• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.71-77
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• 2006

This study introduces the seismic qualification of safety related equipments for nuclear power plants to verify the possibility of resonance in regard to the operating speed and the structural integrity due to external piping nozzle loads as well as seismic dynamic loads using El-Centro earthquake, which was occurred in the 1940's previously. As a first step, it is necessary to investigate the natural frequency of the vertical mixed flow pump in order to determine whether static or dynamic equipment comparing with seismic cut-off frequency, 33hz. Also the normal mode analysis was carried out with the introduction of seismic redesign straint at the middle of vertical pump to increase the natural frequency. In terms of structural integrity, the application of static analysis with normal, upset and faulted nozzle loads event was presented for the comparison of material allowable stress. Also the dynamic analysis was performed to show the design adequacy through the application to the case of El-Centro earthquake.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.7
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• pp.2540-2549
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• 2022

For a pressurized water reactor power plant, the reactor coolant pump (RCP) is a kernel component. And for a canned motor RCP, the rotor system's properties determines its safety. The liquid coolant inside the canned motor RCP fills clearance between the metal shields of rotor and stator, forming a lengthy clearance flow. The influence of inlet preswirl on rotordynamic coefficients of clearance flow in canned motor RCP and their effects on the rotordynamic characteristics of the pump are numerically and experimentally investigated in this work. A quasi-steady state computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method has been used to investigate the influence of inlet preswirl. A vertical experiment rig has also been established for this purpose. Rotordynamic coefficients on different inlet preswirl ratios (IR) are obtained through CFD and experiment. Results show that the cross-coupled stiffness of the clearance flow would change significantly with inlet preswirl, but other rotordynamic coefficients would not change significantly with inlet preswirl. For the case of clearance flow between the stator and rotor cans, influence of inlet preswirl is not so significant as the IR is not large enough.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.593-598
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• 2008

In the present study, degradation characteristics of pumps in nuclear power plants were investigated to provide the information of degradation mechanism and stressors. The failure records of pumps for the periods 2000 to 2006 on INPO(Institute of Nuclear Power Operations) EPIX(Equipment Performance and Information Exchange System) DB were reviewed. The 1,834 failure records reveal that the critical areas of pump failures are bearing, mechanical seal, gasket/o-ring, shaft, impeller, coupling and packing. Based on the failure rate of critical areas, the important degradation mechanism and stressors were determined. Additionally, the relationship between degradation mechanism and stressors such as wear was examined. Finally, the monitoring parameters related to degradation and stressors were discussed for the future development of degradation evaluation and prognosis technology of pumps.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.10
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• pp.3236-3246
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• 2021

Lessons learned from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident directed that multiple failures should be considered more seriously rather than single failure in the licensing bases and safety cases because attempts to take accident management measures could be unsuccessful under the high radiation environment aggravated by multiple failures, such as complete loss of electric power, uncontrollable loss of coolant inventory, failure of essential safety function recovery. In the case of the complete loss of electric power called station blackout (SBO), if there is no mitigation action for recovering safety functions, the reactor core would be overheated, and severe fuel damage could be anticipated due to the failure of the active heat sink. In such a transient condition at CANDU-6 plants, the seal failure of the primary heat transport (PHT) pumps can facilitate a consequent increase in the fuel sheath temperature and eventually lead to degradation of the fuel integrity. Therefore, it is necessary to specify the regulatory guidelines for multiple failures on a licensing basis so that licensees should prepare the accident management measures to prevent or mitigate accident conditions. In order to explore the efficiency of implementing accident management strategies for CANDU-6 plants, this study proposed a realistic accident analysis approach on the SBO transient with multiple-failure sequences such as seal failure of PHT pumps without operator's recovery actions. In this regard, a comparative study for two PHT pump seal failure modes with and without coolant seal leakage was conducted using a best-estimate code to precisely investigate the behaviors of thermal-hydraulic parameters during transient conditions. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis for different PHT pump seal leakage rates was also carried out to examine the effect of leakage rate on the system responses. This study is expected to provide the technical bases to the accident management strategy for unmitigated transient conditions with multiple failures.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1999.12a
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• pp.245-251
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• 1999

The structural analysis of a reactor coolant pump(RCP) of a nuclear power plant is very important for the safety assessment of the plant. Accurate boundary conditions for the heat transfer coefficient are required for reliable thermal stress analysis of the pump casing, especially in transient operations of the pump since the coolant properties are largely dependent on operational conditions. In the present study, a 3D mixed flow type coolant pump was modeled from the RCP drawings and analyzed in the steady state and number of transient flow conditions by using a commercial code STAR-CD. From the result of the computation, it is seem that the average heat transfer coefficients for the cases considered are found to be the suggested values of the manufacturer, Westinghouse Energy System. The unevenness in local heat transfer coefficients, however, is found to be considerable so that the use of average heat transfer coefficients in all boundaries might not give reliable thermal stresses.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.19 no.3 s.59
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• pp.20-27
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• 2005

This paper evaluates the fire safety level of eight pump rooms in the nuclear power plant using a fire model, CFAST We estimate the Conditional Core Damage Probability (CCDP) of each room based on the analyzed results of CFAST Eight rooms located on the primary auxiliary building of the nuclear power plant are high pressure safety injection pump room A/B, low pressure safety injection pump room Am. containment sprdy pump room A/B, and motor-driven auxiliary feed water pump room A/B. The upper layer gas temperature of each room is estimated and the integrity of cable is reviewed. Based on the results, the integrity of the cable located at the upper part of compartment is maintained without thermal damage. The Conditional Core Damage Probability Is reduced to half of the old values. Accordingly, the fire safety assessment for eight pump rooms using the fire model will be capable of reducing the uncertainty and to develop a more realistic model.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.7
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• pp.2207-2220
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• 2021

Lead alloy is used as coolant in Lead-based cooled Fast Reactor (LFR). The natural characteristics of lead alloy are combined with the simple structural design of LFR. This constitutes the inherent safety characteristics of LFR. The main work of this paper is to take the main coolant pump (MCP) in the lead-cooled fast reactor (LFR) as the research object, and to study the flow pattern distribution of the internal flow field under the reverse rotation pump condition, the reverse rotation positive-flow braking condition and the reverse rotation negative-flow braking condition. In this paper, the double-outlet volute type and the space guide vane are selected as the potential designs of the CLEAR-I MCP. In this paper, the CFD method is used to study the potential reverse accident of the MCP. It is found that the highest flow velocity in the impeller appears at the impeller outlet, and the Q-H curves of the two design programs basically coincide. The space guide vane type MCP has better hydraulic performance under the reverse rotation positive-flow condition, the Q-H curves of the two designs gradually separate with increasing flow rate, and the maximum flow velocity inside the space guide vane type MCP is obviously lower than that of the double-outlet volute type. For the reverse rotation test of MCP, only the condition of the forward rotating pump of the main coolant pump is tested and verified. For the simulation of the MCP in LBE medium, it proved that the turbulence model and basic settings selected in the simulation are reliable.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.22-28
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• 2016

It is necessary to store and supply hydrogen isotopes for Tokamak operation. A storage and delivery system (SDS) is used for storing hydrogen isotopes as a metal hydride form. We designed and fabricated a depleted uranium (DU) bed to store hydrogen isotopes. The rapid storage of hydrogen isotopes is very important not only for safety reasons but also for the economic design and operation of the SDS. The delivery rate at the desorption temperatures without the operation of a dry pump was analyzed in comparison with that with the operation of the dry pump. The effect of the initial desorption temperatures on the dehydriding of the DU without the operation of the dry pump was measured. The effect of the initial desorption temperatures on the dehydriding of DU with the operation of the dry pump was also measured and analyzed. The primary pressure on the desorption temperatures without the operation of the dry pump was analyzed in comparison with that with the operation of the dry pump. The temperature gradient of the coil heater and the primary vessel was also analyzed. Our results will be used to develop pilot scale hydrogen isotope processes. It was confirmed that dehydriding of a medium-scale DU bed has enabled without the operation of the dry pump.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.557-558
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• 2004

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2001.05a
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• pp.491.2-491
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• 2001