• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
• /
• 2005.10a
• /
• pp.801-802
• /
• 2005

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.36 no.3
• /
• pp.231-235
• /
• 2016

There are two methods for conducting the containment local leakage rate test (LLRT) in nuclear power plants: the make-up flow rate method and the pressure decay method. The make-up flow rate method is applied first in most power plants. In this method, the leakage rate is measured by checking the flow rate of the make-up flow. However, when it is difficult to maintain the test pressure because of excessive leakage, the pressure decay method can be used as a complementary method, as the leakage rates at pressures lower than normal can be measured using this method. We studied the method of measuring over leakage using the pressure decay method for conducting the LLRT for the containment building at a nuclear power plant. We performed experiments under conditions similar to those during an LLRT conducted on-site. We measured the characteristics of the leakage rate under varies pressure decay conditions, and calculated the compensation ratio based on these data.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.87 no.5
• /
• pp.431-450
• /
• 2023

In this study, it is intended to perform nonlinear time-history analyses of nuclear power plant structures (NPP) under near-fault earthquakes showing directivity pulse and fling-step characteristics. Simulation procedures based on cycloidal pulse and far-fault ground motions are also used to simulate near-fault motions showing forward-directivity and fling-step characteristics and the structural responses are compared with those of the recorded near-fault ground motions. Because it is aimed to determine specifically the pulse type characteristics of near-fault ground motions on NPPs, all the ground motions are normalized to have a PGA of 0.3 g. Depending on the obtained results it can be underlined that although near-fault ground motion has the potential to cause damage mostly on structural systems having larger periods, it may also have noticeable effects on the responses of rigid structures, like NPP containment buildings. On the other hand, simulated near-fault motions can help us to get an insight into the near-fault mechanism as well as an approximate visualization of the structural responses under near-fault earthquakes.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
• /
• v.58 no.7
• /
• pp.1450-1455
• /
• 2009

Assumed that an IPTV camera system is to be used as an ad-hoc sensor for the surveillance and diagnostics of safety-critical equipments installed in the in-containment building of the nuclear power plant, an major problem is the presence of high dose-rate gamma irradiation fields inside the one. In order to uses an IPTV camera in such intense gamma radiation environment of the in-containment building, the radiation-weakened devices including a CCD imaging sensor, FPGA, ASIC and microprocessors are to be properly shielded from high dose-rate gamma radiation using the high-density material, lead or tungsten. But the passive elements such as mirror, lens and window, which are placed in the optical path of the CCD imaging sensor, are exposed to a high dose-rate gamma ray source directly. So, the gamma-ray irradiation characteristics of the passive elements, is needed to test. A CCD camera lens, made of glass material, have been gamma irradiated at the dose rate of 4.2 kGy/h during an hour up to a total dose of 4 kGy. The radiation induced color-center in the glass lens is observed. The degradation performance of the gamma irradiated lens is explained using an color component analysis.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.49 no.4
• /
• pp.825-837
• /
• 2017

Due to the severe impacts of recent earthquakes, the use of seismic isolation is paramount for the safety of nuclear structures. The diversity observed in seismic events demands ongoing research to analyze the devastating attributes involved, and hence to enhance the sustainability of base-isolated nuclear power plants. This study reports the seismic performance of a seismically-isolated nuclear reactor containment building (NRCB) under strong short-period ground motions (SPGMs) and long-period ground motions (LPGMs). The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission-based design response spectrum for the seismic design of nuclear power plants is stipulated as the reference spectrum for ground motion selection. Within the period range(s) of interest, the spectral matching of selected records with the target spectrum is ensured using the spectral-compatibility approach. NRC-compliant SPGMs and LPGMs from the mega-thrust Tohoku earthquake are used to obtain the structural response of the base-isolated NRCB. To account for the lack of earthquakes in low-to-moderate seismicity zones and the gap in the artificial synthesis of long-period records, wavelet-decomposition based autoregressive moving average modeling for artificial generation of real ground motions is performed. Based on analysis results from real and simulated SPGMs versus LPGMs, the performance of NRCBs is discussed with suggestions for future research and seismic provisions.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.55 no.5
• /
• pp.1567-1576
• /
• 2023

The reactor containment building (RCB) in nuclear power plants (NPPs) plays an important role in protecting the reactor systems from external loads as well as preventing radioactive leaking. As we witnessed the nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi (Japan) in 2011, the earthquake is one of the major threats to NPPs. The purpose of this study is to evaluate effects of concrete material models and presstressing forces on the seismic performance evaluation of RCB in NPPs. A typical RCB designed in Korea is employed for a case study. Detailed three-dimensional nonlinear finite element models of RCB are developed in ANSYS. A series of pushover analyses are then performed to obtain the pushover curves of RCB. Different capacity curves are compared to recognize the influence of different material models on the nonlinear behavior of RCB. Additionally, the effects of prestressing forces on the seismic performances of the structure are also investigated. Moreover, a set of damage states corresponding to damage evolutions of the structures is proposed in this study.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.83-91
• /
• 2021

Seismic designs for Korean nuclear power plants (NPPs) under earthquakes' design basis are noticed due to the recent earthquake events in Korea and Japan. Japan has developed the technologies and experiences of the NPPs through theoretical research and experimental verification with extensively accumulated measurement data. This paper describes the main features of the design-time history complying with the Japanese seismic design standard. Proper seed motions in the earthquake catalog are used to generate one set of design time histories. A magnitude and epicentral distance specify the amplitude envelope function configuring the shape of the earthquake. Cumulative velocity response spectral values of the design time histories are compared and checked to the target response spectra. Spectral accelerations of the time histories and the multiple-damping target response spectra are also checked to exceed. The generated design time histories are input to the reactor building seismic analyses with fixed-base boundary conditions to calculate the seismic responses. Another set of design time histories is generated to comply with Korean seismic design procedures for NPPs and used for seismic input motions to the same reactor containment building seismic analyses. The responses at the dome apex of the building are compared and analyzed. The generated design time histories will be also applied to subsequent seismic analyses of other Korean standard NPP structures.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 1997.10a
• /
• pp.90-97
• /
• 1997

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the seismic response characteristics of Wolsong nuclear power plant (NPP) structures for the Kyeongju earthquake(ML=4.3) occurred on June 26, 1997. The seismograms are obtained from five accelerographs of nuclear power plant at Wolsong, Kyeongbuk. The distance from the epicenter is about 25km. The peak acceleration (PA) due to the earthquake is 0.0235g, which is far lower value than that of design basis earthquake(DBE). The PA at the containment wall is about twice as large as that at free field. Also, the higher the accelerograph is located in, the larger the PA is measured to be From the response spectrum analysis, the dominant frequency of the response is close to 4 Hz, which is similar to the free field is poor because of contamination by high frequency waves as a result of reflection and diffraction between ground and NPP structure. We are of opinion that the accelerograph at the free field should be moved approximately twice the building dimension away from the containment structure.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
• /
• 2012.11a
• /
• pp.193-194
• /
• 2012

Construction work is affected by the weather; e.g. snowfall, rainfall and low-high ambient temperature, especially at a site in a severe climate. The influence of the weather is one of the possible reasons for delays in a construction schedule and quality deterioration. To protect the worksite from severe weather conditions, the temporary roof and wall could be installed on the outside of main structures designed in advance and the temporary structures could be took down after a period use. The greater coverage all-weather construction method is applied, the larger the effect. so, it is important and needs that the temporary roof and wall can be widely applied, designed to effectively about structure and layout.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
• /
• v.19 no.1 s.71
• /
• pp.93-103
• /
• 2006

It is absolutely essential that safety assessment of the containment buildings during service life because containment buildings are last barrier to protect radioactive substance due to the accidents. Therefore, this study describes an enhanced degenerated shell finite element(FE) which has been developed for nonlinear FE analysis of reinforced concrete(RC) containment buildings with elasto-plastic material model. For the purpose of the material nonlinear analysis, Drucker-Prager failure criteria is adapted in compression region and material parameters which determine the shape of the failure envelop are derived from biaxial stress tests. Reissner-Mindlin(RM) assumptions are adopted to develop the degenerated shell FE so that transverse shear deformation effects is considered. However, it is found that there are serious defects such as locking phenomena in RM degenerated shell FE since the stiffness matrix has been overestimated in some situations. Therefore, shell formulation is provided in this paper with emphasis on the terms related to the stiffness matrix based on assumed strain method. Finally, the performance of the present shell element to analysis RC containment buildings is tested and demonstrated with several numerical examples. From the numerical tests, the present results show a good agreement with experimental data or other numerical results.