• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.339-346
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• 2024

The spent nuclear fuel, combusted and released in the nuclear power plant, is stored in the spent fuel pool (SFP) located in the fuel buildings interconnected with the reactors. In Korea, spent fuel has been stored exclusively in SFPs, prompting initiatives to expand storage capacity by either installing additional SFPs or replacing them with high-density spent fuel storage racks. The installation of these fuel racks necessitates obtaining a regulatory license contingent upon ensuring safe fuel handling and storage systems. Regulatory agencies mandate the formulation of various postulated accident scenarios and assessments covering criticality, shielding, thermal behavior, and structural integrity to ensure safe fuel handling and storage systems. This study describes an evaluation method for assessing the structural damage to storage racks resulting from fuel dropping as a part of the functional safety evaluation of these racks. A scenario was envisaged wherein fuel was dropped onto the base plates of the upper and lower sections of the storage racks, and the impact load was analyzed using the ABAQUS/Explicit program. The evaluation results revealed localized plastic deformation but affirmed the structural integrity and safety of the storage racks.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2011.10a
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• pp.331-336
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• 2011

When the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident occurred in March, a hydrogen explosion in the reactor building at the 4th unit of Fukushima plants lead to a big surprise because the full core of the unit 4 reactor had been moved and stored underwater at the spent nuclear fuel storage pool for periodic maintenance. It was because the potential criticality in the fuel storage pool by coolant loss may yield more severe situation than the similar accident happened inside the reactor vessel. In the paper, the safety state of the spent fuel storage pool and rack structures of the domestic nuclear plants would be reviewed and compared with the Fukushima plant case by engineering viewpoint of potential severe accidents.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.91-98
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• 1998

Time history analysis is usually performed to characterize the nonlinear seismic behavior of a spent fuel storage rack(SFSR). In the past, the seismic analyses of the SFSR were performed with two-dimensional planar models, which could not account for torsional response and simultaneous multi-directional seismic input In this study, three-dimensional seismic analysis methodology is developed for the single SFSR using the ANSYS code. The 3D- Model can be used to determine the nonlinear behavior of the rack, i.e., sliding, uplifting, and impact evaluation between the fuel assembly and rack, and rack and the pool wall, This paper also reviews the 3-D modeling of the SFSR and the adequacy of the ANSYS for the seismic analysis. AS a result of the adquacy study, the method of ANSYS transient analysis with acceleration time history is suitable for the seismic analysis of highly nonlinear structure such as an SFSR but it isn't appropriate to use displacement time history of seismic input.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.884-893
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• 2019

Spent fuel racks are steel structures used in the storage of the spent fuel removed from the nuclear power reactor. Rack units are submerged in the depths of the spent fuel pool to keep the fuel cool. Their free-standing design isolates their bases from the pool floor reducing structural stresses in case of seismic event. However, these singular features complicate their seismic analysis which involves a transient dynamic response with geometrical nonlinearities and fluid-structure interactions. An accurate estimation of the response is essential to achieve a safe pool layout and a reliable structural design. An analysis methodology based on the hydrodynamic mass concept and implicit integration algorithms was developed ad-hoc, but some dispersion of results still remains. In order to validate the analysis methodology, vibration tests are carried out on a reduced scale mock-up of a 2-rack system. The two rack mockups are submerged in free-standing conditions inside a rigid pool tank loaded with fake fuel assemblies and subjected to accelerations on a unidirectional shaking table. This article compares the experimental data with the numerical outputs of a finite element model built in ANSYS Mechanical. The in-phase motion of both units is highlighted and the water coupling effect is detailed. Results show a good agreement validating the methodology.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1998.05b
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• pp.470-475
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• 1998

The marginal nuclear criticality analysis for the high density spent fuel storage at a PWR plant was carried out by using the HELIOS and CASMO-3 codes. More than 20 % of the calculated reactivity saving effect is observed in this analysis. This mainly comes from the adoption of some important fission products and B-10 in the criticality analysis. By taking burnup and boron credits, the high capacity of the spent fuel storage rack can be more fully utilized, reducing the space of storage. Larger storage for a given inventory of spent fuel should result in remarkable cost savings and mort importantly reduce the risks to the public and occupational workers.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.231-236
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• 2011

When the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident occurred in March of 2011, a hydrogen explosion in the reactor building at the 4th unit of Fukushima plants led to a big surprise because the full core of the unit 4 reactor had been moved and stored underwater at the spent nuclear fuel storage pool for periodic maintenance. It was because the possible criticality in the fuel storage pool by coolant loss may yield more severe situation than the similar accident happened inside the reactor vessel. Fortunately, it was assured to be evitable to an anxious situation by a look of water filled in the storage pool later. In the paper, the safety state of the spent fuel storage pool and rack structures of the domestic nuclear plants would be roughly reviewed and compared with the Fukushima plant case by engineering viewpoint of potential severe accidents.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.75-82
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• 2011

The neutron multiplication factor in spent fuel storage racks, in which a stainless steel plate encloses a fuel assembly, was evaluated according to the variation of distance between the fuel assembly and stainless steel plate, as well as the pitch. The stainless steel plate position with the lowest multiplication factor on each pitch consistently appeared as 6mm or 9mm away from the outmost surface of the fuel assembly. Because the stainless steel plate has a thermal neutron absorption cross section, its ability to absorb neutrons can work best only if it is installed at the position where thermal neutrons can be gathered most easily. Therefore, the stainless steel plate position should not be too close or too far away from the fuel assembly, but it should be kept a pertinent distance from the fuel assembly.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.17-26
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• 1986

A test is made for a method to determine reliable bias in the criticality safety analysis of spent fuel storage pool with turnup credit between the reference and rack criticality calculation methods. The spent fuel pool of Kori Unit 1 is conceptually redesigned to the most compact rack with turnup credit, and its multiplication factors are calculated depending on fuel enrichment and burnup, by the Monte Carlo code KENO-IV as a reference and by a two-dimensional collision probability code FATAC as a practical method. Then, the computed values with the help of the above two computer codes are compared to evaluate the bias and its trend in terms of multiplication factor on fuel enrichment and turnup. The result indicates that the bias can be determined with reliability basis but without any disadvantage in criticality safety margin compared with the conventional method.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.83-94
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• 1990

The radioactivity in the spent fuel storage pool is calculated to ensure to maintain its concentration below the permissible limit, when the storage capacity of Uljin nuclear power plant unit 1&2 is extended from 9/3 to 32/3 core using consolidated fuels in maximum density rack (MDR). For this evalulation, two models to calculate the spent fuel pool activities on the continuous and intermittent operating its purification system are developed and these results compared, The results of above two cases show that the current water purification system can not guarantee the radioactivity concentration below the design limit, 5$\times$10$^{-4}$ $\mu$Ci/ml, for the extention to 32/3 core. Therefore, it has been concluded that a modification of the current purification system is necessary to extend the spent fuel storage capacity with the above method. The alternative way suggested in this study is to increase the number of cation bed demineralizers.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2017.10a
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• pp.125-126
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• 2017