• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.178-186
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• 2020

Background: Reactor pressure vessel (RV) with internals (RVI) are activated structures by neutron irradiation and volume contaminated wastes. Thus, to develop safe and optimized disposal plan for them at a disposal site, it is important to perform exact activation calculation and evaluate the dose rate on the surface of casks which contain cut-off pieces. Materials and Methods: RV and RVI are subjected to neutron activation calculation via Monte Carlo methodology with MCNP6 and ORIGEN-S program-neutron flux, isotopic specific activity, and gamma spectrum calculation on each component of RV and RVI, and dose rate evaluation with MCNP6. Results and Discussion: Through neutron activation analysis, dose rate is evaluated for the casks containing cut-off pieces produced from decommissioned RV and RVI. For RV cut-off ones, the highest value of dose rate on the surface of cask is 6.97 × 10-1 mSv/hr and 2 m from it is 3.03 × 10-2 mSv/hr. For RVI cut-off ones, on the surface of it is 0.166 × 10-1 mSv/hr and 2 m from it is 1.04 × 10-1 mSv/hr. Dose rates for various RV and RVI cut-off pieces distributed lower than the limit except the one of 2 m from the cask surface of RVI. It needs to adjust contents in cask which carries highly radioactive components in order to decrease thickness of cask. Conclusion: Two types of casks are considered in this paper: box type for very-low-level waste (VLLW) as well as low-level waste (LLW) and cylinder type for intermediate-level waste (ILW). The results will contribute to the development of optimal loading plans for RV and RVI cut-off pieces during the decommissioning of nuclear power plant that can be used to prepare radioactive waste disposal plans for the different types of wastes-ILW, LLW, and VLLW.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.681-687
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• 2014

Nuclear industries have faced unfavorable circumstances such as an obsolescence of the instrumentation and control system, and therefore nuclear society is striving to resolve this issue fundamentally. IEC and IAEA judge that FPGA technology is a good replacement for Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) of Nuclear Instrumentation and Control System. FPGAs are currently highlighted as an alternative means for obsolete control systems. Because the main function inside an FPGA is initially developed as software, good software quality can impact the reliability of an FPGA-based controller. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a software development aspect strategy that enhances the reliability of an FPGA-based controller. In terms of software development, HDL-Programmed Device (HPD) Development Life Cycle is applied into FPGA-based Controller. The burn-in test and environmental(temperature) test should be performed in order to apply into nuclear instrumentation and control system. Therefore it is ensured that the developed FPGA-based controller are normally operated for 352 hours and 92 hours in test chamber of Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM).

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.89-103
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• 2014

According to experimental studies made so far, design formula of shear characteristics suggested by ISO 22762 and JEAG 4614, representative design code for Lead Rubber Bearing(LRB) shows dependence caused by changes in compressive stress. Especially, in the case of atypical special structure, such as a nuclear power structure, placement of seismic isolation bearing is more limited compared to that of existing structures and design compressive stress is various in sizes. As a result, there is a difference between design factor and real behavior with regards to shear characteristics of base isolation device, depending on compressive stress. In this study, a full-scale low hardness device of LRB, representative base isolation device was manufactured, analyzed, and then evaluated through an experiment on shear characteristics related to various compressive stresses. With design compressive stress of the full-scale LRB (13MPa) being a basis, changes in shear characteristics were analyzed for compressive stress of 5 MPa, 10 MPa, 13 MPa, 15 MPa, and 20 MPa based on characteristics test specified by ISO 22762:2010 and based on the test result, a regression analysis was made to offer an empirical formula. With application of proposed design formula which reflected the existing design formula and empirical formula, trend of horizontal characteristics was analyzed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.738-745
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• 2019

Coprecipitation using hydrous ferric oxide (HFO) has been effectively used for the removal of radionuclides from radioactive wastewater. This work studied the dynamic behavior of HFO floc formation during the neutralization of acidic ferric iron in the presence of several radionuclides by using a photometric dispersion analyzer (PDA). Then the coagulation-flocculation system using HFO-anionic poly acrylamide (PAM) composite floc system was evaluated and compared in seawater and distilled water to find the effective condition to remove the target nuclides (Co-60, Mn-54, Sb-125, and Ru-106) present in wastewater generated in the severe accident of nuclear power plant like Fukushima Daiichi case. A ferric iron dosage of 10 ppm for the formation of HFO was suitable in terms of fast formation of HFO flocs without induction time, and maximum total removal yield of radioactivity from the wastewater. The settling time of HFO flocs was reduced by changing them to HFO-PAM composite floc. The optimal dosage of anionic PAM for HFO-anionic PAM floc system was approximately 1-10 ppm. The total removal yield of Mn-54, Co-60, Sb-125, Ru-106 radionuclides by the HFO-anionic PAM coagulation-flocculation system was higher in distilled water than in seawater and was more than 99%.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.9 no.10
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• pp.1117-1123
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• 2014

Nuclear industries have faced unfavorable circumstances such as an obsolescence of the instrumentation and control system, and therefore nuclear society is striving to resolve this trouble fundamentally. FPGAs are currently highlighted as an alternative means for obsolete control systems. Because of the obsolescence-unaffected characteristics, FPGA should be highly reliable in order to be a replacement for PLC (Programmable Logic Controller). Therefore, it is necessary to establish a software development aspect strategy that enhances the reliability of an FPGA-based controller. The reliability analysis including the MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) is carried out based on the MIL-HDBK-217F. MTBFs are compared with the FPGA-based controller COMMON-Q PLC. As an analysis result, it shows that the reliability of the FPGA-based controller is better than or equal to that of PLC.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.413-423
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• 1993

This paper reports an experimental study of direct containment heating (DCH) which would occur if the primary system pressure is still high at the time of vessel breach during a light water reactor core melt accident. The experiments were conducted in 1/30-scale cavity models of Kori unit 1 and 2 and Young Kwang unit 3 and 4 nuclear power plants. One 1/20-scale model of the Kori plant was also used to investigate the scaling effect. The primary variables in the experiments were initial vessel pressure, vessel breach size and cavity geometry. It is observed that higher initial pressure and larger breach size enhance the melt dispersal fraction. Also, the cavity geometry appears to affect the dispersal rate greatly. A simple correlation of melt dispersal fraction is proposed in terms of nondimensional effective period. This correlation shows good agreement with the present experimental data, the KAIST data and the BNL data.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.63-74
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• 2020

The Kori-Unit 1 nuclear power plant, which is scheduled for decommissioning after permanent shutdown, is expected to generate a large amount of various types of radioactive waste during decommissioning process. For concrete radioactive waste, which is expected to occupy the most amount, it is important to analyze the current waste disposal status and legal limitations and to prepare an appropriate and efficient disposal method. Concrete radioactive waste is waste of various levels, of which the clearance level is bioshield concrete. In this paper, clearance radioactive waste safety evaluation was performed using the RESRAD code, which is a safety evaluation code, based on the activation evaluation results for the wastes with the clearance level. The clearance scenario of the target radioactive waste was selected and the individual's exposure dose was calculated at the time of clearance to determine whether the clearance criteria limit prescribed by the Nuclear Safety Act was satisfied. As a result of the evaluation, the results showed significantly lower results and satisfied the criteria value. Based on the results of this clearance safety assessment, the appropriate disposal method for bioshield concrete, which are the clearance wastes of subject of deregulation, was suggested.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.547-555
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• 1999

The economical manufacturing process of fluorescent sediments (FS) which makes use of the understanding of coastal sediment path has been suggested with respect to the Lagrangian viewpoint. First, the fluorescent liquids were made by the mixing of the fluorescent materials, acetone, and xylene. Second, the sediments collected in Gamami beach were desalinized by the freshwater washing, dried indoors to protect the fine-sediment scattering, and classified by the sieve analysis. Finally, the FS which have seven different colors were manufactured by the mixing of fluorescent liquids and prepared sediments. The FS were used to figure out the major sediment supply routes of the intake channel in the YoungKwang nuclear power plant. From the field experiments, it was shown that the sediments were suspended and dispersed by the strong seasonal NW wind and the tide, and the sediments in suspension were flowing into the intake channel due to very strong suction speed. All the FS injected in stations were detected in the channel sampling points, thus we concluded that the sediments in suspension and dispersion were flowing into the intake channel from all directions in adjacent coastal zone.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.173-179
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• 2016

Coals and coal ashes, raw materials and by-products, in coal-fired power plants contain naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM). They may give rise to internal exposure to workers due to inhalation of airborne particulates containing radioactive materials. It is necessary to characterize radioactivity concentrations of the materials for assessment of radiation dose to the workers. The objective of the present study was to analyze radioactivity concentrations of coals and by-products at four coal-fired plants in Korea. High purity germanium detector was employed for analysis of uranium series, thorium series, and potassium 40 in the materials. Radioactivity concentrations of $^{226}Ra$, $^{228}Ra$, and $^{40}K$ were $2{\sim}53Bq\;kg^{-1}$, $3{\sim}64Bq\;kg^{-1}$, and $14{\sim}431Bq\;kg^{-1}$ respectively in coal samples. For coal ashes, the radioactivity concentrations were $77{\sim}133Bq\;kg^{-1}$, $77{\sim}105Bq\;kg^{-1}$, and $252{\sim}372Bq\;kg^{-1}$ in fly ash samples and $54{\sim}91Bq\;kg^{-1}$, $46{\sim}83Bq\;kg^{-1}$, and $205{\sim}462Bq\;kg^{-1}$ in bottom ash samples. For flue gas desulfurization (FGD) gypsum, the radioactivity concentrations were $3{\sim}5Bq\;kg^{-1}$, $2{\sim}3Bq\;kg^{-1}$, and $22{\sim}47Bq\;kg^{-1}$. Radioactivity was enhanced in coal ash compared with coal due to combustion of organic matters in the coal. Radioactivity enhancement factors for $^{226}Ra$, $^{228}Ra$, and $^{40}K$ were 2.1~11.3, 2.0~13.1, and 1.4~7.4 for fly ash and 2.0~9.2, 2.0~10.0, 1.9~7.7 for bottom ash. The database established in this study can be used as basic data for internal dose assessment of workers at coal-fired power plants. In addition, the findings can be used as a basic data for development of safety standard and guide of Natural Radiation Safety Management Act.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.8-16
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• 2013

A core catcher is considered as a promising engineered system to stabilize the molten corium in the containment during a postulated severe accident in a nuclear power plant. Conceptually, the core catcher consists of a carbon steel body, sacrificial material, protection material, and engineered cooling channel. The cooling capacity of the engineered cooling channel should be guaranteed to remove the decay heat of the molten corium. The flow in ex-vessel core catcher is a combined problem of a two-phase flow in the engineered cooling channel and a single-phase natural circulation in the whole core catcher system. In this study, the analysis of the test facility for the core catcher using the CUPID code, which is a three-dimensional thermal-hydraulic code for the simulation of two-phase flows, was carried out to evaluate its cooling capacity.