• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.175-180
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• 1997

It has been known that eater-side corrosion of fuel rods in nuclear reactor is accompanied with the metallic loss of wall thickness and hydrogen pickup in the fuel dadding tube. The fuel dad corrosion is one of the major factors to be controlled to maintain the fuel integrity during reactor operation. An oxide later thickness measuring device equipped with ECT probe system was developed by KAERI, and whose performance test was carried out in NDT(Non-destructive Test) hot-cell or PIE(Post Irradiation Examination) Facility. At first, the calibration/performance test was executed for the unirradiated standard specimen rod fabricated with several kinds of plastic thin films whose thickness ore predetermined, and the result of which showed a good precision within 10% of discrepancy. And then, hot test us peformed for the irradiated fuel rod selectively extracted from J44 fuel assembly discharged from Kori Unit-2. The data obtained with this device were compared with the metallographic result obtained from destructive examination in PIEF hot-cell on the same fuel rod to verify the validity of the measurement data.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.11
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• pp.3983-3995
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• 2023

In fast reactors, restructuring of the fuel micro-structure driven by high temperature and high temperature gradient can cause the formation of columnar grains. The non-spheroidal shape and the non-uniform temperature field in such columnar grains implies that standard models for fission gas diffusion can not be applied. To tackle this issue, we present a reduced order model for the fission gas diffusion process which is applicable in different geometries and with non-uniform temperature fields, maintaining a computational requirement in line with its application in fuel performance codes. This innovative application of reduced order models as meso-scale tools within fuel performance codes represents a first-of-a-kind achievement that can be extended beyond fission gas behaviour.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.377-385
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• 2024

The concrete silo dry storage system, which has been in operation at the Wolsong NPP site since 1992, consists of a concrete structure, a steel liner plate in the inner space, and a fuel basket. The silo system's concrete structure must maintain structural integrity as well as adequate radiation shielding performance against the high radioactivity of spent nuclear fuel stored inside the storage system. The concrete structure is directly exposed to the external climatic environment in the storage facility and can be expected to deteriorate over time owing to the heat of spent nuclear fuel, as well as particularly cracks in the concrete structure. These cracks may reduce the radiation shielding performance of the concrete structure, potentially exceeding the silo system's allowable radiation dose rate limits. For specimens with the same composition and physical properties as silo's concrete structures, cracks were forcibly generated and then irradiated to measure the change in radiation dose rate to examine the effect of cracks in concrete structures on radiation shielding performance, and in the current state, the silo system maintains radiation shielding performance.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2001.05a
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• pp.303.1-303
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• 2001

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.2195-2205
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• 2023

One of the salient nuclear fuel performance parameters for new fuel types under development is changes in fuel thickness. To test the new commercially fabricated U-10Mo monolithic plate-type fuel, an irradiation experiment was designed that consisted of multiple mini-plate capsules distributed within the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) core, the mini-plate 1 (MP-1) experiment. Each capsule contains eight mini-plates that were either fueled or "dummy" plates. Fuel thickness changes within a fuel assembly can be characterized by measuring the gaps between the plates ultrasonically. The channel gap probe (CGP) system is designed to measure the gaps between the plates and will provide information that supports qualification of U-10Mo monolithic fuel. This study will discuss the design and the results from the use of a custom-designed CGP system for characterizing the gaps between mini-plates within the MP-1 capsules. To ensure accurate and repeatable data, acceptance and calibration procedures have been developed. Unfortunately, there is no "gold" standard measurement to compare to CGP measurements. An effort was made to use plate thickness obtained from post-irradiation measurements to derive channel gap estimates for comparison with the CGP characterization.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.737-746
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• 2007

A spacer grid, which is one of the most important structural components in a PWR fuel assembly, supports its fuel rods laterally and vertically. Based on in-house design experience, scrutiny of the design features of advanced nuclear fuels and the patents of other spacer grids, KAERI has devised its own spacer grid shapes and acquired patents. In this study, a performance evaluation of KAERI's spacer grid shapes was carried out from mechanical/structural and thermohydraulic view points. A comparative performance evaluation of commercial spacer grid shapes was also carried out. The comparisons addressed the spring characteristics, fuel rod vibration characteristics, fretting wear resistance, impact strength characteristics, CHF enhancement, and the pressure drop level of the spacer grid shapes. The results show that the performances of KAERI's spacer grid shapes are as good as or better than those of the commercial spacer grid shapes.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.119-125
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• 2023

Burnup of spent nuclear fuel should be determined accurately for the safety storage of spent nuclear fuel. In this study, a gamma detection system was developed as a part of basic research to measure the burnup of spent nuclear fuel, and its performance was evaluated using a calibration source. The prototype of the gamma detection system was based on a semiconductor sensor using a CZT (Cadmium Zinc Telluride). For quantitative evaluation, tests were conducted using ¹³⁷Cs, ¹³⁴Cs and ²⁵²Cf calibration source. In the performance evaluation, Its field applicability was verified by assessing the energy resolution, the detection linearity and the shielding attenuation according to the nuclide.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.476-483
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• 2017

The decay heat that is produced by nuclear reactor spent fuel must be cooled in a spent fuel storage pool. A wickless heat pipe or a vertical two-phase closed thermosyphon (TPCT) is used to remove this decay heat. The objective of this research is to investigate the thermal performance of a prototype model for a large-scale vertical TPCT as a passive cooling system for a nuclear research reactor spent fuel storage pool. An experimental investigation and numerical simulation using RELAP5/MOD 3.2 were used to investigate the TPCT thermal performance. The effects of the initial pressure, filling ratio, and heat load were analyzed. Demineralized water was used as the TPCT working fluid. The cooled water was circulated in the water jacket as a cooling system. The experimental results show that the best thermal performance was obtained at a thermal resistance of $0.22^{\circ}C/W$, the lowest initial pressure, a filling ratio of 60%, and a high evaporator heat load. The simulation model that was experimentally validated showed a pattern and trend line similar to those of the experiment and can be used to predict the heat transfer phenomena of TPCT with varying inputs.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.405-412
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• 2011

Used nuclear fuel will likely be stored dry for extended periods of time in the USA. Until a final disposition pathway is chosen, the storage periods will almost definitely be longer than were originally intended. The ability of the important-tosafety structures, systems, and components (SSCs) to continue to meet storage and transport safety functions over extended times must be determined. It must be assured that there is no significant degradation of the fuel or dry cask storage systems. Also, it is projected that the maximum discharge burnups of the used nuclear fuel will increase. Thus, it is necessary to obtain data on high burnup fuel to demonstrate that the used nuclear fuel remains intact after extended storage. An evaluation was performed to determine the conditions that may lead to failure of dry storage SSCs. This paper documents the initial technical gap analysis performed to identify data and modeling needs to develop the desired technical bases to ensure the safety functions of dry stored fuel.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.338-345
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• 2004

This study examines the sensitivity of several fabrication parameters for dry process fuel, using a random sampling technique. The in-pile performance of dry process fuel with irradiation was calculated by a modified ELESTRES code, which is the CANDU fuel performance code system. The performance of the fuel rod was then analyzed using a Monte Carlo simulation to obtain the uncertainty of the major outputs, such as the fuel centerline temperature, the fission gas pressure, and the plastic strain. It was proved by statistical analysis that for both the dry process fuel and the $UO_2$ fuel, pellet density is one of the most sensitive parameters, but as for the fission gas pressure, the density of the $UO_2$ fuel exhibits insensitive behavior compared to that of the dry process fuel. The grain size of the dry process fuel is insensitive to the fission gas pressure, while the grain size of the $UO_2$ fuel is correlative to the fission gas pressure. From the calculation with a typical CANDU reactor power envelop, the centerline temperature, fission gas pressure, and plastic strain of the dry process fuel are higher than those of the $UO_2$ fuel.