• 한국안전학회지
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• 제35권3호
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• pp.96-104
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• 2020

The numerical simulations were conducted to investigate the thermal-fluid phenomena occurred inside the experimental apparatus during a PCCS, used to remove heat released in accidents from a containment of light water nuclear power plant, operation. Numerical simulations of the flow and heat transfer caused by wall condensation inside the containment simulation vessel (CSV), which equipped with 18 vertical heat exchanger tubes, were conducted using the commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software ANSYS-CFX. Shear stress transport (SST) and the wall condensation model were used for turbulence closure and wall condensation, respectively. The simulation using the actual size of the apparatus. However, rather than simulating the whole experimental apparatus in consideration of the experimental cases, calculation resources, and calculation time, the simulation model was prepared only in CSV. Selective simulation was conducted to verify the effects of non-condensable gas(NC gas) concentration, CSV internal pressure, and wall sub-cooling conditions. First, as a result of the internal flow of CSV, it was observed that downward flow due to condensation occurred surface of the vertical tube and upward flow occurred in the distant place. Natural convection occurred actively around the heat exchanger tube. Due to this rising and falling internal flow, natural circulation occurred actively around the heat exchanger tubes. Next, in order to check the performance of built-in condensation model using according to the non-condensable gas concentration, CSV internal flow and wall sub-cooling, the heat flux values were compared with the experimental results. On average, the results were underestimated with and error of about 25%. In addition, the influence of CSV internal pressure and wall sub-cooling was small, but when the condensate was highly generated due to the low non-condensable gas concentration, the error was large compared to the experimental values. This is considered to be due to the nature of the condensation model of the CFX code. However, in spite of the limitations of CFD, it is valid to use the built-in condensation model of CFD for PCCS performance prediction from a conservative perspective.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권3호
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• pp.1066-1080
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• 2024

SMART100 has a containment pressure and radioactivity suppression system (CPRSS) for passive containment cooling system (PCCS). This prevents overheating and over-pressurization of a containment through direct contact condensation in an in-containment refueling water storage tank (IRWST) and wall condensation in a CPRSS heat exchanger (CHX) in an emergency cool-down tank (ECT). The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) constructed scaled-down test facilities, SISTA1 and SISTA2, for the thermal-hydraulic validation of the SMART100 CPRSS. Three separate effect tests were performed using SISTA1 to confirm the heat removal characteristics of SMART100 CPRSS. When the low mass flux steam with or without non-condensable gas is released into an IRWST, the conditions for mitigation of the chugging phenomenon were identified, and the physical variables were quantified by the 3D reconstruction method. The local behavior of the non-condensable gas was measured after condensation inside heat exchanger using a traverse system. Stratification of non-condensable gas occurred in large tank of the natural circulation loop. SISTA2 was used to simulate a small break loss-of-coolant accident (SBLCOA) transient. Since the test apparatus was a metal tank, compensations of initial heat transfer to the material and effect of heat loss during long-term operation were important for simulating cooling performance of SMART100 CPRSS. The pressure of SMART100 CPRSS was maintained below the design limit for 3 days even under sufficiently conservative conditions of an SBLOCA transient.

• 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.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권4호
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• pp.1134-1145
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• 2021

A design parameter study is presented for the closed-loop type passive containment cooling system (PCCS) which is equipped with two heat exchangers: one installed at the inside of the containment and the other submerged in the water pool at the outside of the containment. A GOTHIC code model for PCCS performance analyses was set up and the design parameters such as the heat exchanger sizes, locations, and water pool tank volumes were analyzed to investigate the feasibility of installing this type of PCCS in PWRs like OPR-1000 being operated in Korea. We identified the size of the circulation loop and heat exchangers as major design parameters affecting the performance of PCCS. The analyses showed that the heat exchangers in the inside of the containment would be more influential on the heat removal capability of PCCS than that installed in the water pool at the outside of the containment. Hence, it was recommended to down-size the heat exchangers in the water pool to optimize PCCS without compromising its performance. Based on the parametric study, it was demonstrated that a closed-loop type PCCS could be designed sufficiently compact for installation in the available space within the containment of PWRs like OPR-1000.

• 대한기계학회논문집A
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• 제37권10호
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• pp.1251-1259
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• 2013

본 연구에서는 소듐냉각 고속로 붕괴열교환기(DHX)의 고온 설계 및 크리프-피로 손상 평가를 수행하였다. 제 4 세대 소듐냉각 고속로의 능동 및 피동 잔열제거계통에 설치되는 DHX와 한국원자력연구원의 STELLA-1 시험루프에 설치된 DHX에 대해 상세설계 및 3D 유한요소해석을 수행하고, 동 결과에 기초하여 고온설계 기술기준인 ASME Section III Subsection NH와 RCC-MR 코드를 따라 크리프-피로 손상평가를 수행하였다. 크리프-피로 손상평가 결과에 기초하여 두 설계기준에 대해 비교 분석하고, 설계 기술기준의 보수성 이슈에 대해 토의하였다.

• 한국에너지공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국에너지공학회 2002년도 추계 학술발표회 논문집
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• pp.133-140
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• 2002

Catalytic combustion known as one of the traditional oxidation methods of VOC gas is restricted to its applicable fields because of its reaction characteristics. But recently innovative improvement of catalytic endurance makes its applicable range broader from MEMs to industrial power generation. Therefore, control technologies based on the catalytic combustion characteristics are researched and developed dynamically. Especially, the stable control of catalytic combustion is an essential factor in a view of maximizing its efficiency. In this research, the fuel equivalence ratio and the preheating temperature of mixture gas is controlled by catalytic combustion system enhanced in heat transfer with high temperature heat exchanger. As a result the combustion characteristics of system was investigated, and both passive and active control type were compared and analyzed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권8호
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• pp.2499-2508
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• 2021

Passive containment cooling systems (PCCSs) have been actively studied to improve the inherent safety of nuclear power plants. Hered, we present two concepts, open-loop PCCS (OL-PCCS) and closed-loop PCCS (CL-PCCS), applicable to the PWR with a concrete-type containment. We analyzed the heat-removal performance and flow instability of these PCCS concepts using the GOTHIC code. In both cases, PCCS performance improved when a passive containment cooling heat exchanger (PCCX) was installed in the lower part of the containment building. The OL-PCCS was found to be superior in terms of heat-removal performance. However, in terms of flow instability, the OL-PCCS was more vulnerable than the CL-PCCS. In particular, the possibility of flow instability was higher when the PCCX was installed in the upper part of the containment. Therefore, the installation location of the OL-PCCS should be restricted to minimize flow instability. Conversely, a CL-PCCS can be installed without any positional restriction by adjusting the initial system pressure within the loop, which eliminates flow instability. These results could be used as base data for the thermo-hydraulic evaluation of PCCS in PWR with a large dry concrete-type containment.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제34권2호
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• pp.165-175
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• 2002

Effects of gap sizes (3.9-44.3 mm) of vertical annuli on nucleate pool boiling heat transfer of water at atmospheric pressure have been obtained experimentally. Through the study, tubes of the closed bottom have been investigated and results are compared with those of a single unconfined tube. According to the results, the annular condition gives much increase in heat transfer coefficient at moderate heat fluxes. The increase is much enhanced 3s the gap size decreases. At the same tube wall superheat (about 3.1 K) the heat transfer coefficient for the least gap size (i.e., 3.9 mm) is more than three times greater than that of the unconfined tube. However, deterioration of heat transfer occurs at high heat flux for confined boiling.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제48권1호
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• pp.268-273
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• 2016

An innovative safety concept for a light water reactor has been developed at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. It is a unique concept that adopts both a fast heat transfer mechanism for a small containment and a changing mechanism of the cooling geometry to take advantage of the potential, thermal, and dynamic energies of the cold water in the containment. It can bring about rapid cooling of the containment and long-term cooling of the decay heat. By virtue of this innovative concept, nuclear fuel damage events can be prevented. The ultimate heat transfer mechanism contributes to minimization of the heat exchanger size and containment volume. A small containment can ensure the underground construction, which can use river or seawater as an ultimate heat sink. The changing mechanism of the cooling geometry simplifies several safety systems and unifies diverse functions. Simplicity of the present safety system does not require any operator actions during events or accidents. Therefore, the unique safety concept of PX can realize both economic competitiveness and inherent safety.

• 한국태양에너지학회 논문집
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• 제22권4호
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• pp.107-119
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• 2002

A review on the papers published in the Korean Journal of Solar Energy between 2000 and 2002 has been done. Focus has been put on current status of research in the aspect of Insolation. Solar Collector and Storage System, Solar Heating and Cooling System, Solar Cell and Lighting System, Active and Passive Solar Building, Heat Transfer in Solar Energy and Natural Energy. The conclusions are as follows. 1) Many studies on Insolation were conducted to optimize the usage of Solar Energy. 2) A review of the recent studies on solar thermal shows that there were many papers on solar collector and storage system. However, studies on the HVAC system using solar energy were relatively insufficient. 3) To produce high efficient solar cell. various experimental and numerical papers were published. However studies on control system, solar cell and lighting were seemed to be insufficient. 4) Studies on using solar energy in passive solar buildings were widely carried out, however, studies based on synthetic analysis of buildings and BIPV were insufficient. 5) Studies on heat transfer were mainly about heat exchanger, performance of heat pipe and multi air conditioner. 6) Studies on energy resources except for solar energy, such as hydraulic power and wind power etc. were very few.