• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권3호
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• pp.1066-1080
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• 2024

SMART100 has a containment pressure and radioactivity suppression system (CPRSS) for passive containment cooling system (PCCS). This prevents overheating and over-pressurization of a containment through direct contact condensation in an in-containment refueling water storage tank (IRWST) and wall condensation in a CPRSS heat exchanger (CHX) in an emergency cool-down tank (ECT). The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) constructed scaled-down test facilities, SISTA1 and SISTA2, for the thermal-hydraulic validation of the SMART100 CPRSS. Three separate effect tests were performed using SISTA1 to confirm the heat removal characteristics of SMART100 CPRSS. When the low mass flux steam with or without non-condensable gas is released into an IRWST, the conditions for mitigation of the chugging phenomenon were identified, and the physical variables were quantified by the 3D reconstruction method. The local behavior of the non-condensable gas was measured after condensation inside heat exchanger using a traverse system. Stratification of non-condensable gas occurred in large tank of the natural circulation loop. SISTA2 was used to simulate a small break loss-of-coolant accident (SBLCOA) transient. Since the test apparatus was a metal tank, compensations of initial heat transfer to the material and effect of heat loss during long-term operation were important for simulating cooling performance of SMART100 CPRSS. The pressure of SMART100 CPRSS was maintained below the design limit for 3 days even under sufficiently conservative conditions of an SBLOCA transient.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권6호
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• pp.2375-2387
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• 2024

The passive safety systems (PSSs) within water-cooled reactors are meticulously engineered to function autonomously, requiring no external power source or manual intervention. They depend exclusively on inherent natural forces and the fundamental principles of reactor physics, such as gravity, natural convection, and phase changes, to manage, alleviate, and avert the release of radioactive materials into the environment during accident scenarios like a loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA). PSSs are already integrated into such operating commercial reactors as the Advanced Pressurized Reactor-1000 MWe (AP1000) and the Water-Water Energetic Reactor-1200 MWe (WWER-1200) are adopted in most of the upcoming small modular reactor (SMR) designs. Examples of water-cooled SMR PSSs are the passive emergency core-cooling system (ECCS), passive containment cooling system (PCCS), and passive decay-heat removal system, the designs of which vary based on reactor system-design requirements. However, understanding the accident-event progression and phases of a LOCA is pivotal for adopting a specific PSS for a new SMR design. This study covers the accident-event progression for direct vessel injection (DVI) small-break loss-of-coolant accident (SB-LOCA), associated physics phenomena, knowledge gaps, and important figures of merit (FOMs) that may need to be evaluated and assessed to validate thermal-hydraulics models with an available experimental dataset to support new SMR design and development.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제44권6호
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• pp.597-610
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• 2012

The passive auxiliary feedwater system (PAFS) is one of the advanced safety features adopted in the APR+, which is intended to completely replace the conventional active auxiliary feedwater system. With an aim of validating the cooling and operational performance of PAFS, an experimental program is in progress at KAERI, which is composed of two kinds of tests; the separate effect test and the integral effect test. The separate effect test, PASCAL ($\underline{P}$AF$\underline{S}$ $\underline{C}$ondensing Heat Removal $\underline{A}$ssessment $\underline{L}$oop), is being performed to experimentally investigate the condensation heat transfer and natural convection phenomena in PAFS. A single, nearly-horizontal U-tube, whose dimensions are the same as the prototypic U-tube of the APR+ PAFS, is simulated in the PASCAL test. The PASCAL experimental result showed that the present design of PAFS satisfied the heat removal requirement for cooling down the reactor core during the anticipated accident transients. The integral effect test is in progress to confirm the operational performance of PAFS, coupled with the reactor coolant systems using the ATLAS facility. As the first integral effect test, an FLB (feedwater line break) accident was simulated for the APR+. From the integral effect test result, it could be concluded that the APR+ has the capability of coping with the hypothetical FLB accident by adopting PAFS and proper set-points of its operation.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제49권5호
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• pp.941-952
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• 2017

Using the Generation of Thermal-Hydraulic Information for Containments (GOTHIC) code, thermal-hydraulic phenomena that occur inside the containment have been investigated, along with the preliminary design of the passive containment cooling system (PCCS) of an innovative pressurized water reactor (PWR). A GOTHIC containment model was constructed with reference to the design data of the Advanced Power Reactor 1400, and report related PCCS. The effects of the design parameters were evaluated for passive containment cooling tank (PCCT) geometry, PCCS heat exchanger (PCCX) location, and surface area. The analyzed results, obtained using the single PCCT, showed that repressurization and reheating phenomena had occurred. To resolve these problems, a coupled PCCT concept was suggested and was found to continually decrease the containment pressure and temperature without repressurization and reheating. If the installation level of the PCCX is higher than that of the PCCT, it may affect the PCCS performance. Additionally, it was confirmed that various means of increasing the external surface area of the PCCX, such as fins, could help improve the energy removal performance of the PCCS. To improve the PCCS design and investigate its performance, further studies are needed.

• 에너지공학
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• 제27권4호
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• pp.27-35
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• 2018

피동원자로건물냉각계통(PCCS)은 사고 발생 시 원자로건물로 방출된 열을 제거하여 원전의 건전성을 보장하기 위해 설계되었다. PCCS의 열제거 성능은 증기-공기 혼합물의 응축열전달에 의해 결정된다. 본 연구에서는 응축열전달계수의 예측 정확도를 향상시키기 위해 새로운 상관식을 이식한 MARS-KS 코드를 사용하여 PCCS의 열제거 성능을 평가하였다. MARS-KS 코드에 사용된 새로운 상관식은 압력, 벽면과냉도, 비응축성 기체 질량분율 및 응축튜브의 종횡비와 같은 열전달계수에 영향을 미치는 변수들을 이용하여 개발하였고, 이는 MARS-KS코드의 기본 응축 모델인 Colburn-Hougen 모델을 대체하여 적용되었다. 대형파단 냉각재상실사고 발생 시 PCCS의 운전에 따른 다양한 열수력학적 변수들을 분석하였고, 열제거 성능 평가를 위해 새로운 상관식이 적용된 MARS-KS 코드의 원자로건물 압력거동 계산결과와 기존의 응축모델을 이용한 해석결과를 비교하였다.

• 에너지공학
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• 제25권1호
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• pp.56-68
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• 2016

최근 원자력 발전소의 안전성을 획기적으로 향상시키기 위한 연구가 활발하게 진행되고 있으며 특히 피동냉각계통의 연구개발이 아주 중요하게 부각되고 있다. 피동냉각계통의 열전달 방식으로는 응축열전달 양식이 주로 채택되고 있다. 이와 같은 맥락에서 부산대학교 Ahn & Yun (Ahn 등, 2014)은 새로운 수평관내부 응축 모델을 제시한 바 있다. 본 연구에서는 먼저 Ahn & Yun 이 제시한 수평관 응축 모델을 MARS 코드에 삽입하고 PASCAL 실험데이터를 이용하여 평가하였다. 이 평가결과를 통해 Ahn & Yun 모델의 코드적용에 있어 문제점을 규명하고 새로운 적용방법론을 적용하여 다양한 실험데이터로 다시 평가함으로써 MARS 코드의 향상된 응축 열전달 해석 능력을 확인하였다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제41권1호
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• pp.53-62
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• 2009

A set of experiments has been conducted on the performance sensitivity of the passive residual heat removal system (PRHRS) for an advanced integral type reactor, SMART, by using a high temperature and high pressure thermal-hydraulic test facility, the VISTA facility. In this paper the effects of the opening delay of the PRHRS bypass valves and the closing delay of the secondary system isolation valves, and the initial water level and the initial pressure of the compensating tank (CT) are investigated. During the reference test a stable flow occurs in a natural circulation loop that is composed of a steam generator secondary side, a secondary system, and a PRHRS; this is ascertained by a repetition test. When the PRHRS bypass valves are operated 10 seconds later than the secondary system isolation valves, the primary system is not properly cooled. When the secondary system isolation valves are operated 10 or 30 seconds later than the PRHRS bypass valves, the primary system is effectively cooled but the inventory of the PRHRS CT is drained earlier. As the initial water level of the CT is lowered to 16% of the full water level, the water is quickly drained and then nitrogen gas is introduced into the PRHRS, resulting in the deterioration of the PRHRS performance. When the initial pressure of the PRHRS is at 0.1MPa, the natural circulation is not performed properly. When the initial pressures of the PRHRS are 2.5 or 3.5 MPa, they show better performance than did the reference test.

• 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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• 제53권2호
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• pp.498-508
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• 2021

Micro reactors are increasingly being considered for utilization as distributed power sources. Hence, the probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) of a direct supercritical-CO₂-cooled fast reactor, called micro modular reactor (MMR), was performed in this study; this reactor was developed using innovative design concepts. It adopted a modular design and passive safety systems to minimize site constraints. As the MMR is in its conceptual design phase, design weaknesses and valuable safety insights could be identified during PSA. Level 1 internal event PSA was carried out involving literature survey, system characterization, identification of initiating events, transient analyses, development of event trees and fault trees, and quantification. The initiating events and scenarios significantly contributing to core damage frequency (CDF) were determined to identify design weaknesses in MMR. The most significant initiating event category contributing to CDF was the transients with the power conversion system initially available category, owing to its relatively high occurrence frequency. Further, an importance analysis revealed that the safety of MMR can be significantly improved by improving the reliability of reactor trip and passive decay heat removal system operation. The findings presented in this paper are expected to contribute toward future applications of PSA for assessing unconventional nuclear reactors in their conceptual design phases.

• 에너지공학
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• 제24권1호
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• pp.42-50
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• 2015

신형 원전의 피동격납건물냉각계통(PCCS: Passive Containment Cooling System)을 구성하는 단일 전열관의 열제거 성능을 평가하기 위해, 비응축성 기체 존재 시 수직 튜브 외벽에서 발생하는 증기의 응축 열전달에 대한 실험을 수행하였다. 외경 40 mm, 길이 1.0 m의 전열관 외벽에서 증기-공기 혼합물의 평균 열전달계수를 측정하였으며, 압력 2-4 bar, 공기의 질량분율 0.1-0.7의 범위에서 실험데이터를 수집하였다. 이를 통해 압력과 비응축성기체의 농도가 응축 열전달계수에 미치는 영향을 평가하였다. 실험결과를 기존의 열전달모델인 Uchida와 Dehbi의 상관식과 비교하였으며, 이들 상관식은 실험결과에 비해 상대적으로 열전달계수를 낮게 예측함을 확인하였다.