• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.311-318
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• 2008

In modem power reactors, nuclear fuels have recently reached 55,000 MWd/MtU from the initial average burnup of 35,000 MWd/MtU to reduce the fuel cycle cost and waste volume. At such high burnups, a fuel pellet produces fission products proportional to the burnup and creates a typical high burnup structure around the periphery region of the pellet, producing the so called 'rim effect'. This rim region of a highly burnt fuel is known to be ca. $200\;{\mu}m$ in width and is known to affect the fuel integrity. To characterize the local burnup in the rim region, solid sampling in the micro meter region by laser ablation is needed so that the distribution of isotopes can be determined by ICP-MS. For this procedure, special radiation shielding is required for personnel safety. In this study, we installed a radiation shielded laser ablation ICP-MS system, and a performance test of the developed system was conducted to evaluate the safe operation of instruments.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.8
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• pp.2477-2487
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• 2021

To improve safety analysis technology for a nuclear reactor containment considering an interaction between a reactor coolant system (RCS) and containment, this study aims at an experimental investigation on the integrated simulation of the RCS and containment, with an integral effect test facility, ATLAS-CUBE. For a realistic simulation of a pressure and temperature (P/T) transient, the containment simulation vessel was designed to preserve a volumetric scale equivalently to the RCS volume scale of ATLAS. Three test cases for a steam line break (SLB) transient were conducted with variation of the initial condition of the passive heat sink or the steam flow direction. The test results indicated a stratified behavior of the steam-gas mixture in the containment following a high-temperature steam injection in prior to the spray injection. The test case with a reduced heat transfer on the passive heat sink showed a faster increase of the P/T inside the containment. The effect of the steam flow direction was also investigated with respect to a multi-dimensional distribution of the local heat transfer on the passive heat sink. The integral effect test data obtained in this study will contribute to validating the evaluation methodology for mass and energy (M/E) and P/T transient of the containment.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.410-416
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• 2010

Studies were carried out to establish the technology for sodium-clad compatibility and to analyze the compatibility behavior of the Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (SFR) cladding material under a flowing sodium environment. The natural circulation facility caused by the thermal convection of the liquid sodium was constructed and the 316-series stainless steels were exposed at $650{^{\circ}C}$ liquid sodium for 1458 hours. The weight change and related microstructural change were analyzed. The results showed that the quasi-dynamic facility represented by the natural convection exhibited similar results compared to the conventional dynamic facility. Selective leaching and local depletion of the chromium, re-distribution of the carbide, and the decarburization process took place in the 316-series stainless steel under a flowing sodium environment. This process decreased as the sodium flowed along the channel, which was caused by the change in the dissolved oxygen and carbon activity in the liquid sodium.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2004.02a
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• pp.165-169
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• 2004

It was studied on the reductive extraction between the eutectic salt and Bi metal phases. The solutes were zirconium and the rare earth elements, where zirconium was used as the surrogate for the transuranic(TRU) elements. All the experiments were performed in a glove box filled with argon gas. Two types of experimental conditions were used -high and low initial solute concentrations in salt. Li-Bi alloy was used as a reducing agent to reduce the high chemical activity of Li. The reductive extraction characteristics were examined using ICP, XRD and EPMA analysis. Zirconium was successfully separated from the rare earth elements by the reductive extraction method. The LiF-NaF-KF system was favorable among the fluoride salt systems, whereas the LiCl-KCl system was favorable among the chloride salt systems. When the solute concentrations were high, intermetallic compounds were found near the salt-metal interface.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.947-957
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• 2023

Curved cylindrical structures such as elbows have a non-uniform thickness distribution due to their fabrication process, and as a result have a number of complex mode shapes, including circumferential and axial nodal patterns. In nuclear power plants, material degradation is induced in pipes by flow accelerated erosion and corrosion, causing the wall thickness of carbon steel elbows to gradually thin. The corresponding frequencies of each mode shape vary according to the wall thinning state. Therefore, the thinning state can be estimated by monitoring the varying modal characteristics of the elbow. This study investigated the varying modal characteristics of artificially thinned carbon steel elbows for each thinning state using numerical simulation and experimental methods (MRIT, Multiple Reference Impact Test). The natural frequencies of specified mode shapes were extracted, and results confirmed they linearly decreased with increasing thinning. In addition, by comparing single FRF (Frequency Response Function) data with the results of MRIT, a concise and cost effective thinning estimation method was suggested.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.407-414
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• 2006

An X-ray diffractometer for spatially resolved X-ray diffraction measurements was developed to identify phase in the narrow (micron-scaled) region of high burn-up fuels and some nuclear materials. The micro-XRD was composed of an X-ray microbeam alignment system and a sample micro translation system instead of a normal slit and a fixed sample stage in a commercial XRD. The X-ray microbeam alignment system was fabricated with a microbeam concentrator having two Ni deposited mirrors, a vertical positioner, and a tilt table for the generation of a concentrated microbeam. The sample micro translation system was made with a sample holder and a horizontal translator, allowing movement of a specimen at $5{\mu}m$ steps. The angular intensity profile of the microbeam generated through a concentrator was symmetric and not distorted. The size of the microbeam was $4,000{\times}20{\mu}m$ and the spatial resolution of the beam was $47{\mu}m$ at the sample position. When the diffraction peaks were measured for a $UO_2$ pellet specimen by this system, the reproducibility ($2{\Theta}={\pm}0.01^{\circ}$) of the peaks was as good as a conventional X-ray diffractometer. For the cross section of oxidized titanium metal, not only $TiO_2$ in an outer layer but also TiO near an oxide-metal interface was observed.

• Journal of Korea Society of Industrial Information Systems
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2018

This paper presents a material estimation method using dual-energy X-ray images generated as a result of cargo inspection system in MeV region. We use new discrimination curve using logarithmic function rather than four discrimination curves commonly used in existing estimation algorithms. We also propose an atomic number estimation using the probability distribution of the logarithmic curve rather than linear interpolation. When the probability distribution is used as a weight, we used two methods of using the weight for the two nearest reference materials and the weight for all the reference materials. Experimental results showed that the atomic number estimation of materials using the probability distribution as a weight is more accurate than the existing methods. In order to visualize the estimated atomic number, the HSI model was used for color the resulting image.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2006

Using In-113m emitting gamma ray of 0.392MeV at radioisotope tracer the RTD (residence time distribution) of water in the flocculator of wastewater treatment facility was measured. The result was analyzed mathematically using K-RTD program constructed on the basis of CFSTR (constant flow stirred tank reactor) model. The mean residence time and the tank number are the main parameters which describe the flow behavior of the system. Those parameters were obtained in the fitting profess of the simulated curves to the experimental results. It was suggested to construct a modified numerical model to describe the bypass flow which was observed in the experiment.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.21-26
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• 2007

This study is performed to evaluate the dose rate and to analyze the dose distribution of the gamma irradiation facility (IR-221) by using a Monte Calro simulation, which is helpful of upgrading the radiation processing qualification. Monte Cairo simulation is performed by MCNP4B code. Dose rates were measured at total 369 points with alanine dosimeters to compare the calculation results and the measurements data. The results have shown that the MCNP4B code is very useful to determine the dose distribution of the IR-221 gamma irradiation facility, as the calculation dose rate is within about ${\pm}5%$ of the measurement data. Dosimetry about the gamma irradiation facility usually needs enormous manpower and time. However Monte Cairo calculation method can reduce the tedious dosimetry jobs and improve the irradiation processing qualification, which will probably contribute to obtain the reliability of the irradiation products.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.84-91
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• 2015

SMART adopts, very unique facility, an FMHA to enhance the thermal and flow mixing capability in abnormal conditions of some steam generators or reactor coolant pumps. The FMHA is important for enhancing thermal mixing of the core inlet flow during a transient and even during accidents, and thus it is essential that the thermal mixing characteristics of flow of the FMHA be understood. Investigations for the mixing characteristics of the FMHA had been performed by using experimental and CFD methods in KAERI. In this study, the temperature distribution at the core inlet region is investigated for several abnormal conditions of steam generators using the commercial code, FLUENT 12. Simulations are carried out with two kinds of FMHA shapes, different mesh resolutions, turbulence models, and steam generator conditions. The CFD results show that the temperature deviation at the core inlet reduces greatly for all turbulence models and steam generator conditions tested here, and the effect of mesh refinement on the temperature distribution at the core inlet is negligible. Even though the uniformity of FMHA outlet hole flow increases the thermal mixing, the temperature deviation at the core inlet is within an acceptable range. We numerically confirmed that the FMHA applied in SMART has an excellent mixing capability and all simulation cases tested here satisfies the design requirement for FMHA thermal mixing capability.