• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.291-298
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• 2003

The KN-12 transport cask has been designed to transport 12 PWR spent nuclear fuel assemblies and to comply with the regulatory requirements for a Type B(U) package. The containment boundary of the cask is defined by a cask body, a cask lid, lid bolts with nuts, O-ring seals and a bolted closure lid. The containment vessel for the cask consists of a forged thick-walled carbon steel cylindrical body with an integrally-welded carbon steel bottom and is closed by a lid made of stainless steel, which is fastened to the cask body by lid bolts with nuts and sealed by double elastomer O-rings. In the cask lid an opening is closed by a plug with an O-ring seal and covered by the bolted closure lid sealed with an O-ring. The cask must maintain a radioactivity release rate of not more than the regulatory limit for normal transport conditions and for hypothetical accident conditions, as required by the related regulations. The containment requirements of the cask are satisfied by maintaining a maximum air reference leak rate of $2.7{\times}10^{-4}ref.cm^3s^{-1}$ or a helium leak rate of $3.3{\times}10^{-4}cm^3s^{-1}$ for normal transport conditions and for hypothetical accident conditions.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.187-201
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• 2002

The KN-12 cask is designed to transport 12 PWR spent nuclear fuels and to comply with the requirements of Korea Atomic Energy Act, IAEA Safety Standards Series No.57-1 and US 10 CFR Part 71 for a Type B(U)F package. It provides containment, radiation shielding, structural integrity, criticality control and heat removal for normal transport and hypothetical accident conditions. W.H 14$\times$14, 16$\times$16 and 17$\times$17 fuel assemblies with maximum allowable initial enrichment of 5.0 wt.%, maximum average burn-up of 50,000 MWD/MTU and minimum cooling time of 7 years being used in Korea will be loaded and subsequently transported under dry and wet conditions. A forged cylindrical cask body which constitutes the containment vessel is closed by a cask lid. Polyethylene rods for neutron shielding are arranged in two rows of longitudinal bore holes in the cask body wall. A fuel basket to accommodate up to 12 PWR fuel assemblies provides support of the fuels, control of criticality and a path to dissipate heat. Impact limiters to absorb the impact energy under the hypothetical accident conditions are attacked at the top and at the bottom side of the cask during transport. Handling weight loaded with water is 74.8 tons and transport weight loaded with water with the impact limiters is 84.3 tons. The cask will be licensed in accordance with Korea Atomic Energy Act 3nd fabricated in Korea in accordance with ASME B&PV Code Section 111, Division 3.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2001.11b
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• pp.766-771
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• 2001

The package used to transport radioactive materials, which is called by cask, must be safe under normal and hypothetical accident conditions. These requirements for the cask design must be verified through test or finite element analysis. Since the cost for FE analysis is less than one for test. the verification by FE analysis is mainly used. But due to the complexity of mechanical behaviors. the results depends on how users apply the codes and it can cause severe errors during analysis. In this paper, finite element analysis is carried out for the 9 meters free drop and the puncture condition of the hypothetical accident conditions using LS-DYNA3D and ABAQUS/Explicit. We have investigated the analyzing technique for the free drop impact test of the cask and found several vulnerable cases to errors. The analyzed results were compared with each other. We have suggested a reliable and relatively simple analysis technique for the drop test of spent nuclear fuel casks.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.251-261
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• 1997

A package to transport the high level radioactive materials is required to withstand the hypothetical accident conditions as well as normal transport conditions according to IAEA standards and domestic regulations. The regulations require that the package should maintain the shielding, thermal and structural integrities to release no radioactive material. In general, safety evaluation of packages is performed by experimental methods using scale model and/or analytical methods using computer codes. This paper presents the safety evaluation of package to transport the radioisotopes produced in the HANARO to the radioisotope production facility. Radiation shielding, thermal and structural analyses were peformed using the computer codes. It has been verified that the package is safe under hypothetical accident conditions as well as normal transport conditions.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.43-49
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• 2005

The package used to transport radioactive materials, which is called by the shipping cask, must be safe under normal and hypothetical accident conditions. These requirements for the cask design must be verified through test or finite element analysis. Since the cost for FE analysis is less than the one for test, the verification by FE analysis is mainly used. But due to the complexity of mechanical behaviors, the results depend on how users apply the codes and can cause severe errors during analysis. In this paper, finite element analysis is carried out for the 9 meters free drop condition of the hypothetical accident conditions using LS-DYNA3D and ABAQUS/Explicit. We have investigated the analyzing technique lot the free drop impact test of the cask and investigated several vulnerable cases. The analyzed results were compared with each other. We have suggested a reliable and relatively simple analysis technique for the drop test of spent nuclear fuel casks.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.56-65
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• 1989

The nuclear criticality of the KSC-4 shipping cask which can load four assemblies of PWR spent fuel was analyzed using KENO-IV computer code and 19-group nuclear cross section set generated from 218-group neutron cross section library(DLC-43/CSRL) using AMPX system. In accordance with 10CFR71, the analysis was performed for fresh fuel assemblies, instead of the spent fuels, under both norml transportation and hypothetical accident conditions. The calculated maximum multiplication factors(Keff) of the KSC-4 cask were 0.85289 and 0.94185 for the normal transportation and hypothetical accident conditions, respectively. The highest Keff of the KSC-4 cask is within the subcritical limit prescribed in l0CFR71 and accordingly the KSC-4 cask is safely designed in terms of nulear criticality.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.307-322
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• 2021

This study developed an analytical methodology for the mechanical integrity of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) cladding tubes under external pinch loads during transportation, with reference to the failure mode specified in the relevant guidelines. Special consideration was given to the degraded characteristics of SNF during dry storage, including oxide and hydride contents and orientations. The developed framework reflected a composite cladding model of elastic and plastic analysis approaches and correlation equations related to the mechanical parameters. The established models were employed for modeling the finite elements by coding their physical behaviors. A mechanical integrity evaluation of 14 × 14 PWR SNF was performed using this system. To ensure that the damage criteria met the applicable legal requirements, stress-strain analysis results were separated into elastic and plastic regions with the concept of strain energy, considering both normal and hypothetical accident conditions. Probabilistic procedures using Monte Carlo simulations and reliability evaluations were included. The evaluation results showed no probability of damage under the normal conditions, whereas there were small but considerably low probabilities under accident conditions. These results indicate that the proposed approach is a reliable predictor of SNF mechanical integrity.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.156-168
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• 2023

This study investigates the high temperature oxidation behaviour of a Ni-20Cr-1.2Si (wt.%) alloy in steam from 1200 ℃ to 1350 ℃ by Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD). The results demonstrate that exposed Ni-based alloy developed a thin oxide scale, consisted mainly of Cr₂O₃. The oxidation kinetics obtained from the experimental results was applied to evaluate the hydrogen generation considering a simplified reactor core model with different cladding alloys following an unmitigated Loss-Of-Coolant Accident (LOCA) scenario in a hypothetical Small Modular Reactor (SMR). Overall, experimental data and simulations results show that both Fe-based and Ni-based alloys may enhance cladding survivability, delaying its melting, as well as reducing hydrogen generation under accident conditions compared to Zr-based alloys. However, a substantial neutron absorption occurs when Ni-based alloys are used as cladding for current uranium-dioxide fuel systems, even when compared to Fe-based alloys.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.370-377
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• 2009

A simple preliminary analysis is often useful to check a validity of design alternatives before the detailed analysis phase in the viewpoint of efficiency. This paper describes a preliminary analysis procedure for the selection among basket design candidates for the spent fuel shipping cask of Korean standard nuclear power plant. As the cask should maintain the structural integrity in hypothetical accident condition, the case of 9 m drop is significantly considered as the worst scenario among the accident conditions in structural design viewpoint in this paper. As basket design options, totally four different types are considered and analyzed in the point of structural integrity at drop impact and weldability for fabrication. As a result, an insertion round plate type with densely spaced supports turns out to be the best in both of the viewpoints, though the weld plate type shows a bit more design margin.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.18-27
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• 2021

This study aims to develop an improved evaluation technology for assessing CANDU-6 safety. For this purpose, the multiple steam generator tube rupture (mSGTR) followed by an unmitigated station blackout (SBO) in a CANDU-6 plant was selected as a hypothetical event scenario and the analysis model to evaluate the plant responses was envisioned into the MARS-KS input model. The model includes logic models for controlling the pressure and inventory of the primary heat transport system (PHTS) decreasing due to the u-tubes' rupture, as well as the main features of PHTS with a simplified model for the horizontal fuel channels, the secondary heat transport system including the shell side of steam generators, feedwater and main steam line, and moderator system. A steady state condition was successfully achieved to confirm the stable convergence of the key parameters. Until the turbine trip, the fuel channels were adequately cooled by forced circulation of coolant and supply of main feedwater. However, due to the continuous reduction of PHTS pressure and inventory, the reactor and turbine were shut down and the thermal-hydraulic behaviors between intact and broken loops got asymmetric. Furthermore, as the conditions of low-flow coolant and high void fraction in the broken loop persisted, leading to degradation of decay heat removal, it was evaluated that the peak cladding temperature (PCT) exceeded the limit criteria for ensuring nuclear fuel integrity. This study is expected to provide the technical bases to the accident management strategy for transient conditions with multiple events.