• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.407-408
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• 2005

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.843-844
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• 2004

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.297-298
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• 2005

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.231-236
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• 2010

The growth in global energy demand and the increased recognition of the impacts of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel plants have aroused a renewed interest on nuclear energy. Many countries are looking afresh at building more nuclear power stations to deal with the twin problems of global warming and the need for more generating capacity. Many in the nuclear community are also anticipating a significant growth of new nuclear generation in the coming decades. If there is a nuclear renaissance, will the expansion of nuclear power be compatible with global non-proliferation and security? or will it add to the environmental burden from the large inventory of spent nuclear fuel already produced in existing nuclear power reactors? We learn from past peaceful nuclear activities that significant concerns associated with nuclear proliferation and spent-fuel management have resulted in a decrease in public acceptance for nuclear power in many countries. The terrorist attack in the United States (US) on September 11, 2001 also raised concern for security and worry that nuclear materials may fall into the wrong hands. As we increase the use of nuclear power, we must simultaneously reduce the proliferation, security and environmental risks in managing spent-fuel below where they are today.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.665-674
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• 2013

This paper presents the development and validation methods of the FUTURE (FUel cycle analysis Tool for nUcleaR Energy) code, which was developed for a dynamic material flow evaluation and economic analysis of the nuclear fuel cycle. This code enables an evaluation of a nuclear material flow and its economy for diverse nuclear fuel cycles based on a predictable scenario. The most notable virtue of this FUTURE code, which was developed using C# and MICROSOFT SQL DBMS, is that a program user can design a nuclear fuel cycle process easily using a standard process on the canvas screen through a drag-and-drop method. From the user's point of view, this code is very easy to use thanks to its high flexibility. In addition, the new code also enables the maintenance of data integrity by constructing a database environment of the results of the nuclear fuel cycle analyses.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.1355-1362
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• 2022

Nuclear fuel, including its fresh state, must be handled safely due to its critical and hazardous nature. Under normal transport conditions, several interactions take place among different components, such as transport cask used for loading the nuclear fuel and tie-down structure to attach with the vehicle. To ensure structural integrity of the nuclear fuel, vibrations and impacts transmitted from the vehicle must be sufficiently reduced. Therefore, in this study, we conducted two transportation tests from Daejeon to Kijang in Korea to verify the vehicle-induced vibrational characteristics of the KJRR-F fresh nuclear fuel when transported under normal transport conditions. The speed and location of the vehicle were obtained via GPS, and the accelerations between the vehicle and the KJRR-F fresh nuclear fuel were measured. Additionally, using the acceleration results, a structural analysis was conducted to confirm the structural integrity of the nuclear fuel under the most severe conditions during normal transport.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.240-240
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• 2002

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.2288-2297
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• 2023

Current designs of both large reactor units and small modular reactors utilize a nuclear fuel with increasing enrichment. This increasing demand for better nuclear fuel utilization is a challenge for nuclear fuel handling facilities. The operation with higher enriched fuels leads to reduced reserves to legislative and safety criticality limits of spent fuel transport, storage and final disposal facilities. Design changes in these facilities are restricted due to a boron content in steel and aluminum alloys that are limited by rolling, extrusion, welding and other manufacturing processes. One possible solution for spent fuel pools and casks is the burnup credit method that allows decreasing very high safety margins associated with the fresh fuel assumption in spent fuel facilities. This solution can be supplemented or replaced by an alternative solution based on placing the neutron absorber material directly into the fuel assembly, where its efficiency is higher than between fuel assemblies. A neutron absorber permanently fixed in guide tubes decreases system reactivity more efficiently than absorber sheets between the fuel assemblies. The paper summarizes possibilities of fixed neutron absorbers for various nuclear fuel and fuel handling facilities. Moreover, an absorber material was optimized to propose alternative options to boron. Multiple effective absorbers that do not require steel or aluminum alloy compatibility are discussed because fixed absorbers are placed inside zirconium or steel cladding.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2005.11b
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• pp.156-164
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• 2005

The challenges China is facing in energy security are briefly discussed. Then, the development of nuclear power in China in the first half of 21 st century is envisioned, and it is expected that Generation-3 PWR nuclear power plants (NPPs) would be the leading units of nuclear power in the coming $30\~40$ years. As part of the nuclear power program, the R&D work on nuclear fuel cycle is generally proposed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.306-314
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• 2015

This paper examines the difference in the value of the nuclear fuel cycle cost calculated by the deterministic and probabilistic methods on the basis of an equilibrium model. Calculating using the deterministic method, the direct disposal cost and Pyro-SFR (sodium-cooled fast reactor) nuclear fuel cycle cost, including the reactor cost, were found to be 66.41 mills/kWh and 77.82 mills/kWh, respectively (1 mill = one thousand of a dollar, i.e., $10^{-3}$ $). This is because the cost of SFR is considerably expensive. Calculating again using the probabilistic method, however, the direct disposal cost and Pyro-SFR nuclear fuel cycle cost, excluding the reactor cost, were found be 7.47 mills/kWh and 6.40 mills/kWh, respectively, on the basis of the most likely value. This is because the nuclear fuel cycle cost is significantly affected by the standard deviation and the mean of the unit cost that includes uncertainty. Thus, it is judged that not only the deterministic method, but also the probabilistic method, would also be necessary to evaluate the nuclear fuel cycle cost. By analyzing the sensitivity of the unit cost in each phase of the nuclear fuel cycle, it was found that the uranium unit price is the most influential factor in determining nuclear fuel cycle costs.