• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제46권3호
• /
• pp.423-430
• /
• 2014

An in-pile performance test of HANA claddings was conducted at up to 67 GWD/MTU in the Halden research reactor in Norway over a 6.5 year period. Four types of HANA claddings (HANA-3, HANA-4, HANA-5, and HANA-6) and a reference Zircaloy-4 cladding were used for the in-pile test. The evaluation parameters of the HANA claddings were the corrosion behavior, dimensional changes, hydrogen uptake, and tensile strength after the claddings were tested under the simulated operation conditions of a Korean commercial reactor. The oxide thickness ranged from 15 to 37 mm at a high flux region in the test rods, and all HANA claddings showed corrosion resistance superior to the Zircaloy-4 cladding. The creep-down rate of all HANA claddings was lower than that of the Zircaloy-4 cladding. In addition, the hydrogen content of the HANA claddings ranged from 54 to 96 wppm at the high heat flux region of the test rods, whereas the hydrogen content of the Zircaloy-4 cladding was 119 wppm. The tensile strength of the HANA and Zircaloy-4 claddings was similarly increased when compared to the un-irradiated claddings owing to the radiation-induced hardening.

• 대한기계학회논문집A
• /
• 제39권3호
• /
• pp.249-257
• /
• 2015

원자력 발전소의 반응로에는 핵분열 에너지를 생성하고 방사성 물질의 유출을 막는 핵연료 집합체가 있으며, 이러한 집합체는 핵연료와 피복관으로 구성되어 있는 핵 연료봉으로 구성되어 있다. 원자로에서 핵연료봉 거동의 안전성을 평가하기 위해 해석적인 방법을 적용하며 이러한 평가 코드를 핵 연료 성능 코드라 한다. 경수로 핵연료 해석에서는 간극의 두께에 따라 열전도도가 크게 영향을 받는 간극 열전도도가 주요 거동해석에 영향을 미친다. 본 연구에서는 간극 두께에 따라 열전도도가 변화하는 3 차원 간극 요소(Gap element)를 제안하였으며, 이를 적용하기 위해 3 차원 열탄성 모듈을 FORTRAN90을 이용하여 개발하였다. 제안된 3 차원 간극 요소를 이용하여 핵 연료봉에서 발생할 수 있는 비대칭적인 형상인 핵 연료 표면에 결함이 생긴 경우 MPS(Missing Pellet Surface)와 핵연료봉의 편심(Eccentricity of the nuclear fuel rod) 형상에 대하여 3 차원 해석을 진행하였다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제55권10호
• /
• pp.3775-3786
• /
• 2023

Mixing Vane Grid (MVG) is one of the most important structures in fuel assembly due to its high performance in mixing the coolant and ultimately increasing Critical Heat Flux (CHF), which avoids the temperature rising suddenly of fuel rods. To evaluate the mixing performance of the MVG, a Total Diffusion Coefficient (TDC) mixing coefficient is defined in the subchannel analysis code. Conventionally, the TDC of the spacer grid is obtained from the combination of experiments and subchannel analysis. However, the processing of obtaining and determine a reasonable TDC is much challenging, it is affected by boundary conditions and MVG geometries. In is difficult to perform all the large and costing rod bundle tests. In this paper, the CFD method was applied in TDC analysis. A typical 5 × 5 MVG was simulated and validated to estimate the mixing performance of the MVG. The subchannel code was used to calculate the TDC. Firstly, the CFD method was validated from the aspect of pressure drop and lateral temperature distribution in the subchannels. Then the effect of boundary conditions including the inlet temperature, inlet velocities, heat flux ratio between hot and cold rods and the arrangement of hot and cold rods on MVG mixing and TDC were studied. The geometric effects on mixing are also carried out in this paper. The effect of vane pattern on mixing was investigated to determine which one is the best to represent the grid's mixing performance.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제56권2호
• /
• pp.552-557
• /
• 2024

The actual swelling of AgInCd absorber might exceed the predicted swelling value after years of service in pressurized water reactors, and the chemical and microstructural changes of AgInCd absorber induced by transmutation reactions are the main reason for the swelling acceleration of AgInCd absorber. In the present study, a model for calculating the irradiation swelling of AgInCd absorber in nuclear control rods is developed according to chemical and microstructural changes of AgInCd absorber. In this model, the chemical compositions of AgInCd absorber as a function of the thermal neutron fluence are firstly calculated, and then the volume of AgInCd absorber after irradiation is obtained on the basis of the crystallographic parameters of phases in the AgInCd absorber, and the irradiation swelling of AgInCd absorber is finally calculated. The crystallographic parameters can be obtained by preparing the simulated AgInCd alloys and fitting the experimental data. The model calculating results of irradiation swelling are in good agreement with the actual swelling data in literature. More importantly, the present model can well explain the EPRI results of the acceleration in the diametral swelling rate above 6-8 × 10²⁰ n/cm² and the decrease in the diametral swelling rate above about 2 × 10²¹ n/cm².

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제52권2호
• /
• pp.344-351
• /
• 2020

AgInCd alloy is widely used as neutron absorber in nuclear reactors. However, the AgInCd control rods may fail during service due to the irradiation swelling. In the present study, a calculational method is proposed to calculate the composition change of the AgInCd absorber. Calculated results show that neutron fluence has significant impact on the chemical compositions. Ag and In contents gradually decrease while Cd and Sn conversely increases from the center to the rim of AgInCd absorber due to the depression of neutron flux. The composition change at the surface is higher almost two times than that at the center. Based on the calculated compositions, six simulated AgInCdSn alloys were prepared and examined. With the increase of Cd and Sn, the simulated AgInCdSn alloys transform from a single fcc phase into the mixed fcc and hcp phases, and finally into the single hcp phase. The atomic volume of the hcp phase is obviously larger than the fcc phase. The fcc-hcp transformation results in considerable volume swelling of the AgInCd absorber. Moreover, the lattice parameters of the fcc and hcp phases gradually increase with Cd and Sn contents, which also can induce small volume swelling.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제33권1호
• /
• pp.93-101
• /
• 2001

The spacer grid is one of the main structural components in the fuel assembly, which supports the fuel rods, guides cooling water, and protects the system from an external impact load, such as earthquakes. Therefore, the mechanical and structural properties of the spacer grids must be extensively examined while designing them. In this paper, a numerical method for predicting the buckling strength of spacer grids is presented. Numerical analyses on the buckling behavior of the spacer grids are performed for a various array of sizes of the grids considering that the spacer grid is an assembled structure with thin-walled plates and imposing proper boundary conditions by nonlinear dynamic finite element method using ABAQUS/Explicit. Buckling tests on several numbers of specimens of the spacer grid were also carried out in order to compare the results between the test and the simulation result. The drop test is accomplished by dropping a carriage on the specimen at a pre-determined position. From this test, the specimens are buckled only at the uppermost and the lowermost layer among the multi-cells, which is similar to the local buckling at the weakest point of the grid structure. The simulated results also similarly predicted the local buckling phenomena and were found to give good correspondence with the experimental values for the thin-walled grid structures.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
• /
• 제19권1호
• /
• pp.1-7
• /
• 2020

Chalk River Unidentified Deposits (CRUDs) were collected from the Korean pressurized water reactor (PWR) plant (A, B, and C) where the axial offset anomaly (AOA) occurred. AOA, also known as a CRUD-induced power shift, is one of the key issues in maintaining stable PWR plant operations. CRUDs were sampled from spent nuclear fuel rods and analyzed using an electron probe micro-analyzer (EPMA). This paper describes the characteristics of boron-deposits from the CRUDs sampled from twice-burnt assemblies from the Korean PWR. The primary coolant of a PWR contains boron and lithium. It is known that boron deposition occurs in a thick CRUD layer under substantial sub-cooled nucleate boiling (SNB). The results of this study are summarized as follows. Boron was not found at the locations where the existence was confirmed in simulated CRUDs, in other words, the cladding and CRUD boundaries. Nevertheless, we clearly observed the presence of boron and confirmed that boron existed as a lump in crystalline form. In addition, the study confirmed that CRUD existed in a crystal form with a unique size of about 10 ㎛.

• 한국방사성폐기물학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 한국방사성폐기물학회 2017년도 추계학술논문요약집
• /
• pp.189-190
• /
• 2017

For the concept design of the device, a tool was made to test the simulated fuel rods and cutting force and the cutting force was measured. When 2-CUT and 3-CUT modules were used, the maximum force in 2-CUT at 12.5 mm/s speed change was $197.5kg_f$ and the maximum force at 3-CUT was $363.2kg_f$. The change of force in 2-CUT rapidly increases from about 1 second, and you can see that there are increase and decrease of the force change from about 5 seconds to 18 seconds, and it was rapidly decreased and the cut was made. The force change in 3-CUT has higher force at about 5 seconds later than 2-CUT at the speed of 12.5 mm/s, and you can see that it has the same tendency afterwards. If you search for the force at adequate speed from this cutting force test, 2-CUT module requires less slitting force than 3-CUT module, and the cutting time for 250 mm at 12.5 mm/s was 21 seconds, which can cut 4 m fuel rod in 5 minutes. But, there are cases of not completely slitting with 2-CUT module, so it is necessary to supplement this in the future through experiments.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제54권1호
• /
• pp.1-10
• /
• 2022

This study discusses the effect of using ²³²Th instead of ²³⁸U on the neutronic characteristics and the main operating parameters of the pressurized water reactor (PWR). MCNPX version 2.7 was used to compare the neutronic characteristics of UO₂ with (Th, ²³⁵U)O₂ and (Th, ²³³U) O₂. Firstly, the infinity multiplication factor (K_inf), thermal neutron flux, and power distribution have been studied for the investigated fuel types. Secondly, the effect of Gd₂O₃ and Er₂O₃ on the K_inf and on the radial thermal neutron flux and thermal power has been investigated to distinguish which of them is more suitable than the other in reactivity management. Thirdly, to illustrate the effectiveness of ²³²Th in decreasing the inventory of both the actinides and non-actinides, the concentration of plutonium (Pu) isotopes and minor actinides (MAs) has been simulated with the fuel burnup. Besides, due to their large thermal neutron absorption cross-section, the concentrations of ¹³⁵Xe, ¹⁴⁹Sm, and ¹⁵¹Sm with the fuel burnup have been investigated. Finally, the main safety parameters such as the reactivity worth of the control rods (ρ_CR), the effective delayed neutron fraction β_eff, and the Doppler reactivity coefficient (DRC) were calculated to determine to which extent these fuel types achieve the acceptable limits.

• 대한기계학회논문집B
• /
• 제41권1호
• /
• pp.53-62
• /
• 2017

이중냉각 환형핵연료 집합체를 위한 비틀림 혼합날개 지지격자의 강제대류열전달 성능을 실험적으로 평가하였다. 비틀림 혼합날개 지지격자는 부수로 간 혼합뿐 아니라 부수로 내 혼합을 동시에 증대시킬 수 있도록 설계되었다. 실험을 위한 이중냉각 환형핵연료 모의 집합체로, 봉 중심 간 거리와 봉 외경의 비가 1.08인 봉 간격이 좁은 $4{\times}4$ 정사각 배열의 봉다발을 준비하였다. 실험은 봉다발 유동의 축방향 평균속도가 1.5 m/s, 열유속은 $26kW/m^2$인 조건에서 수행하였다. 원주방향 온도 분포의 경우, 지지격자 상류에서는 부수로 중심 벽면에서, 하류에서는 비틀림 혼합날개 끝이 향하는 벽면에서 온도가 가장 낮게 나타났다. 축방향 온도 분포의 경우, 지지격자 하류 근처에서 온도가 급격하게 감소하는 것으로 측정되었고, 비틀림 혼합날개에 의해 누셀트 수는 최대 56 % 증대되는 것으로 나타났다. 본 실험결과를 토대로 봉 간격이 좁은 이중냉각 환형핵연료 집합체에서 비틀림 혼합날개 지지격자에 의해 강제대류열 전달 성능이 효과적으로 증대될 수 있음을 확인하였다.