• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.389-403
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• 2019

Large amounts of concrete waste are likely to arise from the decommissioning of a Kori-1 nuclear power plant. Several studies have been conducted on decommissioning concrete waste in recent decades, however, they have been limited to contaminated concrete issues or were small pilot-scale experiments. This study constructed two industrial-scale models of on-site concrete waste management for clean as well as contaminated concrete. To evaluate the performance of both the models, simulations were conducted using the Flexsim software. The concrete particle size distribution of Kori-1 and concrete processor properties based on widely used construction equipment were used as sources of input data for the simulations. It was observed that it may take over two years to complete the on-site concrete management processes owing to the performance of existing processors. In addition, it was demonstrated that it is essential to identify bottlenecks in the system and enhance the performance of the relevant processors to avoid delays of the decommissioning schedule. Our results suggest that this novel approach can contribute to developing schedules or expediting delayed activities in the Kori-1 decommissioning project.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.833-841
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• 2021

During the postulated severe accident of nuclear reactor, eutectic reaction leads to low-temperature melting of fuel cladding and early failure of core structure. In order to model eutectic melting with the moving particle semi-implicit (MPS) method, the eutectic reaction model is developed to simulate the eutectic reaction phenomenon. The coupling of mass diffusion and phase diagram is applied to calculate the eutectic reaction with the uniform temperature. A heat transfer formula is proposed based on the phase diagram to handle the heat release or absorption during the process of eutectic reaction, and it can combine with mass diffusion and phase diagram to describe the eutectic reaction with temperature variation. The heat transfer formula is verified by the one-dimensional melting simulations and the predicted interface position agrees well with the theoretical solution. In order to verify the eutectic reaction models, the eutectic reaction of uranium and iron in two semi-infinite domains is simulated, and the profile of solid thickness decrease over time follows the parabolic law. The modified MPS method is applied to calculate Transient Reactor Test Facility (TREAT) experiment, the penetration rate in the simulations are agreeable with the experiment results. In addition, a hypothetical case based on the TREAT experiment is also conducted to validate the eutectic reaction with temperature variation, the results present continuity with the simulations of TREAT experiment. Thus the improved method is proved to be capable of simulating the eutectic reaction in the severe accident.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.95.1-95.1
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• 2012

Very High Temperature gas cooler Reactor (VHTR) has been considered as one of the most promising nuclear reactor because of many advantages including high inherent safety to avoid environmental pollution, high thermal efficiency and the role of secondary energy source. The TRISO coated fuel particles used in VHTR are composed of 4 layers as OPyC, SiC, IPyC and buffer PyC. The significance of CVD-SiC coatings used in tri-isotropic(TRISO) nuclear coated fuel particles is to maintain the strength of the whole particle. Various methods have been proposed to evaluate the mechanical properties of CVD-SiC film at room temperature. However, few works have been attempted to characterize properties of CVD-SiC film at high temperature. In this study, micro tensile system was newly developed for mechanical characterization of SiC thin film at elevated temperature. Two kinds of CVD-SiC films were prepared for micro tensile test. SiC-A had [111]-preferred orientation, while SiC-B had [220]-preferred orientation. The free silicon was co-deposited in SiC-B coating layer. The fracture strength of two different CVD-SiC films was characterized up to $1000^{\circ}C$.The strength of SiC-B film decreased with temperature. This result can be explained by free silicon, observed in SiC-B along the columnar boundaries by TEM. The presence of free silicon causes strength degradation. Also, larger Weibull-modulus was measured. The new method can be used for thin film material at high temperature.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.1161-1166
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• 2022

Green pitch coke with an average particle size of 2 mm was adopted as densifier and added to the raw materials of conventional A3-3 matrix graphite (MG) to prepare modified A3-3 matrix graphite (MMG) by the quasi-isostatic molding method. The structure, mechanical and thermal properties were assessed. Compared with MG, MMG had a more compact structure, and exhibited improved properties of higher mechanical strength, higher thermal conductivity and better molten salt barrier performance. Notably, under the same infiltration pressure of 5 atm, the fluoride salt occupation of MMG was only 0.26 wt%, whereas it was 15.82 wt% for MG. The densification effect of green pitch coke endowed MMG with improved properties for potential use in the spherical fuel elements of molten salt reactor.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.399-410
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• 2022

The solubility and species distribution of radionuclides in groundwater are essential data for the safety assessment of deep underground spent nuclear fuel (SNF) disposal systems. Americium is a major radionuclide responsible for the long-term radiotoxicity of SNF. In this study, the solubility of americium compounds was evaluated in synthetic groundwater (SynDB3), simulating groundwater from the DB3 site of the KAERI Underground Research Tunnel. Geochemical modeling was performed using the ThermoChimie_11a thermochemical database. Concentration of dissolved Am(III) in Syn-DB3 in the pH range of 6.4-10.5 was experimentally measured under over-saturation conditions by liquid scintillation counting over 70 d. The absorption spectra recorded for the same period suggest that Am(III) colloidal particles formed initially followed by rapid precipitation within 2 d. In the pH range of 7.5-10.5, the concentration of dissolved Am(III) converged to approximately 2×10^-7 M over 70 d, which is comparable to that of the amorphous AmCO₃OH(am) according to the modeling results. As the samples were aged for 70 d, a slow equilibrium process occurred between the solid and solution phases. There was no indication of transformation of the amorphous phase into the crystalline phase during the observation period.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.3-10
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• 2002

The characteristics of dry and wet milled powder prepared by 1 cycle OREOX (oxidation and reduction of oxide fuels) treatment were investigated using the simulated spent fuel pellet. Sintered pellets simulating spent nuclear fuel burned in reactor were fabricated from $UO_2$ powder using as a starting material in fabrication of nuclear fuel. The 1 cycle OREOX-treated powder was prepared by only one path of oxidation md reduction of the simulated pellet. Powder having average particle size of less than 1 $\mu\textrm{m}$ could be easily obtained by dry milling, but not be achieved by wet milling. And, specific surface area of dry milled pow-der was higher than that of wet milled powder. Dry milled powder formed loose agglomerate, while wet milled powder showed the shape of irregular and angular particles. Dry milled powder provided higher green density, resulting in higher sintered density of higher than 95% TD and average grain size of larger than 8 $\mu\textrm{m}$ satisfying the standard specification of sintered pellets.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.549-558
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• 2004

TTo comply with increasingly strict regulations for protection against radiation exposure, many nuclear power plants have been working ceaselessly to reduce and control both the radiation sources within power plants and the radiation exposure experienced by operational and maintenance personnel. Many research studies have shown that deposits of irradiated corrosion products on the surfaces of coolant systems are the main cause of occupational radiation exposure in nuclear power plant. These corrosion product deposits on the fuel-clad surface are also known to be main factors in the onset of axial offset anomaly (AOA). Hence, there is a great deal of ongoing research on water chermistry and corrosion processes. In this study, a magnetic filter with permanent magnets was devised to remove the corrosion products in the coolant stream by taking advantage of the magnetic properties of the corrosion products demonstrated a removal efficiency of over 90% for particles above 5${\mu}m$. This finding led to the construction of an electromagnetic device that causes the metallic particulates to flocculate into larger aggregates of about 5${\mu}m$ in diameter by using a novel application of electromagnetic flocculation on radioactive corrosion products.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.363-372
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• 2020

Anionic radionuclides pose one of the highest risks to the long-term safety assessments of disposal repositories. Therefore, techniques to immobilize and separate such anionic radionuclides are of crucial importance from the viewpoints of safety and waste volume reduction. The main objective of this study is to design a separator with minimum pressure disturbance, based on the concept of a conventional cyclone separator. We hypothesize that the anionic radionuclides can be immobilized onto a nanomaterial-based substrate and that the particles generated in the process can flow via water. These particles are denser than water; hence, they can be trapped within the cyclone-type separator because of its design. We conducted particle tracking analysis using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for the conventional cyclone separator and studied the effects due to the morphology of the separator. The proposed sandglass-like design of the separator shows promising results (i.e., only one out of 10,000 particles escaped to the outlet from the separation zone). To validate the design, we manufactured a laboratory-scale prototype separator and tested it for iron particles; the efficiency was ca. 99%. Furthermore, using an additional magnetic effect with the separator, we could effectively separate particles with ~100% efficiency. The proposed sandglass-like separator can thus be used for effective separation and recovery of immobilized anionic radionuclides.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.523-531
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• 2022

In order to study the sensitivity and the uncertainty of the Moroccan research reactor TRIGA Mark II, a model of this reactor has been developed in our ERSN laboratory for use with the N-Particle MCNP Monte Carlo transport codes (version 6). In this article, the sensitivities of the effective multiplication factor of this reactor are evaluated using the ENDF/B-VII.0, ENDF/B-VII.1 and JENDL-4.0 libraries and in 44 energy groups, for the cross sections of the fuel (U-235 and U-238) and the moderator (H-1 and O-16). However, the quantification of the uncertainty of the nuclear data is performed using the nuclear code NJOY99 for the generation and processing of covariance matrices. On the one hand, the highest uncertainty deviations, calculated using the ENDFB-VII.1 and JENDL4.0 evaluations, are 2275, 386 and 330 pcm respectively for the reactions U₂₃₅(n, f), $ U_{235}(n\bar{\nu})$ and H₁(n, γ). On the other hand, these differences are very small for the neutron reactions of O-16 and U-238. Regarding the neutron spectra, in CT-mid plane, they are very close for the three evaluations (ENDF/B-VII.0, ENDF/B-VII.1 and JENDL-4.0). These spectra present two peaks (thermal and fission) around the energies 0.05 eV and 1 MeV.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.469-476
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• 2020

Research reactors in-core experimental facilities are designed to provide the highest steady state flux for user's irradiation requirements. However, fuel conversion from highly enriched uranium (HEU) to low enriched uranium (LEU) driven by the ongoing effort to diminish proliferation risk, will impact reactor physics parameters. Preserving the reactor capability to produce the needed flux to perform its intended research functions, determines the conversion feasibility. This study investigates the neutron flux in the central experimental facility of two material test reactors (MTR), the IAEA generic10 MW benchmark reactor and the 22 MW s Egyptian Test and Research Reactor (ETRR-2). A 3D full core model with three uranium enrichment of 93%, 45%, and 20% was constructed utilizing the OpenMC particle transport Monte Carlo code. Neutronics calculations were performed for fresh fuel, the beginning of life cycle (BOL) and end of life cycle (EOL) for each of the three enrichments for both the IAEA 10 MW generic reactor and core 1/98 of the ETRR-2 reactor. Criticality calculations of the effective multiplication factor (K_eff) were executed for each of the twelve cases; results show a reasonable agreement with published benchmark values for both reactors. The thermal, epithermal and fast neutron fluxes were tallied across the core, utilizing the mesh tally capability of the code and are presented here. The axial flux in the central experimental facility was tallied at 1 cm intervals, for each of the cases; results for IAEA 10 MW show a maximum reduction of 14.32% in the thermal flux of LEU to that of the HEU, at EOL. The reduction of the thermal flux for fresh fuel was between 5.81% and 9.62%, with an average drop of 8.1%. At the BOL the thermal flux showed a larger reduction range of 6.92%-13.58% with an average drop of 10.73%. Furthermore, the fission reaction rate was calculated, results showed an increase in the peak fission rate of the LEU case compared to the HEU case. Results for the ETRR-2 reactor show an average increase of 62.31% in the thermal flux of LEU to that of the HEU due to the effect of spectrum hardening. The fission rate density increased with enrichment, resulting in 34% maximum increase in the HEU case compared to the LEU case at the assemblies surrounding the flux trap.