• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.71-77
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• 2017

In the event of loss of coolant accident (LOCA) and station black out (SBO) in the primary system of a nuclear reactor, the coolant water should be injected to reactor coolant system (RCS) without any intervention of operators or active components. To satisfy the requirements, hybrid safety injection tank (Hybrid SIT) was suggested by Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI). The pressure equalizing time of Hybrid SIT is an important parameter to determine the timing of coolant injection. To predict the pressure equalizing time of the Hybrid SIT, a separate effect test facility was constructed and sensitivity tests were conducted in various conditions. The main parameter determining the pressure equalizing time was obtained from separate effect test (SET) results. The wall of condensation on the inner wall of SIT and direct contact condensation on the water surface affected to the pressure equalizing time very much. In this study, the effect of each condensation phenomena on pressure equalizing time was quantitatively analyzed from results of SET and a prediction method of pressure equalizing time was proposed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.373-380
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• 2014

Safety-related parameters are very important for confirming the status of a nuclear power plant. In particular, the reactor vessel water level has a direct impact on the safety fortress by confirming reactor core cooling. In this study, the reactor vessel water level under the condition of a severe accident, where the water level could not be measured, was predicted using a fuzzy neural network (FNN). The prediction model was developed using training data, and validated using independent test data. The data was generated from simulations of the optimized power reactor 1000 (OPR1000) using MAAP4 code. The informative data for training the FNN model was selected using the subtractive clustering method. The prediction performance of the reactor vessel water level was quite satisfactory, but a few large errors were occasionally observed. To check the effect of instrument errors, the prediction model was verified using data containing artificially added errors. The developed FNN model was sufficiently accurate to be used to predict the reactor vessel water level in severe accident situations where the integrity of the reactor vessel water level sensor is compromised. Furthermore, if the developed FNN model can be optimized using a variety of data, it should be possible to predict the reactor vessel water level precisely.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.43-49
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• 2010

The piping failure probability of the reactor coolant system in Kori unit 1 was evaluated considering stress corrosion cracking. The P-PIE program (Probabilistic Piping Integrity Evaluation Program) developed in this study was used in the analysis. The effect of some variables such as oxygen concentration during start up and steady state operation, and operating temperature, which are related with stress corrosion cracking, on the piping failure probabilities was investigated. The effects of leak detection capability, the size of big leak, piping loops, and reactor types on the piping failure probability were also investigated. The results show that (1) LOCA (loss of coolant accident) probability of Kori unit 1 is extremely low, (2) leak probability is sensitive to oxygen concentration during steady state operation and operating temperature, while not sensitive to the oxygen concentration during start up, and (3) the piping thickness and operating temperature play important roles in the leak probabilities of the cold leg in 4 reactor types having same inner diameter.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.186-190
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• 2014

Nuclear Power Plants require the control ability of chemical condition (pH) because pH control during transient accident such as LOCA makes an able the fission product removal capability to be maintained, stress corrosion cracking of stainless steel equipment to be prevented and the production of hydrogen by aluminum and zinc to be minimized. An NPP is designed to control the pH of containment spray and sump coolant using the spray additives 30% NaOH in the event of loss of coolant accident. In this paper, the pH of sump coolant of an NPP during LOCA was analyzed and the fission products removal constant and decontamination factor were calculated according to Standard Review Plan 6.5.2 related to spray chemical conditions of pH. The calculated pH value of recirculation mode using the computer code corresponds to 8.09~9.67, which meets the chemical environment regulation requirements. The fission product removal capability caused by containment spray system is performed to provide input to radiation analysis.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.16-25
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• 2016

In severe loss of coolant accidents (LOCA), similar to those experienced at Fukushima Daiichi and Three Mile Island Unit 1, the zirconiumalloy fuel claddingmaterials are rapidlyheateddue to nuclear decay heating and rapid exothermic oxidation of zirconium with steam. This heating causes the cladding to rapidly react with steam, lose strength, burst or collapse, and generate large quantities of hydrogen gas. Although maintaining core cooling remains the highest priority in accident management, an accident tolerant fuel (ATF) design may extend coping and recovery time for operators to restore emergency power, and cooling, and achieve safe shutdown. An ATF is required to possess high resistance to steam oxidation to reduce hydrogen generation and sufficient mechanical strength to maintain fuel rod integrity and core coolability. The initiative undertaken by Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) is to demonstrate the feasibility of developing an ATF cladding with capability to maintain its integrity in $1,200-1,500^{\circ}C$ steam for at least 24 hours. This ATF cladding utilizes thin-walled Mo-alloys coated with oxidation-resistant surface layers. The basic design consists of a thin-walled Mo alloy structural tube with a metallurgically bonded, oxidation-resistant outer layer. Two options are being investigated: a commercially available iron, chromium, and aluminum alloy with excellent high temperature oxidation resistance, and a Zr alloy with demonstratedcorrosionresistance.Asthese composite claddings will incorporate either no Zr, or thin Zr outer layers, hydrogen generation under severe LOCA conditions will be greatly reduced. Key technical challenges and uncertainties specific to Moalloy fuel cladding include: economic core design, industrial scale fabricability, radiation embrittlement, and corrosion and oxidation resistance during normal operation, transients, and severe accidents. Progress in each aspect has been made and key results are discussed in this document. In addition to assisting plants in meeting Light Water Reactor (LWR) challenges, accident-tolerant Mo-based cladding technologies are expected to be applicable for use in high-temperature helium and molten salt reactor designs, as well as nonnuclear high temperature applications.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.12
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• pp.4560-4570
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• 2022

Dynamic fault tree (DFT) and its related research methods have received extensive attention in safety analysis and reliability engineering. DFT can perform reliability modelling for systems with sequential correlation, resource sharing, and cold and hot spare parts. A technical modelling method of DFT is proposed for modelling ship collision accidents and loss-of-coolant accidents (LOCAs). Qualitative and quantitative analyses of DFT were carried out using the cutting sequence (CS)/extended cutting sequence (ECS) method. The results show nine types of dynamic fault failure modes in ship collision accidents, describing the fault propagation process of a dynamic system and reflect the dynamic changes of the entire accident system. The probability of a ship collision accident is 2.378 × 10^-9 by using CS. This failure mode cannot be expressed by a combination of basic events within the same event frame after an LOCA occurs in a marine nuclear reactor because the system contains warm spare parts. Therefore, the probability of losing reactor control was calculated as 8.125 × 10^-6 using the ECS. Compared with CS, ECS is more efficient considering expression and processing capabilities, and has a significant advantage considering cost.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.156-168
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• 2023

This study investigates the high temperature oxidation behaviour of a Ni-20Cr-1.2Si (wt.%) alloy in steam from 1200 ℃ to 1350 ℃ by Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD). The results demonstrate that exposed Ni-based alloy developed a thin oxide scale, consisted mainly of Cr₂O₃. The oxidation kinetics obtained from the experimental results was applied to evaluate the hydrogen generation considering a simplified reactor core model with different cladding alloys following an unmitigated Loss-Of-Coolant Accident (LOCA) scenario in a hypothetical Small Modular Reactor (SMR). Overall, experimental data and simulations results show that both Fe-based and Ni-based alloys may enhance cladding survivability, delaying its melting, as well as reducing hydrogen generation under accident conditions compared to Zr-based alloys. However, a substantial neutron absorption occurs when Ni-based alloys are used as cladding for current uranium-dioxide fuel systems, even when compared to Fe-based alloys.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.10 no.12
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• pp.3748-3754
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• 2009

An integral head loss test in a test apparatus was conducted to simulate chemical effects on a head loss across a strainer in a pressurized water reactor (PWR) containment water pool after a loss of coolant accident (LOCA). The test was conducted during 30 days in the condition of a short spray, a long spray, and no materials with chemical effects. The result exhibited that the head loss was affected on amounts of the exposed materials according to spray conditions. XRD analysis of the collected precipitates showed that the precipitates were phosphate compounds. Comparison of the head loss with dissolved species concentration showed that high increase rate of the head loss resulted from the corrosion of aluminum and zinc but slow increase rate of the head loss resulted from the precipitates induced by Si, Mg, and Ca from leaching reaction at NUKON and concrete after passivation of metal specimens.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.261-268
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• 2000

A heat transfer correlation to predict the vaporization of a water droplet in highly superheated steam during a loss-of-coolant accident(LOCA) of a nuclear power plant is provided. Vaporization of liquid fuel or water droplets in superheated air or steam and subsequent interface heat transfer between a liquid droplet and superheated gas is typically correlated by way of a Nusselt number as a function of Reynolds number, Prantl number, and in some cases including mass transfer number. Presently available correlations and experimental data of the evaporation of liquid droplets in air or steam are analyzed and a new Nusselt number correlation is proposed taking Schmidt number into consideration in order to account for binary diffusion of the vapor as well, Nu$\_$f/(1+B)$\^$0.7/=2+0.53Sc$\_$f/$\^$-1/5/Re$\_$M/$\^$$\sfrac{1}{2}$/Pr$\_$f/$\^$$\sfrac{1}{3}$/ for which properties are evaluated at film condition except the density of Reynolds number evaluated at ambient condition. Diverse correlations for various combinations of liquid and gas species are put into single equation. The blowing correction factor of (1+B)$\^$0.7/ is confirmed appropriate, and a criterion to distinguish so-called high- and low-temperature condition of ambient gas is set forth.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.62-69
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• 2013

A probabilistic assessment code, PRO-LOCA ver. 3.7 which was developed in an international co-operative research program, PARTRIDGE was evaluated by conducting sensitivity analysis. The effect of some variables such as simulation methods (adaptive sampling, iteration numbers, weld residual stress model), crack features(Poisson's arrival rate, maximum numbers of cracks, initial flaw size, fabrication flaws), operating and loading conditions(temperature, primary bending stress, earthquake strength and frequency), and inspection model(inspection intervals, detectable leak rate) on the failure probabilities of a surge line nozzle was investigated. The results of sensitivity analysis shows the remaining problems of the PRO-LOCA code such as the instability of adaptive sampling and unexpected trend of failure probabilities at an early stage.