• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.257-264
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• 1996

The conventional Equipment Environment Qualification (EEQ) envelope is developed based on the containment responses during the design basis events. The Safety Depressurization System (SDS) design without In-containment Refueling Water Storage Tank (IRWST) adopted in the Ulchin 3&4 challenges the conventional EEQ envelope during long term Feed and Bleed (F&B) operation due to the direct discharge of high mass and energy into the containment. Therefore, it is necessary to confirm that the containment pressure and temperature history during the long term F&B operation does not violate the conventional EEQ envelope. However, this subject has never been quantitatively assessed before. To investigate the success path of long term F&B operation this paper analyzes the thermal hydraulic response of the containment and Reactor Coolant System (RCS) until the completion of depressurization and cooldown of RCS into Shutdown Cooling System (SCS) entry condition. It is found that the SCS entry condition can be reached within 6 hours without violating the EEQ curve by proper operation of SDS valves, High Pressure Safety Injection (HPSI) pumps and active Containment Heat Removal System (CHRS). The suggested strategy not only demonstrates the feasibility of long term F&B operation but also can be utilized in the preparation of Emergency Procedure Guidelines (EPGs)

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.177-185
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• 2022

Hydrogen risk in the containment filtered venting system (CFVS) vessel was analyzed, considering operation pressure and modes with the effect of PAR and accident scenarios. The CFVS is to depressurize the containment by venting the containment atmosphere through the filtering system. The CFVS could be subject to hydrogen risk due to the change of atmospheric conditions while the containment atmosphere passes through the CFVS. It was found that hydrogen risk increased as the CFVS opening pressure was set higher because more combustible gases generated by Molten Core Concrete Interaction flowed into the CFVS. Hydrogen risk was independent of operation modes and found only at the early phase of venting both for continuous and cyclic operation modes. With PAR, hydrogen risk appeared only at the 0.9 MPa opening pressure for Station Black-Out accidents. Without PAR, however, hydrogen risk appeared even with the CFVS opening set-point of 0.5 MPa. In a slow accident like SBO, hydrogen risk was more threatening than a fast accident like Large Break Loss-of-Coolant Accident. Through this study, it is recommended to set the CFVS opening pressure lower than 0.9 MPa and to operate it in the cyclic mode to keep the CFVS available as long as possible.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.931-942
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• 2019

Radioactive materials are released from the molten core into the containment at the time of a severe accident in a nuclear power plant (NPP). Filtered containment venting system is a popular and effective safety measure installed to obstruct the uncontrolled escape of radioactive materials due to the over pressurization of the containment. Different designs of filtered containment venting system (FCVS) are available today, each being the result of extensive research and development varying in one way or the other. This paper gives an elaborate description of the different types of FCVS currently being used, the current usage status in over 17 countries and the legislations regarding it. The recent researches being carried out in this field has also been discussed in detail. This present paper focuses on the critical review of existing FCVS, reports the challenges faced by it and highlights the potential developments to overcome the difficulties.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.1197-1202
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• 2007

The paper deals with the structural analysis and vibration test for the scaffolding system of LNG cargo containment. The eight-stories scaffolding system has telescopic area, working area, coner area and storage area in real system. In the structural analysis, the maximum displacement and stress of the each floor for the scaffolding system are investigated by finite element method. In the vibrational analysis, the natural frequencies and mode shapes for 8-stories scaffolding system of the LNG cargo containment are investigated. In order to compare theoretical natural frequencies with experimental ones, small size of 2-step scaffolding structure is used, and the theoretical results for natural frequency have a good agreement with experimental ones.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.546-554
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• 2010

The paper deals with the structural analysis and vibration test for the scaffolding system of LNG cargo containment. The eight-stories scaffolding system has telescopic area, working area, coner area and storage area in real system. In the structural analysis, the maximum displacement and stress of the each floor for the scaffolding system are investigated by finite element method. In the vibrational analysis, the natural frequencies and mode shapes for 8-stories scaffolding system of the LNG cargo containment are investigated. In order to compare theoretical natural frequencies with experimental ones, small size of 2-step scaffolding structure is used, and the theoretical results for natural frequency have a good agreement with experimental ones.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.37-41
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• 2020

The Nuclear containment building is a main safety-related structure that performs shielding and conservation functions to prevent highly radioactive materials from leakage to the outside environment in the case of various environmental conditions and postulated accidents. The containment building contains a reactor, steam generator, pressurizer, tank, reactor coolant system, auxiliary system and engineering safety system, and is designed so that highly radioactive materials above the limits specified in 10 CFR 100 do not escape to the outside environment in the case of LOCA(Loss of Coolant Accident) for instance. The containment metal liner plate(CLP) is a carbon steel plate with a nominal plate thickness of 6 mm, which functions as a mold for the wall and dome of the containment building when concrete is filled, fulfills airtightness to prevent leakage of seriously radioactive materials. In recent years, backside corrosion was found on the liner plate in some domestic nuclear power plants. The main cause of backside corrosion was unfilled concrete. In this paper, an inspection technique of assessing filling suitability for CLP backside concrete is developed. Results show that the validity of inspection technique for CLP backside concrete using vibration sensor is successfully verified.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.245-255
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• 2013

According to natural frequency of soil, characteristics of earthquake responses of an isolated containment building in nuclear power plants are examined. For this, earthquake response analysis of seismically isolated containment buildings in nuclear power plants is carried out by strictly considering soil-structure interactions. The structure and near-field soil are modeled by the finite element method while far-field soil by consistent transmitting boundary. The equation of motion of a soil-structure interaction system under incident seismic wave is derived. The derived equations of motion are solved to carry out earthquake analysis of a seismically isolated soil-structure system. Generally, the results of this analysis show that seismic isolation significantly reduces the responses of the soil-structure system. However, if the natural frequency of the soil is similar to that of the soil-structure system, the responses of the containment buildings in nuclear power plants rather increases due to interactions in the system.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.235-243
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• 2010

Three-dimensional structural analysis system for nuclear containment building is presented in this paper. This system includes high-performance plate/shell elements as finite element library. It also adopts numerical modeling technique for unbonded tendon as well as bonded tendon in prestressed concrete structures. This system is constructed by connecting several in-house program to a commercial program DIANA, and then is capable of performing nonlinear analysis for ultimate pressure capacity of nuclear containment building. Finally, three-dimensional structural analysis of CANDU-type containment building is carried out in order to test the reliability of this system. These numerical results are compared with reference values, which obtained from axisymmetric structural analysis.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.516-521
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• 2015

This study is about a hydrogen mitigation system in a containment building like an offshore or a nuclear plant. A hydrogen explosion is possibly happened after condensation of steam if hydrogen releases with steam in a containment buildings. Passive autocatalytic recombiner is the one of the measures, but the performance of this equipment is not sure because the distribution of hydrogen is very irregular and is not predicted correctly. This study proposes a new approach for improving the hydrogen removing performance with hydrogen-guiding property. The steam is simulated and analysed. The results show that the shallow air containment reduced over 55% of the released hydrogen and the deep air containment type reduces over 80% of released hydrogen.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.268-273
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• 2016

An innovative safety concept for a light water reactor has been developed at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. It is a unique concept that adopts both a fast heat transfer mechanism for a small containment and a changing mechanism of the cooling geometry to take advantage of the potential, thermal, and dynamic energies of the cold water in the containment. It can bring about rapid cooling of the containment and long-term cooling of the decay heat. By virtue of this innovative concept, nuclear fuel damage events can be prevented. The ultimate heat transfer mechanism contributes to minimization of the heat exchanger size and containment volume. A small containment can ensure the underground construction, which can use river or seawater as an ultimate heat sink. The changing mechanism of the cooling geometry simplifies several safety systems and unifies diverse functions. Simplicity of the present safety system does not require any operator actions during events or accidents. Therefore, the unique safety concept of PX can realize both economic competitiveness and inherent safety.