• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.327-362
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• 2005

The design, construction, and operation of a light water reactor (LWR) are subject to compliance with safety criteria specified for accident situations, such as loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) and reactivity-initiated accident (RIA). Because reactor fuel is the primary source of radioactivity and heat generation, such a criterion is established on the basis of the characteristics and performance of fuel under the specific accident condition. As such, fuel behavior under accident situations impact many aspects of fuel design and power generation, and in an indirect manner, even spent fuel storage and management. This paper provides a comprehensive review of: the history of the current LOCA criteria, results of LOCA-related investigations on conventional and new classes of fuel, and status of on-going studies on high-burnup fuel under LOCA situations. The objective of the paper is to provide a better understanding of important issues and an insight helpful to establish new LOCA criteria for modem LWR fuels.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.229-238
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• 2007

In this paper, structural design requirements and safety evaluation criteria of the spent nuclear fuel disposal canister are studied for deep geological deposition. Since the spent nuclear fuel disposal canister emits high temperature heats and much radiation, its careful treatment is required. For that, a long term(usually 10,000 years) safe repository for the spent nuclear fuel disposal canister should be secured. Usually this repository is expected to locate at a depth of 500m underground. The canister which is designed for the spent nuclear fuel disposal in a deep repository in the crystalline bedrock is a solid structure with cast iron insert, corrosion resistant overpack and lid and bottom, and entails an evenly distributed load of hydrostatic pressure from underground water and high pressure from swelling of bentonite buffer. Hence, the canister must be designed to withstand these high pressure loads. If the canister is not designed for all possible external loads combinations, structural defects such as plastic deformations, cracks, and buckling etc. may occur in the canister during depositing it in the deep repository. Therefore, various structural analyses must be performed to predict these structural problems like plastic deformations, cracks, and buckling. Structural safety evaluation criteria of the canister are studied and defined for the validity of the canister design prior to the structural analysis of the canister. And structural design requirements(variables) which affect the structural safety evaluation criteria should be discussed and defined clearly. Hence this paper presents the structural design requirements(variables) and safety evaluation criteria of the spent nuclear fuel disposal canister.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.57-69
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• 1983

The LWR fuel performance analysis computer code, FRAPCON-1, are evaluated to investigate the performance of CANDU fuel elements loaded in Wolsung-1 reactor. The FRAPCON-1 models of neutron flux depression in fuel and of fuel-to-cladding heat transfer are modified, and the validity of fission gas release model for CANDU fuel is evaluated. And the heavy water properties are provided in calculating the heat transfer coefficient between cladding and coolant. By using the modified code, FRAPCON-1-CSK, the sensitivity studies are carried out for Wolsung-1 fuel element design parameters. The performance analysis is also performed for Wolsung-l fuel elements. The calculated results are discussed in terms of. LWR fuel design criteria because of unavailability of CANDU fuel design criteria.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.8
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• pp.3085-3094
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• 2022

The design concept of a Small High-flux Multipurpose LBE(Lead Bismuth Eutectic) cooled Fast Reactor (SHMLFR) was proposed in the paper. The primary cooling system of the reactor is forced circulation, and the fuel element form is arc-plate loaded high enrichment MOX fuel. The core is cylindrical with a flux trap set in the center of the core, which can be used as an irradiation channel. According to the requirements of the core physical design, a series of physical design criteria and constraints were given, and the steady and transient parameters of the reactor were calculated and analyzed. Regarding the thermal and hydraulic phenomena of the reactor, a simplified model was used to conduct a preliminary analysis of the fuel plates at special positions, and the temperature field distribution of the fuel plate with the highest power density under different coolant flow rates was simulated. The results show that the various parameters of SHMLFR meet the requirements and design criteria of the physical design of the core and the thermal design of the reactor. This implies that the conceptual design of SHMLFR is feasible.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.440-451
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• 1996

With emphasis on safety, this study addresses for better design condition for the cooling system in a wet-type interim spent fuel storage facility, using a probabilistic safety assessment method. To incorporate the design renovation into the design phase, a simple approach is proposed. By taking the cooling system of a reference design, a fault tree analysis was performed to identify the weak point of the considered system, and then basic factors for design renovation were defined. A total of 21 design alternatives were selected through the combination of the basic factors. Finally, the optimum design alternative for the cooling system is derived by means of the cost and effect analysis based on the estimated cost, system reliability and assumed probabilistic safety criteria. With the assumption that the failure frequency of at-reactor spent fuel cooling system compiles with probabilistic safety criteria for the interim spent fuel cooling system, it was shown that the optimum alternative should have l00% cooling loop redundancy with one pump per cooling loop and a cleanup system installed separately from the main loop. Furthermore, it also should be classified into safety system. The result of this study can be used as a useful basis to identify factors of safety concern and to establish design requirements in the future. The method also can be applied for other nuclear facilities.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.356-368
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• 2003

Material properties such as coolant specific heat, film heat transfer coefficient, cladding thermal conductivity, surface diffusion coefficient of the multi-bubble are improved in MACSIS-Mod1. The axial power and flux profile module was also incorporated with irradiation history. The performance and feasibility of the updated driver fuel pin have been analyzed for nominal parameters based on the conceptual design for the KALIMER breakeven core by MACSIS-MOD1 code. The fuel slug centerline temperature takes the maximum at 700mm from the bottom of the slug in spite of the nearly symmetric axial power distribution. The cladding mid-wall and coolant temperatures take the maximum at the top of the pin. Temperature of the fuel slug surface over the entire irradiation life is much lower than the fuel-clad eutectic reaction temperature. The fission gas release of the driver fuel pin at the end of life is predicted to be $68.61\%$ and plenum pressure is too low to cause cladding yielding. The probability that the fuel pin would fail is estimated to be much less than that allowed in the design criteria. The maximum radial deformation of the fuel pin is $1.93\%$, satisfying the preliminary design criterion ($3\%$) for fuel pin deformation. Therefore the conceptual design parameters of the driver fuel pin for the KALIMER breakeven core are expected to satisfy the preliminary criteria on temperature, fluence limit, deformation limit etc.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.451-463
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• 2023

With South Korea increasingly focusing on nuclear energy, the management of spent nuclear fuel has attracted considerable attention in South Korea. This study established a novel procedure for selecting safety-relevant radionuclides for long-term safety assessments of a deep geological repository in South Korea. Statistical evaluations were performed to identify the design basis reference spent nuclear fuels and evaluate the source term for up to one million years. Safety-relevant radionuclides were determined based on the half-life criteria, the projected activities for the design basis reference spent nuclear fuel, and the annual limit of ingestion set by the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission Notification No. 2019-10 without considering their chemical and hydrogeological properties. The proposed process was used to select 56 radionuclides, comprising 27 fission and activation products and 29 actinide nuclides. This study explains first the determination of the design basis reference spent nuclear fuels, followed by a comprehensive discussion on the selection criteria and methodology for safety-relevant radionuclides.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.273-286
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• 1998

As there has arisen a concern that failure of the high burnup fuel under the reactivity-insertion accident(RIA) may occur at the energy lower than the expected, fuel behavior under the rod ejection accident in a typical Westinghouse-designed 950 MWe PWR was analyzed by using the three dimensional nodal transient neutronics code, PANBOX2 and the transient fuel rod performance analysis code, FRAP-T6. Fuel failure criteria versus the burnup was conservatively derived taking into account available test data and the possible fuel failure mechanisms. The high burnup and longer cycle length fuel loading scheme of a peak rod turnup of 68 MWD/kgU was selected for the analysis. Except three dimensional core neutronics calculation, the analysis used the same core conditions and assumptions as the conventional zero dimensional analysis. Results of three dimensional analysis showed that the peak fuel enthalpy during the rod ejection accident is less than one third of that calculated by the conventional zero dimensional analysis methodology and the fraction of fuel failure in the core is less than 4 %. Therefore, it can be said that the current design limit of less than 10 percent fuel failure and maintaining the core coolable geometry would be adequately satisfied under the rod ejection accident, even though the conservative fuel failure criteria derived from the test data are applied.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.135-147
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• 2020

A methodology for evaluation of mechanical and thermal effects of localized non-axisymmetric oxidation in zircaloy claddings on LWR fuel reliability is proposed. To this end, the basic capabilities of the FALCON fuel behaviour code are used. Examples of methodology application to adjustment of selected operational limits for modern BWR fuel rods, to capture effects of the excess local oxidation, are presented. Specifically, the limiting rod internal pressure for the onset of cladding lift-off is reduced, depending on initial excess oxidation spot sizes. Also, the power limits for Anticipated Operational Occurrences are adjusted, to preclude fuel melting and cladding failure due to PCMI and PCI-SCC in the affected fuel rods.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.899-906
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• 2018

The irradiation performance of $U_3Si$ dispersion fuel in an Al matrix, $U_3Si-Al$, under the Hi-Flux Advanced Neutron Application Reactor (HANARO) design full-power condition of 30 MW was tested for full-power qualification of the fuel. A test assembly was fabricated containing 18 fuel rods made with atomized $U_3Si$ powder manufactured at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. The test assembly was irradiated for 188 full-power operation days in the HANARO subject to the normal fuel-loading scheme and achieved about 60 at% U-235 average burnup and 75 at% U-235 peak burnup. The maximum linear power of the test assembly was 98 kW/m. Nondestructive and destructive postirradiation examinations were conducted. The measured postirradiation examination data were compared with data from previous irradiations and the design criteria required for HANARO fuel. Consequently, it was concluded that in-pile performance was acceptable and fuel integrity was maintained, and the behavior satisfied the fuel design requirements.