• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.47 no.1
• /
• pp.1-10
• /
• 2015

After the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (NPP) accident, new regulatory requirements were enforced in July 2013 and a backfit was required for all existing nuclear power plants. It is required to take measures to prevent severe accidents and mitigate their radiological consequences. The Regulatory Standard and Research Department, Secretariat of Nuclear Regulation Authority (S/NRA/R) has been conducting numerical studies and experimental studies on relevant severe accident phenomena and countermeasures. This article highlights fission product (FP) release and hydrogen risk as two major areas. Relevant activities in the S/NRA/R are briefly introduced, as follows: 1. For FP release: Identifying the source terms and leak mechanisms is a key issue from the viewpoint of understanding the progression of accident phenomena and planning effective countermeasures that take into account vulnerabilities of containment under severe accident conditions. To resolve these issues, the activities focus on wet well venting, pool scrubbing, iodine chemistry (in-vessel and ex-vessel), containment failure mode, and treatment of radioactive liquid effluent. 2. For hydrogen risk: because of three incidents of hydrogen explosion in reactor buildings, a comprehensive reinforcement of the hydrogen risk management has been a high priority topic. Therefore, the activities in evaluation methods focus on hydrogen generation, hydrogen distribution, and hydrogen combustion.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
• /
• v.21 no.12
• /
• pp.703-714
• /
• 2009

One of the biggest problems in smoke control systems for high-rise buildings is stack effect, but there are no recognized methods or measures to solve the problem of stack effect as yet. The stack effect can be overcome by forming the uprising current inside the stair hall properly, but there is a limit to the height in supplying into the stair hall the smoke control air volume to be supplied to a floor in case of escape from fire. The limit to the height can be extended by over-coming the stack effect by pressurizing the stair hall and the ancillary room simultaneously. It can also be anticipated that the stack effect can be overcome by connecting the air supply shaft to the stair hall at the top. As a result of computer simulations using a network type of tool, it is found that adequate performance can be achieved by pressurizing the stair hall only for a building of 190m or less, and up to 360m when pressurizing the stair hall and the ancillary room simultaneously. In all those cases, however, an overpressure venting damper is required which operates within a suitable range for venting the overpressure outside.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.38 no.5
• /
• pp.633-649
• /
• 2011

The paper presents a study aimed at understanding some characteristics of an interior explosion within a room with limited or no venting. The explosion may occur in ammunition storage or result from a terrorist action or from a warhead that had penetrated into this room. The study includes numerical simulations of the problem and analytical derivations. Different types of analysis (1-D, 2-D and 3-D analysis) were performed for a room with rigid walls and the results were analyzed. For the 3D problem the effect of the charge size and its location within the room was investigated and a new insight regarding the pressure distribution on the interior wall as function of these parameters has been gained. The numerical analyses were carried out using the Eulerian multi-material approach. Further, an approximate analytical formula to predict the residual internal pressure was developed. The formula is based on the conservation law of total energy and its implementation yields very good agreement with the results obtained numerically using the complete statement of the problem for a wide range of explosive weights and room sizes that is expressed through a non-dimensional parameter. This new formula is superior to existing literature recommendations and compares considerably better with the above numerical results.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
• /
• 2017.05a
• /
• pp.268-276
• /
• 2017

Developing a model was carried out to predict the characteristic of a pressure vessel from which the gas was vented through an orifice. An experimental test was conducted on a pressure vessel applicable to a propulsion system so that representative pressure and temperature were measured. Simulations were conducted with models using assumptions considering heat transfer inside the vessel, and the results were compared to those from the experiment. As a result, it was found out that a proposed heat transfer model was proper to predict pressure and temperature of the vented gas comparable to the measured data.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.53 no.6
• /
• pp.1756-1768
• /
• 2021

The containment filtered venting system (CFVS) filters the atmosphere of the containment building and discharges a part of it to the outside environment to prevent containment overpressure during severe accidents. The Korean CFVS has a tank that filters fission products from the containment atmosphere by pool scrubbing, which is the primary decontamination process; however, prediction of its performance has been done based on researches conducted under mild conditions than those of severe accidents. Bubble behavior in a pool is a key parameter of pool scrubbing. Therefore, the bubble behavior in the pool was analyzed under various injection flow rates observed at the venturi nozzles used in the Korean CFVS using a wire-mesh sensor. Based on the experimental results, void fraction model was modified using the existing correlation, and a new bubble size prediction model was developed. The modified void fraction model agreed well with the obtained experimental data. However, the newly developed bubble size prediction model showed different results to those established in previous studies because the venturi nozzle diameter considered in this study was larger than those in previous studies. Therefore, this is the first model that reflects actual design of a venturi scrubbing nozzle.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.53 no.3
• /
• pp.812-824
• /
• 2021

In order to reduce risks from the Steam Generator Tube Rupture (SGTR) accident and to meet safety targets, various measures have been analyzed to minimize the amount of fission product (FP) release. In this paper, we propose an introduction of a Containment Filtered Venting System (CFVS) connected to the steam generator secondary side, which can reduce the amount of FP release while minimizing adverse effects identified in the previous studies. In order to compare the effect of new equipment with the existing strategy, accident simulations using MELCOR were performed. As a result of simulations, it is confirmed that CFVS operation lowers FP release into the environment, and the release fractions are lower (minimum 0.6% of the initial inventory for Cs) than that of the strategy which intends to depressurize the primary system directly (minimum 15.2% for Cs). The sensitivity analyses identify that refill of the CFVS vessel is a dominant contributor reducing the amount of FP released. As the new strategy has the possibility of hydrogen combustion and detonation in CFVS, the installation of an igniter inside the CFVS vessel may be considered in reducing such hydrogen risk.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.38 no.3
• /
• pp.203-214
• /
• 2024

Large-span cantilevered roof represents a unique type of structure that is vulnerable to wind loads. Inspired by the need to maximumly reducing the rooftop wind loads, this study examined the feasibility of positioning vented slots on the leading edge, and the effectiveness of such aerodynamic mitigation measures are assessed via both physical and numerical simulations. The reliability of numerical simulation was evaluated via comparisons with the wind tunnel tests. The results indicated that, the variation of venting hole arrangement can cause significant change in the rooftop wind load characteristics. For the cases involved in this study, the maximum reduction of mean and peak wind suction coefficients are found to be 9% and 8% as compared to the original circular slot without venting holes. In addition, the effect of slot shape is also evident. It was shown that the triangular shaped slot tends to increase the wind suction near the leading edge, whereas the hexagonal and octagonal shaped slots are found to decrease the wind suction. In particular, with the installation of octagonal shaped slot, the maximum reduction of wind suction coefficients near the leading edge reaches up to 31% as compared to the circular shaped slot, while the maximum reduction of mean wind suction coefficients is about 30%.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
• /
• v.34 no.9
• /
• pp.875-883
• /
• 2010

The thermal performance of LNG fuel tanks of vehicles is determined by the time for non-venting storage of fuel and the amount of fuel supplied to the engine. In this study, we selected a double-walled vacuum-insulated fuel tank with a volume of 450 liter, and the properties of the fuel contained in it were assumed to be the same as those of the methane($CH_4$). For the increasing the non-venting fuel storage time, we propose the use of shielded penetration pipes in the tank. We compared the storage times of the tank used in our study with those of the conventional fuel tank. Further, the additional heat input required to maintain the fuel pressure necessary for an appropriate fuel supply rate was predicted. For these parameters, we derived a thermodynamic relationship that can be used to estimate the rate of increase in pressure for a known heat input, and we obtained equations for estimating the rate of heat leaked by using the established heat transfer model. From the results of numerical computation, we found the non-venting storage time of the tank with shielded pipes to be 25-30% higher than that of the tank with unshielded pipes. Further, we determined the appropriate operation conditions by taking into consideration the transfer rate of additional heat provided to the fuel tank.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.101-118
• /
• 2001

This paper reports the field measurements concerning pressure equalization of rainscreen facades carried out at the Technical University of Eindhoven (TUE) in the Netherlands. The field facility including the details of test panel, meteorological tower, instrumentation, data collection and analysis is presented. Results of investigations into cavity response for various leakage and venting configurations are discussed. Frequency domain techniques have been utilized to show the influence of wind as well as facade characteristics on the pressure equalization performance. Further, this paper presents an early attempt to synthesize the experimental results into existing building codes.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.38 no.1
• /
• pp.67.1-67.1
• /
• 2013

The CFHT currently has three instruments running in QSO mode and one in Classical mode. I will touch on the capabilities of these instruments and give an update on the future instrumentation at CFHT. One new instrument, SITELLE, is scheduled to be delivered to CFHT at the end of the year. Another instrument which is a proof of concept is GRACES which should see first light during the summer. I will also give an update on the Dome Venting project and the Next generation CFHT.