• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제50권2호
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• pp.218-222
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• 2018

An oxide-dispersion-strengthened (ODS) layer was formed on Zircaloy-4 tubes by a laser beam scanning process to increase mechanical strength. Laser beam was used to scan the yttrium oxide ($Y_2O_3$)-coated Zircaloy-4 tube to induce the penetration of $Y_2O_3$ particles into Zircaloy-4. Laser surface treatment resulted in the formation of an ODS layer as well as microstructural phase transformation at the surface of the tube. The mechanical strength of Zircaloy-4 increased with the formation of the ODS layer. The ring-tensile strength of Zircaloy-4 increased from 790 to 870 MPa at room temperature, from 500 to 575 MPa at $380^{\circ}C$, and from 385 to 470 MPa at $500^{\circ}C$. Strengthening became more effective as the test temperature increased. It was noted that brittle fracture occurred at room temperature, which was not observed at elevated temperatures. Resistance to dynamic high-temperature bursting improved. The burst temperature increased from 760 to $830^{\circ}C$ at a heating rate of $5^{\circ}C/s$ and internal pressure of 8.3 MPa. The burst opening was also smaller than those in fresh Zircaloy-4 tubes. This method is expected to enhance the safety of Zr fuel cladding tubes owing to the improvement of their mechanical properties.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제40권3호
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• pp.191-198
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• 2008

The influence of fission products' contents on the DUPIC fuel powder and pellet properties was experimentally evaluated using SIMFUEL as a surrogate for actual spent PWR fuel due to the high radioactivity of spent fuel. Pure $UO_2$ and SIMFUEL pellets with fission products equivalent to a burn-up of 35,000 MWd/tU and 60,000 MWd/tU were used as impurities in this study. The specific surface area of the powder milled after the OREOX treatment increased and resulted in sintered pellets with a theoretical density (TD) higher than 95%, regardless of the impurity contents. However, the grain size of the sintered pellets decreased with the increasing impurity contents. As a result of the dissolved oxides in $UO_2$ from the impurity groups, the specific surface area of the OREOX powder increased with an increase of the impurities. The grain size of the sintered pellets was significantly decreased by the metallic and oxide precipitates.

• 한국연소학회지
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• 제15권3호
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• pp.8-14
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• 2010

Fuel processing systems which convert fuel into rich gas (such as stream reforming, partial oxidation, autothermal reforming) need high temperature environment ($600{\sim}1,000^{\circ}$). Generally, anode-off gas or mixture of anode-off gas and LNG is used as input gas of fuel reformer. In order to make efficient and low emission burner system for fuel reformer, it is necessary to elucidate the combustion and emission characteristic of fuel reformer burner. The purpose of this study is to develop a porous premixed flat ceramic burner that can be used for 1~5 kW fuel cell reformer. Ceramic burner experiments using natural gas, hydrogen gas, anode off gas, mixture of natural gas & anode off gas were carried out respectively to investigate the flame characteristics by heating capacity and equivalence ratio. Results show that the stable flat flames can be established for natural gas, hydrogen gas, anode off gas and mixture of natural gas & anode off gas as reformer fuel in the porous ceramic burner. For all of fuels, their burning velocities become smaller as the equivalence ratio goes to the lean mixture ratio, and a lift-off occurs at lean limit. Flame length in hydrogen and anode off gas became longer with increasing the heat capacity. In particular, the blue surface flame is found to be very stable at a very lean equivalence ratio at heat capacity and different fuels. The exhausted NOx and CO measurement shows that the blue surface flame represents the lowest NOx and CO emissions since it remains very stable at a lean equivalence ratio.

• 한국화재소방학회논문지
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• 제26권1호
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• pp.49-60
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• 2012

강우 후 경과일수에 따른 연료습도 변화는 산불위험도 예측과 산불감시원 활용에 매우 중요하다. 따라서 이러한 산불발생위험 조건을 구명하기 위해 2008, 2009년 봄 가을철 영동지역 활엽수림에서 임분 밀도별로 5.0 mm 이상 강우 후 낙엽층, 부식층, 토양층, 직경별 지표연료 0.6 cm 이하, 0.6~3.0 cm, 3.0~6.0 cm, 6.0 cm 이상에 대한 산불위험도를 분석하였다. 연구결과 봄철 낙엽층의 소임분 지역은 강우 3일 후부터, 중 밀임분 지역은 5일 후부터 산불발생 위험수준인 17 % 정도의 연료 습도를 나타냈다. 반면, 부식층은 계절에 상관없이 6일이 경과 되어도 40 % 이상의 연료 습도를 나타냈으나, 토양 상 하층은 미비한 변화가 있었다. 봄철 직경별 지표연료 0.6 cm 이하의 소임분 지역은 강우 3일 후부터, 중 밀임분 지역은 4일후부터 산불발생 위험수준 연료습도를 나타냈고, 가을철 직경별 지표연료 0.6~3.0 cm의 소임분 지역은 강우 3일 후부터, 중 밀임분 지역은 5일 후부터 산불발생 위험수준의 연료습도를 나타냈다. 봄 가을철 직경별 지표연료 3.0~6.0 cm의 경우 6일차가 되어도 소, 중, 밀임분 공히 높은 연료습도를 유지하고 있어 산불위험성은 매우 적은 것으로 조사되었으며, 6.0 cm 이상의 경우 계절에 상관없이 6일이 경과되어도 25 % 이상의 연료 습도를 나타냈다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제49권8호
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• pp.1629-1635
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• 2017

Reliable prediction of nuclear fuel rod behavior of nuclear power reactors constitutes a basic demand for steady-state calculations, design purposes, and fuel performance assessment. Perfect design of fuel rods as the first barrier against fission product release is very important. Simulation of fuel rod performance with a code or software is one of the fuel rod design steps. In this study, a software program called MARCODE is developed in MATLAB environment that can analyze the temperature distribution, gap conductance value, and fuel and clad displacement in both solid and annular fuel rods. With a comparison of the maximum fuel temperature, fuel average temperature, fuel surface temperature, and gap conductance in solid and annular fuel, the effects of a central hole on the fuel temperature distribution are investigated.

• 대한기계학회논문집
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• 제13권2호
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• pp.271-276
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• 1989

본 실험에서는 액체연료인 석유와 등유을 사용하여 전도, 복사, 대류, 연료의 표면유동 등이 각각 어느 정도 화염확장에 영향을 주는 가를 예측하기 위하여 위의 각각을 제어할 수 있는 장애물을 설치하였으며, 연료의 깊이에 의한 화염확장의 영향을 알아보기 위하여 3가지 종류의 깊이에 대하여 실험을 수행하였다.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• 제12권3호
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• pp.297-301
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• 2021

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) convert chemical energy to electrical energy via electrochemically active microorganisms. The interactions between microbes and the surface of a carbon electrode play a vital role in capturing the respiratory electrons from bacteria. Therefore, improvements in the electrochemical and physicochemical properties of carbon materials are essential for increasing performance. In this study, a microwave and sulfuric acid treatment was used to modify the surface structure of graphite granules. The prepared expandable graphite granules (EGG) exhibited a 1.5 times higher power density than the unmodified graphite granules (1400 vs. 900 mW/m³). Scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy revealed improved physical and chemical characteristics of the EGG surface. These results suggest that physical and chemical surface modification using sulfuric acid and microwave heating improves the performance of electrode-based bioprocesses, such as MFCs.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제48권1호
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• pp.1-15
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• 2016

For a long time, a top priority in the nuclear industry was the safe, reliable, and economic operation of light water reactors. However, the development of accident-tolerant fuel (ATF) became a hot topic in the nuclear research field after the March 2011 events at Fukushima, Japan. In Korea, innovative concepts of ATF have been developing to increase fuel safety and reliability during normal operations, operational transients, and also accident events. The microcell $UO_2$ and high-density composite pellet concepts are being developed as ATF pellets. A microcell $UO_2$ pellet is envisaged to have the enhanced retention capabilities of highly radioactive and corrosive fission products. High-density pellets are expected to be used in combination with the particular ATF cladding concepts. Two concepts-surface-modified Zr-based alloy and SiC composite material-are being developed as ATF cladding, as these innovative concepts can effectively suppress hydrogen explosions and the release of radionuclides into the environment.

• 한국수소및신에너지학회논문집
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• 제23권5호
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• pp.476-483
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• 2012

Proper water management is crucial for the efficient operation of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell. Especially, for automotive applications, A novel water management that can avoid both membrane dry-out and flooding is a very important task to achieve good performance and efficiency of PEM fuel cells. The aim of this study is to investigate the liquid water behavior on the gas diffusion layer (GDL) surface and in the cathode flow channel of a PEM unit fuel cell under flooding conditions. For this purpose, a transparent unit fuel cell is devised and fabricated by modifying the conventional PEM fuel cell design. The results of water droplet behavior under flooding conditions are mainly presented. The water distributions in the cathode flow channels with cell operating voltage are also compared and analyzed. Through this work, it is expected that the data obtained from this fundamental study can be effectively used to establish the basic water management strategy in terms of water removal from the flow channels in a PEM fuel cell stack.

• 한국표면공학회지
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• 제56권1호
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• pp.84-93
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• 2023

The spent nuclear fuel is burned during the planned cycle in the plant and then generates elements such as actinide series, fission products, and plutonium with a long half-life. An 'interim storage' step is needed to manage the high radioactivity and heat emitted by nuclides until permanent-disposal. In the case of Korea, there is no space to dispose of high-level radioactive waste after use, so there is a need for a period of time using interim storage. Therefore, the intensity of neutrons and gamma-ray must be determined to ensure the integrity of spent nuclear fuel during interim storage. In particular, the most important thing in spent nuclear fuel is burnup evaluation, estimation of the source term of neutrons and gamma-ray is regarded as a reference measurement of the burnup evaluation. In this study, an analysis of spent nuclear fuel was conducted by setting up a virtual fuel burnup case based on CE16×16 fuel to check the total amount and spectrum of neutron, gamma radiation produced. The correlation between BU (burnup), IE (enrichment), and CT (cooling time) will be identified through spent nuclear fuel burnup calculation. In addition, the composition of nuclide inventory, actinide and fission products can be identified.