• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.119-126
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• 2022

This study provides technical information about the nuclear fuel handling process, which consists of various subprocesses starting from new fuel receipt to spent fuel shipment at a nuclear power plant and the design requirements of fuel handling equipment. The fuel handling system is an integrated system of equipment, tools, and procedures that allow refueling, handling and storage of fuel assemblies, which comprise the fuel handling process. The understanding and reaffirming of detailed code requirements are requested for application to the design of the fuel handling and storage facility. We reviewed the design requirements of the fuel handling equipment for its adequate cooling, prevention of criticality, its operability and maintainability, and for the prevention of fuel damage and radiological release. Furthermore, we discussed additional technical issues related to upgrading the current code requirements based on the modification of the fuel handling equipment. The suggested information provided in this paper would be beneficial to enhance the safety and the reliability of the fuel handling equipment during the handling of new and spent fuel.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.08a
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• pp.363-366
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• 2004

KAERI is developing the Advanced Spent Fuel Conditioning Process (ACP) as a pre-disposal treatment process for spent fuel. In this process, the management process must operate in intense radiation fields as well as in a high temperature. Therefore, remote maintenance has played a significant role in this process. Hence suitable remote handling and maintenance technology needs to be developed along with the design of the process concepts. To do this, we developed the digital mockup for the ACP. The digital mockup provides the capability of verifying the remote operability of the process without 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 digital mockup. Through utilizing this graphic simulation in this digital mockup, general guidelines can be established for designing equipment intended for remote handling and maintenance. Also, the designer of the equipment that must be remotely maintained should ensure that there is adequate access to the process equipment. The graphic simulator will substantially reduce the cost of the develo363pment of the remote handling and maintenance procedure as well as the process equipment.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2004.02a
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• pp.205-219
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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. The ACP equipment operates in intense radiation fields as well as in a high temperature. Thus, the equipment should be designed in consideration of the remote handling and maintenance. As well as suitable remote handling and maintenance technology needs to be developed along with the design of the process concepts. To develop such remote operation technology, we developed the graphic simulator which provides the capability of verifying the remote operability of the ACP without 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.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.1354-1358
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• 2003

The process equipment for handling high level radioactive materials like spent fuels is operated in a hot cell, due to high radioactivity. Thus, this equipment should be maintained and repaired optimally by a remotely operated manipulator. The master-slave manipulators(MSM) are widely used as a remote handling device in the hot cell. The equipment in the hot cell should be optimally placed within the workspace of the wall-mounted slave manipulator for the maintenance operation. But, because of the complexity in the hot cell, there would be some parts of the equipment that are not reached by the MSM. In this study, the maintenance process for these parts of the equipment is developed using virtual prototyping technology. To analyze the workspace of the maintenance device in the hot cell and to develop the maintenance processes for the process equipment, the virtual mock-up of the hot cell for the spent fuel handling process is implemented using IGRIP. For the implementation of the virtual mock-up, the parts of the equipment and maintenance devices such as the MSM and servo manipulator are modeled and assembled in 3-D graphics, and the appropriate kinematics are assigned. Also, the virtual workcell of the spent fuel management process is implemented in the graphical environment, which is the same as the real environment. Using this mock-up, the workspace of the manipulators in the hot cell and the operator's view through the wall-mounted lead glass are analyzed. Also, for the dedicated maintenance operation, the analyses for the detailed area of the end effectors in accordance with the slave manipulator's position and orientation are carried out. The parts of the equipment that are located outside of the MSM's workspace are specified and the maintenance process of the parts using the servo manipulator that is mounted in the hot cell is proposed. To monitor the process in the hot cell remotely, the virtual display system by a virtual camera in the virtual work cell is also proposed. And the graphic simulation using a virtual mock-up is performed to verify the proposed maintenance process. The maintenance process proposed in this study can be effectively used in the real hot cell operation and the implemented virtual mock-up can be used for analyzing the various hot cell operations and enhancing the reliability and safety of the spent fuel 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.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.1319-1322
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• 2003

KAERI is developing the Advanced Spent Fuel Conditioning Process (ACP) as a pre-disposal treatment process for spent fuel. Equipment used for such a spent fuel recycling and management process must operate in intense radiation fields as well as in a high temperature. Therefore, remote maintenance has a played a significant role in this process because of combined chemical and radiological contamination. Hence suitable remote handling and maintenance technology needs to be developed along with the design of the process concepts. To do this, we developed the graphic simulator for the ACP. The graphic simulator provides the capability of verifying the remote operability of the process without 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 a 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 producing a process and a remote maintenance concept that is more reliable, easier to implement, and easier to understand.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2003.06a
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• pp.1438-1441
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• 2003

The project for "Development of Advanced Spent Fuel Management Technology" has a plan of a demonstration for the Advanced Management Process in the hot cell of IMEF. The Advanced Management Process are being developed for efficient and safe management of spent fuels. For the demonstration, several devices which are used to safely transport and handle nuclear materials without scattering have been derived by analyzing the Advanced Management Process, object nuclear material and modules of process equipment and performing graphical simulation of transportation/handling by computers. For verification, powder transportation vessel and handling device have been designed and manufactured. And several tests such as transporting, grappling, rotating the vessel have been performed. Also, the design requirements of transportation/handling equipment have been analyzed based on test results and process studies. The developed design requirements in this research will be used as the design data for the Advanced Management Process.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2001.04a
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• pp.760-763
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• 2001

In this study, the graphical design system is developed and the digital mock-up is implemented for designing the spent fuel handling and disassembling processes. This system is used throughout the design stages from the conceptual design to the motion analysis. By using this system, all the processes involved in the spent fuel handling and disassembling precesses are analyzed and optimized. Also, this system is used in developing the on-line graphic simulator to enhance the reliability and safety of the spent fuel handling process by providing the remote monitoring function of the process. The graphical design system and the digital mock-up system can be effectively used for designing the process equipment, as well as the optimization of the main processes and maintenance processes of the spent fuel management.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1991.10a
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• pp.911-916
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• 1991

Spent nuclear fuel is highly radioactive and requires remote operation due to radiation exposure. Motors which have been used in the highly radioactive environments are a DC type because of their easy implementation on control system. However there are some problems such as mechanical maintenance of brush and commutator, high cost, and heavy material control. AC servo motors are applied and tested on fuzzy and conventional control algorithms. Fuzzy logic controls of AC servo give adequate control accuracy and power for spent fuel handling in radioactive environments.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2005.10b
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• pp.225-227
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• 2005

The in-core neutron Flux Mapping System in a pressurized water reactor yields information on the neutron flux distribution in the reactor core at selected core locations by means of movable detectors. The obtained data are used to verify the reactor core design parameters. The detector cables run through guide tubes(thimbles), and typically thirty-six to fifty-eight thimbles are allocated in the reactor depending on the number of fuel assemblies. These thimbles are inserted into nuclear fuel assemblies through conduits connected from the bottom of the reactor vessel to a seal table. During the plant refueling outage period, the thimbles are withdrawn up to 4m from the seal table, the height of a nuclear fuel. In spite of their importance, however, the thimble handling work has been performed by only human operators. In addition, its efficiency is very low due to narrow working environments on the seal table, thereby resulting in the excessive radiation exposure of maintenance personnel. To solve these problems, a new thimble handling equipment for in-core flux mapping system was developed, and we confirmed its effectiveness through experiments.