• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
• /
• v.47 no.1
• /
• pp.7-12
• /
• 2014

The characteristics of oxidation for the Zry-4 was measured in the $800^{\circ}C$ and high steam pressure (50 bar, 75 bar, 100 bar) conditions, using an apparatus for high pressure steam oxidation. The effect of accelerated oxidation by high-pressure steam was increased more than 60% in hydrogen-charged cladding than normal cladding. This difference between hydrogen charged claddings and normal claddings tends to be larger as the higher pressure. The accelerated oxidation effect of hydrogen charging cladding is regarded as the hydrogen on the metal layer affects the formation of the protective oxide layer. The creation of the sound monoclinic phase in Zry-4 oxidation influences reinforcement of corrosion-resistance of the oxide layer. The oxidation is estimated to be accelerated due to the creation of equiaxial type oxide film with lower corrosion resistance than that of columnar type oxide film. When tetragonal oxide film transformed into the monoclinic oxide film, surface energy of the new monoclinic phase reduced by hydrogen in the metal layer.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
• /
• v.49 no.4
• /
• pp.389-394
• /
• 2016

The operation method of nuclear power plants is currently changing to high burn-up and long period that can enhance economics and efficiency of the plant. Since nuclear plant operation environment has been becoming severe, the amount of absorbed hydrogen also has increased. Absorbed hydrogen can be fatal securing safety of nuclear fuel cladding in case of Loss of Coolant Accidents(LOCA). In order to examine the impact of hydride on high-temperature oxidation, high-temperature oxidation experiment was performed on normal Zry-4 cladding and on Zry-4 cladding where hydrogen is charged in air pressure steam atmosphere under the $950^{\circ}C$ and $1000^{\circ}C$. According to the results, while oxidation acceleration due to charged hydrogen was not observed prior to breakaway oxidation creation, oxidation began to accelerate in cladding where hydrogens charged as soon as the breakaway oxidation started. If so much hydrogen are charged in the cladding, equiaxial monoclinic phase to unstable of stress is formed and it is presumed that oxidation is accelerated because nearby stress caused a crack in equiaxial phase, and that makes corrosion resistance decline sharply.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
• /
• v.42 no.9 s.280
• /
• pp.618-623
• /
• 2005

HTGR (High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor) is highlighted to next generation power plant for producing the clean hydrogen gas. In this study, the spherical $UO_2$ kernel via $UO_3$ gel particles was prepared by the sol-gel process. Raw material of slightly Acid Deficient Uranyl Nitrate (ADUN) solution, which has pH = 1.10 and $[NO_3]/[U]$ mole ratio = 1.93, was obtained from dissolution of $U_3O_8$ powder with conc.-$HNO_3$. The surface of these spherical $UO_3$ gel particles, which was prepared from the broth solution, consisted of 1 M-uranium, 1 M-HMTA, and urea, were covered with the fine crystallite aggregates, and these particles were so hard that crushed well. But the other $UO_3$ gel particles prepared with the broth solution, consisted of 2 M-uranium, 2 M-HMTA, and urea, have soft surface characteristics and an amorphous phase. This type of $UO_3$ gel particles is some chance of doing possibility of high density from the compaction. The amorphous $UO_3$ gel particles was converted to $U_3O_8$ and then $UO_2$ by calcination at $600^{\circ}C\;in\;4\%\;-\;H_2\;+\;N2$ atmosphere.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.56 no.3
• /
• pp.1037-1051
• /
• 2024

This paper presents the construction results and design of the UNIST Reactor Innovation platform for small modular reactors as a versatile testbed for exploring innovative technologies. The platform uses simulant fluids to simulate the thermal-hydraulic behavior of a reference small modular reactor design, allowing for cost-effective design modifications. Scaling analysis results for single and two-phase natural circulation flows are outlined based on the three-level scaling methodology. The platform's capability to simulate natural circulation behavior was validated through performance calculations using the 1-D system thermal-hydraulic code-based calculation. The strategies for evaluating cutting-edge technologies, such as the integration of a solid oxide electrolysis cell for hydrogen production into a small modular reactor, are presented. To overcome experimental limitations, the hardware-in-the-loop technique is proposed as an alternative, enabling real-time simulation of physical phenomena that cannot be implemented within the experimental facility's hardware. Overall, the proposed versatile innovation platform is expected to provide valuable insights for advancing research in the field of small modular reactors and nuclear-based hydrogen production.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
• /
• 2005.05a
• /
• pp.237-238
• /
• 2005

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.239-247
• /
• 2008

Hydrogen production facility using very high temperature gas cooled reactor lies in situation of high temperature and corrosion which makes hydrogen release easily. In that case of hydrogen release, there lies a danger of explosion. However, from the point of thermal-hydraulics view, the long distance of them makes lower efficiency result. In this study, therefore, outlines of hydrogen production using nuclear energy are researched. Several methods for analyzing the effects of hydrogen explosion upon high temperature gas cooled reactor are reviewed. Reliability physics model which is appropriate for assessment is used. Using this model, leakage probability, rupture probability and structure failure probability of very high temperature gas cooled reactor are evaluated and classified by detonation volume and distance. Also based on standard safety criteria which is value of $1{\times}10^{-6}$, safety distance between the very high temperature gas cooled reactor and the hydrogen production facility is calculated.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.39 no.1
• /
• pp.1-8
• /
• 2007

Hydrogen and electricity are expected to dominate the world energy system in the long term. The world currently consumes about 50 million metric tons of hydrogen per year, with the bulk of it being consumed by the chemical and refining industries. The demand for hydrogen is expected to increase, especially if the U.S. and other countries shift their energy usage towards a hydrogen economy, with hydrogen consumed as an energy commodity by the transportation, residential and commercial sectors. However, there is strong motivation to not use fossil fuels in the future as a feedstock for hydrogen production, because the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide is a byproduct and fossil fuel prices are expected to increase significantly. An advanced reactor technology receiving considerable international interest for both electricity and hydrogen production, is the modular helium reactor (MHR), which is a passively safe concept that has evolved from earlier high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) designs. For hydrogen production, this concept is referred to as the H2-MHR. Two different hydrogen production technologies are being investigated for the H2-MHR; an advanced sulfur-iodine (SI) thermochemical water splitting process and high-temperature electrolysis (HTE). This paper describes pre-conceptual design descriptions and economic evaluations of full-scale, nth-of-a-kind SI-Based and HTE-Based H2-MHR plants. Hydrogen production costs for both types of plants are estimated to be approximately $2 per kilogram.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
• /
• 2005.10a
• /
• pp.310-311
• /
• 2005

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.52 no.9
• /
• pp.2041-2046
• /
• 2020

The present article investigates the influence of hydrogen concentration on the creep performance of cold-worked stress-relieved unirradiated Zircaloy-4 cladding tube using nanoindentation technique. The as-received Zircaloy-4 tube is hydrided to the concentrations of 600 ppm and 900 ppm using gaseous hydrogen charging method. Constant load indentation creep tests are performed for a dwell period of 600 s in the temperature range of 300℃-500 ℃ at 1000 μN, 2000 μN, and 3000 μN. The impact of hydrogen is evaluated in terms of steady state power law creep exponent and activation energy. The power law creep exponent decreases with increase in hydrogen concentration, however, it remains fairly constant with increase in temperature up to 500 ℃. Moreover, activation energy too decreases significantly with increase in hydrogen concentration. The mean stress exponent and activation energy are found to be 3.58 and 28.67 kJ/mol, respectively, for as-received sample.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.56 no.2
• /
• pp.728-744
• /
• 2024

The presence of hydrogen absorbed by zirconium-based cladding materials during reactor operation can trigger degradation mechanisms and endanger the rod integrity. Ensuring the durability of the rods in extended time-frames like dry storage requires anticipating hydrogen behavior using numerical modeling. In this context, the present paper describes a hydrogen post-processing tool for Falcon - HYPE, a PSI's in-house tool able to calculate hydrogen uptake, transport, thermochemistry, reorientation of hydrides and hydrogen-related failure criteria. The tool extracts all necessary data from a Falcon output file; therefore, it can be considered loosely coupled to Falcon. HYPE has been successfully validated against experimental data and applied to reactor operation and interim storage scenarios to present its capabilities.