• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.48-57
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• 2015

In a sodium-cooled fast reactor, which is a Generation-IV reactor, refueling is conducted by rotating, but not opening, the reactor head to prevent a reaction between the sodium, water and air. Therefore, an inspection technique that checks for the presence of any obstacles between the reactor core and the upper internal structure, which could disturb the rotation of the reactor head, is essential prior to the refueling of a sodium-cooled fast reactor. To this end, an ultrasound-based inspection technique should be employed because the opacity of the sodium prevents conventional optical inspection techniques from being applied to the monitoring of obstacles. In this study, a ranging inspection technique using a plate-type ultrasonic waveguide sensor was developed to monitor the presence of any obstacles between the reactor core and the upper internal structure in the opaque sodium. Because the waveguide sensor installs an ultrasonic transducer in a relatively cold region and transmits the ultrasonic waves into the hot radioactive liquid sodium through a long waveguide, it offers better reliability and is less susceptible to thermal or radiation damage. A 10 m horizontal beam waveguide sensor capable of radiating an ultrasonic wave horizontally was developed, and beam profile measurements and basic experiments were carried out to investigate the characteristics of the developed sensor. The beam width and propagation distance of the ultrasonic wave radiated from the sensor were assessed based on the experimental results. Finally, a feasibility test using cylindrical targets (corresponding to the shape of possible obstacles) was also conducted to evaluate the applicability of the developed ranging inspection technique to actual applications.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2003.07d
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• pp.1315-1318
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• 2003

Wastewater treatment processes are usually located in the outskirts of cities. But these processes should be dealt with continuous maintenance by expert operators. Therefore, in this paper, unmaned and automated control system is designed for the SBR(Sequencing Batch Reactor) plant. This plant is constructed in Gimhae city. Networks and wireless modules are employed for the data transmission. A local controller is in the SBR plant as a client and a monitoring system is located in the other place as a server. Remote control and monitoring system are constructed at the laboratory of ours. Measured data from plant sensors are translated to the remote site using communication modules, and then the data could be displayed and analyzed by means of remote monitoring and control systems.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2005.10b
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• pp.270-272
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• 2005

In this paper, we proposed a new method detecting actions of some components driven by the coil excitation. Nuclear power reactors are typically controlled by the movement of several neutron-absorbing control rods into or out of the reactor core. For moving control rods, we use an electromagnetic-jack-typed mechanism, which is called Control Rod Drive Mechanism. This mechanism moves control rods by the step composed of sequential actions of components. In case any mechanical problems happen in the mechanism, the orders for the control rod movement from the higher system cannot be performed properly. This abnormal state must be monitored and the sequential actions of the components can be the monitoring target. The actions of components generate some deviations in the profiles of the currents flowing into the coils in the mechanism. We focused on this phenomena and devised a new method of detecting the actions of the components in Control Rod Drive Mechanism by using the wavelet transform for observing the current profile.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.165-175
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• 2015

The application of neutron noise analysis (NNA) to the ex-core neutron detector signal for monitoring the vibration characteristics of a reactor core support barrel (CSB) was investigated. Ex-core flux data were generated by using a nonanalog Monte Carlo neutron transport method in a simulated CSB model where the implicit capture and Russian roulette technique were utilized. First and third order beam and shell modes of CSB vibration were modeled based on parallel processing simulation. A NNA module was developed to analyze the ex-core flux data based on its time variation, normalized power spectral density, normalized cross-power spectral density, coherence, and phase differences. The data were then analyzed with a fuzzy logic module to determine the vibration characteristics. The ex-core neutron signal fluctuation was directly proportional to the CSB's vibration observed at 8Hz and15Hzin the beam mode vibration, and at 8Hz in the shell mode vibration. The coherence result between flux pairs was unity at the vibration peak frequencies. A distinct pattern of phase differences was observed for each of the vibration models. The developed fuzzy logic module demonstrated successful recognition of the vibration frequencies, modes, orders, directions, and phase differences within 0.4 ms for the beam and shell mode vibrations.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.11
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• pp.2638-2651
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• 2020

Nozzle corner cracks present at the intersection of reactor pressure vessels (RPVs) and inlet or outlet nozzles have been a persistent problem for a number of years. The fracture analysis of such nozzle corner cracks is very important and critical for the efficient design and assessment of the structural integrity of RPVs. This paper aims to perform an engineering critical assessment of RPVs with nozzle corner cracks subjected to several transients accompanied by pressurized thermal shocks. The critical crack size of the RPV model with nozzle corner cracks under transient loading is evaluated on failure assessment curve. In particular, the influence of cladding on the crack initiation of nozzle corner crack under thermal transients is studied. The influence of primary internal pressure and secondary thermal stress on the stress field at nozzle corner and SIF at crack front is analyzed. Finally, the influence of different crack size and crack shape on the final critical crack size is analyzed.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.185-189
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• 2011

As nuclear industry has been developed, a various types of radiological contamination has occurred. After 9.11 terror in U.S.A., it has been concerned that terrorists' active area has been enlarged to use nuclear or radioactive substance. Recently, the most powerful earth-quake stroke, which triggered a massive tsunami in Japan and then Fukushima nuclear power plant reactor has suffered from a serious accident in history. The Fukushima reactor accident has occurred an anxiety of radiation leaks and about 170,000 people have been evacuated from the accidental area near the nuclear power plant. For these reasons, a social chaos can be occurred if radiological contamination occurs to the supply system for the drinking water. As such, the establishment of the radiation monitoring system for the city main water system is compelling for the national security. In this study, a feasibility test of radiation monitoring system which consists of unified hybrid-type radiation detectors was experimented for multi detection system by using gamma-ray imaging. The hybrid-type radiation sensors were fabricated with CsI(Tl) scintillators and photodiodes. A preamplifier and amplifier was also fabricated and assembled with the sensor in the shielding case. For the preliminary test of detection of radiological contamination in the river, multi CsI(Tl)-PIN photodiode radiation detectors and $^{137}Cs$ gamma-ray source were used. The DAQ was done by Linux based ROOT program and NI DAQ system with Labview program. The simulated contamination was assumed to be occurred at Gapcheon river in Daejeon city. Multi CsI(Tl)-PIN photodiode radiation detectors were positioned at the Gapcheon river side. Assuming that the radiological contaminations flows in the river the $^{137}Cs$ gamma-ray source has been moved and then, the contamination region was reconstructed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.9
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• pp.2085-2091
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• 2020

The license for Kori-1, the first commercial reactor in Busan, Korea, was terminated in June 2017; therefore, preparations are being made for its decommissioning. Because the radioactivity of Bio-shield varies greatly throughout the structure, the doses received by the workers depend on the location, order, and duration of dismantling operations. Thus, a model for evaluating the worker external dose during the dismantling of the Kori-1 bio-shield was developed, and work scenarios for dose assessment were designed. The Dose evaluation code VISIPLAN was used for dose assessment. The dose rate around the bio-shield was evaluated and the level of exposure to the operator was evaluated according to the work scenario. The maximum annual external dose was calculated as 746.86 mSv for a diamond wire saw operator under dry cutting conditions, indicating that appropriate protective measures, such as changing dismantling sequence, remote monitoring, shield installation, and adjustment of work team are necessary for the safe dismantling of the bio-shield. Through these protective measures, it was found that the worker's dose could be below the dose limit.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.447-456
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• 2018

In this research, the target process was a modified type of a conventional aeration tank with four different influent feeding points and alternated aeration to obtain nitrogen removal. For more accurate switching of influent feeding, the process was operated under a designed control strategy based on monitoring of $NH_4-N$ and $NO_X-N$ concentrations in the tank. However, the strategy did have some limitations. For example, it was not sensitive to detecting the end of each reaction when losing the balance between nitrification and denitrification of each opposite part of biological tank. To overcome the limitations of the existing control strategy, a diagnosis-based control strategy was suggested in this research using the diagnosis results classified as normal (N), ammonia accumulation (AA) and nitrate accumulation (NA). Using the pre-designed rules for control actions, the aeration and volume of the aerated part of the reactor could be increased or decreased at a fixed mode time. In simulations of the suggested diagnosis-based control strategy, the $NH_4-N$ and $NO_X-N$ removal rates in the reactor were maintained at higher levels than those of the existing control strategy.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.203-205
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• 2005

A reactor protection system (RPS) plays the roles of generating the reactor trip signal and the engineered safety features (ESF) actuation signal when the monitored plant processes reach predefined limits. A Korean project group is developing a new digitalized RPS and the Cabinet Operator Module (COM) of the RPS which is used for the RPS integrity testing and monitoring by an equipment operator. A flat panel display (FPD) with a touch screen capability is provided as a main user interface for the RPS operation. To support the RPS COM user interface design, actually the FPD screen design, we developed a user interface style guide because the system designer could not properly deal with the many general human factors design guidelines. To develop the user interface style guide, various design guideline gatherings, a walk-though with a video recorder, guideline selection with respect to user interface design elements, determination of the properties of the design elements, discussion with the system designers, and a conversion of the properties into a screen design were carried out. This paper describes the process in detail and the findings in the course of the style guide development.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.515-521
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• 2009

In this study, the applicability of $CaCO_3$ as a seed material for crystallization reaction was tested. $CaCO_3$ was ground to lesser than 425 mesh and was made to media mixed with binder. Batch experiment was to investigate the ${PO_4}^{3-}-P$ removal efficiency of different parameters such as $CaCO_3$ dosage and binder ratio, size, type and mass of media. In addition, the effect of phosphorus removal from wastewater was tested using a lab-scaled crystallization reactor. At the results of the batch test, phosphorus removals were improved with increasing $CaCO_3$ dosage and media mass but were decreased with increasing media size. Moreover, phosphorus removals were influenced by specific surface area but media type. The average T-P and ${PO_4}^{3-}-P$ removal efficiency in a lab-scaled crystallization reactor with $CaCO_3$ media for wastewater were shown to be 60.2% and 60.3% for 18 days of operation time.