• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권3호
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• pp.901-910
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• 2021

KHNP recently has obtained the approval for the commercialization of the modified 37-element (or 37 M) fuel bundle and now is loading the 37 M fuel bundles in CANDU-6 reactors in KOREA. One of the main issues for approval was the burnup limit. Due to CANDU design and neutronic characteristics, there was no specific burnup restriction of a fuel bundle. The absence of a burnup limit does not mean that a fuel bundle can stay in the CANDU reactor without a time limit. However, the regulator requested traditional design values as well as the burnup limit reflecting the computer code uncertainty. The method for the PWR burnup limit was not applied to the CANDU fuel bundle. Since there was no approved methodology to build the burnup limit with uncertainties, KHNP introduced a Monte-Carlo method coupled with a 95/95 approach to determine the conservative burnup limit from the viewpoint of the centerline temperature, internal pressure, strain measurement deviation. Moreover, to consider the uncertainties of various computing models, a converted power uncertainty was introduced. This paper presents the methodology and puts forward the limits on burnup, evaluated for each of the existing and modified fuel bundles, in consideration of the pressure tube aging condition.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권12호
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• pp.4743-4750
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• 2022

Heat pipe cooled nuclear reactor has been a very attractive technical solution to provide the power for deep space applications. In this paper, a 200 kWe space nuclear reactor power design has been proposed based on the combination of an integrated UN ceramic fuel, a heat pipe cooling system and the Stirling power generators. Neutronics and thermal analysis have been performed on the space nuclear reactor. It was found that the entire reactor core has at least 3.9 $ subcritical even under the worst-case submersion accident superimposed a single safety drum failure, and results from fuel temperature coefficient, neutron spectrum and power distribution analysis also showed that this reactor design satisfies the neutronics requirements. Thermal analysis showed that the power in the core can be successfully removed both in normal operation or under one or more heat pipes failure scenarios.

• 한국에너지공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국에너지공학회 2002년도 추계 학술발표회 논문집
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• pp.71-79
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• 2002

이중구조 가연성독봉(Duplex BP)의 성능을 평가하기 위해 한국표준형발전소 24개월 주기를 기준으로 16개 Gadolinia 독봉이 장전된 핵연료집합체에 대해 핵적 평가를 수행하였다. 16개 Gd 독봉이 장전된 핵연료집합체와 동일한 반응도 억제가를 갖는 Duplex 독봉집합체를 설계하기 위해 내심에 Natural U-12wt%Gd$_2$O$_3$, 외심에는 4.95wt%$UO_2$-2w/oEr$_2$O$_3$을 넣어 이중 성형한 24개의 이중구조 가연성독봉이 장전된 핵연료집합체를 설계하였다. 또한 같은 방법으로 140개의 Erbia 독봉이 장전된 등가핵연료집합체를 설계하였다. 핵설계 특성평가를 위해 연소도에 따른 무한증배계수, 반응도억제가, 첨두봉출력 그리고 냉각재 온도재수에 대한 변화에 대해서 비교하였다. Duplex 독봉은 Gadolinia 독봉에 비해 k-inf의 2차 첨두현상을 완화시켜 반응도 제어면에서 유리한 것으로 나타났다. 그러나, 다량의 Erbia 독봉을 전체적으로 골고루 장전한 핵연료집합체보다는 Duplex BP를 장전한 핵연료집합체가 노심내 반응도 제어면에서 유리하지 못한 것으로 나타났다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제45권1호
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• pp.81-88
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• 2013

Neutron spectrum analyses of spallation neutrons are conducted in the accelerator-driven system (ADS) facility at the Kyoto University Critical Assembly (KUCA). High-energy protons (100 MeV) obtained from the fixed field alternating gradient accelerator are injected onto a tungsten target, whereby the spallation neutrons are generated. For neutronic characteristics of spallation neutrons, the reaction rates and the continuous energy distribution of spallation neutrons are measured by the foil activation method and by an organic liquid scintillator, respectively. Numerical calculations are executed by MCNPX with JENDL/HE-2007 and ENDF/B-VI libraries to evaluate the reaction rates of activation foils (bismuth and indium) set at the target and the continuous energy distribution of spallation neutrons set in front of the target. For the reaction rates by the foil activation method, the C/E values between the experiments and the calculations are found around a relative difference of 10%, except for some reactions. For continuous energy distribution by the organic liquid scintillator, the spallation neutrons are observed up to 45 MeV. From these results, the neutron spectrum information on the spallation neutrons generated at the target are attained successfully in injecting 100 MeV protons onto the tungsten target.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권8호
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• pp.3095-3105
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• 2022

Solid Microencapsulated Fuel (SMF) is a type of solid fuel rod design that disperses TRISO coated fuel particles directly into a kind of matrix. SMF is expected to provide improved performance because of the elimination of cladding tube and associated failure mechanisms. This study focused on the neutronics and some of the fuel cycle characteristics of SMF by using OpenMC. Two kinds of SMFs have been designed and evaluated - fuel particles dispersed into a silicon carbide matrix and fuel particles dispersed into a zirconium matrix. A 7×7 fuel assembly with increased rod diameter transformed from the standard NHR200-II 9×9 array was also introduced to increase the heavy metal inventory. A preliminary study of two kinds of burnable poisons (Erbia & Gadolinia) in two forms (BISO and QUADRISO particles) was also included. This study found that SMF requires about 12% enriched UN TRISO particles to match the cycle length of standard fuel when loaded in NHR200-II, which is about 7% for SMF with increased rod diameter. Feedback coefficients are less negative through the life of SMF than the reference. And it is estimated that the average center temperature of fuel kernel at fuel rod centerline is about 60 K below that of reference in this paper.