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The Oxygen Potential of Urania Nuclear Fuel During Irradiation

  • Park, Kwang-Heon
    • The Korean Journal of Ceramics
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    • v.4 no.2
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    • pp.72-77
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    • 1998
  • A defect model for UO$_2$ fuel containing soluble fission products was devised based on the defect structure of pure and doped uranias. Using the equilibrium between fuel solid-solution and fission-products and the material balance within the fuel, a tracing method to get the stoichiometry change of urania fuel with burnup was made. This tracing method was applied to high burnup urania fuel and DUPIC fuel. The oxygen potential of urania fuel turned out to increase slightly with burnup. The stoichiometry change was calculated to be negligible due to the buffering role f Mo. The oxygen potential of DUPIC fuel out to be sensitive to the initial chemical state of Mo in the fuel.

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AN ASSESSMENT OF THE RADIATION DOSE RATE DUE TO AN OCCURRENCE OF THE DEFECT ON THE SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL ROD

  • Lee, Sang-Hun;Moon, Joo-Hyun
    • Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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    • v.34 no.3
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    • pp.144-150
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    • 2009
  • This study examines how much the radiation dose rate around it varies if a crack occurs on the spent nuclear fuel rod. The spent nuclear fuel rod to be examined is that of Kori unit 3&4. The source terms are evaluated using the ORIGEN-ARP that is part of the version 5.1 of the SCALE package. The radiation dose rate is assessed using the TORT. To check if the structure of a fuel rod is appropriately modeled in the TORT calculation, the calculation results by the TORT are compared with those by the ANISN for the same case. From the code simulation, it is known that if a crack occurs on the spent nuclear fuel rod, the neutron dose rate varies depending on what material is the crack filled with, but the gamma dose rate varies irrespective of type of the material that the crack is filled with.

REVIEW AND FUTURE ISSUES ON SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL STORAGE

  • Saegusa, T.;Shirai, K.;Arai, T.;Tani, J.;Takeda, H.;Wataru, M.;Sasahara, A.;Winston, P.L.
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.42 no.3
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    • pp.237-248
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    • 2010
  • The safety of metal cask and concrete cask storage technology has been verified by CRIEPI through several research programs on demonstrative testing for the interim storage of spent fuel. The results have been reflected in the safety requirements for dry casks issued by NISA/METI (Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) of the Japanese government. On top of that, spent fuel integrity has been studied by the Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization (JNES). This paper reviews these research programs. Future issues include the long-term integrity of cask components and high burn-up spent fuel.

Segmented mandrel tests of as-received and hydrogenated WWER fuel cladding tubes

  • Kiraly, Marton;Horvath, Marta;Nagy, Richard;Ver, Nora;Hozer, Zoltan
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.53 no.9
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    • pp.2990-3002
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    • 2021
  • The mechanical interaction between the fuel pellet and the cladding tube of a nuclear fuel rod is a very important for safety studies as this phenomenon could lead to fuel failure and release of radioactivity. To investigate the ductility of cladding tubes used in WWER type nuclear power plants, several mandrel tests were performed in the Centre for Energy Research (EK). This modified mandrel test was used to model the mechanical interaction between the fuel pellet and the cladding using a segmented tool. The tests were conducted at room temperature and at 300 ℃ with inactive as-received and hydrogenated cladding ring samples. The results show a gradual decrease in ductility as the hydrogen content increases, the ductile-brittle transition was seen above 1500 ppm hydrogen absorbed.

Dynamic Stability Analysis of the Nuclear Fuel Rod Affected by the Swirl Flow due to the Flow Mixer (유동혼합기에 의한 회전유동을 고려한 핵연료 봉의 동적 안정성해석)

  • Lee, Kang-Hee;Kim, Hyung-Kyu;Yoon, Kyung-Ho
    • Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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    • 2008.04a
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    • pp.641-646
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    • 2008
  • Long and slender body with or without flexible supports under severe operating condition can be unstabilized even by the small cross flow. Turbulent flow mixer, which actually increases thermal-hydraulic performance of the nuclear fuel by boosting turbulence, disturbs the flow field around the fuel rod and affects dynamic behavior of the nuclear fuel rods. Few studies on this problem can be found in the literature because these effects depend on the specific natures of the support and the design of the system. This work shows how the dynamics of a multi-span fuel rod can be affected by the turbulent flow, which is discretely activated by a flow mixer. By solving a state-space form of the eigenvalue equation for a multi-span fuel rod system, the critical velocity at which a fuel rod becomes unstable was established. Based on the simulation results, we evaluated how stability of a multi-spanned nuclear fuel rod with mixing vanes can be affected by the coolant flow in an operating reactor core.

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Evaluation of Effects of Impurities in Nuclear Fuel and Assembly Hardware on Radiation Source Term and Shielding

  • Taekyung Lee;Dongjin Lee;Kwangsoon Choi;Hyeongjoon Yun
    • Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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    • v.21 no.2
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    • pp.193-204
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    • 2023
  • To ensure radiological safety margin in the transport and storage of spent nuclear fuel, it is crucial to perform source term and shielding analyses in advance from the perspective of conservation. When performing source term analysis on UO2 fuel, which is mostly used in commercial nuclear power plants, uranium and oxygen are basically considered to be the initial materials of the new fuel. However, the presence of impurities in the fuel and structural materials of the fuel assembly may influence the source term and shielding analyses. The impurities could be radioactive materials or the stable materials that are activated by irradiation during reactor power operation. As measuring the impurity concentration levels in the fuel and structural materials can be challenging, publicly available information on impurity concentration levels is used as a reference in this evaluation. To assess the effect of impurities, the results of the source term and shielding analyses were compared depending on whether the assumed impurity concentration is considered. For the shielding analysis, generic cask design data developed by KEPCO-E&C was utilized.

The information system concept for thermal monitoring of a spent nuclear fuel storage container

  • Svitlana Alyokhina
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.55 no.10
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    • pp.3898-3906
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    • 2023
  • The paper notes that the most common way of handling spent nuclear fuel (SNF) of power reactors is its temporary long-term dry storage. At the same time, the operation of the dry spent fuel storage facilities almost never use the modern capabilities of information systems in safety control and collecting information for the next studies under implementation of aging management programs. The author proposes a structure of an information system that can be implemented in a dry spent fuel storage facility with ventilated storage containers. To control the thermal component of spent fuel storage safety, a database structure has been developed, which contains 5 tables. An algorithm for monitoring the thermal state of spent fuel was created for the proposed information system, which is based on the comparison of measured and forecast values of the safety criterion, in which the level of heating the ventilation air temperature was chosen. Predictive values of the safety criterion are obtained on the basis of previously published studies. The proposed algorithm is an implementation of the information function of the system. The proposed information system can be used for effective thermal monitoring and collecting information for the next studies under the implementation of aging management programs for spent fuel storage equipment, permanent control of spent fuel storage safety, staff training, etc.

A Study on the Micro-Focus X-Ray Inspection for Confirming the Soundness of End Closure Weld of DUPIC Fuel Elements (DUPIC 핵연료봉 봉단 용접부 건전성 확인을 위한 미세초점 X-선 투과시험에 관한 연구)

  • 김웅기;김수성;이정원;양명승
    • Journal of Welding and Joining
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    • v.19 no.1
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    • pp.88-94
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    • 2001
  • DUPIC (Direct use of spent PWR fuel in CANDU reactors) nuclear fuel is a CANDU fuel fabricated remotely from spent PWR fuel materials in a hot cell. The soundness of the end closure welds of nuclear fuel elements is an important factor for the safety and performance of nuclear fuel. To evaluate the soundness of the end closure welds of DUPIC fuel element, a precise X-ray inspection system is developed using a micro-focus X-ray generator with an image intensifier and a real time camera system. The fuel elements made of Zircaloy-4 and stainless steel by an Nd:YAG laser welding and a TIG welding aye inspected by the developed inspection system. The soundness of the welds of the fuel elements was confirmed by the X-ray inspection process, and the irradiation test of DUPIC fuel elements has been successfully completed at the HANARO research reactor.

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