• 에너지공학
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• 제24권3호
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• pp.96-108
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• 2015

피동원자로건물냉각계통(Passive Containment Cooling System; PCCS)은 전원 공급 없이도 원자로건물 내부의 열을 제거하여 그 건전성을 유지시키기 위한 안전설비이다. 본 연구에서는 현재 연구중인 PCCS를 1400 MWe 가압경수형 원전(APR1400)에 설치하는 경우 PCCS 성능을 분석하였다. 분석도구로 계통열수력분석코드 MARS-KS1.3을 사용하였다. PCCS의 성능분석을 위해 APR 1400 표준안전성분석 보고서를 참고하여 원자로건물 내부의 최대압력을 유발하는 사고 시나리오인 저온관 양단 파단사고를 모의하였다. 이 계산에서는 PCCS, 원자로냉각계통 및 원자로건물의 열수력을 동시에 모의하였다. 계산결과를 통해 기존의 원자로건물 살수계통을 대체하여 PCCS가 원자로건물의 건전성을 유지시킬 수 있음을 확인하였다. 또한 PCCS의 성능에 영향을 줄 수 있는 여러 인자를 변경해가며 민감도 분석을 수행하였고 PCCS의 문제점도 확인하였다.

• 한국안전학회지
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• 제35권3호
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• pp.96-104
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• 2020

The numerical simulations were conducted to investigate the thermal-fluid phenomena occurred inside the experimental apparatus during a PCCS, used to remove heat released in accidents from a containment of light water nuclear power plant, operation. Numerical simulations of the flow and heat transfer caused by wall condensation inside the containment simulation vessel (CSV), which equipped with 18 vertical heat exchanger tubes, were conducted using the commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software ANSYS-CFX. Shear stress transport (SST) and the wall condensation model were used for turbulence closure and wall condensation, respectively. The simulation using the actual size of the apparatus. However, rather than simulating the whole experimental apparatus in consideration of the experimental cases, calculation resources, and calculation time, the simulation model was prepared only in CSV. Selective simulation was conducted to verify the effects of non-condensable gas(NC gas) concentration, CSV internal pressure, and wall sub-cooling conditions. First, as a result of the internal flow of CSV, it was observed that downward flow due to condensation occurred surface of the vertical tube and upward flow occurred in the distant place. Natural convection occurred actively around the heat exchanger tube. Due to this rising and falling internal flow, natural circulation occurred actively around the heat exchanger tubes. Next, in order to check the performance of built-in condensation model using according to the non-condensable gas concentration, CSV internal flow and wall sub-cooling, the heat flux values were compared with the experimental results. On average, the results were underestimated with and error of about 25%. In addition, the influence of CSV internal pressure and wall sub-cooling was small, but when the condensate was highly generated due to the low non-condensable gas concentration, the error was large compared to the experimental values. This is considered to be due to the nature of the condensation model of the CFX code. However, in spite of the limitations of CFD, it is valid to use the built-in condensation model of CFD for PCCS performance prediction from a conservative perspective.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권3호
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• pp.1125-1139
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• 2023

The system-integrated modular advanced reactor 100 (SMART100), an integral-type pressurized water small modular reactor, is based on a novel design concept for containment cooling and radioactive material reduction; it is known as the containment pressure and radioactivity suppression system (CPRSS). There is a passive cooling system using a condensation with non-condensable gas in the SMART CPRSS. When a design basis accident such as a small break loss of coolant accident (SBLOCA) occurs, the pressurized low containment area (LCA) of the SMART CPRSS leads to steam condensation in an incontainment refuelling water storage tank (IRWST). Additionally, the steam and non-condensable gas mixture passes through the CPRSS heat exchanger (CHX) submerged in the emergency cooldown tank (ECT) that can partially remove the residual heat. When the steam and non-condensable gas mixture passes through the CHX, the non-condensable gas can interrupt the condensation heat transfer in the CHX and it degrades CHX performance. In this study, condensation heat transfer experiments of steam and non-condensable gas mixture in the natural circulation loop were conducted. The pressure, temperature, and effects of the non-condensable gas were investigated according to the constant inlet steam flow rate with non-condensable gas injections in the loop.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제49권7호
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• pp.1431-1441
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• 2017

The Fukushima accident reveals the vulnerability of existing active nuclear power plant (NPP) design against prolonged loss of external electricity events. The passive safety system is considered an attractive alternative to cope with this kind of disaster. Also, the passive safety system enhances both the safety and the economics of NPPs. The adoption of a passive safety system reduces the number of active components and can minimize the construction cost of NPPs. In this paper, reflecting on the experience during the development of the APR+ design in Korea, we propose the concept of an innovative Power Reactor (iPower), which is a kind of passive NPP, to enhance safety in a revolutionary manner. The ultimate goal of iPower is to confirm the feasibility of practically eliminating radioactive material release to the environment in all accident conditions. The representative safety grade passive system includes a passive emergency core cooling system, a passive containment cooling system, and a passive auxiliary feedwater system. Preliminary analysis results show that these concepts are feasible with respect to preventing and/or mitigating the consequences of design base accidents and severe accidents.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제27권3호
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• pp.281-291
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• 1995

이 연구의 목적은 수동형 격납용기 냉각계통의 용기 바깥표면이 건조 및 습한 조건일때 격납용기 내, 외벽에서 일어나는 열전달과정에 대한 실험적 자료를 얻는데 있다. 시험모델은 AP 600구조에 근거하여 격납용기의 둘레중 60$^{\circ}$부분만을 취하였다. 시험모델의 주요치수는 원형의 값을 대략 10분의 1로 축소한 것이다. 붕괴열을 모의하기 위하여 전기적으로 가열되는 증기발생기를 시험모델내에 설치하였다. 최대열유속은 8.91 kW/$m^2$ 이었다. 두 가지 형식의 시험이 수행되었다. 하나는 수막유동없이 공기만의 자연대류에 관한 시험이고 다른 하나는 수막유동과 공기의 자연대류가 동반된 증발열전달 시험이다. 시험결과 수막유동이 없는 경우 공기만의 자연대류 열전달 능력은 약 1.48 kW/$m^2$ 열유속에서 제한되고 있음을 알게 되었다 또한 수막유동과 공기의 자연대류가 동시에 일어나는 시험에서 열제거 능력은 현저히 향상됨을 알게 되었다 이들 열전달 측정치들을 기존 관계식들과 비교하였다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권6호
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• pp.2297-2310
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• 2022

A condensation heat transfer model is essential to accurately predict the performance of the passive containment cooling system (PCCS) during an accident in an advanced light water reactor. However, most of existing models tend to predict condensation heat transfer very well for a specific range of thermal-hydraulic conditions. In this study, a new correlation for condensation heat transfer coefficient (HTC) is presented using machine learning technique. To secure sufficient training data, a large number of pseudo data were produced by using ten existing condensation models. Then, a neural network model was developed, consisting of a fully connected layer and a convolutional neural network (CNN) algorithm, DenseNet. Based on the hold-out cross-validation, the neural network was trained and validated against the pseudo data. Thereafter, it was evaluated using the experimental data, which were not used for training. The machine learning model predicted better results than the existing models. It was also confirmed through a parametric study that the machine learning model presents continuous and physical HTCs for various thermal-hydraulic conditions. By reflecting the effects of individual variables obtained from the parametric analysis, a new correlation was proposed. It yielded better results for almost all experimental conditions than the ten existing models.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권3호
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• pp.803-811
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• 2024

Nuclear accidents such as Fukushima Daiichi have highlighted the potential of passive safety systems to replace or complement active safety systems as part of the overall prevention and/or mitigation strategies. In addition, passive systems are key features of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), for which they are becoming almost unavoidable and are part of the basic design of many reactors available in today's nuclear market. Nevertheless, their potential to significantly increase the safety of nuclear power plants still needs to be strengthened, in particular the ability of computer codes to determine their performance and reliability in industrial applications and support the safety demonstration. The PASTELS project (September 2020-February 2024), funded by the European Commission "Euratom H2020" programme, is devoted to the study of passive systems relying on natural circulation. The project focuses on two types, namely the SAfety COndenser (SACO) for the evacuation of the core residual power and the Containment Wall Condenser (CWC) for the reduction of heat and pressure in the containment vessel in case of accident. A specific design for each of these systems is being investigated in the project. Firstly, a straight vertical pool type of SACO has been implemented on the Framatome's PKL loop at Erlangen. It represents a tube bundle type heat exchanger that transfers heat from the secondary circuit to the water pool in which it is immersed by condensing the vapour generated in the steam generator. Secondly, the project relies on the CWC installed on the PASI test loop at LUT University in Finland. This facility reproduces the thermal-hydraulic behaviour of a Passive Containment Cooling System (PCCS) mainly composed of a CWC, a heat exchanger in the containment vessel connected to a water tank at atmospheric pressure outside the vessel which represents the ultimate heat sink. Several activities are carried out within the framework of the project. Different tests are conducted on these integral test facilities to produce new and relevant experimental data allowing to better characterize the physical behaviours and the performances of these systems for various thermo-hydraulic conditions. These test programmes are simulated by different codes acting at different scales, mainly system and CFD codes. New "system/CFD" coupling approaches are also considered to evaluate their potential to benefit both from the accuracy of CFD in regions where local 3D effects are dominant and system codes whose computational speed, robustness and general level of physical validation are particularly appreciated in industrial studies. In parallel, the project includes the study of single and two-phase natural circulation loops through a bibliographical study and the simulations of the PERSEO and HERO-2 experimental facilities. After a synthetic presentation of the project and its objectives, this article provides the reader with findings related to the physical analysis of the test results obtained on the PKL and PASI installations as well an overall evaluation of the capability of the different numerical tools to simulate passive systems.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권1호
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• pp.144-155
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• 2023

The core catcher is used as a passive safety system in new generation nuclear power plants to create a space in the containment for the placing and cooling of the molten corium under various severe accidents. This research investigates the role of the core catcher in the VVER-1000 reactor containment system in mitigating the effects of core meltdown under various severe accidents within the context of the Ex-vessel Melt Retention (EVMR) strategy. Hence, a comparison study of three severe accidents is conducted, including Station Black-Out (SBO), SBO combined with the Large Break Loss of Coolant Accident (LB-LOCA), and SBO combined with the Small Break Loss of Coolant Accident (SB-LOCA). Numerical comparative simulations are performed for the aforementioned scenario with and without the EX-vessel core-catcher. The results showed that considering the EX-Vessel core catcher reduces the amount of hydrogen by about 18.2 percent in the case of SBO + LB-LOCA, and hydrogen production decreases by 12.4 percent in the case of SBO + SB-LOCA. Furthermore, in the presence of an EX-Vessel core-catcher, the production of gases such as CO and CO2 for the SBO accident is negligible. It was revealed that the greatest decrease in pressure and temperature of the containment is related to the SBO accident.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제52권1호
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• pp.37-50
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• 2020

A passive containment cooling system (PCCS) has been developed as advanced safety feature for innovative power reactor (iPOWER). Passive systems are inherently less stable than active systems and the PCCS encountered the flashing-induced instability previously identified. The objective of this study is to develop stability maps for flashing-induced instability using MARS (Multi-dimensional Analysis of Reactor Safety) code. Firstly, we conducted a series of sensitivity analysis to see the effects of time step size, nodalization, and alternative MARS user options on the onset of flashing-induced instability. The riser nodalization strongly affects the prediction of flashing in a long riser of the PCCS, while time step size and alternative user options do not. Based on the sensitivity analysis, a standard input and an analysis methodology were set up to develop the stability maps of PCCS. We found out that the calculated equilibrium quality at the exit of the riser as a stability boundary above 5 kW/㎡ was approximately 1.2%, which was in good agreement with Furuya's results. However, in case of a very low heat flux condition, the onset of instability occurred at the lower equilibrium quality. In addition, it was confirmed that inlet throttling reduces the unstable region.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권8호
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• pp.2488-2498
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• 2021

The wall film-wise condensation plays an important role in the heat transfer processes of heat exchangers, refrigerators, and air conditioner. In the field of nuclear engineering, steam condensation is often utilized in safety systems to remove the core decay heat under both transient and accident conditions. In particular, passive containment cooling system (PCCS), are designed to ensure containment safety under severe accident conditions. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) scale analysis has been conducted to calculate the heat transfer rate of the PCCS. However, despite the increase in computing power, there are challenges in the long-term transient simulation of containment using CFD scale codes. In this study, a heat structure coupling between the CFD and system analysis codes was performed to efficiently analyze PCCS. In addition, the component unstructured program for interfacial dynamics (CUPID) was improved to analyze the condensation behavior of ternary gas mixtures. Thereafter, the condensation heat transfer on the primary side was calculated using the improved CUPID and CFD code, whereas that on the secondary side was simulated using MARS. Both the coupled codes were validated against the CONAN facility database. Finally, conjugate heat transfer simulations with wall condensation in the presence of non-condensable gases were appropriately performed.