• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.141-145
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• 2008

Due to the uncertainties resulting from cost projection, evaluation over long term period, and adequacy of applied discount rate, the economic assessment for back-end fuel cycle is different from each organizations or individuals. In this paper, the features and limitations of some noticeable economic evaluations were investigated and analysed to contribute for the public participation and back-end fuel cycle policy related researches. As a result of analysis, we found that the reprocess and recycling is more economical than direct disposal option, but the result includes high uncertainty that depends on the input parameters.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2005.11b
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• pp.156-164
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• 2005

The challenges China is facing in energy security are briefly discussed. Then, the development of nuclear power in China in the first half of 21 st century is envisioned, and it is expected that Generation-3 PWR nuclear power plants (NPPs) would be the leading units of nuclear power in the coming $30\~40$ years. As part of the nuclear power program, the R&D work on nuclear fuel cycle is generally proposed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Systems Engineering
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.26-33
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• 2017

Pyro project, one of complex project, is now under research and development. To manage this kind project successfully, it is essential to apply the processes of technical management (TM) based on systems engineering (SE) and project management (PM). In this paper, the project management processes from ISO-21500 standard, PMBOK guide, and PRINCE2 guide were reviewed, and then some common PM for the large national R&D project were selected. An integrated technical management and project management frame work was finally established and suggested for Pyro project.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.287-296
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• 2002

현재 자동차의 문제점을 해결할 수 있는 가장 착실한 엔진은 수소를 이용한 연료 전지라고 판단된다. 연료전지는 화학적 에너지를 전기적 에너지로 직접 변환하는 장치이다. 순수한 연료전지 차량과 연료전지 하이브리드 차량을 비교 분석하였다. 연료전지 하이브리드 차량에서 고려하여야할 점은 효율, 연료경제성, 출력 특성 등이 있다. FUDS 싸이클 시뮬레이션 비교를 하면 하이브리드화가 순수 연료전지 차량 보다 효율이 높다. 이는 회생 제동 에너지를 이용할 수 있으며 battery를 이용하여 연료전지를 효율적인 영역에서 작동하게 할 수 있기 때문이다. Life cycle 비용은 연료전지의 크기, 연료전지의 가격, 수소의 가격 등에 지배적인 영향을 받는다. 연료전지의 가격이 고가이면 하이브리드화가 유리하나, 연료전지의 가격이 400$/kW 이하가 되면 순수한 연료전지 자동차가 비용면에서 유리 하다.

• Journal of Institute of Convergence Technology
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.1-6
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• 2013

The ionic liquids are known to potential alternative solvents capable of replacing the commercial solvents in various processes including those in nuclear fuel cycle. As to the material, a number of studies have already reviewed the interesting results and addressed the spectroscopic as well as electrochemical behaviors of metal elements included in spent nuclear fuels. It has found that the important properties of metal ions in TBP dissolved ILs have led the development of alternative technologies to traditional solvent extraction processes. On the other hand, the electrochemical deposition of metal ions in ILs have been investigated for the application of the solvents to aqueous as well as to non-aqueous processes. In this work, a review on the application of ILs in nuclear fuel cycle is briefly presented to understand the notable researches on ILs focusing on aqueous processes.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.273-282
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• 2012

A new effective methodology for optimizing the enrichment of low-enriched zones as well as gadolinia fuel ($UO_2/Gd_2O_3$) rod designs in PLUS7 fuel assemblies was developed to minimize the maximum peak power in the core and to maximize the cycle lifetime. An automated link code was developed to integrate the genetic algorithm (GA) and the core design code package of ALPHA/PHOENIX-P/ANC and to generate and evaluate the candidates to be optimized efficiently through the integrated code package. This study introduces an optimization technique for the optimization of gadolinia fuel rod designs in order to effectively reduce the peak powers for a few hot assemblies simultaneously during the cycle. Coupled with the gadolinia optimization, the optimum enrichments were determined using the same automated code package. Applying this technique to the reference core of Ulchin Unit 4 Cycle 11, the gadolinia fuel rods in each hot assembly were optimized to different numbers and positions from their original designs, and the maximum peak power was decreased by 2.5%, while the independent optimization technique showed a decrease of 1.6% for the same fuel assembly. The lower enrichments at the fuel rods adjacent to the corner gap (CG), guide tube (GT), and instrumentation tube (IT) were optimized from the current 4.1, 4.1, 4.1 w/o to 4.65, 4.2, 4.2 w/o. The increase in the cycle lifetime achieved through this methodology was 5 effective full-power days (EFPD) on an ideal equilibrium cycle basis while keeping the peak power as low as 2.3% compared with the original design.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.148-164
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• 2017

The focus on the issues surrounding spent nuclear fuel and lifetime extension of old nuclear power plants continues to grow nowadays. A transparent decision-making process to identify the best suitable nuclear fuel cycle (NFC) is considered to be the key task in the current situation. Through this study, an attempt is made to develop an equilibrium model for the NFC to calculate the material flows based on 1 TWh of electricity production, and to perform integrated multicriteria decision-making method analyses via the analytic hierarchy process technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution, preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluation, and multiattribute utility theory methods. This comparative study is aimed at screening and ranking the three selected NFC options against five aspects: sustainability, environmental friendliness, economics, proliferation resistance, and technical feasibility. The selected fuel cycle options include pressurized water reactor (PWR) once-through cycle, PWR mixed oxide cycle, or pyroprocessing sodium-cooled fast reactor cycle. A sensitivity analysis was performed to prove the robustness of the results and explore the influence of criteria on the obtained ranking. As a result of the comparative analysis, the pyroprocessing sodium-cooled fast reactor cycle is determined to be the most competitive option among the NFC scenarios.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.10
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• pp.2274-2284
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• 2020

The Nuclear Fuel Cycle Code "ANICCA" has been developed by SCK•CEN to answer particular questions about the Belgian nuclear fleet. However, the wide range of capabilities of the code make it also useful for international or regional studies that include advanced technologies and strategies of cycle. This paper shows the main features of the code and the facilities that can be simulated. Additionally, a comparison between several codes and ANICCA has also been made to verify the performance of the code by means of a simulation proposed in the last NEA (OECD) Benchmark Study. Finally, a case study of the Belgian nuclear fuel cycle phase out has been carried out to show the possible impact of the transmutation of the minor actinides on the nuclear waste by the use of an Accelerator Driven System also known as ADS. Results show that ANICCA accomplishes its main purpose of simulating the scenarios giving similar outcomes to other codes. Regarding the case study, results show a reduction of more than 60% of minor actinides in the Belgian nuclear cycle when using an ADS, reducing significantly the radiotoxicity and decay heat of the high-level waste and facilitating its management.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.08a
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• pp.840-845
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• 2004

The remote operation of the Advanced Spent Fuel Conditioning Process (ACP) is analyzed by using the 3D graphic simulation tools. Since the spent nuclear fuel, which is a high radioactive material, is processed in the ACP, the ACP equipment is operated in intense radiation fields as well as in a high temperature. Thus, the equipment is operated in a remote manner and should be designed with consideration for the remote handling and maintenance. Also suitable remote handling technology needs to be developed along with the design of the process concepts. For this we developed a graphic simulator, which provides the capability of verifying the remote operability of the ACP without the fabrication of the process equipment. In other words, by applying virtual reality to the remote maintenance operation, a remote operation task can be simulated in the graphic simulator, not in the real environment. The graphic simulator will substantially reduce the cost of the development of the remote handling and maintenance procedure as well as the process equipment, while at the same time developing a remote maintenance concept that is more reliable, easier to implement, and easier to understand.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.58 no.4
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• pp.596-603
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• 2020

In this study, a mathematical model for optimal operation of the fusion fuel cycle is developed based on scheduling approach. The fusion fuel cycle consists of a system for storing and supplying deuterium and tritium, and receiving and separating process after the fusion reaction. Except that tritium is a radioactive material, most of these processes consist of catalytic reactions and separation process. For these reasons, it is possible to apply scheduling approach which is also widely utilized to chemical plants to derive the optimal operating scenarios. The developed model determined the optimal regeneration cycle to minimize the amount of tritium inside the vacuum pumps. Based on the characteristics of various device in the fusion reactor, the optimal tritium plant operation scenario is evaluated. The formulated model was applied to the actual tokamak scenario and utilized to analyze the fuel flow and balance of ITER fuel cycle.