• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.85-92
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• 2016

The operating temperature of VHTR components is much higher than that of conventional PWR due to high core outlet temperature of VHTR. Material requirements and technical issues of VHTR reactor components which are mainly dominated by high temperature service condition were discussed. The codification effort for high temperature material and design methodology are explained. The design class for VHTR components are classified as class A or B according to the recent ASME high temperature reactor design code. A separation of thermal boundary and pressure boundary is used for VHTR components as an elevated design solution. Key design characteristics for reactor pressure vessel, control rod, reactor internals, graphite reflector, circulator and intermediate heat exchanger were analysed. Thermo-mechanical analysis of the process heat exchanger, which was manufactured for test, is presented as an analysis example.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.717-724
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• 2008

Very High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor (VHTR) has been selected as a high energy heat source for nuclear hydrogen generation, which can produce hydrogen from water or natural gas. A primary hot gas duct (HGD) as a coaxial double-tube type cross vessel is a key component connecting the reactor pressure vessel and the intermediate heat exchanger for the VHTR. In this study, structural sizing methodology for the primary HGD with a coaxial double-tube of the VHTR that produces heat at temperatures in the order of $950^{\circ}C$ was suggested and a structural pre-sizing of it was carried out as an example.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.57-64
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• 2010

PHE(Process Heat Exchanger) is a key component required to transfer heat energy of $950^{\circ}C$ generated in a VHTR(Very High Temperature Reactor) to the chemical reaction that yields a large quantity of hydrogen. Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute established the gas loop for the performance test of components, which are used in the VHTR, and they manufactured a PHE prototype to be tested in the loop. In this study, as part of the high-temperature structural-integrity evaluation of the PHE prototype, which is scheduled to be tested in the gas loop, we carried out high-temperature structural-analysis modeling, thermal analysis, and thermal expansion analysis of the PHE prototype. The results obtained in this study will be used to design the performance test setup for the PHE prototype.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.534-545
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• 2015

In the very high temperature reactor (VHTR), which is a next generation nuclear reactor system, ceramics are used as a fuel coating material and graphite is used as a core structural material. Even if a depressurization accident occurs and the reactor power goes up instantly, the temperature of the core will change only slowly. This is because the thermal capacity of the core is so high. Therefore, the VHTR system can passively remove the decay heat of the core by natural convection and radiation from the surface of the reactor pressure vessel. The objectives of this study are to investigate the heat transfer characteristics of natural convection of a one-side heated vertical channel with inserted porous materials of high porosity and also to develop the passive cooling system for the VHTR. An experiment was carried out using a one-side heated vertical rectangular channel. To obtain the heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of the vertical channel with inserted porous material, we have also carried out a numerical analysis using a commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code. This paper describes the thermal performances of the one-side heated vertical rectangular channel with an inserted copper wire of high porosity.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.39-44
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• 2015

The VHTR (Very High Temperature gas-cooled nuclear Reactor) has been considered as a major heat source and the most safe generation IV type reactor for mass hydrogen production to prepare for the hydrogen economy era. The VHTR satisfies goals for the GIF (Generation IV International Forum) policy such as sustainablility, economics, reliability and proliferation resistance and physical protection, and safety. As a part of a VHTR economic analysis, we have studied the VHTR construction cost and operation and maintenance cost. However, it is somewhat difficult to expect the ripple effect on the whole industry due to the lack of information about Inter-industries relationship. In many case, the ripple effect are based on experts' knowledge or uncertain qualitative assumptions. As a result, we propose quantitative analysis techniques for ripple effects such as the production inducement effect, added value inducement effect, and employment inducement effect for VHTR 600MWt${\times}$4 modules construction and operation ripple effect based on NOAK (Nth Of A Kind). Because inducement effect values have been published annually, we predict inducement effect's relation function and estimated values including production inducement effect value, added value inducement effect value, and employment inducement effect value using time series and estimated values are verified with published inducement effects' value. This paper presents a new method for the ripple effect and preliminary ripple effect consequence using a time series analysis and inter-industry table. This ripple effect analysis techniques can be applied to effect expectation analysis as well as other type reactor's ripple effect analysis including VHTR for process heat.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2012

A PHE (Process Heat Exchanger) is a key component required to transfer heat energy of $950^{\circ}C$ generated in a VHTR (Very High Temperature Reactor) to the chemical reaction that yields a large quantity of hydrogen. A small-scale PHE prototype made of Hastelloy-X is being tested in a small-scale gas loop at Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. In order to properly evaluate the high-temperature structural integrity of the small-scale PHE prototype, it is very important to impose a proper constraint condition on its structural analysis model. For this effort, we tried to impose several constraint conditions on the structural analysis model and consequently fixed a proper and effective displacement constraints.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.267-273
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• 2023

As the impacts of global climate change become increasingly apparent, the reduction of carbon emissions has emerged as a critical subject of discussion. Nuclear power has garnered attention as a potential carbon-free energy source; however, the rapidity of load following in nuclear power generation poses challenges in comparison to fossil-fueled methods. Consequently, power-to-gas systems, which integrate nuclear power and hydrogen, have attracted growing interest. This study presents a preliminary design of a very high temperature reactor (VHTR) integrated blue hydrogen production process utilizing DWSIM, an open-source process simulator. The blue hydrogen production process is estimated to supply the necessary calorific value for carbon capture through tail gas combustion heat. Moreover, a thermodynamic assessment of the main recuperator is performed as a function of the helium flow rate from the VHTR system to the blue hydrogen production system.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.33 no.10
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• pp.1108-1118
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• 2009

A Very High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor (VHTR) has been selected as a high energy heat source of the order of $950^{\circ}C$ for nuclear hydrogen generation, which can produce hydrogen from water or natural gas. A primary hot gas duct (HGD) as a coaxial double-tube type cross vessel is a key component connecting a reactor pressure vessel and an intermediate heat exchanger in the VHTR. In this study, a structural sizing methodology for the primary HGD of the VHTR is suggested in order to modulate a flow-induced vibration (FIV). And as an example, a structural sizing of the horizontal HGD with a coaxial double-tube structure was carried out using the suggested method. These activities include a decision of the geometric dimensions, a selection of the material, and an evaluation of the strength of the coaxial double-tube type cross vessel components. Also in order to compare the FIV characteristics of the proposed design cases, a fluid-structure interaction (FSI) analysis was carried out using the ADINA code.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.48-53
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• 2011

A PHE (Process Heat Exchanger) is a key component required to transfer heat energy of $950^{\circ}C$ generated in a VHTR (Very High Temperature Reactor) to the chemical reaction that yields a large quantity of hydrogen. A small-scale PHE prototype made of Hastelloy-X is being tested in a small-scale gas loop at Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. In this study, as a part of the evaluation on the high-temperature structural integrity of the small-scale PHE prototype, we carried out macroscopic high-temperature structural analysis of the small-scale PHE prototype under the gas loop test conditions considering the pipeline stiffness.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.85-92
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• 2016

Since the power density of the VHTR(Very High Temperature Reactor) is lower, there is less possibility of core melt. VHTR has no risk of explosion caused by hydrogen generation when the loss of coolant accident occurs, which is another advantage. Along with safety benefit, it can be used as a process heat supplier near demand facilities because coolant temperature is very high enough to be used for industrial purpose. In this paper, we designed the primary system using VHTR and the secondary system providing electricity and process heat. Based on that 350 MW thermal reactor proposed by NGNP(Next Generation Nuclear Part), we developed conceptual model that the IHX(Intermediate Heat Exchanger) loop transports 300 MW thermal energy to the secondary system. In addition, we analyzed thermodynamic behavior and performed the efficiency analysis and optimization study depending on major parameters.