tests, and research on key material degradation should be conducted. This paper deals with two topics, structural analysis methodology to assess cumulative damage to transportation packages and the effects of an aircraft engine crash on a dual purpose cask. These newly emerging issues are selected from among the many technical issues related to the development of transportation and storage systems of spent fuels. In the design process, appropriate analytical methods, procedures, and tools are used in conjunction with a suitably selected test procedure and assumptions such as jet engine simulation for postulated design events and a beyond design basis accident.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제50권2호
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• pp.313-317
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• 2018

Licenses for the storage of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and vitrified highly active waste in casks under dry conditions are limited to 40 years and have to be renewed for prolonged storage periods. If such a license renewal has to be expected since as in accordance with the new site selection procedure a final repository for spent fuel in Germany will not be available before the year 2050. For transport and possible unloading and loading in new casks for final storage, the integrity and the maintenance of the geometry of the cask's inventory is essential because the SNF rod cladding and the cladding of the vitrified highly active waste are stipulated as a barrier in the storage concept. For SNF, the cladding integrity is ensured currently by limiting the hoop stress and hoop strain as well as the maximum temperature to certain values for a 40-year storage period. For a prolonged storage period, other cladding degradation mechanisms such as inner and outer oxide layer formation, hydrogen pick up, irradiation damages in cladding material crystal structure, helium production from alpha decay, and long-term fission gas release may become leading effects driving degradation mechanisms that have to be discussed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권2호
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• pp.601-607
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• 2022

In recent years, monitoring of spent nuclear fuel inside dry cask storage has become an important area of national security. Muon tomography is a useful method for monitoring spent nuclear fuel because it uses high energy muons that penetrate deep into the target material and provides a 3-D structure of the inner materials. We designed a muon tomography system consisting of four 2-D position sensitive detector and characterized and optimized the system parameters. Each detector, measuring 200 × 200 cm², consists of a plastic scintillator, wavelength shifting (WLS) fibers and, SiPMs. The reconstructed image is obtained by extracting the intersection of the incoming and outgoing muon tracks using a Point-of-Closest-Approach (PoCA) algorithm. The Geant4 simulation was used to evaluate the performance of the muon tomography system and to optimize the design parameters including the pixel size of the muon detector, the field of view (FOV), and the distance between detectors. Based on the optimized design parameters, the spent fuel assemblies were modeled and the line profile was analyzed to conduct a feasibility study. Line profile analysis confirmed that muon tomography system can monitor nuclear spent fuel in dry storage container.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권2호
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• pp.690-695
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• 2023

Recommendations are given to improve the efficiency of radiation protection of transport casks for SNF transportation. The attenuation of ${\gamma}$-quanta of long-lived isotopes ¹³⁴Cs, ^137mBa(¹³⁷Cs), ¹⁵⁴Eu and ⁶⁰Co by optimizing the thicknesses and arrangement of layers of Fe and Pb radiation shields of transport casks is studied. The fixed radiation shielding mass (fixed mass thickness) is chosen as the main optimization criterion. The effect of the placement order of Fe and Pb layers in a combined two-layer radiation shield with an equivalent thickness of 30 cm is studied in detail. It is shown that with the same mass thicknesses of the Fe and Pb layers, the placement of Fe in the first layer, and Pb - in the second one provides more than twofold attenuation of ${\gamma}$-quanta compared to the reverse placement: Pb - in the first layer, Fe - in the second. The increase in the efficiency of attenuation of ${\gamma}$-quanta for TC with combined shielding of Fe and Pb is shown to be achieved by designing the first layer of radiation shielding around the canister with SNF from Fe of the maximum possible thickness.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권3호
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• pp.1009-1014
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• 2023

Muon tomography is a useful method for monitoring special nuclear materials (SNMs) such as spent nuclear fuel inside dry cask storage. Multiple Coulomb scattering of muons can be used to provide information about the 3-dimensional structure and atomic number(Z) of the inner materials. Tomography using muons is less affected by the shielding material and less harmful to health than other measurement methods. We developed a muon detector for muon tomography, which consists of a plastic scintillator, 64 long wavelength-shifting (WLS) fibers attached to the top of the plastic scintillator, and silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) connected to both ends of each WLS fiber. The muon detector can acquire X and Y positions simultaneously using a position determination algorithm. The design parameters of the muon detector were optimized using DETECT2000 and Geant4 simulations, and a muon detector prototype was built based on the results. Spatial resolution measurement was performed using simulations and experiments to evaluate the feasibility of the muon detector. The experimental results were in good agreement with the simulation results. The muon detector has been confirmed for use in a muon tomography system.

• 방사선산업학회지
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• 제18권1호
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• pp.9-14
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• 2024

In order to thoroughly verify the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, it is urgent to develop technology capabilities to monitor, detect, collect, analyze, interpret, and evaluate nuclear activities using nuclear materials and secure nuclear transparency. The IAEA is actively using seal technology to maximize the efficiency of safety measures, and currently uses metal cap, paper, COBRA, and EOSS as seal devices. Unlike facilities that comply with safety measures requirements, such as domestic nuclear facilities, facilities subject to denuclearization are likely to have various risk environments that make it difficult to apply safety measures, and there is a high possibility that continuity of knowledge (COK) such as damage, malfunction, and power loss will not be maintained. This study aims to develop a real-time active seal device that can be applied in such special situations to enable immediate response in the event of a similar situation. To this end, the main functions of the real-time seal device were derived and applied, and a commercialized seal device and operation software. The real-time seal technology developed through this study can be applied to all nuclear facilities in South Korea, especially used as storage equipment for dry cask storage facilities of heavy water reactor's after fuel, and it is believed that unnecessary radiation exposure by inspectors can be minimized.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권5호
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• pp.1762-1776
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• 2024

A spent nuclear fuel (SNF) analysis module for the Vodo-Vodyanoi Energetichesky Reactor (VVER) was developed and validated in this study. This advancement expands the application area of the existing nodal diffusion code, RAST-V, and reduces the need for additional code during 3D core simulations for SNF analysis, leading to increased efficiency in simulation time. RAST-V uses Lagrange interpolation and a power correction factor derived from the Bateman equation to bypass the re-depletion calculations, which are used to solve the microdepletion chain. This approach improved the efficiency of analysis. To mirror the conditions during the 3D core simulations, the module used history indices related to the moderator temperature, fuel temperature, and boron concentration. The module can predict 1620 isotopes. This paper presents the validation of this isotope inventory prediction and the application of burnup credit. The VVER analysis module was validated using 28 samples discharged from the Novovoronezh-4. Most isotopes were within 10 % of the boundaries of the measurements. This study successfully offers verification results using VVER benchmarks and discusses the application of burnup credit using a VVER-440 cask.

• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제18권2_spc호
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• pp.237-245
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• 2020

사용후핵연료를 저장하는 볼트체결 저장용기의 격납경계를 형성하는 주된 구성요소는 금속 밀봉재이다. 이러한 금속 밀봉재는 열과 방사선에 의해 그 성질이 저하된다. 또한, 금속 밀봉재가 강한 열에 장기간 노출되면 크리프 현상이 발생한다. 이러한 크리프는 밀봉시스템에 응력 이완을 가져와서, 결국 밀봉재의 건전성을 해치게 된다. 이러한 응력 이완은 금속 밀봉재의 밀봉성능 저하로 이어지며, 저하의 정도에 따라 저장용기의 누설을 야기할 수 있다. 또한, 볼트 체결력의 감소도 밀봉성능 저하에 영향을 미친다. 본 논문에서는 금속 밀봉재의 격납건전성과 볼트체결력 감소를 평가하기 위해 수행한 가속화 시험의 결과에 대하여 기술한다. 전 시험기간 동안 각 시편에서의 누설률, 볼트 변형률, 금속 밀봉재 주변 온도를 계측하여 분석하였고, 금속 밀봉재는 저장기간 50년 동안 격납건전성을 유지함을 입증하였다. 또한, 가속화 시험의 타당성에 대해서 기술하였다.

• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제16권3호
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• pp.315-330
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• 2018

미임계 시설은 정상 또는 사고상태에서 핵임계안전성이 확보되어야 한다. 이를 위해선 계산된 임계도가 바이어스와 불확실도로 결정된 미임계상한치(USL)를 초과하지 않는다는 것을 검증하는 절차가 반드시 필요하다. 하지만 핵임계안전성 검증방법론은 여러 가지가 존재하며, 방법론이 달라지면 USL도 달라지므로 가장 적절한 한가지의 방법론으로 평가하는 것이 중요하다. 본 연구에서는 핵임계안전성 검증 방법론이 기술된 두 개의 문서를 비교 분석하여 한 가지 방법론으로 정립하였고, SCALE6.1 코드를 이용한 용기 설계에서의 미임계상한치 결정에 적용하였다.

• 한국마린엔지니어링학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국마린엔지니어링학회 2012년도 전기공동학술대회 논문집
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• pp.173-173
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• 2012

Duplex STS는 응력부식 저항이 큰 페라이트상과 우수한 내식성을 제공하는 오스테나이트상이 미세하게 1:1로 결합하여 강도가 오스테나이트 STS 보다 최소 1.7배 이상 높을 뿐 아니라 공식(pitting)과 응력부식 저항성이 우수해 최근에 주목받고 있는 고내식 고강도 재료이다. STS의 내식성을 평가하는 여러 지수 중 Pitting에 대한 내식성을 평가하는 지수로서 PREN (Pitting Resistance Equivalent Number)이 있다. PREN =%Cr + 3.3%(Mo + 0.5%W) + 16%N PREN이 30 이상이면 해안지역에서 사용가능하나, PREN이 40 이상인 경우에는 원자력발전소, 탈황 설비, 해수설비 및 화학Plant 등 고내식 환경에서 주로 사용가능하다. PREN이 40 이상인 Super Duplex STS은 다량의 Mo와 N을 첨가하여 만든 제품으로, 최근 10여 년 동안 해수 냉각 설비, 해수 담수화 설비, 탈황 설비, 석유화학 설비 및 원전용 CASK 등의 다양한 분야에 그 사용량이 꾸준히 증가하고 있는 상황이다. 본 연구에서는 Super Duplex STS의 TIG용접에서 실드가스 중의 $N_2$의 첨가가 PREN에 미치는 영향을 검토하였다. 실드가스 중 $N_2$가 용접금속으로 침입하는 메커니즘을 규명하고, 용접조건 변화에 따른 용접금속 내 N의 함량을 측정하여 PREN을 계산하고, 용접금속의 기계적 특성과 미세조직을 검토하였다.