• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.17 no.3
• /
• pp.185-192
• /
• 1985

The fissile content of PWR spent fuel is higher than that of natural uranium which is normal fuel for CANDU type reactor. Investigated are the concepts of PWR spent fuel utilization in CANDU type reactor to diversify uranium resource and partially to solve storage problems of PWR spent fuel being gradually accumulated. Nuclear characteristics of uranium-plutonium mixed oxide fuel loaded in CANDU type reactor are analysed using the WIMS/D computer code. In this study, analyses are solely carried out upon the current CANDU type reactor design without changingany reactivity control devices.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.55 no.9
• /
• pp.3213-3228
• /
• 2023

As an important part of the digital reactor, the pin-by-pin wise fine coupling calculation is a research hotspot in the field of nuclear engineering in recent years. It provides more precise and realistic simulation results for reactor design, operation and safety evaluation. CORCA-K a nodal code is redeveloped as a robust pin-by-pin wise neutronics and thermal-hydraulic coupled calculation code for pressurized water reactor (PWR) core. The nodal green's function method (NGFM) is used to solve the three-dimensional space-time neutron dynamics equation, and the single-phase single channel model and one-dimensional heat conduction model are used to solve the fluid field and fuel temperature field. The mesh scale of reactor core simulation is raised from the nodal-wise to the pin-wise. It is verified by two benchmarks: NEACRP 3D PWR and PWR MOX/UO₂. The results show that: 1) the pin-by-pin wise coupling calculation system has good accuracy and can accurately simulate the key parameters in steady-state and transient coupling conditions, which is in good agreement with the reference results; 2) Compared with the nodal-wise coupling calculation, the pin-by-pin wise coupling calculation improves the fuel peak temperature, the range of power distribution is expanded, and the lower limit is reduced more.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.49 no.4
• /
• pp.752-759
• /
• 2017

The fatigue crack growth behavior of Type 347 (S347) and Type 347N (S347N) stainless steel was evaluated under the operating conditions of a pressurized water reactor (PWR). These two materials showed different fatigue crack growth rates (FCGRs) according to the changes in dissolved oxygen content and frequency. Under the simulated PWR conditions for normal operation, the FCGR of S347N was lower than that of S347 and insensitive to the changes in PWR water conditions. The higher yield strength and better corrosion resistance of the nitrogen-alloyed Type 347 stainless steel might be a main cause of slower FCGR and more stable properties against changes in environmental conditions.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.53 no.10
• /
• pp.3171-3181
• /
• 2021

This research serves to advance the development of engineering computational fluid dynamics (CFD) computing efficiency for the analysis of pressurized water reactor (PWR) core using rod-type fuel assemblies with mixing vanes (one kind of typical PWR core). In this research, a CFD scheme based on the reconstruction of the initial fine flow field (RIF CFD scheme) is proposed and analyzed. The RIF scheme is based on the quantitative regulation of flow velocities in the rod-type PWR core and the principle that the CFD computing efficiency can be improved greatly by a perfect initialization. In this paper, it is discovered that the RIF scheme can significantly improve the computing efficiency of the CFD computation for the rod-type PWR core. Furthermore, the RIF scheme also can reduce the computing resources needed for effective data storage of the large fluid domain in a rod-type PWR core. Moreover, a flow-ranking RIF CFD scheme is also designed based on the ranking of the flow rate, which enhances the utilization of the flow field with a closed flow rate to reconstruct the fine flow field. The flow-ranking RIF CFD scheme also proved to be very effective in improving the CFD efficiency for the rod-type PWR core.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
• /
• v.18 no.5
• /
• pp.190-195
• /
• 2019

SA508 low-alloy steel for a reactor vessel was exposed to primary water in a pressurized water reactor (PWR) plant because the cladding layer of type 309 stainless steel for the RPV was removed, due to an accident in which the detachment of the thermal sleeve occurred. The major advantage of the electrochemical deposition (ECD) Ni plating technique is that the reactor pressure vessel can be repaired without significant thermal effects, and Ni has solid corrosion resistance that can withstand boric acid. The corrosion rate assessment of the damaged part was performed, and its trend was analyzed. Essential variables of the Ni plating for repair of the damaged part were derived. These conditions are applicable variables for the repair plating device, and have been carefully adjusted using the repair plating device. The process for establishing ASME technical standards called Code Case N-840 is described. The process of developing Ni-plating devices, and the electroplating procedure specification (EPS) are described.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Systems Engineering
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.33-41
• /
• 2014

New design concept of Reactor Coolant System (RCS) including a reactor assembly for the SMR is introduced in this work. An exploration of new type of reactor that is advanced from proposed SMRs is performed by using systems engineering approach. In this point of view project structured on three main phases; needs analysis (NA), concept exploration (CE), and concept definition (CD). Main objectives as an output of the CE stage are a small size, low cost, shortening the schedule, and enhancing safety. The SMRs usually have a small size requirement. In order to meet the size requirement and to achieve a productivity, in other words, easiness to manufacture, this paper suggests an integrated PWR design concept through researching predecessors. Although the integrated PWR concept provides many advantages, it has disadvantages that composite of maintenance and a low availability problem. Therefore, this paper comes up with a run-to-fail design concept based on modular design to address the maintenance problem and to maximize the availability of SMRs as well as to be compatible with the overall-SMRs including Barge Mounted(BM)type.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.44 no.7
• /
• pp.773-780
• /
• 2012

The article presented is concerned with an evaluation of the corrosion behavior of SA-508 low alloy steel (LAS) and Type 309L stainless steel (SS) cladding of a reactor pressure vessel under the simulated primary water chemistry of a pressurized water reactor (PWR). The uniform corrosion and galvanic corrosion rates of SA-508 LAS and Type 309L SS were measured in three different control conditions: power operation, shutdown, and power operation followed by shutdown. In all conditions, the dissimilar metal coupling of SA-508 LAS and Type 309L SS exhibited higher corrosion rates than the SA-508 base metal itself due to severe galvanic corrosion near the cladding interface, while the corrosion of Type 309L in the primary water environment was minimal. The galvanic corrosion rate of the SA-508 LAS and Type 309L SS couple measured under the simulated power operation condition was much lower than that measured in the simulated shutdown condition due to the formation of magnetite on the metal surface in a reducing environment. Based on the experimental results, the corrosion rate of SA-508 LAS clad with Type 309L SS was estimated as a function of operating cycle simulated for a typical PWR.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.40 no.6
• /
• pp.517-526
• /
• 2008

The widespread concern regarding the management of spent fuel that mainly contributes to nuclear waste has led to the development of the sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) as one of the most promising future types of reactors at both national and international levels. Various reactor deployment scenarios with SFR introductions with different conversion ratios in the existing PWR-dominant nuclear fleet have been assessed to optimize the SFR deployment strategy to replace PWRs with the view toward a reduction in the level of spent fuel as well as efficient uranium utilization through its reuse in a closed fuel cycle. An efficient reactor deployment strategy with the SFR introduction starting in 2040 has been drawn based on an SFR deployment strategy in which burners are deployed prior to breakeven reactors to reduce the amount of PWR spent fuel substantially at the early deployment stage. The PWR spent fuel disposal is reduced in this way by 98% and the cumulative uranium demand for PWRs to 2100 is projected to be 445 ktU, implying a uranium savings of 115 ktU. The SFR mix ratio in the nuclear fleet near the year 2100 is estimated to be approximately 35-40%. PWRs will remain as a main power reactor type until 2100 and SFRs will support waste minimization and fuel utilization.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
• /
• 2001.06a
• /
• pp.636-643
• /
• 2001

Interference between the crossover leg of the reactor coolant system (RCS) and the pipe whip restraints (PWR) has brought a degradation issue of the integrity of the Reactor Coolant System in Westinghouse type nuclear power plants (NPPs) of Korea. According to the gap Inspect ion carried out during planned overhaul (Year 2000), interference between the crossover leg and the PWR was found in each RCS loop. This plant has had the high vibration problem on the RC pump 'B'. The reason for the high vibration in the RC pump 'B' had been massively surveyed and it was found that the crossover leg of RCS contacted with the PWR in hot condition. Since the contact between the crossover leg and the PWR changes the dynamic characteristics of the piping system for the RCS, this is considered as one reason for the high vibration. And a possibility of overstress on the crossover leg due to the contact with the PWR should be evaluated. Through performing RCS integrity analyses, subsequent actions were initiated to increase the gap between those parts. As the results of the appropriate separation between two parts, it was reported that there was no unusual noise or vibration during plant heat-up. In this paper, the evaluations for the gap between the crossover leg and the PWR and the structural integrity due to loop binding is described.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.51 no.2
• /
• pp.356-368
• /
• 2019

This paper presents the verification and validation (V&V) of the STREAM/RAST-K 2.0 code system for a pressurized water reactor (PWR) analysis. A lattice physics code STREAM and a nodal diffusion code RAST-K 2.0 have been developed by a computational reactor physics and experiment laboratory (CORE) of Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) for an accurate two-step PWR analysis. The calculation modules of each code were already verified against various benchmark problems, whereas this paper focuses on the V&V of linked code system. Three PWR type reactor cores, OPR-1000, three-loop Westinghouse reactor core, and APR-1400, are selected as V&V target plants. This code system, for verification, is compared against the conventional code systems used for the calculations in nuclear design reports (NDRs) and validated against measured plant data. Compared parameters are as follows: critical boron concentration (CBC), axial shape index (ASI), assembly-wise power distribution, burnup distribution and peaking factors. STREAM/RAST-K 2.0 shows the RMS error of critical boron concentration within 20 ppm, and the RMS error of assembly power within 1.34% for all the cycles of all reactors.