• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.1470-1476
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• 2019

The nuclear power plants in South Korea have been designed in accordance with the U.S. Regulatory Guide 1.60 (R.G 1.60) design spectrum of which the peak frequency range is 2-10 Hz. The characteristics of the earthquakes at the Korea nuclear power plant sites were observed to be closer to that of Central and Eastern United States (CEUS) than the R.G 1.60, which is a lower amplification in a low frequency range, and a higher amplification in a high frequency range. The possibility of failure for sensitive power plant components in the high frequency range has been considered and evaluated. In this study, in order to improve the reliability of nuclear plant and administrative control procedures, seismic tests of an emergency diesel generator (EDG) were conducted using a shaking table under both high and low frequency ranges. From the tests, oil/lubricant leaks from the bolt connections, the fuel filter and the fuel inlet were observed. Therefore, the check list of nuclear plant components after an earthquake should include bolt connections of EDG as well as anchor bolts.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.600-606
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• 2019

Studies on the application of the lead rubber bearing (LRB) isolation system to nuclear power plants are being carried out as one of the measures to improve seismic performance. Nuclear power plants with isolation systems require seismic probabilistic safety assessments, for which the seismic fragility of the structures, systems, and components needs be calculated, including for beyond design basis earthquakes. To this end, seismic response analyses are required, where it can be seen that the behaviors of the isolation system components govern the overall seismic response of an isolated plant. The numerical model of the LRB used in these seismic response analyses plays an important role, but in most cases, the extreme performance of the LRB has not been well studied. The current work therefore develops an extreme nonlinear numerical model that can express the seismic response of the LRB for beyond design basis earthquakes. A full-scale LRB was fabricated and dynamically tested with various input conditions, and test results confirmed that the developed numerical model better represents the behavior of the LRB over previous models. Subsequent seismic response analyses of isolated nuclear power plants using the model developed here are expected to provide more accurate results for seismic probabilistic safety assessments.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.981-988
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• 2023

A seismic event caused an accident at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, which further resulted in simultaneous accidents at several units. Consequently, this incident has aroused great interest in the safety of nuclear power plants worldwide. A reasonable safety evaluation of such an external event should appropriately consider the correlation between SSCs (structures, systems, and components) and the probability of failure. However, a probabilistic safety assessment in current nuclear industries is performed conservatively, assuming that the failure correlation between SSCs is independent or completely dependent. This is an extreme assumption; a reasonable risk can be calculated, or risk-based decision-making can be conducted only when the appropriate failure correlation between SSCs is considered. Thus, this study analyzed the effect of the failure correlation of SSCs on the safety of the system to realize rational safety assessment and decision-making. Consequently, the impact on the system differs according to the size of the failure probability of the SSCs and the AND and OR conditions.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.14-29
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• 1992

COMCAF, a computer code for the common-cause failure analysis, is developed to treat the common-cause failures in nuclear power plants. In the treatment of common-cause failures, the minimal cut sets of the system are obtained first without changing the fault-tree structure. The occurrence probabilities of the minimal cut sets are then calculated accounting for the common-cause failures among components in the same minimal cut set or in different minimal cut sets. The basic parameter model is used to model the common-cause failures between similar or identical components. For dissimilar components, the assumption of symmetry used in the basic parameter model is applied to the basic events affecting two or more components. The top event probability is evaluated using the inclusion-exclusion method. In addition to the common-cause failures of components in the same minimal cut sets, failures of components in the different minimal cut sets are also easily accounted for by this method. This study applied this common-cause failure analysis to the PWR auxiliary feedwater system. The results in the top event probability for the system are compared with those of no common-cause failures.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.340-350
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• 2015

This paper proposes strain-based acceptance criteria for assessing plastic instability of the safety class 1 nuclear components made of ferritic steel during level D service loads. The strain-based criteria were proposed with two approaches: (1) a section average approach and (2) a critical location approach. Both approaches were based on the damage initiation point corresponding to the maximum load-carrying capability point instead of the fracture point via tensile tests and finite element analysis (FEA) for the notched specimen under uni-axial tensile loading. The two proposed criteria were reviewed from the viewpoint of design practice and philosophy to select a more appropriate criterion. As a result of the review, it was found that the section average approach is more appropriate than the critical location approach from the viewpoint of design practice and philosophy. Finally, the criterion based on the section average approach was applied to a simplified reactor pressure vessel (RPV) outlet nozzle subject to SSE loads. The application shows that the strain-based acceptance criteria can consider cumulative damages caused by the sequential loads unlike the stress-based acceptance criteria and can reduce the overconservatism of the stress-based acceptance criteria, which often occurs for level D service loads.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.709-718
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• 2019

The international nuclear industry has undergone a lot of changes since the Fukushima, Chernobyl and TMI nuclear power plant accidents. However, there are still large and small component deficiencies at nuclear power plants in the world. There are many causes of electrical equipment defects. There are also factors that cause component failures due to human errors. This paper analyzed the root causes of failure and types of human error in 300 cases of electrical component failures. We analyzed the operating experience of electrical components by methods of root causes in K-HPES (Korean-version of Human Performance Enhancement System) and by methods of human error types in HuRAM+ (Human error-Related event root cause Analysis Method Plus). As a result of analysis, the most electrical component failures appeared as circuit breakers and emergency generators. The major causes of failure showed deterioration and contact failure of electrical components by human error of operations management. The causes of direct failure were due to aged components. Types of human error affecting the causes of electrical equipment failure are as follows. The human error type group I showed that errors of commission (EOC) were 97%, the human error type group II showed that slip/lapse errors were 74%, and the human error type group III showed that latent errors were 95%. This paper is meaningful in that we have approached the causes of electrical equipment failures from a comprehensive human error perspective and found a countermeasure against the root cause. This study will help human performance enhancement in nuclear power plants. However, this paper has done a lot of research on improving human performance in the maintenance field rather than in the design and construction stages. In the future, continuous research on types of human error and prevention measures in the design and construction sector will be required.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.43-46
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• 2010

As the nuclear power plant has been constructed continuously for several decades in Korea, the welding technology for components manufacturing and installation has been improved largely. Standardization for weld test and qualification was also established systematically according to the concerned code. The welding for the main components requires the high reliability to keep the constant quality level, which means the repeatability of weld quality. Therefore the weld process qualified by thorough test and evaluation is able to be applied for manufacturing. Narrow gap SAW and GTAW process are usually applied for girth seam welding of pressure vessel like Reactor vessel, steam generator, and etc. For the surface cladding with stainless steel and Inconel material, strip welding process is mainly used. Inside cladding of nozzles is additionally applied with Hot wire GTAW and semi-auto welding process. Especially the weld joint having elliptical weld line on curved surface needs a specialized weld system which is automatically rotating with adjusting position of the head torch. The small sized pipe, tube, and internal parts of reactor vessel requests precise weld processes like an automatic GTAW and electron beam welding. Welding of dissimilar materials including Inconel690 material has high possibility of weld defects like a lack of fusion, various types of crack. To avoid these kinds of problem, optimum weld parameters and sequence should be set up through the many tests. As the life extension of nuclear power plant is general trend, weld technologies having higher reliability is required gradually. More development of specialized welding systems, weld part analysis and evaluation, and life prediction for main components should be taken into a consideration extensively.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.2696-2700
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• 2003

Nuclear robots should be developed for the reduction of radiation exposure, lower man hours, shorter power outage, and also improved worker safety concerns in performing hazardous and dangerous tasks. Among the components of a nuclear robot system, a robot control system equivalent to a human brain is a crucial point because a nuclear robot does not work without a control system. Therefore, in this paper, we will explain the requirements for a robot control system for a nuclear robot from a general point of view and also review the robot control systems of nuclear robots that were developed domestically, to assist a researcher beginning with the design for the control system of nuclear robots. The explained robot control system will be useful to develop the control system for industrial robots, home robots and other robots which are needed for tele-operation and are controlled through the internet.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.618-625
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• 2019

When newcomer countries consider a nuclear power programme, it is recognized that the most important organizations are the Nuclear Energy Programme Implementing Organization (NEPIO), the regulator, and an operating organization. Concerning the number of construction delays these days, one of the essential organizations is an Authorized Inspection Agency (AIA). According to World Nuclear Industry Status Report, all of the reactors under construction in eight out of the thirteen countries have experienced delays. Globally, the Flamanville 3 project and Sanmen Unit 1 are 6.5 years and 5 years late respectively. One of the major reasons of delay is due to inappropriate manufacturing and inspection on safety class components. The recommendations are made to develop such an organization: (i) find existing inspection organizations in relevant industries, (ii) contract with expatriates who have experience on nuclear inspection, (iii) develop a legislative framework to authorize the inspection organization with enforcement, (iv) include a contract clause in the BIS for developing the AIA, (v) hold training programmes from vendor country, (vi) during manufacturing and construction, domestic AIA shall be involved.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.34-47
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• 1985

The developing country, KOREA where does not possess the natural resources for traditional energy such as oil and gas, so. The nuclear energy is the most single reliable source available for closing the energy gap. For these reason, It is inavoidable to construct the nuclear power plant and to develop technology related nuclear energy. The rate of operation in large nuclear power facilities depends upon the performance of work system through design and construction, and also the applied technology. Especially, it is the most important element that safety and reliability in operation of nuclear power plant. In view of this aspects, Nuclear power plant is performed severe examinations during preservice and inservice inspection. This study provide an automation of analysis for volumetric examination which is required to nuclear power plant components. It is composed as follows: I. Introduction II. Inservice Inspection of Nuclear Power Plant ${\ast}$ General Requirement. ${\ast}$ Principle and Methods of Ultrasonic Test. ${\ast}$ Study of Flaw Evaluation and Design of Classifying Formula for Flaws. III. Design of Automation for Flaw Evaluation. IV. An Example V. Conclusion In this theory, It is classifying the flaws, the formula of classifying flaws and the design of automation that is the main important point. As motioned the above, Owing to such as automatic design, more time could be allocated to practical test than that of evaluation of defects, Protecting against subjective bias tester by himself and miscalculation by dint of various process of computation. For the more, adopting this method would be used to more retaining for many test data and comparative evaluating during successive inspection intervals. Inspite of limitation for testing method and required application to test components, it provide useful application to flow evaluation for volumetric examination. Owing to the characteristics of nuclear power plant that is highly skill intensive industry and has huze system, the more notice should be concentrated as follows. Establishing rational operation plan, developing various technology, and making the newly designed system for undeveloped sector.