• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.8
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• pp.1732-1741
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• 2020

The structural integrity of welded joints in the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) is directly related to the safety of nuclear power plants. The RPV is made from SA508-III steel in a pressurized water reactor. In this study, we investigated the effects of temperature on the tensile and fracture toughness properties of Chinese SA508-III welded joint in different sampling areas in order to provide reference data for structural integrity assessments of RPVs. The specimens used in tensile and fracture toughness tests were fabricated from the base metal (BM), weld metal (WM), and the heat-affected zone (HAZ) in the welded joint. The representative testing temperatures included the ambient temperature (20 ℃), upper shelf temperature (100 ℃), and service temperature (320 ℃). The results showed that temperature greatly affected the fracture toughness (JIC) values for the SA508-III welded joint. The JIC values for BM and HAZ both decreased remarkably from 20 ℃ to 320 ℃. The fracture morphologies showed that the BM and HAZ in the welded joint exhibited fully ductile fracture at 20 ℃, whereas partial cleavage fracture was mixed in ductile fracture mode at 100 ℃ and 320 ℃. The WM exhibited the ductile and cleavage fracture mixed mode at various temperatures, and the JIC values showed slight changes.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.123-134
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• 2016

Decommissioning of nuclear power plants has become a big issue in South Korea as some of the nuclear power plants in operation including Kori unit 1 and Wolsung unit 1 are getting old. Recently, Wolsung unit 1 received permission to continue operation while Kori unit 1 will shut down permanently in June 2017. With the consideration of segmentation method and disposal containers, this paper evaluated final disposal amount of radioactive waste generated from decommissioning of the reactor pressure vessel in Kori unit 1 which will be decommissioned as the first in South Korea. The evaluation results indicated that the final disposal amount from the top and bottom heads of the reactor pressure vessel with hemisphere shape decreased as they were cut in smaller more effectively than the cylindrical part of the reactor pressure vessel. It was also investigated that 200 L and 320 L radioactive waste disposal containers used in Kyung-Ju disposal facility had low payload efficiency because of loading weight limitation.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.8
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• pp.3017-3029
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• 2023

In the late in-vessel phase of a nuclear reactor severe accident, the internal heat transfer and crust evolution during the debris bed melting process have important effects on the thermal load distribution along the vessel wall, and further affect the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) failure mode and the state of melt during leakage. This study coupled the phase change model and large eddy simulation to investigate the variations of the temperature, melt liquid fraction, crust and heat flux distributions during the debris bed melting process in the hypothetical severe accident of HPR1000. The results indicated that the heat flow towards the vessel wall and upper surface were similar at the beginning stage of debris melting, but the upward heat flow increased significantly as the development of the molten pool. The maximum heat flux towards the vessel wall reached 0.4 MW/m². The thickness of lower crust decreased as the debris melting. It was much thicker at the bottom region with the azimuthal angle below 20° and decreased rapidly at the azimuthal angle around 20-50°. The maximum and minimum thicknesses were 2 and 90 mm, respectively. By contrast, the distribution of upper crust was uniform and reached stable state much earlier than the lower crust, with the thickness of about 10 mm. Moreover, the sensitivity analysis of initial condition indicated that as the decrease of time interval from reactor scram to debris bed dried-out, the maximum debris temperature and melt fraction became larger, the lower crust thickness became thinner, but the upper crust had no significant change. The sensitivity analysis of in-vessel retention (IVR) strategies indicated that the passive and active external reactor vessel cooling (ERVC) had little effect on the internal heat transfer and crust evolution. In the case not considering the internal reactor vessel cooling (IRVC), the upper crust was not obvious.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.105-112
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• 2002

In recent years, the integrity of reactor Pressure Vessel(RPV) under pressurized thermal shock (PTS) accident has been treated as one of the most critical issues. Under PTS condition, the combination of thermal and mechanical stress by steep temperature gradient and internal pressure causes considerably high tensile stress at the inside of RPV wall. As a result, cracks on inner surface of RPV may experience elastic-plastic behavior which can be characterized by J-integral. In such a case, however, J-integral may possibly lose its vapidity due to the constraint effect. The degree of constraint effect is influenced by the loading mode, crack geometry and material properties. In this paper, in order to investigate the effect of clad thickness and crack geometry on constraint effect, three dimensional finite element analyses were performed for various surface cracks. Total of 27 crack geometries were analyzed and results were presented by a two-parameter characterization based on the J-integral and the f-stress.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.106-110
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• 1989

Bolting degradation problems in primary coolant pressure boundary applications have become a major concern in the nuclear industry. In the bolts concerned, the failure mechanism was either corrosion wastage(loss of bolt diameter) or stress-corrosion cracking.(3) Here the manual ultrasonic testing of RPV(Reactor Pressure Vessel) and RCP(Reactor Coolant Pump) stud has been performed. But it is difficult to detect indications because examiner can not exactly control the rotation angle and can not distinguish the indication from signals of bolt. In many cases, the critical sizes of damage depth are very small(1-2 mm order). At critical size, the crack tends to propagatecompletly through the bolt under stress, Resulting in total fracture.(3) Automatic stud scanner for studs(bolts) was developed because the precise measurement of bolt diameter is required in this circumstance. By use of this scanner, the rotation angle of probe was exactly controlled and the exposure time of radiations was reduced.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1997.05b
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• pp.129-136
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• 1997

The automated ball indentation(ABI) test was utilized to develop a semi-nondestructive method for estimating the fracture toughness( $K_{JC}$ ) in the transition temperature range. The key concept of the method is that the indentation deformation energy to the load at which the mean ball-specimen contact pressure reaches the fracture stress is related to the fracture energy of the material. ABI tests were performed for the reactor pressure vessel(RPV) base and weld metals at the temperatures of-15$0^{\circ}C$~$0^{\circ}C$ and the fracture toughness (estimated $K_{JC}$ ) was calculated from the indentation load-depth data. For all steels the temperature dependence of the estimated fracture toughness was almost the same as that ASTM $K_{JC}$ master curve The reference temperatures( $T_{o}$)of the steels were determined form the estimated $K_{JC}$ versus temperature curves. The reference temperature was well correlated with the index temperature of 41J Charpy impact energy( $T_{41J}$).).).

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.364-376
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• 1998

The statistical analysis method was applied to the evaluation of fracture toughness in the ductile-brittle transition temperature region. Because cleavage fracture in steel is of a statistical nature, fracture toughness data or values show a similar statistical trend. Using the three-parameter Weibull distribution, a fracture toughness vs. temperature curve (K-curve) was directly generated from a set of fracture toughness data at a selected temperature. Charpy V-notch impact energy was also used to obtain the K-curve by a $K_{IC}$ -CVN (Charpy V-notch energy) correlation. Furthermore, this method was applied to evaluate the neutron irradiation embrittlement of reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steel. Most of the fracture toughness data were within the 95% confidence limits. The prediction of a transition temperature shift by statistical analysis was compared with that from the experimental data.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.12
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• pp.4522-4533
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• 2022

For severe accident assessment of reactor pressure vessel (RPV), it is important to develop an accurate model that can predict transient thermo-mechanical behavior of the RPV lower head under the given condition. The present study revisits the lower head failure with two- and three-dimensional finite element models. In particular, we aim to give clear insight regarding the effect of the three-dimensionality present in the distribution of the thickness and thermal load of the lower head. For a rigorous validation of the result, both the OLHF-1 and the OLHF-2 tests are considered in this study. The result suggests that the three-dimensional effect is not negligible as far as the failure location is concerned. The non-uniformity of the thickness distribution is found to affect the failure location and time. The thermal load, which may not be axisymmetric in general, has the most significant effect on the failure assessment. We also observe that the creep property can affect the global deformation of the lower head, depending on the applied mechanical load.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.1139-1146
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• 2001

The reactor pressure vessel(RPV) is usually cladded with stainless steel to prevent corrosion and radiation embrittlement, and a number of subclad cracks have been found during an in-service-inspection. These subclad cracks should be assured for a safe operation under normal conditions and faulted conditions such as pressurized thermal shock(PTS). Currently available integrity assessment procedure for an RPV, ASME Code Sec. XI, are built on the basis of linear fracture mechanics (LEFM). In PTS condition, however, thermal stress and mechanical stress give rise to high tensile stress at the cladding and elastic-plastic behavior is expected in this area. Therfore, ASME Code Sec. XI is overly conservative in assessing the structural integrity under PTS condition. In this paper, the fracture parameter (stress intensity factor, K, and RT(sub)NDT) from elastic analysis using ASME Sec. XI and finite element method were validated against 3-D elastic-plastic finite element analyses. The difference between elastic and elastic-plastic analysis became significant with increasing crack depth. Therfore, it is recommended to perform elastic-plastic analysis for the accurate assessment of subclad cracks under TPS which causes plastic deformation at the cladding.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.46 no.12
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• pp.771-779
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• 2008

An effective way of increasing the strength and fracture toughness of reactor pressure vessel steels is to change the material specification from that of Mn-Mo-Ni low alloy steel(SA508 Gr.3) to Ni-Mo-Cr low alloy steel(SA508 Gr.4N). In this study, we evaluate the effects of alloying elements on the microstructural characteristics of Ni-Mo-Cr low alloy steel. The changes in the stable phase of the SA508 Gr.4N low alloy steel with alloying elements were evaluated by means of a thermodynamic calculation conducted with the software ThermoCalc. The changes were then compared with the observed microstructural results. The calculation of Ni-Mo-Cr low alloy steels confirms that the ferrite formation temperature decreases as the Ni content increases because of the austenite stabilization effect. Consequently, in the microscopic observation, the lath martensitic structure becomes finer as the Ni content increases. However, Ni does not affect the carbide phases such as $M_{23}C_6 $ and $M_7C_3$. When the Cr content decreases, the carbide phases become unstable and carbide coarsening can be observed. With an increase in the Mo content, the $M_2C$ phase becomes stable instead of the $M_7C_3$ phase. This behavior is also observed in TEM. From the calculation results and the observation results of the microstructure, the thermodynamic calculation can be used to predict the precipitation behavior.