• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.1398-1406
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• 2024

The control rod worth is a key safety parameter required to be measured in commercial pressurized water reactors (PWRs). Conventionally, the control rod worth is measured after reaching the critical state, which occupies the considerable time in the zero-power physics test. In this study, an efficient control-rod worth measurement technique has been proposed based on the improved neutron-source multiplication method, which can be implemented with the source-range detector count rates in the subcritical states. Moreover, the noise reduction technique has been adopted to smooth the large fluctuation existing in the original signals. In order to verify the engineering performance of the proposed measurement technique, the measured source-range detector count rates during the rod withdrawal process before reaching critical state in a CNP1000 reactor have been employed. It demonstrated that almost all estimated results of control rod worth satisfy the engineering acceptance criteria, except one control rod with the relative difference over 10 %, which indicates the capability of the proposed method in estimating control rod worth.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.163-170
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• 2023

Since spent nuclear fuel assemblies (SFA) are transported to interim storage or final disposal facility after cooling the decay heat, finite element analysis (FEA) with simplification is widely used to show their integrity against cladding failure to cause dispersal of radioactive material. However, there is a lack of research addressing the comprehensive impact of shape and element simplification on analysis results. In this study, for the optimization of a typical pressurized water reactor SFA, different types of finite element models were generated by changing number of fuel rods, fuel rod element type and assembly length. A series of FEA in use of these different models were conducted under a shock load data obtained from surrogate fuel assembly transportation test. Effects of number of fuel rods, element type and length of assembly were also analyzed, which shows that the element type of fuel rod mainly affected on cladding strain. Finally, an optimal finite element model was determined for other practical application in the future.

• Advances in Energy Research
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.91-105
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• 2017

Thermal hydraulic (TH) analysis of nuclear power reactors is utmost important. In this way, the numerical codes that preparing TH data in reactor core are essential. In this paper, a subchannel analysis of a Russian pressurized water reactor (WWER1000) core with enhanced numerical code is carried out. For this, in fluid domain, the mass, axial and lateral momentum and energy conservation equations for desired control volume are solved, numerically. In the solid domain, the cylindrical heat transfer equation for calculation of radial temperature profile in fuel, gap and clad with finite difference and finite element solvers are considered. The dependence of material properties to fuel burnup with Calza-Bini fuel-gap model is implemented. This model is coupled with Isotope Generation and Depletion Code (ORIGEN2.1). The possibility of central hole consideration in fuel pellet is another advantage of this work. In addition, subchannel to subchannel and subchannel to rod connection data in hexagonal fuel assembly geometry could be prepared, automatically. For a demonstration of code capability, the steady state TH analysis of a the WWER1000 core is compromised with Thermal-hydraulic analysis code (COBRA-EN). By thermal hydraulic parameters averaging Fuel Assembly-to-Fuel Assembly method, the one sixth (symmetry) of the Boushehr Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) core with regular subchannels are modeled. Comparison between the results of the work and COBRA-EN demonstrates some advantages of the presented code. Using the code the thermal modeling of the fuel rods with considering the fission gas generation would be possible. In addition, this code is compatible with neutronic codes for coupling. This method is faster and more accurate for symmetrical simulation of the core with acceptable results.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.352-362
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• 1991

Recent popular trends in pressurized water reactor(PWR) fuel management are to extend the cycle length and to employ the low-leakage core designs for the optimal utilization of the uranium resources. In control strategy incorporated with the fuel management, turnable absorbers are required to control the power peaking and to ensure a negative moderator temperature coefficient during reactor operation. In this study, the nuclear characteristics and the optimal allocation of gadolinium-poisoned rods within the fuel assembly are considered using KWU SAV 79 A Code Package. First, analyses are carried out to compare the nuclear characteristics of the fuel assemblies contain-ing WABA(Wet Annular Burnable Absorber) and Gadolinium burnable absorbers respectively. The analyses show that the gadolinium-bearing fuel assembly has peculiar depletion characteristics ensuing from the very large thermal neutron absorption cross section. Peculiar characteristics of gadolinium provide basis for the optimal allocation of Gd rods in fuel assembly. Second, the methodology of an optimal allocation of gadolinium-poisoned rods within the fuel assembly is developed and applied to some nuclear designs.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.40-44
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• 2015

Sensitivity on the reactor safety was evaluated for the safety margin and time delay applied to the opening pressure of liquid relief valve(LRV) of the primary heat transport system(PHTS) in the pressurized heavy water reactor(PHWR) type nuclear power plant. Since the LRV is the pressure boundary for the PHTS in the safety analysis, the operating of LRV has a significant effect on the safety analysis results. Therefore it is required during the regulatory review of Wolsong Unit 1 safety analysis to find the safety effect of the application of safety margin and time delay to the LRV opening pressure for the safety analysis of PHTS pressurizing events.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.1184-1191
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• 2016

This paper introduces the development of a transient monitoring system to detect the early stage of a transient, to identify the type of the transient scenario, and to inform an operator with the remaining time to turbine trip when there is no operator's relevant control. This study focused on the transients originating from a secondary system in nuclear power plants (NPPs), because the secondary system was recognized to be a more dominant factor to make unplanned turbine-generator trips which can ultimately result in reactor trips. In order to make the proposed methodology practical forward, all the transient scenarios registered in a simulator of a 1,000 MWe pressurized water reactor were archived in the transient pattern database. The transient patterns show plant behavior until turbine-generator trip when there is no operator's intervention. Meanwhile, the operating data periodically captured from a plant computer is compared with an individual transient pattern in the database and a highly matched section among the transient patterns enables isolation of the type of transient and prediction of the expected remaining time to trip. The transient pattern database consists of hundreds of variables, so it is difficult to speedily compare patterns and to draw a conclusion in a timely manner. The transient pattern database and the operating data are, therefore, converted into a smaller dimension using the principal component analysis (PCA). This paper describes the process of constructing the transient pattern database, dealing with principal components, and optimizing similarity measures.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.36-46
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• 1984

Studied are the statistical thermal design (STD) methods that have been developed to satisfy the design basis which protects a pressurized water reactor (PWR) core against departure from nucleate boiling (DNB) during normal operations and anticipated transients. The objective of the statistical thermal design is to quantify the thermal design margin and to remove any excess conservatism from the DNB ratio calculations through statistically combining design parameter uncertainties, while still maintaining a high level of core protection. This report describes and compares the STD methods developed by the two U.S. reactor vendors (Westinghouse and B & W). Included are the characteristics of STD, statistical treatment of uncertainties, DNB design limit development methodology and the sample application of the STD technique to core thermal design analysis. It is observed that the STD methods developed by the two vendors are similiar to each other in principle, but different in the treatment of the uncertainties associated with the design parameters. The statistical thermal design is found to significantly improve the thermal design margin.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.201-206
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• 2011

A spacer grid assembly is one of the most important structural components of the nuclear fuel assembly of a pressurized water reactor (PWR), and it affects the performance of the fuel assembly. The primary design requirement is that the mechanical integrity of the fuel rod should be maintained by the spacer grid assembly during the operation of the reactor. It was known that fretting damage to the fuel rod can be reduced by adjusting the relative moving displacement between the fuel rod and its support. In this study, we used the finite element method to evaluate the characteristics of a sliding support designed to reduce fretting damage of fuel rods.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.1563-1570
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• 2023

In this study, a DeCART/MIG uncertainty quantification (UQ) analysis code system with a multicorrelated cross section stochastic sampling (S.S.) module was established and verified through the UAM (Uncertainty Analysis in Modeling) and the BEAVRS (Benchmark for Evaluation And Validation of Reactor Simulations) benchmark calculations. For the S.S. calculations, a sample of 500 DeCART multigroup cross section sets for two major actinides, i.e., ²³⁵U and ²³⁸U, were generated by the MIG code and covariance data from the ENDF/B-VII.1 evaluated nuclear data library. In the three pin problems (i.e. TMI-1, PB2, and Koz-6) from the UAM benchmark, the uncertainties in k_inf by the DeCART/MIG S.S. calculations agreed very well with the sensitivity and uncertainty (S/U) perturbation results by DeCART/MUSAD and the S/U direct subtraction (S/U-DS) results by the DeCART/MIG. From these results, it was concluded that the multi-group cross section sampling module of the MIG code works correctly and accurately. In the BEAVRS whole benchmark problems, the uncertainties in the control rod bank worth, isothermal temperature coefficient, power distribution, and critical boron concentration due to cross section uncertainties were calculated by the DeCART/MIG code system. Overall, the uncertainties in these design parameters were less than the general design review criteria of a typical pressurized water reactor start-up case. This newly-developed DeCART/MIG UQ analysis code system by the S.S. method can be widely utilized as uncertainty analysis and margin estimation tools for developing and designing new advanced nuclear reactors.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.552-557
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• 2024

The actual swelling of AgInCd absorber might exceed the predicted swelling value after years of service in pressurized water reactors, and the chemical and microstructural changes of AgInCd absorber induced by transmutation reactions are the main reason for the swelling acceleration of AgInCd absorber. In the present study, a model for calculating the irradiation swelling of AgInCd absorber in nuclear control rods is developed according to chemical and microstructural changes of AgInCd absorber. In this model, the chemical compositions of AgInCd absorber as a function of the thermal neutron fluence are firstly calculated, and then the volume of AgInCd absorber after irradiation is obtained on the basis of the crystallographic parameters of phases in the AgInCd absorber, and the irradiation swelling of AgInCd absorber is finally calculated. The crystallographic parameters can be obtained by preparing the simulated AgInCd alloys and fitting the experimental data. The model calculating results of irradiation swelling are in good agreement with the actual swelling data in literature. More importantly, the present model can well explain the EPRI results of the acceleration in the diametral swelling rate above 6-8 × 10²⁰ n/cm² and the decrease in the diametral swelling rate above about 2 × 10²¹ n/cm².