• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.7
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• pp.941-950
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• 2013

The Korean Nuclear-Hydrogen Technology Development (NHTD) Plan will be performing irradiation testing of coated particle fuel at HANARO to support the development of VHTR in Korea. This testing will be carried out to demonstrate and qualify TRISO-coated particle fuel for use in VHTR. The testing will be irradiated in an inert gas atmosphere without on-line temperature monitoring and control combined with on-line fission product monitoring of the sweep gas. The irradiation device contains two test rods, one has nine fuel compacts and the other five compacts and eight graphite specimens. Each compact contains about 260 TRISO-coated particles. The irradiation device is being loaded and irradiated into the OR5 hole of the in HANARO core from August 2013. The device will be operated for about 150 effective full-power days at a peak temperature of about $1030^{\circ}C$ in BOC (Beginning of Cycle) during irradiation testing. After a peak burn-up of about 4 atomic percentage and a peak fast neutron fluence of about $1.7{\times}10^{21}\;n/cm^2$, PIE (Post-Irradiation Examination) of the irradiated coated particle fuel will be performed at IMEF (Irradiated Material Examination Facility). This paper reviews the design of test rod and irradiation device for coated particle fuel, and discusses the technical results for irradiation testing at HANARO.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.409-418
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• 2008

Because the interaction layers that form between U-Mo particles and the Al matrix degrade the thermal properties of U-Mo/Al dispersion fuel, an investigation was undertaken of the undesirable feedback effect between an interaction layer growth and a centerline temperature increase for dispersion fuel. The radial temperature distribution due to interaction layer growth during irradiation was calculated iteratively in relation to changes in the volume fractions, the thermal conductivities of the constituents, and the oxide thickness with the burnup. The interaction layer growth, which is estimated on the basis of the temperature calculations, showed a reasonable agreement with the post-irradiation examination results of the U-Mo/Al dispersion fuel rods irradiated at the HANARO reactor. The U-Mo particle size was found to be a dominant factor that determined the fuel temperature during irradiation. Dispersion fuel with larger U-Mo particles revealed lower levels of both the interaction layer formation and the fuel temperature increase. The results confirm that the use of large U-Mo particles appears to be an effective way of mitigating the thermal degradation of U-Mo/Al dispersion fuel.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.471-481
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• 2003

In order to evaluate the microstructural characteristics of irradiated fuel claddings (Zircaloy-4), two irradiated specimens having different burnups (18 GWD/MTU and 42 GWD/MTU) were prepared from the G23-M4 fuel rods, which were loaded in Kori Unit 1 for 4 fuel cycles. The oxide thickness, hydride morphology and hardness change were characterized by an optical microscope and a micro-hardness tester after preparing the irradiated specimens in the PIE (Post Irradiation Examination) facilities. The dislocation loops and the amorphous transformation of precipitates induced by the neutron irradiation in the nuclear plant were also examined by a TEM. As the burnup increased from 18 GWD/MTU to 42 GWD/MTU, the oxide thickness increased from $6.0{\mu}m\;to\;25.3{\mu}m$ and the contents of hydrogen pick-up in the Zr matrix also greatly increased. In the comparison of the hardness of the unirradiated fuel cladding, the amount of hardness increase was nearly $9.3\%\;and\;24.2\%$ for the irradiated samples of 18 and 42 GWD/MTU, respectively. Both -type dislocation loops and -type dislocation components were observed simultaneously in the irradiated specimens and the densities of the dislocation was increased by increasing the burnup. The precipitates in both the irradiated specimens were amorphously transformed by the neutron irradiation and the trend of the amorphous transformation of the precipitates was enhanced at a higher burnup.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.3-11
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• 1999

The atomic fuel rods between top and bottom end pieces of reactor need to be extended for high combustion rate of future-type fuel to increase the irradiation in the axial direction. For allowing axial extension of the fuel rods, the space between top and bottom end pieces should be expanded. Thus the thickness reduction of the flow plate is necessary. This study was carried out the mechanical strength test by using strain gages as a function of flow plate thickness, the existence of skirt and loading condition for the Korean Fuel Assembly(KOFA). The experimental apparatus was designed for load conditions, uniformly distributed load and displacement. Test method using whiffle tree of uniformly distributed load has been comparatively conservative. The test results were compared with those of finite element analysis and the test method on bottom end piece was established.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.443-449
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• 2014

To check the characteristics of nuclear fuels during an irradiation test, the nuclear fuel rod needs to be disassembled from the test rig located in the pool of the research reactor. Then, the disassembled fuel rod is delivered to the hot cell for intermediate examination. A fuel rod that passes the intermediate examination is delivered to the reactor pool to be reassembled into the test rig. The irradiation test is resumed with the reassembled test rig. Because nuclear fuel rods irradiated by neutrons are highly radioactive, all the disassembly and reassembly processes should be carried out in the pool of the research reactor to prevent operators being exposed to radiation. In particular, because a test rig is 5.4-m long and the reactor pool of HANARO is 6-m deep, special tools need to be developed for performing the disassembly and reassembly processes. In this study, a new assembly design of nuclear fuel rods for intermediate examination is introduced. Furthermore, tools for treating the irradiated fuel rod assembly are introduced, and their performance is verified by an out pile test.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.61 no.12
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• pp.1948-1952
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• 2012

The paper presents modal testing and analysis in order to obtain the dynamic characteristics of a middle spacer grids of a nuclear fuel rod. A spacer grid is one of the important structural elements supporting nuclear fuel rods. Such a fuel rod can be oscillated by its thermal expansion, neutron irradiation and etc. due to cooling water flow under the operation of a nuclear power plant. When the fuel rod vibrates, fretting wear due to repeated friction motion between the fuel rods and spacer grids can be occurred, and so the fuel rod is damaged. In this paper, through modal analysis and testing, natural frequencies and modes of a middle spacer grid were calculated, and the following conclusions were obtained. Firstly the numerical first-seven natural frequencies for spacer grids of a fuel rod having complicated structures have a small difference within 3.8% with experimental natural frequencies, and so the suitability of simulation results was verified. Secondly, experimental mode shapes for a middle spacer grid of a nuclear fuel rod were verified by obtaining lower non-diagonal terms through MAC(Modal Assurance Criteria), and were confirmed by the simulation modes.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.552-557
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• 2024

The actual swelling of AgInCd absorber might exceed the predicted swelling value after years of service in pressurized water reactors, and the chemical and microstructural changes of AgInCd absorber induced by transmutation reactions are the main reason for the swelling acceleration of AgInCd absorber. In the present study, a model for calculating the irradiation swelling of AgInCd absorber in nuclear control rods is developed according to chemical and microstructural changes of AgInCd absorber. In this model, the chemical compositions of AgInCd absorber as a function of the thermal neutron fluence are firstly calculated, and then the volume of AgInCd absorber after irradiation is obtained on the basis of the crystallographic parameters of phases in the AgInCd absorber, and the irradiation swelling of AgInCd absorber is finally calculated. The crystallographic parameters can be obtained by preparing the simulated AgInCd alloys and fitting the experimental data. The model calculating results of irradiation swelling are in good agreement with the actual swelling data in literature. More importantly, the present model can well explain the EPRI results of the acceleration in the diametral swelling rate above 6-8 × 10²⁰ n/cm² and the decrease in the diametral swelling rate above about 2 × 10²¹ n/cm².

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.187-198
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• 2009

In this paper, three power ramp tests performed on high burn-up Re-crystallized Zircaloy2 - UO2 BWR fuel rods (56 to 63 MWd/kgU) within the SCIP project are simulated with METEOR and ALCYONE 3D. Two of the ramp tests are of staircase type up to Linear Heat Rates of 420 and 520 W/cm and with long holding periods. Failure of the 420 W/cm fuel rod was observed after 40 minutes. The third ramp test consisted of a more standard ramp test with a constant power rate of 80 W/cm/min up to 410 W/cm with a short holding time. The tests were first simulated with the METEOR 1D fuel rod code, which gave accurate results in terms of profilometry and fission gas releases. The behaviour of a fuel pellet fragment and of the cladding piece on top of it was then investigated with ALCYONE 3D. The size and the main characteristics of the ridges after base irradiation and power ramp testing were recovered. Finally, the failure criteria validated for PWR conditions and fuel rods with low-to-medium burn-ups were used to analyze the failure probability of the KKL rodlets during ramp testing.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.453-454
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• 2005

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.266-267
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• 2005