• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권1호
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• pp.147-159
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• 2024

Plutonium-238 has always been considered as the one of the promising radioisotopes for space nuclear power supply, which has long half-life, low radiation protection level, high power density, and stable fuel form at high temperatures. The industrial-scale production of ²³⁸Pu mainly depends on irradiating solid ²³⁷NpO₂ target in high flux reactors, however the production process faces problems such as large fission loss and high requirements for product quality control. In this paper, a conceptual design study of producing ²³⁸Pu in a multi-purpose high flux reactor was evaluated and analyzed, which includes a sensitivity analysis on ²³⁸Pu production and a further study on the irradiation scheme. It demonstrated that the target structure and its location in the reactor, as well as the operation scheme has an impact on ²³⁸Pu amount and product quality. Furthermore, the production efficiency could be improved by optimizing target material concentration, target locations in the core and reflector. This work provides technical support for irradiation production of ²³⁸Pu in high flux reactors.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권1호
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• pp.34-41
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• 2024

This work presents experimental data and modelling of the release of Mo from high-burnup spent nuclear fuel (63 MWd/kgU) at two different pH values, 8.4 and 13.2 in air. The release of Mo from SF to the solution is around two orders of magnitude higher at pH = 13.2 than at pH = 8.4. The high Mo release at high pH would indicate that Mo would not be congruently released with uranium and would have an important contribution to the Instant Release Fraction, with a value of 5.3%. Parallel experiments with pure non irradiated Mo(s) and XPS determinations indicated that the faster dissolution at pH = 13.2 could be the consequence of the higher releases from metallic Mo in the fuel through a surface complexation mechanism promoted by the OH^- and the oxidation of the metal to Mo(VI) via the formation of intermediate Mo(IV) and Mo(V) species.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권11호
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• pp.4019-4025
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• 2023

Recently, a new monkey computational phantom, called Visible Monkey, was developed for non-ionizing radiation studies in animal research. In this study, we extended its applications to ionizing radiation studies by implementing the voxel model of the Visible Monkey into three general-purpose Monte Carlo (MC) codes: MCNP6, PHITS, and Geant4. The implementation work for MCNP and PHITS was conducted using the LATTICE, UNIVERSE, and FILL cards. The G4VNestedParameterisation class was used for Geant4. Then, organ dose coefficients (DCs) for idealized photon beams in the antero-posterior direction were calculated using the three codes and compared, showing excellent agreement (differences <3%). Additionally, organ DCs in other directions (postero-anterior, left-lateral, and right-lateral) were calculated and compared with those of the newborn and 1-year-old reference phantoms. Significant differences were observed (e.g., the stomach DC of the monkey was 5-fold greater than that of the 1-year-old phantom at 0.03 MeV) while the differences tended to decrease with increasing energy (mostly <20% at 10 MeV). The results of this study allows conducting MC simulations using the Visible Monkey to estimate organ-level doses, which should be valuable to support/improve monkey experiments involving ionizing radiation exposures.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권6호
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• pp.2282-2291
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• 2024

In this work we study the effects of different factors of dislocation loop on its obstacle strength when interacting with an edge dislocation. At first, the interaction model for dislocation and dislocation loop is established and the full and partial absorption mechanism is obtained. Then, the effect of temperature, size and burgers vector of dislocation loop are investigated. The relation between the obstacle strength and irradiation dose has been established, which bridges the irradiation source and microscale properties. Except that, the obstacle strength of C, Cr, Ni, Mn, Mo and P decorated dislocation loop is studied. Results show that the obstacle strength for dislocation loop decorated by alloy element decreases in the sequence of Cr, Ni, Mn, C, P and Mo, which could be used to help parameterize and validate crystal plasticity finite element model and therein integrated constitutive laws to enable accounting for irradiation-induced chemical segregation effects.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권6호
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• pp.2029-2038
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• 2024

A deep understanding of the characteristics and mechanism of geyser boiling and capillary pumping is necessary to optimize a high-temperature sodium heat pipe. In this work, the Volume of Fluid (VOF) two-phase model and the capillary force model in the mesh wick were used to model the complex phase change and fluid flow in the heat pipe. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations successfully predicted the process of bubble nucleation, growth, aggregation, and detachment from the wall in the liquid pool of the evaporation section of the heat pipe in horizontal and tilted states, as well as the reflux phenomenon of capillary suction within the wick. The accuracy and stability of the capillary force model within the wick were verified. In addition, the causes of geyser boiling in heat pipes were analyzed by extracting the oscillation distribution of heat pipe wall temperature. The results show that adding the capillary force model within the wick structure can reasonably simulate the liquid backflow phenomenon at the condensation; Under the horizontal and inclined operating conditions of the heat pipe, the phenomenon of local dry-out will occur, resulting in a sharp increase in local temperature. The speed of bubble detachment and the timely reflux of liquid sodium (condensate) replenishment in the wick play a vital role in the geyser temperature oscillation of the tube wall. The numerical simulation method and the results of this study are anticipated to provide a good reference for the investigation of geyser boiling in high-temperature heat pipes.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권7호
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• pp.2711-2717
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• 2024

The current work aims to fabricate metal oxide-doped (PbO, Fe₂O₃, MgO, and Al₂O₃, each of which boasts a purity of 99%) zinc barium borate glasses through the melt quenching technique at the 1000 ℃ melting temperature. The results showed that adding 5 mol.% of metal oxides PbO, Fe₂O₃, Al₂O₃, and MgO increases the density of the zinc barium borate glasses. Additionally, the fabricated glasses' mechanical properties were determined based on the Makishima-Mackenzie model, which proved that the highest mechanical properties were achieved for glasses doped with Al₂O₃ compounds. The mechanical moduli for the glasses doped with Al₂O₃ reach 80.95 GPa (Young), 59.90 GPa (bulk), 31.75 GPa (shear), and 102.23 GPa (longitudinal). Additionally, the Al₂O₃-doped glasses' microhardness reaches 4.77 GPa. Moreover, estimation of the fabricated glasses' gamma-ray shielding capacity utilized Monte Carlo simulation. The highest linear attenuation coefficients are 29.132, 19.906, 19.243, and 18.923 cm^-1 obtained at 0.033 MeV for glasses dopped by PbO, Fe₂O₃, MgO, and Al₂O₃, respectively. Therefore, glasses doped with 5 mol.% of PbO have high gamma-ray shielding capacities followed by glasses doped by Fe₂O₃.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권6호
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• pp.2050-2056
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• 2024

Handling of radioisotopes may cause external and internal contamination to occupational workers while using radiation for medical purposes. This research aims to monitor the internal hazard of occupational workers who handle ¹³¹I. Two methods are used: in vivo or direct method and in vitro or indirect method. The in vivo or direct method was performed by assessing thyroid intake with a thyroid uptake monitoring machine. The in vitro or indirect method was performed by assessing urine samples with the help of a gamma-ray spectroscopy practice using a High-Purity Germanium (HPGe) Detector. In this study, fifty-nine thyroid counts and fifty-nine urine samples were collected from seven occupational workers who were in charge of ¹³¹I at the National Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (NINMAS), Dhaka. The result showed that the average annual effective dose of seven workforces from thyroid counts were 0.0208 mSv/y, 0.0180 mSv/y, 0.0135 mSv/y, 0.0169 m Sv/y, 0.0072 mSv/y, 0.0181 mSv/y, 0.0164 mSv/y and in urine samples 0.0832 mSv/y, 0.0770 mSv/y, 0.0732 mSv/y, 0.0693 mSv/y, 0.0715 mSv/y, 0.0662 mSv/y, 0.0708 mSv/y.The total annual effective dose (in vivo and in vitro method) was found among seven workers in average 0.1039 mSv/y, 0.0950 mSv/y, 0.0868 mSv/y, 0.0862 mSv/y, 0.0787 mSv/y, 0.0843 mSv/y, 0.0872 mSv/y. Following the rules of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), the annual limit of effective dose for occupational exposure is 20 mSv per year and the finding values from this research work are lesser than this safety boundary.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권7호
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• pp.2444-2451
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• 2024

This work demonstrates a new sol-gel approach for synthesizing PbO₂-doped zirconia using zircon mineral precursors. The streamlined methodology enables straightforward fabrication of the doped zirconia composites. Comprehensive materials characterization was performed using XRD, SEM, and TEM techniques to analyze the crystal structure, microstructure, and morphology. Quantitative analysis of the XRD data provided insights into the nanoscale crystallite sizes achieved, along with their relationship to lattice imperfections. Furthermore, the gamma-ray shielding capacity for the PbO₂-doped zirconia samples was estimated by the Monte Carlo simulation, which proves an increase in the gamma ray shielding properties by raising the Pb concentration. The linear attenuation coefficient increased between 0.467 and 0.499 cm^-1 (at 0.662 MeV) by increasing the Pb content between 11 and 21 wt%. By increasing the Pb content to 21 wt%, the synthesized composites' lead equivalent thickness reaches 2.49 cm. The radiation shielding properties for the synthesized composites revealed a remarkable performance against low and intermediate γ-ray photons, with radiation shielding capacity of 37.3 % and 21.4 % at 0.662 MeV and 2.506 MeV, respectively. As a result, the developed composites can be employed as an alternative shielding material in hospitals and radioactive zones.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권8호
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• pp.3335-3346
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• 2024

Due to the radiation released by commonly used isotopes, many nuclear, medical, and industrial facilities require proper radiation shielding. In this work, distinct copper borate glasses intercalated with varied aluminum and vanadium oxide (Al₂O₃ and V₂O₅) content have been synthesized and used against radiation (gamma rays and fast/thermal neutrons). The different percents were as follows: [60% B₂O₃ + 35% CuO + (5-x)% Al₂O₃ + xV₂O₅], where x = 0, 1, and 2.5 wt.%, which was coded as BCu(5-x)Al:xV. The synthesized glass samples were characterized using Fourier transforms, infrared, and X-Raydiffraction analysis. Experimentally, the radiation shielding possessions of the samples were established using an HPGe detector at the gamma energy lines 0.356 MeV, 0.661 MeV, 1.173 MeV, and 1.332 MeV. Also, the prepared glasses were investigated theoretically using the Monte Carlo code (MCNP5) at photon energies of 0.015-15 MeV. Also, the fast and thermal neutron macroscopic effective removal cross-sections were calculated using MRCsC and JANIS-4.1 software, respectively. The prepared sample BCu2.5Al:2.5V, which has a vanadium and aluminum content of 2.5%, has the highest linear attenuation coefficient as well as the highest removal cross-section for fast, and thermal neutrons.

• 전기전자학회논문지
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• 제28권3호
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• pp.405-411
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• 2024

본 논문에서는 피부병변 영상에서 이미지 분할 성능을 향상시키기 위해 설계된 딥러닝 모델인 VmCUnet을 제안한다. VmCUnet은 Vm-UnetV2와 CIM(Cross-Scale Interaction Module)을 결합하여 인코더의 각 계층에서 추출한 특징들을 CIM으로 통합하여 다양한 패턴과 경계를 정확하게 인식할 수 있다. VmCUnet은 ISIC-2017와 ISIC-2018 데이터 세트를 사용하여 피부 병변의 이미지 분할을 수행하였고 Unet, TransUnet, SwinUnet Vm-Unet, Vm-UnetV2와 비교하여 성능 지표인 IoU, Dice Score에서 더 높은 성능을 보였다. 향후 작업에서는 다양한 의료 영상 데이터 세트에 대한 추가 실험을 수행하여 VmCUnet 모델의 일반화 성능을 검증할 예정이다.