• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.69-76
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• 2006

TRISO(tri-isotropic)-coated fuel particle technology is utilized owing to its higher stability at a high temperature and Its efficient retention capability for fission products In the HTGR(high temperature gas-reeled reactor). The typical spherical TRISO fuel panicle with a diameter of about 1mm is composed of a nuclear fuel kernel and outer coating layers. The outer coating layers consist of a buffer PyC(pyrolytic carbon) layer, Inner PyC(1-PyC) layer, SiC layer, and outer PyC(O-PyC) layer Most of the Inspection Items for the TRTSO-coated fuel particle depend on destructive methods. The coating thickness of the TRISO fuel particle can be nondestructively measured by the X-ray radiography without generating radioactive wastel. In this study, the coaling thickness for the simulated TRISO-coated fuel particle with $ZrO_2$ kernel Instead of $%UO_2$ kernel was measured by using micro-focus X-ray radiography with micro-focus X-ray generator and flat panel detector The radiographic image was also enhanced by image processing technique to acquire clear boundary lines between coating layers. The coaling thickness wat effectively measured by applying the micro-focus X-ray radiography The inspection process for the TRISO-coated fuel particles will be improved by the developed micro-focus X-ray radiography and digital image processing technology.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.729-738
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• 2009

Given the evolution of High-Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor(HTGR) designs, the source terms for licensing must be developed. There are three potential source terms: fission products, actinides in the fuel and tritium in the coolant. It is necessary to provide first an inventory of the source terms under normal operations. An analysis of source terms has yet to be performed for HTGRs. The previous code, which can estimate the inventory of the source terms for LWRs, cannot be used for HTGRs because the general data of a typical neutron cross-section and flux has not been developed. Thus, this paper uses a combination of the MCNP, ORIGEN, and MONTETEBURNS codes for an estimation of the source terms. A method in which the HTR-10 core is constructed using the unit lattice of a body-centered cubic is developed for core modeling. Based on this modeling method by MCNP, the generation of fission products, actinides and tritium with an increase in the burnup ratio is simulated. The model developed by MCNP appears feasible through a comparison with models developed in previous studies. Continuous fuel management is divided into five periods for the feeding and discharging of fuel pebbles. This discrete fuel management scheme is employed using the MONTEBURNS code. Finally, the work is investigated for 22 isotope fission products of nuclides, 22 actinides in the core, and tritium in the coolant. The activities are mainly distributed within the range of $10^{15}{\sim}10^{17}$ Bq in the equilibrium core of HTR-10. The results appear to be highly probable, and they would be informative when the spent fuel of HTGRs is taken into account. The tritium inventory in the primary coolant is also taken into account without a helium purification system. This article can lay a foundation for future work on analyses of source terms as a platform for safety assessment in HTGRs.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.37-42
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• 2013

Tristructural-isotropic (TRISO)-coated particles were fabricated by a fluidized-bed chemical vapor deposition (FBCVD) method for use in a very high temperature gas-cooled reactor (VHTR). ZrC as a constituent layer of TRISO coating layers was deposited by a chloride process using $ZrCl_4$ and $CH_4$ source gases in a temperature range of $1400^{\circ}C$ and $1550^{\circ}C$. The change in the microstructure of ZrC depending on the deposition temperature and its effect on the hardness were evaluated. As the deposition temperature increased to $1500^{\circ}C$, the grain size of the ZrC increased and the hardness of the ZrC decreased according to the Hall-Petch relationship. However, at $1550^{\circ}C$, the ZrC layer was highly non-stoichiometric and carbon-rich and did not obey the Hall-Petch relationship in spite of the decrease of the grain size. A considerable amount of pyrolytic carbon at the grain boundaries of the ZrC as well as coarse granular pyrolytic carbon were locally distributed in the ZrC layer deposited at $1550^{\circ}C$. Therefore, the hardness decreased largely due to the formation of a large amount of pyrolytic carbon in the ZrC layer.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.7
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• pp.1571-1578
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• 2020

As a critical material in very/high-temperature gas-cooled reactors, graphite material directly affects the safety of the reactor core structures. Owing to the complex structures of graphite material in reactors, the material typically undergoes complex stress states. It is, therefore, necessary to study its mechanical properties, failure modes, and strength criteria under complex stress states so as to provide guidance for the core structure design. In this study, compressive failure tests were performed for graphite material under the condition of different confining pressures, and the effects of confining pressure on the triaxial compressive strength and Young's modulus of graphite material were studied. More specifically, graphite material based on the fracture surfaces and fracture angles, the graphite specimens were found to exhibit four types of failure modes, i.e., tension failure, shear-tension failure, tension-shear failure and shear failure, with increasing confining pressure. In addition, the Mohr strength envelope of the graphite material was obtained, and different strength criteria were compared. It showed that the parabolic Mohr-Coulomb criterion is more suitable for the strength evaluation for the graphite material.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.54-58
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• 2009

A substitute energy development has been required due to the exhaust of the fossil fuel and an environmental problem. Consequently, possible technologies producing hydrogen from water that does not release carbon is a very promising technology. Also, Iodine-Sulfur(IS) thermochemical water decomposition is one of the promising processes that are used to produce hydrogen efficiently using the high temperature gas-cooled reactor(HTGR) as an energy source that is possible to supply heat over 900$^{\circ}C$. In this study, to make a initiating events identification for the IS process, Master Logic Diagram(MLD) is used and 9 initiating events that cause a leakage of the chemical material are identified. Also, 6 events are identified among 9 initiating events above and are quantified using event tree.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.15 no.2 s.46
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• pp.107-117
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• 2006

The status of water splitting thermochemical cycle for hydrogen production was reviewed in this article. Mass production of hydrogen could be possible using the thermochemical process which is similar to the concept of conventional chemical reaction system if the high temperature heat source is available. The mediators (chemicals and reagents) should be used to split chemically stable water, and should be recycled in a closed cycle in order to be environmentally acceptable. Though there is no process to reach commercial stage, IS cycle, two-step cycles based on metallic oxide such as ZnO/Zn, $Fe_3O_4/FeO$ and the associated cycles are attracted due to their possibilities of application. Development of materials for high temperature and/or corrosive conditions during thermochemical process is still important topic in some thermochemical processes.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.37-43
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• 2007

Iodine sulfur (IS) process is one of the promising processes for a hydrogen production by using a high temperature heat generated by a very high temperature gas cooled reactor(VHTR) in the nuclear power industries. Even though the IS process is very efficient for a hydrogen production and it is not accompanied by a carbon dioxide evolution, the highly corrosive environment of the process limits its application in the industry. Corrosion tests of selected materials were performed in sulfuric acid to select appropriate materials compatible with the IS process. The materials used in this work were Fe-Cr alloys, Fe-Ni-Cr alloys, Fe-Si alloys, Ni base alloys, Ta, Ti, Zr, SiC, Fe-Si, etc. The test environments were 50 wt% sulfuric acid at $120^{\circ}C$ and 98 wt% at $320^{\circ}C$. Corrosion rates were measured by using a weight change after an immersion. The surface morphologies and cross sectional areas of the corroded materials were examined by using SEM equipped with EDS. Corrosion behaviors of the materials were discussed in terms of the chemical composition of the materials, a weight loss, the corrosion morphology, the precipitates in the microstructure and the surface layer composition.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.44 no.7
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• pp.368-374
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• 2007

CVD-SiC coating has been introduced as a protective layer in TRISO nuclear fuel particle of high temperature gas cooled reactor (HTGR) due to its excellent mechanical stability at high temperature. In order to prevent the failure of the TRISO particles, it is important to evaluate the fracture strength of the SiC coating layer. It is needed to develop a new simple characterization technique to evaluate the mechanical properties of the coating layer as a pre-irradiation step. In present work, direct strength measurement method with the specimen of hem i-spherical shell configuration was suggested. The indentation experiment on a hemisphere shell with a plate indenter was conducted. The fracture strength of the coating layer is related with the critical load for radial cracking of the shell. The finite element analysis was used to drive the semi-empirical equation for the strength measurement. The SiC hemispherical shells were successfully recovered from the section-grinding of TRISO coated particle and successive heat treatment in air. The strength of CVD-SiC coating layer was evaluated from the experimentally measured critical load during the indentation on SiC hemisphere shell. Weibull diagram of fracture strength was also constructed. This study suggested a new strength equation and experimental method to measure the fracture strength of CVD-SiC coating of TRISO coated fuel particles.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.831-840
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• 2009

In order to evaluate the start-up behavior and to identify, through abnormal operation occurrences, the transient behaviors of the Sulfur Iodine(SI) process, which is a nuclear hydrogen process that is coupled to a Very High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor (VHTR) through an Intermediate Heat Exchanger (IHX), a dynamic simulation of the process is necessary. Perturbation of the flow rate or temperature in the inlet streams may result in various transient states. An understanding of the dynamic behavior due to these factors is able to support the conceptual design of the secondary helium loop system associated with a hydrogen production plant. Based on the mass and energy balance sheets of an electrodialysis-embedded SI process equivalent to a 200 $MW_{th}$ VHTR and a considerable thermal pathway between the SI process and the VHTR system, a dynamic simulation of the SI process was carried out for a sulfuric acid decomposition process (Second Section) that is composed of a sulfuric acid vaporizer, a sulfuric acid decomposer, and a sulfur trioxide decomposer. The dynamic behaviors of these integrated reactors according to several anticipated scenarios are evaluated and the dominant and mild factors are observed. As for the results of the simulation, all the reactors in the sulfuric acid decomposition process approach a steady state at the same time. Temperature control of the inlet helium is strictly required rather than the flow rate control of the inlet helium to keep the steady state condition in the Second Section. On the other hand, it was revealed that the changes of the inlet helium operation conditions make a great impact on the performances of $SO_3$ and $H_2SO_4$ decomposers, but no effect on the performance of the $H_2SO_4$ vaporizer.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.848-852
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• 2005

The two important problems to solve before the industrialization of the iodine-sulfur (IS) process are (i) methods to separate $H_2SO_4$ and HI and (ii) to maintain constant components. However undesired reaction was occurred and $H_2S$ and S were formed during the Bunsen reaction. It is necessary to forbid the undesired reaction between $H_2SO_4$ and HI by separating the two acids into two different layers. The experimental conditions for the present study was chosen in such a way that to achieve the separation between the two acids and minimize the side reaction. $H_2S$ formation was reduced and the separations of the two liquids were occurred at $H_2O$ molar fraction from 0.86 to 0.909. But the separations between the two liquids were not occurred at $H_2O$ molar fraction more than 0.92.