• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.175-180
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• 1997

It has been known that eater-side corrosion of fuel rods in nuclear reactor is accompanied with the metallic loss of wall thickness and hydrogen pickup in the fuel dadding tube. The fuel dad corrosion is one of the major factors to be controlled to maintain the fuel integrity during reactor operation. An oxide later thickness measuring device equipped with ECT probe system was developed by KAERI, and whose performance test was carried out in NDT(Non-destructive Test) hot-cell or PIE(Post Irradiation Examination) Facility. At first, the calibration/performance test was executed for the unirradiated standard specimen rod fabricated with several kinds of plastic thin films whose thickness ore predetermined, and the result of which showed a good precision within 10% of discrepancy. And then, hot test us peformed for the irradiated fuel rod selectively extracted from J44 fuel assembly discharged from Kori Unit-2. The data obtained with this device were compared with the metallographic result obtained from destructive examination in PIEF hot-cell on the same fuel rod to verify the validity of the measurement data.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.899-906
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• 2018

The irradiation performance of $U_3Si$ dispersion fuel in an Al matrix, $U_3Si-Al$, under the Hi-Flux Advanced Neutron Application Reactor (HANARO) design full-power condition of 30 MW was tested for full-power qualification of the fuel. A test assembly was fabricated containing 18 fuel rods made with atomized $U_3Si$ powder manufactured at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. The test assembly was irradiated for 188 full-power operation days in the HANARO subject to the normal fuel-loading scheme and achieved about 60 at% U-235 average burnup and 75 at% U-235 peak burnup. The maximum linear power of the test assembly was 98 kW/m. Nondestructive and destructive postirradiation examinations were conducted. The measured postirradiation examination data were compared with data from previous irradiations and the design criteria required for HANARO fuel. Consequently, it was concluded that in-pile performance was acceptable and fuel integrity was maintained, and the behavior satisfied the fuel design requirements.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.223-236
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• 1977

An integral computer code has been developed for a mechanical and thermal design and performance analysis of an oxide fuel rod in a pressurized water reactor. The code designated as FROD 1.0 takes into account the phenomena of radial power depression within the pellet, cracking, densification and swelling of the pellet, fission gas release, clad creep, pellet-clad contact, heat transfer to coolant and buildup of corrosion layers on the clad surface. The FROD 1.0 code yields two-dimensional temperature distributions, dimensional changes, stresses, and internal pressure of a fuel rod as a function of irradiation time within a reasonable computation time. The code may also be used for the analyses of oxide fuel rods in other thermal reactors. As an application of FROD 1.0 the behavior of fuel rod loaded in the first core of Go-ri Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1 is predicted for the two power histories corresponding to steady state operation and Codition II of the ANS Classification. The results are compared with the design criteria described in the Final Safety Analysis Report and a discrepancy between these two values is discussed herein.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.1002-1008
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• 2016

An understanding of the coarsening process of the large fission gas pores in the high burn-up structure (HBS) of irradiated $UO_2$ fuel is very necessary for analyzing the safety and reliability of fuel rods in a reactor. A numerical model for the description of pore coarsening in the HBS based on the Ostwald ripening mechanism, which has successfully explained the coarsening process of precipitates in solids is developed. In this model, the fission gas atoms are treated as the special precipitates in the irradiated $UO_2$ fuel matrix. The calculated results indicate that the significant pore coarsening and mean pore density decrease in the HBS occur upon surpassing a local burn-up of 100 GWd/tM. The capability of this model is successfully validated against irradiation experiments of $UO_2$ fuel, in which the average pore radius, pore density, and porosity are directly measured as functions of local burn-up. Comparisons with experimental data show that, when the local burn-up exceeds 100 GWd/tM, the calculated results agree well with the measured data.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.117-123
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• 2015

To remove heat generated during a burn-up test of nuclear fuels, the heat generation rate of nuclear fuels should be calculated accurately, and a coolant should be circulated in the test loop at an adequate flow rate. HANARO is an open pool-type reactor with an independent test loop for the burn-up test of nuclear fuels. A test rig is installed in the test loop, and a coolant is circulated through the test loop to maintain the temperature of the nuclear fuel rods within a desired temperature during an irradiation test. The components and sensors in the test rig can be broken or malfunction owing to the flow-induced vibration. In this study, a coolant flow simulation system was developed to verify and confirm the soundness of components and sensors assembled in the test rig with a high flow rate of the coolant.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.513-520
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• 2014

In this paper, three types of operational and industrial absorbers used at research reactors, including Ag-In-Cd alloy, $B_4C$, and Hf are selected for sensitivity analyses. Their integral effects on the main neutronic core parameters important to safety issues are investigated. These parameters are core excess reactivity, shutdown margin, total reactivity worth of control rods, thermal neutron flux, power density distribution, and Power Peaking Factor (PPF). The IAEA 10 MW benchmark core is selected as the case study to verify calculations. A two-dimensional, three-group diffusion model is selected for core calculations. The well-known WIMS-D4 and CITATION reactor codes are used to carry out these calculations. It is found that the largest shutdown margin is gained using the $B_4C$; also the lowest PPF is gained using the Ag-In-Cd alloy. The maximum point power densities belong to the inside fuel regions surrounding the central flux trap (irradiation position), surrounded by control fuel elements, and the peripheral fuel elements beside the graphite reflectors. The greatest and least fluctuation of the point power densities are gained by using $B_4C$ and Ag-In-Cd alloy, respectively.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.344-351
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• 2020

AgInCd alloy is widely used as neutron absorber in nuclear reactors. However, the AgInCd control rods may fail during service due to the irradiation swelling. In the present study, a calculational method is proposed to calculate the composition change of the AgInCd absorber. Calculated results show that neutron fluence has significant impact on the chemical compositions. Ag and In contents gradually decrease while Cd and Sn conversely increases from the center to the rim of AgInCd absorber due to the depression of neutron flux. The composition change at the surface is higher almost two times than that at the center. Based on the calculated compositions, six simulated AgInCdSn alloys were prepared and examined. With the increase of Cd and Sn, the simulated AgInCdSn alloys transform from a single fcc phase into the mixed fcc and hcp phases, and finally into the single hcp phase. The atomic volume of the hcp phase is obviously larger than the fcc phase. The fcc-hcp transformation results in considerable volume swelling of the AgInCd absorber. Moreover, the lattice parameters of the fcc and hcp phases gradually increase with Cd and Sn contents, which also can induce small volume swelling.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.109-116
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• 2003

The amount of radioactive waste is expected to be increased continuously because of the rapid growth of the domestic nuclear industry, full power operation of the HANARO reactor and the increased research activities of the nuclear fuel cycle. Accordingly the efforts are focused to achieve the handling of radioactive waste in safe and reduce the volume of radioactive waste. The PIEF is carrying out the PIE (post irradiation examination) of spent fuel rods related to the identification of cause defect and evaluation of integration safety. This study describes the technologies and experiences of compaction, shredding and cutting of the solid radioactive waste used in the PIE. The quantity of the high level waste was reduced by 1/12 using the 100-ton compressor installed in hot-cell. Also middle and low level waste was reduced by 1/8 using the 60-ton compressor installed in intervention area. Plastic drums were shredded by crusher to be compacted in the ratio of 1/5, used filters in the ratio of 1/6 and the number of drum is also reduced by cutting procedure for the non-volatile materials such as metal.