• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.54 no.1
• /
• pp.11-18
• /
• 2022

In this research, curium oxide (CmO₂) is studied as fuel for VVER-1200 reactor to get an attention to its energy value and possibilities. For this purpose, CmO₂ is used in fuel rods or integrated burnable absorber (IBA) rods with and without UO₂ and then compared with the conventional fuel assembly of VVER-1200 reactor. It is burned to 60 GWd/t by using SRAC-2006 code and JENDL-4.0 data library. From these studies, it is found that CmO₂ is competent like UO₂ as a fuel due to higher fission cross-section of ²⁴³Cm and ²⁴⁵Cm isotopes and neutron capture cross-section of ²⁴⁴Cm and ²⁴⁶Cm isotopes. As a result, when some or all of the UO₂ of fuel rods or IBA rods are replaced by CmO₂, we get a similar k-inf like the reference even with lower enrichment UO₂ fuels. These studies show that the use of CmO₂ as IBA rods is more effective than the fuel rods considering the initially loaded amount, power peaking factor (PPF), fuel temperature and void coefficient, and the quality of spent fuel. From a detailed study, 3% CmO₂ with inert material ZrO₂ in IBA rods are recommended for the VVER-1200 reactor assembly from the once through concept.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.45 no.1
• /
• pp.70.4-71
• /
• 2020

One of the distinctive characteristics of the evolution of binary systems would be mass transfer. Close binary systems experience so-called Case A mass transfer during the main-sequence. We have performed calculations of the evolution of massive Case A (with the initial period 1.5 ~ 4.5 days) binary systems with the initial mass of 10 ~ 20 solar masses and mass ratio 0.5 ~ 0.95 using the MESA code. We find that in some systems, after the first mass transfer, the secondary stars evolve faster than the primary stars and undergo so-called 'reverse' mass transfer. Such phenomena tend to occur in relatively low-mass (initial mass < 16 solar masses) and close (initial period < 3 day) systems. Unless a system enters the common-envelope phase, the primary star would become a single helium star after the secondary star ends its life if the system were unbound by the neutron star kick. We find the various evolutionary implications of the remaining primary stars. In addition to the evolution into the compact single helium star progenitor, there is a possibility that the remaining primary star could evolve into a helium giant star, which could be a promising candidate for Type Ibn supernova progenitor, depending on the core mass. Further, we find that some primary stars satisfy the conditions for the formation of electron-capture supernova progenitor.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.105-111
• /
• 1988

The chemical effects resulting from the capture of the thermal neutron by manganese in various crystalline permanganates, that is, potassium permanganate ammonium permangante and barium permanganate, have been investigated. The effect of pH of solvent on the distribution of radioactive manganese chemical species, that is, cationic $^{56}$ Mn, $^{56}$ MnO$_2$ and $^{56}$ MnO$_4$$^{[-10]}$ produced in the permanganates by $^{55}$ Mn(n, ｒ) $^{56}$ Mn reaction was studied by using various adsorbents and ion-exchanger, that is, zeolite A-3, kaolinite, alumina, manganese dioxide and Dowex-50 The distribution of radioactive MnO$_4$$^{[-10]}$ in kaolinite and alumina has higher than that in other adsorbents and ion-exchanger at a representative pH value of 4, 7 and 9, respectively. The yield of radioactive MnO$_4$$^{[-10]}$ is higher at pH 4 End pH 9 than at pH 7. The thermal annealing behavior of recoil manganese atoms produced in the permanganates by $^{55}$ Mn(n, ｒ) $^{56}$ Mn reaction was also studied. The retention of MnO$_4$$^{[-10]}$ in the thermal annealing is increased as annealing temperature increases when it was treated at 10$0^{\circ}C$ and 13$0^{\circ}C$. The recoil effect of permanganates was explained by the hot zone model.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.46 no.3
• /
• pp.313-342
• /
• 2014

A Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) benchmark for Uncertainty Analysis in Modeling (UAM) is defined in order to facilitate the development and validation of available uncertainty analysis and sensitivity analysis methods for best-estimate Light water Reactor (LWR) design and safety calculations. The benchmark has been named the OECD/NEA UAM-LWR benchmark, and has been divided into three phases each of which focuses on a different portion of the uncertainty propagation in LWR multi-physics and multi-scale analysis. Several different reactor cases are modeled at various phases of a reactor calculation. This paper discusses Phase I, known as the "Neutronics Phase", which is devoted mostly to the propagation of nuclear data (cross-section) uncertainty throughout steady-state stand-alone neutronics core calculations. Three reactor systems (for which design, operation and measured data are available) are rigorously studied in this benchmark: Peach Bottom Unit 2 BWR, Three Mile Island Unit 1 PWR, and VVER-1000 Kozloduy-6/Kalinin-3. Additional measured data is analyzed such as the KRITZ LEU criticality experiments and the SNEAK-7A and 7B experiments of the Karlsruhe Fast Critical Facility. Analyzed results include the top five neutron-nuclide reactions, which contribute the most to the prediction uncertainty in keff, as well as the uncertainty in key parameters of neutronics analysis such as microscopic and macroscopic cross-sections, six-group decay constants, assembly discontinuity factors, and axial and radial core power distributions. Conclusions are drawn regarding where further studies should be done to reduce uncertainties in key nuclide reaction uncertainties (i.e.: $^{238}U$ radiative capture and inelastic scattering (n, n') as well as the average number of neutrons released per fission event of $^{239}Pu$).

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.27 no.4
• /
• pp.232-235
• /
• 2016

The purpose of this study is to develop the treatment planning system (TPS) based on Monte-Carlo simulation for BNCT. In this paper, we will propose a method for dose estimation by Monte-Carlo simulation using the CT image, and will evaluate the accuracy of dose estimation of this TPS. The complicated geometry like a human body allows defining using the lattice function in MCNPX. The results of simulation such as flux or energy deposition averaged over a cell, can be obtained using the features of the tally provided by MCNPX. To assess the dose distribution and therapeutic effect, dose distribution was displayed on the CT image, and dose volume histogram (DVH) was employed in our developed system. The therapeutic effect can be efficiently evaluated by these evaluation tool. Our developed TPS could be effectively performed creating the voxel model from CT image, the estimation of each dose component, and evaluation of the BNCT plan.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.42 no.1
• /
• pp.79-88
• /
• 2010

Spent $UO_2$ nuclear fuel discharged from a nuclear power plant (NPP) contains fission products, U, Pu, and other actinides. Due to neutron capture by $^{238}U$ in the rim region and a temperature gradient between the center and the rim of a fuel pellet, a considerable increase in the concentration of fission products, Pu, and other actinides are expected in the pellet periphery of high burnup fuel. The characterization of the radial profiles of the various isotopic concentrations is our main concern. For an analysis, spent nuclear fuels originating from the Yeonggwang-2 pressurized water reactor (PWR) were chosen as the test specimens. In this work, the distributions of some actinide isotopes were measured from center to rim of the spent fuel specimens by a radiation shielded laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (LA-ICP-MS) system. Sampling was performed along the diameter of the specimen by reducing the sampling intervals from 500 ${\mu}m$ in the center to 100 ${\mu}m$ in the pellet periphery region. It was observed that the isotopic concentration ratios for minor actinides in the center of the specimen remain almost constant and increase near the pellet periphery due to the rim effect apart from the $^{236}U$ to $^{235}U$ ratio, which remains approximately constant. In addition, the distributions of local burnup were derived from the measured isotope ratios by applying the relationship between burnup and isotopic ratio for plutonium and minor actinides calculated by the ORIGEN2 code.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
• /
• 2018.11a
• /
• pp.104-104
• /
• 2018

Kori Unit 1 is the first permanent shutdown nuclear power plant in Korea and it is on June 18th, 2017. Spent fuel assemblies began to be discharged from the reactor core to the spent fuel pool(SFP) within one week after shutdown of Kori unit 1 and the campaign was completed on June 27th, 2017. The total number of spent nuclear fuel assemblies in SFP of Kori Unit-1 is 485 and their discharging date is different respectively. So, decay heat was evaluated considering the actual enrichment, operation history and cooling time of the spent fuel assemblies stored in SFP of the Kori Unit-1. The code used in the evaluation is the ORIGEN-based CAREPOOL system developed by KHNP. Decay heat calculation of PWR fuel is based on ANSI/ANS 5.1-2005, "Decay heat power in light water reactors" and ISO-10645, "Nuclear energy - Light water reactors - Calculation of the decay heat power in nuclear fuels. Also, we considered the contribution of fission products, actinide nuclides, neutron capture and radioactive material in decay heat calculation. CAREPOOL system calculates the individual and total decay heat of all of the spent fuel assemblies in SFP of Kori Unit-1. As a result, the total decay heat generated in SFP on June 28th, 2017 when the spent fuel assemblies were discharged from the reactor core, is estimated to be about 4,185.8 kw and to be about 609.5 kw on September 1st, 2018. It was also estimated that 119.6 kw is generated in 2050 when it is 32 years after the permanent shutdown. Figure 1 shows the trend of total decay heat in SFP of Kori Unit-1.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.83-90
• /
• 2020

The Graphite Isotope Ratio Method (GIRM) can verify non-proliferation of nuclear weapon by estimating the total plutonium production in a graphite-moderated reactor. Using the reactor, plutonium is generated and accumulated through the ²³⁸U neutron capture reaction, and impurities in the graphite are converted to nuclides due to the nuclear reaction. Therefore, the amount of plutonium production and concentration of the impurities are correlated. However, the plutonium production cannot be predicted using only the absolute concentration of the impurities. It can only be predicted when the initial concentration of the impurities is obtained because the concentration, at a certain time, depends on it. Nevertheless, the ratios of the isotopes in an element are known regardless of the impurity of an element in the graphite moderator. Thus, the correlation between the isotope ratio and amount of plutonium produced helps predict plutonium production in a graphite-moderated reactor. Boron, Lithium, Chlorine, Titanium, and Uranium are known as indicator elements in the GIRM. To assess whether the correlation between the indicator isotope and amount of plutonium produced is independent of the initial concentration of the impurities, four different impurity compositions of graphite were used. ¹⁰B/¹¹B, ³⁶Cl/³⁵Cl, ⁴⁸Ti/⁴⁹Ti, and ²³⁵U/²³⁸U had a consistent correlation with the cumulative plutonium production, regardless of the initial impurity concentration of the graphite, because these isotopes were not generated through the nuclear reaction of other elements. On the other hand, the correlation between ⁶Li/⁷Li and plutonium production depended on the initial concentration of the impurities in graphite. Although ⁷Li can be produced through the neutron capture reaction of ⁶Li, the (n, α) reaction of ¹⁰B was the major source of ⁷Li. Therefore, the initial concentration of ¹⁰B affected the production of ⁷Li, making Li unsuitable as an indicator element for the GIRM.