• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제54권12호
• /
• pp.4560-4570
• /
• 2022

Dynamic fault tree (DFT) and its related research methods have received extensive attention in safety analysis and reliability engineering. DFT can perform reliability modelling for systems with sequential correlation, resource sharing, and cold and hot spare parts. A technical modelling method of DFT is proposed for modelling ship collision accidents and loss-of-coolant accidents (LOCAs). Qualitative and quantitative analyses of DFT were carried out using the cutting sequence (CS)/extended cutting sequence (ECS) method. The results show nine types of dynamic fault failure modes in ship collision accidents, describing the fault propagation process of a dynamic system and reflect the dynamic changes of the entire accident system. The probability of a ship collision accident is 2.378 × 10^-9 by using CS. This failure mode cannot be expressed by a combination of basic events within the same event frame after an LOCA occurs in a marine nuclear reactor because the system contains warm spare parts. Therefore, the probability of losing reactor control was calculated as 8.125 × 10^-6 using the ECS. Compared with CS, ECS is more efficient considering expression and processing capabilities, and has a significant advantage considering cost.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제49권8호
• /
• pp.1575-1588
• /
• 2017

In order to develop a domestic research roadmap for severe accidents, a special committee was established by the Korean Nuclear Society. One of the subcommittees discussed the characteristics and the relevant technical issues in the stages of fission product release and physical forms of radionuclide release and transport. The group members developed a tree to identify fission product release phenomena by tracing failures of individual defense-in-depth barriers and added possible countermeasures against failure. For each elemental issue, they searched for technical problems by examining the phenomena, accident management actions, and regulatory aspects relevant to the mitigation features for containment, including mitigation strategies against containment bypass accidents. Regulatory concerns, including the source term and the acceptance criteria for radionuclide release, were also considered. They identified further research needs regarding important technical issues based on the degree of the current knowledge level in Korea and in foreign countries, looking at the significance and urgency of issues and the expected research period required to reach an advanced level of knowledge. As a result, the group identified the 12 most important and urgent issues, most of which were expected to require mid-term and long-term research periods.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제50권4호
• /
• pp.562-569
• /
• 2018

Recently, human errors have very rarely occurred during power generation at nuclear power plants. For this reason, many countries are conducting research on smart support systems of nuclear power plants. Smart support systems can help with operator decisions in severe accident occurrences. In this study, a smart support system was developed by integrating accident prediction functions from previous research and enhancing their prediction capability. Through this system, operators can predict accident scenarios, accident locations, and accident information in advance. In addition, it is possible to decide on the integrity of instruments and predict the life of instruments. The data were obtained using Modular Accident Analysis Program code to simulate severe accident scenarios for the Optimized Power Reactor 1000. The prediction of the accident scenario, accident location, and accident information was conducted using artificial intelligence methods.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제26권1호
• /
• pp.1-8
• /
• 1994

중대사고시 고온·고압의 열수력적 현상과 증기의 억제효과를 정량화할 수 있는 수소연소에 의한 화염속도 상관식을 제시하고 보정인자들을 정의하였다. 이 상관식은 기존의 Iijima-Takeno 상관식에 중대사고시에 예상되는 수소와 증기의 농도 범위에서 증기의 억제효과를 정량화하는 인자인 증기억제율을 정의하여 추가하고, 초기 압력의 영향을 고려하는 보정효과를 변형한 것이다. 또한 기존의 화염속도 모델은 상온·대기압력에서 수행된 실험에 기초한 상관식으로 중대사고시의 고온·고압의 열수력적 현상을 올바로 모사할 수 없으며. 증기의 억제 효과를 정량화할 수 없었다. 따라서 화염의 구조를 정의하고, 해석적 분석을 통해 화염속도를 계산하였고, 이 결과를 중대사고 해석용 코드인 MAAP, HECTR의 상관식 결과와 FITS 실험자료와 비교하여 해석적 모델의 적합성을 검증하였다. 이러한 결과를 기초로 화염 속도에 대한 증기의 억제 효자를 정량화하고, 초기 온도와 압력의 영향을 보정하는 인자들을 결정하여 수소연소에 의한 간편한 형태의 화염속도 상관식을 제시하였다.

• 한국원자력학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 한국원자력학회 1995년도 추계학술발표회논문집(2)
• /
• pp.509-516
• /
• 1995

The uncertainty analysis for the in-vessel steam explosion during severe accidents at a nuclear power plant is performed using a probabilistic approach. This approach consists of four steps; 1) screening, 2) quantification of uncertainty 3) propagation of uncertainty, and 4) output analysis. And the specific methods which satisfy the sub-objectives of each step are prepared and presented. Compared with existing ones, the unique feature of this approach is the improved estimation of uncertainties through quantification, which ensures the defensibility of the resultant failure probability distributions. Using the approach, the containment failure probability due to in-vessel steam explosion is calculated. The results of analysis show that 1) pour diameter is the most dominant factor and slug condensed phase fraction is the least and 2) fraction of core molten is the second most dominant factor, which is identified as distinct feature of this study as compared with previous studies.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제45권4호
• /
• pp.459-468
• /
• 2013

During a station blackout (SBO), the initiating event is a loss of Class IV and Class III power, causing the loss of the pumps, used in systems such as the primary heat transporting system (PHTS), moderator cooling, shield cooling, steam generator feed water, and re-circulating cooling water. The reference case of the SBO case does not credit any of these active heat sinks, but only relies on the passive heat sinks, particularly the initial water inventories of the PHTS, moderator, steam generator secondary side, end shields, and reactor vault. The reference analysis is followed by a series of sensitivity cases assuming certain system availabilities, in order to assess their mitigating effects. This paper also establishes the strategies to mitigate SBO accidents. Current studies and strategies use the computer code of the Integrated Severe Accident Analysis Code (ISAAC) for Wolsong plants. The analysis results demonstrate that appropriate strategies to mitigate SBO accidents are established and, in addition, the symptoms of the SBO processes are understood.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제54권12호
• /
• pp.4585-4600
• /
• 2022

A pool scrubber is often used as a wet-type design to mitigate the consequence of a severe nuclear accident. While studies indicated higher decontamination performance of a deeper pool, utilizing a very tall pool can be problematic due to potential structural stability and water backflow issues. This study proposes, as an alternative to a single pool system, a pool scrubber system composed of serially connected multiple pools with lower heights. Since large fraction of aerosol removal takes place in the injection region, serially connected pool scrubber system is expected to enhance the overall decontamination capability of a pool scrubber system. To support the analysis of the proposed system's decontamination capability, a new computer model was developed in the study to describe the bubble size dependent effect on aerosol removal including the effect of pool residence time. The accuracy of the new model was examined against experimental data for its validation. The proposed scrubber system composed of serially connected multiple shorter pools is found to have much improved decontamination performance over the current single pool system design.

• 한국원자력학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 한국원자력학회 2001년도 추계학술발표회요약집
• /
• pp.190-190
• /
• 2001

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제54권10호
• /
• pp.3909-3918
• /
• 2022

In the event of a severe accident, the reactor core may melt due to insufficient cooling. the high-temperature core melt will have a strong interaction (FCI) with the coolant, which may lead to steam explosion. Steam explosion would pose a serious threat to the safety of the reactors. Therefore, the study of steam explosion is of great significance to the assessment of severe accidents in nuclear reactors. This research focuses on the development of a two-dimensional steam explosion integrated analysis code called SEINA. Based on the semi-implicit Euler scheme, the three-phase field was considered in this code. Besides, the influence of evaporation drag of melt and the influence of solidified shell during the process of melt droplet fragmentation were also considered. The code was simulated and validated by FARO L-14 and KROTOS KS-2 experiments. The calculation results of SEINA code are in good agreement with the experimental results, and the results show that if the effects of evaporation drag and melt solidification shell are considered, the FCI process can be described more accurately. Therefore, it is proved that SEINA has the potential to be a powerful and effective tool for the analysis of steam explosions in nuclear reactors.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제55권8호
• /
• pp.3102-3113
• /
• 2023

Following the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the simulation of accidents in the spent fuel pool has become more noticeable. Despite the low amount of decay heat power, the consequences of the accidents in a spent fuel pool (SFP) can be severe due to the high content of long-lived radionuclides and lack of protection by the pressure vessel. In this study, the loss-of-cooling accident (LOFA) for the VVER-1000/V446 spent fuel pool is simulated by employing RELAP5 and MELCOR 1.8.6 as the best estimate and severe accident analysis codes, respectively. For two cases with different total power levels, decay heat of spent fuels is calculated by ORIGEN-II code. For modeling SFP of a VVER-1000, a qualified nodalizations are considered in both codes. During LOFA in SFP, the key sequences such as heating up of the pool water, boiling and reducing the water level, uncovering the spent fuels, increasing the temperature of the spent fuels, starting oxidation process (generating Hydrogen and extra power), the onset of fuel melting, and finally releasing radionuclides are studied for both cases. The obtained results show a reasonable consistency between the RELAP5 and MELCOR codes, especially before starting the oxidation process.