• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.426-441
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• 2003

A reactor inlet header break experiment, B9401, performed in the RD-14M multi channel test facility was analyzed using RELAP5/MOD3.2 and RELAP5/CANDU[1]. The RELAP5 has been developed for the use in the analysis of the transient behavior of the pressurized water reactor. A recent study showed that the RELAP5 could be feasible even for the simulation of the thermal hydraulic behavior of CANDU reactors. However, some deficiencies in the prediction of fuel sheath temperature and transient behavior in athe headers were identified in the RELAP5 assessments. The RELAP5/CANDU has been developing to resolve the deficiencies in the RELAP5 and to improve the predictability of the thermal-hydraulic behaviors of the CANDU reactors. In the RELAP5/CANDU, critical heat flux model, horizontal flow regime map, heat transfer model in horizontal channel, etc. were modified or added to the RELAP5/MOD3.2. This study aims to identify the applicability of both codes, in particular, in the multi-channel simulation of the CANDU reactors. The RELAP5/MOD3.2 and the RELAP5/CANDU analyses demonstrate the code's capability to predict reasonably the major phenomena occurred during the transient. The thermal-hydraulic behaviors of both codes are almost identical, however, the RELAP5/CANDU predicts better the heater sheath temperature than the RELAP5/MOD3.2. Pressure differences between headers govern the flow characteristics through the heated sections, particularly after the ECI. In determining header pressure, there are many uncertainties arisen from the complicated effects including steady state pressure distribution. Therefore, it would be concluded that further works are required to reduce these uncertainties, and consequently predict appropriately thermal-hydraulic behaviors in the reactor coolant system during LOCA analyses.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.203-210
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• 2010

The $\underline{H}igh$ flux $\underline{A}dvanced$ $\underline{N}eutron$ $\underline{A}pplication$ $\underline{R}eact\underline{O}r$ (HANARO), an open-tank-in-pool type reactor, is one of the multi-purpose research reactors in the world. Since the commencement of HANARO's operations in 1995, a significant number of experimental facilities have been developed and installed at HANARO, and continued efforts to develop more facilities are in progress. Owing to the stable operation of the reactor and its frequent utilization, more experimental facilities are being continuously added to satisfy various fields of study and diverse applications. The irradiation testing equipment for nuclear fuels and materials at HANARO can be classified into capsules and the Fuel Test Loop (FTL). Capsules for irradiation tests of nuclear fuels in HANARO have been developed for use under the dry conditions of the coolant and materials at HANARO and are now successfully utilized to perform irradiation tests. The FTL can be used to conduct irradiation testing of a nuclear fuel under the operating conditions of commercial nuclear power plants. During irradiation tests conducted using these capsules in HANARO, instruments such as the thermocouple, Linear Variable Differential Transformer (LVDT), small heater, Fluence Monitor (F/M) and Self-Powered Neutron Detector (SPND) are used to measure various characteristics of the nuclear fuel and irradiated material. This paper describes not only the status of HANARO and the status and perspective of irradiation devices and instrumentation for carrying out nuclear fuel and material tests in HANARO but also some results from instrumentation during irradiation tests.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.43-49
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• 2008

Fatigue cracks due to thermal stratification or corrosion in pipelines of nuclear power plants can cause serious problems on reactor cooling system. Therefore, the development of an integrated technology including fabrication of standard specimens and their practical usage is needed to enhance the reliability of nondestructive testing. The test material was austenitic STS 304, which is used as pipelines in the Reactor Coolant System of a nuclear power plants. The best condition for fabrication of thermal fatigue cracks at the notch plate was selected using the thermal stress analysis of ANSYS. The specimen was installed from the tensile tester and underwent continuos tension loads of 51,000N. Then, after the specimen was heated to $450^{\circ}C$ for 1 minute using HF induction heater, it was cooled to $20^{\circ}C$ in 1 minute using a mixture of dry ice and water. The initial crack was generated at 17,000 cycles, 560 hours later (1cycle/2min.) and the depth of the thermal fatigue crack reached about 40% of the thickness of the specimen at 22,000 cycles. As a results of optical microscope and SEM analysis, it is confirmed that fabricated thermal fatigue cracks have the same characteristics as real fatigue cracks in nuclear power plants. The crack shape and size were identified.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.353-358
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• 2005

The heat transfer and pressure drop of supercritical $CO_2$ cooled in a helically coiled tube was investigated experimentally. The experiments were conducted without oil in the refrigerant loop. The experimental apparatus of the refrigerant loop consist of receiver, a variable speed pump, a mass flowmeter, a pre-heater, a gas cooler(test section) and an isothermal tank. The test section is a helically coiled tube in tube counter flow heat exchanger with $CO_2$ flowed inside the inner tube and coolant( water) flowed along the outside annular passage, It was made of it copper tube with the inner diameter of 4.55[mm]. the outer diameter of 6.35 [mm] and length of 10000 [mm]. The refrigerant mass fluxes were $200^{\sim}600$ [kg/m2s] and the inlet pressure of gas cooler varied from 7.5 [MPa] to 10.0 [MPa]. The main results are summarized as follows : The heat transfer coefficient of supercritical $CO_2$ increases, as the cooling pressure of gas cooler decreases. And the heat transfer coefficient increases with the increase of the refrigerant mass flux. The pressure drop decreases in increase of the gas cooler pressure and increases with increase the refrigerant mass flux.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.318-330
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• 2009

A high heat flux test facility using a graphite heating panel was constructed and is presently in operation at Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, which is called KoHLT-1. Its major purpose is to carry out a thermal cycle test to verify the integrity of a HIP (hot isostatic pressing) bonded Be mockups which were fabricated for developing HIP joining technology to bond different metals, i.e., Be-to-CuCrZr and CuCrZr-to-SS316L, for the ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) first wall. The KoHLT-1 consists of a graphite heating panel, a box-type test chamber with water-cooling jackets, an electrical DC power supply, a water-cooling system, an evacuation system, an He gas system, and some diagnostics, which are equipped in an authorized laboratory with a special ventilation system for the Be treatment. The graphite heater is placed between two mockups, and the gap distance between the heater and the mockup is adjusted to $2{\sim}3\;mm$. We designed and fabricated several graphite heating panels to have various heating areas depending on the tested mockups, and to have the electrical resistances of $0.2{\sim}0.5$ ohms during high temperature operation. The heater is connected to an electrical DC power supply of 100 V/400 A. The heat flux is easily controlled by the pre-programmed control system which consists of a personal computer and a multi function module. The heat fluxes on the two mockups are deduced from the flow rate and the coolant inlet/out temperatures by a calorimetric method. We have carried out the thermal cycle tests of various Be mockups, and the reliability of the KoHLT-1 for long time operation at a high heat flux was verified, and its broad applicability is promising.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.65-72
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• 2016

ORC system was designed and constructed for utilizing the heat of the exhaust gas and coolant released from the gas engine which was modified to use natural gas as a fuel. In this paper the components of the ORC system were designed and manufactured based on measured data of the gas engine. The components are composed of two plate heat exchanger, the 5kW-class expander and multi stage centrifugal pump. The thermodynamic performance of the ORC system was analyzed by using the electric heater. Also, the developed ORC system was implemented to modified natural gas engine. Two gas engines were used to supply heat to the ORC system. As a result of test bench, when the heat source temperature is $110^{\circ}C$ expander shaft power, the pressure ratio and cycle efficiency is 5.22kW, 7.41, 9.09%. As a result of field test, when the heat source temperature is $86^{\circ}C$ expander shaft power, the pressure ratio and cycle efficiency is 2kW, 3.75, 6.45%.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.662-669
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• 2010

To develop the manufacturing methods for the blanket first wall (FW) of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) and to verify the integrity of the joint, Be/Cu mockups were fabricated and tested at the KoHLT-1 (Korea Heat Load Test facility), a graphite heater facility located at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI). Since Be and Cu joining is the focus of the present study, the fabricated mockups had a CuCrZr heat sink joined with three Be tiles as an armor material, unlike the original ITER blanket FW, which has a stainless steel structure and coolant tubes. Hot isostatic pressing (HIP) was carried out at $580^{\circ}C$ and 100 MPa for 2 hours as the method for Be/Cu joining. Three interlayers, namely, $1{\mu}mCr/10{\mu}mCu$, $1{\mu}mTi/0.5{\mu}mCr/10{\mu}mCu$, and $5{\mu}mTi/10{\mu}mCu$ were applied as a coating to the Be tiles by a physical vapor deposition (PVD) method. A shear test was performed with the specimens, which were fabricated by the same methods as those used to fabricate the mockups. The average values were 125 MPa to 180 MPa, and the samples with the $1{\mu}mCr/10{\mu}mCu$ interlayer showed the lowest value. No defect or delamination was found in the joints of the mockups by the developed ultrasonic test using a flat-type probe with a 10 MHz frequency and a 0.25 inch diameter. High heat flux (HHF) tests were performed at $1.0\;MW/m^2$ heat flux for each mockup using the given conditions, and the results were analyzed by ANSYS-CFX code. For the test criteria, an expected fatigue lifetime about 1,000 cycles was obtained by analysis with ANSYS-mechanical code. Mockups using the interlayers of $1{\mu}mTi/0.5{\mu}mCr/10{\mu}mCu$ and $5{\mu}mTi/10{\mu}mCu$ survived up to 1,100 cycles over the required number of cycles. However, one of the Be tiles in the other two mockups using the $1{\mu}mCr/10{\mu}mCu$ interlayer was detached during the screening test, and others were detached by discharge after 862 cycles. The integrity of the joints using the proposed interlayers was proven by the HHF test, but the other interlayer requires more study before it can be used for the joining of Be to Cu. Moreover, it was confirmed that the measured temperatures agreed well with the analysis temperatures, which were used to estimate the lifetime and that the developed facility showed its capability of the long time operation.