• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.104-108
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• 2014

The recent Fukushima nuclear power plant accidents shows that the core make up at high RCS pressure condition is very important to prevent core melting. The core make up flow at high pressure condition should be driven by gravity force or passive forces because the AC-powered safety features are not available during a Station Black Out (SBO) accident. The reactor Coolant System (RCS) mass inventory is continuously decreased by releasing steam through the pressurizer safety valves after reactor trip during a SBO accident. The core will be melted down within 2~3 hours without core make up action by active or passive mode. In the new design concept of a Hybrid Safety Injection Tank (Hybrid SIT) both for low and high RCS pressure conditions, the low pressure nitrogen gas serves as a charging pressure for a LBLOCA injection mode, while the PZR high pressure steam provides an equalizing pressure for a high pressure injection mode such as a SBO accident. After the pressure equalizing process by battery driven initiation valve at a high pressure SBO condition, the Hybrid SIT injection water will be passively injected into the reactor downcomer by gravity head. The SBO simulation by MARS code show that the core makeup injection flow through the Hybrid SIT continued up to the SIT empty condition, and the core heatup is delayed as much.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.99-104
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• 2001

Elastic-plastic fracture toughness $J_{lc}$ can be used as an effective design criterion in elastic plastic fracture mechanics. Most of these systems are$J_{lc}$ $J_{lc}$ value at high temperature must be determined for use of integrity evaluation and designing of such systems. Elastic-plastic fracture toughness $J_{lc}$ tests were performed on SA516/70 carbon steel plate and test results were analyzed according to ASTM E 813-87, ASTM E 813-89 and ASTM E 1152-87.safety and integrity are required for reactor pressure vessels because, they are operated in high temperature. There are single specimen method, which used as evaluation of safety and integrity for reactor pressure vessels. In this study, elastic-plastic fracture toughness($J_{lc}$) and J-$\Delta$a of SA 516/70 steel used as reactor pressure vessel steel are measured and evaluated at room temperature, 150$^{\circ}C $, 250$^{\circ}C $ and 370$^{\circ}C $ according to unloading compliance method.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Mechanical Technology
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.145-153
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• 2011

The irradiation tests of materials in HANARO have been performed usually at temperatures below $300^{\circ}C$ at which the RPV(Reactor Pressure Vessel) materials of the commercial reactors such as the light water reactor and CANDU are operated. As VHTR(Very High Temperature Reactor) and SFR(Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor) projects are being carried as a part of the present Gen-IV program in Korea, the requirements for irradiation of materials at temperatures higher than $500^{\circ}C$ are recently being gradually increased. To overcome the restriction in the use at high temperature of the existing Al thermal media, a new capsule with double thermal media composed of two kinds of materials such as Al-Ti and Al-graphite was designed and fabricated more advanced than the single thermal media capsule. At the irradiation test of the capsule, the temperature of the specimens successfully reached $700^{\circ}C$ and the integrity of Al, Ti and graphite material was maintained.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.344-357
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• 2002

The present paper reports spontaneous steam explosions observed in fuel coolant interaction experiments using prototypic reactor materials. Pure ZrO$_2$ and a mixture of UO$_2$ and ZrO$_2$ are used. A high temperature molten material in the form of a jet is poured into a subcooled water pool located in a pressure vessel. An induction skull melting technique is used for the melting of the reactor material. In both tests using pure ZrO$_2$ and a mixture of UO$_2$ and ZrO$_2$, either a quenching or a spontaneous steam explosion was observed. The morphology of debris and pressure profile clearly indicate the differences between the qunching cases and explosion cases. The dynamic pressure. dynamic impulse, water temperature, melt temperature, and static pressure Inside the containment chamber were measured . As the spontaneous steam explosion for the reactor material is firstly observed in the present experiments, the results of present experiments could be a siginificant step forward the understanding the explosion of the reactor material.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.1310-1323
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• 2023

A reactor coolant pump (RCP) is essential for transporting coolant in the primary loop of pressurized water reactors. In the advanced passive reactor, the absence of a long pipeline between the steam generator and RCP serves as a transition section, resulting in a non-uniform flow field at the pump inlet. Therefore, the characteristics of the pump should be investigated under non-uniform flow to determine its influence on the pump. In this study, the pressure pulsation characteristics were examined in the time and frequency domains, and the sources of low-frequency and high-amplitude signals were analyzed using wavelet coherence analysis and numerical simulation. From computational fluid dynamics (CFD) results, non-uniform inflow has a great effect on the flow structures in the pump's inlet. The pressure pulsation in the pump at the rated flow increased by 78-128.7% under the non-uniform inflow condition in comparison with that observed under the uniform inflow condition. Furthermore, a low-frequency signal with a high amplitude was observed, whose energy increased significantly under non-uniform flow. The wavelet coherence and CFD analysis verified that the source of this signal was the low-frequency pulsating vortex under the steam generator.

• Journal of the Korean Professional Engineers Association
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.82-95
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• 1997

A Study of Improvement in Reactor Thermal Power Measurement Method using Kalman Filter. The objectives of the safety analysis of nuclear power plants are to maintain the surface temperature of fuel and fuel cladding within limit value in case of Loss of Coolant accident (LOCA) so that it ensures the safety and reliability of nuclear power plants. The new technique evaluating the reactor power and improvement of existing plant system increase the safety margin of nuclear power plant operation, and accordingly, economic effect will be anticipated. Hereby, 1 would like to introduce reactor power measurement method using Kalman filter that enables to calculate the reactor power more precisely combining the parameters, for example, turbine output as the 1 st stage pressure of high pressure turbine, and reactor power using energy equilibrium relation. It is expected that the new technique will enhance the accuracy of measurement of reactor power and maintain the reliability of nuclear power operation by increasing operational safety margin, and gain the economic benefit

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.1-6
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• 2008

Very High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor (VHTR) has been selected as a high energy heat source for nuclear hydrogen generation. The VHTR can produce hydrogen from heat and water by using a thermo-chemical process or from heat, water, and natural gas by steam reformer technology. A co-axial double-tube primary hot gas duct (HGD) is a key component connecting the reactor pressure vessel and the intermediate heat exchanger (IHX) for the VHTR. In this study, a preliminary design analysis for the primary HGD of the nuclear hydrogen system was carried out. These preliminary design activities include a determination of the size, a strength evaluation and an appropriate material selection. The determination of the size was undertaken based on various engineering concepts, such as a constant flow velocity model, a constant flow rate model, a constant hydraulic head model, and finally a heat balanced model.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.1869-1873
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• 2008

In this work, to make it possible to generate glow discharge in atmospheric pressure condition with relatively high and wide electric field, micro channel reactor is proposed. Si DRIE and Cr deposition by Ebeam evaporation is used to make channel and bottom electrode layer. Upper electrode is made from ITO glass to visualize discharge within micro channel. Fabricated reactor is verified by generating uniform glow plasma with N2 / He gases each as working fluid. The range of gas electric field to generate glow plasma is from about 200 V/cm and upper limit is not observed in tested condition of up to 150 kV/cm. This data shows that micro channel plasma reactor is more versatile. Indirect estimation of electron temperature in this reactor can be inferred that the electron temperature within glow discharge in micro reactor lies $0{\sim}2eV$. This research demonstrates that the reactor is appropriate in application that needs to maintain low temperature condition during chemical process.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.173-178
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• 1997

In this study, the ultrasonic irradiation in elevated pressure was used to alter the molecular weight and MWD of polystyrene. The high pressure reactor was filled with 0.5w/v% polystyrene solution, and then it was pressurized from 500psi to 4000psi. The ultrasound was irradiated in 10 minutes at each pressure, and the extract was collected and analyzed by GPC. Molecular weight distribution was predicted by log-normal and Schulz distribution function. The average molecular weight and polydispersity of polystyrene were decreased, as the pressure applied during the ultrasonic irradiation was increase. It was able to fractionate polymer material and control polydispersity by adjusting pressure in the ultrasonic irradiation.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.7-12
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• 2008

The purpose of this study is to present a methodology to estimate the capacity of the pressure relief valve which prevents overpressure of the pressure vessel in a cold state. In this methodology, the transient behavior of the flow rate through the pressure relief valve and the pressure inside the pressure vessel are considered. The result of this study shows the followings; The more the relief valve capacity is considered in excess, the more the initial relief flow rate and the initial pressure inside the pressure vessel are high and low respectively. When the relief valve capacity is determined properly, the pressure inside the pressure vessel maintains almost the same value, so the ASME code requirement will be met.