• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.1244-1249
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• 2023

Recently, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) announced the development of first-of-a-kind(FOAK) and most advanced futuristic vertical city and named as 'The LINE'. The project will have zero carbon dioxide emissions and will be powered by clean energy sources. Therefore, a study was designed to understand which clean energy sources might be a better choice. Because of its nearly carbon-free footprint, nuclear energy may be a good choice. Nowadays, the development of very small modular reactors (vSMRs) is gaining attention due to many salient features such as cost efficiency and zero carbon emissions. These reactors are one step down to actual small modular reactors (SMRs) in terms of power and size. SMRs typically have a power range of 20 MWe to 300 MWe, while vSMRs have a power range of 1-20 MWe. Therefore, a study was conducted to discuss different vSMRs in terms of design, technology types, safety features, capabilities, potential, and economics. After conducting the comparative test and analysis, the fuel cycle modeling of optimal and suitable reactor was calculated. Furthermore, the levelized unit cost of electricity for each reactor was compared to determine the most suitable vSMR, which is then compared other generation SMRs to evaluate the cost variations per MWe in terms of size and operation. The main objective of the research was to identify the most cost effective and simple vSMR that can be easily installed and deployed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Systems Engineering
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.69-81
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• 2021

The human performance issues and increased automation issues in advanced Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are critical to numerous stakeholders in the nuclear industry, due to the undesirable implications targeting the Man Machine Interface Systems (MMIS) complexity of (Generation IV) SMRs. It is imperative that the design of future SMRs must address these problems. Nowadays, Multi Agent Systems (MAS) are used in the industrial sector to solve multiple complex problems; therefore incorporating this technology in the proposed innovative SMR (I-SMR) design will contribute greatly in the decision making process during plant operations, also reduce the number MCR operating crew and human errors. However, it is speculated that an increased level of complexity will be introduced. Prior to achieving the objectives of this research, the tools used to analyze the system for complexity reduction, are the McCabe's Cyclomatic complexity metric and the Henry-Kafura Information Flow metric. In this research, the systems engineering approach is used to guide the engineering process of complexity reduction concept of the system in its entirety.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.30 no.2 s.57
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• pp.293-307
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• 1997

In Korea, sudden deaths of middle-aged and older male workers who are the responsible persons at home as well as workplace, have aroused social concern. Besides, U. N. has reported recently that mortality of Korea male in 40-50's was one of the highest among newly developed countries in 1992. Not much is, however, known about the nature of the work contributing to the mortality of different groups of workers. Therefore, this study was done to examine mortality of public servants, comprising about 5% of all the employed in Korea, according to their job titles and grades. The datas of 1753 official deaths, comprised 323 (only disease-oriented deaths) applicants of survivors' compensation, were used to examine age-adjusted Standardized Mortality Ratios(SMRs) according to their job titles, grades, tenures and cause of deaths. Controlling age and sex difference was conducted using 26,950,481 general population, 95,340 general deaths and 864,560 working public servants. All the groups were aged 20-64, who were being observed January - December in 1993, at the same time. Results and discussions are as follows. 1. SMRs standardized by general population was significantly low (SMR 44.9 CI 42.8-52.7) for all job titlses. Of public servants, 90.0% was graduated from high school, although 17.5% in general population. The distinction of social status such a education may produce a strong healthy worker effect. Besides, SMRs for different tenure groups showed a steady increase as tenure increases. This suggests that the magnitude of healthy-worker effect may be greater with increasing tenures. 2. SMRs standardized by own public servants was significantly elevated for work-men(SMR 121.0, CI 110.2-132.6) in solitue. When SMRs for different grade, of work-men was examined, 9th(SMR 124.2, CI 104.4-146.7) and 10th(SMR 137.9 CI 120.8-156.8)grade, lower grade in workmen, showed significantly elevated SMRs. Of workmen, 57.0% were graduated from high school and 50.1% in 9th grade, as well. These mean that low economic states made up social class, education may increase mortality rate. 3. Of SMRs according to all causes of death, only policemen on 'cause of death related hypertensive disease'(SMR 282.5, CI 121.6-556.7) was significantly high except for' cause of death related other signs, symptoms and ill-defined conditions'. 4. When SMRs on cause of death related hypertensive disease for different grade of policemen was examined, senior policemen(SMR 241.9), in charge of the front service, showed elevated SMR, in spite of statistical no significance. Especially, the working hour of senior policemen is quite long and also the work schedule is even more irregular for policemen. The results of this study showed that mortality for different jobs differed, and it differed also for different grades in the same job. This difference in mortality may reflect the difference in the nature of job contents, and further studies are warranted to elucidate which job characteristics are responsible.

• Nuclear industry
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.92-97
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• 2013

소형 모듈 원전 (SMRs, Small Modular Reactors) 시장 선점을 위한 각국의 경쟁이 치열하게 전개되고 있다. 그 중에서도 특히 미국, 러시아, 중국, 한국, 아르헨티나를 포함한 15개 국가가 향후 20년에 걸쳐 펼쳐질 소형 모듈 원전 시장 선점 경쟁에서 치열한 각축전을 벌일 것으로 예상되고 있다.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.9-18
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• 2009

This study aimed at assessing the association between exposure to severe air pollution in the past and the subsequent transition in lung cancer mortality among persons who lived in an industrial city. Vital statistics from 1983 to 2006 and the data on air pollution measurements from 1960 to 1990 in Amagasaki City, Japan, were used. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated between the standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) for lung cancer and the air pollution levels in 6 wards of Amagasaki City. The associations between changes in air pollution levels and the annual SMRs were also evaluated in the light of a potential latency period. The levels of air pollution were extremely high in the 1960s, and they decreased since 1970. The SMRs for lung cancer in 1989-1993 among females for 6 wards were significantly associated with the amounts of both sulfur oxides and dust fall in the past for each ward. The positive associations were observed between the annual SMRs among females and the amounts of both pollutants when the lag time of 20-30 years was taken into account. These results suggest that severe air pollution in the 1960s in an industrial city affected the subsequent increase in lung cancer mortality.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Systems Engineering
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.33-41
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• 2014

New design concept of Reactor Coolant System (RCS) including a reactor assembly for the SMR is introduced in this work. An exploration of new type of reactor that is advanced from proposed SMRs is performed by using systems engineering approach. In this point of view project structured on three main phases; needs analysis (NA), concept exploration (CE), and concept definition (CD). Main objectives as an output of the CE stage are a small size, low cost, shortening the schedule, and enhancing safety. The SMRs usually have a small size requirement. In order to meet the size requirement and to achieve a productivity, in other words, easiness to manufacture, this paper suggests an integrated PWR design concept through researching predecessors. Although the integrated PWR concept provides many advantages, it has disadvantages that composite of maintenance and a low availability problem. Therefore, this paper comes up with a run-to-fail design concept based on modular design to address the maintenance problem and to maximize the availability of SMRs as well as to be compatible with the overall-SMRs including Barge Mounted(BM)type.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.242-248
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• 2011

Objectives: Busan is reported to have the highest mortality rate among 16 provinces in Korea, as well as considerable health inequality across its districts. This study sought to examine overall and cause-specific mortality and deprivation at the town level in Busan, thereby identifying towns and causes of deaths to be targeted for improving overall health and alleviating health inequality. Methods: Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) for all-cause and four specific leading causes of death were calculated at the town level in Busan for the years 2005 through 2008. To construct a deprivation index, principal components and factor analysis were adopted, using 10% sample data from the 2005 census. Geographic information system (GIS) mapping techniques were applied to compare spatial distributions between the deprivation index and SMRs. We fitted the Gaussian conditional autoregressive model (CAR) to estimate the relative risks of mortality by deprivation level, controlling for both the heterogeneity effect and spatial autocorrelation. Results: The SMRs of towns in Busan averaged 100.3, ranging from 70.7 to 139.8. In old inner cities and towns reclaimed for replaced households, the deprivation index and SMRs were relatively high. CAR modeling showed that gaps in SMRs for heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and physical injury were particularly high. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that more deprived towns are likely to have higher mortality, in particular from cardiovascular disease and physical injury. To improve overall health status and address health inequality, such deprived towns should be targeted.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.993-1001
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• 2024

The TANDEM project is a European initiative funded under the EURATOM program. The project started on September 2022 and has a duration of 36 months. TANDEM stands for Small Modular ReacTor for a European sAfe aNd Decarbonized Energy Mix. Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) can be hybridized with other energy sources, storage systems and energy conversion applications to provide electricity, heat and hydrogen. Hybrid energy systems have the potential to strongly contribute to the energy decarbonization targeting carbon-neutrality in Europe by 2050. However, the integration of nuclear reactors, particularly SMRs, in hybrid energy systems, is a new R&D topic to be investigated. In this context, the TANDEM project aims to develop assessments and tools to facilitate the safe and efficient integration of SMRs into low-carbon hybrid energy systems. An open-source "TANDEM" model library of hybrid system components will be developed in Modelica language which, by coupling, will extend the capabilities of existing tools implemented in the project. The project proposes to specifically address the safety issues of SMRs related to their integration into hybrid energy systems, involving specific interactions between SMRs and the rest of the hybrid systems; new initiating events may have to be considered in the safety approach. TANDEM will study two hybrid systems covering the main trends of the European energy policy and market evolution at 2035's horizon: a district heating network and power supply in a large urban area, and an energy hub serving energy conversion systems, including hydrogen production; the energy hub is inspired from a harbor-like infrastructure. TANDEM will provide assessments on SMR safety, hybrid system operationality and techno-economics. Societal considerations will also be encased by analyzing European citizen engagement in SMR technology safety.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.701-706
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• 2013

According to the OECD/NEA estimates, nuclear power plants (NPPs), whether with a large reactor or with small modular reactors (SMRs), are competitive with many other electricity generation technologies in a significant number of cases, one of the exceptions being natural gas in the USA with the current level of prices. However, SMRs have particular features and requirements setting conditions for their deployment. This paper presents the preliminary analysis by OECD/NEA of the economics, opportunities, and market for small nuclear reactors.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.300-306
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• 2008

Objectives : This study was performed to compare the standardized mortality ratios among different small areas and to explore the usefulness of standardized mortality ratios in South Korea. Methods : To calculate the standardized mortality ratio (SMR), we obtained the national deaths certificate data (2004-2006) and national registration population data (2003-2006), and these were provided by the National Statistical Office. The small areas (Eup.Myoun.Dong) were based on the subdivisions of counties. Among the 3,580 small areas classified by the National Statistical Office, 3,571 areas were included in this study. The basic statistics and decile distributions of the SMRs for all the regional levels were calculated, and the small area maps were also produced for some selected regions. To evaluate the precision of SMR, we calculated the 95% confidence intervals of the SMR in selected small areas. Results : The mean and the standard deviation of the SMRs among all small areas were 100.8 and 17.0, respectively. The range was 30.6-211.7 and the inter-quartile range was 20.7. Seoul metropolitan city displayed the lowest mean SMR among 16 regions in South Korea, and 34.6 percent of the small area SMRs belonged to the first decile(the lowest group). On the contrary, the mean SMR of Gyeongsangnam province was highest, and 26.1 percent of the small area SMRs belonged to the tenth decile(the highest group). In some areas, the precision of the SMR, which was calculated by the 95% confidence intervals, remained questionable, yet it was quite stable for almost areas. Conclusions : The standardized mortality ratios can be useful for allocating health resources at the small area level in Korea.