• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.109-114
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• 2014

After the Fukushima accident in 2011, it was revealed that nuclear power plant has the vulnerability to SBO accident and its extension situation without sufficient cooling of reactor core resulting core meltdown and radioactive material release even after reactor shutdown. Many safety systems had been developed like PAFS, hybrid SIT, and relocation of RPV and IRWST as a part of steps for the Fukushima accident, however, their applications have limitation in the situation that supply of feedwater into reactor is impossible due to high pressure inside reactor pressure vessel. The concept of hybrid heat pipe with control rod is introduced for breaking through the limitation. Hybrid heat pipe with control rod is the passive decay heat removal system in core, which has the abilities of reactor shutdown as control rod as well as decay heat removal as heat pipe. For evaluating the cooling performance hybrid heat pipe, a commercial CFD code, ANSYS-CFX was used. First, for validating CFD results, numerical results and experimental results with same geometry and fluid conditions were compared to a tube type heat pipe resulting in a resonable agreement between them. After that, wall temperature and thermal resistances of 2 design concepts of hybrid heat pipe were analyzed about various heat inputs. For unit length, hybrid heat pipe with a tube type of $B_4C$ pellet has a decreasing tendency of thermal resistance, on the other hand, hybrid heat pipe with an annular type $B_4C$ pellet has an increasing tendency as heat input increases.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.35 no.10
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• pp.1265-1271
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• 2011

In this study, the safety of a rack structure was evaluated through seismic analysis considering fluid-structure interactions using a finite-element model. The rack structure was immersed under water, so it was influenced by the water. The fluid-structure interaction can be specified in terms of the hydrodynamic effect, which is defined as the added mass per unit length. Modal analysis and seismic analysis using the Floor Response Spectrum (FRS) were carried out under Operating Basis Earthquake (OBE) and Safe Shutdown Earthquake (SSE) conditions. The analytical maximum displacements of the rack structure were 0.29 and 0.36 mm under OBE and SSE conditions, respectively. The maximum stresses were 17.9 MPa under OBE conditions and 19.6 MPa under SSE conditions; these results corresponded to 23 % and 14% of the yield strength of the applied material, respectively.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.625-636
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• 2013

Pressing demands of economic competitiveness, the need for large-scale deployment, minimizing the need of human intervention, and experience from the past events and incidents at operating reactors have guided the evolution and innovations in reactor technologies. Indian innovative reactor 'AHWR' is a pressure-tube type natural circulation based boiling water reactor that is designed to meet such requirements, which essentially reflect the needs of next generation reactors. The reactor employs various passive features to prevent and mitigate accidental conditions, like a slightly negative void reactivity coefficient, passive poison injection to scram the reactor in event of failure of the wired shutdown systems, a large elevated pool of water as a heat sink inside the containment, passive decay heat removal based on natural circulation and passive valves, passive ECC injection, etc. It is designed to meet the fundamental safety requirements of safe shutdown, safe decay heat removal and confinement of activity with no impact in public domain, and hence, no need for emergency planning under all conceivable scenarios. This paper examines the role of the various passive safety systems in prevention and mitigation of severe plant conditions that may arise in event of multiple failures. For the purpose of demonstration of the effectiveness of its passive features, postulated scenarios on the lines of three major severe accidents in the history of nuclear power reactors are considered, namely; the Three Mile Island (TMI), Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents. Severe plant conditions along the lines of these scenarios are postulated to the extent conceivable in the reactor under consideration and analyzed using best estimate system thermal-hydraulics code RELAP5/Mod3.2. It is found that the various passive systems incorporated enable the reactor to tolerate the postulated accident conditions without causing severe plant conditions and core degradation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2011.10a
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• pp.411-414
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• 2011

This paper describes a tripple-mode DC-DC buck converter with DPSS Fucntion. The DC-DC buck converter operate in PWM(Pulse Width Modulation) mode at moderate to heavy loads(80mA~500mA), in PFM(Pulse Frequency Modulation)at light loads(1mA~80mA), and in LDO(Low Drop Out) mode at the sleep mode(<1mA). In PFM mode DPSS(Dynamic Partial Shutdown Strategy) is also employed to increase the efficiency at light loads. The triple-mode converter can thus achieve high efficiencies over wide load current range. The proposed DC-DC converter is designed in a CMOS 0.18um technology. It has a maximum power efficiency of 97.02% and maximum output current of 500mA. The input and output voltages are 3.3V and 2.5V, respectively. The chip size is $1465um{\times}895um$ including pads.

• Journal of KIISE:Software and Applications
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.120-133
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• 2000

Major obstruction of using formal methods for hybrid real-time systems in industry is the difficulty that engineers have in understanding and applying the quantitative methods in an abstract requirements phase. While formal methods technology in safety-critical systems can help increase confidence of software, difficulty and complexity in using them can cause another hazard. In order to overcome this obstruction, we propose a framework for qualitative requirements engineering of the hybrid real-time systems. It consists of a qualitative method for requirements specification, called QFM (Qualitative Formal Method), and a safety analysis method for the requirements based on a causality information, called CRSA (Causal Requirements Safety Analysis). QFM emphasizes the idea of a causal and qualitative reasoning in formal methods to reduce the cognitive burden of designers when specifying and validating the software requirements of hybrid safety systems. CRSA can evaluate the logical contribution of the software elements to the physical hazard of systems by utilizing the causality information that is kept during specification by QFM. Using the Shutdown System 2 of Wolsong nuclear power plants as a realistic example, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.6297-6304
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• 2015

Nuclear power plant decommissioning has attracted attention according to the shutdown decision of Kori 1 which is Korea's first nuclear power plant. Nuclear power plant decommissioning is the one who never experienced ever in our country. So, its process is difficult and time-consuming. In addition, it is difficult to determine the decommissioning quantity. This study proposed the plan that can be used in quantity take-off for nuclear power plant decommissioning using BIM technology being utilized in recent construction industry. As a result, we suggested the method of BIM-based quantity take-off such as the selection decommissioning method and process, setting up of BIM modeling environment, establishment of OBS & WBS, integrated BIM modeling, the definition of quantity property. The proposed plan can be utilized usefully from when permanent stopping nuclear power plant occurs intensively. Furthermore, the overseas nuclear power plant decommissioning project order also are expected through technology securement based on this plan.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.116-122
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• 2010

The fire protection system of nuclear power plants shall be designed, constructed and operated, through a defense-in depth criterion to suppress the leakage of radioactivity to the outside and to allow the safety shutdown function when a fire occurs. In order to achieve these purposes, most of countries abroad operating the nuclear power plants keep up the integrated regulations, however we have two guidelines, the fire protection service act and the nuclear energy act, as mandatory requirements to apply to the fire protection systems in nuclear power plants. It has shown that USA, Canada and Japan which have long experience in operating nuclear power plants have regulations integrated technically for fire protection system of nuclear power plants. It is proposed that the things once verified the risk analysis of the fire hazard by the nuclear law in the design for fire suppression system in plants should be authorized by the fire protection service act as an exception.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.2315-2324
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• 2023

Space nuclear reactors are becoming popular in deep space exploration owing to their advantages of high-power density and stability. Following the fourth-generation nuclear reactor technology, a conceptual design of the dual drum-controlled space molten salt reactor (D²-SMSR) is proposed. The reactor concept uses molten salt as fuel and heat pipes for cooling. A new reactivity control strategy that combines control drums and safety drums was adopted. Critical physical characteristics such as neutron energy spectrum, neutron flux distribution, power distribution and burnup depth were calculated. Flow and heat transfer characteristics such as natural convection, velocity and temperature distribution of the D²-SMSR under low gravity conditions were analyzed. The reactivity control effect of the dual-drums strategy was evaluated. Results showed that the D²-SMSR with a fast spectrum could operate for 10 years at the full power of 40 kWth. The D²-SMSR has a high heat transfer coefficient between molten salt and heat pipe, which means that the core has a good heat-exchange performance. The new reactivity control strategy can achieve shutdown with one safety drum or three control drums, ensuring high-security standards. The present study can provide a theoretical reference for the design of space nuclear reactors.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.575-600
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• 2024

During an earthquake on December 29th 2020, the Krško NPP automatically shutdown due to the trigger of the negative neutron flux rate signal on the power range nuclear instrumentation. From the time course of the detector signal, it can be concluded that the fluctuation in the detector signal may have been caused by the mechanical movement of the ex-core neutron detectors or the pressure vessel components rather than the actual change in reactor power. The objective of the analysis was to evaluate the sensitivity of the neutron flux at the ex-core detector position, if the detector is moved in the radial or axial direction. In addition, the effect of the core barrel movement and core inside the baffle movement in the radial direction were analysed. The analysis is complemented by the calculation of the thermal and total neutron flux gradient in radial, axial and azimuthal directions. The Monte Carlo particle transport code MCNP was used to study the changes in the response of the ex-core detector for the above-mentioned scenarios. Power and intermediate-range detectors were analysed separately, because they are designed differently, positioned at different locations, and have different response characteristics. It was found that the movement of the power range ex-core detector has a negligible effect on the value of the thermal neutron flux in the active part of the detector. However, the radial movement of the intermediate-range detector by 5 cm results in 7%-8% change in the thermal neutron flux in the active part of the intermediate-range detector. The analysis continued with an evaluation of the effects of moving the entire core barrel on the ex-core detector response. It was estimated that the 2 mm core barrel radial oscillation results in ~4% deviation in the power and intermediate-range detector signal. The movement of the reactor core inside baffle can contribute ~6% deviation in the ex-core neutron detector signal. The analysis showed that the mechanical movement of ex-core neutron detectors cannot explain the fluctuations in the ex-core detector signal. However, combined core barrel and reactor core inside baffle oscillations could be a probable reason for the observed fluctuations in the ex-core detector signal during an earthquake.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2020

In 2016, an earthquake occurred at Gyeongju, Korea. At the Wolsong site, the observed peak ground acceleration was lower than the operating basis earthquake (OBE) level of Wolsong nuclear power plant. However, the measured spectral acceleration value exceeded the spectral acceleration of the operating-basis earthquake (OBE) level in some sections of the response spectrum, resulting in a manual shutdown of the nuclear power plant. Analysis of the response spectra shape of the Gyeongju earthquake motion showed that the high-frequency components are stronger than the response spectra shape used in nuclear power plant design. Therefore, the seismic performance evaluation of structures and equipment of nuclear power plants should be made to reflect the characteristics of site-specific earthquakes. In general, the floor response spectrum shape at the installation site or the generalized response spectrum shape is used for the seismic performance evaluation of structures and equipment. In this study, a generalized response spectrum shape is proposed for seismic performance evaluation of structures and equipment for nuclear power plants. The proposed response spectrum shape reflects the characteristics of earthquake motion in Korea through earthquake hazard analysis, and it can be applied to structures and equipment at various locations.