• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.269-277
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• 2010

Various multilateral approaches to the nuclear fuel cycle have been proposed in order to suppress the expansion of sensitive fuel cycle technology. In order to prepare for the future multilaterallization of the nuclear fuel cycle, existing multilateral spent fuel management programs are analyzed. A trial multilateralization of a domestic R&D facility for the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle is proposed and its challenges, possibilities and implementation strategy are discussed.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.157-164
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• 2007

The prediction of the temperature distribution change of the spent nuclear fuel disposal canister and its surrounding structures (bentonite buffer, granitic rock etc.) due to the spent fuel heat is very important for the design of the 500m deep granitic repository for the spent nuclear fuel disposal canister (about 10,000 years long) deposition. In this study, the temperature distribution change of the composite structure which comprises the canister, the bentonite buffer, the deposition tunnel due to the spent fuel heat is computed using the numerical analysis method. Specially, the temperature distribution change of the composite structure is analysed as the deposition time elapses up to m years. The analysis result shows that the temperature of each part of the repository increases slowly in different way but the latest part temperature increases slowly up to 150 years and thereafter decreases slowly.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.298-308
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• 2005

The methods for determining C-14 and tritium contents in the spent nuclear fuel sample were developed. The carbon-14($^{14}CO_2$) released during the dissolution of the spent fuel sample and $CaCO_3$ ($CO_2$ carrier) with 8 M $HNO_3$ at $90^{\circ}C$ was collected in trap containing 1.5 M NaOH. The volatile radioactive iodine evolved when the spent fuel was dissolved, was trapped on to Ag-silicagel (Ag-impregnated silicagel) adsorbent in column which is connected to two NaOH traps. The solutions which contain tritium as HTO after fuel dissolution were decontaminated by deionization with a mixture of cation and anion exchange resins and inorganic ionexchangers. The amount of C-14 in the trap solutions and the HTO concentration in the resulting deionization water were then determined by liquid scintillation counting.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.115-124
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• 2013

Among the several options to solve PWR spent fuel accumulation problem in Korea, the dry storage method could be the most realistic and applicable solution in the near future. As the basic objectives of dry storage are to prevent a gross rupture of spent fuel during operation and to keep its retrievability until transportation, at the same time the importance of a spent fuel integrity evaluation that can estimate its condition at the final stage of dry storage is very high. According to the national need and technology progress, two representative nations of spent fuel dry storage, the USA and Japan, have established different system temperature criteria, which is the only controllable factor in a dry storage system. However, there are no technical criteria for this evaluation in Korea yet, it is necessary to review the previously well-organized methodologies of advanced countries and to set up our own domestic evaluation direction due to the nation's need for dry storage. To satisfy this necessity, building a domestic spent fuel test database should be the first step. Based on those data, it is highly recommended to compare domestic data range with foreign results, to build our own criteria, and to expand on evaluation work into recently issued integrity problems by using a comprehensive integrity evaluation code.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.1055-1058
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• 2005

In the ACPF(Advanced spent nuclear fuel Conditioning Process Facility), the spent fuel pellets which are highly radioactive materials are separated with its clad and are fed into the next conditioning process. For this, at the other facility called PIEF(Post Irradiation Examination Facility) a spent fuel rod, 3.5 m long, is cut by 25 cm long which is suitable length fur the decladding process. These rod-cuts are packed into the capsule and are moved to the ACPF. Once the capsule is unloaded in the ACPF, the rod-cut is taken out one-by-one from the capsule and installed on the decladding device. In these processes, the crushed spent fuel pellet can be scattered inside the facilities and thus it contaminate the hot cell. In this paper, we developed the specially designed capsule which prevents the pellets scattering and remarkably reduces the leading and unloading time of the rod-cuts.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.287-297
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• 2014

For several decades, many countries operating nuclear power plants have been studying the various disposal alternatives to dispose of the spent nuclear fuel or high-level radioactive waste safely. In this paper, as a direct disposal of spent nuclear fuels for deep geological disposal concept, the rod consolidation from spent fuel assembly for the disposal efficiency was considered and analyzed. To do this, a concept of spent fuel rod consolidation was described and the related concepts of disposal canister and disposal system were reviewed. With these concepts, several thermal analyses were carried out to determine whether the most important requirement of the temperature limit for a buffer material was satisfiedin designing an engineered barrier of a deep geological disposal system. Based on the results of thermal analyses, the deposition hole distance, disposal tunnel spacing and heat release area of a disposal canister were reviewed. And the unit disposal areas for each case were calculated and the disposal efficiencies were evaluated. This evaluation showed that the rod consolidation of spent nuclear fuel had no advantages in terms of disposal efficiency. In addition, the cooling time of spent nuclear fuels from nuclear power plant were reviewed. It showed that the disposal efficiency for the consolidated spent fuel rods could be improved in the case that cooling time was 70 years or more. But, the integrity of fuels and other conditions due to the longer term storage before disposal should be analyzed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.214-225
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• 2003

A teleoperated manipulator system has been developed for remote handling of the spent fuel bundles. A heavy-duty power manipulator with high reduction ratio joints is used for the slave manipulator in the developed system since the handling tasks of the spent fuel bundles need power. Also, the universal type master manipulator, which has force reflecting capability, is used for precise remote manipulation. The power manipulators so frequently occur the control input saturation that the precise control performances are not achieved due to the windup phenomenon. An advanced bilateral control scheme compensating for the saturation is applied to the teleoperated manipulator system. The validity of the developed system is verified by the grid cutting and fuel transportation tasks from the mockup spent fuel bundle.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.163-169
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• 2015

In many nuclear power plant sites in Korea, high density storage racks were installed in the spent fuel pool to expand the spent fuel storage capacity. Nevertheless, the capability of the Hanbit nuclear site will be saturated by 2024. Also, 10 NPPs will reach their design life expiration date by 2029. In the case of the US, SFPI (Spent Fuel Pool Island) operated temporarily as a spent fuel storage option before spent nuclear fuels were transported to an interim storage facility or a final disposal facility. As a spent fuel storage option after shutdown during decommissioning, the SFPI concept can be expected to have the following effects: reduced occupational exposure, lower cost of operation, strengthened safety, and so on. This paper presents a case study associated with the regulations, operating experiences, and systems of SFPI in the US. In conclusion, the following steps are recommended for applying SFPI during decommissioning in Korea: confirmation of design change scope of SFPI and expected final cost, the submission of a decommissioning plan which is reflected in SFPI improvement plans, safety assessment using PSR, application of an operating license change for design change, regulatory body review and approval, design change, inspection by the regulatory body, education and commissioning for SFPI, SFPI operation and periodic inspection, and dismantling of SFPI.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1995.10a
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• pp.109-114
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• 1995

A preliminary study of the heterogeneity effect of spent P% fuel in CANDU was made using a reduced spent PWR fuel data base. The instantaneous core simulation has shown that the refueling ripple in the CANDU reactor is large if the spent PWR fuel is directly used. But the fuel heterogeneity effect can be reduced appreciably by blending spent PWR fuel with a small amount of fresh UO$_2$. The refueling simulation has shown that the operating margins of 6.0% and 8.7% are achievable for the peak channel and bundle powers, respectively, with the blended fuel.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.255-256
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• 2009