• Journal of Technology Innovation
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.145-164
• /
• 2014

Nuclear fusion is one of the most promising options for generating large amounts of carbon-free energy in the future. Major countries such as China, EU, and Japan have established a national plan for DEMO construction and they are implementing it. Korea has started a nuclear fusion research and development by the KSTAR project started in 1995. There are matured needs for a full-scale research and development initiatives to ensure competition with the major countries for DEMO as well as achieve the final goal to commercialize fusion energy. In this paper, we apply the TRL and AHP methods in order to identify the key technologies to conduct DEMO R&D. We propose the priorities of future R&D on DEMO by deriving a core technology in the field. At first, we review the scientific theory of fusion and trend of progress of DEMO activities in major countries. For previous studies, we review TRL and AHP methods to examine the technology classification system of DEMO and identify key technologies. We apply TRL method to identify readiness level of DEMO technologies and AHP to compensate shortcoming of TRL. The key technologies of DEMO to be secured from a synthesis result of the TRL and AHP are burning plasma, plasma facing material, structural material, high frequency heating, neutral particle beam, safety, plasma diagnostic, and simulation technologies.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.52 no.3
• /
• pp.279-288
• /
• 2014

Nuclear energy is expected to meet the growing energy demand while avoiding CO2 emission. However, the problem of accumulating spent fuel from current nuclear power plants which is mainly composed of uranium oxides should be addressed. One of the most practical solutions is to reduce the spent oxide fuel and recycle it. Next-generation fuel cycles demand innovative features such as a reduction of the environmental load, improved safety, efficient recycling of resources, and feasible economics. Pyroprocessing based on molten salt electrolysis is one of the key technologies for reducing the amount of spent nuclear fuel and destroying toxic waste products, such as the long-life fission products. The oxide reduction process based on the electrochemical reduction in a LiCl-$Li_2O$ electrolyte has been developed for the volume reduction of PWR (Pressurized Water Reactor) spent fuels and for providing metal feeds for the electrorefining process. To speed up the electrochemical reduction process, the influences of the feed form for the cathode and the type of anode shroud on the reduction rate were investigated.

• Proceedings of KOSOMES biannual meeting
• /
• 2007.11a
• /
• pp.97-102
• /
• 2007

The piggery wastewater is the major source of the water pollution problem in the rural area. The treatment alternatives for piggery wastewater are limited by the characteristics of both high organic and nitrogen(N) content. In order to investigate an efficient N removal system, the thermophilic aerobic digestion process was examined. The experiment was investigated organic and nitrogen removal efficiency at various HRTs and air supply volume. The results of semi-continuous experiment indicated that a higher removal of the soluble portion of COD was achieved with the longer HRTs. However, the inert portion of COD in piggery wastewater was not much changed by thermophilic aerobic digestion. In addition, with the higher HRT of 3 days, up to 79% of NH4-N removal efficiency was achieved. Lower the HRTs, a decrease of NH4-N removal was founds. The gas samples from the lab reactor were analyzed along with the N content in influent and effluent. The N2O formation in our system indicates a novel aerobic deammonification process occurred during the thermophilic aerobic digestion. Both N02 and N03 were not presented in the effluent of thermophilic aerobic digester. With the HRT of 3 days, 36.4% of influent N(or 57.5% removal N) was aerobically converted to N2O gas. The ammonium conversion to N2O gas significantly decrease to 4.5% at low HRT of .05 day..

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.11 no.7
• /
• pp.571-578
• /
• 2017

Bubbles are generated by the boiling of the cooling water when an accident occurs in the reactor and then in order to measure the void fraction, the Optical Fiber Probe(OFP) and optical camera are used in thermal hydraulic safety research. However, such an optical method is not suitable for measuring the void fraction in a $17{\times}17$ array of fuel rods due to the geometrical limitations. This study was conducted as a preliminary study using x-ray system and various phantoms before applying to rod bundles. Through radiographic and tomographic experiments, the tube voltage of the x-ray generator was 130 kVp and the tube current was 1 mA. In addition, it is possible to measure the hole of 1mm in size visually through the bubble resolution phantom, and it is confirmed that the contrast is relatively decreased in the inside of the freon in the case of the contrast evaluation using the road phantom. However, we could obtain good image without distortion when reconstructing the image. Bubble generation phantom experiments were used to confirm the flow direction of the bubbles and to acquire tomography images. The image J tool was used to measure the void fraction of 18 % for a single tomography image. This study has carried out previous researches for the measurement of the bubble rate around the nuclear fuel and could be used as a basic research for continuous research.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.101-108
• /
• 1999

The influence of the relative humidity, the temperature and the velocity of supply air on evaporation rate has been studied with non-boiling forced evaporation system in order to treat very low level radioactive liquid wastes produced from the decontamination and decommissioning activities. Experimental data on the evaporation rate have been obtained with the divers variables and experimental equation of air velocity was also obtained by the correlation of those data. The decontamination factor of this system was also obtained by the experimental data from a simulated liquid waste containing Cs-137 radio isotope ; $DF=10^4$. Since the commercial system will be operated for the treatment of the very low level radioactive liquid waste produced from decontamination & decommissioning of TRIGA Mark-II&III research reactor, the environmental assessment has been conducted to improve the operational safety. Exposure dose rate for an individual member of general public was assessed, and it showed that it was very lower than individual dose limits. The release of radioactivity of radioisotope material (Cs-137) to the environment was assessed, and result showed that it was $4.637{\times}10^{-14}\;{\mu}Ci/cc$.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.139-148
• /
• 2018

Assessment of NPP(Nuclear Power Plant) decommissioning cost is very important for safe decommissioning of nuclear power plants. In the United States, which has the most NPP decommissioning experience, the cost evaluation study has been conducted since the 1970s in order to decommissioning nuclear facilities. The US NRC has conducted studies on decommissioning technology, safety and cost for a variety of reactor type and nuclear installations. In the total decommissioning costs, the end of operation licenses accounted for the largest portion, followed by spent fuel management and site restoration. In case of immediate decommissioning, spent fuel management cost increased compared to delayed decommissioning, and delayed deocmmissioning increased the cost of terminating the operation license. However, in general, delayed decommissioning does not show any significant benefit as compared with immediate decommissioning. It is necessary to consider the evaluation according to the site conditions when evaluating the cost of decommissioning domestic nuclear power plants. Also, in Korea, IAEA recommendations were applied to reorganize the radioactive waste classification system. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a method to appropriately use the decommissioning data of the preceding US Nuclear Power Plant in the new classification system when estimating the amount of radioactive waste generated during decommissioning. In particular, the establishment of the evaluation methodology for the waste to be disposed of will be an important factor in securing the accuracy of the decommissioning cost. In addition, it is necessary to construct information data that can be applied to facility characteristics and work characteristics in order to evaluate the cost of demolition of domestic nuclear power plants.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.51-62
• /
• 1993

A computational program ［TDET］ of the particle transport equation is developed on radiation shielding problem in two-dimensional cartesian geometry based on the discrete element method. Not like the ordinary discrete ordinates method, the quadrature set of angles is not fixed but steered by the spatially dependent angular fluxes. The angular dependence of the scattering source term in the particle transport equation is described by series expansion in spherical harmonics, and the energy dependence of the particles is considered as well. Three different benchmark tests are made for verification of TDET : For the ray effect analysis on a square absorber with a flat isotropic source, the results of TDET calculation are quite well conformed to those of MORSE-CG calculation while TDET ameliorates the ray effect more effectively than S$_{N}$ calculation. In the analysis of the streaming leakage through a narrow vacuum duct in a shield, TDET shows conspicuous and remarkable results of streaming leakage through the duct as well as MORSE-CG does, and quite better than S$_{N}$ calculation. In a realistic reactor shielding situation which treats in two cases of the isotropic scattering and of linearly anisotropic scattering with two groups of energy, TDET calculations show local ray effect between neighboring meshes compared with S$_{N}$ calculations in which the ray effect extends broadly over several meshes.eshes.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.54-59
• /
• 2011

This test established the bioavailability and sample input by mixing the maintaining the microbial machine parts and food waste leachates in weight of 2:1 as advanced experiment, maintaining the constant temperature, agitating and observing its weight and property change for 60 hours. And, I injected daily the established microbial machine parts and food waste leachates rate, maintained the temperature in the reactor with $55{\sim}65^{\circ}C$, and agitated with constant speed. I studied the recycling possibility of food waste leachates by extracting the sample after 24 hours, verifying its characteristics, and repeating the food waste leachates input and sample extraction for about 40 days. Considering all about the results of this study, I saw that 87.32% of food waste leachates was reduced, and the solid of bluebug or food included in the food waste leachates was decomposed within 24 hrs. pH for 43 days after 9 days of stabilization period was maintained from 3.7~3.9 and the ignition loss from 88.67~87.3%, and the quantity of organic matter from 77.6~80.88%. With the similar result daily maintained, it is considered to progress more the minimization by inputting the future food waste leachates. C/N rate satisfies the less than 25 that is the composting basis within 8 days, maintaining between 13~15, with 2% of salt not exceeded, it is able to recycle as the compost of food waste leachates as based on the composting with no extracted heavy metal content.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
• /
• v.14 no.3
• /
• pp.235-243
• /
• 2016

In the near future, many countries, including the Republic of Korea, will face a significant increase in low level radioactive waste (LLW) from nuclear power plant decommissioning. The purpose of this paper is to look at blending as a method for enhancing disposal options for low-level radioactive waste from the decommissioning of nuclear reactors. The 2007 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission strategic assessment of the status of the U.S. LLW program identified the need to move to a risk-informed and performance-based regulatory approach for managing LLW. The strategic assessment identified blending waste of varying radionuclide concentrations as a potential means of enhancing options for LLW disposal. The NRC's position is that concentration averaging or blending can be performed in a way that does not diminish the overall safety of LLW disposal. The revised regulatory requirements for blending LLW are presented in the revised NRC Branch Technical Position for Concentration Averaging and Encapsulation (CA BTP 2015). The changes to the CA BTP that are the most significant for NPP operation, maintenance and decommissioning are reviewed in this paper and a potential application is identified for decommissioning waste in Korea. By far the largest volume of LLW from NPPs will come from decommissioning rather than operation. The large volumes in decommissioning present an opportunity for significant gains in disposal efficiency from blending and concentration averaging. The application of concentration averaging waste from a reactor bio-shield is also presented.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.17 no.5
• /
• pp.346-353
• /
• 2016

In the design conditions of some research reactors, the siphon phenomenon can cause continuous efflux of water during pipe rupture. A siphon breaker is a safety device that can prevent water efflux effectively. However, the analysis of the siphon breaking is complicated because many variables must be included in the calculation process. For this reason, a simulation program was developed with a user-friendly GUI to analyze the siphon breaking easily. The program was developed by MFC programming using Visual Studio 2012 in Windows 8. After saving the input parameters from a user, the program proceeds with three steps of calculation using fluid mechanics formulas. Bernoulli's equation is used to calculate the velocity, quantity, water level, undershooting, pressure, loss coefficient, and factors related to the two-phase flow. The Chisholm model is used to predict the results from a real-scale experiment. The simulation results are shown in a graph, through which a user can examine the total breaking situation. It is also possible to save all of the resulting data. The program allows a user to easily confirm the status of the siphon breaking and would be helpful in the design of siphon breakers.