• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.113-123
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• 2005

The removal of radioactive corrosion products from the reactor coolant through a magnetic filter system is one of the many approaches being investigated as a means to reduce radiation sources and exposures to the operational and maintenance personnel in a nuclear power plant. Many research activities in water chemistry, therefore, have been performed to provide a filtration system with high reliability and feasibility and are still in process. In this study, it was devised the magnetic filter system with permanent and electric magnets to remove the corrosion products in the coolant stream taking an advantage of the magnetic properties of corrosion particles. Permanent magnets were used for separation of corrosion products and electric magnets were utilized for flocculation of colloidal particles to increase in their size. Experiments using only permanent magnets, in the previous study, displayed the satisfactory outcome of filtering corrosion products and indicated that the removal efficiency was more than 90 $\%$ for above 5 $\mu$m particles. Experiments using electric magnets also showed the good performance of flocculation without chemical agents and exhibited that most corrosion particles were flocculated into larger aggregates about 5 $\mu$m and over in diameter. It is, thus, expected that the magnetic filter system with the arrangement of permanent and electric magnets will be an effective way for the removal of radioactive corrosion products with considerably high removal efficiency.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.140-148
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• 1994

A qualification test was performed for the iron removal chemical cleaning of the secondary side of nuclear steam generators at the selected temperature, 1$25^{\circ}C$, higher than the standard application temperature, 93$^{\circ}C$. The field cleaning condition for a nuclear unit was tested in a bench scale test loop including a SUS 316 stainless steel autoclave with one gallon capacity as a test vessel. The kinetics of sludge dissolution, corrosion of the secondary side materials and change of solvent chemistry were monitored. Test results indicated that more thorough cleaning was accomplished in less than half of the cleaning time required at 93$^{\circ}C$. And the total corrosions of the secondary side materials were found to be less than the values at 93$^{\circ}C$. While the solvent is recirculated and heated by an external chemical cleaning equipment for the conventional 93$^{\circ}C$ process, the secondary side is heated by the lateral heat of the primary coolant without the recirculation of the cleaning solution, and the solvent is mixed by vigorous boiling induced by periodic ventilation for the high temperature process. The requirement that the reactor coolant pumps should be running during the cleaning operation is the major disadvantage of the high temperature process which also should be considered when chemical cleaning is planned for steam generators under operation.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.597-609
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• 2020

Accident Tolerant Fuels have been widely studied since the Fukushima-Daiichi accident in 2011 as one of the options on how to further enhance the safety of nuclear power plants. Deposition of protective coatings on nuclear fuel claddings has been considered as a near-term concept that will reduce the high-temperature oxidation rate and enhance accidental tolerance of the cladding while providing additional benefits during normal operation and transients. This study focuses on experimental testing of Zr-based alloys coated with Cr-based coatings using Physical Vapour Deposition. The results of long-term corrosion tests, as well as tests simulating postulated accidents, are presented. Zr-1%Nb alloy used as nuclear fuel cladding serves as a substrate and Cr, CrN, Cr_xN_y layers are deposited by unbalanced magnetron sputtering and reactive magnetron sputtering. The deposition procedures are optimized in order to improve coating properties. Coated as well as reference uncoated samples were experimentally tested. The presented results include standard long-term corrosion tests at 360℃ in WWER water chemistry, burst (creep) tests and mainly single and double-sided high-temperature steam oxidation tests between 1000 and 1400℃ related to postulated Loss-of-coolant accident and Design extension conditions. Coated and reference samples were characterized pre- and post-testing using mechanical testing (microhardness, ring compression test), Thermal Evolved Gas Analysis analysis (hydrogen, oxygen concentration), optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (EDS, WDS, EBSD) and X-ray diffraction.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.426-432
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• 2011

The oxidation behavior of CVD ${\beta}$-SiC was investigated for Very High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (VHTR) applications. This study focused on the surface analysis of the oxidized CVD ${\beta}$-SiC to observe the effect of impurity gases on active/passive oxidation. Oxidation test was carried out at $950^{\circ}C$ in the impurity-controlled helium environment that contained $H_2$, $H_2O$, CO, and $CH_4$ in order to simulate VHTR coolant chemistry. For 250 h of exposure to the helium, weight changes were barely measurable when $H_2O$ in the bulk gas was carefully controlled between 0.02 and 0.1 Pa. Surface morphology also did not change based on AFM observation. However, XPS analysis results indicated that a very small amount of $SiO_2$ was formed by the reaction of SiC with $H_2O$ at the initial stage of oxidation when $H_2O$ partial pressure in the CVD ${\beta}$-SiC surface placed on the passive oxidation region. As the oxidation progressed, $H_2O$ consumed and its partial pressure in the surface decreased to the active/passive oxidation transition region. At the steady state, more oxidation did not observable up to 250 h of exposure.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.14-20
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• 2014

A lot of radiation exposure for radiation workers who are engaged in Nuclear Power Plants, especially PWRs, have been caused during the outage by CRUD, such as $^{58}Co$, $^{60}Co$, in Reactor Coolant System. And therefore we need to know source terms to achieve optimization of protection for the radiation workers from radiation exposure at Nuclear Power Plants efficiently. This study analyzed source terms at domestic NPPs (PWRs) nearby Steam Generator with CZT semiconductor detector using by IN-VIVO method during the outage for the first time in the country. We checked difference for the detected source terms between old and new NPP. It was performed especially to see a change of source terms by water chemistry process as well. There was not any difference by water chemistry process both NPPs. The main source terms are $^{58}Co$ and $^{60}Co$ at all NPPs. $^{59}Fe$ only appears in the new NPP. $^{137}Cs$ and $^{95}Zr$ are shown in the old NPP. The fraction of $^{58}Co/^{60}Co$ in the new NPP is higher than the old NPP for increasing the specific activity of $^{60}Co$.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.318-325
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• 2017

Wastewater including ethanolamine used in the second generation of nuclear power plants is filtered out in the ion exchange resin of the condensate polishing plant. In the regeneration process of ion exchange resin, a strong acidic wastewater containing ethanolamine and a lager amount of ionic substances are released. In this study, the process involving UV oxidation part with or without absorbents was developed for treating wastewater released from the ionic exchange resin. The effect of adsorbents on the wastewater treatment was investigated by using UV oxidation system developed by us. As a result, the COD removal efficiency of UV/GAC process with the granular activated carbon (GAC) as an adsorbent was 71.3% at pH 12.8. The removal efficiency was 21.8% higher than that of the wastewater treated using UV oxidation process without any adsorbents at the same condition. The removal of T-N was 88.6% at pH 12.8 when using UV oxidation with the GAC absorbent, which was 18.0% higher than that of using the UV oxidation process without any absorbents. It is thought that ethanolamine adsorbed on the absorbent improved the efficiency of UV oxidation process. Therefore, the UV/GAC adsorption oxidation process can be more effective in treating wastewater containing ethanolamine than that of using the process without any absorbents.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.656-662
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• 2013

The iron oxide ($Fe_3O_4$) particles in the coolant of the secondary system of a nuclear power plant reduce the heat transfer performance or induce corrosion on the surface of the heat transfer tube. To prevent these problems, we conducted a study to improve the dispersion stability of iron oxide using polymeric dispersant injection in simulated secondary system water. The three kinds of anionic polymers containing carboxyl groups were selected. The dispersion characteristics of the iron oxide particles with the polymeric dispersants were evaluated by performing a settling test and measuring the transmission, the zeta potential, and the hydrodynamic particle size of the colloid solutions. Polymeric dispersants had a significant impact on the iron oxide dispersion stability in an aqueous solution. While the dispersant injection tended to improve the dispersion stability, the dispersion stability of iron oxide did not increase linearly with an increase in the dispersant concentration. This non-linearity is due to the agglomerations between the iron oxide particles above a critical dispersant concentration. The effect of the dispersant on the dispersion stability improvement was significant when the dispersant concentration ratio (ppm, dispersant/magnetite) was in the range of 0.1 to 0.01. This suggests that the optimization of dispersant concentration is required to maximize the iron oxide removal effect with the dispersant injection considering the applied environments, the iron oxide concentration and the concentration ratio of dispersant to iron oxide.