• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.7
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• pp.1776-1783
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• 2019

To accurately analyze the accidents in nuclear reactors, a thermohydraulic-neutronic coupling calculation is required to solve fluid dynamics and nuclear reactor kinetics equations in fine cells simultaneously and evaluate the local effects of neutronic and thermohydraulic parameters on each other. In the present study, a 3D thermohydraulic-neutronic coupling model is developed, validated and then applied for Isfahan MNSR (Miniature Neutron Source reactor) safety analysis. The proposed model is developed using FLUENT software and user defined functions (UDF) are applied to simulate the neutronic behavior of MNSR. The validation of the proposed model is first evaluated using 1mk reactivity insertion experiment into Isfahan MNSR core. Then, the developed coupling code is applied for a design basis accident (DBA) scenario analysis with the insertion of maximum allowed cold core reactivity of 4 mk. The results show that the proposed model is able to predict the behavior of the reactor core under normal and accident conditions with a good accuracy.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.607-608
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• 2004

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.477-488
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• 2013

The PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) has been widely used to implement real-time controllers in nuclear RPSs (Reactor Protection Systems). Increasing complexity and maintenance cost, however, are now demanding more powerful and cost-effective implementation such as FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array). Abandoning all experience and knowledge accumulated over the decades and starting an all-new development approach is too risky for such safety-critical systems. This paper proposes an RPS software development process with a platform change from PLC to FPGA, while retaining all outputs from the established development. This paper transforms FBD designs of the PLC-based software development into a behaviorally-equivalent Verilog program, which is a starting point of a typical FPGA-based hardware development. We expect that the proposed software development process can bridge the gap between two software developing approaches with different platforms, such as PLC and FPGA. This paper also demonstrates its effectiveness using an example of a prototype version of a real-world RPS in Korea.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.1192-1205
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• 2016

Field programmable gate array (FPGA)-based systems are thought to be a practical option to replace certain obsolete instrumentation and control systems in nuclear power plants. An FPGA is a type of integrated circuit, which is programmed after being manufactured. FPGAs have some advantages over other electronic technologies, such as analog circuits, microprocessors, and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), for nuclear instrumentation and control, and safety system applications. However, safety-related issues for FPGA-based systems remain to be verified. Owing to this, modeling FPGA-based systems for safety assessment has now become an important point of research. One potential methodology is the dynamic flowgraph methodology (DFM). It has been used for modeling software/hardware interactions in modern control systems. In this paper, FPGA logic was analyzed using DFM. Four aspects of FPGAs are investigated: the "IEEE 1164 standard," registers (D flip-flops), configurable logic blocks, and an FPGA-based signal compensator. The ModelSim simulations confirmed that DFM was able to accurately model those four FPGA properties, proving that DFM has the potential to be used in the modeling of FPGA-based systems. Furthermore, advantages of DFM over traditional reliability analysis methods and FPGA simulators are presented, along with a discussion of potential issues with using DFM for FPGA-based system modeling.

• Journal of KIISE:Software and Applications
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.108-118
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• 2005

The software of the nuclear power plant digital control system is a safety-critical system where many techniques must be applied to it in order to preserve safety in the whole system. Formal specifications especially allow the system to be clearly and completely specified in the early requirements specification phase, therefore making it a trusted method for increasing safety. In this paper, we discuss a systematic method, which generates PLC-based FBD programs from the requirements specification using NuSCR, a formal requirements specification method. This FBD programs takes an important position in design specification. The proposed method can reduce the possible errors occur in the manual design specification, and the software development cost and time. To investigate the usefulness of our proposed method, we introduce the fixed set-point rising trip example, a trip logic of BP in DPPS RPS, which is presently being developed at KNICS.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.1-11
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• 2019

Today's software systems are becoming larger and more complicated, and the risk of accidents and failures have also grown larger. Software failures and accidents in industrial fields such as automobiles, nuclear power plants, railroad industries, etc. may lead to severe damage of property and human life. The safety-related international standards, such as IEC 61508 have been established and applied to industries for decades. The safety life cycle specified in the standards emphasize the activities to develop safety requirements through hazard and risk analysis in the early stage of software development. In this paper, we propose 'Hazard Analysis Process based on STPA using SysML' in order to ensure the safety of software at the early stage of software development. The proposed hazard analysis can be effectively performed minimizing the loss of hazard by using the BDD and the IBD of SysML to define the control structure of a system. The proposed method also improves the specification of the safety constraints(requirement) by using SD. As a result, it is possible to identify the hazard without missing and identify the hazard scenarios in detail, and safety can be sufficiently ensured in the early stage of software development.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.37 no.10
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• pp.961-969
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• 2013

In this study, the numerical analysis of a turbulent flow around both a staggered and an inline tube bundle was conducted using ANSYS CFX V.13, a commercial CFD software. The flow was assumed to be steady, incompressible, and isothermal. According to the CFD Best Practice Guideline, the sensitivity study for grid size, accuracy of the discretization scheme for convection term, and turbulence model was conducted, and its result was compared with the experimental data to estimate the applicability of the CFD Best Practice Guideline. It was concluded that the CFD Best Practice Guideline did not always guarantee an improvement in the prediction performance of the commercial CFD software in the field of tube bundle flow.

• IE interfaces
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.68-77
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• 2010

Digital reactor protection system which consists of many identical modules, is fault- tolerant to provide high safety. The modules themselves including DSP(digital signal processing) card are also fault-tolerant in nature. This paper assesses the safety for being-designed digital reactor protection system of 2-out-of-4 G structure with lockout. Some interesting design alternatives are compared. Fault tree analysis for assessing system safety is performed by Relex software. The selected reactor protection system fully satisfies EPRIURD stipulation of mean failure time of 50 years.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.76 no.3
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• pp.367-378
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• 2020

This paper presents a new design concept for ocean nuclear power plants (ONPPs) using a tension leg platform (TLP). The system-integrated modular advanced reactor, which is one of the successful small modular reactors, is mounted for demonstration. The authors define the design requirements and parameters, modularize and rearrange the nuclear and other facilities, and propose a new total general arrangement. The most fundamental level of design results for the platform and tendon system are provided, and the construction procedure and safety features are discussed. The integrated passive safety system developed for the gravity based structure-type ONPP is also available in the TLP-type ONPP with minor modifications. The safety system fully utilizes the benefits of the ocean environment, and enhances the safety features of the proposed concept. For the verification of the design concept, hydrodynamic analyses are performed using the commercial software ANSYS AQWA with the Pierson-Moskowitz and JONSWAP wave spectra that represent various ocean environments and the results are discussed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.297-310
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• 2012

Aging-related degradation of nuclear power plant components is an important aspect to consider in securing the long term safety of the plant, especially the seismic safety, since the degradation of the components affects not only their seismic capacity but their response. This can cause a change in the seismic margin of a component and the overall seismic safety of a system. To better understand the status and characteristics of degradation of components in Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs), the degradation occurrences of components in the U.S. NPPs were identified by reviewing recent publicly available information sources and the characteristics of these occurrences were evaluated and compared to observations from the past. Ten categories of components that are of high risk significance in Korean NPPs were identified, comprising anchorage, concrete, containment, exchanger, filter, piping systems, reactor pressure vessels, structural steel, tanks, and vessels. Software tools were developed to expedite the review process. Results from this review effort were compared to previous data in the literature to characterize the overall degradation trends.