The results of Reactivity-Initiated Accidents (RIA) experiments have been analysed and the main variables affecting the fuel failure propensity identified. Fuel burn-up aggravates the mechanical loading of the cladding, while corrosion, or better the hydrogen absorbed in the cladding as a consequence of corrosion, may under some conditions make the cladding brittle and more susceptible to failure. Experiments point out that corrosion impairs the fuel resistance for RIA transient occurring at cold conditions, whereas there is no evidence of important embrittlement effects at hot conditions, unless the cladding was degraded by oxide spalling. A fuel failure threshold correlation has been derived and compared with experimental data relevant for BWR and PWR fuel. The correlation can be applied to both cold and hot RIA transients, account taken for the lower ductility at cold conditions and for the different initial enthalpy. It can also be used for non-zero power transients, provided that a term accounting for the start-up power is incorporated. The proposed threshold is easy to use and reproduces the results obtained in the CABRI and NSRR tests in a rather satisfactory manner. The behaviour of advanced PWR alloys and of MOX fuel is discussed in light of the correlation predictions. Finally, a probabilistic approach has been developed in order to account for the small scatter of the failure predictions. This approach completes the RIA failure assessment in that after determining a best estimate failure threshold, a failure probability is inferred based on the spreading of data around the calculated best estimate value.

Roy Huddle, having invented the coated particle in Harwell 1957, stated in the early 1970s that we know now everything about particles and coatings and should be going over to deal with other problems. This was on the occasion of the Dragon fuel performance information meeting London 1973: How wrong a genius be! It took until 1978 that really good particles were made in Germany, then during the Japanese HTTR production in the 1990s and finally the Chinese 2000-2001 campaign for HTR-10. Here, we present a review of history and present status. Today, good fuel is measured by different standards from the seventies: where $9*10^{-4}$ initial free heavy metal fraction was typical for early AVR carbide fuel and $3*10^{-4}$ initial free heavy metal fraction was acceptable for oxide fuel in THTR, we insist on values more than an order of magnitude below this value today. Half a percent of particle failure at the end-of-irradiation, another ancient standard, is not even acceptable today, even for the most severe accidents. While legislation and licensing has not changed, one of the reasons we insist on these improvements is the preference for passive systems rather than active controls of earlier times. After renewed HTGR interest, we are reporting about the start of new or reactivated coated particle work in several parts of the world, considering the aspects of designs/ traditional and new materials, manufacturing technologies/ quality control quality assurance, irradiation and accident performance, modeling and performance predictions, and fuel cycle aspects and spent fuel treatment. In very general terms, the coated particle should be strong, reliable, retentive, and affordable. These properties have to be quantified and will be eventually optimized for a specific application system. Results obtained so far indicate that the same particle can be used for steam cycle applications with $700-750^{\circ}C$ helium coolant gas exit, for gas turbine applications at $850-900^{\circ}C$ and for process heat/hydrogen generation applications with $950^{\circ}C$ outlet temperatures. There is a clear set of standards for modem high quality fuel in terms of low levels of heavy metal contamination, manufacture-induced particle defects during fuel body and fuel element making, irradiation/accident induced particle failures and limits on fission product release from intact particles. While gas-cooled reactor design is still open-ended with blocks for the prismatic and spherical fuel elements for the pebble-bed design, there is near worldwide agreement on high quality fuel: a $500{\mu}m$ diameter $UO_2$ kernel of 10% enrichment is surrounded by a $100{\mu}m$ thick sacrificial buffer layer to be followed by a dense inner pyrocarbon layer, a high quality silicon carbide layer of $35{\mu}m$ thickness and theoretical density and another outer pyrocarbon layer. Good performance has been demonstrated both under operational and under accident conditions, i.e. to 10% FIMA and maximum $1600^{\circ}C$ afterwards. And it is the wide-ranging demonstration experience that makes this particle superior. Recommendations are made for further work: 1. Generation of data for presently manufactured materials, e.g. SiC strength and strength distribution, PyC creep and shrinkage and many more material data sets. 2. Renewed start of irradiation and accident testing of modem coated particle fuel. 3. Analysis of existing and newly created data with a view to demonstrate satisfactory performance at burnups beyond 10% FIMA and complete fission product retention even in accidents that go beyond $1600^{\circ}C$ for a short period of time. This work should proceed at both national and international level.

A centrifugal atomization process for uranium fuel was developed in order to fabricate high uranium density dispersion fuel for advanced research reactors. Spherical powders of $U_3Si$ and U-Mo were successfully fabricated and dispersed in aluminum matrices. Thermal and mechanical properties of dispersion fuel meat were characterized. Irradiation tests at the research reactor HANARO confirm the excellent performance of high uranium density dispersion fuel.

The present work is aimed at further discussing the effectiveness of dimensionless parameters recently proposed for the analysis of flow stability in heated channels with supercritical fluids. In this purpose, after presenting the main motivations for the introduction of these parameters in place of previously proposed ones, additional information on the theoretical bases and on the consequences of this development is provided. Stability maps, generated by an in-house program adapted from a previous application to boiling channels, are also shown for different combinations of the operating parameters. The maps are obtained as contour plots of an amplification parameter obtained from numerical discretization and subsequent linearization of governing equations; as such, they provide a quantitatively clear perspective of the effect of different boundary conditions on the stability of heated channels with supercritical fluids. In order to assess the validity of the assumptions at the basis of the in-house model, supporting calculations have been performed making use of the RELAP5/MOD3.3 computer code, detecting the values of the dimensionless parameters at the threshold for the occurrence of instability for a heated channel representative of SCWR proposed core configurations. The obtained results show reasonable agreement with the maps, supporting the applicability of the proposed scaling parameters for describing the dynamic behaviour of heated channels with supercritical fluids.

An UET (ultrasound excited thermography) has been used for several years for a remote non-destructive testing in the automotive and aircraft industry. It provides a thermo sonic image for a defect detection. A thermograhy is based On a propagation and a reflection of a thermal wave, which is launched from the surface into the inspected sample by an absorption of a modulated radiation. For an energy deposition to a sample, the UET uses an ultrasound excited vibration energy as an internal heat source. In this paper the applicability of the UET for a realtime defect detection is described. Measurements were performed on two kinds of pipes made from a copper and a CFRP material. In the interior of the CFRP pipe (70mm diameter), a groove (width - 6mm, depth - 2.7mm, and length - 70mm) was engraved by a milling. In the case of the copper pipe, a defect was made with a groove (width - 2mm, depth - 1mm, and length - 110 mm) by the same method. An ultrasonic vibration energy of a pulsed type is injected into the exterior side of the pipe. A hot spot, which is a small area around the defect was considerably heated up when compared to the other intact areas, was observed. A test On a damaged copper pipe produced a thermo sonic image, which was an excellent image contrast when compared to a CFRP pipe. Test on a CFRP pipe with a subsurface defect revealed a thermo sonic image at the groove position which was a relatively weak contrast.

Postulation of flaws, one of the most important areas in RPV integrity assessment, significantly affects the results. In the present work, several parameters, such as orientation, underclad vs. surface cracking, crack depth and shape, etc., are postulated and parametric studies are performed to investigate the influence of the flaw parameters on the structural integrity assessment of the reactor pressure vessel during pressurized thermal shock. The influence of individual parameters describing the crack is evaluated based on sensitivity study results.

Most decision makers in the electricity industry plan their electric power expansion program by considering only a least cost operation, even when circumstances change with differing complexities. It is necessary, however, to analyze a long-term power expansion plan from various points of view, such as environmental friendliness, benefit of a carbon reduction, and system reliability, as well as least cost operation. The objective and approach of this study is to analyze the proper role of nuclear power in a long-term expansion plan by comparing different scenarios in terms of the system cost changes, $CO_2$ emission reduction, and system reliability in relation to the Business-As-Usual (BAU). The conclusion of this paper makes it clear that the Korean government cannot but expand the nationwide nuclear power program, because an increased energy demand is inevitable and other energy resources will not provide an adequate solution from an economic and sustainability point of view. The results of this analysis will help the Korean government in its long-term resource planning of what kinds of role each electric resource can play in terms of a triangular dilemma involving economics, environmental friendliness, and a stable supply of electricity.

The mutual separation behavior of actinides and rare earths in a countercurrent multistage reductive extraction system was predicted by computer calculation. The distribution information for actinides and rare earths in the reductive extraction systems of LiCl-KCl/Cd and LiCl-KCl/Bi was collected from literature and then it was used for the calculation of a multistage extraction. The results of the concentration profiles throughout the extraction cascade, recovery yields of various metal solutes, and separation factors between the actinides and rare earths were calculated. The effects of the major process parameters, such as reducing agent content in the metal phase, number of stages, and salt/metal flow ratio, etc., on the extraction behavior were also examined.

The contents of transuranic elements in high-burnup spent fuel samples were determined. The activity amounts of $^{238}Pu,\;^{239}Pu,\;^{240}Pu,\;^{241}Am,\;^{244}Cm\;and\;^{242}Cm$ were measured by alpha spectrometry using $^{242}Pu\;and\;^{243}Am$ as tracers, respectively. A spike addition method for $^{237}Np$ was established by an alpha and gamma spectrometry using $^{239}Np$ as a spike after the optimum conditions for the measurements of $^{237}Np\;and\;^{239}Np$, respectively, were obtained. A separation system using anion exchange chromatography and diethylhexylphosphoric acid extraction chromatography was applied for the separation of these elements. This method was applied to high-burnup spent nuclear fuel samples $(40{\sim}60GWD/MTU)$. The contents of the transuranic elements were compared with those by ORIGEN-2 code. Measurements and the calculations of the contents of the plutonium isotopes $^{238}Pu,\;^{239}Pu\;and\;^{240}Pu$ agreed to within 10% on average. The contents of $^{237}Np$ agreed to within approximately 5% except for one instance of a calculation, while those of $^{241}Am,\;^{244}Cm\;and\;^{242}Cm$ showed higher values by approximately 19%, 35% and 14% on average, respectively, compared to the calculations according to the burnup.