• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.144-156
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• 2018

Level 3 Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) is performed for the risk assessment that calculates radioactive material dispersion to the environment. This risk assessment is performed with a tool of MELCOR Accident Consequence Code System (MACCS2 or WinMACCS). For the off-site consequence analysis of multi-unit nuclear power plant (NPP) accident, the single location (Center Of Mass, COM) method has been usually adopted with the assumption that all the NPPs in the nuclear site are located at the same COM point. It was well known that this COM calculation can lead to underestimated or overestimated radionuclide concentration. In order to overcome this underestimation or overestimation of radionuclide concentrations in the COM method, Multiple Location (ML) method was developed in this study. The radionuclide concentrations for the individual NPPs are separately calculated, and they are summed at every location in the nuclear site by the post-processing of radionuclide concentrations that is based on two-dimensional Gaussian Plume equations. In order to demonstrate the efficiency of the ML method, radionuclide concentrations were calculated for the six-unit NPP site, radionuclide concentrations of the ML method were compared with those by COM method. This comparison was performed for conditions of constant weather, yearly weather in Korea, and four seasons, and the results were discussed. This new ML method (1) improves accuracy of radionuclide concentrations when multi-unit NPP accident occurs, (2) calculates realistic atmospheric dispersion of radionuclides under various weather conditions, and finally (3) supports off-site emergency plan optimization. It is recommended that this new method be applied to the risk assessment of multi-unit NPP accident. This new method drastically improves the accuracy of radionuclide concentrations at the locations adjacent to or very close to NPPs. This ML method has a great strength over the COM method when people live near nuclear site, since it provides accurate radionuclide concentrations or radiation doses.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.381-386
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• 2014

A highly reliable safety class controller for NPPs (Nuclear Power Plants) is mandatory as even a minor malfunction can lead to disastrous consequences for people, the environment or the facility. In order to enhance the reliability of a safety class digital controller for NPPs, we employed a diversity approach, in which a PLC-type controller and a PLD-type controller are to be operated in parallel. We built and used structured testbenches based on the classes supported by UVM for functional verification of the PLD-type controller designed for NPPs. We incorporated a UVM register model into the testbenches in order to increase the controllability and the observability of the DUT(Device Under Test). With the increased testability, we could easily verify the datapaths between I/O ports and the register sets of the DUT, otherwise we had to perform black box tests for the datapaths, which is very cumbersome and time consuming. We were also able to perform constrained random verification very easily and systematically. From the study, we confirmed the various advantages of using the UVM register model in verification such as scalability, reusability and interoperability, and set some design guidelines for verification of the NPP controllers.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.697-708
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• 2012

The majority of instrumentation and control (I&C) systems in today's nuclear power plants (NPPs) are based on analog technology. Thus, most existing I&C systems now face obsolescence problems. Existing NPPs have difficulty in repairing and replacing devices and boards during maintenance because manufacturers no longer produce the analog devices and boards used in the implemented I&C systems. Therefore, existing NPPs are replacing the obsolete analog I&C systems with advanced digital systems. New NPPs are also adopting digital I&C systems because the economic efficiencies and usability of the systems are higher than the analog I&C systems. Digital I&C systems are based on two technologies: a microprocessor based system in which software programs manage the required functions and a programmable logic device (PLD) based system in which programmable logic devices, such as field programmable gate arrays, manage the required functions. PLD based systems provide higher levels of performance compared with microprocessor based systems because PLD systems can process the data in parallel while microprocessor based systems process the data sequentially. In this research, a bistable trip logic in a reactor protection system (RPS) was developed using very high speed integrated circuits hardware description language (VHDL), which is a hardware description language used in electronic design to describe the behavior of the digital system. Functional verifications were also performed in order to verify that the bistable trip logic was designed correctly and satisfied the required specifications. For the functional verification, a random testing technique was adopted to generate test inputs for the bistable trip logic.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.87-97
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• 2016

The new generation of nuclear power plants (NPPs) will likely make use of state-of-the-art technologies in many areas of the plant. The analysis, design, and selection of advanced human-system interfaces (HSIs) constitute an important part of power plant engineering. Designers need to consider the new capabilities afforded by these technologies in the context of current regulations and new operational concepts, which is why they need a more rigorous method by which to plan the introduction of advanced HSIs in NPP work areas. Much of current human factors research stops at the user interface and fails to provide a definitive process for integration of end user devices with instrumentation and control and operational concepts. The current lack of a clear definition of HSI technology, including the process for integration, makes characterization and implementation of new and advanced HSIs difficult. This paper describes how new design concepts in the nuclear industry can be analyzed and how HSI technologies associated with new industrial processes might be considered. It also describes a basis for an understanding of human as well as technology characteristics that could be incorporated into a prioritization scheme for technology selection and deployment plans.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.50-63
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• 2017

Safety culture degradation signs in nuclear power plants with complex and diverse systems can lead to their equipments performance deterioration. If these signs are neglected, they become potential causes of accidents. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor safety culture in the point of view of organization and management as well as to evaluate safety performance of nuclear power plants. Therefore, This paper suggested a methodology to evaluate safety culture weakness contributing the accidents' root causes in the case accidents occur at nuclear power plants. After reviewing methodologies using at domestic and international industry, the methodology suitable for domestic nuclear power plants was determined.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.13-19
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• 2009

As the operating time in nuclear power plants (NPPs) increases, the integrity of nuclear components may be continually degraded due to aging effects of systems, structures and components. Recently, a number of NPPs are being operated beyond their design life to produce more electricity without shutting down. The critical issue in extending a lifetime is to maintain the level of safety during the extended operation period while satisfying the international regulatory standards. Therefore, it is beneficial to build a monitoring system to measure an aging status. In this paper, the Aging Monitor (AM) based on lots of aging database obtained from the operating plants and research results on the aging effects was developed to monitor, manage and evaluate the aging phenomena systematically and effectively in NPPs. The AM for the CANDU is divided into 6 modules: (1) Aging Alarm/Coloring Monitor, (2) Aging Database, (3) Aging Document, (4) Real-time Integrity Monitor, (5) Surveillance and Inspection Management System, and (6) Continued Operation and Periodic Safety Review (PSR) Safety Evaluation. The proposed system is expected to provide the integrity assessment for the major mechanical components of an NPP under concurrent working environments.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.138-145
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• 2012

As of the end of 2010, 21 nuclear power reactors were operating in Korea. Radioactive effluents from nuclear power plants (NPPs) had been increased continuously and the radioactivity of effluents released in 2010 was 547.12 TBq. From 2001 to 2010, the annual average radioactivity of gaseous and liquid effluents per reactor was 11.61 TBq for pressurized water reactor (PWR) plants and 118.12 TBq for PHWR (pressurized heavy water reactor) plants. Most of the radioactivity from gaseous and liquid effluents was came from $^3H$. Based on the results of release trends and analysis, effluents characteristics was suggested for the management of radioactive effluents from NPPs.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.21 no.5 s.77
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• pp.77-83
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• 2006

The purpose of this study is to assess the organizational personality types, employee-organization fits and the job satisfaction/involvement in a Korea standard nuclear power plant(NPP), which is a representative safety work place. First we chose 427 procedures that are related to safety out of 777 officially managed procedures referenced by 13.5 of FSAR(final safety analysis report). Next, we finally chose 70 procedures of 8 divisions for 44 employees regarding the duties for NPPs' division, experiences of operations, an operational know-how, and the indication of operational weakness. This study used OPTI(organizational personality type indicators) and the combination of 4 preference types for determining the organizational personality to produce personality types of organizations for NPPs' division. To assess the job satisfaction and involvement, we used a questionnaire and an interview, for 300 employees(83.5%) of the Korea standard NPP.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.35-43
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• 2013

Most of the nuclear power plants(NPPs) adopts pressure difference type flow meters such as venturi and orifice meters for the measurement of feedwater flow rates to calculate reactor thermal power. However, corrosion products in the feedwater deposits on the flow meter by fouling as operating time goes. These effects lead to severe errors in the flow indication and then determination of reactor thermal power. The averaging BDFT, which has developed by Yun et al., has a potentiality to minimize this problem thanks to its inherent measurement principle. Therefore, it is expected that the averaging BDFT can replace the venturi meter for the feedwater pipe of steam generator of NPPs. The present work compares the amplification factor, K, based on CFD calculation against the K obtained from experiments in order to confirm whether a commercial CFD code can be applicable to the evaluation of characteristic for the averaging BDFT. In addition to this, the simulations to take into account of fouling effect are also carried out by rough wall option. The results show that the averaging BDFT is a promising flow meter for the accurate measurement of flow rates in the fouling condition of the NPPs.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.75-86
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• 2011

This paper describes several current research activities and the field techniques for the prevention of human errors during the operation of nuclear power plants(NPPs). The human aspects such as 'fitness for the duties', 'job competence and suitability', 'types of communication', 'behaviors of field workers', 'teamwork of main control room crews', 'task procedures', etc. have been investigated for improving the performance of operating personnel in NPPs. We decide to develop a set of the complementary techniques for the reduction of human errors. The set of techniques developed includes teamwork criteria, jobs fitness analysis, procedure enhancement guide, 3-way communication, campaign posters, a behavior based safety program, a procedure guideline, and a task hazard identification method for the field practitioners in NPPs. These can offer a set of significant human error countermeasures to be considered for analyzing and reducing human error in NPPs as well as other fields of industry.