• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.149-156
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• 2016

The spent fuel stored in the pool is vulnerable to external impacts, since the severe reactor conditions degrade the structural integrity of the fuel. Therefore an accident during shipping and handling should be considered. In an extreme case, the fuel assembly drop can be happened accidentally during handling the nuclear fuel in the spent fuel pool. The rod failure during such drop accident can be evaluated by calculating the impact force acting on the fuel assembly at the bottom of the spent fuel pool. The impact force can be evaluated with the impact velocity at the bottom of the spent fuel pool. Since fuel rods occupies most of weight and volume of a nuclear fuel assembly, the information of the rods are important to estimate the hydraulic resistance force. In this study, the hydraulic force acting on the $3{\times}3$ short rod bundle model during the drop accident is calculated, and the result is verified by comparing the numerical simulations. The methodology suggested by this study is expected to be useful for evaluating the integrity of the spent fuel.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.65-70
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• 1988

A Shielding analysis of the shipping cask designed conceptually, of which shielding material are lead and resin, for containing 4 PWR spent fuel assemblies, has been made with the help of a computer code, ANISN. The shielding materials being used in the cask have been selected and arranged to minimize cask weight while maintaining an overall shielding effectiveness. Radiation source terms have been calculated by means of ORIGIN-2 code under the assumptions of 38,000 MWD/MTU burnup and 3-year cooling time. A calculation of gamma-ray and neutron dose rates on the cask surface and 1m from the surface has been done. It is revealed that the total dose rates under the normal transport and hypothetical accident conditions meet the standards specified.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1996.05c
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• pp.447-452
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• 1996

본 연구에서는 7개의 PWR 사용후핵연료집합체를 운반할 수 있는 KSC-7 수송용기의 건식수송조건에 대한 열적 건전성을 평가하였다. 수송용기 축소모델을 제작하여 열시험을 수행하였고 또한, 시험조건과 동일한 조건으로 열전달해석을 수행하여 두가지 결과를 비교 분석함으로써 시험 및 해석결과에 대한 신뢰성을 검증하였다. 신뢰성이 검증된 해석방법을 이용하여 수송용기 본체 및 핵연료집합체에 대한 열전달해석을 수행함으로써 방사선차폐체 및 핵연료봉에 대한 열적 건전성을 입증하였다. 또한, 수송용기의 온도상승에 따른 구조적 건전성을 평가하기 위한 열응력해석을 수행하였다.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.37-46
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• 2006

For the first step to develop a reference disposal container of spent fuel to be used in a deep geological repository, this paper examined safe dimensions of the disposal container on the points of nuclear criticality and radiation safety and mechanical structural safety and provided basic information for dimensioning the container and configuration of the container components, and establishing the favorable and safe disposal conditions. When the safety factor for stress due to the external loads (hydrostatic and swelling pressure) is taken as 2.0, the safe diameter of the filler material to provide enough container strength under the assumed external loads is found to be 112cm with 13cm spacing between inner baskets in PWR container. Also the thickness of the thinner section between the fuel basket and the surface of the cast insert is determined to be 150 mm. Regarding these dimensions of the container, the PWR fuel container is sketched to accommodate 4 square assemblies or 297 CANDU fuel 297 bundles (33 circle tubes x 9 stacks). However the top and bottom parts need to be checked again through the detail radiation shielding analysis with respects to the emplacement position and handling processes of the disposal container.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.117-124
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• 2003

Oxygen to metal ratio has been measured by wet and dry chemical analysis to study the properties of sintered $UO_2$ pellets and $U_3O_8$ in the lithium reduction process of spent pressurized water reactor fuels. Uranium dioxide pellets simulated for the spent PWR fuels with burnup values of 20,000~60,000 MWd/MtU were prepared by mixing $UO_2$ powder and oxides of fission product elements, pelleting the powder mixture and sintering it at $1,700^{\circ}C$ under a hydrogen atmosphere. For wet chemical analysis, the simulated spent fuels were dissolved with mixed acid (10 M HCl : 8 M $HNO_3$, 2.5 : 1, v/v) using acid digestion bomb technique. The total amount of uranium and fission products added in the simulated spent fuels were measured using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. Weight change of the simulated fuel during its oxydation was measured by thermogravimetry and then the O/M ratio result was compared to that obtained by wet chemical analysis. Influence of $Mo_{0.4}-Ru_{0.4}-Rh_{0.1}-Pd_{0.1}$, quaternary alloy, on the determination of O/M ratio was investigated.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.40 no.12
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• pp.815-824
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• 2016

The fuel assembly for pressurized water reactor (PWR) consists of fuel rod bundle, spacer grid and bottom/top end fittings. The cooling water in high pressure and temperature is introduced in lower plenum of reactor core and directed to upper plenum through the subchannel which is formed between the fuel rods. The main thermal-hydraulic performance parameters for the PWR fuel are pressure drop and critical heat flux in normal operating condition, and quenching time in accident condition. The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) has been developing an advanced PWR fuel, dual-cooled annular fuel and accident tolerant fuel for the enhancement of fuel performance and the localization. For the key thermal-hydraulic technology development of PWR fuel, the KAERI LWR fuel team has conducted the experiments for pressure drop, turbulent flow mixing and heat transfer, critical heat flux(CHF) and quenching. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis was also performed to predict flow and heat transfer in fuel assembly including the spent fuel assembly in dry cask for interim repository. In addition, the research cooperation with university and nuclear fuel company was also carried out to develop a basic thermal-hydraulic technology and the commercialization.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.298-308
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• 2005

The methods for determining C-14 and tritium contents in the spent nuclear fuel sample were developed. The carbon-14($^{14}CO_2$) released during the dissolution of the spent fuel sample and $CaCO_3$ ($CO_2$ carrier) with 8 M $HNO_3$ at $90^{\circ}C$ was collected in trap containing 1.5 M NaOH. The volatile radioactive iodine evolved when the spent fuel was dissolved, was trapped on to Ag-silicagel (Ag-impregnated silicagel) adsorbent in column which is connected to two NaOH traps. The solutions which contain tritium as HTO after fuel dissolution were decontaminated by deionization with a mixture of cation and anion exchange resins and inorganic ionexchangers. The amount of C-14 in the trap solutions and the HTO concentration in the resulting deionization water were then determined by liquid scintillation counting.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.225-232
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• 2008

An estimation has been made for inventories and characteristics of spent nuclear fuel(SNF) to be generated from existing and planned nuclear power plants based on the 3rd Basic Plan for Electric Power Demand and Supply. The characteristics under consideration in this study are dimensions, a fuel rod array, a weight, $^{235}U$ enrichment, and the discharge burnup in terms of fuel assembly. These are essentially needed for designing a pyroprocessing facility. It is appeared that the anticipated quantity by the end of 2077 is about 23,000 tU for PWR spent nuclear fuel. It is revealed that the proportion of SNF with the initial $^{235}U$ enrichment below 4.5 weight percent(wt.%) is approximately 95 % in total. For SNF with 16$\times$16 fuel rod array the proportion is expected approximately 74% in total. It appears that the average burnup of SNF will be 55 GWd/tU after the medium and/or latter part of 2010s while the average burnup is 45 GWd/tU at present. Finally, a requirement in terms of reference SNF for designing the pyroprocessing facility has been derived from the above-mentioned results. The anticipated SNF seems to be 16$\times$16 Korean Standard Fuel Assembly with a cross section of 21.4 cm$\times$21.4 cm, a length of 453 cm, a mass of 672 kg, the initial $^{235}U$ enrichment of 4.5 wt.%, and the discharge burnup of 55 GWd/tU.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.53-64
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• 2007

The dynamic release behavior of Cs from high burn-up spent PWR fuel was experimentally performed under the conditions of a thermal treatment process such as voloxidation and sintering conditions. In voloxidation process, influence of the oxidation and reduction atmosphere on the Cs release characteristic using fragment type of spent fuel heated up to $1,500^{\circ}C$ was compared. In sintering process, temperature history effect on Cs release behavior was evaluated using green pellet under 4% $H_2/Ar$ environment. Temperature range for complete Cs release from spent fuel fragment under voloxidation condition was about $800^{\circ}C{\sim}1,200^{\circ}C$, but that of green pellet under the reduction atmosphere was $1,100^{\circ}C{\sim}1,400^{\circ}C$. Key parameters on Cs release behavior from spent fuel was powder formation as well as the diffusion rate of Cs compound to grain boundary and fuel surface.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.79-84
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• 2007

Inventories of soluble elements in the gap and grain boundaries of domestic used PWR fuel pellets were measured to estimate the quantities of radionuclides that are liable to be rapidly released into the groundwater of a disposal site. The gap inventory of cesium for the pellets in the used fuel with a burn-up range of 45 to 66 GWD/MTU showed 0.85 to 1.7% of its total inventory, which was close to 1/6 to 1/3 of the fission gas release fraction (FGRF). However, the amounts of cesium released from the gaps of the pellets below 40 GWD/MTU of a burn-up and less than 1% FGRF were so erratic that the gap inventory could not be defined by ie FGRF. Strontium inventories in the gap and grain boundaries of the pellets in the same rod were not significantly varied, and the iodine inventory in the gap of the used PWR fuels was estimated to be less than or the same as the FGRF.