• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제41권2호
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• pp.155-162
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• 2009

Since the 90's, EDF and AREVA-NP have irradiated, up to very high burnups, lead assemblies housing $M5^{(R)}$ cladded fuels. Post-irradiation examination of high burnup $UO_2$ pellets show an increase in the fission-gas release rate, an increase in fuel swelling, and formation of fission-gas bubbles throughout the pellets. Xenon abundances were quantified, and phenomena leading to this bubble formation were identified. All examinations provided valuable data on the complex state of the fuel during irradiation. They show the good behavior of these fuels, exhibiting various microstructures at very high burnups, none of which is likely to lead to problems during irradiation.

• 융복합기술연구소 논문집
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• 제2권1호
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• pp.7-12
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• 2012

Spent fuels are discharged from nuclear reactors as a result of power generations. The spent fuels would be considered as a useful resources because the main constituent is uranium and some other actinides are included in them. In order to utilize the resources chemical processes should be developed to treat the spent fuels and obtain uranium and other actinides to be fueled in a fast reactor. The technologies are categorized into wet and dry processes. In this study, the current status of such technologies is summarized to give a insight and a deep understanding on nuclear fuel cycles.

• 한국자동차공학회논문집
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• 제10권6호
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• pp.72-79
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• 2002

The main objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between chemical structure and higher heating value of reformed diesel fuels by ultrasonic irradiation. In order to analyze the chemical structure changes of the reformed diesel fuels by ultrasonic irradiation, Proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer(1H-NMR) was used and to analyze the effect of higher heating values of these diesel fuels, the bomb calorimeter was used. From the study, following conclusive remarks can be made. 1) The aromatic carbon percentages and higher heating values of the reformed diesel fuels by ultrasonic irradiation increased more than the conventional diesel ones. 2) The aromatics percentages and Branch Index(BI) of the reformed diesel fuels by ultrasonic irradiation decreased more than the conventional diesel ones. 3) The higher heating values on both for conventional fuel and reformed diesel fuels by ultrasonic energy irradiation is directly proportional to aromatic carbon percentages and inversely proportional to aromatic percentages and BI for these fuels.

• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제21권4호
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• pp.503-516
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• 2023

A transfer cask serves as the container for transporting and handling canisters loaded with spent nuclear fuels from light water reactors. This study focuses on a cylindrical transfer cask, standing at 5,300 mm with an external diameter of 2,170 mm, featuring impact limiters on the top and bottom sides. The base of the cask body has an openable/closable lid for loading canisters with storage modules. The transfer cask houses a canister containing spent nuclear fuels from lightweight reactors, serving as the confinement boundary while the cask itself lacks the confinement structure. The objective of this study was to conduct a structural analysis evaluation of the transfer cask, currently under development in Korea, ensuring its safety. This evaluation encompasses analyses of loads under normal, off-normal, and accident conditions, adhering to NUREG-2215. Structural integrity was assessed by comparing combined results for each load against stress limits. The results confirm that the transfer cask meets stress limits across normal, off-normal, and accident conditions, establishing its structural safety.

• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제21권4호
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• pp.451-463
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• 2023

With South Korea increasingly focusing on nuclear energy, the management of spent nuclear fuel has attracted considerable attention in South Korea. This study established a novel procedure for selecting safety-relevant radionuclides for long-term safety assessments of a deep geological repository in South Korea. Statistical evaluations were performed to identify the design basis reference spent nuclear fuels and evaluate the source term for up to one million years. Safety-relevant radionuclides were determined based on the half-life criteria, the projected activities for the design basis reference spent nuclear fuel, and the annual limit of ingestion set by the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission Notification No. 2019-10 without considering their chemical and hydrogeological properties. The proposed process was used to select 56 radionuclides, comprising 27 fission and activation products and 29 actinide nuclides. This study explains first the determination of the design basis reference spent nuclear fuels, followed by a comprehensive discussion on the selection criteria and methodology for safety-relevant radionuclides.

• 대한기계학회논문집A
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• 제39권1호
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• pp.117-123
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• 2015

핵연료 연소시험 도중 핵연료봉에서 발생하는 열을 효과적으로 제거하기 위해서는 핵연료의 발열량을 정확하게 계산하고 충분한 유속을 갖는 냉각수를 순환시켜야 한다. 하나로는 개방형 수조 형태로서 핵연료 연소시험을 위한 별도의 냉각수 순환 루프를 갖추고 있는데, 여기에 핵연료 조사리그를 장착하고 냉각수를 순환시킴으로써 조사중인 핵연료봉의 온도를 일정온도 이하로 유지시킨다. 특히 순환되는 냉각수의 유속이 매우 높은 상태에서 조사리그 내에 부착된 부품이나 센서들이 유체유발 진동에 의해 파손되거나 기능을 상실하는 경우 매우 큰 기회비용을 야기한다. 본 연구에서는 조사리그 부품의 건전성 사전 검토 및 고속 유동에서의 센서 동작 특성에 대한 사전검토를 위해 냉각수 모의 순환장치를 개발하였다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제51권5호
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• pp.1398-1405
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• 2019

We use a molecular dynamics simulation to explore thermal transport in oxide nuclear fuels with point defects. The effect of vacancy and substitutional defects on the thermal conductivity of plutonium dioxide and uranium dioxide is investigated. It is found that the thermal conductivities of these fuels are reduced significantly by the presence of small amount of vacancy defects; 0.1% oxygen vacancy reduces the thermal conductivity of plutonium dioxide by more than 10%. The missing of larger atoms has a more detrimental impact on the thermal conductivity of actinide oxides. In uranium dioxide, for example, 0.1% uranium vacancies decrease the thermal conductivity by 24.6% while the same concentration of oxygen vacancies decreases the thermal conductivity by 19.4%. However, uranium substitution has a minimal effect on the thermal conductivity; 1.0% uranium substitution decreases the thermal conductivity of plutonium dioxide only by 1.5%.

• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제19권2호
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• pp.255-266
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• 2021

Solid-state mechanochemical reduction combined with subsequent melting consolidation was suggested as a technical option for the oxide reduction in pyroprocessing. Ni ingot was produced from NiO as a starting material through this technique while Li metal was used as a reducing agent. To determine the technical feasibility of this approach for pyroprocessing, which handles spent nuclear fuels, thermodynamic calculations of the phase stabilities of various metal oxides of U and other fission elements were made when several alkaline and alkali-earth metals were used as reducing agents. This technique is expected to be beneficial, not only for oxide reduction but also for other unit processes involved in pyroprocessing.

• 한국원자력학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국원자력학회 2005년도 춘계학술발표회
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• pp.1166-1167
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• 2005

• 한국정밀공학회지
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• 제32권9호
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• pp.815-824
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• 2015

In this study, we conducted the approximate multi-objective optimization of gap sizes of pressurized-water reactor (PWR) annular fuels. To determine the contacting tendency of the inner-outer gaps between the annular fuel pellets and cladding, thermoelastic-plastic-creep (TEPC)analysis of PWR annular fuels was performed, using in-house FE code. For the efficient heat transfer at certain levels of stress, we investigated the tensile, compressive hoop stress and temperature, and optimized the gap sizes using the non-dominant sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II). For this, response surface models of objective and constraint functions were generated, using central composite (CCD) and D-optimal design. The accuracy of approximate models was evaluated through $R^2$ value. The obtained optimal solutions by NSGA-II were verified through the TEPC analysis, and we compared the obtained optimum solutions and generated errors from the CCD and D-optimal design. We observed that optimum solutions differ, according to design of experiments (DOE) method.