• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1999.05a
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• pp.359-359
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• 1999

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.29 no.12
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• pp.654-662
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• 2017

When emergency core cooling system (ECCS) is operated during loss of coolant accident (LOCA) in a pressurized water reactor (PWR), pressurized thermal shock (PTS) phenomenon can occur as cooling water is injected into a cold leg, mixed with hot primary coolant, and then entrained into a reactor vessel. Insufficient flow mixing may cause temperature stratification and steam condensation. In addition, flow vibration may cause thermal stresses in surrounding structures. This will reduce the life of the reactor vessel. Due to the importance of PTS phenomenon, in this study, calculation was performed for Test 1 among six types of OECD/NEA ROSA tests with ANSYS CFX R.17. Predicted results were then compared to measured data. Additionally, because temperature difference between the hot coolant at the inlet of the cold leg and the cold cooling water at the inlet of the ECCS injection line is 200 K or more, buoyancy force due to density difference might have significant effect on thermal-hydraulic characteristics of flow. Therefore, in this study, the necessity to include buoyancy force term in governing equations for accurate prediction of single phase thermal stratification in both cold legs and downcomer by ECCS injection was numerically studied.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.210-229
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• 2021

To safely operate domestic nuclear power plants approaching the end of their design life, the material degradation management strategy of the components is important. Among studies conducted to improve the soundness of nuclear reactor components, research methods for understanding the degradation of reactor internals and preparing management strategies were surveyed. Since the IGSCC (Intergranular Stress Corrosion Cracking) initiation and propagation process is associated with metal dissolution at the crack tip, crack initiation sensitivity was decreased in the hydrogenated water with decreased crack sensitivity but occurrence of small surface cracks increased. A stress of 50 to 55% of the yield strength of the irradiated materials was required to cause IASCC (Irradiation Assisted Stress Corrosion Cracking) failure at the end of the reactor operating life. In the threshold-stress analysis, IASCC cracks were not expected to occur until the end of life at a stress of less than 62% of the investigated yield strength, and the IASCC critical dose was determined to be 4 dpa (Displacement Per Atom). The stainless steel surface oxide was composed of an internal Cr-rich spinel oxide and an external Fe and Ni-rich oxide, regardless of the dose and applied strain level.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.48-55
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• 2015

A variety of safety issues were investigated for chemical reactors using a toluene solvent in case of a fire at small to middle scale chemical plants. The issues covered the operation of pressure-relieving valves and the subsequent discharges of the toluene to the atmosphere either directly or through an absorber, which represent the current practice at most small chemical plants. It was shown that the safety valve on the reactor may not operate within about twenty minutes after an external fire breaks out, but, once relieved, the toluene vapor released directly to the atmosphere may form a large explosion range on the ground. It was also shown that if the discharge is routed to an existing absorber used for the scrubbing of volatile organic compounds or dusts, the column may not operate normally due to excessive pressure drops or flooding, resulting in the hazardous release of toluene vapors. This study proposed two ways of alleviating these risks. The first is to ruduce the discharge itself from the safety valve by using adequate insulation and protection covers on the reactor and then introduce it into the circulation water at the bottom of the absorber through a dip linet pipe equipped with a ring-shaped sparger. This will enhance the condensation of toluene vapors with the reduced effluent vapors treated in the packing layers above. The second is to install a separate quench drum to condense the routed toluene vapors more effectively than the existing absorber.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.40-44
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• 2015

Sensitivity on the reactor safety was evaluated for the safety margin and time delay applied to the opening pressure of liquid relief valve(LRV) of the primary heat transport system(PHTS) in the pressurized heavy water reactor(PHWR) type nuclear power plant. Since the LRV is the pressure boundary for the PHTS in the safety analysis, the operating of LRV has a significant effect on the safety analysis results. Therefore it is required during the regulatory review of Wolsong Unit 1 safety analysis to find the safety effect of the application of safety margin and time delay to the LRV opening pressure for the safety analysis of PHTS pressurizing events.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.155-159
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• 2016

Background: Nuclear reactors produce a great number of antielectron neutrinos mainly from beta-decay chains of fission products. Such neutrinos have energies mostly in MeV range. We are interested in neutrinos in a region of keV, since they may take part in special weak interactions. We calculate reactor antineutrino spectra especially in the low energy region. In this work we present neutrino spectrum from a typical pressurized water reactor (PWR) reactor core. Materials and Methods: To calculate neutrino spectra, we need information about all generated nuclides that emit neutrinos. They are mainly fission fragments, reaction products and trans-uranium nuclides that undergo negative beta decay. Information in relation to trans-uranium nuclide compositions and its evolution in time (burn-up process) were provided by a reactor code MVP-BURN. We used typical PWR parameter input for MVP-BURN code and assumed the reactor to be operated continuously for 1 year (12 months) in a steady thermal power (3.4 GWth). The PWR has three fuel compositions of 2.0, 3.5 and 4.1 wt% $^{235}U$ contents. For preliminary calculation we adopted a standard burn-up chain model provided by MVP-BURN. The chain model treated 21 heavy nuclides and 50 fission products. The MVB-BURN code utilized JENDL 3.3 as nuclear data library. Results and Discussion: We confirm that the antielectron neutrino flux in the low energy region increases with burn-up of nuclear fuel. The antielectron-neutrino spectrum in low energy region is influenced by beta emitter nuclides with low Q value in beta decay (e.g. $^{241}Pu$) which is influenced by burp-up level: Low energy antielectron-neutrino spectra or emission rates increase when beta emitters with low Q value in beta decay accumulate Conclusion: Our result shows the flux of low energy reactor neutrinos increases with burn-up of nuclear fuel.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.354-358
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• 2016

Background: To find out the leak characteristic of research reactor 'HANARO' building in a typhoon condition Materials and Methods: MELCOR code which normally is used to simulate severe accident behavior in a nuclear power plant was used to simulate the leak rate of air and fission products from reactor hall after the shutdown of the ventilation system of HANARO reactor building. For the simulation, HANARO building was designed by MELCOR code and typhoon condition passed through Daejeon in 2012 was applied. Results and Discussion: It was found that the leak rate is $0.1%{\cdot}day^{-1}$ of air, $0.004%{\cdot}day^{-1}$ of noble gas and $3.7{\times}10^{-5}%{\cdot}day^{-1}$ of aerosol during typhoon passing. The air leak rate of $0.1%{\cdot}day^{-1}$ can be converted into $1.36m^3{\cdot}hr^{-1}$, but the design leak rate in HANARO safety analysis report was considered as $600m^3{\cdot}hr^{-1}$ under the condition of $20m{\cdot}sec^{-1}$ wind speed outside of the building by typhoon. Conclusion: Most of fission products during the maximum hypothesis accident at HANARO reactor will be contained in the reactor hall, so the direct radiation by remained fission products in the reactor hall will be the most important factor in designing emergency preparedness for HANARO reactor.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.423-429
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• 2021

The investigation of the utilization of enriched ²⁰⁸Pb as a coolant to enhance the performance of a long-life fast reactor with a Modified CANDLE (Constant Axial shape of Neutron flux, nuclide densities, and power shape During Life of Energy production) burnup scheme has performed. The analyzes were performed on a reactor with thermal power of 800 MegaWatt Thermal (MWTh) with a refueling process every 15 years. Uranium Nitride (enriched ¹⁵N), ²⁰⁸Pb, and High-Cr martensitic steel HT-9 were employed as fuel, coolant, and cladding materials, respectively. One of the Pb-nat isotopes, ²⁰⁸Pb, has the smallest neutron capture cross-section (0.23 mb) among other liquid metal coolants. Furthermore, the neutron-producing cross-section (n, 2n) of ²⁰⁸Pb is larger than sodium (Na). On the other hand, the inelastic scattering energy threshold of ²⁰⁸Pb is the highest among Na, ^natPb, and Bi. The small inelastic scattering cross-section of ²⁰⁸Pb can harden the neutron energy spectrum. Therefore, ²⁰⁸Pb is a better neutron multiplier than any other liquid metal coolant. The excess neutrons cause more production than consumption of ²³⁹Pu. Hence, it can reduce the initial fuel loading of the reactor. The selective photoreaction process was developing to obtain enriched ²⁰⁸Pb. The neutronic was calculated using SRAC and JENDL 4.0 as a nuclear data library. We obtained that the modified CANDLE reactor with enriched ²⁰⁸Pb as coolant and reflector has the highest k-eff among all reactors. Meanwhile, the ^natPb cooled reactor has the lowest k-eff. Thus, the utilization of the enriched ²⁰⁸Pb as the coolant can reduce reactor initial fuel loading. Moreover, the enriched ²⁰⁸Pb-cooled reactor has the smallest power peaking factor among all reactors. Therefore, the enriched ²⁰⁸Pb can enhance the performance of a long-life Modified CANDLE fast reactor.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.1633-1638
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• 2003

In case that in-leakage through the valve disk occurs, a numerical study is performed to estimate on thermal stratification phenomenon in the Safety Injection piping connected with the Reactor Coolant System piping of Nuclear Power Plant. As the leakage flow rate increases, the temperature difference between top and bottom of horizontal piping has the inflection point. In the connection point of valve and piping, the maximum temperature difference between top and bottom was 185K and occurred in the condition of 10 times of standard leakage flow rate. In the connection point of elbow and horizontal piping, the maximum temperature difference was 145K and occurred in the condition of 15 times of standard leakage flow rate. In the vertical piping of Safety Injection piping, the near of connection point between elbow and vertical piping showed the outstanding thermal stratification phenomenon in comparison with another region because of turbulent penetration from Reactor Coolant System piping. In order to prevent damage of piping due to the thermal stratification when in-leakage through the valve disk occurs, the connection points between valve and piping, and the connection points between elbow and piping need to be inspected continually.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.25-32
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• 2016

A sensitivity analysis of FDS(Fire Dynamics Simulator) results for the input uncertainty of heat release rate (Q) which might be the most influencing parameter to fire behaviors was performed. The calculated results were compared with experimental data obtained by the OECD/NEA PRISME project. The sensitivity of FDS results with the change in Q was also compared with the empirical correlations suggested in previous literature. As a result, the change in the specified Q led to the different dependence of major quantities such as temperature and species concentrations for the over- and under-ventilated fire conditions, respectively. It was also found that the sensitivity of major quantities to uncertain value of Q showed the significant difference in results obtained using the previous empirical correlations.