• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.67-76
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• 2000

Significant wall thinning due to flow accelerated corrosion(FAC）was recently reported in main feedwater pipes in 3 Korean pressurized water reactor(PWR) plants. The main feedwater pipes in one plant were repaired using overlay weld method at the outside of pipe, while those in 2 other plants were replaced with new pipes. In this study, the effect of the wall thinning in the main feedwater pipes on piping integrity was evaluated using finite element method. Especially, the effects of both the overlay weld repair and the stress concentration in notch-type thinned area on the piping integrity were investigated. The results are as follows : (1) The piping load carrying capacity may significantly decrease due to FAC. In special, the load carrying capacity of the main feedwater pipe was reduced by about 40% during about 140 months operation in Korean PWR plants. (2) By performing overlay weld repair at the outside of pipe, the piping load carrying capacity can increase and the stress concentration level in the thinned area can be reduced.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.753-772
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• 2014

The paper presents functional modelling and its application for diagnosis in nuclear power plants. Functional modelling is defined and its relevance for coping with the complexity of diagnosis in large scale systems like nuclear plants is explained. The diagnosis task is analyzed and it is demonstrated that the levels of abstraction in models for diagnosis must reflect plant knowledge about goals and functions which is represented in functional modelling. Multilevel flow modelling (MFM), which is a method for functional modelling, is introduced briefly and illustrated with a cooling system example. The use of MFM for reasoning about causes and consequences is explained in detail and demonstrated using the reasoning tool, the MFMSuite. MFM applications in nuclear power systems are described by two examples: a PWR; and an FBR reactor. The PWR example show how MFM can be used to model and reason about operating modes. The FBR example illustrates how the modelling development effort can be managed by proper strategies including decomposition and reuse.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers D
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• v.54 no.9
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• pp.567-569
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• 2005

NARX(Nonlinear AutoRegressive with eXogenous input) neural network was used for prediction of nuclear reactor behavior which was influenced by control rods in short-term period and also by the concentration of xenon and boron in long-term period in load following operations. The developed model was designed to predict reactor power, xenon worth and axial offset with different burnup states when control rods and boron were adjusted in load following operations. Data of the Korea Next Generation PWR were collected by ONED94 code. The test results presented exhibit the capability of the NARX neural network model to capture the long term and short term dynamics of the reactor core and the developed model seems to be utilized as a handy tool for the use of a plant simulation.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.169-179
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• 2011

There are two types of nuclear reactors in Korea and they are PWR type and CANDU type. The safe management of the spent fuels from these reactors is very important factor to maintain the sustainable energy supply with nuclear power plant. In Korea, a reference disposal system for the spent fuels has been developed through a study on the direct disposal of the PWR and CANDU spent fuel. Recently, the research on the demonstration and the efficiency analyses of the disposal system has been performed to make the disposal system safer and more economic. PWR spent fuels which include a lot of reusable material can be considered being recycled and a study on the disposal of HLW from this recycling process is being performed. CANDU spent fuels are considered being disposed of directly in deep geological formation, since they have little reusable material. In this study, based on the Korean Reference spent fuel disposal System (KRS) which was to dispose of both PWR type and CANDU type, the more effective CANDU spent fuel disposal systems were developed. To do this, the disposal canister for CANDU spent fuels was modified to hold the storage basket for 60 bundles which is used in nuclear power plant. With these modified disposal canister concepts, the disposal concepts to meet the thermal requirement that the temperature of the buffer materials should not be over $100^{\circ}C$ were developed. These disposal concepts were reviewed and analyzed in terms of disposal effective factors which were thermal effectiveness, U-density, disposal area, excavation volume, material volume etc. and the most effective concept was proposed. The results of this study will be used in the development of various wastes disposal system together with the HLW wastes from the PWR spent fuel recycling process.

• Journal of the Korea Society for Simulation
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.85-96
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• 1997

Designing and constructing a proper simulator for real power plants requires extensive research in human engineering and computer science and integration of different fields of technologies such as system analysis, operational knowledge for nuclear plant, etc. A full scope replica type simulator for nuclear power plant is developed. The simulator has the same feature and operational functions as one in the main control room (MCR) of a reference power plant. The simulator provides the necessary training to recover or reduce damages from accidents that usually are unpredictable. This paper describes the configurations and characteristics for the simulator that is developed for Younggwang Nuclear Power Plant #3,4 which is the basic model of the Korean Nuclear Power Plant. The paper also describes technical aspects of Auto Code Generator that is used for developing the simulator. The successful development of the simulator will contribute to improve safety in operation of nuclear power plants.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.187-196
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• 2004

The health effects resulting from severe accidents of typical 1,000MWe KSNP(Korea Standard Nuclear Plant) PWR and typical 600MWe CANDU(CANada Deuterium Uranium) plants were estimated and compared. The population distribution of the site extending to 80km for both site were considered. The releaese fraction for various source term categories(STC) and core inventories were used in the estimation of the health effects risks by using the MACCS2(MELCOR Accident Consequence Code System2) code. Individuals are assumed to evacuate beyond 16km from the site. The health effects considered in this comparative study are early and cancer fatality risk, and the results are presented as CCDF(Complementary Cumulative Distribution Function) curves considering the occurrence probability of each STC's. According to the results, the early and cancer fatality risks of PHWR plants we lower than those of PWR plants. This is attributed the fact that the amount of radioactive mateials that released to the atmosphere resulting from the postulated severe accidents of PHWR plants are smaller than that of PWR plants. And, the dominating initiating event of STC that shows maximum early and cancer fatality risk is SGTR(Steam Generator Tube Rupture) for both plants. Therefore, the appropriated actions must be taken to reduce the occurrence probability and the amounts of radioactive materials released to the environment in order to protect the public for both PWR and PHWR plants.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1996.11b
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• pp.737-742
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• 1996

우리나라는 미래의 노형전략 차원에서 한국형액체금속로인 KALIMER의 개발을 추진 중에 있어 이에 대한 자본비를 추정하였다. 자본비의 비용구성 항목은 EEDB 분류기준을 참고하였으며, 특히 원자로 및 핵증기 공급계통, T/G 건물, 원자로 설비, 열수송장치 둥과 같은 주요 비용에 대해서는 KALIMER의 설계치를 반영하여 평가하였다. KALIMER는 Block 당 333MWe로 구성되며, 3개의 Blocks으로 구성되는 1000MWe를 전용량 규모로 고려하고 있다. 그리하여 여기에서는 FC1B(First Commercial Plant with 1 Block), FC3B(First Commercial Plant with 3 Blocks), NOAK1B(Nth-Of-A-Kind Plant with 1 Block), NOAK3B (Nth-Of-A-Kind Plant with 3 Blocks) 등과 같은 4개의 대안을 설정하였다. 분석결과에 의하면 NOAK3B 대안의 평준화자본비는 30.46 mills/kWh로 학습효과와 규모의 경제효과 등에 의해 FC1B, FC3B, NOAK1B 대안에 비해 각각 42%, 11%, 23% 정도 더 경제적인 것으로 분석되었다. 또한 이들 대안의 평준화자본비는 기존의 1144MWe, 587MWe급의 PWR에 비해서 11%, 39% 정도 저렴하여 경쟁력을 가지고 있는 것으로 평가되었다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.277-284
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• 2008

Recently, the long-term operation of a nuclear power plant beyond its licensed term has become a worldwide trend as long as the safety of the plant is maintained in the extended period. Kori Unit 1, the oldest PWR in Korea, is the foremost example of this type of long-term operation in Korea. Comprehensive technical evaluation of the long-term operation of this plant was completed to confirm the overall safety of the plant. The technical evaluation included a review of PSR results, an assessment on aging management programs and time limited aging analyses, and a statement of radiological impact on the environment. Based on all of the results of the technical evaluation activities, Kori Unit 1 was approved to operate for an additional 10 years beyond its original design life of 30 years.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.261-286
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• 2018

This paper evaluated the economic feasibility of the life extension of Kori unit 1 and Wolsong unit 1 according to the types of the nuclear power plants (NPPs) and the life extension period comparing to the levelized costs of energy (LCOE) of the new NPPs, coal-fired plants (CFPs), and combined cycle gas turbine (CCGTs) which proposed in the $7^{th}$ Basic Plan for Electricity Supply and Demand. The economic feasibility of the life extension of NPPs using LCOE method is affected by the types of NPPs, lifetime extension periods, discount rate, and capacity factor. According to the analysis results, the pressurized light water reactor (PWR) is more economical than the pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR). Comparing the economical efficiency between the life extension of NPPs and other alternatives, the operation of the PWR for 20 years is more economical than the one of new NPPs and CFPs. However, 20 years of life extension of PHWR is more economical than the CCGTs, but less economical than new NPPs and CFPs. In summary, the 20 years of life extension of the NPPs seems to be more, especially for the PWR, which is more cost effective than other generation alternatives. Therefore, the government policy of the life extension of NPPs need to be a selective approach that simultaneously considers both safety and economics rather than closing all NPPs.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.1164-1173
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• 1996

Treating methods and characteristics of waste from a nuclear fuel powder conversion plant were studied. To recovery or treat a trace uranium in liquid waste, the ammonium uranyl carbonate(AUC) filtrate must be heated for $CO_2$ expelling, essentially. Uranium content of final treated waste solution from fuel powder processes for a heavy water reactor(HWR) could be lowered to 1 ppm by the lime treatment after the ammonium di-uranate(ADU) precipitation by simple heating. Otherwise, in case of the waste from fuel powder processes for a pressurized light water reactor(PWR), it is result in 0.8 ppm as a form of uranium peroxide such as $UO_4{\cdot}2NH_4F$ compounds. Optimum condition was found at $101^{\circ}C$ by the simple heating method in case of HWR powder process waste. And in case of PWR powder process waste, optimum condition could be obtained by precipitating with adding hydrogen peroxide and adjusting at pH 9.5 with ammonia gas at $60^{\circ}C$ after heating the waste In order to expelling $CO_2$. As the characteristics of recovered uranium compounds, median particle size of ADU was increased with pH increasing in case of HWP waste. Also, in case of uranium proxide compound recovered from PWR waste, the property of $U_3O_8$ power obtained after thermal treatment in air atmosphere was similar to that of the powder prepared from AUC conversion plant.