• 제목/요약/키워드: Nuclear activities

검색결과 927건 처리시간 0.031초

A Method to Estimate the Burnup Using Initial Enrichment, Cooling Time, Total Neutron Source Intensity and Gamma Source Activities in Spent Fuels

  • Sohee Cha;Kwangheon Park;Mun-Oh Kim;Jae-Hun Ko;Jin-Hyun Sung
    • 방사성폐기물학회지
    • /
    • 제21권3호
    • /
    • pp.303-313
    • /
    • 2023
  • Spent fuels (SFs) are stored in a storage pool after discharge from nuclear power plants. They can be transferred to for the further processes such as dry storage sites, processing plants, or disposal sites. One of important measures of SF is the burnup. Since the radioactivity of SF is strongly dependent on its burnup, the burnup of SF should be well estimated for the safe management, storage, and final disposal. Published papers about the methodology for the burnup estimation from the known activities of important radioactive sources are somewhat rare. In this study, we analyzed the dependency of the burnup on the important radiation source activities using ORIGEN-ARP, and suggested simple correlations that relate the burnup and the important source activities directly. A burnup estimation equation is suggested for PWR fuels relating burnup with total neutron source intensity (TNSI), initial enrichment, and cooling time. And three burnup estimation equations for major gamma sources, 137Cs, 134Cs, and 154Eu are also suggested.

UK Civil Nuclear Decommissioning, a Blueprint for Korea's Nuclear Decommissioning Future?: Part I - Nuclear Legacy, Strategies, and the NDA

  • Foster, Richard I.;Park, June Kyung;Lee, Keunyoung;Seo, Bum-Kyoung
    • 방사성폐기물학회지
    • /
    • 제19권3호
    • /
    • pp.387-419
    • /
    • 2021
  • The challenges facing companies and institutions surrounding civil nuclear decommissioning are diverse and many, none more so than those faced in the United Kingdom. The UK's Generation I nuclear power plants and early research facilities have left a 'Nuclear Legacy' which is in urgent need of management and clean-up. Sellafield is quite possibly the most ill-famed nuclear site in the UK. This complex and challenging site houses much of what is left from the early days of nuclear research in the UK, including early nuclear reactors (Windscale Piles, Calder Hall, and the Windscale Advanced Gas Cooled Reactor) and the UK's early nuclear weapons programme. Such a legacy now requires careful management and planning to safely deal with it. This task falls on the shoulders of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). Through a mix of prompt and delayed decommissioning strategies, key developments in R&D, and the implementation of site licenced companies to enact decommissioning activities, the NDA aims to safety, and in a timely manner, deal with the UK's nuclear legacy. Such approaches have the potential to influence and shape other such approaches to nuclear decommissioning activities globally, including in Korea.

Current Status of Nuclear Waste Management (and Disposal) in the United States

  • McMahon, K.;Swift, P.;Nutt, M.;Birkholzer, J.;Boyle, W.;Gunter, T.;Larson, N.;MacKinnon, R.;Sorenson, K.
    • Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology
    • /
    • 제1권1호
    • /
    • pp.29-35
    • /
    • 2013
  • The United States Department of Energy (US DOE) is conducting research and development (R&D) activities under the Used Fuel Disposition Campaign (UFDC) to support storage, transportation, and disposal of used nuclear fuel (UNF) and wastes generated by existing and future nuclear fuel cycles. R&D activities are ongoing at nine national laboratories, and are divided into storage, transportation and disposal. Storage R&D focuses on closing technical gaps related to extended storage of UNF. Transportation R&D focuses on ensuring transportability of UNF following extended storage, and addressing data gaps regarding nuclear fuel integrity, retrievability, and demonstration of subcriticality. Disposal R&D focuses on identifying geologic disposal options and addressing technical challenges for generic disposal concepts in mined repositories in salt, clay/shale, and granitic rocks, and deep borehole disposal. UFDC R&D goals include increasing confidence in the robustness of generic disposal concepts, reducing generic sources of uncertainty that may impact the viability of disposal concepts, and developing science and engineering tools to support the selection, characterization, and licensing of a repository. The US DOE has also initiated activities in the Nuclear Fuel Storage and Transportation (NFST) Planning Project to facilitate the development of an interim storage facility and to support transportation infrastructure in the near term.

Recent Developments in Nuclear Forensic and Nuclear Safeguards Analysis Using Mass Spectrometry

  • Song, Kyuseok;Park, Jong-Ho;Lee, Chi-Gyu;Han, Sun-Ho
    • Mass Spectrometry Letters
    • /
    • 제7권2호
    • /
    • pp.31-40
    • /
    • 2016
  • The analysis of nuclear materials and environmental samples is an important issue in nuclear safeguards and nuclear forensics. An analysis technique for safeguard samples has been developed for the detection of undeclared nuclear activities and verification of declared nuclear activities, while nuclear forensics has been developed to trace the origins and intended use of illicitly trafficked nuclear or radioactive materials. In these two analytical techniques, mass spectrometry has played an important role in determining the isotope ratio of various nuclides, contents of trace elements, and production dates. These two techniques typically use similar analytical instruments, but the analytical procedure and the interpretation of analytical results differ depending on the analytical purpose. The isotopic ratio of the samples is considered the most important result in an environmental sample analysis, while age dating and impurity analysis may also be important for nuclear forensics. In this review, important aspects of these techniques are compared and the role of mass spectrometry, along with recent progress in related technologies, are discussed.

Methodology for Developing Standard Schedule Activities for Nuclear Power Plant Construction through Probabilistic Coherence Analysis

  • kim, Woojoong
    • 국제학술발표논문집
    • /
    • The 7th International Conference on Construction Engineering and Project Management Summit Forum on Sustainable Construction and Management
    • /
    • pp.8-13
    • /
    • 2017
  • Nuclear power plant (NPP) constructions are large scale projects that are executed for several years, and schedule control utilizing various schedules is a critically important factor. Recently Korea independently developed the Advanced Power Reactor (APR) 1400 and is building nuclear facilities applying this new reactor type. The construction of Shin-Kori NPP (SKN) Unit 3, which adopted the APR1400, was completed and commercial operation has begun, while, SKN 4, Shin-Hanul NPP (SHN) Units 1&2, and SKN 5&6 are currently under construction. Prior to the development of the APR1400, Korea built 24 reactors and accumulated the schedule data of various reactor types which provided the foundation for schedule reduction to be possible. However, as there is no schedule development and review system established based on the standard schedule data (standard activities, durations, etc.) by reactor type, the process for developing the schedule for new builds is low in efficiency consuming much time and manpower. Also all construction data has been accumulated based on schedule activities. But because the connectivity of activities between projects is low, it is difficult to utilize such accumulated data (causes for schedule delay, causes for design changes, etc.) in new build projects. Due to such reasons, issues continue to arise in the process of developing standard schedule activities and a standard schedule for nuclear power plant construction. In order to develop a standard schedule for NPP construction, i) the development of an NPP standard schedule activity list, ii) development of the connection logic of NPP standard schedule activities, iii) development of NPP standard schedule activity resources and duration, and iv) integration of schedule data need to be performed. In this paper, an analysis was made on the coherence of schedule activity descriptions of existing NPPs by applying the probabilistic methodology on activities with low connectivity due to the utilization of the numbering system of four APR1400 reactors (SHN 1&2 and SKN 3&4).This study also describes the method for developing a standard schedule activity list and connectivity measures by extracting same and/or similar schedule activities.

  • PDF

A REVIEW ON DEVELOPING INDUSTRIAL STANDARDS TO INTRODUCE DIGITAL COMPUTER APPLICATION FOR NUCLEAR I&C AND HMIT IN JAPAN

  • Yoshikawa, Hidekazu
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
    • /
    • 제45권2호
    • /
    • pp.165-178
    • /
    • 2013
  • A comprehensive review on the technical standards about human factors (HF) design and software reliability maintenance for digital instrumentation and control (I&C) and human-machine interface technology (HMIT) in Japanese light water reactor nuclear power plants (NPPs) was given in this paper mainly by introducing the relevant activities at the Japan Electric Association to set up many industrial standards within the traditional framework of nuclear safety regulation in Japan. In Japan, the Fukushima Daiichi accident that occurred on March 11, 2011 has great impact on nuclear regulation and nuclear industries where concerns by the general public about safety have heightened significantly. However for the part of HF design and software reliability maintenance of digital I&C and HMIT for NPP, the author believes that the past practice of Japanese activities with the related technical standards can be successfully inherited in the future, by reinforcing the technical preparedness for the prevention and mitigation against any types of severe accident occurrence.

Preparation and Consideration of Sample Collection in Undeclared Areas for Denuclearization Verification

  • Kim, Dong Yeong;Kim, Giyoon;Lee, Jun;Lim, Kyung Taek;Chung, Heejun;Seo, Jihye;Kim, Myungsoo
    • 방사성폐기물학회지
    • /
    • 제19권4호
    • /
    • pp.479-489
    • /
    • 2021
  • The Republic of Korea is expected to participate in the denuclearization verification activities by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in case any neighboring countries declared denuclearization. In this study, samples for the verification of nuclear activities in undeclared areas were selected for the denuclearization of neighboring countries, and the appropriateness of the procedures was considered. If a country with nuclear weapons declares denuclearization, it must be accompanied by the IAEA's verification regarding nuclear materials and weapons in the declared and undeclared areas. The analysis of the process samples or on-site environmental samples and the verification of undeclared nuclear facilities and materials aid in uncovering any evidence of concealment of nuclear activity in undeclared areas. Therefore, a methodology was established for effective sampling and analysis in accordance with proper procedures. Preparations for sampling in undeclared areas were undertaken for various potential scenarios, such as, the establishment of zones according to radiation dose, methods of supplying electricity, wireless communication networks, targets of sampling according to characteristics of nuclides, manned sampling method, and unmanned sampling method. Through this, procedures were established for pre- and post-site settings in preparation for hazards and limiting factors at nuclear inspection sites.

Enhancing utilization and ensuring security: Insights to compromise contradicting conditions in new research reactors

  • Alrammah, Ibrahim
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
    • /
    • 제53권5호
    • /
    • pp.1479-1482
    • /
    • 2021
  • Research reactors are typically well-suited for outreach activities at different levels. However, unplanned seeking to increase the utilization of a research reactor may result in weakening the nuclear security of this facility. Research reactor staff might be in shortage of a functional nuclear security culture; specifically, there might be a conviction that the necessities of research can be given the priority over consistence with security procedural requirements. Research reactors are usually parts of bigger institutes or research labs of different activities. Moreover, the employments of research reactors are usually with the purpose that easy entry to the reactor premises is fundamental. So, they could be co-situated in places with different sorts of activities, mostly under similar security arrangements. The co-area of research reactor offices among different kinds of research labs introduces explicit security issues, the effects of which should be viewed as when building up a nuclear security framework. Notwithstanding potential security vulnerabilities presented in the design, research reactors frequently have devices kept promptly accessible to encourage research and education. The accessibility of these sorts of hardware could be used by an authorized person to commit an unapproved activity or cause harm. This paper aims to present insights to compromise contradicting conditions in new research reactors in which both enhancing utilization and ensuring security are satisfied.