• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.101-109
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• 2002

It is a very difficult to control the S/G(Steam Generator) levels for not only automatic operation mode but also manual operation made by operators in case of start up or low power plants. The object of this study is to develop and applicate a DCS(Digital Control System) that process the reliable control algorithm in order to control S/G levels automatically from a start-up to full power operation mode for nuclear power plants.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.30 no.5 s.248
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• pp.472-479
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• 2006

Recently, various methods have been developed to improve the performance of gas turbines for combined cycle power plants. This paper especially focused on the gas turbine with a reheat process. The purpose of this study is to analyze performance characteristics of a reheat-cycle gas turbine on both a design point and off-design operations. Results of the parametric study of this model show how operating and design parameters influence on the performance of the gas turbine. Moreover, possibilities for the analysis of off-design performance based on a self-generated compressor performance characteristic map are presented.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.86-91
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• 2021

Calculating the scrutable core damage frequency (CDF) of nuclear power plants is an important component of the seismic probabilistic safety assessment (SPSA). In this work, a simple approach is developed to calculate CDF from minimal cut sets (MCSs) with non-rare events. When conventional calculation methods based on rare event approximations are employed, the CDF of industry SPSA models is significantly overestimated by non-rare events in the MCSs. Recently, quantification algorithms using binary decision diagrams (BDDs) have been introduced to prevent CDF overestimation in the SPSA. However, BDD structures are generated from a small part of whole MCSs due to limited computational memory, and they cannot be reviewed due to their complicated logic structure. This study suggests a simple approach for scrutinizing the CDF calculation based on whole MCSs in the SPSA system analysis model. The proposed approach compares the new results to outputs from existing algorithms, which helps in avoiding CDF overestimation.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.1230-1244
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• 2022

This paper proposes an algorithm for signal validation using unsupervised methods in emergency situations at nuclear power plants (NPPs) when signals are rapidly changing. The algorithm aims to determine the stuck failures of signals in real time based on a variational auto-encoder (VAE), which employs unsupervised learning, and long short-term memory (LSTM). The application of unsupervised learning enables the algorithm to detect a wide range of stuck failures, even those that are not trained. First, this paper discusses the potential failure modes of signals in NPPs and reviews previous studies conducted on signal validation. Then, an algorithm for detecting signal failures is proposed by applying LSTM and VAE. To overcome the typical problems of unsupervised learning processes, such as trainability and performance issues, several optimizations are carried out to select the inputs, determine the hyper-parameters of the network, and establish the thresholds to identify signal failures. Finally, the proposed algorithm is validated and demonstrated using a compact nuclear simulator.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.379-387
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• 1999

During the past several decades, electricity generating plant increased with remarkable rapidity in Korea. Recently the increase has been much more rapid as the rate of industrialization has accelerated. Construction of nuclear power plants in coastal areas inevitably caused the perturbation of critical coastal habitats and thus influenced marine algal species composition. Particularly, an increase in the building of nuclear power plants led the amounts of heat discharged to increase exponentially. As far as the effects of cooling water and thermal discharges are concerned, benthic marine algae are likely to be vulnerable to a discharge. Heated effluents from nuclear power plants, with the temperature rises of 7~12$^{\circ}C$ under normal operating and design conditions, are discharged through the discharge canal and into natural water bodies. It is clear that the characteristic marine algal community is developed in the area affected by the thermal discharges; i.e. low species richness and low species diversity. Nevertheless, it is worthwhile to note that elevated temperatures exert differential effects depending on the algal populations. Benthic marine algae grown at the discharge canal can be regarded as warm tolerant species. 35 species (4 blue-green, 9 green, 8 brown and 14 red algae) of marine algae occurred more than 20eye frequency at discharge canal of three nuclear power plants in the east coast during 1992 ~ 1998 and thus can be categorized as warm tolerant species in Korea. To minimize the ecological impacts of waste heat on benthic marine algae, it is recommended that, in the future, nuclear power plants will have to employ some form of closed-cycle cooling for the condensers.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.114-123
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• 2009

The species composition and biomass of coralline algae around three (Uljin, Wolseong and Gori) nuclear power plants on the east coast of Korea were investigated seasonally from February 1997 to October 2006. As a result, 13 species of coralline algae were found during the past ten years. Among them, Corallina pilulifera, C. officinalis, Amphiroa zonata and Pneophyllum zostericolum were common species that occurred more than 50% in frequency during the study period. Species number of coralline algae were between 10$\sim$12 species at the breakwaters near the outfalls of power plants and 8$\sim$12 species at the control area, and differences in species composition were not observed among study sites. Seasonal fluctuations of mean biomass were 0$\sim$2,530 g dry wt m$^{-2}$ and dominant species in biomass was Corallina pilulifera at all the study sites. The breakwaters of power plants generally had a greater coralline algal biomass than the control area. Biomass proportions of coralline algae at the breakwaters of power plants were also higher than those at the control area. At the Uljin sites, particularly, biomass of coralline algae showed greatest in summer and biomass proportion showed highest during the summer season. Differences in the spatio-temporal patterns of coralline algae around three nuclear power plants on the east coast of Korea were presumably due to the regional temperature variations.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.261-269
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• 2012

Objective: The aim of this study is to develop an analysis method to extract plausible types of errors when using a smart mobile in nuclear power plants. Background: Smart mobiles such as a smart-phone and a tablet computer(smart-pad) are to be introduced to the various industries. Nuclear power plant like APR1400 already adopted many up-to-date digital devices within its main control room. With this trend, various types of smart mobiles will be inevitably introduced to the nuclear field in the near future. However nuclear power plants(NPPs) should be managed considering a big risk as a result of the trend not only economically but also socially compared to the other industrial systems. It is formally required to make sure to reasonably prevent the all hazards due to the introduction of new technologies and devices before the application to the specific tasks in nuclear power plants. Method: We define interaction segments(IS) as a main architect of interaction description, and enumerate all plausible error segments(ES) for a part of design evaluation of digital devices. Results: We identify various types of interaction errors which are coped with reasonably by interaction design using smart mobiles. Conclusion: According to the application result of the proposed method, we conclude that the proposed method can be utilized to specify the requirements to the human error hazards in digital devices, and to conduct a human factors review during the design of digital devices. Application: The proposed method can be applied to predict the human errors of the tasks related to the digital devices; therefore we can ensure the safety to apply the digital devices to be introduced to NPPs.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.200-208
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• 2011

KHNP (Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co.) defines and manages equipment of Nuclear Power Plants systematically with functional importance determination of each equipment for efficient maintenance and optimal preventive maintenance. But the existing functional importance determinations have some different results between the plants, systems and engineers due to gap of understanding of classification criteria because they have been done in terms of equipment level rather than function level. so that caused the repeated work. To make up for this problem improve methodology of functional importance determination using MR (Maintenance Rule) and do classification of equipment for new nuclear power plants based on function level. In addition, methodical documentation for basis of importance determination is done to help that system engineers can easily understand and use.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.269-277
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• 2015

In recent years, concern about the decommissioning of nuclear power plants has been growing according to the nuclear power plants aging. Although site reuse is one of the most important issues in doing decommissioning of nuclear power plants in view of the internal affairs, there is currently no specific standard of the site release criteria for site reuse in the Republic of Korea. In this study, we analyzed the international safety standards for the site release(IAEA's Safety Guide No. WS-G-5.1) and the present domestic condition. Also, we studied the site release criteria and real life examples about advanced countries such as United states and Europe, which already have experience of decommissioning or site release. As a results of the study, we suggested proper standards and future consideration to establish site release criteria. This will be used for preliminary data for establishing the domestic site release criteria after the decommissioning of nuclear power plants.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.44 no.8
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• pp.919-928
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• 2012

The applications of computers and communication system and network technologies in nuclear power plants have expanded recently. This application of digital technologies to the instrumentation and control systems of nuclear power plants brings with it the cyber security concerns similar to other critical infrastructures. Cyber security risk assessments for digital instrumentation and control systems have become more crucial in the development of new systems and in the operation of existing systems. Although the instrumentation and control systems of nuclear power plants are similar to industrial control systems, the former have specifications that differ from the latter in terms of architecture and function, in order to satisfy nuclear safety requirements, which need different methods for the application of cyber security risk assessment. In this paper, the characteristics of nuclear power plant instrumentation and control systems are described, and the considerations needed when conducting cyber security risk assessments in accordance with the lifecycle process of instrumentation and control systems are discussed. For cyber security risk assessments of instrumentation and control systems, the activities and considerations necessary for assessments during the system design phase or component design and equipment supply phase are presented in the following 6 steps: 1) System Identification and Cyber Security Modeling, 2) Asset and Impact Analysis, 3) Threat Analysis, 4) Vulnerability Analysis, 5) Security Control Design, and 6) Penetration test. The results from an application of the method to a digital reactor protection system are described.