• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.10
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• pp.3449-3459
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• 2021

With the increasing availability of high-performance computing (HPC) platforms, uncertainty quantification (UQ) and sensitivity analyses (SA) can be efficiently leveraged to optimize design parameters of complex engineering problems using modeling and simulation tools. The workflow involved in such studies heavily relies on HPC resources and hence requires pre-processing and post-processing capabilities of large amounts of data along with remote submission capabilities. The NEAMS Workbench addresses all aspects of the workflows involved in these studies by relying on a user-friendly graphical user interface and a python application program interface. This paper highlights the NEAMS Workbench capabilities by presenting a semiautomated coupling scheme between Dakota and any given package integrated with the NEAMS Workbench, yielding a simplified workflow for users. This new capability is demonstrated by running a SA of a turbulent flow in a pipe using the open-source Nek5000 CFD code. A total of 54 jobs were run on a HPC platform using the remote capabilities of the NEAMS Workbench. The results demonstrate that the semiautomated coupling scheme involving Dakota can be efficiently used for UQ and SA while keeping scripting tasks to a minimum for users. All input and output files used in this work are available in https://code.ornl.gov/neams-workbench/dakota-nek5000-study.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.339-346
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• 2019

In this research, applicability of electrochemical technology in removing nitrogenous compounds from solid waste landfill leachate was examined. Novel cathode material was developed at laboratory by introducing a Cu layer on Al substrate (Cu/Al). Al and mild steel (MS) anodes were investigated for the efficiency in removing nitrogenous compounds from actual leachate samples collected from two open dump sites. Al anode showed better performances due to the effect of better electrocoagulation at Al surface compared to that at MS anode surface. Efficiency studies were carried out at a current density of $20mA/cm^2$ and at reaction duration of 6 h. Efficiency of removing nitrate-N using Al anode and developed Cu/Al cathode was around 90%. However, for raw leachate, total nitrogen (TN) removal efficiency was only around 30%. This is due to low ammonium-N removal as a result of low oxidation ability of Al. In addition to the removal of nitrogenous compounds, reactor showed about 30% removal of total organic carbon. Subsequently, raw leachate was diluted four times, to simulate pre-treated leachate. The diluted leachate was treated and around 88% removal of TN was achieved. Therefore, it can be said that the reactor would be good as a secondary or tertiary treatment step in a leachate treatment plant.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.10
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• pp.3888-3896
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• 2022

Nuclear data is the basis of reactor physics analysis. This paper aim at studying the influence of major evaluated nuclear data libraries, CENDL-3.2, ENDF/B-VIII.0, JEFF-3.3, and JENDL-4.0u, on the neutronics modelling of CEFR start-up tests. Results show these four libraries have a good performance and consistency in the modelling CEFR start-up tests. The JEFF-3.3 results exhibit only an 8 pcm k_eff difference with the measurement. The difference in criticality is decomposed by nuclide, which shows the large overestimation of CENDL-3.2 is mainly from the cross-section of ⁵²Cr. Except for few cases, the calculation results are within 1σ of measurement uncertainty in control rod worth, sodium void reactivity, temperature reactivity, and subassembly swap reactivity. In the evaluation of axial and radial reaction distribution, there are about 65% of relative errors that are less than 5% and 82% of relative errors that are less than 10%.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.1254-1266
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• 2024

This study investigates the application of supercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO₂) direct-cycle micro modular reactors (MMRs) in primary frequency control (PFC), which is a scenario characterized by significant load fluctuations that has received less attention compared to secondary load-following. Using a modified GAMMA + code and a deep neural network-based turbomachinery off-design model, the authors conducted an analysis to assess the behavior of the reactor core and fluid system under different PFC scenarios. The results indicate that the acceptable range for sudden relative electricity output (REO) fluctuations is approximately 20%p which aligns with the performance of combined-cycle gas turbines (CCGTs) and open-cycle gas turbines (OCGTs). In S-CO₂ direct-cycle MMRs, the control of the core operates passively within the operational range by managing coolant density through inventory control. However, when PFC exceeds 35%p, system control failure is observed, suggesting the need for improved control strategies. These findings affirm the potential of S-CO₂ direct-cycle MMRs in PFC operations, representing an advancement in the management of grid fluctuations while ensuring reliable and carbon-free power generation.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.935-941
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• 2010

HANARO is an open-tank-in-pool-type Korean research reactor that generates 30MW of thermal power. It differs from power plant reactor in that the heat generated by HANARO is exhausted into the atmosphere through a secondary cooling tower, thus maintaining the core temperature constant. During every monthly inspection of the cooling tower, large vibrations that exceeded the permissible limit were observed at cooling fan gear reducer No. 4 of the cooling tower. The purpose of this study is to identify the origin of the large vibration and to repair it. FFT spectrum analysis is performed to identify the part that caused the large vibration. The results of the frequency analysis showed that the vibration frequency was 354 Hz, which is twice the natural frequency of the pinion gear. A check of the pinion gear revealed that there was a crack on the surface of the pinion gear. After the gear was replaced, the reducer operated normally.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.71-79
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• 2014

A parallelization of the bi-conjugate gradient solver for the pressure equation of the CUPID (component unstructured program for interfacial dynamics) code, which was developed for analyzing the components of a pressurized water-cooled reactor, was studied in a symmetric multi-processing system. The parallel performance was investigated for three typical parallel programming models (MPI, OpenMP, Hybrid) by solving incompressible backward-facing step flow at various grid resolutions. It was confirmed that parallel performance was low when problem size was small or the memory requirement for each thread was considerably higher than the cache memory. Furthermore, it was shown that MPI was better than OpenMP regardless of the problem size, and Hybrid was the best when the number of threads was relatively small.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.68-79
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• 1999

The YGN Units 3&4 plant conditions during shutdown operation were reviewed to identify the possible event scenarios following the loss of shutdown cooling (SDC) event. For the five cases of typical reactor coolant system (RCS) configurations under the worst event sequence, such as unavailable secondary cooling and no RCS inventory makeup, the thermal hydraulic analyses were performed using the RELAP5/MOD3.2 code to investigate the plant behavior following the event. The thermal hydraulic analyses include the estimation of time to boil, time to core uncovery, and time to core heat up to determine the containment closure time to prevent the uncontrolled release of fission products to atmosphere. The result indicates that the containment closure is recommended to be achieved within 42 minutes after the loss of SDC for the steam generator (SG) inlet plenum manway open case or the large cold leg open case under the worst event sequence. The containment closure time is significantly dependent on the elevation and size of the opening and the SG secondary water level condition. It is also found that the containment closure needs to be initiated before the boiling time to ensure the survivability of the workers in the containment. These results will provide useful information to operators to cope with the loss of SDC event.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.1802-1813
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• 2023

Conjugate heat transfer between liquid metal and solid is a common phenomenon in a liquid-metal-cooled fast reactor's fuel assembly and heat exchanger, dramatically affecting the reactor's safety and economy. Therefore, comprehensively studying the sophisticated conjugate heat transfer in a liquid-metal-cooled fast reactor is profound. However, it has been evidenced that the traditional Simple Gradient Diffusion Hypothesis (SGDH), assuming a constant turbulent Prandtl number (Pr_t,, usually 0.85 - 1.0), is inappropriate in the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations of liquid metal. In recent decades, numerous studies have been performed on the four-equation model, which is expected to improve the precision of liquid metal's CFD simulations but has not been introduced into the conjugate heat transfer calculation between liquid metal and solid. Consequently, a four-equation model, consisting of the Abe k - ε turbulence model and the Manservisi k_𝜃 - ε_𝜃 heat transfer model, is applied to study the conjugate heat transfer concerning liquid metal in the present work. To verify the numerical validity of the four-equation model used in the conjugate heat transfer simulations, we reproduce Johnson's experiments of the liquid lead-bismuth-cooled turbulent pipe flow using the four-equation model and the traditional SGDH model. The simulation results obtained with different models are compared with the available experimental data, revealing that the relative errors of the local Nusselt number and mean heat transfer coefficient obtained with the four-equation model are considerably reduced compared with the SGDH model. Then, the thermal-hydraulic characteristics of liquid metal turbulent pipe flow obtained with the four-equation model are analyzed. Moreover, the impact of the turbulence model used in the four-equation model on overall simulation performance is investigated. At last, the effectiveness of the four-equation model in the CFD simulations of liquid sodium conjugate heat transfer is assessed. This paper mainly proves that it is feasible to use the four-equation model in the study of liquid metal conjugate heat transfer and provides a reference for the research of conjugate heat transfer in a liquid-metal-cooled fast reactor.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.83-94
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• 2012

The research on microbial fuel cells (MFCs) needs various knowledge of different fields such as electrochemistry, microbiology, environmental engineering, and material engineering. Although electrochemically active bacteria are very diverse, the performance of MFCs is affected primarily by the structure of the reactor system. Thus, the development in the system architecture is critical to lower internal resistance and increase power generation for commercialization. This paper summarizes the principles of MFCs and demonstrates the infinite potential of MFCs in various applications including wastewater treatment, biosensors, biohydrogen production, remote power sources, implantable medical devices, etc.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.167-174
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• 1997

The method that the operating condition of Control Rod Drive Mechanism (CRDM) can be monitored without mounting sensors within CRDM housing was developed, and by using this developed method the closed-loop controller for the CRDM was designed which can optimize the performance and maximize the reliability of CRDM operation. Neural network is utilized as pattern recognition engine in detecting CRDM actuation. In this paper, most problems in previous open loop system are resolved. The control algorithms for closed-loop system ore developed and implemented within the hardware of timing controller based on microprocessor. All functions in the timing controller ore verified by means of real time CRDM simulator. The results show that the timing controller performs its intended functions properly.