• 한국수소및신에너지학회논문집
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• 제22권3호
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• pp.372-379
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• 2011

A nuclear fusion fuel cycle plant is composed of various subsystems such as a hydrogen isotope storage and delivery system, a tokamak exhaust processing system, and a hydrogen isotope separation system. Korea shares in the construction of its ITER fuel cycle plant with the EU, Japan, and the US, and is responsible for the development and supply of the storage and delivery system. The authors thus present details on the development status of hydrogen isotope storage technologies for nuclear fusion fuel cycle plants. We have developed various hydride beds of different size. We have realized a hydrogen delivery rate of 12.5 $Pam^3/s$ with a typical 1242g-ZrCo bed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제51권1호
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• pp.214-220
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• 2019

Thermochemical cycles have been predominantly used for energy transformation from heat to stored chemical free energy in the form of hydrogen. The thermochemical cycle based on uranium (UTC), proposed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been considered as a better alternative compared to other thermochemical cycles mainly due to its safety and high efficiency. UTC process includes three steps, in which only the first step is unique. Hydrogen production apparatus with hectogram reactants was designed in this study. The results showed that high yield hydrogen was obtained, which was determined by drainage method. The results also indicated that the chemical conversion rate of hydrogen production was in direct proportion to the mass of $Na_2CO_3$, while the solid product was $Na_2UO_4$, instead of $Na_2U_2O_7$. Nevertheless the thermochemical cycle used for hydrogen generation can be closed, and chemical compounds used in these processes can also be recycled. So the cycle with $Na_2UO_4$ as its first reaction product has an advantage over the proposed UTC process, attributed to the fast reaction rate and high hydrogen yield in the first reaction step.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제39권1호
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• pp.1-8
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• 2007

Hydrogen and electricity are expected to dominate the world energy system in the long term. The world currently consumes about 50 million metric tons of hydrogen per year, with the bulk of it being consumed by the chemical and refining industries. The demand for hydrogen is expected to increase, especially if the U.S. and other countries shift their energy usage towards a hydrogen economy, with hydrogen consumed as an energy commodity by the transportation, residential and commercial sectors. However, there is strong motivation to not use fossil fuels in the future as a feedstock for hydrogen production, because the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide is a byproduct and fossil fuel prices are expected to increase significantly. An advanced reactor technology receiving considerable international interest for both electricity and hydrogen production, is the modular helium reactor (MHR), which is a passively safe concept that has evolved from earlier high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) designs. For hydrogen production, this concept is referred to as the H2-MHR. Two different hydrogen production technologies are being investigated for the H2-MHR; an advanced sulfur-iodine (SI) thermochemical water splitting process and high-temperature electrolysis (HTE). This paper describes pre-conceptual design descriptions and economic evaluations of full-scale, nth-of-a-kind SI-Based and HTE-Based H2-MHR plants. Hydrogen production costs for both types of plants are estimated to be approximately $2 per kilogram.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제46권5호
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• pp.681-688
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• 2014

Hydride reorientation behaviors of PWR cladding tubes under typical interim dry storage conditions were investigated with the use of as-received 250 and 485ppm hydrogen-charged Zr-Nb alloy cladding tubes. In order to evaluate the effect of typical cool-down processes on the radial hydride precipitation, two terminal heat-up temperatures of 300 and $400^{\circ}C$, as well as two terminal cool-down temperatures of 200 and $300^{\circ}C$, were considered. In addition, two cooling rates of 2.5 and $8.0^{\circ}C/min$ during the cool-down processes were taken into account along with zero stress or a tensile hoop stress of 150MPa. It was found that the 250ppm hydrogen-charged specimen experiencing the higher terminal heat-up temperature and the lower terminal cool-down temperature generated the highest number of radial hydrides during the cool-down process under 150MPa hoop tensile stress, which may be explained by terminal solid hydrogen solubilities for precipitation, and dissolution and remaining circumferential hydrides at the terminal heat-up temperatures. In addition, the slower cool-down rate generates the larger number of radial hydrides due to a cooling rate-dependent, longer residence time at a relatively high temperature that can accelerate the radial hydride nucleation and growth.

• 신재생에너지
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• 제18권1호
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• pp.35-45
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• 2022

The renewable energy based MG is becoming one of the prominent solutions for greenhouse gas and constructing less power lines. However, how to procure the economics of MG considering the CO₂ emission and utility network impact is one of major issues as the proportion of renewable resource increases. This paper proposes the feasibility study scheme of campus MG and shows that the LCOE and CO₂ emission can be reduced by utilizing the excess power and introducing hydrogen system and plus DR. For this, the three cases: (a) adding the PV and selling excess power to utility, (b) producing and selling hydrogen using excess power, and (c) participating in plus DR are considered. For each case, not only the topology and component capacity of MG to secure economic feasibility, but also CO₂ emission and utility network effects are derived. If an electrolyzer with a capacity of 400 kW participates in plus DR for 3,730hours/year, the economic feasibility is securable if plus DR settlement and hydrogen sale price are more than 7.08¢/kWh and 8.3USD/kg or 6.25¢/kWh and 8.6USD/kg, respectively. For this end, continuous technical development and policy support for hydrogen system and plus DR are required.

• 한국진공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국진공학회 2015년도 제49회 하계 정기학술대회 초록집
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• pp.104-104
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• 2015

Due to the demand of the cold neutron flux in the neutron science and beam utilization technology, the cold neutron source (CNS) has been constructed and operating in the nuclear research reactor all over the world. The majority of the heat load removal scheme in the CNS is two-phase thermosiphon using the liquid hydrogen as a moderator. The CNS moderates thermal neutrons through a cryogenic moderator, liquid hydrogen, into cold neutrons with the generation of the nuclear heat load. The liquid hydrogen in a moderator cell is evaporated for the removal of the generated heat load from the neutron moderation and flows upward into a heat exchanger, where the hydrogen gas is liquefied by the cryogenic helium gas supplied from a helium refrigeration system. The liquefied hydrogen flows down to the moderator cell. To keep the required liquid hydrogen stable in the moderator cell, the CNS consists of an in-pool assembly (IPA) connected with the hydrogen system to handle the required hydrogen gas, the vacuum system to create the thermal insulation, and the helium refrigeration system to provide the cooling capacity. If one of systems is running out of order, the operating research reactor shall be tripped because the integrity of the CNS-IPA is not secured under the full power operation of the reactor. To prevent unscheduled reactor shutdown during a long time because the research reactor has been operating with the multi-purposes, the introduction of the standby cooling system (STS) can be a solution. In this presentation, the design considerations are considered how to design the STS satisfied with the following objectives: (a) to keep the moderator cell less than 350 K during the full power operation of the reactor under loss of the vacuum, loss of the cooling power, loss of common electrical power, or loss of instrument air cases; (b) to circulate smoothly helium gas in the STS circulation loop; (c) to re-start-up the reactor within 1 hour after its trip to avoid the Xenon build-up because more than certain concentration of Xenon makes that the reactor cannot start-up again; (d) to minimize the possibility of the hydrogen-oxygen reaction in the hydrogen boundary.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제51권1호
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• pp.238-248
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• 2019

In the high-temperature and high-pressure irradiation environments, the multi-field coupling processes of hydrogen diffusion, hydride precipitation and mechanical deformation in Zircaloy cladding tubes occur. To simulate this hydrogen-induced complex behavior, a multi-field coupling method is developed, with the irradiation hardening effects and hydride-precipitation-induced expansion and hardening effects involved in the mechanical constitutive relation. The out-pile tests for a cracked cladding tube after irradiation are simulated, and the numerical results of the multi-fields at different temperatures are obtained and analyzed. The results indicate that: (1) the hydrostatic stress gradient is the fundamental factor to activate the hydrogen-induced multi-field coupling behavior excluding the temperature gradient; (2) in the local crack-tip region, hydrides will precipitate faster at the considered higher temperatures, which can be fundamentally attributed to the sensitivity of TSSP and hydrogen diffusion coefficient to temperature. The mechanism is partly explained for the enlarged velocity values of delayed hydride cracking (DHC) at high temperatures before crack arrest. This work lays a foundation for the future research on DHC.

• 한국광학회지
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• 제30권3호
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• pp.114-119
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• 2019

본 논문은 원격으로 수소 가스의 계측이 가능한 광 계수 방식의 소형 라만 라이다 시스템 개발에 관한 것이다. 수소 가스에 의한 라만 신호는 매우 미약한 신호로서, 신호 대 잡음비가 매우 낮다. 광 계수기는 광 판별기를 갖고 있어, 레이저에 의하여 발생한 배경 신호의 전기적 잡음을 제거할 수 있는 장점을 갖고 있다. 본 연구에서는 출력이 낮은 레이저와 광 계수기를 이용하여 소형의 라만 라이다 시스템을 개발하였다. 개발된 광 계수 방식의 라만 라이다 시스템의 원격 수소 가스 검출 능력을 증명하기 위하여 수소 가스 농도를 조절할 수 있는 가스 챔버를 이용하여 수소 가스 농도 측정 실험을 수행하였다. 그 결과 10 m 거리에서 최소 0.65 vol.%의 수소 가스 농도 검출이 가능하였다.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• 제2권1호
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• pp.1-7
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• 2011

China's rapid economic growth has resulted in significant environmental side effects. Therefore, China has been interested in reducing her dependence on foreign oil and gas by developing technologies needed for hydrogen, in addition to her increasing energy mix of nuclear and renewable energy form, such as solar and wind power. There are three isotopes of hydrogen, i.e. protium (P or H), deuterium (D), and tritium (T). Both deuterium and tritium are important materials in nuclear fuel cycle industry. Tritium is one of the critical radioactive nuclides. Planning for and implementing contamination control as a part of normal operation and maintenance activities is an important function in any hydrogen facility, especially tritium facility. The development of hydrogen isotopes analysis is the key issues in this area. Mass spectrometry (MS) with medium (about 600) and high resolution (> 1,400) is commercially available; however, the routine analysis of hydrogen isotopes is done with low-resolution MS (< 200) in China. This paper summarizes the progress of MS measurement technology for hydrogen isotope abundance in China, focusing on our lab's research program and technical status. An analyzing method has been introduced for accurate measurement of tritium abundance in the H.D.T system by low resolution MAT-253 MS. The quotient of compression ratio coefficient is determined by building up equipment for laboratory-scale preparation of secondary standard gases and by considering the difference in sensitivity between hydrogen isotopes. The results show that the measured value is reproducible within the relative error range of 0.8% for gas samples of different tritium abundance.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권8호
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• pp.2960-2973
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• 2022

Since Fukushima nuclear power plant (NPP) accident in 2011, the importance of research on various severe accident phenomena has been emphasized. Particularly, detailed analysis of combustion risk is necessary following the containment damage caused by combustion in the Fukushima accident. Many studies have been conducted to evaluate the risk of local hydrogen concentration increases and flame propagation using computational code. In particular, the potential for combustion by local hydrogen concentration in specific areas within the containment has been emphasized. In this study, the process of flame propagation generated inside a reactor core to containment during a loss of coolant accident (LOCA) was analyzed using MELCOR 2.1 code. Later in the LOCA scenario, it was expected that hydrogen combustion occurred inside the reactor core owing to oxygen inflow through the cold leg break area. The main driving force of the oxygen intrusion is the elevated containment pressure due to the molten corium-concrete interaction. The thermal and mechanical loads caused by the flame threaten the integrity of the containment. Additionally, the containment spray system effectiveness in this situation was evaluated because changes in pressure gradient and concentrations of flammable gases greatly affect the overall behavior of ignition and subsequent containment integrity.