• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.34 no.1
• /
• pp.37-42
• /
• 2009

Whole body counters (WBCs) are used to monitor radiation workers for internal contamination of radionuclides at domestic nuclear power plants (NPPs). A WBC is a scintillation detector using sodium iodide (NaI) and provides the identification of inhaled radionuclide and the measurement of its internal radioactivity in a short time. However, it is often possible to estimate external contamination as internal contamination due to radionuclides attached to the skin of radiation workers and this leads to an excessively conservative estimation of radioactive contamination. In this study, several experiments using a WBC and the Korean humanoid phantom were performed to suggest the more systematic method of discrimination between external and internal contamination. Furthermore, a WBC geometry experiment was conducted to suggest the optimal WBC geometry in consideration of deposited areas inside the body for dominant radionuclides at NPPs. The procedure of measurement and estimation of internal radioactivity for radiation workers at NPPs was improved on the basis of experimental results. Thus, it is expected to prevent from estimating internal exposure dose conservatively owing to the application of accurate whole body counting program to NPPs.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.50-63
• /
• 2017

Safety culture degradation signs in nuclear power plants with complex and diverse systems can lead to their equipments performance deterioration. If these signs are neglected, they become potential causes of accidents. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor safety culture in the point of view of organization and management as well as to evaluate safety performance of nuclear power plants. Therefore, This paper suggested a methodology to evaluate safety culture weakness contributing the accidents' root causes in the case accidents occur at nuclear power plants. After reviewing methodologies using at domestic and international industry, the methodology suitable for domestic nuclear power plants was determined.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.271-279
• /
• 2018

During the seven years from 2009 to 2016, PWR SNF (spent nuclear fuel) transportation and storage systems suitable for domestic conditions were developed by the government to cope with the saturation of wet storage capacity in NPPs. One of the developed systems is a multipurpose metal cask applicable for transportation/storage; the other is a concrete cask dedicated to storage. Efficient cask technologies were secured utilizing the characteristics and experience of relevant industrial, academic and research institutes. Technological independence was also achieved through several patent registrations of research outcomes. To prepare for a rapid increase of demand in the near future, technology transfer of secured patents and technologies to the domestic industry was carried out twice in the years of 2016 and 2017.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.25-31
• /
• 2009

Steam Generator(SG) tube is an important component of Nuclear Power Plant(NPP), which comprises of the pressure boundary of primary system. The integrity of SG tube has been confirmed by the eddy current test every outage. In Korea, Bobbin probe and MRPC probe have been generally used for the eddy current test. Meanwhile the usage of Array probe has gradually increased in U.S., Japan and other countries. In this study, we investigated the defect detection capability of the Array probe through its preliminary application to SG tube inspection. The Array probe has the equivalent capability in the defect detection and sizing as the conventional methods. Thus it is desirable that the Array probe is generally applied to SG tube inspection in the domestic NPPs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
• /
• 2003.04a
• /
• pp.397-400
• /
• 2003

In this study, humic and fulvic acids in soils at the vicinity of domestic atomic power plants(NPPs), located in Yungkwang(YK), Uljin(UJ), Kori(KR), Koseong(KS), Wolseong(WS) area, and in volcanic ash soils of the Cheju island(Mt. Hanla(HL), Manjanggul(MJ)) were isolated, and characterized using chemical(elemental analysis, proton exchange capacity, molecular size distribution) and spectroscopic(UV/Vis., IR, FL, $^{13}$ C NMR spectra) methods. The results were compared with one another and compiled for their DB establishments. The humic substances distribution (humic acid, fulvic acid, Humin) in the soils were also determined by IHSS standard method. Main purpose of this study was to provide a basic data needed to evaluate the effect of humic substances on the migrational behaviour of radioactive elements in contaminated surface soil.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.9-17
• /
• 2007

In order to compare the correlation of radioactivity ratio between the radwaste streams and the primary coolant of PWR NPPs, A RCS sampling kit was installed to primary coolant system for the collection of the radionuclides during the normal operation of NPPs. RCS samples were collected from PWR type of domestic NPPs through 2004 to 2005, and pretreated with acid microwave digestion or leaching method to assay quantitatively of several interesting radionuclides. The radioactivity ratios of $^{137}Cs\;to\;^{60}Co$ in a filter cartridge and a resin cartridge were 2.3E-2 and 7.3E-1, respectively. At a same period of the reactor operating cycle, the radioactivity ratios of $^{137}Cs\;to\;^{60}Co$ were 6.3E-1 for a evaporator bottom, 6.7E-1 for a spent resin, and 5.6E-2 for a dry active waste, so that these radwaste streams were identified as having similar characteristics with the corresponding RCS samples.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.107-120
• /
• 2019

The decommissioning of one nuclear power plant in a multi-unit nuclear power plant (multi-unit NPP) site may pose radiation exposure risk to decommissioning workers. Thus, it is essentially required to evaluate the exposure dose of decommissioning workers of operating multi-unit NPPs nearby. The ENDOS program is a dose evaluation code developed by the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI). As two sub-programs of ENDOS, ENDOS-ATM to anticipate atmospheric transport and ENDOS-G to calculate exposure dose by gaseous radioactive effluents are used in this study. As a result, the annual maximum individual dose for decommissioning workers is estimated to be $2.31{\times}10^{-3}mSv{\cdot}y^{-1}$, which is insignificant compared with the effective dose limit of $1mSv{\cdot}y^{-1}$ for the public. Although it is revealed that the exposure dose of operating multi-unit NPPs does not result in a significant impact on decommissioning workers, closer examination of the effect of additional exposure due to actual demolition work is required. The calculation method of this study is expected to be utilized in the future for planned decommissioning projects in Korea. Because domestic NPPs are located in multi-unit sites, similar situations may occur.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
• /
• v.23 no.2
• /
• pp.272-284
• /
• 1996

The present study has quantitatively assessed the regional production, income and employment impact resulting from the construction and operation of nuclear power plant (NPP) upon the domestic local areas by applying the regional input-output analysis model to the case of Wolsong unit-l site. The conclusions regarding the most likely regional economic impacts upon the wolsong site are summarized as follows: 1. The income multipliers are calculated to be 1.563 for the construction phase and 1.500 for the operation phase. These values are relatively high compared with those of other conventional facilities. 2. The level of total employee's wage induced employment associated with the construction phase has been estimated to be 37,000 while that with the operational phase in 1990 to be 5,610. 3. With relation to the aspect of resident welfare it is found that the industrial sector associated with electricity, gas and water supply have remarkably improved with the construction of the NPP. 4. The NPP siting has induced substantial changes in interindustry (input-output) structures of the Wolsong unit-l site which is one of the rural areas where all the domestic NPPs are sited. Such changes are attributed to the industrial recomposition of the region. 5. With the application of other regional economic analysis models and the use of more sufficient regional data, other detailed studies on the economic impact analysis of domestic NPP-related facility sitings are suggested to be carried out further since the influence of NPP sitings is significant to the national economic impact as well as the regional economic impact.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
• /
• v.7 no.3
• /
• pp.23-29
• /
• 2011

The renewed global interest in nuclear power has arisen from the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to provide sufficient electricity for a growing global population before the accident at Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Japan. In spite of the safety issues of nuclear power plants raised by the ongoing Japanese nuclear crisis, many countries with nuclear power plants (NPPs) are still implementing license extensions of 10~20 years, and even consideration is being given to the concept of life-beyond-60, a further period of license extension from 60 to 80 years. To solving the materials aging problem is integral to its success. To evaluate the plant aging phenomena, a lot of background information such as materials and environment of the parts of the reactor and plant systems is needed by the experts. Information on degradation mechanisms is also used. In this paper, a materials degradation evaluation program called OnMDE-SYS (On-line Materials Degradation Evaluation System) is introduced. The developed program provides a variety of information on the materials and stressors as well as operational experience to the experts. It is also anticipated that the experts can perform materials degradation assessment on the web directly by referring to domestic and international information about the degradation of a nuclear power plants through OnMDE-SYS.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
• /
• v.6 no.2
• /
• pp.54-60
• /
• 2010

Piping failures due to thermal fatigue have been widely reported in normally stagnant non-isolable reactor coolant branch lines. Since the thermal fatigue due to thermal stratification was not considered in the piping fatigue design in old NPPs, it is important to evaluate the effect of thermal stratification on the integrity of branch lines. In this study, geometrical screening criteria for Up-horizontal branch lines in MRP-132 were applied to SI(Safety Injection) lines of KSNP 2-loop and WH 3-loop. Some computational fluid dynamic(CFD) analyses on the Reactor Coolant System(RCS) branch lines were also performed to develop the regulatory guidelines for screening criteria. As a result of applying MRP-132 screening criteria, KSNP 2-loop and WH 3-loop SI lines are determined to need further detailed evaluation. Results of CFD analyses show that both valve isolation and amount of leakage through valve can be used as technical bases for the screening criteria on the thermal fatigue analysis.