• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.1455-1456
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• 2004

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.35-42
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• 2012

We propose a probabilistic method to evaluate the uniform hazard spectra (UHS) of the soil of nuclear power plant(NPP) sites corresponding to that of a bedrock site. To do this, amplification factors on the surface of soil sites were estimated through site response analysis while considering the uncertainty in the earthquake ground motion and soil deposit characteristics. The amplification factors were calculated by regression analysis with spectral acceleration because these two factors are mostly correlated. The proposed method was applied to the evaluation of UHS for the KNGR (Korean Next Generation Reactor) and the APR1400 (Advanced Power Reactor 1400) nuclear power plant sites of B1, B4, C1 and C3. The most dominant frequency range with respect to the annual frequency of earthquakes was evaluated from the UHS analysis. It can be expected that the proposed method will improve the results of integrated risk assessments of NPPs rationally. We expect also that the proposed method will be applied to the evaluation of the UHS and of many other kinds of soil sites.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.189-190
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• 2005

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.7
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• pp.2529-2539
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• 2022

Stochastic and an empirical Green's function (EGF) methods are preliminarily applied to simulate strong ground motions (SGMs) at seismic stations within nuclear power plant (NPP) sites in South Korea by an assumed large earthquake with M_W6.5 (scenario earthquake) on the causative fault of the 2016 Gyeongju earthquake with M_W5.5 (mainshock). In the stochastic method, a ratio of spectral amplitudes of observed and simulated waveforms for the mainshock is assumed to be an adjustment factor. In the EGF method, SGMs by the mainshock are simulated assuming SGMs by the 2016 Gyeongju earthquake with M_W5.0 (foreshock) as the EGF. To simulate SGMs by the scenario earthquake, a ratio of fault length to width is assumed to be 2:1 in the stochastic method, and SGMs by the mainshock are assumed to be EGF in the EGF method. The results are similar based on a bias of the simulated response spectra by the two methods, and the simulated response spectra by the two methods exceeded commonly standard design response spectra anchored at 0.3 g of NPP sites slightly at a frequency band above 4 Hz, but considerable attention to interpretation is required since it is an indirect comparison.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.185-194
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• 2022

The decommission of nuclear legacy sites, which have been contaminated by previous activities such as uranium mining & milling as well as nuclear tests, has started to gain global attention. Within the Korean peninsula, Republic of Korea(ROK)has had experience in dismantling research reactors. For the Democratic People's Republic of Korea(DPRK), the possibility of nuclear activities being implemented and operations records being managed without consideration of the latest nuclear safety regulations are high. Hence, the chances of DPRK's sites remaining as nuclear legacy is also high. This study investigates approaches and considerations that needs to be taken in account in the event of a nuclear legacy site occurrence, reviewing its international cases for the solution of the legacy sites. The regulation, process of optimization, and stakeholder engagement for a nuclear legacy site should be considered in such an event. Developing legacy site response plans can be used to prevent future legacy site occurrences.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.10
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• pp.1255-1262
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• 2009

This paper introduces the status of and issues related to the PSHA (Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis) of Korean Nuclear Power Plant sites. PSHA was first introduced to the nuclear industry in the mid-1980s. The Korean PSHA is based on Cornell and accommodates the modem approach for eliciting expertise and statistical treatment. Due to the low seismicity in Korea, large uncertainties exist in the PSHA database including seismic source maps, seismicity parameters of seismic sources, and attenuation formulae. Though research in seismology, geology, and earthquake engineering since the mid-1990s has significantly reduced uncertainties, a considerable amount still exists. Considering the low seismicity of the Korean Peninsula, especially the lack of strong motion data, further reduction will take several decades.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.30-35
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• 2022

In a nuclear reactor, gamma radiation is the dominant energy deposition in non-fuel regions. Heat is generated upon gamma deposition and consequently affects the mechanical and thermal structure of the material. Therefore, the safety of samples should be carefully considered so that their integrity and quality can be retained. To evaluate relevant parameters, an in-core gamma thermometer (GT) was used to measure gamma heating (GH) throughout the operation of the McMaster nuclear reactor (MNR) at four irradiation sites. Additionally, a Monte Carlo reactor physics code (Serpent-2) was utilized to model the MNR with the GT located in the same irradiation sites used in the measurement to verify its predictions against measured GH. This research aids in the development of modeling, calculation, and prediction of the GH utilizing Serpent-2 as well as implementing a new GH measurement at the MNR core. After all uncertainties were quantified for both approaches, comparable GH profiles were observed between the measurements and calculations. In addition, the GH values found in the four sites represent a strong level of radiation based on the distance of the sample from the core. In this study, the maximum and minimum GH values were found at 0.32 ± 0.05 W/g and 0.15 ± 0.02 W/g, respectively, corresponding to 320 Sv/s and 150 Sv/s. These values are crucial to be considered whenever sample is planned to be irradiated inside the MNR core.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.437-452
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• 2012

The Tohoku earthquake (Mw9.0) occurred on March 11, 2011 and caused a large tsunami. The Fukushima Dai-ichi NPP (F1-NPP) were overwhelmed by the tsunami and core damage occurred. This paper describes the overview of F1-NPP accident and the usability of tsunami PRA at Tohoku earthquake. The paper makes reference to the following current issues: influence on seismic hazard of gigantic aftershocks and triggered earthquakes, concepts for evaluating core damage frequency considering common cause failure with correlation coefficient against seismic event at multi units and sites, and concepts of "seismic-tsunami PSA" considering a combination of seismic motion and tsunami effects.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.366-372
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• 2020

Using several accessible published data sets, we analyzed the temporal change of ¹³⁷Cs radioactivity (per unit mass of sample) in marine sediments and investigated the effect of the water content of sediment on the ¹³⁷Cs radioactivity, to understand the behavior of ¹³⁷Cs present in marine environments. The ¹³⁷Cs radioactivity in sediments decreased more slowly in the Baltic Sea (near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant) than in the ocean near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (FDNPP). The ¹³⁷Cs radioactivity in the sediment near the FDNPP tended to increase as the water content increased, and the water content decreased at certain sampling sites near the FDNPP for several years. Additionally, the decrease in the water content contributed to 51.2% of the average ¹³⁷Cs radioactivity decrease rate for the same period. Thus, it may be necessary to monitor both the ¹³⁷Cs radioactivity and the water content for marine sediments to track the ¹³⁷Cs that was discharged from the sites of Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear power plants where severe accidents occurred.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.975-983
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• 2020

Since the Fukushima Daiichi accident in 2011, concerns for the safety of multi-unit Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) sites have risen. This is because more than 70% of NPP sites are multi-unit sites that have two or more NPP units and a multi-unit accident occurred for the first time. After this accident, Probability Safety Assessment (PSA) has been considered in many countries as one of the tools to quantitatively assess the safety for multi-unit NPP sites. One of the biggest concerns for a multi-unit accident such as Fukushima is that the consequences (health and economic) will be significantly higher than in the case of a single-unit accident. However, many studies on multi-unit PSA have focused on Level 1 & 2 PSA, and there are many challenges in terms of public acceptance due to various speculations without an engineering background. In this study, two kinds of multi-unit Level 3 PSA for multi-unit site have been carried out. The first case was the estimation of multi-unit risk with conservative assumptions to investigate the margin between multi-unit risk and QHO, and the other was to identify the effect of time delays in releases between NPP units on the same site. Through these two kinds of assessments, we aimed at investigating the level of multi-unit risk and understanding the characteristics of risk in a multiunit context.