• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.10
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• pp.3236-3246
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• 2021

Lessons learned from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident directed that multiple failures should be considered more seriously rather than single failure in the licensing bases and safety cases because attempts to take accident management measures could be unsuccessful under the high radiation environment aggravated by multiple failures, such as complete loss of electric power, uncontrollable loss of coolant inventory, failure of essential safety function recovery. In the case of the complete loss of electric power called station blackout (SBO), if there is no mitigation action for recovering safety functions, the reactor core would be overheated, and severe fuel damage could be anticipated due to the failure of the active heat sink. In such a transient condition at CANDU-6 plants, the seal failure of the primary heat transport (PHT) pumps can facilitate a consequent increase in the fuel sheath temperature and eventually lead to degradation of the fuel integrity. Therefore, it is necessary to specify the regulatory guidelines for multiple failures on a licensing basis so that licensees should prepare the accident management measures to prevent or mitigate accident conditions. In order to explore the efficiency of implementing accident management strategies for CANDU-6 plants, this study proposed a realistic accident analysis approach on the SBO transient with multiple-failure sequences such as seal failure of PHT pumps without operator's recovery actions. In this regard, a comparative study for two PHT pump seal failure modes with and without coolant seal leakage was conducted using a best-estimate code to precisely investigate the behaviors of thermal-hydraulic parameters during transient conditions. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis for different PHT pump seal leakage rates was also carried out to examine the effect of leakage rate on the system responses. This study is expected to provide the technical bases to the accident management strategy for unmitigated transient conditions with multiple failures.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.65-75
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• 2020

The value of tangible assets depreciates over their useful life and this depreciation should be adequately reflected in any tax or financial reports. However, the method used to calculate depreciation can impact the financial performance of solar projects due to the time value of money. Korean tax law stipulates only one method for calculating the depreciation of solar photovoltaic facilities: the straight-line method. Conversely, USA's tax law accepts other depreciation methods as solar incentives, including the modified accelerated cost recovery system (MACRS) and Bonus depreciation method. This paper compares different depreciation methods in the financial analysis of a 10 MW solar system to determine their effect on the financial results. When depreciation was calculated utilizing the MACRS and Bonus depreciation method, the internal rate of return (IRR) was 10.9% and 16.4% higher, respectively, than when the Korean straight-line depreciation method was used. Additionally, the increased IRR resulting from the use of the two US methods resulted in a 20.5% and 27.4% higher net present value, respectively. This shows that changing the depreciation calculation method can redistribute the tax amount during the project period, thereby increasing the discounted cash flow of the solar project. In addition to increasing profitability, USA's depreciation methods alleviate the uncertainty of solar projects and provide more flexibility in project financing than the Korean method. These results strongly suggest that Korean tax law could greatly benefit from adopting USA's depreciation methods as an effective incentive scheme.

• Plant Journal
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.43-49
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• 2022

In this study, the operational characteristics of the 7.48 MW fuel cell power plant consisting of 17 units of 440 kW Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cell (PAFC) in operation since its commercial operation in December 2017 were explained and the heat recovery process of the plat using Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC)was simulated. The fuel cell system performance improvement and economic assessment were analyzed by calculating the amount of heat recovery and electric power available when connecting a 125 kW XLT Model ORC for hot water heat sources with 105℃, 40.8 t/h. The result of the study shows that integrating the 125 kW ORC to PAFC power plant would improve generating efficiency by about 0.6% through annually 851,472 kWh of electricity produced by ORC, and fuel cell and ORC integrated systems were calculated to have a 0.35% higher Internal Return Ratio and more Net Present Value of 1,249 million KRW than not installing ORC despite installation costs.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.10
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• pp.3641-3649
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• 2022

A simple solvothermal reaction was used to prepare a 3-aminopropyl-functionalized silica-gel-based adsorbent for adsorbing Pd(II) from the nitric acid solution. Scanning electron microscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and thermogravimetry analysis were performed on the as-synthesized adsorbent to demonstrate the successful introduction of Schiff base groups. Batch experiments were used to investigate the effects of contact time, nitric acid concentration, solution temperature, and adsorption capacity. It is worth noting that the prepared adsorbent exhibited a higher affinity toward Pd(II) with the uptake approximately 100% even in a 2 M HNO₃ solution. At an equilibrium time of 5 h, the maximum adsorption capacity of Pd(II) was estimated to be 0.452 mmol/g. The adsorbed Pd(II) could be completely eluted by dissolving 0.2 M thiourea solution in 0.1 M HNO₃. Using a combination of particle-induced X-ray emission analysis and an X-ray photoelectron spectrometer, the adsorbed Pd was found to be uniformly distributed on the surface of the prepared adsorbent and the existing species were Pd(II) and zero-valent Pd(0). Due to the desirable performances, facile preparation method, and abundant raw material source, the prepared adsorbent demonstrated a high application potential in the recovery of Pd(II) from simulated high-level liquid waste treatment.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.197-206
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• 2006

This study evaluated the effect of ultrasonic irradiation on improving the flux and cleaning efficiency in membrane process which is widely applied for the treatment of landfill leachate. The experiments on improvement of membrane flux according to the types of membranes(hallowfiber microfiltration, MF and tubular ultrafiltration, UF) were performed with changing frequency($40{\sim}120$ kHz), intensity ($200{\sim}500$ W) and irradiation time of ultrasound as well us operation pressure($0.1{\sim}2.3kg/cm^2$). Membrane was fouled for the first 50 min with primary treated leachate and then the change in flux according to ultrasonic irradiation period was observed for 70 min. Parameters influenced to the recovery ratio corresponding the net flux on pure water and to the enhancement ratio applied after ultrasonic irradiation on the flux were analyzed. In same condition, the flux was improved in proportion to ultrasonic intensity while the improvement of flux was inversely proportional to ultrasonic frequency. The cleaning effect of membrane was delayed and reduced when operation pressure of membrane was high. The recovery ratio and enhancement ratio for $0.1{\mu}m$ MF membrane were 10% and 500%, respectively while those were maximized at $75{\sim}98%\;and\;40{\sim}50%$ for UF membrane for 10,000 and 100,000 MWCO, respectively. In conclusion, it was confirmed that ultrasonic cleaning using mechanical vibration is alternative to water or chemical cleaning for improving membrane flux.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.570-579
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• 2010

Since the temperature of waste heat source is relatively low, it is difficult to maintain high level of efficiency in power generation when the waste heat recovery is employed in the system. In an effort to improve the thermal efficiency and power output, use of ammonia-water mixture as a working fluid in the power cycle becomes a viable option. In this work, the performance of ammonia-water mixture based Rankine cycle is thoroughly investigated in order to maximize the power generation from the low temperature waste heat. In analyzing the power cycle, several key system parameters such as mass fraction of ammonia in the mixture and turbine inlet pressure are studied to examine their effects on the system performance. The results of the cycle analysis find a substantial increase both in power output and thermal efficiency if the fraction of ammonia increases in the working fluid.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1998.12a
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• pp.209-214
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• 1998

A thermodynamic simulation method is developed for the process design and the performance evaluation of the gas turbine in IGCC power plant. The present study adopts four clean coal gases derived from four different coal gasification and gas clean-up processes as IGCC gas turbine fuel, and considers the integration design condition of the gas turbine with ASU(Air Separation Unit). In addition, the present simulation method includes compressor performance map and expander choking models for considering the off-design effects due to coal gas firing and ASU integration. The present prediction results show that the efficiency and the net power of the IGCC gas turbines are seperior to those of the natural gas fired one but they are decreased with the air extraction from gas turbine to ASU. The operation point of the IGCC gas turbine compressor is shifted to the higher pressure ratio condition far from the design point by reducing the air extraction ratio. The exhaust gas of the IGCC gas turbine has more abundant wast heat for the heat recovery steam generator than that of the natural gas fired gas turbine.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.131-144
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• 2010

The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) has been developing pyroprocessing technology for recycling useful resources from spent fuel since 1997. The process includes pretreatment, electroreduction, electrorefining, electrowinning, and a waste salt treatment system. This paper briefly addresses unit processes and related innovative technologies. As for the electroreduction step, a stainless steel mesh basket was applied for adaption of granules of uranium oxide. This basket was designed for ready handling and transfer of feed material. A graphite cathode was used for the continuous collection of uranium dendrite in the electrorefining system. This enhances the throughput of the electrorefiner. A particular mesh type stirrer was designed to inhibit uranium spill-over at the liquid Cd crucible. A residual actinide recovery system was also tested to recover TRU tracer. In order to reduce the waste volume, a crystallization method is employed for Cs and Sr removal. Experiments on the unit processes were tested successfully, and based on the results, engineering-scale equipment has been designed for the PRIDE (PyRoprocess Integrated inactive DEmonstration facility).

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.1929-1950
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• 2020

Reliable and secure data transmission in the application environment assisted by the wireless sensor network is one of the major challenges. Problem like blind forwarding and data inaccessibility affect the efficiency of overall infrastructure performance. This paper proposes routing protocol for forwarding and error recovery during packet loss. The same is achieved by energy and hops distance-based formulation of the routing mechanism. The reachability of the intermediate node to the source node is the major factor that helps in improving the lifetime of the network. On the other hand, intelligent hop selection increases the reliability over continuous data transmission. The number of hop count is factor of hop weight and available energy of the node. The comparison over the previous state of the art using QualNet-7.4 network simulator shows the effectiveness of proposed work in terms of overall energy conservation of network and reliable data delivery. The simulation results also show the elimination of blind forwarding and data inaccessibility.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.443-453
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• 2015

A hybrid safety injection tank (H-SIT) can enhance the capability of an advanced power reactor plus (APR+) during a station black out (SBO) that is accompanied by a severe accident. It may a useful alternative to an electric motor. The operations strategy of the H-SIT has to be investigated to achieve maximum utilization of its function. In this study, the master logic diagram (i.e., an analysis for identifying the differences between an H-SIT and a safety injection pump) and an accident case classification were used to determine the parameters of the H-SIT operation. The conditions that require the use of an H-SIT were determined using a decision-making process. The proper timing for using an H-SIT was also analyzed by using the Multi-dimensional Analysis of Reactor Safety (MARS) 1.3 code (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon, South Korea). The operation strategy analysis indicates that a H-SIT can mitigate five types of failure: (1) failure of the safety injection pump, (2) failure of the passive auxiliary feedwater system, (3) failure of the depressurization system, (4) failure of the shutdown cooling pump (SCP), and (5) failure of the recirculation system. The results of the MARS code demonstrate that the time allowed for recovery can be extended when using an H-SIT, compared with the same situation in which an H-SIT is not used. Based on the results, the use of an H-SIT is recommended, especially after the pilot-operated safety relief valve (POSRV) is opened.