• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.121-132
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• 2003

To reduce the construction cost and enhance the safety of sodium cooled liquid metal reactors, various kinds of new design concepts were evaluated using the KALIMER operation condition. The required equipment sizes were set for plant electricity output to be similar to that of KALIMER. The evaluations were made focusing on the plant performance and implementation practicality. Each design concept was evaluated for the concept itself and design impacts to interfacing systems. Through the evaluation of the concepts, it was found that the most favorable design concept is the integrated steam generator with forced convection using lead bismuth as the intermediate heat transfer fluid between the primary sodium tube and feed water/steam tube in the steam generator.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.8
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• pp.3140-3153
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• 2022

A numerical feasibility study was conducted to investigate the thermal-hydraulic characteristics of a steam generator with corrugated plates for a small modular reactor. Accordingly, a one-dimensional thermal-hydraulic analysis code was developed based on the existing state-of-the-art thermal-hydraulic models and correlations for corrugated plate heat exchangers. Subsequently, the pressure loss, heat transfer, and instability characteristics of the steam generator with corrugated plates were investigated according to the chevron angle and mass flux. Additionally, the characteristics of rectangular and disk-type corrugated plate steam generators with equivalent heat transfer areas were analyzed. The steam generator with disk-type corrugated plates exhibited better performance in terms of pressure loss and heat transfer rate than the rectangular type. In addition, when the mass flux decreased from the onset of boiling points, reverse gradients of the total pressure change were observed in both types. Thus, it was confirmed that Ledinegg instability could occur in the steam generator with corrugated plates. However, it was dependent on the chevron angle, and the optimal chevron angle to minimize instability was 45° under the conditions of the present analysis.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.8
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• pp.3315-3329
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• 2024

Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) adopt the Helically Coiled Once-Through Steam Generators (OTSG) extensively for its compactness and higher heat transfer efficiency. As a heat exchanger between the primary side (reactor coolant system) and the secondary side (feedwater and steam system) of nuclear steam supply system, the inlet/outlet conditions both of shell side and tube side of OTSGs have significant impacts on overall system response. Considering the flexible operation of SMRs and heat application by extracting steam, a simulation tool for accurate prediction of the OTSG dynamic behaviors would be required for optimizing design and control. In this study, the OTSG dynamic simulation model has been developed. Mathematical governing equation has been derived by using moving boundary approach and a simulation module has been developed by using Modelica Language. The developed module has been compared with publicly available experimental results and benchmarked with MARS-KS calculation results. Also, it has been incorporated into the integrated SMR model (i.e., reactor core, primary side, secondary side) and dynamic behaviors with reactivity feedback and heat balancing have been investigated. In both of steady-state and transient conditions, it shows the promising accuracy.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.469-476
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• 2011

The inner surfaces of bundled inconel tubes from steam generators in South Korean nuclear power plants are contaminated with cobalt and abrasive blasting equipment has been developed to efficiently remove the cobalt. The principal parameters related to the efficient removal using this equipment are the type of abrasive, the distance from the nozzle, and the blasting time. Preliminary tests were performed using oxidized inconel samples which enabled the simulation of cobalt removal from the radioactive inconel samples. The oxygen in the oxidized samples and the cobalt in the radioactive inconel were removed more effectively using the blasting distance, blasting time, and a silicon carbide abrasive. Using the developed abrasive blasting equipment, the optimum decontamination conditions for radioactive inconel samples were blasting for more than 6 minutes using silicon carbides under 5 atmospheric pressures.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.111-121
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• 1995

A fuzzy control algorithm of bell-type membership functions and 9 rules is constructed for narrow range level control of steam generators in nuclear power plants. It is implemented at a field digital distributed controller, a Westinghouse-made controller called Westinghouse Distributed Processing Family(WDPF). Performance for level control of the developed fuzzy controller is compared with that of conventional controller, both at the field controller. For these comparisons, both the fuzzy control algorithm and the conventional PI control algorithm were carefully tuned. Also the sampling time for optimal performance was investigated. The results show that the fuzzy control algorithm is not only better in performance than the conventional algorithm but also much easier to be tuned by operators in the field.

• Laser Solutions
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.12-20
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• 2000

The nuclear steam generators are subjected to corrosion environmental condition during operation that can result in stress corrosion in the tube wall. If any tube wall degradation is recognized, the tube must be repaired by plugging or sleeving. For the sleeving repair, Nd : YAG laser welded sleeving technology is one of the most promising when considering radioactive working conditions in the nuclear power plant. In this paper, the laser welding characteristics of steam generator tube and sleeve materials are investigated. The effects of average laser power, laser energy, welding speed, pulse duration and frequency are evaluated. Based on these results, Nd : YAG laser welded sleeving repair was applied to the degraded steam generator tubes in real environment.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.47 no.7
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• pp.934-938
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• 2015

This technical note provides some considerations for the metallographic observation of intergranular attack (IGA) in Alloy 600 steam generator tubes. The IGA region was crazed along the grain boundaries through a deformation by an applied stress. The direction and extent of the crazing depended on those of the applied stress. It was found that an IGA defect can be misevaluated as a stress corrosion crack. Therefore, special caution should be taken during the destructive examination of the pulled-out tubes from operating steam generators.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.11b
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• pp.859-866
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• 2001

During the Pre-service Inspection for Wolsong Unit 3&4 in 1997/1998 respectively, 17 Distorted Roll Transition indications(over expanded beyond tubesheet secondary face) were identified at the Unit 4 (S/G B, D). Six(6) tubes out of these tubes were plugged in 1998. However the first Periodic Inspection identified additional 110 indications in 1999 and 2000. The additionally identified 110 indication call, not reported at the Pre-service Inspection, are; 2 Not-Finally-Expanded-Tubes and 108 Distorted Roll Transition tubes. Design limit of each Steam Generator tube Plugging is 6.4%. Plugging was performed by the Steam Generator manufacturer under the warranty. When Distorted Roll Transition indications were first identified on the Unit 4 in 1998 the degree of Over-expansion was measured using an inner dial-gage to make the disposition of Nonconformance report. 2 Not-Finally-Expanded-Tubes were plugged and 10 tubes out of 108 Distorted Roll Transition Tubes were also plugged as a preventive measure.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.397-408
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• 2001

A marine reactor shows very different thermal-hydraulic characteristics compared to a land- based reactor. Especially, study on the variation of flow field due to ship motions such as inclination, heaving and rolling is essential since the flow variation has great influence on the reactor cooling capability. In this study, the natural circulation characteristics of integral type marine reactor with modular steam generators were analyzed using computational fluid dynamics code, CFX-4, for inclined conditions. The numerical analyses are performed using the results of natural circulation experiments for integral reactor which are already conducted at Seoul National University. From the results, it was found that the flow rate in the ascending steam generator cassettes increases due to buoyancy effect. Due to this flow variation, temperature difference occurs at the outlets of the each steam generator cassettes. which is mitigated through downcomer by thermal mixing. Also, around the upper pressure header the flow from descending hot leg goes up to the ascending steam generator cassettes due to large natural circulation driving force in ascending steam generator cassettes. From this result, the increase of How rate in the ascending steam generator cassettes could be understood qualitatively.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.157-169
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• 2016

The structural integrity of tube bundles represents a major concern when dealing with high risk industries, such as nuclear steam generators, where the rupture of a tube or tubes will lead to the undesired mixing of the primary and secondary fluids. Flow-induced vibration is one of the major concerns that could compromise the structural integrity. The vibration is caused by fluid flow excitation. While there are several excitation mechanisms that could contribute to these vibrations, fluidelastic instability is generally regarded as the most severe. When this mechanism prevails, it could cause serious damage to tube arrays in a very short period of time. The tubes are therefore stiffened by means of supports to avoid these vibrations. To accommodate the thermal expansion of the tube, as well as to facilitate the installation of these tube bundles, clearances are allowed between the tubes and their supports. Progressive tube wear and chemical cleaning gradually increases the clearances between the tubes and their supports, which can lead to more frequent and severe tube/support impact and rubbing. These increased impacts can lead to tube damage due to fatigue and/or wear at the support locations. This paper presents simulations of a loosely supported multi-span U-bend tube subjected to turbulence and fluidelastic instability forces. The mathematical model for the loosely-supported tubes and the fluidelastic instability model is presented. The model is then utilized to simulate the nonlinear response of a U-bend tube with flat bar supports subjected to cross-flow. The effect of the support clearance as well as the support offset are investigated. Special attention is given to the tube/support interaction parameters that affect wear, such as impact and normal work rate.