• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제44권5호
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• pp.453-458
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• 2012

A major issue for all nuclear stakeholders is to keep the probability of circumstances that could lead to core damage as low as possible. In addition, for NPP, appropriate accident management provisions are to be implemented to limit the consequences associated with an accident. Development and application of L2 PSA is a structured way to demonstrate that such objectives are achieved. The paper presents the efforts recently done in Europe to harmonize some best-practices in that field, from research area to risk assessment. The Fukushima Daiichi accident reiterated the importance of these activities and the need to efficiently reinforce the NPP safety based on risk assessment conclusions. New perspectives in Europe are briefly presented.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제52권5호
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• pp.975-983
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• 2020

Since the Fukushima Daiichi accident in 2011, concerns for the safety of multi-unit Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) sites have risen. This is because more than 70% of NPP sites are multi-unit sites that have two or more NPP units and a multi-unit accident occurred for the first time. After this accident, Probability Safety Assessment (PSA) has been considered in many countries as one of the tools to quantitatively assess the safety for multi-unit NPP sites. One of the biggest concerns for a multi-unit accident such as Fukushima is that the consequences (health and economic) will be significantly higher than in the case of a single-unit accident. However, many studies on multi-unit PSA have focused on Level 1 & 2 PSA, and there are many challenges in terms of public acceptance due to various speculations without an engineering background. In this study, two kinds of multi-unit Level 3 PSA for multi-unit site have been carried out. The first case was the estimation of multi-unit risk with conservative assumptions to investigate the margin between multi-unit risk and QHO, and the other was to identify the effect of time delays in releases between NPP units on the same site. Through these two kinds of assessments, we aimed at investigating the level of multi-unit risk and understanding the characteristics of risk in a multiunit context.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제41권2호
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• pp.133-140
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• 2016

Backgrounds: The accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), March 2011, caused serious radioactive contamination over wide area in east Japan. Therefore, it is important to know the effect of the accident and the status of NPP. Materials and Methods: This paper provides a review on the status of radiation dose and radioactive contamination caused by the accident on the basis of publicized information. Results and Discussion: Monitoring of radiation dose and exposure dose of residents has been conducted extensively by the governments and various organizations. The effective dose of general residents due to the accident proved to be less than a mSv both for external and internal dose. The equivalent committed dose of thyroid was evaluated to be a few mSv in mean value and less than 50 mSv even for children. Monitoring of radioactivity concentration has been carried out on food ingredients, milk and tap water, and actual meal. These studies indicated the percentage of foods above the regulation standard was over 10% in 2011 but decreasing steadily with time. The internal dose due to foods proved to be tens of ${\mu}Sv$ and much less than that due to natural $^{40}K$ even in the Fukushima area and decreasing steadily, although high level concentration is still observed in wild plants, wild mushrooms, animals and some kind of fishes. Conclusion: According to extensive studies, not only the effect of the accident but also the pathway and countermeasures against radioactive contamination have been revealed, and they are applied very effectively for restoration of environment and reconstruction of the area.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제44권5호
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• pp.437-452
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• 2012

The Tohoku earthquake (Mw9.0) occurred on March 11, 2011 and caused a large tsunami. The Fukushima Dai-ichi NPP (F1-NPP) were overwhelmed by the tsunami and core damage occurred. This paper describes the overview of F1-NPP accident and the usability of tsunami PRA at Tohoku earthquake. The paper makes reference to the following current issues: influence on seismic hazard of gigantic aftershocks and triggered earthquakes, concepts for evaluating core damage frequency considering common cause failure with correlation coefficient against seismic event at multi units and sites, and concepts of "seismic-tsunami PSA" considering a combination of seismic motion and tsunami effects.

• 사물인터넷융복합논문지
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• 제6권1호
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• pp.73-81
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• 2020

클라우드 컴퓨팅을 사용하는 사물 인터넷 (IoT)은 원자력 발전소 사고가 안전성 평가를 위해 분석되는 원자력 산업에 적용된다. 후쿠시마 원자력 발전소 사고는 지진으로 인한 플랜트 고장 사고가 클라우드 컴퓨팅 기술 분석에 사용되는 사고 시뮬레이션을 위해 모델링되었습니다. 후쿠시마의 경우 자연 재해에 대한 빠르고 합리적인 치료가 필요했다. 실시간 안전 평가 (RTSA)와 몬테카를로 실시간 평가 (MCRTA)가 구성된다. 이 클라우드 컴퓨팅은 미래의 유사한 사고에 대비할 수있는 실용적인 방법을 제공 할 수 있습니다.

• 환경생물
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• 제29권4호
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• pp.373-378
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• 2011

Our aim was to investigate the genotoxicity of ambient air in the Krak$\acute{o}$w area after Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) accident and compare with results from Chernobyl fallout. For the detection of ambient air genotoxicity the technique for screening gene mutation frequency in somatic cells of the $Tradescantia$ stamen hairs ($Trad$-SH assay) was used. Since 11th of March 2011 (Fukushima NPP accident), several pots containing at least 15 shoots of bioindicating plants were exposed to ambient air at 2 sites in the Krak$\acute{o}$w surrounding area, one in the city center, and about 100 pots in a control site (in the glasshouse of the Institute of Nuclear Physics) Continuous screening of mutations was performed. Progenies of 371,090 cells exposed were analyzed. Mutation frequency obtained in the first 10 days has shown a mean control level (GMF*100=$0.06{\pm}0.01$). At scoring period related to influence of a potential Fukushima fallout, a significant increase of gene mutation frequencies above the control level was observed at each site in the range, 0.10~0.33 depending on the location, (mean value for all sites GMF*100=$0.19{\pm}0.05$) that was associated with a strong expression of toxic effects. In the reported studies following the Chernobyl NPP accident monitoring $in$ $situ$ of the ambient air genotoxicity was performed in the period since April $29^{th}$ till June $3^{rd}$ 1986 also with Trad-SH bioindicator. In general, mutation frequency increases due to Chernobyl fallout(GMF*100=$0.43{\pm}0.02$) were corresponding to fluctuation of radioactivity in the air reported from physical measures, and to published reports about increase in chromosome aberration levels. Although, recent data obtained from monitoring of the ambient air quality in the Krak$\acute{o}$w and surroundings are lower when compared to results reported after Chernobyl NPP accident, though results express a significant increase above the control level and also are corresponding with increased air radioactivity reported from physical measurements. Statistically significant in comparison to control increase in gene mutation rates and more prolonged than that after Chernobyl fallout increase of GMF was observed during the period following the Fukushima NPP failure.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제50권8호
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• pp.1199-1209
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• 2018

After the Fukushima-Daiichi accident in 2011, the multi-unit risk, i.e., the risk due to several nuclear power plants (NPPs) in a site has become an important issue in several countries such as Korea, Canada, and China. However, the multi-unit risk has been discussed for a long time in the nuclear community before the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear accident occurred. The regulatory authorities around the world and the international organizations had proposed requirements or guidelines to reduce the multi-unit risk. The concerns regarding the multi-unit risk can be summarized in the following three questions: How much the accident of an NPP in a site affects the safety of other NPPs in the same site? What is the total risk of a site with many NPPs? Will the risk of the simultaneous accidents at several NPPs in a site such as the Fukushima Daiichi accident be low enough? The multi-unit risk assessment (MURA) in an integrated framework is a practical approach to obtain the answers for the above questions. Even though there were few studies to assess the multi-unit risk before the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear accident, there are still several issues to be resolved to perform the complete MURA. This article aims to provide an overview of the multi-unit risk issues and its assessment. We discuss the several critical issues in the current MURA to get useful insights regarding the multi-unit risk with the current state art of probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) technologies. Also, the qualitative answers for the above questions are addressed.

• 해양환경안전학회지
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• 제27권5호
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• pp.618-629
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• 2021

2011년 동일본대지진에 의해 발생한 후쿠시마 원자력 발전소 사고와 최근 국내 지진 발생 빈도의 증가는 원자력 발전소의 지진 안전성에 대한 불안감을 야기하였다. 더불어 최근(2021년) 일본 동경전력은 후쿠시마 원전 오염수의 태평양 방류를 결정하였으며, 이로 인해 국내외 수산물을 통한 방사능 오염 가능성이 높아지면서 국민들의 우려가 급증하고 있다. 후쿠시마 원전사고 이후 해양으로의 인공방사능 유입에 관한 연구는 국제적으로 많이 이루어졌으나, 한국인의 주요 식재료인 동아시아 연근해의 수산물에서 인공방사능의 분포 현황 및 축적에 대한 연구는 상대적으로 부족한 실정이다. 따라서 이 논문에서는 후쿠시마 원전사고 이후, 국내산 수산물에서의 원전 기원 인공방사능(예, ¹³⁷Cs, ^239+240Pu, ⁹⁰Sr 등)의 분포 특성과 관련한 최근 연구 사례들을 소개하고자 한다. 또한, 후쿠시마 원전오염수의 방류와 더불어 2030년까지 계획된 중국의 신규 원전 시설로 인한 향후 한반도 주변해역의 방사능 유출 영향에 대한 대비 및 사전 연구가 필요한 시점이기에 향후 연구 방향들을 제안하고자 한다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제47권1호
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• pp.1-10
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• 2015

After the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (NPP) accident, new regulatory requirements were enforced in July 2013 and a backfit was required for all existing nuclear power plants. It is required to take measures to prevent severe accidents and mitigate their radiological consequences. The Regulatory Standard and Research Department, Secretariat of Nuclear Regulation Authority (S/NRA/R) has been conducting numerical studies and experimental studies on relevant severe accident phenomena and countermeasures. This article highlights fission product (FP) release and hydrogen risk as two major areas. Relevant activities in the S/NRA/R are briefly introduced, as follows: 1. For FP release: Identifying the source terms and leak mechanisms is a key issue from the viewpoint of understanding the progression of accident phenomena and planning effective countermeasures that take into account vulnerabilities of containment under severe accident conditions. To resolve these issues, the activities focus on wet well venting, pool scrubbing, iodine chemistry (in-vessel and ex-vessel), containment failure mode, and treatment of radioactive liquid effluent. 2. For hydrogen risk: because of three incidents of hydrogen explosion in reactor buildings, a comprehensive reinforcement of the hydrogen risk management has been a high priority topic. Therefore, the activities in evaluation methods focus on hydrogen generation, hydrogen distribution, and hydrogen combustion.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제45권5호
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• pp.597-604
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• 2013

Containment Filtered Vent Systems (CFVSs) have been mainly equipped in nuclear power plants in Europe and Canada for the controlled depressurization of the containment atmosphere under severe accident conditions. This is to keep the containment integrity against overpressure during the course of a severe accident, in which the radioactive gas-steam mixture from the containment is discharged into a system designed to remove the radionuclides. In Korea, a CFVS was first introduced in the Wolsong unit-1 nuclear power plant as a mitigation measure to deal with the threat of over pressurization, following post-Fukushima action items. In this paper, the overall features of a CFVS installation such as risk assessments, an evaluation of the performance requirements, and a determination of the optimal operating strategies are analyzed for the Wolsong unit 1 nuclear power plant using a severe accident analysis computer code, ISAAC.