• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제52권1호
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• pp.37-50
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• 2020

A passive containment cooling system (PCCS) has been developed as advanced safety feature for innovative power reactor (iPOWER). Passive systems are inherently less stable than active systems and the PCCS encountered the flashing-induced instability previously identified. The objective of this study is to develop stability maps for flashing-induced instability using MARS (Multi-dimensional Analysis of Reactor Safety) code. Firstly, we conducted a series of sensitivity analysis to see the effects of time step size, nodalization, and alternative MARS user options on the onset of flashing-induced instability. The riser nodalization strongly affects the prediction of flashing in a long riser of the PCCS, while time step size and alternative user options do not. Based on the sensitivity analysis, a standard input and an analysis methodology were set up to develop the stability maps of PCCS. We found out that the calculated equilibrium quality at the exit of the riser as a stability boundary above 5 kW/㎡ was approximately 1.2%, which was in good agreement with Furuya's results. However, in case of a very low heat flux condition, the onset of instability occurred at the lower equilibrium quality. In addition, it was confirmed that inlet throttling reduces the unstable region.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권6호
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• pp.2297-2310
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• 2022

A condensation heat transfer model is essential to accurately predict the performance of the passive containment cooling system (PCCS) during an accident in an advanced light water reactor. However, most of existing models tend to predict condensation heat transfer very well for a specific range of thermal-hydraulic conditions. In this study, a new correlation for condensation heat transfer coefficient (HTC) is presented using machine learning technique. To secure sufficient training data, a large number of pseudo data were produced by using ten existing condensation models. Then, a neural network model was developed, consisting of a fully connected layer and a convolutional neural network (CNN) algorithm, DenseNet. Based on the hold-out cross-validation, the neural network was trained and validated against the pseudo data. Thereafter, it was evaluated using the experimental data, which were not used for training. The machine learning model predicted better results than the existing models. It was also confirmed through a parametric study that the machine learning model presents continuous and physical HTCs for various thermal-hydraulic conditions. By reflecting the effects of individual variables obtained from the parametric analysis, a new correlation was proposed. It yielded better results for almost all experimental conditions than the ten existing models.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권8호
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• pp.2488-2498
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• 2021

The wall film-wise condensation plays an important role in the heat transfer processes of heat exchangers, refrigerators, and air conditioner. In the field of nuclear engineering, steam condensation is often utilized in safety systems to remove the core decay heat under both transient and accident conditions. In particular, passive containment cooling system (PCCS), are designed to ensure containment safety under severe accident conditions. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) scale analysis has been conducted to calculate the heat transfer rate of the PCCS. However, despite the increase in computing power, there are challenges in the long-term transient simulation of containment using CFD scale codes. In this study, a heat structure coupling between the CFD and system analysis codes was performed to efficiently analyze PCCS. In addition, the component unstructured program for interfacial dynamics (CUPID) was improved to analyze the condensation behavior of ternary gas mixtures. Thereafter, the condensation heat transfer on the primary side was calculated using the improved CUPID and CFD code, whereas that on the secondary side was simulated using MARS. Both the coupled codes were validated against the CONAN facility database. Finally, conjugate heat transfer simulations with wall condensation in the presence of non-condensable gases were appropriately performed.

• 에너지공학
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• 제7권1호
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• pp.122-130
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• 1998

A simplified heat transfer model for the cooling capability of the AP 600 PCCS is proposed I this paper. As the PCCS domain is covered with very thin and long water film, it is phenomenologically divided into 3 regions; water entrance effect region, asymptotic region, and air entrance effect region. As the length of the asymptotic region is estimated to be over 90% of the whole domain, the phenomena in the asymptotic region is focused. Using the analogy between heat and mass transfer phenomena in a turbulent situation, a new dependent variable combining temperature and vapor mass fraction was defined. The similarity between the PCCs phenomena in the asymptotic region and the buoyant air flow phenomena on a vertical heated plate is derived. Using the similarity, the simplified heat transfer correlations for the interfacial heat fluxes and the ratios of latent heat transfer to sensible heat transfer were established. To verify the accuracy of the correlation, the results of this study were compared with those of other numerical analyses performed for the same configuration and they are well within the range of 15% difference.

• 에너지공학
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• 제27권4호
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• pp.27-35
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• 2018

피동원자로건물냉각계통(PCCS)은 사고 발생 시 원자로건물로 방출된 열을 제거하여 원전의 건전성을 보장하기 위해 설계되었다. PCCS의 열제거 성능은 증기-공기 혼합물의 응축열전달에 의해 결정된다. 본 연구에서는 응축열전달계수의 예측 정확도를 향상시키기 위해 새로운 상관식을 이식한 MARS-KS 코드를 사용하여 PCCS의 열제거 성능을 평가하였다. MARS-KS 코드에 사용된 새로운 상관식은 압력, 벽면과냉도, 비응축성 기체 질량분율 및 응축튜브의 종횡비와 같은 열전달계수에 영향을 미치는 변수들을 이용하여 개발하였고, 이는 MARS-KS코드의 기본 응축 모델인 Colburn-Hougen 모델을 대체하여 적용되었다. 대형파단 냉각재상실사고 발생 시 PCCS의 운전에 따른 다양한 열수력학적 변수들을 분석하였고, 열제거 성능 평가를 위해 새로운 상관식이 적용된 MARS-KS 코드의 원자로건물 압력거동 계산결과와 기존의 응축모델을 이용한 해석결과를 비교하였다.

• 에너지공학
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• 제24권1호
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• pp.42-50
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• 2015

신형 원전의 피동격납건물냉각계통(PCCS: Passive Containment Cooling System)을 구성하는 단일 전열관의 열제거 성능을 평가하기 위해, 비응축성 기체 존재 시 수직 튜브 외벽에서 발생하는 증기의 응축 열전달에 대한 실험을 수행하였다. 외경 40 mm, 길이 1.0 m의 전열관 외벽에서 증기-공기 혼합물의 평균 열전달계수를 측정하였으며, 압력 2-4 bar, 공기의 질량분율 0.1-0.7의 범위에서 실험데이터를 수집하였다. 이를 통해 압력과 비응축성기체의 농도가 응축 열전달계수에 미치는 영향을 평가하였다. 실험결과를 기존의 열전달모델인 Uchida와 Dehbi의 상관식과 비교하였으며, 이들 상관식은 실험결과에 비해 상대적으로 열전달계수를 낮게 예측함을 확인하였다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제49권7호
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• pp.1431-1441
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• 2017

The Fukushima accident reveals the vulnerability of existing active nuclear power plant (NPP) design against prolonged loss of external electricity events. The passive safety system is considered an attractive alternative to cope with this kind of disaster. Also, the passive safety system enhances both the safety and the economics of NPPs. The adoption of a passive safety system reduces the number of active components and can minimize the construction cost of NPPs. In this paper, reflecting on the experience during the development of the APR+ design in Korea, we propose the concept of an innovative Power Reactor (iPower), which is a kind of passive NPP, to enhance safety in a revolutionary manner. The ultimate goal of iPower is to confirm the feasibility of practically eliminating radioactive material release to the environment in all accident conditions. The representative safety grade passive system includes a passive emergency core cooling system, a passive containment cooling system, and a passive auxiliary feedwater system. Preliminary analysis results show that these concepts are feasible with respect to preventing and/or mitigating the consequences of design base accidents and severe accidents.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권6호
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• pp.2375-2387
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• 2024

The passive safety systems (PSSs) within water-cooled reactors are meticulously engineered to function autonomously, requiring no external power source or manual intervention. They depend exclusively on inherent natural forces and the fundamental principles of reactor physics, such as gravity, natural convection, and phase changes, to manage, alleviate, and avert the release of radioactive materials into the environment during accident scenarios like a loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA). PSSs are already integrated into such operating commercial reactors as the Advanced Pressurized Reactor-1000 MWe (AP1000) and the Water-Water Energetic Reactor-1200 MWe (WWER-1200) are adopted in most of the upcoming small modular reactor (SMR) designs. Examples of water-cooled SMR PSSs are the passive emergency core-cooling system (ECCS), passive containment cooling system (PCCS), and passive decay-heat removal system, the designs of which vary based on reactor system-design requirements. However, understanding the accident-event progression and phases of a LOCA is pivotal for adopting a specific PSS for a new SMR design. This study covers the accident-event progression for direct vessel injection (DVI) small-break loss-of-coolant accident (SB-LOCA), associated physics phenomena, knowledge gaps, and important figures of merit (FOMs) that may need to be evaluated and assessed to validate thermal-hydraulics models with an available experimental dataset to support new SMR design and development.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권3호
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• pp.803-811
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• 2024

Nuclear accidents such as Fukushima Daiichi have highlighted the potential of passive safety systems to replace or complement active safety systems as part of the overall prevention and/or mitigation strategies. In addition, passive systems are key features of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), for which they are becoming almost unavoidable and are part of the basic design of many reactors available in today's nuclear market. Nevertheless, their potential to significantly increase the safety of nuclear power plants still needs to be strengthened, in particular the ability of computer codes to determine their performance and reliability in industrial applications and support the safety demonstration. The PASTELS project (September 2020-February 2024), funded by the European Commission "Euratom H2020" programme, is devoted to the study of passive systems relying on natural circulation. The project focuses on two types, namely the SAfety COndenser (SACO) for the evacuation of the core residual power and the Containment Wall Condenser (CWC) for the reduction of heat and pressure in the containment vessel in case of accident. A specific design for each of these systems is being investigated in the project. Firstly, a straight vertical pool type of SACO has been implemented on the Framatome's PKL loop at Erlangen. It represents a tube bundle type heat exchanger that transfers heat from the secondary circuit to the water pool in which it is immersed by condensing the vapour generated in the steam generator. Secondly, the project relies on the CWC installed on the PASI test loop at LUT University in Finland. This facility reproduces the thermal-hydraulic behaviour of a Passive Containment Cooling System (PCCS) mainly composed of a CWC, a heat exchanger in the containment vessel connected to a water tank at atmospheric pressure outside the vessel which represents the ultimate heat sink. Several activities are carried out within the framework of the project. Different tests are conducted on these integral test facilities to produce new and relevant experimental data allowing to better characterize the physical behaviours and the performances of these systems for various thermo-hydraulic conditions. These test programmes are simulated by different codes acting at different scales, mainly system and CFD codes. New "system/CFD" coupling approaches are also considered to evaluate their potential to benefit both from the accuracy of CFD in regions where local 3D effects are dominant and system codes whose computational speed, robustness and general level of physical validation are particularly appreciated in industrial studies. In parallel, the project includes the study of single and two-phase natural circulation loops through a bibliographical study and the simulations of the PERSEO and HERO-2 experimental facilities. After a synthetic presentation of the project and its objectives, this article provides the reader with findings related to the physical analysis of the test results obtained on the PKL and PASI installations as well an overall evaluation of the capability of the different numerical tools to simulate passive systems.

• 에너지공학
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• 제25권1호
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• pp.56-68
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• 2016

최근 원자력 발전소의 안전성을 획기적으로 향상시키기 위한 연구가 활발하게 진행되고 있으며 특히 피동냉각계통의 연구개발이 아주 중요하게 부각되고 있다. 피동냉각계통의 열전달 방식으로는 응축열전달 양식이 주로 채택되고 있다. 이와 같은 맥락에서 부산대학교 Ahn & Yun (Ahn 등, 2014)은 새로운 수평관내부 응축 모델을 제시한 바 있다. 본 연구에서는 먼저 Ahn & Yun 이 제시한 수평관 응축 모델을 MARS 코드에 삽입하고 PASCAL 실험데이터를 이용하여 평가하였다. 이 평가결과를 통해 Ahn & Yun 모델의 코드적용에 있어 문제점을 규명하고 새로운 적용방법론을 적용하여 다양한 실험데이터로 다시 평가함으로써 MARS 코드의 향상된 응축 열전달 해석 능력을 확인하였다.