• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.4 no.S2
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• pp.100-105
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• 1995

Nitrogen implantation process has been applied for improvement of wear resistance of Zircaloy-4 fuel cladding materials. Nitrogen was implanted at 120keV to a total dose range of $1\times 10^{17}$ions/$\textrm{cm}^2$ to $1\times 10^{18}$ions/$\textrm{cm}^2$ at various temperatures between $270^{\circ}C$ and $671^{\circ}C$. The microstructure changes by nitrogen implantation were analyzed by XRD and AES and wear behavior was evaluated by performing ball-on-disc type wear testing at various loads and sliding velocities under unlubricated condition. Nitrogen implantation produced ZrNx nitride above $3\times 10^{17}$ions/$\textrm{cm}^2$ as well as heavy dislocations, which resluted in an increase in microhardness of the implanted surface of up to 1400 $H_k$ from 200 $H_k$ of unimplanted substrate. Hardness was also found to be increased with increasing implantation temperature up to 1760 $H_k$ at $620^{\circ}C$. The wear resistance was greatly improved as total ion dose and implantation temperature increased. The effective enhancement of wear resistance at high dose and temperature is believed to be due to the significant hardening associated with high degree of precipitation of Zr nitrides and generation of prismatic dislocation loops.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.26-33
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• 2019

A comparison of CL 13% and 17% IBLOCA counterpart tests(CPTs) between the ATLAS and LSTF facilities was carried out and the behavior of peak cladding temperatures(PCTs) and related thermal hydraulic phenomena were investigated and discussed. There appeared quite a big difference in PCT behavior between the two CPTs and a further comparison of reactor coolant system design between the two facilities was performed. As a result, there was a difference in fuel alignment plate (FAP) design, e.g., one FAP in ATLAS, a combination of upper core plate and upper end box in LSTF, respectively. The FAP design mainly affects the reflux condensate behavior in IBLOCA tests and any difference in FAP design can be a possible reason for different PCT behavior between the two facilities. It should be a further study to find the reason of different PCT behvior between the two facilites.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.46 no.8
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• pp.482-488
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• 2008

For a better understanding of the correlation between a corrosion and a microstructure, it is necessary to study a phase transformation with an annealing condition for Zr-Nb alloy. Zr-5wt.%Nb alloy with different phase characteristics was prepared with various annealing conditions. A microstructural study and corrosion test were performed to investigate the effect of a phase such as the phase type, fraction, and size on corrosion. The corrosion behavior of the Zr-5Nb alloy was very sensitive to the annealing condition, which affected the formation of the ${\beta}$-phases (${\beta}$-Nb or ${\beta}$. The corrosion rate of the Zr-5Nb alloy annealed at $500^{\circ}C$ with the formation of the ${\beta}$-Nb phase was lower than that of the Zr-5Nb alloy annealed from 600 to $800^{\circ}C$ with the formation of the ${\beta}$-Zr phase. The highest corrosion rate was observed for the ${\beta}$-quenched Zr-5Nb alloy. After a consideration of the corrosion rate and micro structure of the Zr-5Nb alloy, the corrosion resistance of that alloy was improved due to the formation of a small sized ${\beta}$-Nb phase which could be controlled by the annealing condition.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.29-37
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• 2017

Nuclear fuel cladding tube is fabricated by pilgering and annealing process. In order to remove impurity and oxygen layer on the surface, pickling process is carried out. When Zirconium(Zr) is dissolved and saturated in acid solution during the pickling process, all the waste acid including Zr is disposed. Therefore, $BaF_2$ is added into the waste acid to extract Zr and $Ba_2ZrF_8$ is subsequently formed. To recycle Zr by electrowinning process, $Ba_2ZrF_8$ is used as electrolyte, but it has high melting point ($1053^{\circ}C$). $ZrF_4$ should be added into $Ba_2ZrF_8$ to decrease the melting point. In this paper, it was investigated that $Ba_2ZrF_8$ was separated to $BaF_2$ and $ZrF_4$ by vacuum distillation. Firstly, $BaF_2$ with different particle size ($1{\mu}m$, $35{\mu}m$, $110{\mu}m$) was added into the waste acid and the respective precipitation property was estimated. $BaF_2$ obtained by vacuum distillation was shattered by ball-milling with different time. The precipitation efficiency was compared with $1{\mu}m$ of ${BaF_2}^{\prime}s$ one, which was not used as precipitation agent.

• Clean Technology
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.264-271
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• 2013

In this study, we optimized the removal condition of contaminants attached on the scrap surface to recycle the scrap generated from the Zr alloy tube manufacturing process back to the nuclear grade. The main contaminant is remnant of watersoluble cooling lubricant that is used in the pilgering manufacture during the tube production, and it is assumed to be compressed and carbonized on the surface of tube. Zirlo alloy tube of ${\phi}9.50mm$, which has high occurrence frequency of scrap, was selected as the object to be cleaned, and cleaning abilities of reagents were evaluated by measuring the characteristics of contaminants remained and by analyzing the surface of the tube after cleaning process. For evaluation of each cleaning agent, we selected two types of sodium hydroxide series and three types of potassium hydroxide series. Furthermore, to confirm dependence on tempe-rature and ultrasonic intensities, cleaning at the room temperature, $40^{\circ}C$, and $60^{\circ}C$ was conducted, and results showed that higher the cleaning temperature and higher the ultrasonic intensity, better the cleaning effect. As a result of the bare-eye inspection, while the use of sodium hydroxide provided satisfactory condition on the tube surface, the use of potassium hydroxide series provided satisfactory condition on the tube surface only when the ultrasonic intensity was over 120 W. In the cleaning effect analysis using the gravimetric method, cleaning efficiency of sodium hydroxide series was as high as 97.6% ($60^{\circ}C$, 120 W), but since the tube surface condition was poor after the use of potassium hydroxide, the gravimetric method was not appropriate. In the analytical result of surface contaminants on the tube surface, C, O, Ca, and Zr were detected, and mainly C and O dominated the proportion of contaminants. It was also found that the degree of cleaning on the tube affected the componential ratio of C and O; if the degree of cleaning is high, or if cleaning is well-conducted, the proportion of C is decreased, and the proportion of O is increased. Based on these results, optimal cleaning for application in the industry can be expected by categorizing cleaning process into three steps of Alkali cleaning, Rinsing, and Drying and by adjusting cleaning parameters in each step.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.235-243
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• 2014

Surface oxidation behavior of ZIRLO (ZIRconium Low Oxidation) hulls was investigated using an X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) technique. The effects of oxidation time (10-336 h at $500^{\circ}C$) and temperature ($400-700^{\circ}C$ for 10 h) were studied. Deconvolution results of the hulls oxidized at $500^{\circ}C$ revealed that a $ZrO_2$ phase appeared after 24 h (11.86%), and an increase in the $ZrO_2$ ratio was observed when the hulls were oxidized for 336 h (17.93%). On the other hand, the ZrO phase which employed 5.68% in the 10 h oxidized sample disappeared when the oxidation time increased to 24 h. The XPS results also showed that an increase in the oxidation temperature resulted in an increase in the ratio of ZrO, which increased from 0 to 5.68, 8.31, and 9.16% when the oxidation temperature increased from 400 to 500, 600, and $700^{\circ}C$, respectively. $ZrO_2$ phase was observed only in the sample that was oxidized at $700^{\circ}C$. The mechanism of ZrO formation was not conclusive, but it was suggested that a formation of hydroxide might have been accelerated at elevated temperatures leading to a formation of a $Zr(OH)_4$ phase. The relationship between the surface oxidation status of the hulls oxidized at $500^{\circ}C$ and their chlorination reaction feasibility was discussed, and it was suggested that the thickness of the oxide layer is an important parameter that determines the chlorination reaction feasibility.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.69-75
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• 2013

The recovery of Zr from Zircaloy-4 (Zry-4) cladding hulls was demonstrated to investigate the effect of the oxidation process on the reaction rate of the chlorination reaction. In chlorination reaction experiments performed for 6 h, where reaction products were collected every 2 h, it was observed that a significant decrease in the reaction rate was caused by the oxidation process ($500^{\circ}C$, 10 h under an air atmosphere) within the reaction period of 0 - 2 h. The amount of reaction residue increased from 0.95 to 1.65wt% of initial weights in the fresh and Zry-500-10 (Zry-4 hulls oxidized at $500^{\circ}C$ for 10 h under an air atmosphere) hulls, respectively. The purity of the recovered Zr was identical at 99.61wt% for the fresh Zry-4 and Zry-500-10 hulls. Quantitative analysis of the chlorination reaction rate was performed by varying the reaction time from 0.5 to 1.0, 2.0, and 4.0 h. The fitting results showed that the relationship between weight loss and reaction time can be interpreted by a linear line with a slope of 23.35wt%/h for the fresh Zry-4 case, while two linear lines were necessary to fit the results of Zry-500-10. In addition, the slope values were 17.12 and 27.16wt%/h for (0 - 20) and (20 - 100)wt% loss regions, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.11 no.8
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• pp.647-654
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• 2001

Effects of final annealing temperature on the precipitate and oxidation were investigated for the Zr-lNb and Zr-lNb-lSn-0.3Fe alloys. The microstructure and oxidation of both alloys were evaluated for the optimization of final annealing process of these alloys in the annealing temperature regime of 450 to $800^{\circ}C$. The corrosion test was performed under steam at $400^{\circ}C$ for 270 days in a static autoclave. The oxide formed was identified by low angle X-ray diffraction method. The $\beta$-Zr was observed at annealing temperature above $600^{\circ}C$. Above $600^{\circ}C$, the precipitate area volume fraction of Zr-lNb and Zr-1Nb-lSn-0.3Fe alloys appeared to be increased with increasing the final annealing temperature. The corrosion resistance of Zr-lNb was higher than that of Zr- lNb-lSn-0.3Fe alloy. The corrosion rate of both alloys were accelerated due to the formation and growth of $\beta$-Zr with increasing the annealing temperature.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.166-171
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• 2017

Hydrogen gas is a green energy sources because it features no emission of pollutants during combustion. But hydrogen gas is very dangerous, being flammable and very explosive. Hydrogen gas detection is very important for the safety of a nuclear power plant. Hydrogen gas is generated by oxidation of nuclear fuel cladding during a critical accident, and leads to serious secondary damage in the containment building. This paper discusses the development of a Raman lidar system for remote detection and measurement of hydrogen gas. A small, portable Raman lidar system was designed, and a measurement algorithm was developed to quantitatively measure hydrogen gas concentration. To verify the capability of measuring hydrogen gas with the developed Raman lidar system, experiments were carried out under daytime outdoor conditions by using a gas chamber that can adjust the hydrogen gas density. As results, our Raman lidar system is able to measure a minimum density of 0.67 vol. % hydrogen gas at a distance of 20 m.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.8 no.12
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• pp.1099-1109
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• 1998

To investigate the effect of V and Sb on the corrosion behavior of Zr- based alloys, corrosion tests were performed on 6 kinds of Zr alloys in an autoclave at $360^{\circ}C$ for 100 days. The transition of the corrosion rate occurred in the sample containing 0.1wt.%V after 10 days but did not occur in the samples containing 0.2wt.%V and 0.4wt.%V. The corrosion resistance of V containing alloys increased with increasing V contents from 0.1 to 0.4wt.% and the alloys containing 0.4wt.%V showed the best corrosion resistance. In the ternary alloys containing 0.1wt.%Sb and 0.4wt.%Sb, the corrosion rate increased significantly from the short exposure time. It was observed that the optimal Sb content for corrosion resistance was 0.2wt.%. The size and volume fraction of precipitates increased with increasing V and Sb contents. The superior corrosion resistance was observed in the Zr alloy having precipitate size of 0.11-0.13$\mu\textrm{m}$. From the result of corrosion behavior and the obserbation of precipitates, the optimal size of the precipitate appear to control the electron conduction in the cathodic reaction and play an important role in maintaining a stable oxide microstructure.