• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.67-76
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• 2008

A thermal-hydraulic integral effect test facility, ATLAS (Advanced Thermal-hydraulic Test Loop for Accident Simulation), has been constructed at KAERI (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute). Recently several integral effect tests for the reflood period of a LBLOCA (Large Break LOss of Coolant Accident) of the APR1400 have been performed with the ATLAS. In the APR1400 a high flow condition is changed to a low flow condition due to an fluidic device during an operation of the SIT. As the self-controlled fluidic device was not installed in the ATLAS, a set of characterization tests was performed to simulate its injection capability from the SIT for the APR1400 simulation. In the ATLAS the required SIT flow rate in the high flow condition was acquired by installing orifices with an optimized flow area to throttle the SIT discharge line and the low flow condition was achieved by changing the opening of the flow control valve in the SIT injection line. The test results showed that the safety injection systems of the ATLAS could simulate the required high and low flow rates of the SIT for the APR1400 simulation efficiently.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.27-35
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• 2018

The passive containment cooling system (PCCS) has been designed to remove the released decay heat during the accident by means of the condensation heat transfer phenomenon to guarantee the safety of the nuclear power plant. The heat removal performance of the PCCS is mainly governed by the condensation heat transfer of the steam-air mixture. In this study, the heat removal performance of the PCCS was evaluated by using the MARS-KS code with a new empirical correlation for steam condensation in the presence of a noncondensable gas. A new empirical correlation implemented into the MARS-KS code was developed as a function of parameters that affect the condensation heat transfer coefficient, such as the pressure, the wall subcooling, the noncondensable gas mass fraction and the aspect ratio of the condenser tube. The empirical correlation was applied to the MARS-KS code to replace the default Colburn-Hougen model. The various thermal-hydraulic parameters during the operation of the PCCS follonwing a large-break loss-of-coolant-accident were analyzed. The transient pressure behavior inside the containment from the MARS-KS with the empirical correlation was compared with calculated with the Colburn-Hougen model.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.361-367
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• 2013

Many of the nuclear power plant pipe is used in high temperature and high pressure environment. Wall thinning frequently caused by the corrosion. These wall thinning in pipe is expected gradually increase as nuclear power become superannuated. Therefore there is need to evaluate wall thinning in pipe and corrosion defect by non-destructive method to prevent the accident of the nuclear power facility due to pipe corrosion. Especially for real-time assessment of the wall thinning that occurs in nuclear power plant pipe, the laser ultrasonic technology can be measured even in hard-to-reach areas, beyond the limits of earlier existing contact methods. In this study, the optical method using laser was applied for non-destructive and non-contact evaluation. Ultrasonic signals was acquired through generating ultrasonic by pulse laser and using laser interferometer. First the ultrasonic signal was detected in no wall thinning in pipe, then a longitudinal wave velocity was measured inside of pipe. Artificial wall thinning specimen compared to 20, 30, 40 and 50% of thickness of the pipe was produced and the longitudinal wave velocity was measured. It was possible to evaluate quantitatively the wall thinning area(internal defect depth) cause it was able to calculate the thickness of each specimen using measured longitudinal wave velocity.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.209-218
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• 2013

This study was to characterize the minerals in fractured and bedrock zone, and determine quantitatively sorption for radioactive cesium ($^{137}Cs$) at the Korean nuclear facility site. The rock samples were granite group that mainly consists of quartz and feldspar with 10~20% mica minerals. Chlorite was observed as secondary mineral for the rock samples collected from fractured zone, but not for bedrock samples. The $^{137}Cs$ sorption distribution coefficients increased to $K_d$ = 880~960 mL/g in the fractured zone because of the presence of secondary minerals formed by weathering processes, compared to the bedrock zone ($K_d$ = 820~840 mL/g). These results suggest that the released $^{137}Cs$ to groundwater environment could be significantly retarded in the fractured zone in the case of severe nuclear accident at the study site.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.211-215
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• 2015

In case of radiation emergencies, radioactive materials released into environments can cause internal exposure of members of the public. Even though whole body counters are widely used for direct measurement of internally deposited radionuclides, those are not likely to be used at the field to rapidly screen internal exposure. In this study, we estimated the counting efficiencies of portable NaI detector for different size BOMAB phantoms using Monte Carlo transport code to apply handheld gamma spectrometers for rapid screening of internal exposure following radiological accidents. As a result of comparison for two counting geometries, counting efficiencies for sitting model were about 1.1 times higher than those for standing model. We found, however, that differences of counting efficiencies according to different size are higher than those according to counting geometry. Therefore, we concluded that when we assess internal exposure of small size people compared to the reference male, the body size should be considered to estimate more accurate radioactivity in the human body because counting efficiencies of 4-year old BOMAB phantom were about 2.4~3.1 times higher than those of reference male BOMAB phantom.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.148-153
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• 2011

EMRAS-2 (Environmental Modelling for RAdiation Safety, Phase 2) is an international comparison program, which is organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in order to harmonize the modelling of radionuclide behavior in the environment. To do so, the urban contamination working group within EMRAS-2 has designed the hypothetical scenarios for a specified urban area. In this study, the importance of contaminated surfaces composing an urban environment was analyzed in terms of dose rate using METRO-K, which has been developed to take a Korean urban environment into account. The contribution of contaminated surfaces to exposure dose rate showed distinctly a great difference as a function of specified locations and time following a hypothetical event. Moreover, it showed a distinct difference according to the existence of precipitation, and its intensity. Therefore, if an urban area is contaminated radioactively by any unexpected incidents such as an accident of nuclear power plants or an explosion of radioactive dispersion devices (RDDs), appropriate measures should be taken with consideration of the type of surface composing the contaminated environment in order to minimize not only radiation-induced health detriment but also economic and social impacts.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.809-814
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• 2005

In this work, the thermal properties of epoxy coating system on the liner plate in the containment structure of nuclear power plants had been examined by irradiation and design basis accident (DBA) conditions. The effect of immersion in hot water on adhesion strength of the coating system had been also studied. The glass transition temperature ($T_g$) and thermal stability of ET-5290/carbon steel A 32 epoxy coating systems were measured by DSC and TGA analyses, respectively. Contact angle measurements were used to determine the effect of immersion on the surface energetics of epoxy coating system, with a viewpoint of surface free energy. Adhesion tests were also executed to evaluate the adhesion strength at interfaces between carbon steel plate and epoxy resins. As a result, it was found that the irradiation led to an improvement of internal crosslinked structure in cured epoxy systems, resulting in significantly increasing the thermal stability, as well as the $T_g$. Also, the immersion in hot water made a role in the post-curing of epoxy resins and increased the mechanical interlocking of the network system, resulting in increasing the adhesion strength of the epoxy coating system.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.109-114
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• 1998

Radiological safety for the conventional operation of Demonstration-Scale Incineration Plant (DSIP) was assessed on the basis of the results of trial burns using the simulated and real radioactive wastes. Radiation dose assessments for routine releases on an annual basis as well a several severe accidental releases on a short-term basis (2h) revealed that there would be no significant environmental impact when low-level waste Is incinerated in DSIP. For semivolatile radioactive cesium species, expected emission concentrations slightly exceeded 10% of maximum permissible concentration. Removal characteristics of the bag filter for condensed-phase cesium species was investigated by the trial burns of simulated waste with inactive cesium tracer. In the off-gas before passing through bag filter, distributions of condensed cesium species in the transition size ranging between the diffusional and inertial region are less than 5%. The overall collection efficiency of the bag filter for cesium species was higher than 99.9%, showing enough decontamination capability as a primary filter for the low-temperature dry off-gas system in radwaste incineration plant.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.273-282
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• 2023

Probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) has been widely used to evaluate the seismic risk of nuclear power plants (NPPs). However, studies on seismic PSA for process plants, such as gas plants, oil refineries, and chemical plants, have been scarce. This is because the major disasters to which these process plants are vulnerable include explosions, fires, and release (or dispersion) of toxic chemicals. However, seismic PSA is essential for the plants located in regions with significant earthquake risks. Seismic PSA entails probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA), event tree analysis (ETA), fault tree analysis (FTA), and fragility analysis for the structures and essential equipment items. Among those analyses, ETA can depict the accident sequence for core damage, which is the worst disaster and top event concerning NPPs. However, there is no general top event with regard to process plants. Therefore, PSA cannot be directly applied to process plants. Moreover, there is a paucity of studies on developing fragility curves for various equipment. This paper introduces PSA for gas plants based on FTA, which is then transformed into Bayesian network, that is, a probabilistic graph model that can aid risk-informed decision-making. Finally, the proposed method is applied to a gas plant, and several decision-making cases are demonstrated.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.947-955
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• 2023

This study was conducted to investigate the awareness of spent nuclear fuel among residents in nuclear power plant areas and use it as basic data for establishing a disposal facility for high-level radioactive waste. 204 questionnaires collected online were analyzed using SPSS Window Ver 28.0. To verify differences between groups, t-test and one-way ANOVA were performed. And correlation analysis was conducted to confirm the relationship between variables. As a result, first, risk perception regarding nuclear-related accidents showed statistically significant differences depending on gender and educational level. The position on the construction of a permanent disposal facility for spent nuclear fuel showed a statistically significant difference depending on gender, education, and age, and the perception of the importance of each evaluation standard for establishing a spent nuclear fuel management plan showed a statistically significant difference depending on education and age. In terms of trust in information-providing institutions, trust in the National Assembly was found to be the lowest. Second, the results of the correlation analysis between variables showed that local residents are aware that an alternative to the current disposal of spent nuclear fuel is needed, and that financial support for the construction of a permanent disposal facility is needed. Therefore, in order to build a high-level radioactive waste disposal site, it is believed that it is necessary to increase trust in the government, collect opinions from local residents, and provide economic support.