• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제50권6호
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• pp.829-841
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• 2018

An experiment was conducted for the OECD/NEA ROSA-2 Project using the large-scale test facility (LSTF), which simulated a 17% hot leg intermediate-break loss-of-coolant accident in a pressurized water reactor (PWR). In the LSTF test, core uncovery started simultaneously with liquid level drop in crossover leg downflow-side before loop seal clearing, and water remaining occurred on the upper core plate in the upper plenum. Results of the uncertainty analysis with RELAP5/MOD3.3 code clarified the influences of the combination of multiple uncertain parameters on peak cladding temperature within the defined uncertain ranges. For studying the scaling problems to extrapolate thermal-hydraulic phenomena observed in scaled-down facilities, an experiment was performed for the OECD/NEA PKL-3 Project with the Primarkreislaufe Versuchsanlage (PKL), as a counterpart to a previous LSTF test. The LSTF test simulated a PWR 1% hot leg small-break loss-of-coolant accident with steam generator secondary-side depressurization as an accident management measure and nitrogen gas inflow. Some discrepancies appeared between the LSTF and PKL test results for the primary pressure, the core collapsed liquid level, and the cladding surface temperature probably due to effects of differences between the LSTF and the PKL in configuration, geometry, and volumetric size.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제51권6호
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• pp.1532-1539
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• 2019

This paper analyzes a new method for reducing boiling water reactor fuel temperature during a Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA). The method uses a device called Reverse Flow Restriction Device (RFRD) at the inlet of fuel bundles in the core to prevent coolant loss from the bundle inlet due to the reverse flow after a large break in the recirculation loop. The device allows for flow in the forward direction which occurs during normal operation, while after the break, the RFRD device changes its status to prevent reverse flow. In this paper, a detailed simulation of LOCA has been carried out using the U.S. NRC's TRACE code to investigate the effect of RFRD on the flow rate as well as peak clad temperature of BWR fuel bundles during three different LOCA scenarios: small break LOCA (25% LOCA), large break LOCA (100% LOCA), and double-ended guillotine break (200% LOCA). The results demonstrated that the device could substantially block flow reversal in fuel bundles during LOCA, allowing for coolant to remain in the core during the coolant blowdown phase. The device can retain additional cooling water after activating the emergency systems, which maintains the peak clad temperature at lower levels. Moreover, the RFRD achieved the reflood phase (when the saturation temperature of the clad is restored) earlier than without the RFRD.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제49권5호
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• pp.979-988
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• 2017

The feasibility of cooling in a pressurized heavy water reactor after a large break loss-of-coolant accident has been analyzed using Multidimensional Analysis of Reactor Safety-KINS Standard code during the recirculation phase. Through evaluation of sensitivity of the fuel channel temperature to various effective recirculation flow areas, it is determined that proper cooling of the fuel channels in the broken loop is feasible if the effective flow area remains above approximately 70% of the nominal flow area. When the flow area is reduced by more than approximately 25% of the nominal value, however, incipience of boiling is expected, after which the thermal integrity of the fuel channel can be threatened. In addition, if a dramatic reduction of the recirculation flow occurs, excursions and frequent fluctuations of temperature in the fuel channels are likely to be unavoidable, and thus damage to the fuel channels would be anticipated. To resolve this, emergency coolant supply through the newly installed external injection path can be used as one alternative means of cooling, enabling fuel channel integrity to be maintained and permanently preventing severe accident conditions. Thus, the external injection flow required to guarantee fuel channel coolability has been estimated.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권10호
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• pp.3379-3397
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• 2021

In this study, a multi-physics modeling method was developed to analyze a nuclear fuel rod's thermo-mechanical behavior especially for high temperature anisotropic creep deformation during ballooning and burst occurring in Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA). Based on transient heat transfer and nonlinear mechanical analysis, the present work newly incorporated the nuclear fuel rod's special characteristics which include gap heat transfer, temperature and burnup dependent material properties, and especially for high temperature creep with material anisotropy. The proposed method was tested through various benchmark analyses and showed good agreements with analytical solutions. From the validation study with a cladding burst experiment which postulates the LOCA scenario, it was shown that the present development could predict the ballooning and burst behaviors accurately and showed the capability to predict anisotropic creep behavior during the LOCA. Moreover, in order to verify the anisotropic creep methodology proposed in this study, the comparison between modeling and experiment was made with isotropic material assumption. It was found that the present methodology with anisotropic creep could predict ballooning and burst more accurately and showed more realistic behavior of the cladding.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제43권6호
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• pp.509-522
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• 2011

FRAPCON-3.4a and FRAPTRAN 1.4 are the most recent versions of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) steady-state and transient fuel performance codes, respectively. These codes have been assessed against separate effects data and integral assessment data and have been determined to provide a best estimate calculation of fuel performance. Recent updates included in FRAPCON-3.4a include updated material properties models, models for new fuel and cladding types, cladding finite element analysis capability, and capability to perform uncertainty analyses and calculate upper tolerance limits for important outputs. Recent updates included in FRAPTRAN 1.4 include: material properties models that are consistent with FRAPCON-3.4a, cladding failure models that are applicable for loss-of coolant-accident and reactivity initiated accident modeling, and updated heat transfer models. This paper briefly describes these code updates and data assessments, highlighting the particularly important improvements and data assessments. This paper also discusses areas of improvements that will be addressed in upcoming code versions.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제49권5호
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• pp.928-940
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• 2017

An experiment using the $Prim{\ddot{a}}rkreisl{\ddot{a}}ufe$ Versuchsanlage (PKL) was performed for the OECD/NEA PKL-3 Project as a counterpart to a previous test with the large-scale test facility (LSTF) on a cold leg smallbreak loss-of-coolant accident with an accident management (AM) measure in a pressurized water reactor. Concerning the AM measure, the rate of steam generator (SG) secondary-side depressurization was controlled to achieve a primary depressurization rate of 200 K/h as a common test condition; however, the onset timings of the SG depressurization were different from each other. In both tests, rapid recovery started in the core collapsed liquid level after loop seal clearing, which caused whole core quench. Some discrepancies appeared between the LSTF and PKL test results for the core collapsed liquid level, the cladding surface temperature, and the primary pressure. The RELAP5/MOD3.3 code predicted the overall trends of the major thermal-hydraulic responses observed in the LSTF test well, and indicated a remaining problem in the prediction of primary coolant distribution. Results of uncertainty analysis for the LSTF test clarified the influences of the combination of multiple uncertain parameters on peak cladding temperature within the defined uncertain ranges.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권8호
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• pp.2547-2555
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• 2021

The frequency of reactor coolant leakage is expected to increase over the lifetime of a nuclear power plant owing to degradation mechanisms, such as flow-acceleration corrosion and stress corrosion cracking. When loss of coolant accidents (LOCAs) occur, several parameters change rapidly depending on the size and location of the cracks. In this study, leak flow during LOCAs is predicted using a deep fuzzy neural network (DFNN) model. The DFNN model is based on fuzzy neural network (FNN) modules and has a structure where the FNN modules are sequentially connected. Because the DFNN model is based on the FNN modules, the performance factors are the number of FNN modules and the parameters of the FNN module. These parameters are determined by a least-squares method combined with a genetic algorithm; the number of FNN modules is determined automatically by cross checking a fitness function using the verification dataset output to prevent an overfitting problem. To acquire the data of LOCAs, an optimized power reactor-1000 was simulated using a modular accident analysis program code. The predicted results of the DFNN model are found to be superior to those predicted in previous works. The leak flow prediction results obtained in this study will be useful to check the core integrity in nuclear power plant during LOCAs. This information is also expected to reduce the workload of the operators.

• 한국안전학회지
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• 제37권4호
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• pp.129-138
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• 2022

A new method for injecting cooling water into the Korean research reactor (KRR) in the event of beam tube rupture is proposed in this paper. Moreover, the research evaluates the risk to the reactor core in terms of core damage frequency (CDF). The proposed method maintains the cooling water in the chimney at a certain level in the tank to prevent nuclear fuel damage solely by gravitational coolant feeding from the emergency water supply system (EWSS). This technique does not require sump recirculation operations described in the current procedure for resolving beam tube accidents. The reduction in the risk to the core in the event of beam tube rupture that can be achieved by the proposed change in the cooling water injection design is quantified as follows. 1) The total CDF of the KRR for the proposed design change is approximately 4.17E-06/yr, which is 8.4% lower than the CDF of the current design (4.55E-06/yr). 2) The CDF for beam tube rupture is 7.10E-08/yr, which represents an 84.1% decrease compared with that of the current design (4.49E-07/yr). In addition to this quantitative reduction in risk, the modified cooling water injection design maintains a supply of pure coolant to the EWSS tank. This means that the reactor does not require decontamination after an accident. Thermal hydraulic analysis proves that the water level in the reactor pool does not cause damage to the nuclear fuel cladding after beam tube rupture. This is because the amount of water in the chimney can be regulated by the EWSS function. The EWSS supplies emergency water to the reactor core to compensate for the evaporation of coolant in the core, thus allowing water to cover the fuel assemblies in the reactor core over a sufficient amount of time.

• 대한기계학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한기계학회 2002년도 학술대회지
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• pp.51-54
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• 2002

When a cold HPSI (High Pressure Safety Injection) fluid associated with an design basis accident, such as LOCA (Loss of Coolant Accident), enters the cold legs of a stagnated primary coolant loop, thermal stratification phenomena will arise due to incomplete mixing. If the stratified flow enters a reactor pressure vessel downcomer, severe thermal stresses are created in a radiation embrittled vessel wall by local overcooling. Previous thermal-mixing analyses have assumed that the thermal stratification phenomena generated in stagnated loop of a partially stagnated coolant loop are neutralized in the vessel downcomer by strong flow from unstagnated loop. On the basis of these reasons, this paper presents the thermal-mixing analysis results in order to identify the fact that the cold plume generated in the vessel downcomer due to the thermal stratification phenomena of the stagnated loop is affected by the strong flow of the unstagnated loop.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권8호
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• pp.2960-2973
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• 2022

Since Fukushima nuclear power plant (NPP) accident in 2011, the importance of research on various severe accident phenomena has been emphasized. Particularly, detailed analysis of combustion risk is necessary following the containment damage caused by combustion in the Fukushima accident. Many studies have been conducted to evaluate the risk of local hydrogen concentration increases and flame propagation using computational code. In particular, the potential for combustion by local hydrogen concentration in specific areas within the containment has been emphasized. In this study, the process of flame propagation generated inside a reactor core to containment during a loss of coolant accident (LOCA) was analyzed using MELCOR 2.1 code. Later in the LOCA scenario, it was expected that hydrogen combustion occurred inside the reactor core owing to oxygen inflow through the cold leg break area. The main driving force of the oxygen intrusion is the elevated containment pressure due to the molten corium-concrete interaction. The thermal and mechanical loads caused by the flame threaten the integrity of the containment. Additionally, the containment spray system effectiveness in this situation was evaluated because changes in pressure gradient and concentrations of flammable gases greatly affect the overall behavior of ignition and subsequent containment integrity.