• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.517-526
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• 2008

The widespread concern regarding the management of spent fuel that mainly contributes to nuclear waste has led to the development of the sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) as one of the most promising future types of reactors at both national and international levels. Various reactor deployment scenarios with SFR introductions with different conversion ratios in the existing PWR-dominant nuclear fleet have been assessed to optimize the SFR deployment strategy to replace PWRs with the view toward a reduction in the level of spent fuel as well as efficient uranium utilization through its reuse in a closed fuel cycle. An efficient reactor deployment strategy with the SFR introduction starting in 2040 has been drawn based on an SFR deployment strategy in which burners are deployed prior to breakeven reactors to reduce the amount of PWR spent fuel substantially at the early deployment stage. The PWR spent fuel disposal is reduced in this way by 98% and the cumulative uranium demand for PWRs to 2100 is projected to be 445 ktU, implying a uranium savings of 115 ktU. The SFR mix ratio in the nuclear fleet near the year 2100 is estimated to be approximately 35-40%. PWRs will remain as a main power reactor type until 2100 and SFRs will support waste minimization and fuel utilization.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.377-383
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• 2019

Targeting at simulating the application of thorium-uranium (TU) fuel in the CANDU-6 reactor, this paper analyzes the process using the code DRAGON/DONJON where the discrete TU fuel pins are applied in the CANDU-6 reactor under the time-average equilibrium refueling. The results show that the coolant void reactivity of the assembly analyzed in this paper is lower than that of 37-element bundle cell with natural uranium and 37-element bundle cell with mixed TU fuel pins; that the max time-average channel/bundle power of the core meets the limits - less than 6700kW/860 kW; that the fuel conversion ratio is higher than that of the CANDU-6 reactor with natural uranium; and that the exit burnup increases to 13400 MWd/tU. Thus, the simulation in this paper with the fuel in the 37-element bundle cell using discrete TU fuel pins can be considered to be applied in CANDU-6 reactor with adequate modifications of the core structure and operating modes.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.530-545
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• 2020

This paper reviews and summarizes the fuel-cell-related studies those have been recently published in major Korean Citation Index journals, aiming at analyzing the research trend in fuel cell technologies. Six major journals are selected for the literature survey; 57 papers are chosen for the detailed analysis through a screening examination on the total 1,040 papers published during between 2018 and 2020. Papers are classified into six technical categories, such as i) electrode, ii) electrolyte, iii) bipolar plate and stack, iv) fuel cell system, v) balance of plant, and vi) diagnosis-related studies, and summarized by the experts in the relevant area. Through this paper, we provide a comprehensive review on the recent trends and progress in fuel-cell-related research work in Korea.

• 한국전기화학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.06a
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• pp.65-70
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• 2004

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.135-140
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• 2022

In addition to the stack that directly generates electricity by the reaction of hydrogen and oxygen, the fuel cell power generation system has a reformer that generates hydrogen from various fuels such as methanol and natural gas. It also consists of a power converter that converts the DC voltage generated in the stack into a stable AC voltage. The fuel cell output of such a system is direct current, and in order to be used at home, an inverter device that converts it into alternating current through a power converter is required. In addition, a DC-DC step-up converter is used to boost the fuel cell voltage to about 30~70V, which is the inverter operating voltage, to about 380V. The DC-DC step-up converter is a DC voltage variable device that exists between the fuel cell output and the inverter. Accordingly, since a constant output voltage of the converter is generated in response to a change in the output voltage of the fuel cell, the inverter can receive constant power regardless of the voltage change of the fuel cell. Therefore, in this paper, we discuss the detailed hardware design of the full-bridge converter, which is the main power source of the inverter that receives the fuel cell output voltage (30~70V) as an input and is applied to the grid among the members of the fuel cell power generation system.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.23-31
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• 2004

For the fabrication of high efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst of oxygen electrode for PEM URFC (Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Unitized Regenerative Fuel Cell), which is a promising energy storage and conversion system using hydrogen as the energy medium, several bifunctional electrocatalysts were prepared and tested in a single cell URFC system. The catalysts for oxygen electrode revealed fuel cell performance in the order of Pt black > PtIr > PtRuOx > PtRu ~ PtRuIr > PtIrOx, whereas water electrolysis performance in the order of PtIr ~ PtIrOx > PtRu > PtRuIr > PtRuOx ~ Pt black. Considering both reaction modes PtIr was the most effective elctrocatalyst for oxygen electrode of present PEM URFC system. In addition, the water electrolysis performance was significantly improved when Ir or IrOx was added to Pt black just 1 wt.% without the decrease of fuel cell performance. Based on the catalyst screening and the optimization of catalyst composition and loading, the optimum catalyst electrodes for PEM URFC were $1.0mg/cm^2$ of Pt black as hydrogen electrode and $2.0mg/cm^2$ of PtIr (99:1) as oxygen electrode.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.33-36
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• 2007

Currently, many structured catalysts using microchannel are researched to apply to fuel reforming. In this paper, ceramic monolith and metal mesh as structured catalysts are investigated for catalytic autothermal reforming. When GHSV increases, each structured catalyst has better performances(hydrogen production, fuel conversion) than packed bed catalyst for autothermal reforming. The major causes seem to be the elevated heat and mass transfer, gas phase reaction and redistribution of packed bed due to high pressure drop.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.97.1-97.1
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• 2011

Dimethyl ether (DME) is an attractive fuel as a hydrogen carrier for mobile PEMFC applications. However, its reforming technologies are rarely studied especially by using autothermal reforming (ATR) method. This work explored the impact of operating conditions to the performance of DME ATR. Temperature, Steam to carbon ratio(SCR), Oxygen to carbon ratio(OCR) and Gas hourly space velocity(GHSV) were considered as the operating conditions. As results, conversion efficiency was increased as the temperature increased, but saturated around $700^{\circ}C$. There was no significant effect of SCR on conversion efficiency, but high SCR led reactions in endothermic manner. High OCR substantially suppressed conversion efficiency, but it helped to sustain the temperature by stimulating exothermic reactions. Conversion efficiency was decreased as GHSV increased. The optimized operating conditions was suggested: $700^{\circ}C$, SCR of 1.5, OCR of 0.45 and GHSV below 15000/h and conversion efficiency was ~85% at the conditions.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.315-322
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• 2015

The research carried out on thorium-based fuels indicates that these fuels can be considered as economic alternatives with improved physical properties and proliferation resistance issues. In the current study, neutronic assessment of $UO_2$ in comparison with two $(Th-^{233}U)O_2$, and $(Th-^{235}U)O_2$ thorium-based fuel loads in a heavy water research reactor has been proposed. The obtained computational data showed both thorium-based fuels caused less negative temperature reactivity coefficients for the modeled research reactor in comparison with $UO_2$ fuel loading. By contrast, $^{235}U$-containing thorium-based fuel and $^{235}U$-containing thorium-based fuel loadings in the thermal core did not drastically reduce the effective delayed neutron fractions and delayed neutron fractions compared to $UO_2$ fuel. A provided higher conversion factor and lower transuranic production in the research core fed by the thorium-based fuels make the fuel favorable in achieving higher cycle length and less dangerous and costly nuclear disposals.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.356-363
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• 2005

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the optimal condition of the Syngas production by reforming of fuel using plasmatron. Plasma was generated by air and arc discharge. The effects of applied steam, $CO_2$ or Ni-catalyst on fuel conversion, as well as hydrogen yield and $H_2$/CO ratio were studied. When the variations of $O_2$/fuel ratio, $H_2O$/fuel flow ratio and $CO_2$/fuel flow ratio were $0.94{\sim}1.48$, $4.3{\sim}10$ and $0.8{\sim}3.05$, respectively. Under the condition mentioned above, result of $H_2O$/fuel flow ratio was maximum $H_2$ concentration, or $28.2{\sim}31.6%$, and result of $H_2O$/fuel flow ratio with catalyst was minimum CO concentration or $6.6{\sim}7.1%$. and $H_2$/CO ratio were $3.89{\sim}4.86$.