• 제목/요약/키워드: Nuclear fuel

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The relationship between public acceptance of nuclear power generation and spent nuclear fuel reuse: Implications for promotion of spent nuclear fuel reuse and public engagement

  • Roh, Seungkook;Kim, Dongwook
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • 제54권6호
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    • pp.2062-2066
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    • 2022
  • Nuclear energy sources are indispensable in cost effectively achieving carbon neutral economy, where public opinion is critical to adoption as the consequences of nuclear accident can be catastrophic. In this context, discussion on spent nuclear fuel is a prerequisite to expanding nuclear energy, as it leads to the issue of radioactive waste disposal. Given the dearth of study on spent nuclear fuel public acceptance, we use text mining and big data analysis on the news article and public comments data on Naver news portal to identify the Korean public opinion on spent nuclear fuel. We identify that the Korean public is more interested in the nuclear energy policy than spent nuclear fuel itself and that the alternative energy sources affect the position towards spent nuclear fuel. We recommend relating spent nuclear fuel issue with nuclear energy policy and environmental issues of alternative energy sources to further promote spent nuclear fuel.

Thermodynamic and experimental analyses of the oxidation behavior of UO2 pellets in damaged fuel rods of pressurized water reactors

  • Jung, Tae-Sik;Na, Yeon-Soo;Joo, Min-Jae;Lim, Kwang-Young;Kim, Yoon-Ho;Lee, Seung-Jae
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • 제52권12호
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    • pp.2880-2886
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    • 2020
  • A small leak occurring on the surface of a fuel rod due to damage exposes UO2 to a steam atmosphere. During this time, fission gas trapped inside the fuel rod leaks out, and the gas leakage can be increased due to UO2 oxidation. Numerous studies have focused on the steam oxidation and its thermodynamic calculation in UO2. However, the thermodynamic calculation of the UO2 oxidation in a pressurized water reactor (PWR) environment has not been studied extensively. Moreover, the kinetics of the oxidation of UO2 pellet also has not been investigated. Therefore, in this study, the thermodynamics of UO2 oxidation under steam injection due to a damaged fuel rod in a PWR environment is studied. In addition, the diminishing radius of the UO2 pellet with time in the PWR environment was calculated through an experiment simulating the initial time of steam injection at the puncture.

Geometry Optimization of Dispersed U-Mo Fuel for Light Water Reactors

  • Ondrej Novak;Pavel Suk;Dusan Kobylka;Martin Sevecek
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • 제55권9호
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    • pp.3464-3471
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    • 2023
  • The Uranium/Molybdenum metallic fuel has been proposed as promising advanced fuel concept especially in the dispersed fuel geometry. The fuel is manufactured in the form of small fuel droplets (particles) placed in a fuel pin covered by a matrix. In addition to fuel particles, the pin contains voids necessary to compensate material swelling and release of fission gases from the fuel particles. When investigating this advanced fuel design, two important questions were raised. Can the dispersed fuel performance be analyzed using homogenization without significant inaccuracy and what size of fuel drops should be used for the fuel design to achieve optimal utilization? To answer, 2D burnup calculations of fuel assemblies with different fuel particle sizes were performed. The analysis was supported by an additional 3D fuel pin calculation with the dispersed fuel particle size variations. The results show a significant difference in the multiplication factor between the homogenized calculation and the detailed calculation with precise fuel particle geometry. The recommended fuel particle size depends on the final burnup to be achieved. As shown in the results, for lower burnup levels, larger fuel drops offer better multiplication factor. However, when higher burnup levels are required, then smaller fuel drops perform better.