• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.36 no.10
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• pp.1289-1295
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• 2012

A process heat exchanger (PHE) in a nuclear hydrogen system is a key component for transferring the considerable heat generated in a very high temperature reactor (VHTR) to a chemical reaction that yields a large quantity of hydrogen. A performance test on a small-scale PHE prototype made of Hastelloy-X is underway in a small-scale gas loop at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. Previous research on the high-temperature structural analysis of the small-scale PHE prototype had been performed using base material properties. In this study, a high-temperature structural analysis considering the mechanical properties in the weld zone was performed, and the obtained results were compared with those of the previous research.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.37-43
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• 2007

Iodine sulfur (IS) process is one of the promising processes for a hydrogen production by using a high temperature heat generated by a very high temperature gas cooled reactor(VHTR) in the nuclear power industries. Even though the IS process is very efficient for a hydrogen production and it is not accompanied by a carbon dioxide evolution, the highly corrosive environment of the process limits its application in the industry. Corrosion tests of selected materials were performed in sulfuric acid to select appropriate materials compatible with the IS process. The materials used in this work were Fe-Cr alloys, Fe-Ni-Cr alloys, Fe-Si alloys, Ni base alloys, Ta, Ti, Zr, SiC, Fe-Si, etc. The test environments were 50 wt% sulfuric acid at $120^{\circ}C$ and 98 wt% at $320^{\circ}C$. Corrosion rates were measured by using a weight change after an immersion. The surface morphologies and cross sectional areas of the corroded materials were examined by using SEM equipped with EDS. Corrosion behaviors of the materials were discussed in terms of the chemical composition of the materials, a weight loss, the corrosion morphology, the precipitates in the microstructure and the surface layer composition.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.36 no.9
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• pp.1095-1101
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• 2012

A process heat exchanger (PHE) in a nuclear hydrogen system is a key component that transfers the large amount of heat generated in a very high temperature reactor (VHTR) to a chemical reaction that yields a large quantity of hydrogen. A performance test on a small-scale and a medium-scale PHE prototype made of Hastelloy$^{(R)}$-X is being conducted on in a small-scale nitrogen gas loop at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. Previous research on the macroscopic high-temperature structural analysis of PHE prototypes had been performed using base material properties owing to a lack of weld material properties. In this study, macroscopic high-temperature structural analyses considering the weld material properties were performed and the results were compared with those of a previous study.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.165-170
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• 2013

An external gelation method in place of an internal gelation method applied to the fabrication process of an intermediated compound of Uranium Oxy-Carbide (UCO) kernel spheres for Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) fuel preparation is under development in Korea. For the preliminary experiments of the UCO kernel sphere preparation using an external gelation method, the carbon black dispersion experiments were carried out using a simulated broth solution. From the selection experiments of various kinds of carbon black through dispersion experiments in a viscous metal salt solution, Cabot G carbon black was selected owing to its dispersion stability, and the homogeneous dispersing state of carbon black particles in our system. For the effective dispersion of nano-size aggregated carbon black particles in a high viscous liquid, the carbon black particles in a metal salt solution were first de-aggregated with ultrasonic force. The mixed solution was then dispersed secondly by the use of the extremely high-speed agitation with a mechanical mixer of 6000 rpm after feeding the Poly Vinyl Alcohol (PVA) in the solution. This results in the broth solution with good stability and homogeneity alongside no further changes in physical properties.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.31-42
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• 2007

Energy supply is increasingly showing up as a major issue for electricity supply, transportation, settlement, and process heat industrial supply including hydrogen production. Nuclear power is part of the solution. For electricity supply, as exemplified in Finland and France, the EPR brings an immediate answer; HTR could bring another solution in some specific cases. For other supply, mostly heat, the HTR brings a solution inaccessible to conventional nuclear power plants for very high or even high temperature. As fossil fuels costs increase and efforts to avoid generation of Greenhouse gases are implemented, a market for nuclear generated process heat will be developed. Following active developments in the 80's, HTR have been put on the back burner up to 5 years ago. Light water reactors are widely dominating the nuclear production field today. However, interest in the HTR technology was renewed in the past few years. Several commercial projects are actively promoted, most of them aiming at electricity production. ANTARES is today AREVA's response to the cogeneration market. It distinguishes itself from other concepts with its indirect cycle design powering a combined cycle power plant. Several reasons support this design choice, one of the most important of which is the design flexibility to adapt readily to combined heat and power applications. From the start, AREVA made the choice of such flexibility with the belief that the HTR market is not so much in competition with LWR in the sole electricity market but in the specific added value market of cogeneration and process heat. In view of the volatility of the costs of fossil fuels, AREVA's choice brings to the large industrial heat applications the fuel cost predictability of nuclear fuel with the efficiency of a high temperature heat source tree of Greenhouse gases emissions. The ANTARES module produces 600 MWth which can be split into the required process heat, the remaining power drives an adapted prorated electric plant. Depending on the process heat temperature and power needs, up to 80% of the nuclear heat is converted into useful power. An important feature of the design is the standardization of the heat source, as independent as possible of the process heat application. This should expedite licensing. The essential conditions for success include: ${\bullet}$ Timely adapted licensing process and regulations, codes and standards for such application and design ${\bullet}$ An industry oriented R&D program to meet the technological challenges making the best use of the international collaboration. Gen IV could be the vector ${\bullet}$ Identification of an end user(or a consortium of) willing to fund a FOAK

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.10
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• pp.3874-3897
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• 2023

A high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis was performed using the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) model for the lower plenum of the High-Temperature Test Facility (HTTF), a ¼ scale test facility of the modular high temperature gas-cooled reactor (MHTGR) managed by Oregon State University. In most next-generation nuclear reactors, thermal stress due to thermal striping is one of the risks to be curiously considered. This is also true for HTGRs, especially since the exhaust helium gas temperature is high. In order to evaluate these risks and performance, organizations in the United States led by the OECD NEA are conducting a thermal hydraulic code benchmark for HTGR, and the test facility used for this benchmark is HTTF. HTTF can perform experiments in both normal and accident situations and provide high-quality experimental data. However, it is difficult to provide sufficient data for benchmarking through experiments, and there is a problem with the reliability of CFD analysis results based on Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes to analyze thermal hydraulic behavior without verification. To solve this problem, high-fidelity 3-D CFD analysis was performed using the LES model for HTTF. It was also verified that the LES model can properly simulate this jet mixing phenomenon via a unit cell test that provides experimental information. As a result of CFD analysis, the lower the dependency of the sub-grid scale model, the closer to the actual analysis result. In the case of unit cell test CFD analysis and HTTF CFD analysis, the volume-averaged sub-grid scale model dependency was calculated to be 13.0% and 9.16%, respectively. As a result of HTTF analysis, quantitative data of the fluid inside the HTTF lower plenum was provided in this paper. As a result of qualitative analysis, the temperature was highest at the center of the lower plenum, while the temperature fluctuation was highest near the edge of the lower plenum wall. The power spectral density of temperature was analyzed via fast Fourier transform (FFT) for specific points on the center and side of the lower plenum. FFT results did not reveal specific frequency-dominant temperature fluctuations in the center part. It was confirmed that the temperature power spectral density (PSD) at the top increased from the center to the wake. The vortex was visualized using the well-known scalar Q-criterion, and as a result, the closer to the outlet duct, the greater the influence of the mainstream, so that the inflow jet vortex was dissipated and mixed at the top of the lower plenum. Additionally, FFT analysis was performed on the support structure near the corner of the lower plenum with large temperature fluctuations, and as a result, it was confirmed that the temperature fluctuation of the flow did not have a significant effect near the corner wall. In addition, the vortices generated from the lower plenum to the outlet duct were identified in this paper. It is considered that the quantitative and qualitative results presented in this paper will serve as reference data for the benchmark.