• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.41 no.2
• /
• pp.155-159
• /
• 2016

Background: Nuclear reactors produce a great number of antielectron neutrinos mainly from beta-decay chains of fission products. Such neutrinos have energies mostly in MeV range. We are interested in neutrinos in a region of keV, since they may take part in special weak interactions. We calculate reactor antineutrino spectra especially in the low energy region. In this work we present neutrino spectrum from a typical pressurized water reactor (PWR) reactor core. Materials and Methods: To calculate neutrino spectra, we need information about all generated nuclides that emit neutrinos. They are mainly fission fragments, reaction products and trans-uranium nuclides that undergo negative beta decay. Information in relation to trans-uranium nuclide compositions and its evolution in time (burn-up process) were provided by a reactor code MVP-BURN. We used typical PWR parameter input for MVP-BURN code and assumed the reactor to be operated continuously for 1 year (12 months) in a steady thermal power (3.4 GWth). The PWR has three fuel compositions of 2.0, 3.5 and 4.1 wt% $^{235}U$ contents. For preliminary calculation we adopted a standard burn-up chain model provided by MVP-BURN. The chain model treated 21 heavy nuclides and 50 fission products. The MVB-BURN code utilized JENDL 3.3 as nuclear data library. Results and Discussion: We confirm that the antielectron neutrino flux in the low energy region increases with burn-up of nuclear fuel. The antielectron-neutrino spectrum in low energy region is influenced by beta emitter nuclides with low Q value in beta decay (e.g. $^{241}Pu$) which is influenced by burp-up level: Low energy antielectron-neutrino spectra or emission rates increase when beta emitters with low Q value in beta decay accumulate Conclusion: Our result shows the flux of low energy reactor neutrinos increases with burn-up of nuclear fuel.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.41 no.4
• /
• pp.354-358
• /
• 2016

Background: To find out the leak characteristic of research reactor 'HANARO' building in a typhoon condition Materials and Methods: MELCOR code which normally is used to simulate severe accident behavior in a nuclear power plant was used to simulate the leak rate of air and fission products from reactor hall after the shutdown of the ventilation system of HANARO reactor building. For the simulation, HANARO building was designed by MELCOR code and typhoon condition passed through Daejeon in 2012 was applied. Results and Discussion: It was found that the leak rate is $0.1%{\cdot}day^{-1}$ of air, $0.004%{\cdot}day^{-1}$ of noble gas and $3.7{\times}10^{-5}%{\cdot}day^{-1}$ of aerosol during typhoon passing. The air leak rate of $0.1%{\cdot}day^{-1}$ can be converted into $1.36m^3{\cdot}hr^{-1}$, but the design leak rate in HANARO safety analysis report was considered as $600m^3{\cdot}hr^{-1}$ under the condition of $20m{\cdot}sec^{-1}$ wind speed outside of the building by typhoon. Conclusion: Most of fission products during the maximum hypothesis accident at HANARO reactor will be contained in the reactor hall, so the direct radiation by remained fission products in the reactor hall will be the most important factor in designing emergency preparedness for HANARO reactor.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.15-35
• /
• 1983

High voltage paper-electrophoresis of fission products from 24 hour neutron-irradiated and 150 days-decayed 90% highly enriched uranyl nitrate solution has been carried out by using the specially designed migration apparatus. The separation of Zr-95 and Nb-95 from the other fission products is possible under the migration condition of 0.1 $M-HClO_4$ (pH=0.85), 0.05 M-HCl+0.09M-KCl (pH=0.9), 0.1M-HCl (pH=1.1) and 0.01 M-HCl (pH=2.0). Zr-95 and Nb-95 are separated out at+1cm from the fiducial point. The separation of Zr-95 and Nb-95 from each other is possible under the migration condition of 0.1 $M-HClO_4$, 0.05 M-HCl+0.09 M-KCl, 0.1 M-HCl and 0.1 M-HAc+0.1 M-NaAc (pH=4.68) together with 2% ammonium oxalate. Nb-95 is separated out at $-6{\sim}-7cm$ from the fiducial point and Zr-95 at $+1{\sim}-lcm$. The separation of Ru-103 from the other fission products is possible under the migration condition of 0.025 $M-Na_2CO_3+0.025\;M-NaHCO_3$ (pH=10.0), 0.01M-$Na_3PO_4$ (pH=11.7) and 0.1 M-NaOH (pH=13.2). Ru-103 migrates towards the anode -6cm, -4cm and -3cm, respectively.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.47 no.1
• /
• pp.1-10
• /
• 2015

After the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (NPP) accident, new regulatory requirements were enforced in July 2013 and a backfit was required for all existing nuclear power plants. It is required to take measures to prevent severe accidents and mitigate their radiological consequences. The Regulatory Standard and Research Department, Secretariat of Nuclear Regulation Authority (S/NRA/R) has been conducting numerical studies and experimental studies on relevant severe accident phenomena and countermeasures. This article highlights fission product (FP) release and hydrogen risk as two major areas. Relevant activities in the S/NRA/R are briefly introduced, as follows: 1. For FP release: Identifying the source terms and leak mechanisms is a key issue from the viewpoint of understanding the progression of accident phenomena and planning effective countermeasures that take into account vulnerabilities of containment under severe accident conditions. To resolve these issues, the activities focus on wet well venting, pool scrubbing, iodine chemistry (in-vessel and ex-vessel), containment failure mode, and treatment of radioactive liquid effluent. 2. For hydrogen risk: because of three incidents of hydrogen explosion in reactor buildings, a comprehensive reinforcement of the hydrogen risk management has been a high priority topic. Therefore, the activities in evaluation methods focus on hydrogen generation, hydrogen distribution, and hydrogen combustion.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.56 no.7
• /
• pp.2641-2649
• /
• 2024

Effective management of slightly used nuclear fuel (SUNF) is crucial for both technical and public acceptance reasons. SUNF management, radiotoxicity risk, and associated financial investment and technological capabilities are major concerns in nuclear power production. Reducing the volume of SUNF can simplify its management, and one possible solution is utilizing small modular reactors (SMR) and advanced fuel designs like those with thorium. This research focuses on studying the neutronic performance and radionuclide inventory of three different thorium fuel configurations. The mass of fissile material in thorium-based fuel significantly impacts Kinf, burn-up, and neutron energy spectrum. Compared to uranium, thorium as a fuel produces far fewer transuranic elements and less long-lived fission products (LLFPs) at the end of the core cycle (EOC). However, certain fission product elements produced from thorium-based fuel exhibit higher radioactivity at the beginning of the core cycle (BOC). Physical separation of thorium and uranium in the fuel block, like seed-and-blanket units (SBU) and duplex fuel designs, generate less radioactive waste with lower radioactivity and longer cycle lengths than homogeneous or mixed thorium-uranium fuel. Furthermore, the SBU and duplex feel designs exhibit comparable neutron spectra, leading to negligible differences in SUNF production between the two.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
• /
• 2003.10a
• /
• pp.342.2-342.2
• /
• 2003

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
• /
• 2005.10a
• /
• pp.280-281
• /
• 2005

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
• /
• 2005.10a
• /
• pp.173-174
• /
• 2005

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
• /
• 2017.05a
• /
• pp.287-288
• /
• 2017

• The Korean Journal of Zoology
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.85-91
• /
• 1968

Artificial and natural radioactivity in airborne, rain-out and fallout dusts in Seoul district in the period of 1963-1967 were studied by measuring gross-activity and by analyzing nuclides by means of $\\gamma$-spectrometry. Short-lived radium and thorium decay products give rise to most of the airborne activity unless the fission product concentration is extremely high and it is likely to be said activity remaining after a few days is attributable to fission products. Of seven Chinese nuclear explosions performed at Lop Nor, Sinkiang Province, two exhibited the activity of extremely high concentration of fission product and reached Seoul district around 30 hours after the explosion. The activity was followed by a sudden decrease in less than a week, in contrast to the long-lasted activity of low concentration originating from the huge tests performed by the United States and the USSR in 1956-1962. The radioactive environmental contamination in Seoul district, due to the Chiness nuclear test explosions, largely depends on the height above the earth at which the nuclear explosion is performed and the type of nuclear device as well as the weather system at the time and immediately after the explosion, especially the jet stream in middle latitude in the upper troposphere.