• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.37 no.9
• /
• pp.1159-1168
• /
• 2013

In pressurized water nuclear reactors (PWRs), the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) upper head contains penetration nozzles that use a control rod drive mechanism (CRDM). The penetration nozzle uses J-groove weld geometry. Recently, the occurrence of cracking in alloy 600 CRDM penetration nozzle has increased. This is attributable to primary water stress corrosion cracking (PWSCC). PWSCC is known to be susceptible to the welding residual stress and operational stress. Generally, the tensile residual stress is the main factor contributing to crack growth. Therefore, this study investigates the effect on weld residual stress through different analysis methods for normal operating conditions using finite element analysis. In addition, this study also considers the effect of repeated normal operating condition cycles on the weld residual stress. Based on the analysis result, this paper presents a normal operating condition analysis method.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.36 no.4
• /
• pp.346-356
• /
• 2004

14 Pressurized Water Reactors (PWR) in Korea use a remote monitoring system (RMS), which have been used in Korea since 1998. A Memorandum of Understanding on Remote Monitoring, based on Enhanced Cooperation on PWRs, was signed at the 10th Safeguards Review Meeting in October 2001 between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Ministry Of Science and Technology (MOST). Thereafter, all PWR power plants applied for remote monitoring systems. However, the existing method is high cost (involving expensive telephone costs). So, it was eventually applied to an Internet system for Remote Monitoring. According to the Internet-based Virtual Private Network (VPN) applied to Remote Monitoring, the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) came to an agreement with the IAEA, using a Member State Support Program (MSSP). Phase I is a Lab test. Phase II is to apply it to a target power plant. Phase III is to apply it to all the power plants. This paper reports on the penetration testing of Phase I. Phase I involved both domestic testing and international testing. The target of the testing consisted of a Surveillance Digital Integrated System (SDIS) Server, IAEA Server and TCNC (Technology Center for Nuclear Control) Server. In each system, Virtual Private Network (VPN) system hardware was installed. The penetration of the three systems and the three VPNs was tested. The domestic test involved two hacking scenarios: hacking from the outside and hacking from the inside. The international test involved one scenario from the outside. The results of tests demonstrated that the VPN hardware provided a good defense against hacking. We verified that there was no invasion of the system (SDIS Server and VPN; TCNC Server and VPN; and IAEA Server and VPN) via penetration testing.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.53-66
• /
• 1995

Since the current licensed system codes for Non-LOCA safety analysis are applicable only for a specific type PWR, it is necessary to develope a new system analysis code applicable for all apes of PWRs. As a R&D program, KAERI is developing TASS code as an interactive and faster-than-real-time code for the NSSS transient simulation of both CE and Westinghouse plane. It is flexible tool for PWR analysis which gives the user complete control over the simulation through convenient input and output options. In this paper the code applicability to Westinghouse ape plants was verified by comparing the TASS prediction to plant data of loss of AC power and loss of load transients, and comparing to the prediction of RELAP5/MOD3 for feedline break, locked rotor, steam generator tube rupture and steam line break accidents.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.202-216
• /
• 1984

The success of coarse-mesh nodal solution methods provides strong motivation for finding homogenized parameters which, when used in global nodal calculation, will reproduce exactly all average nodal reaction rates for large nodes. Two approximate theories for finding these ideal parameters, namely, simplified equivalence theory and approximate node equivalence theory, are described herein and then applied to the PWR benchmark problem. Nodal code, ANM, is used for the global calculation as well as for the homogenization calculation. From the comparative analysis, it is recommended that homogenization be carried out only for the unique type of fuel assemblies and for core boundary color-sets. The use of approximate homogenized cross-sections and approximate discontinuity factors predicts nodal powers with maximum error of 0.8% and criticality within 0.1% error relative to the fine-mesh KIDD calculations.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.55-64
• /
• 2009

In a pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR), radiation workers who have access to radiation controlled areas submit their urine samples to health physicists periodically; internal radiation exposure is evaluated by the monitoring of these urine samples. Internal radiation exposure at PHWRs accounts for approximately 20 $\sim$ 40% of total radiation exposure; most internal radiation exposure is attributed to tritium. Carbon-14 is not a dominant nuclide in the radiation exposure of workers, but it is one potential nuclide to be necessarily monitored. Carbon-14 is a low energy beta emitter and passes relatively easily into the body of workers by inhalation because its dominant chemical form is radioactive carbon dioxide ($^{14}CO_2$). Most inhaled carbon-14 is rapidly exhaled from the worker's body, but a small amount of carbon-14 remains inside the body and is excreted by urine. In this study, a method for dual analysis of tritium and carbon-14 in urine samples of workers at nuclear power plants is developed and a method for internal dose assessment using its excretion rate result is established. As a result of the developed dual analysis of tritium and carbon-14 in urine samples of radiation workers who entered the high radiation field area at a PHWR, it was found that internal exposure to carbon-14 is unlikely to occur. In addition, through the urine counting results of radiation workers who participated in the open process of steam generators, it was found that the likelihood of internal exposure to either tritium or carbon-14 is extremely low at pressurized water reactors (PWRs).

• Corrosion Science and Technology
• /
• v.13 no.3
• /
• pp.112-119
• /
• 2014

In this work, it is aimed to develop the fabrication method of axial stress corrosion cracking (SCC) defects having various sizes, on the outer diameter surface of the steam generator (SG) tubings. To control the length of the artificial SCC defect, the specific area of the SG tubing samples was exposed to an acidic solution after a sensitization heat treatment. During the exposure to an acidic solution, a direct current potential drop (DCPD) method was adopted to monitor the crack depth. The size of the SCC defect was first evaluated by an eddy current test (ECT), and then confirmed by a destructive examination. From the comparison, it was found that the actual crack length was well controlled to be similar to the length of the surface exposed to an acidic solution (5, 10, 20 or 30 mm in this work) with small standard deviation. From in-situ monitoring of the crack depth using the DCPD method, it was possible to distinguish a non-through wall crack from a through wall crack, even though the depth of the non-through wall crack was not able to be precisely controlled. The fabrication method established in this work was useful to simulate the SCC defect having similar size and ECT signals as compared to the field cracks in the SG tubings of the operating Korean PWRs.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.27 no.4
• /
• pp.483-490
• /
• 1995

The objective of the PKL III A 4.4 experiment is to examine that the plant could be controlled by manually operative actions "after Steam Generator Tube Rupture under Offsite Power Available without Safety Injection". In order to verify the limitation and ability of the system code NLOOP in the expeiment simulation, the behaviors of the PKL III facility obtained in the experiment are compared with the results of NLOOP code. NLOOP code, which is originally developed to simulate the transients of the Westinghouse type PWRs by KAERI/SIEMENS, modified properly to simulate the PKL III facility. Particular attention is given to the RCS mass How rate of the natural circulation in loops and the termination behavior of the natural circulation in the isolated loop. The comparisons between the experimental and calculational results show the simulation ability and problems of the code. the code.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.39 no.3
• /
• pp.215-220
• /
• 2007

The existing flooding Probabilistic Safety Analysis(PSA) was updated to reflect the Korean plant specific operating experience data into the flooding frequency to improve the PSA quality. Both the Nuclear Power Experience(NPE) database and the Korea Nuclear Pipe Failure Database(NuPIPE) databases were used in this study, and from these databases, only the Pressurized Water Reactor(PWR) data were used for the flooding frequencies of the flooding areas in the primary auxiliary building. With these databases and a Bayesian method, the flooding frequencies for the flooding areas were estimated. Subsequently, the Core Damage Frequency(CDF) for the flooding PSA of the Ulchin(UCN) unit 3 and 4 plants based on the Korean Standard Nuclear Power Plant(KSNP) internal full-power PSA model was recalculated. The evaluation results showed that sixteen flooding events are potentially significant according to the screening criterion, while there were two flooding events exceeding the screening criterion of the existing UCN 3 and 4 flooding PSA. The result was compared with two kinds of cases: (1) the flooding frequency and CDF from the method of the existing flooding PSA with the PWR and Boiled Water Reactor(BWR) data of the NPE database and the Maximum Likelihood Estimate(MLE) method and (2) the flooding frequency and CDF with the NPE database(PWR and BWR data), NuPIPE database, and a Bayesian method. From the comparison, a difference in CDF results was revealed more clearly between the CDF from this study and case (2) than between case (1) and case (2). That is, the number of flooding events exceeding the screen criterion further increased when only the PWR data were used for the primary auxiliary building than when the Korean specific data were used.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.48 no.6
• /
• pp.1360-1367
• /
• 2016

This paper introduces a boron meter with improved accuracy compared with other commercially available boron meters. Its design includes a new fitting function and a multi-detector. In pressurized water reactors (PWRs) in Korea, many boron meters have been used to continuously monitor boron concentration in reactor coolant. However, it is difficult to use the boron meters in practice because the measurement uncertainty is high. For this reason, there has been a strong demand for improvement in their accuracy. In this work, a boron meter evaluation model was developed, and two approaches were considered to improve the boron meter accuracy: the first approach uses a new fitting function and the second approach uses a multi-detector. With the new fitting function, the boron concentration error was decreased from 3.30 ppm to 0.73 ppm. With the multi-detector, the count signals were contaminated with noise such as field measurement data, and analyses were repeated 1,000 times to obtain average and standard deviations of the boron concentration errors. Finally, using the new fitting formulation and multi-detector together, the average error was decreased from 5.95 ppm to 1.83 ppm and its standard deviation was decreased from 0.64 ppm to 0.26 ppm. This result represents a great improvement of the boron meter accuracy.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.36 no.9
• /
• pp.1047-1052
• /
• 2012

Primary water stress corrosion cracking (PWSCC) instances have been reported in the Alloy 600 reactor pressure vessel head penetration nozzle and the Alloy 82/182 dissimilar metal butt weld nozzle in several PWRs. Therefore, in-service inspection programs have been adopted worldwide to prevent failure at the weld region. If a PWSCC is observed at the dissimilar metal weld region during inspection, its structural integrity should be evaluated; however, this requires considerable time and effort, and this might lead to a decrease in the plant utilization coefficient. To prevent this, KHNP-CRI have established integrity assessment criteria and developed a computer program for the fast evaluation and judgment of PWSCC. In this paper, the results and current status of the same are presented. Through this study, criteria for the structural integrity evaluation of PWSCC have been established, and a computer program has been developed to realize technical means for the evaluation of PWSCC structural integrity.