• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제48권2호
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• pp.448-456
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• 2016

Severe accident scenarios in nuclear reactors, such as nuclear meltdown, reveal that an extremely hot molten core may fall into the nuclear reactor cavity and seriously affect the safety of the nuclear containment vessel due to the chain reaction caused by the reaction between the molten core and concrete. This paper reports on research focused on the type and amount of vapor produced during the reaction between a high-temperature molten core and concrete, as well as on the erosion rate of concrete and the heat transfer characteristics at its vicinity. This study identifies themass fraction and melting temperature as the most influential properties of concrete necessary for a safety analysis conducted in relation to the thermal interaction between the molten core and the basemat concrete. The types of concrete that are actually used in nuclear reactor cavities were investigated. The $H_2O$ content in concrete required for the computation of the relative amount of gases generated by the chemical reaction of the vapor, the quantity of $CO_2$ necessary for computing the cooling speed of the molten core, and the melting temperature of concrete are evaluated experimentally for the molten core-concrete interaction analysis.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제30권1호
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• pp.39-44
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• 2005

노심 및 원자로의 구조 및 구성 물질이 확정되어 있지 않은 개발단계의 신형원자로의 압력용기에 대한 $R-{\theta}$좌표에서 차폐해석을 수행하려면, 매번 선원항에 대한 모델작업을 하는데 많은 노력과 시간이 소요된다. 따라서 $R-\theta$좌표에 의한 반경방향의 원자로 압력용기에 대한 차폐해석에 있어서 노심의 기하학적 구조에 영향을 받지 않고 해석할 수 있는 체계를 개발하였다. 개발된 해석체계를 이용하여 육방형 노심배열을 갖는 일체형 원자로의 압력용기에 대한 차폐해석을 수행하여, 그 결과를 MCNP 해석결과와 비교 분석하였다. 분석결과 개발된 해석체계가 좀 더 보수적인 결과를 나타내었으며 이는 차폐해석측면에서 타당하다. 또한 이 해석체계를 개발함으로써 그 동안 수작업으로 작성하였던 노심내부에 대한 모델에 대한 오차를 줄일 수 있으며 이에 소요되는 시간 및 노력을 줄일 수 있을 것으로 판단된다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제47권2호
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• pp.157-164
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• 2015

Nuclear power plants have logical loop structures in their system configuration. This paper explains the method to solve a loop structure in reliability analysis. As examples of loop structured systems, the reactor core isolation cooling system and high-pressure core injection system of a boiling water reactor are considered and analyzed under a station blackout accident condition. The analysis results show the important role of loop structures under severe accidents. For the evaluation of the safety of nuclear power plants, it is necessary to accurately evaluate a loop structure's reliability.

• 대한기계학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한기계학회 2007년도 춘계학술대회B
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• pp.3491-3496
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• 2007

If a molten core is released from a reactor vessel into a reactor cavity during a severe accident, an important safety issue of coolability of the molten core from top-flooding and concrete ablation due to a molten core concrete interaction (MCCI) is still unresolved. The released molten core debris would attack the concrete wall and basemat of the reactor cavity, which will lead to inevitable concrete decompositions and possible radiological releases. In a OECD/MCCI project scheduled for 4 years from 2002. 1 to 2005. 12, a series of tests were performed to secure the data for cooling the molten core spread out at the reactor cavity and for the 2-D long-term core concrete interaction (CCI). The tests included not only separate effect tests such as a melt eruption, water ingression, and crust failure tests with a prototypic material but also 2-D CCI tests with a prototypic material under dry and flooded cavity conditions. The paper deals with the transient simulations on the CCI-2 test by using a severe accident analysis code, CORQUENCH, which was developed at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). Similar simulations had been already per for me d by using MELCOR 1.8.5 code. Unlike the MELCOR 1.8.5, the CORQUENCH includes a melt eruption mode I and a newly developed water ingression model based on the water ingression tests under the OECD/MCCI project. In order to adjust the geometrical differences between the CCI-2 test (rectangular geometry) and the simulations (cylindrical geometry), the same scaling methodology as used in the MELCOR simulation was applied. For the direct comparison of the simulation results, the same inputs for the MELCOR simulation were used. The simulation results were compared with the previous results by using MELCOR 1.8.5.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권3호
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• pp.999-1008
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• 2023

Deformed fuel rods can cause a partial blockage of the flow area in a subchannel. Such flow blockage will influence the core coolant flow and further the core heat transfer during the reflooding phase and subsequent severe accidents. Nevertheless, most of the system analysis codes simulate the accident process based on the assumed flow blockage ratio, resulting in inconsistencies between simulated results and actual conditions. This paper aims to study the influence of flow blockage in severe accident scenario of the CAP1400 reactor. First, the flow blockage model of ISAA code is improved based on the FRTMB module. Then, the ISAA-FRTMB coupling system is adopted to model and calculate the QUENCH-LOCA-0 experiment. The correctness and validity of the flow blockage model are verified by comparing the peak cladding temperature. Finally, the DVI Line-SBLOCA accident is induced to analyze the influence of flow blockage on subsequent CAP1400 reactor core heat transfer and core degradation. From the results of the DVI Line-SBLOCA accident analysis, it can be concluded that the blockage ratio is in the range of 40%-60%, and the position of severe blockage is the same as that of cladding rupture. The blockage reduces the circulation area of the core coolant, which in turn impacts the heat exchange between the core and the coolant, leading to the early failure and collapse of some core assemblies and accelerating the core degradation process.

• 대한전기학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한전기학회 2000년도 하계학술대회 논문집 D
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• pp.2678-2680
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• 2000

In this paper, we calculates mathematical model of ex-core neutron flux monitoring system for nuclear reactor and design the digital system using the bilinear transformations. The output pulse shape and resolving time of the system determines from the proposed method.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제50권6호
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• pp.963-970
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• 2018

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Regulatory Guide 1.20 needs to perform a comprehensive vibration assessment program for reactor internals during preoperational and startup testing for nuclear power plants and extended power uprate. Although the measurement program is one of the core programs, it is rarely carried out except for a first-of-a-kind or a unique design. This article describes measurement results of vibration and stress for the comprehensive vibration assessment program for an APR-1400 reactor internals. The measurement was performed at an upper guide structure during the pre-core hot functional test of Shin Kori unit 4 reactor internals because the Shin Kori unit 3 and 4 are the first construction project for the APR-1400, and the upper guide structure assembly was to design change compared with the valid prototype. We confirmed that all measured results are within the test acceptance criteria. It means that the structural integrity of the APR-1400 reactor internals was secured for the flow-induced vibration.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권4호
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• pp.1250-1253
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• 2024

Activity measurement of the primary circuit water of fission reactors is one method that can provide early detection of a damaged fuel assembly in the reactor core. This is an important aspect in the safe operation of the reactor and for radiation protection of staff. Radionuclides in the primary circuit water are produced by the activation of stable nuclides and the fission of fissile nuclides, mainly the isotope ²³⁵U. In the LVR-15 research reactor, measurement of the activity of the primary circuit water has been regularly undertaken since 1996. A water sample is taken from the primary circuit every week and the activities are measured four days later using gamma spectrometry. The results of these long-term measurements from 1996 to 2022 are presented. The activity time dependences of the individual radionuclides are discussed in relation to fuel assembly damage and for events connected to contamination of the water by objects inserted into the primary circuit during experiments carried out near the reactor core.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제52권10호
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• pp.2204-2220
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• 2020

An open-pool type research reactor is designed and operated considering the accessibility around the pool top area to enhance the reactor utilization. The reactor structure assembly is placed at the bottom of the pool and filled with water as a primary coolant for the core cooling and radiation shielding. Most radioactive materials are generated from the fuel assemblies in the reactor core and circulated with the primary coolant. If the primary coolant goes up to the pool surface, the radiation level increases around the working area near the top of the pool. Hence, the hot water layer is designed and formed at the upper part of the pool to suppress the rising of the primary coolant to the pool surface. The temperature gradient is established from the hot water layer to the primary coolant. As this temperature gradient suppresses the circulation of the primary coolant at the upper region of the pool, the radioactive primary coolant rising up directly to the pool surface is minimized. Water mixing between these layers is reduced because the hot water layer is formed above the primary coolant with a higher temperature. The radiation level above the pool surface area is maintained as low as reasonably achievable since the radioactive materials in the primary coolant are trapped under the hot water layer. The key to maintaining the stable hot water layer and keeping the radiation level low on the pool surface is to have a stable flow of the primary coolant. In the research reactor with a downward core flow, the primary coolant is dumped into the reactor pool and goes to the reactor core through the flow guide structure. Flow fields of the primary coolant at the lower region of the reactor pool are largely affected by the dumped primary coolant. Simple, circular, and duct type discharge headers are designed to control the flow fields and make the primary coolant flow stable in the reactor pool. In this research, flow fields of the primary coolant and hot water layer are numerically simulated in the reactor pool. The heat transfer rate, temperature, and velocity fields are taken into consideration to determine the formation of the stable hot water layer and primary coolant flow. The bulk Richardson number is used to evaluate the stability of the flow field. A duct type discharge header is finally chosen to dump the primary coolant into the reactor pool. The bulk Richardson number should be higher than 2.7 and the temperature of the hot water layer should be 1 ℃ higher than the temperature of the primary coolant to maintain the stability of the stratified thermal layer.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제47권4호
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• pp.434-442
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• 2015

The advanced passive pressurized water reactor (PWR) is being constructed in China and the passive residual heat removal (PRHR) system was designed to remove the decay heat. During accident scenarios with increase of heat removal from the primary coolant system, the actuation of the PRHR will enhance the cooldown of the primary coolant system. There is a risk of power excursion during the cooldown of the primary coolant system. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the thermal hydraulic behavior of the reactor coolant system (RCS) at this condition. The advanced passive PWR model, including major components in the RCS, is built by SCDAP/RELAP5 code. The thermal hydraulic behavior of the core is studied for two typical accident sequences with PRHR actuation to investigate the core cooling capability with conservative assumptions, a main steam line break (MSLB) event and inadvertent opening of a steam generator (SG) safety valve event. The results show that the core is ultimately shut down by the boric acid solution delivered by Core Makeup Tank (CMT) injections. The effects of CMT boric acid concentration and the activation delay time on accident consequences are analyzed for MSLB, which shows that there is no consequential damage to the fuel or reactor coolant system in the selected conditions.