• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.85-94
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• 2007

The Korean nuclear fuel cycle was modeled by the dynamic analysis method, which was applied to the once-through and alternative fuel cycles. First, the once-through fuel cycle was analyzed based on the Korean nuclear power plant construction plan up to 2015 and a postulated nuclear demand growth rate of zero after 2015. Second, alternative fuel cycles including the direct use of spent pressurized water reactor fuel in Canada deuterium uranium reactors (DUPIC), a sodium-cooled fast reactor and an accelerator driven system were assessed and the results were compared with those of the once-through fuel cycle. The once-through fuel cycle calculation showed that the nuclear power demand would be 25 GWe and the amount of the spent fuel will be ${\sim}65000$ tons by 2100. The alternative fuel cycle analyses showed that the spent fuel inventory could be reduced by more than 30% and 90% through the DUPIC and fast reactor fuel cycles, respectively, when compared with the once-through fuel cycle. The results of this study indicate that both spent fuel and uranium resources can be effectively managed if alternative reactor systems are timely implemented along with the existing reactors.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.11
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• pp.4791-4803
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• 2024

Preparations are currently underway to develop ISAA-Na code, a sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs) specific version of an integrated severe accident analysis code. This version aims to evaluate both protected and unprotected accidents in SFRs. Given the crucial role of fuel pin thermo-mechanical behavior in SFR safety analysis, an advanced model for MOX(Mixed OXide) fuel pin thermo-mechanical performance under operation conditions has been developed and validated. This validation involved simulating the SUPERFACT-1 fast reactor irradiation experiment using ISAA-Na. The resulting calculation data were compared with experimental measurements and the outcomes of other codes dedicated to fuel pin performance analysis (TRANSURANUS, MACROS, and GERMINAL) to assess the fuel pin thermo-mechanical model. The overall code assessment reveals that the model achieves satisfactory performance in simulating fuel pin behavior, with predicted errors falling within an acceptable range.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.38 no.7
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• pp.591-618
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• 2006

An integrated R&D program is being conducted to study, qualify, and in some cases, develop materials with required properties for the reactor systems being developed as part the U.S. Department of Energy's Generation IV Reactor Program. The goal of the program is to ensure that the materials research and development (R&D) needed to support Gen IV applications will comprise a comprehensive and integrated effort to identify and provide the materials data and its interpretation needed for the design and construction of the selected advanced reactor concepts. The major materials issues for the five primary systems that have been considered within the U.S. Gen IV Reactor Program-very high temperature gas-cooled, supercritical water-cooled, gas-cooled fast spectrum, lead-cooled fast spectrum, and sodium-cooled fast spectrum reactors-are described along with the R&D that has been identified to address them.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.257-264
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• 2024

The sodium cooled fast reactor (SFR) is one of the Gen-IV reactors with the most operating experience accumulated. Although the technology level is the most mature among the Gen-IV reactors, there is still a safety problem that has not been solved, which is the sodium-water reaction. Since sodium and water are separated only by a heat transfer tube with a thickness of only a few mm, there is inherently a risk of a sodium-water reaction (SWR) accident in the SFR. In this study, it is attempted to quantitatively evaluate the resistance of SWR accidents by replacing the shell and tube steam generator with printed circuit steam generator (PCSG) as a method to mitigate the SWR accident. To do this, a CATS-S (Compact Accident Tolerance Steam Generator-SWR) facility was designed and built. And for the quantitative evaluation of accident resistance, a methodology for measuring the impingement wastage rate was established. As a result of this research, the impingement wastage rate caused by SWR generated in a PCSG was measured first time. It was confirmed that the impingement wastage phenomenon was suppressed in the PCSG, and the accident resistance was higher than that of the SWR through comparison with the experimental results performed in the existing shell and tube steam generator. In conclusion, a PCSG is more resistant to impingement wastage as a result of the SWR accident than existing shell and tube steam generators, and it is estimated that a PCSG can mitigate SWR accidents, an inherent problem of SFR.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.1468-1475
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• 2023

Enhancement of wear resistance of components used in fast reactors is necessary for long service life of the components. Plasma nitriding is a promising surface modification technology to impart high hardness and improved wear resistance of various steel components. This study discusses the characterization of chrome nitrided SS316L casing ring used in secondary sodium pump of fast breeder reactor and its stability under long term sodium exposure. Microstructural and hardness analysis showed that stress relieved component could be chrome nitrided successfully to a thickness of about 100 ㎛. Assessment of in-sodium performance of the chrome nitrided casing ring subjected to long term exposure up to 5000h at 550℃, showed retention of chrome nitrided layer with a case depth almost similar to that before sodium exposure. A slight decrease in the hardness was observed due to prolonged high temperature sodium exposure. Tribological studies indicate very low coefficient of friction indicating the retention of good wear resistance of the coating even after long term sodium exposure.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.732-740
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• 2021

Scattering resonance of medium mass nuclides leads complex spectrum in the fast reactor, which requires thousands of energy groups in the spectrum calculation. When the broad-group cross sections are collapsed, reaction rate cannot be completely conserved. To eliminate the error from energy collapsing, the Super-homogenization method in energy collapsing (ESPH) was employed in the fast reactor code SARAX. An ESPH factor was derived based on the ESPH-corrected SN transport equation. By applying the factor in problems with reflective boundary condition, both the effective multiplication factor and reaction rate were conserved. The fixed-source iteration was used to ensure the stability of ESPH iteration. However, in the energy collapsing process of SARAX, the vacuum boundary condition was adopted, which was necessary for fast reactors with strong heterogeneity. To further reduce the error caused by leakage, an additional conservation factor was proposed to correct the neutron current in energy collapsing. To evaluate the performance of ESPH with conservation factor, numerical benchmarks of fast reactors were calculated. The results of broad-group calculation agreed well with the direct full-core Monte-Carlo calculation, including the effective multiplication factor, radial power distribution, total control rod worth and sodium void worth.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.12
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• pp.2733-2742
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• 2020

This paper presents an assessment of applicability of the multigroup cross sections generated with Monte Carlo tools to the fast reactor analysis based on transport calculations. 33-group cross section sets were generated for simple one- (1-D) and two-dimensional (2-D) sodium-cooled fast reactor problems using the SERPENT code and applied to deterministic steady-state and depletion calculations. Relative to the reference continuous-energy SERPENT results, with the transport corrected P₀ scattering cross section, the k-eff value was overestimated by 506 and 588 pcm for 1-D and 2-D problems, respectively, since anisotropic scattering is important in fast reactors. When the scattering order was increased to P₅, the 1-D and 2-D problem errors were increased to 577 and 643 pcm, respectively. A sensitivity and uncertainty analysis with the PERSENT code indicated that these large k-eff errors cannot be attributed to the statistical uncertainties of cross sections and they are likely due to the approximate anisotropic scattering matrices determined by scalar flux weighting. The anisotropic scattering cross sections were alternatively generated using the MC²-3 code and merged with the SERPENT cross sections. The mixed cross section set consistently reduced the errors in k-eff, assembly powers, and nuclide densities. For example, in the 2-D calculation with P3 scattering order, the k-eff error was reduced from 634 pcm to -223 pcm. The maximum error in assembly power was reduced from 2.8% to 0.8% and the RMS error was reduced from 1.4% to 0.4%. The maximum error in the nuclide densities at the end of 12-month depletion that occurred in ²³⁷Np was reduced from 3.4% to 1.5%. The errors of the other nuclides are also reduced consistently, for example, from 1.1% to 0.1% for ²³⁵U, from 2.2% to 0.7% for ²³⁸Pu, and from 1.6% to 0.2% for ²⁴¹Pu. These results indicate that the scalar flux weighted anisotropic scattering cross sections of SERPENT may not be adequate for application to fast reactors where anisotropic scattering is important.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.253-259
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• 2015

The fast neutron reactor BOR-60 is one of the key experimental facilities worldwide to perform large-scale tests of fuel, absorbing, and structural materials for advanced reactors. The BOR-60 reactor was put into operation in December 1969, and by the end of 2014 it had been operating on power for ~265,000 hours. BOR-60 still demonstrates potential capabilities to extend the lifetime of sodium-cooled fast reactors. The BOR-60 lifetime should have expired at the end of 2014. Over the past few years, a great scope of work has been performed to justify the possibility of extending its lifetime. The work included inspection of the equipment conditions, calculations and experimental research on operating parameters and the conditions of nonremovable components, investigation of the structural material samples after their long-term operation under irradiation, etc. Based on the results of the work performed, the residual lifetime was evaluated and the reactor operator made a decision to extend the lifetime period of the BOR-60 reactor. After considering both a set of documents about the reactor conditions and the positive decision of independent experts, the Regulatory Authority of the Russian Federation extended the BOR-60 operating license up to 2020.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.517-526
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• 2008

The widespread concern regarding the management of spent fuel that mainly contributes to nuclear waste has led to the development of the sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) as one of the most promising future types of reactors at both national and international levels. Various reactor deployment scenarios with SFR introductions with different conversion ratios in the existing PWR-dominant nuclear fleet have been assessed to optimize the SFR deployment strategy to replace PWRs with the view toward a reduction in the level of spent fuel as well as efficient uranium utilization through its reuse in a closed fuel cycle. An efficient reactor deployment strategy with the SFR introduction starting in 2040 has been drawn based on an SFR deployment strategy in which burners are deployed prior to breakeven reactors to reduce the amount of PWR spent fuel substantially at the early deployment stage. The PWR spent fuel disposal is reduced in this way by 98% and the cumulative uranium demand for PWRs to 2100 is projected to be 445 ktU, implying a uranium savings of 115 ktU. The SFR mix ratio in the nuclear fleet near the year 2100 is estimated to be approximately 35-40%. PWRs will remain as a main power reactor type until 2100 and SFRs will support waste minimization and fuel utilization.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.10
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• pp.3928-3942
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• 2022

Thermal striping is a complex thermal-hydraulic phenomenon caused by fluid temperature fluctuations that can also cause high-cycle thermal fatigue to the structural wall of sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs). Numerical simulations using large-eddy simulation (LES) were performed to predict and evaluate the characteristics of the temperature fluctuations related to thermal striping in the upper internal structure (UIS) of the prototype generation-IV sodium-cooled fast reactor (PGSFR). Specific monitoring points were established for the fluid region near the control rod driving mechanism (CRDM) guide tubes, CRDM guide tube walls, and UIS support plates, and the normalized mean and fluctuating temperatures were investigated at these points. It was found that the location of the maximum amplitude of the temperature fluctuations in the UIS was the lowest end of the inner wall of the CRDM guide tube, and the maximum value of the normalized fluctuating temperatures was 17.2%. The frequency of the maximum temperature fluctuation on the CRDM guide tube walls, which is an important factor in thermal striping, was also analyzed using the fast Fourier transform analysis. These results can be used for the structural integrity evaluation of the UIS in SFR.