• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제41권5호
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• pp.729-738
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• 2009

Given the evolution of High-Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor(HTGR) designs, the source terms for licensing must be developed. There are three potential source terms: fission products, actinides in the fuel and tritium in the coolant. It is necessary to provide first an inventory of the source terms under normal operations. An analysis of source terms has yet to be performed for HTGRs. The previous code, which can estimate the inventory of the source terms for LWRs, cannot be used for HTGRs because the general data of a typical neutron cross-section and flux has not been developed. Thus, this paper uses a combination of the MCNP, ORIGEN, and MONTETEBURNS codes for an estimation of the source terms. A method in which the HTR-10 core is constructed using the unit lattice of a body-centered cubic is developed for core modeling. Based on this modeling method by MCNP, the generation of fission products, actinides and tritium with an increase in the burnup ratio is simulated. The model developed by MCNP appears feasible through a comparison with models developed in previous studies. Continuous fuel management is divided into five periods for the feeding and discharging of fuel pebbles. This discrete fuel management scheme is employed using the MONTEBURNS code. Finally, the work is investigated for 22 isotope fission products of nuclides, 22 actinides in the core, and tritium in the coolant. The activities are mainly distributed within the range of $10^{15}{\sim}10^{17}$ Bq in the equilibrium core of HTR-10. The results appear to be highly probable, and they would be informative when the spent fuel of HTGRs is taken into account. The tritium inventory in the primary coolant is also taken into account without a helium purification system. This article can lay a foundation for future work on analyses of source terms as a platform for safety assessment in HTGRs.

• 한국소음진동공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국소음진동공학회 2007년도 춘계학술대회논문집
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• pp.197-201
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• 2007

Vibration characteristics of an annular cylindrical fuel rod, which was proposed as a candidate design of fuel's cross section for the ultra-high burnup nuclear fuel, according to the cross-sectional dimensions and the number of supports or the span length were analytically studied. Finite element(FE) modeling for the annular cross sectional fuel was based on the methodology, that have been proven by the test verification, for the conventional PWR nuclear fuel rod. A commercial FEA code, ABAQUS, was used for the FE modeling and analysis. A planar beam element (B21) that uses a linear interpolation was used for the fuel rod and a linear spring element for the spring and dimple of the SG. Natural frequencies and mode shape were calculated according to the preliminary design candidates for the fuel's cross sectional dimension and the number of span. From the analysis results, the design scheme of the annular fuel compatible to the present PWR nuclear reactor core was discussed in terms of the number of supports and fuel's cross section.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제42권5호
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• pp.576-581
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• 2010

KAERI (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) fabricated MOX (Mixed Oxide) fuel pellets as a cooperation project with PSI (Paul Scherrer Institut) for an irradiation test in the Halden reactor. The MOX pellets were fitted into fuel rods that included instrumentation for measurement in IFE (Institutt for Energiteknikk). The fuel rods were assembled into the test rig and irradiated in the Halden reactor up to 50 MWd/kgHM. The irradiated fuel rods were transported to the IFE, where ceramography was carried out. The fuel rods were cut transversely at the relatively higher burn-up locations and then the radial cross sections were observed. Micrographs were analyzed using an image analysis program and grain sizes along the radial direction were measured by the linear intercept method. Radial cracks in the irradiated MOX were observed that were generally circumferentially closed at the pellet periphery and open in the hot central region. A circumferential crack was formed along the boundary between the dark central and the outer regions. The inner surface of the cladding was covered with an oxide layer. Pu-rich spots were observed in the outer region of the fuel pellets. The spots were surrounded by many small pores and contained some big pores inside. Metallic fission product precipitates were observed mainly in the central region and in the inside of the Pu spots. The average areal fractions of the metallic precipitates at the radial cross section were 0.41% for rod 6 and 0.32% for rod 3. In the periphery, pore density smaller than 2 ${\mu}m$ was higher than that of the other regions. The grain growth occurred from 10 ${\mu}m$ to 12 ${\mu}m$ in the central region of rod 6 during irradiation.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제42권3호
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• pp.249-258
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• 2010

Recently, many utilities have considered interim dry storage of spent nuclear fuel as an option for increasing spent fuel storage capacity. Foreign nuclear regulatory committees have provided some regulatory and licensing requirements for relatively low- and medium-burned spent fuel with respect to the prevention of spent fuel degradation during transportation and interim dry storage. In the present study, the effect of cladding creep and hydride distribution on spent fuel degradation is reviewed and performance tests with high-burned Zircaloy-4 and advanced Zr alloy spent fuel are proposed to investigate the effect of burnup and cladding materials on the current regulatory and licensing requirements. Creep tests were also performed to investigate the effect of temperature and tensile hoop stress on hydride reorientation and subsequently to examine the temperature and stress limits against cladding material failure. It is found that the spent fuel failure is mainly caused by cladding creep rupture combined with mechanical strength degradation and hydride reorientation. Hydride reorientation from the circumferential to radial direction may reduce the critical stress intensity that accelerates radial crack propagation. The results of cladding creep tests at $400^{\circ}C$ and 130MPa hoop stress performed in this study indicate that hydride reorientation may occur between 2.6% to 7.0% strain in tube diameter with a hydrogen content range of 40-120ppm. Therefore, it is concluded that hydride re-orientation behaviour is strongly correlated with the cladding creep-induced strain, which varies as functions of temperature and stress acting on the cladding.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제45권7호
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• pp.847-858
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• 2013

Since 2001, a series of five irradiation test campaigns for atomized U-Mo dispersion fuel rods, KOMO-1, -2, -3, -4, and -5, has been conducted at HANARO (Korea) in order to develop high performance low enriched uranium dispersion fuel for research reactors. The KOMO irradiation tests provided valuable information on the irradiation behavior of U-Mo fuel that results from the distinct fuel design and irradiation conditions of the rod fuel for HANARO. Full size U-Mo dispersion fuel rods of 4-5 $g-U/cm^3$ were irradiated at a maximum linear power of approximately 105 kW/m up to 85% of the initial U-235 depletion burnup without breakaway swelling or fuel cladding failure. Electron probe microanalyses of the irradiated samples showed localized distribution of the silicon that was added in the matrix during fuel fabrication and confirmed its beneficial effect on interaction layer growth during irradiation. The modifications of U-Mo fuel particles by the addition of a ternary alloying element (Ti or Zr), additional protective coatings (silicide or nitride), and the use of larger fuel particles resulted in significantly reduced interaction layers between fuel particles and Al.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권8호
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• pp.2616-2628
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• 2021

The results of effective irradiation swelling in a wide range of burnup levels are numerically obtained for an inert matrix fuel, which are verified with DART model. The fission gas swelling of fuel particles is calculated with a mechanistic model, which depends on the external hydrostatic pressure. Additionally, irradiation and thermal creep effects are included in the inert matrix. The effects of matrix creep strains, external hydrostatic pressure and temperature on the effective irradiation swelling are investigated. The research results indicate that (1) the above effects are coupled with each other; (2) the matrix creep effects at high temperatures should be involved; and (3) ranged from 0 to 300 MPa, a remarkable dependence of external hydrostatic pressure can be found. Furthermore, an explicit multi-variable mathematic model is established for the effective irradiation swelling, as a function of particle volume fraction, temperature, external hydrostatic pressure and fuel particle fission density, which can well reproduce the finite element results. The mathematic model for the current volume fraction of fuel particles can help establish other effective performance models.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권2호
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• pp.423-429
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• 2021

The investigation of the utilization of enriched ²⁰⁸Pb as a coolant to enhance the performance of a long-life fast reactor with a Modified CANDLE (Constant Axial shape of Neutron flux, nuclide densities, and power shape During Life of Energy production) burnup scheme has performed. The analyzes were performed on a reactor with thermal power of 800 MegaWatt Thermal (MWTh) with a refueling process every 15 years. Uranium Nitride (enriched ¹⁵N), ²⁰⁸Pb, and High-Cr martensitic steel HT-9 were employed as fuel, coolant, and cladding materials, respectively. One of the Pb-nat isotopes, ²⁰⁸Pb, has the smallest neutron capture cross-section (0.23 mb) among other liquid metal coolants. Furthermore, the neutron-producing cross-section (n, 2n) of ²⁰⁸Pb is larger than sodium (Na). On the other hand, the inelastic scattering energy threshold of ²⁰⁸Pb is the highest among Na, ^natPb, and Bi. The small inelastic scattering cross-section of ²⁰⁸Pb can harden the neutron energy spectrum. Therefore, ²⁰⁸Pb is a better neutron multiplier than any other liquid metal coolant. The excess neutrons cause more production than consumption of ²³⁹Pu. Hence, it can reduce the initial fuel loading of the reactor. The selective photoreaction process was developing to obtain enriched ²⁰⁸Pb. The neutronic was calculated using SRAC and JENDL 4.0 as a nuclear data library. We obtained that the modified CANDLE reactor with enriched ²⁰⁸Pb as coolant and reflector has the highest k-eff among all reactors. Meanwhile, the ^natPb cooled reactor has the lowest k-eff. Thus, the utilization of the enriched ²⁰⁸Pb as the coolant can reduce reactor initial fuel loading. Moreover, the enriched ²⁰⁸Pb-cooled reactor has the smallest power peaking factor among all reactors. Therefore, the enriched ²⁰⁸Pb can enhance the performance of a long-life Modified CANDLE fast reactor.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권4호
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• pp.1439-1447
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• 2023

The fuel cycle characteristics of the IVG.1M reactor were studied within the framework of the research reactor conversion program to modernize the IVG.1M reactor. Optimum use of the nuclear fuel and reactor was achieved through routine methods which included partial fuel reloading combined with scheduled maintenance operations. Since, the additional problem in planning the fuel cycle of the IVG.1M reactor was the poisoning of the beryllium parts of the core, reflector, and control system. An assessment of the residual power and composition of spent fuel is necessary for the selection and justification of the technology for its subsequent management. Computational studies were performed using the MCNP6.1 program and the neutronics model of the IVG.1M reactor. The proposed scheme of annual partial fuel reloading allows for maintaining a high reactor reactivity margin, stabilizing it within 2-4 β_eff for 20 years, and achieving a burnup of 9.9-10.8 MW × day/kg U in the steady state mode of fuel reloading. Spent fuel immediately after unloading from the reactor can be placed in a transport packaging cask for shipping or safely stored in dry storage at the research reactor site.

• 분석과학
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• 제13권5호
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• pp.601-607
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• 2000

란탄은 사용후핵연료의 연소도 지표원소들 중 하나로써 이용되고 있다. $U_3Si/Al$ 사용후핵연료는 다량의 U과 Al 속에 미량의 La이 포함되어 있어 정량시 매질의 영향을 줄이기 위해 화학적 분리가 요구된다. La의 분리 및 측정을 위해 IC-ICP-MS를 이용하였으며, 우선 방사성 시료를 취급하기 위하여 유도결합 플라스마 질량분석기의 플라스마 부분 및 분리관을 방사선 차폐 글로브박스 내에 설치하였다. CG10 분리관과 ${\alpha}$-HiBA 용리액을 사용하여 U, Al, La 및 몇 가지 핵분열생성물 (Sr, Zr, Y, Mo, Ru, Pd, Rh, Cs, Ba, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu 및 Cd)의 머무름 거동을 살펴보았다. 0.2 M ${\alpha}$-HiBA 용리액에서 U과 Al이 초기에 용출되므로 분리관과 ICP-MS의 시료분무기 사이에 3방향 밸브를 연결하여 다량의 U과 Al이 ICP-MS로 유입되지 않도록 하므로써 매질의 영향을 줄일 수 있었다. 이 조건에서 La은 약 12분 정도에 분리 및 측정이 가능하였으며, $1-10{\mu}g/L$ (ppb)의 농도범위가 측청에 적합하였고 시료양을 $200{\mu}L$ 취할 경우 La의 검출한계는 $0.25{\mu}g/L$이었다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제13권4호
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• pp.264-276
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• 1981

TRIGA Mark-III 원자로의 핵특성을 실제운전상태와 유사하게 모사할 수 있는 해석절차를 개발하였다. 계산에 사용한 전산코드는 다군중성자확산 연소계산코드인 CITATION이고 채택한 중성자에너지군의 수는 TRIGA형 원자로에서 일반적으로 사용하는 7군(고속영역 3, 열영역 4)이다. 직접적인 3차원 계산이 현실적으로 불가능하므로 평면 2차원계산과 원통형 2차원 계산으로 3차원 효과를 기하였다. 연구로와 같이 노심이 작은 원자로에 대하여는 중성자평형에서 buckling에 의한 효과가 매우 크기 때문에 이를 정확하게 나타내는 방법의 개발에 중점을 두었다. 본 연구에서는 에너지군 또는 영역에 무관한 buckling을 중성자 수송이론으로 산출하는 전형적인 방법을 사용하지 않고 중성자 확산이론으로서 에너지군별, 영역별 buckling을 산출하였으며, 이를 이용하여 수행한 노심계산의 결과는 만족스러웠다. 계산시 노심은 원자로수조의 중앙부에 있는 것으로 하고 제어봉은 완전히 인출되었으며 동위원생산용 조사시료는 없는 것으로 가정하였다. 계산결과로서 연소에 따른 초과반응도가의 변화, 운전이력에 따른 Xe-135 독작용의 변화, 회전조사시료대의 반응도가를 산출하고 이를 실제 운전자료와 비교하였다. 또한 중성자속 및 출력분포, 노심 각 조사시설에서의 중성자 스펙트럼등에 대한 계산결과도 제시하였다.