• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2011.10a
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• pp.541-541
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• 2011

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.231-236
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• 2011

When the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident occurred in March of 2011, a hydrogen explosion in the reactor building at the 4th unit of Fukushima plants led to a big surprise because the full core of the unit 4 reactor had been moved and stored underwater at the spent nuclear fuel storage pool for periodic maintenance. It was because the possible criticality in the fuel storage pool by coolant loss may yield more severe situation than the similar accident happened inside the reactor vessel. Fortunately, it was assured to be evitable to an anxious situation by a look of water filled in the storage pool later. In the paper, the safety state of the spent fuel storage pool and rack structures of the domestic nuclear plants would be roughly reviewed and compared with the Fukushima plant case by engineering viewpoint of potential severe accidents.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.222-235
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• 2019

Since Fukushima nuclear disaster occurred in 2011, the nuclear energy policy of the international society has been in recession. However, In Korea, the nuclear-friendly policy had remained and even expanded over the last 60 years until the Park Geun-hye government. In other words, there was the path dependence of nuclear energy policy. Since the Moon Jae-in government that pledged to perform nuclear phase-out policy in 2017 was inaugurated, the nuclear-friendly policy began to swerve from the course of path dependence. Based on the mai logic of historical institutionalism, this study looked into the change of Korean nuclear policy by before and after the Fukushima nuclear accident. As the result of this research, the external situation of Fukushima Nuclear Accident became a critical turning point and led to a change in the government's policy on nuclear power. From an institutional perspective, it influenced the paradigm of nuclear power policy, policy decision structure, and laws of nuclear power. From a doer's perspective, it influenced political idea and social acceptability. Since Moon Jae-in government was inaugurated in 2017, nuclear phase-out policy has secured its institutional foundation and nuclear power policy has basically changed from nuclear-friendly policy to nuclear phase-out policy. Therefore, the energy policy of Moon Jae-in government gets out of the nuclear power based path dependency that previous governments pursued, keeps punctuated equilibrium, and changes to renewable energy oriented policy.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2018.05a
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• pp.357-358
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• 2018

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.2-10
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• 2020

Background: Huge amounts of radionuclides were released into the environment due to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident, which caused not only serious contamination on the ground, but also radiation exposure to the public. One problem that remains in performing the dose estimation is the difficulty of estimating the internal thyroid dose due to the intake of radioiodine (mainly, ¹³¹I) because of limitations to the human data available. Materials and Methods: The relevant papers were collected and reviewed by the authors. The results of thyroid dose estimates from different studies were tabulated for comparison. Results and Discussion: The thyroid dose estimates from the studies varied widely. The dose estimates by the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation were higher than the others due to the ingestion dose being based on conservative assumptions. The dose estimates by Japanese experts were mostly below 20-30 mSv. The recent studies suggested that exposure on March 12, 2011 would be crucial for late evacuees from the areas near the FD-NPP because of the possible intake of short-lived radionuclides other than ¹³¹I. Further multilateral studies are vital to reduce uncertainties in the present dose estimations. Conclusion: The estimation of the thyroid doses to Fukushima residents still has many uncertainties. However, it is considered unlikely that the thyroid doses exceeded 50 mSv except in some extreme cases. Further multilateral studies are thus necessary to reduce the uncertainties in the present dose estimations.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.77-85
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• 2022

Background: After the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS) accident, a model was developed to estimate the external exposure doses for residents who were expected to return to their homes after evacuation orders were lifted. However, the model's accuracy and uncertainties in parameters used to estimate external doses have not been evaluated. Materials and Methods: The model estimates effective doses based on the integrated ambient dose equivalent (H^*(10)) and life patterns, considering a dose reduction factor to estimate the indoor H^*(10) and a conversion factor from H^*(10) to the effective dose. Because personal dose equivalent (H_p(10)) has been reported to agree well with the effective dose after the FDNPS accident, this study validates the model's accuracy by comparing the estimated effective doses with H_p(10). The H_p(10) and life pattern data were collected for 36 adult participants who lived or worked near the FDNPS in 2019. Results and Discussion: The estimated effective doses correlated significantly with H_p(10); however, the estimated effective doses were lower than H_p(10) for indoor sites. A comparison with the measured indoor H^*(10) showed that the estimated indoor H^*(10) was not underestimated. However, the H_p(10) to H^*(10) ratio indoors, which corresponds to the practical conversion factor from H^*(10) to the effective dose, was significantly larger than the same ratio outdoors, meaning that the conversion factor of 0.6 is not appropriate for indoors due to the changes in irradiation geometry and gamma spectra. This could have led to a lower effective dose than H_p(10). Conclusion: The estimated effective doses correlated significantly with H_p(10), demonstrating the model's applicability for effective dose estimation. However, the lower value of the effective dose indoors could be because the conversion factor did not reflect the actual environment.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.44 no.5
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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.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.26-32
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• 2015

During the course of a severe accident in a light water nuclear reactor, large amounts of hydrogen can be generated and released into the containment during reactor core degradation. Additional burnable gases [hydrogen ($H_2$) and carbon monoxide (CO)] may be released into the containment in the corium/concrete interaction. This could subsequently raise a combustion hazard. As the Fukushima accidents revealed, hydrogen combustion can cause high pressure spikes that could challenge the reactor buildings and lead to failure of the surrounding buildings. To prevent the gas explosion hazard, most mitigation strategies adopted by European countries are based on the implementation of passive autocatalytic recombiners (PARs). Studies of representative accident sequences indicate that, despite the installation of PARs, it is difficult to prevent at all times and locations, the formation of a combustible mixture that potentially leads to local flame acceleration. Complementary research and development (R&D) projects were recently launched to understand better the phenomena associated with the combustion hazard and to address the issues highlighted after the Fukushima Daiichi events such as explosion hazard in the venting system and the potential flammable mixture migration into spaces beyond the primary containment. The expected results will be used to improve the modeling tools and methodology for hydrogen risk assessment and severe accident management guidelines. The present paper aims to present the methodology adopted by Institut de Radioprotection et de $S{\hat{u}}ret{\acute{e}}$ $Nucl{\acute{e}}aire$ to assess hydrogen risk in nuclear power plants, in particular French nuclear power plants, the open issues, and the ongoing R&D programs related to hydrogen distribution, mitigation, and combustion.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.393-404
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• 2012

After the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011, there has been increasing concern regarding severe accidents in nuclear facilities. Severe accident scenarios are difficult for operators to monitor and identify. Therefore, accurate prediction of a severe accident is important in order to manage it appropriately in the unfavorable conditions. In this study, artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, such as support vector classification (SVC), probabilistic neural network (PNN), group method of data handling (GMDH), and fuzzy neural network (FNN), were used to monitor the major transient scenarios of a severe accident caused by three different initiating events, the hot-leg loss of coolant accident (LOCA), the cold-leg LOCA, and the steam generator tube rupture in pressurized water reactors (PWRs). The SVC and PNN models were used for the event classification. The GMDH and FNN models were employed to accurately predict the important timing representing severe accident scenarios. In addition, in order to verify the proposed algorithm, data from a number of numerical simulations were required in order to train the AI techniques due to the shortage of real LOCA data. The data was acquired by performing simulations using the MAAP4 code. The prediction accuracy of the three types of initiating events was sufficiently high to predict severe accident scenarios. Therefore, the AI techniques can be applied successfully in the identification and monitoring of severe accident scenarios in real PWRs.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.115-147
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• 2023

The Fukushima accident in 2011 revealed some major flaws in traditional nuclear fuel materials under accidental conditions. Thus, the focus of research has shifted toward "accident tolerant fuel" (ATF). The aim of this approach is to develop fuel material solutions that lead to improved reactor safety. The application of protective coatings on the surface of nuclear fuel cladding has been proposed as a near-term solution within the ATF framework. Many coating materials are being developed and evaluated. In this article, an overview of different zirconium-based alloys currently in use in the nuclear industry is provided, and their performances in normal and accidental conditions are discussed. Coating materials proposed by different institutions and organizations, their performances under different conditions simulating nuclear reactor environments are reviewed. The strengths and weaknesses of these coatings are highlighted, and the challenges addressed by different studies are summarized, providing a basis for future research. Finally, technologies and methods used to synthesize thin-film coatings are outlined.