• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.237-244
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• 2016

Background: Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute is developing a fission product transport module for predicting the behavior of radioactive materials in the primary cooling system of a nuclear power plant as a separate module, which will be connected to a severe accident analysis code, Core Meltdown Progression Accident Simulation Software (COMPASS). Materials and Methods: This fission product transport (COMPASS-FP) module consists of a fission product release model, an aerosol generation model, and an aerosol transport model. In the fission product release model there are three submodels based on empirical correlations, and they are used to simulate the fission product gases release from the reactor core. In the aerosol generation model, the mass conservation law and Raoult's law are applied to the mixture of vapors and droplets of the fission products in a specified control volume to find the generation of the aerosol droplet. In the aerosol transport model, empirical correlations available from the open literature are used to simulate the aerosol removal processes owing to the gravitational settling, inertia impaction, diffusiophoresis, and thermophoresis. Results and Discussion: The COMPASS-FP module was validated against Aerosol Behavior Code Validation and Evaluation (ABCOVE-5) test performed by Hanford Engineering Development Laboratory for comparing the prediction and test data. The comparison results assuming a non-spherical aerosol shape for the suspended aerosol mass concentration showed a good agreement with an error range of about ${\pm}6%$. Conclusion: It was found that the COMPASS-FP module produced the reasonable results of the fission product gases release, the aerosol generation, and the gravitational settling in the aerosol removal processes for ABCOVE-5. However, more validation for other aerosol removal models needs to be performed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.425-432
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• 2000

It has been an essential part for the safety assessment of nuclear power plants to understand various phenomena associated with the molten core-concrete interaction(MCCI) under severe accidents. In this study, the severe accident analysis code MELCOR was used to simulate the MCCI experiments such as SWISS and SURC test series which had been performed in Sandia National Laboratories(SNL). The calculation results were compared with corresponding experimental data such as melt temperature, concrete ablation distance, gas generation rate, and aerosol release rate. Good agreements were observed between MELCOR calculation and experimental data. The melt pool was sustained within the range of high temperature and the concrete ablation occurred continuously. The gas generation and aerosol release were under the influence of melt temperature and overlying water pool, respectively.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.870-880
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• 2016

A steam generator tube rupture (SGTR) event with a stuck-open safety relief valve constitutes one of the most serious accident sequences in pressurized water reactors (PWRs) because it may create an open path for radioactive aerosol release into the environment. The release may be mitigated by the deposition of fission product particles on a steam generator's (SG's) dry tubes and structures or by scrubbing in the secondary coolant. However, the absence of empirical data, the complexity of the geometry, and the controlling processes have, until recently, made any quantification of retention difficult to justify. As a result, past risk assessment studies typically took little or no credit for aerosol retention in SGTR sequences. To provide these missing data, the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) initiated the Aerosol Trapping In Steam GeneraTor (ARTIST) Project, which aimed to thoroughly investigate various aspects of aerosol removal in the secondary side of a breached steam generator. Between 2003 and 2011, the PSI has led the ARTIST Project, which involved intense collaboration between nearly 20 international partners. This summary paper presents key findings of experimental and analytical work conducted at the PSI within the ARTIST program.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.7
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• pp.2702-2713
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• 2022

A steam generator tube rupture accompanying a core damage may cause the fission product to be released to environment bypassing the containment. In such an accident, the steam generator is the major path of the radioactive aerosol release. AEOLUS facility, the scaled-down model of Korean type steam generator, was built to examine the aerosol removal in the steam generator during the steam generator tube rupture accident. Integral and separate effect tests were performed with the facility for the dry and flooded conditions, and the decontamination factors were presented for different tube configurations and submergences. The dry test results were compared with the existing test results and with the analyses to investigate the aerosol retention physics by the tube bundle, with respect to the particle size and the bundle geometry. In the flooded tests, the effect of submergence were shown and the retention in the jet injection region were presented with respect to the Stokes number. The test results are planned to be used to constitute the aerosol retention model, specifically applicable for the analysis of the steam generator tube rupture accident in Korean nuclear power plants to evaluate realistic fission product behavior.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.1830-1837
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• 2023

The thermal cutting of contaminated or activated metals during decommissioning nuclear power plants inevitably results in the release of radioactive aerosol. Since radioactive aerosols are pernicious particles that contribute to the internal dose of workers, air conditioning units with a HEPA filter are used to remove radioactive aerosols. However, a HEPA filter cannot be used permanently. This study evaluates the efficiency and lifetime of filters in actual metal cutting condition using a plasma arc cutter and a high-resolution aerosol detector. The number concentration and size distribution of aerosols from 6 nm to 10 ㎛ were measured on both the upstream and downstream sides of the filter. The total aerosol removal efficiency of HEPA filter satisfies the standard of removing at least 99.97% of 0.3 ㎛ airborne particles, even if the pressure drop increases due to dust feeding load. The pressure drop and particle size removal efficiency at 0.3 ㎛ of the HEPA filter were found to increase with repeated cutting experiments. By contrast, the efficiency of used HEPA filter reduced in removing nano-sized aerosols by up to 79.26%. Altogether, these results can be used to determine the performance guidance and replacement frequency of HEPA filters used in nuclear power plants.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.129-132
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• 2007

Bismuth-substituted yttrium iron garnet (Bi:YIG, $Bi_{0.5}Y_{2.5}Fe_5O_{12}$) films were deposited with aerosol deposition method and their magnetic and optical properties were investigated as a function of annealing temperature. Since the ceramic films deposited with aerosol deposition method have not a perfect crystal structure due to non-uniform internal stress occurred by mechanical collision during their deposition, the post annealing could be a key process to release its internal stress and to improve its micro structure for optimizing the magnetic and magneto-optic properties of films. The crystallinity of Bi: YIG film was improved with increase of annealing temperature, and the saturation magnetization increased up to 87 emu/cc at $800^{\circ}C$. The Faraday rotation increased up to $1.4deg/{\mu}m$ by annealing at $700^{\circ}C$ around the wavelength of $0.5{\mu}m$. The optical transmittance of the Bi:YIG film was also improved in visible region.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
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• 1994.04a
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• pp.242-242
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• 1994

Cortex mori (Morus alba L.), the root bark of mulberry tree, has been used as an antiphlogistic, diuretic, and expectorant in herbal medicine. The purpose of this study was to determine whether Cortex mori could inhibit the ovalbumin (OA) -induced late asthmatic reaction in guinea pigs. Guinea pigs were sensitized by two exposures to an aerosol of OA(1.0%) and then challenged with aerosolized antigen(2.0%), The animals were pretreated by three inhalations of the aerosoled Cortex mori either before antigen sensitization or cahllenge. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid(BALF) and peripheral blood were collected at 17 hours after OA challenge. The cell populations in BALF and peripheral blood were examined to determine the changes of the relative proportions of eosinophils,neutrophils and mononuclear cells etc. Beta-glucuronidase activity in BALF was measured to evaluate the alveolar macrophage activation. OA-induced histamine release from guinea pig peritoneal fluid cells was measured by radioisotope enzymatic asssay. Results were as follows. The number of eosinophils, neutriphils and lymphocytes recovered in BALF were significantly increased in the 17h following aerosol challenge with OA. Among them, eosinophil and neutriphils were decreased remarkably in group that had been preinhalated with Cortex mori. The number of lymphocytes in BALF were not decreased in group pretreated with CM before sensitization but decreased in Group pretreated with CM before challenge. After OA challenge, the number of eosinophils in peripheral blood were markedly increased, but Cortex mori inhibited significantly the OA-induced eosinophilia. Beta-glucuronidase activity in the supernatants of BALF were significantly increased in the 17h following aerosol challenge with OA, however, pretreatment of Cortex mori had no influence on Beta-glucuronidase activity, suggesting that Cortex mori had no inhibitory effect on OA-induced alveolar macrophage activation. Cortex mori inhibited the OA-induced histamine release from guinea pig peritoneal fluid cells. From the above results, it is suggested that Cortex mori contains some substances with an activity to inhibit the the OA-induced late phase reaction of the bronchial asthma in guinea pigs.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.405-413
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• 2014

In this study, gemcitabine (Gem)-Poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) conjugates were synthesized through an amide linkage reaction. Then, the microparticles of Gem-PLLA/PLLA blends containing gemcitabine were prepared using a supercritical fluid process, called aerosol solvent extraction system (ASES). Gemcitabine-loaded Gem-PLLA/PLLA microparticles obtained from the ASES process showed a spherical shape. The amount of gemcitabine released after 30 day incubation in a phosphate buffer solution of pH 7.4 was about 90% of the total amount of gemcitabine present in the product.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.79-88
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• 1996

A hypothetical accident in the containment vessel of liquid metal reactor could cause a pressure, temperature rise, and a strong aerosol release. The computer codes relating to the modelization of these accident make it necessary to use various input parameter, among which is the dynamic shape factor of aerosols produced. Combustion experiments of sodium spray fire carried out in a closed vessel, which was vertical cylinder made of 1.2m in diameter and 1.8m hight with a volume of 1.7$m^3$. The results of theoretical analysis presented here was compared to data obtained from experiments. The experimental results were summarized as follows. 1) The aerodynamic diameter and geometric diameter of aerosols are decreasing with increasing of injection pressure and injection temperature of sodium 2) The dynamic shape factor of aerosol is proportional to the aerodynamic diameter for a given particle. 3) The correspondence between the aerodynamic diameter and geometric diameter can be as $D_{ae}=0.70 D_{ge}$. 4) Peak pressure rose with increase in pressure and temperature of injection sodium, being more sensitive to the injection pressure than the injection temperature.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.125-137
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• 2019

The purpose of this paper is to study the source term behavior after severe accidents by using a semi-kinetic model for simulation and calculation of in-containment activity. The reactor containment specification and the safety features of the containment under different accident conditions play a great role in evaluating the in-containment activity. Assuming in-vessel and instantaneous release of radioactivity into the containment, the behavior of in-containment isotopic activity is studied for noble gasses (Kr and Xe) and the more volatile elements of iodine, cesium, and aerosols such as Te, Rb and Sr as illustrative examples of source term release under LOCA conditions. The results of the activity removal mechanisms indicates that the impact of volumetric leakage rate for noble gasses is important during the accident, while the influence of deposition on the containment surfaces for cesium, mainly iodine isotopes and aerosol has the largest contribution in removal of activity during evolution of the accident.