• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.324-329
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• 2010

Fuel rods using in nuclear power plants consist of uranium dioxide pellets enclosed in zirconium alloy(zircaloy) tubes. It is vitally important for the pellet surface to remain free from pits, cracks and chipping defects after it is loaded into the tubes to prevent local hot spots during reactor operation. This paper investigates the feasibility study for detecting surface flaws of pellets contained within nuclear fuel rod through X-ray tomography simulation. Reconstructed images used by parallel and fan-beam filtered back projection method were presented and confirmed the accessibility between simulation data and MPS(missing pellet surface) image data.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.249-257
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• 2015

A fuel assembly consists of fuel rods composed of pellets (UO2) and a cladding tube (Zircaloy). The role of the fuel rods in the reactor is to generate heat by nuclear fission, as well as to retain fission products during operation. A simulation method using a computer program was used to evaluate the safety of the nuclear fuel rods. This computer program has been called the fuel performance code. In the analysis of a light water reactor fuel rod, the gap conductance, which depended on the distance between the pellets and cladding tube, mainly influenced the thermomechanical behavior of the fuel rod. In this work, a 3D gap element was proposed to simulate the thermo-mechanical behavior of the nuclear fuel rod, considering the gap conductance. To implement the proposed 3D gap element, a 3D thermo-mechanical module was also developed using FORTRAN90. The asymmetric characteristics of the nuclear fuel rod, such as the MPS (missing pellet surface) and eccentricity, were simulated to evaluate the proposed 3D gap element.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.411-420
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• 2003

Physical and cultural properties were investigated on the rice-seed pellets made by the pelleting machine(Yu, 2003) as the changes with mixing ratios of soil to rice seed of 6 : 1, 7 : 1, and 8 : I, and rotating speeds of forming rolls of 7, 10, and 13 rpm. Average weight, average diameter, and average sphericity of the pellets were 1.70 g, 12.0 ㎜, and 99.1 ％, respectively. Average number of seeds per pellet was more than 3, and almost all pellets had more than 3 seeds in the cases of mixing ratios of 6 : 1, and 7 : 1 at the forming rolls' speed of 7 rpm. Gradual drying was needed because rapid drying caused cracks on surface of the pellets. Compression strength of the pellets dried in shady room was in the range of 132 ∼ 152 N, which was enough for handling. Comparing with the previous pellets(Park, 2002), average number of seeds per pellet, ratio of pellets including more than 3 seeds, and compression strength increased due to the effects of pressure feed of pellet materials, and improvements of the forming rolls. Emergence ratio of the pellets made at the mixing ratio of 6 : 1 and the forming rolls' speed of 7 rpm, was 100 % on dry paddy and was 97 % on flooded paddy surface. Good growth characteristics, and yield except number of seedling stand and ratio of missing plant were shown in planting of the pellets made at the mixing ratio of 7 : 1 and the forming rolls' speed of 7 rpm on flooded paddy surface field. Considering the cultural results, the mixing ratio of 6 : 1, and the forming rolls' speed of 7 rpm seems to be optimum operating condition for the improved pelleting machine.