• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.11-24
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• 2005

A very important feature in the development of nuclear technology has been and will continue to be the flow of information from nuclear data production to the various applications fields in nuclear technology. Both, nuclear data and this communications flow are defined in this paper. Nuclear data result from specific technical activities including their production, evaluation, processing, verification, validation and applications. These activities are described, focusing on nuclear reactor calculations. Mathematical definitions of different types of nuclear data are introduced, and international forums involved in nuclear data activities are listed. Electronic links to various sources of information available on the web are specified, whenever possible.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.47-54
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• 2014

The protection of nuclear safety software is essential in that a failure can result in significant economic loss and physical damage to the public. However, software security has often been ignored in nuclear safety software development. To enforce security considerations, nuclear regulator commission recently issued and revised the security regulations for nuclear computer-based systems. It is a great challenge for nuclear developers to comply with the security requirements. However, there is still no clear software development process regarding security activities. This paper proposes an integrated development process suitable for the secure development requirements and system security requirements described by various regulatory bodies. It provides a three-stage framework with eight security activities as the software development process. Detailed descriptions are useful for software developers and licensees to understand the regulatory requirements and to establish a detailed activity plan for software design and engineering.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.349-364
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• 2008

Over the years, probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) research activities conducted at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) have played an essential role in support of the agency's move towards risk-informed regulation. These research activities have provided the technical basis for NRC's regulatory activities in key areas; provided PRA methods, tools, and data enabling the agency to meet future challenges; supported the implementation of NRC's 1995 PRA Policy Statement by assessing key sources of risk; and supported the development of necessary technical and human resources supporting NRC's risk-informed activities. PRA research aimed at improving the NRC's understanding of risk can positively affect the agency's regulatory activities, as evidenced by three case studies involving research on fire PRA, human reliability analysis (HRA), and pressurized thermal shock (PTS) PRA. These case studies also show that such research can take a considerable amount of time, and that the incorporation of research results into regulatory practice can take even longer. The need for sustained effort and appropriate lead time is an important consideration in the development of a PRA research program aimed at helping the agency address key sources of risk for current and potential future facilities.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.15-21
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• 2024

The Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is the basis of global efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. In Republic of Korea, safety measures are integrated with NPT approval through agreements with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Safeguards Agreement. In contrast, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), initially an NPT member, withdrew, refusing IAEA nuclear inspections. This inhibits the precise management of DPRK's nuclear facilities and limits access to related information. The Korean Peninsula, politically divided, sees DPRK in control of nuclear weapons. Although the IAEA periodically evaluates DPRK's nuclear facilities, there's a research gap in contamination and site management with nuclear activities. Recognizing the presence or absence of such activities is crucial for peaceful nuclear endeavors. This proposal suggests the number and locations for environmental sample collection using the Visual Sample Plan (VSP) software for nuclear activity analysis. VSP software is sample collection locations and quantities through statistical tests on collected data, ensuring reliability for decision-making. The proposal identifies sites and facilities for nuclear activity analysis based on IAEA safety reports, utilizing the software's embedded methods. Suggested sampling locations for undisclosed nuclear activities employ VSP's embedded techniques, including 'Show that at least some high % of the sampling area is acceptable' to confirm contamination and 'Estimate the Mean' to evaluate the average contamination level.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2015

After the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (NPP) accident, new regulatory requirements were enforced in July 2013 and a backfit was required for all existing nuclear power plants. It is required to take measures to prevent severe accidents and mitigate their radiological consequences. The Regulatory Standard and Research Department, Secretariat of Nuclear Regulation Authority (S/NRA/R) has been conducting numerical studies and experimental studies on relevant severe accident phenomena and countermeasures. This article highlights fission product (FP) release and hydrogen risk as two major areas. Relevant activities in the S/NRA/R are briefly introduced, as follows: 1. For FP release: Identifying the source terms and leak mechanisms is a key issue from the viewpoint of understanding the progression of accident phenomena and planning effective countermeasures that take into account vulnerabilities of containment under severe accident conditions. To resolve these issues, the activities focus on wet well venting, pool scrubbing, iodine chemistry (in-vessel and ex-vessel), containment failure mode, and treatment of radioactive liquid effluent. 2. For hydrogen risk: because of three incidents of hydrogen explosion in reactor buildings, a comprehensive reinforcement of the hydrogen risk management has been a high priority topic. Therefore, the activities in evaluation methods focus on hydrogen generation, hydrogen distribution, and hydrogen combustion.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.1221-1222
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• 2005

Interface control activities during the nuclear power plant (NPP) construction and operation have been reviewed for enhancing the safety of NPP. The primary focus of the study is given on analysis of lessons learned from the recent significant events of Korean Standard Nuclear Power plant (KSNP), such as a series of break-off of thermal sleeves at YGN 5 & 6 and radioactivity leak at YGN 5, in respect of interface control. Based on the results of the analysis, this study recommends measures for the improvement of interface control among utility and technical supporting organizations (TSO), and suggests new regulatory systems, such as reporting of safety significant non-conformances, to effectively verify the adequacy of interface control activities during construction and operation of NPPs.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.663-672
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• 2012

As software based digital I&C (Instrumentation and Control) systems are used more prevalently in nuclear plants, enhancement of software dependability has become an important issue in the area of nuclear I&C systems. Critical attributes of software dependability are safety and reliability. These attributes are tightly related to software failures caused by faults. Software testing and V&V (Verification and Validation) activities are hence important for enhancing software dependability. If the risky modules of safety-critical software can be predicted, it will be possible to focus on testing and V&V activities more efficiently and effectively. It should also make it possible to better allocate resources for regulation activities. We propose a prediction technique to estimate risky software modules by adopting machine learning models based on software complexity metrics. An empirical study with various machine learning algorithms was executed for comparing the prediction performance. Experimental results show SVMs (Support Vector Machines) perform as well or better than the other methods.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.60.2-60.2
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• 2011

Galactic bars are supposed to be a channel of gas inflow to the galactic center and thus possibly help nuclear star-formation and AGN activities. However, previous studies based on small local samples did not agree with this expectation. We find it necessary to examine the expectation using a large sample and so investigate the effects of bar structures on galactic nuclear activities, based on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR7. We used 6,348 late-type galaxies brighter than Mr = -19.0 in the redshift range $0.01{\leq}z{\leq}0.05$. Late-type galaxies are visually classified into barred or unbarred galaxies using SDSS color composite images. We compare the fractions of galaxies showing star-formation and AGN activities among barred and unbarred galaxies as a function of optical color, stellar mass, and black-hole mass. We have found that bar enhances nuclear star-formation activity on galaxies having low stellar mass, and low black-hole mass. This effect is stronger in redder galaxies. In the case of AGN, bar effects are higher in intermediate-mass galaxies. Bars also have an effect on the strength(!) of the star-formation and AGN activity in our sample as well. Thus, it seems that nuclear activities are powered by gas inflow from galactic bar structures perhaps not always but under certain conditions.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.127-138
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• 2005

Approaches to several recent issues in the operation of nuclear power plants using computational intelligence are discussed. These issues include 1) noise analysis techniques, 2) on-line monitoring and sensor validation, 3) regularization of ill-posed surveillance and diagnostic measurements, 4) transient identification, 5) artificial intelligence-based core monitoring and diagnostic system, 6) continuous efficiency improvement of nuclear power plants, and 7) autonomous anticipatory control and intelligent-agents. Several changes to the focus of Computational Intelligence in Nuclear Engineering have occurred in the past few years. With earlier activities focusing on the development of condition monitoring and diagnostic techniques for current nuclear power plants, recent activities have focused on the implementation of those methods and the development of methods for next generation plants and space reactors. These advanced techniques are expected to become increasingly important as current generation nuclear power plants have their licenses extended to 60 years and next generation reactors are being designed to operate for extended fuel cycles (up to 25 years), with less operator oversight, and especially for nuclear plants operating in severe environments such as space or ice-bound locations.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.364.2-364
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• 2002