• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제50권7호
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• pp.997-1005
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• 2018

The regulatory periodic safety inspection system is one of the most important methods for confirming the safety of nuclear power plants and the defense in depth in nuclear safety is the most important basic means for accident prevention and mitigation. Recently, a new regulatory technology based on risk-informed and safety performance has been developed and used in advanced countries. However, since the domestic periodic inspection system is being used in the same way over 30 years, it is necessary to know how the inspection contributes to the safety confirmation of the nuclear power plants. In this study, the domestic periodic inspection system currently in use was analyzed from the perspective of defense in depth in nuclear safety. In addition, the analysis results were compared to the U.S. NRC's safety inspection system to obtain consistency and lessons in this study. As a result of analysis, the NRC's safety inspections were distributed almost evenly at the all levels of defense in depth, while in the case of domestic inspection, they were heavily focused on the level 1 of defense in depth. Therefore, it appeared urgent to improve the inspection system to strengthen the other levels of defense in depth in nuclear safety.

• 한국지능시스템학회논문지
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• 제7권1호
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• pp.34-44
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• 1997

The Belgian Nuclear Research Centre(SCK${\cdot}$CEN) has been a pioneer of the peaceful uses of nuclear energy after over forty years of existence. Recently, SCK${\cdot}$CEN's financial support of doctoral and postdoctoral research in close collaboration with universities has been a vital ingredient for securing a quality profile committed to the pursuit of execllence. FLINS, Fuzzy Logic and Intelligent technologies in Nuclear Science, was initially built within one of the postdoctoral research project at SCK${\cdot}$CEN. Among SCK${\cdot}$CEN's activities which will have an important impact on its scientific future, the application of fuzzy logic and intelligent technologies in nuclear science and engineering opens new domains in radiation protection, safety assessment, human reliability, nuclear reactor control, waste and disposal, etc. In this paper, we review the available literature on fuzzy logic in nuclear applications. We then present the initiative of R&D on fuzzy logic applications at SCK${\cdot}$CEN, namely, (1) safety control for a nuclear reactor, and (2) a safety evaluation model for nuclear transmission lines. By these two examples of nuclear applications, we illustrate the potential use of fuzzy logic in nuclear safety issues.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제47권4호
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• pp.226-236
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• 2022

Background: An effective communication strategy for reducing conflicts in South Korea has been designed through the analysis of public perception and communication variables on nuclear power under the conditions of rapidly changing nuclear power policies. Materials and Methods: This study conducted both qualitative research through group discussions based on social psychology and quantitative research through surveys. Results and Discussion: Nuclear power plant (NPP) area residents in favor of nuclear power indicated higher levels of communication, safety perception, and contribution than those against it. NPP area residents trusted the civilian expert groups (18.3%) and local government (17.3%) the most, while metropolitan city residents trusted the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission and the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (20.7%) the most. In determining nuclear power policy, both the NPP area residents (18.1%) and metropolitan city residents (17.1%) prioritized safety, health, and the environment. While metropolitan city residents thought that energy security and economic growth (16.4%) were important, NPP area residents thought the current issue of spent fuel rods (14.1%) to be important. Conclusion: It is necessary for the nuclear power industry to have and actively implement communication and conflict resolution strategies based on the patterns obtained in the study results.

• 한국화재소방학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국화재소방학회 2007년도 춘계학술논문발표회 논문집
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• pp.128-133
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• 2007

• International Journal of Safety
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• 제8권1호
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• pp.24-31
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• 2009

An effective assessment for decommissioning safety of nuclear facilities requires basic knowledge about possible risks, characteristics of potential hazards, and comprehensive understanding of the associated cause-effect relationships within a decommissioning for nuclear facility. This paper proposes an approach to develop the hierarchical structure and hazards of dealing with improving the complexity and uncertainty for decommissioning safety assessment of nuclear facilities and the resolutions are proposed to improve the complexity and uncertainty for decommissioning safety assessment of nuclear facilities. These resolutions can provide a comprehensive view of the risks in the decommissioning activities of a nuclear facility.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제35권6호
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• pp.556-565
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• 2003

A quality assurance safety assessment database, called QUARK (QUality Assurance Program for Radioactive Waste Management in Korea), has been developed to manage both analysis information and parameter database for safety assessment of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste (LILW) disposal facility in Korea. QUARK is such a tool that serves QA purposes for managing safety assessment information properly and securely. In QUARK, the information is organized and linked to maximize the integrity of information and traceability. QUARK provides guidance to conduct safety assessment analysis, from scenario generation to result analysis, and provides a window to inspect and trace previous safety assessment analysis and parameter values. QUARK also provides default database for safety assessment staff who construct input data files using SAGE(Safety Assessment Groundwater Evaluation), a safety assessment computer code.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제46권1호
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• pp.27-38
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• 2014

The Fukushima Dai-Ichi accident in 2011 has affected various aspects of the nuclear society worldwide. The accident revealed some problems in the conventional approaches used to ensure the safety of nuclear installations. To prevent such disastrous accidents in the future, we have to learn from them and improve the conventional approaches in a more systematic manner. In this paper, we will cover three issues. The first is to identify the key issues that affected the progress of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi accident greatly. We examine the accident from a defense-in-depth point of view to identify such issues. The second is to develop a more systematic approach to enhance the safety of nuclear installations. We reexamine nuclear safety from a risk point of view. We use the concepts of residual and unknown risks in classifying the risk space. All possible accident scenarios types are reviewed to clarify the characteristics of the identified issues. An approach is proposed to improve our conventional approaches used to ensure nuclear safety including the design of safety features and the safety assessments from a risk point of view. Finally, we address some issues to be improved in the conventional risk assessment and management framework and/or practices to enhance nuclear 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.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권5호
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• pp.1887-1894
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• 2024

Fatigue strength of the structural materials of lead-cooled fast reactors (LFRs) and accelerator-driven systems (ADS) may be degraded in liquid metal (Lead or lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE)) environments. The fatigue crack growth (FCG) data of structural materials in liquid LBE are necessary for damage tolerance design, safety assessment and life management of key equipment. A novel monitoring system for fatigue crack length was designed on the compliance method and the monitor technology of crack opening displacement (COD) of CT specimens by the linear variable differential transformers (LVDT) system. It can be used to predict the crack length by monitoring the COD of CT specimens in harsh high-temperature liquid LBE using a LVDT system. The prediction accuracy of this system was verified by FCG experiments in room temperature air and liquid LBE at 150, 250 and 350 ℃. The first results obtained in the FCG test for T91 steel in liquid LBE at 350 ℃ are presented.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권8호
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• pp.2716-2727
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• 2021

The core shroud is one of the most important internal components of the reactor vessel internals because it meets the neutron fluence directly emitted by the nuclear fuel. In particular, dynamic effects for an earthquake should be evaluated with respect to the neutron irradiation flux. As a prerequisite to this study, simplified and detailed finite element models are developed for the core shroud using the ANSYS Design Parametric Language. Using the El Centro earthquake, seismic analyses are performed for the simplified and detailed core shroud models. Modal characteristics are obtained and their results are used for a time history analysis. Response spectrum analyses are also performed to access the degree of seismic excitation. The results of these analyses are compared to investigate the response characteristics between the simplified and detailed core shroud models from the time history and response spectrum analyses.