• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.1-6
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• 2008

Very High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor (VHTR) has been selected as a high energy heat source for nuclear hydrogen generation. The VHTR can produce hydrogen from heat and water by using a thermo-chemical process or from heat, water, and natural gas by steam reformer technology. A co-axial double-tube primary hot gas duct (HGD) is a key component connecting the reactor pressure vessel and the intermediate heat exchanger (IHX) for the VHTR. In this study, a preliminary design analysis for the primary HGD of the nuclear hydrogen system was carried out. These preliminary design activities include a determination of the size, a strength evaluation and an appropriate material selection. The determination of the size was undertaken based on various engineering concepts, such as a constant flow velocity model, a constant flow rate model, a constant hydraulic head model, and finally a heat balanced model.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.1-6
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• 2011

PHE(Process Heat Exchanger) is a key component required to transfer heat energy of $950^{\circ}C$ generated in a VHTR(Very High Temperature Reactor) to the chemical reaction that yields a large quantity of hydrogen. Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute established a small-scale gas loop for the performance test of components, which are used in the VHTR, and they manufactured a PHE prototype made of Hastelloy-X to be tested in the small-scale gas loop. Results from the elastic structural analysis on the PHE prototype were reported in the previous article. In order to investigate the macroscopic structural characteristics and behavior of the PHE prototype under the test condition of the small-scale gas loop far more in detail, elastic-plastic high-temperature structural-analysis of the PHE prototype was carried out in this study.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.33-38
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• 2012

A PHE (Process Heat Exchanger) in a nuclear hydrogen system is a key component required to transfer heat energy of $950^{\circ}C$ generated in a VHTR (Very High Temperature Reactor) to a chemical reaction that yields a large quantity of hydrogen. Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute has established a small-scale gas loop for the performance test on VHTR components and recently has manufactured a medium-scale PHE prototype made of Hastelloy-X. A performance test on the PHE prototype is scheduled in the gas loop. In this study, high-temperature structural analysis modeling, and macroscopic thermal and structural analysis of the medium-scale PHE prototype by imposing the established displacement boundary constraints in the previous research were carried out under the gas loop test condition. The results obtained in this study will be compared with performance test results.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.459-466
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• 2014

SI Cyclic process is one of the thermochemical hydrogen production processes using iodine and sulfur for producing hydrogen molecules from water. VHTR (Very High Temperature Reactor) can be used to supply heat to hydrogen production process, which is a high temperature nuclear reactor. IHX (Intermediate Heat Exchanger) is necessary to transfer heat to hydrogen production process safely without radioactivity. In this study, the strategy for the optimum design of IHX between SI hydrogen process and VHTR is proposed for various operating pressures of the reactor, and the different cooling fluids. Most economical efficiency of IHX is also proposed along with process conditions.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.132-141
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• 2013

This work is concerning a methodology of Ni-base superalloy development for a very high temperature gas-cooled reactor(VHTR) using design of experiments(DOE) and thermodynamic calculations. Total 32 sets of the Ni-base superalloys with various chemical compositions were formulated based on a fractional factorial design of DOE, and the thermodynamic stability of topologically close-packed(TCP) phases of those alloys was calculated by using the THERMO-CALC software. From the statistical evaluation of the effect of the chemical composition on the formation of TCP phase up to a temperature of 950 oC, which should be suppressed for prolonged service life when it used as the structural components of VHTR, 16 sets were selected for further calculation of the mechanical properties. Considering the yield and ultimate tensile strengths of the selected alloys estimated by using the JMATPRO software, the optimized chemical composition of the alloys for VHTR application, especially intermediate heat exchanger, was proposed for a succeeding experimental study.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.199-200
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• 2009

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.102-112
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• 2013

A very high-temperature gas reactor (VHTR) is one of the next generation nuclear reactors owing to its safety, high energy efficiency, and proliferation-resistance. Heat is transferred from the primary helium loop to the secondary helium loop through an intermediate heat exchanger (IHX). Under VHTR environment Alloy 617 is being considered a candidate Ni-based superalloy for the IHX of a VHTR, owing to its good creep resistance, phase stability and corrosion resistance at high temperature. In this study, high-temperature corrosion tests were carried out at 850 - $950^{\circ}C$ in air and impure helium environments. Alloy 617 specimens showed a parabolic oxidation behavior for all temperatures and environments. The activation energy for oxidation was 154 kJ/mol in helium environment, and 261 kJ/mol in an air environment. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) results revealed that there were a Cr-rich surface oxide layer, Al-rich internal oxides and depletion of grain boundary carbide after corrosion test. The thickness and depths of degraded layers also showed a parabolic relationship with the time. A corrosion rate of $950^{\circ}C$ in impure helium was higher than that in an air environment, caused by difference in the outer oxide morphology.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Mechanical Technology
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.145-153
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• 2011

The irradiation tests of materials in HANARO have been performed usually at temperatures below $300^{\circ}C$ at which the RPV(Reactor Pressure Vessel) materials of the commercial reactors such as the light water reactor and CANDU are operated. As VHTR(Very High Temperature Reactor) and SFR(Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor) projects are being carried as a part of the present Gen-IV program in Korea, the requirements for irradiation of materials at temperatures higher than $500^{\circ}C$ are recently being gradually increased. To overcome the restriction in the use at high temperature of the existing Al thermal media, a new capsule with double thermal media composed of two kinds of materials such as Al-Ti and Al-graphite was designed and fabricated more advanced than the single thermal media capsule. At the irradiation test of the capsule, the temperature of the specimens successfully reached $700^{\circ}C$ and the integrity of Al, Ti and graphite material was maintained.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.191-200
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• 2011

A PHE (Process Heat Exchanger) is a key component of nuclear hydrogen system for massive production of hydrogen; the PHE transfers the very high temperature heat ($950^{\circ}C$) generated from the VHTR (Very High Temperature Reactor) to a chemical reaction. The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute developed a small-scale gas loop for testing the performance of VHTR components and manufactured a modified PHE prototype for carrying out the testing in the gas loop. In this study, as a part of the evaluation of the high-temperature structural integrity of the modified PHE prototype which is scheduled to test in the gas loop, we carried out high-temperature structural analysis modeling, macroscopic thermal and structural analysis of the PHE prototype under the gas loop test conditions as a precedent study before carrying out the performance test in the gas loop. The results obtained in this study will be used to design the performance test setup for the modified PHE prototype.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.50 no.9
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• pp.659-667
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• 2012

Alloy 617 is a Ni-base superalloy and a candidate material for the intermediate heat exchanger (IHX) of a very high temperature gas reactor (VHTR) which is one of the next generation nuclear reactors under development. The high operating temperature of VHTR enables various applications such as mass production of hydrogen with high energy efficiency. Alloy 617 has good creep resistance and phase stability at high temperatures in an air environment. However, it was reported that the mechanical properties decreased at a high temperature in an impure helium environment. In this study, high-temperature corrosion tests were carried out at $850^{\circ}C-950^{\circ}C$ in a helium environment containing the impurity gases $H_2$, CO, and $CH_4$, in order to examine the corrosion behavior of Alloy 617. Until 250 h, Alloy 617 specimens showed a parabolic oxidation behavior at all temperatures. The activation energy for oxidation in helium environment was 154 kJ/mol. The SEM and EDS results elucidated a Cr-rich surface oxide layer, Al-rich internal oxides and depletion of grain boundary carbides. The thickness and depths of degraded layers also showed a parabolic relationship with time. A normal grain growth was observed in the Cr-rich surface oxide layer. When corrosion tests were conducted in a pure helium environment, the oxidation was suppressed drastically. It was elucidated that minor impurity gases in the helium would have detrimental effects on the high-temperature corrosion behavior of Alloy 617 for the VHTR application.