• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.18-24
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• 2020

When a damage occurs in the nuclear fuel burning in the reactor, fission products that should be in the nuclear fuel rod are released into the reactor coolant. In this case, sipping test, a series of non-destructive inspection methods, are used to find leakage in nuclear fuel assemblies during the power plant overhaul period. In addition, the sipping test is also used to check the integrity of the spent fuel for moving to an intermediate dry storage, which is carried out as the first step of nuclear decommissioning, . In this paper, the principle and characteristics of the sipping test are described. The structure of the sipping inspection equipment is largely divided into a suction device that collects fissile material emitted from a damaged assembly and an analysis device that analyzes their nuclides. In order to make good use of the sipping technology, the radioactive level behavior of the primary system coolant and major damage mechanisms in the event of nuclear fuel damage are also introduced. This will be a reference for selecting an appropriate sipping method when dismantling a nuclear power plant in the future.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.68-75
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• 1996

More accurate inspection method for facilities of nuclear power plants is required to guarantee the continuous and stable energy supply. The portion of inspection for pipes and pressure vessels is relatively big in the power plants. Conventional inspection methods using ultrasonic wave, x-ray and eddy current for nondestructive testing in nuclear power plants have been performed as the method of contact with objects to be inspected. With this reason these methods have been taken relatively much time, money and manpower. And the area to be inspected is limited by the location of probe or film. These difficulties make the inspection into a time-consuming work. We propose an optical defect detection method using phase shifting realtime holographic interferometry. This method has an advantage that the inspection can be performed at a time for relatively wide area illuminated by the laser beam, a coherent light source and can help an inspector recognize not only defects but also the high stressed areas. In this paper we show that the quantitative measurement using holographic interferometry and image processing for defect in pressure vessels is possible.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.31-37
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• 2011

Pressurized Water Reactor Owners Group(PWROG) proposed and applied a risk-informed inservice inspection(RI-ISI) program to alternate existing ASME Section XI periodic inspections. The RI-ISI programs enhance overall safety by focusing inspections of piping at high safety significant(HSS) and locations where failure mechanisms are likely to be present, and by improving the effectiveness on inspection of components because the examination methods are based on the postulated failure mode and the configuration of the piping structural element. The RI-ISI programs can reduce NDE, man-rem exposure, costs of engineering analysis, outage duration and chance of complicating plant operations etc. RI-ISI methods of piping inservice inspection were applied on 3 units(KSNP : Korea Standard Nuclear Power Plant) and are scheduled to apply on the other units. In this paper, we compared and showed the results of the 2 units and we concluded that the RI-ISI application could enhance and maintain plant safety and give unquantifiable benefits.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.180-190
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• 2000

In this study, nonlinear analyses of prestressed concrete(PSC) test beams for inservice inspection of prestressed concrete containments for CANDU nuclear power plants are presented. In the analysis the material nonlinearities of concrete, rebar and prestressing steel are used. To reduce the numerical instability with respect to the used finite element mesh size, the tension stiffening effect has been considered. For concrete, the tensile stress-strain relationship derived from tests is modified and the stress-strain curve of rebar is assumed as a simple bilinear model. The stress-strain curve of prestressing steel is applied as a multilineal curve with the first straight line up to 0.8fpu. To prove the validity of the applied material models, the behavior and strength of the PSC test specimens tested to failure have been evaluated. A reasonable agreement between the experimental results and the predictions is obtained. Parametric studies on the tension stiffening effects, the impact of prestressing losses with time, and the compressive strength of concrete have been conducted.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers D
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• v.54 no.9
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• pp.556-558
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• 2005

The effect of high irradiation on inspection systems in a nuclear power plant can be severe, especially to electronic components such as control hoards. The effect may lead to a critical malfunction or trouble to a underwater robot for inspection and maintenance of nuclear reactor. However, if information on the total accumulated dose on the sensitive parts of the robot is available, a prediction of robot's behavior in radiation environments becomes possible. To know how much radiation the robot has encountered, a dosimeter to measure the total accumulated dose is necessary. This paper describes the development effort of a dual radiation monitoring system using a SiC diode as a dose-rate meter and a p-type power MOSFET as a dose meter. This attempt using two sensors which detect same radiation improves reliability and stability at high intensity radiation detection in nuclear facilities. It uses the concept of diversity and redundancy.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.578-578
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• 2002

Thermal infrared imaging is a highly promising technology for condition monitoring and predictive maintenance of electronic, electrical and mechanical elements in nuclear power plants. However, conventional low-cost infrared imaging systems suffer from poor spatial resolution compared to commercial CCD cameras. This paper describes an approach to enhance inspection performances for calandria reactor area of Wolsung nuclear power plant through the technique of superimposing thermal infrared image into real CCD image. In the occurrence of thermal abnormalities on observation points and areas of calandria reactor area, unusual hot image taken from thermal infrared camera is mapped upon real CCD image. The performance of the technique has been evaluated in the experiment carried out at Wolsung nuclear power plant in the overhaul period. The results show that localizations of thermal abnormalities on calandria reactor face can be estimated accurately.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.105-132
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• 2011

The concept of improved performance indicators (PIs) for use in the KINS Safety Performance Indicator (SPI) program for reactor safety area is proposed in this paper. To achieve this, the recently developed PIs from the USNRC that use risk information were investigated, and a feasibility study for the application of these PIs in Korean NPPs was performed. The investigated PIs are Baseline Risk Index for Initiating Events (BRIIE), Unplanned Scrams with Complications (USwC), and Mitigating System Performance Index (MSPI). Moreover, the thresholds of the existing safety performance indicators of KINS were evaluated in consideration of the risk and regulatory response to different levels of licensee performance in the graded inspection program.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.663-669
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• 2004

A nuclear power plant is composed of a number of primary components. Maintaining the integrity of these components is one of the most critical issues in nuclear industry. In order to maintain the integrity of these primary components, a complicated procedure is required including regular in-service inspection, failure assessment, fracture mechanics analysis, etc. Also, experts in different fields have to co-operate to resolve the integrity issues on the basis of inspection results. This integrity evaluation process usually takes long, and thus, is detrimental for the plant productivity. Therefore, an effective safety evaluation system is essential to manage the integrity issues on a nuclear power plant. In this paper, a web-based fatigue life evaluation system for primary components in nuclear power plant is proposed. This system provides engineering knowledge-based information and concurrent and collaborative working environment through internet, and thus, is expected to raise the efficiency of integrity evaluation procedures on primary components of a nuclear power plant.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.225-234
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• 2014

Wall-thinned defects caused by accelerated corrosion due to fluid flow in the inner pipe appear in many structures of the secondary systems in nuclear power plants (NPPs) and are a major factor in degrading the integrity of pipes. Wall-thinned defects need to be managed not only when the NPP is under maintenance but also when the NPP is in normal operation. To this end, a test technique was developed in this study to detect such wall-thinned defects based on the temperature difference on the surface of a hot pipe using infrared (IR) thermography and a cooling device. Finite element analysis (FEA) was conducted to examine the tendency and experimental conditions for the cooling experiment. Based on the FEA results, the equipment was configured before the cooling experiment was conducted. The IR camera was then used to detect defects in the inner pipe of the pipe specimen that had artificially induced defects. The IR thermography developed in this study is expected to help resolve the issues related to the limitations of non-destructive inspection techniques that are currently conducted for NPP secondary systems and is expected to be very useful on the NPPs site.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.647-648
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• 2004