• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.248-257
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• 2020

This study presents an initial design for a novel system consisting in a coupled nuclear reactor and a phase change material-based thermal energy storage (TES) component, which acts as a buffer and regulator of heat transfer between the primary and secondary loops. The goal of this concept is to enhance the capacity factor of nuclear power plants (NPPs) in the case of high integration of renewable energy sources into the electric grid. Hence, this system could support in elevating the economics of NPPs in current competitive markets, especially with subsidized solar and wind energy sources, and relatively low oil and gas prices. Furthermore, utilizing a prismatic-core advanced high temperature reactor (PAHTR) cooled by a molten salt with a high melting point, have the potential in increasing the system efficiency due to its high operating temperature, and providing the baseline requirements for coupling other process heat applications. The present research studies the neutronics and thermal hydraulics (TH) of the PAHTR as well as TH calculations for the TES which consists of 300 blocks with a total heat storage capacity of 150 MWd. SERPENT Monte Carlo and MCNP5 codes carried out the neutronics analysis of the PAHTR which is sized to have a 5-year refueling cycle and rated power of 300 MW_th. The PAHTR has 10 metric tons of heavy metal with 19.75 wt% enriched UO₂ TRISO fuel, a hot clean excess reactivity and shutdown margin of $33.70 and -$115.68; respectively, negative temperature feedback coefficients, and an axial flux peaking factor of 1.68. Star-CCM + code predicted the correct convective heat transfer coefficient variations for both the reactor and the storage. TH analysis results show that the flow in the primary loop (in the reactor and TES) remains in the developing mixed convection regime while it reaches a fully developed flow in the secondary loop.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.107-115
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• 2018

To ensure the structural integrity of nuclear power plants, it is essential to predict the lifetime of Alloy 182 weld, which is used for welding in nuclear reactors. The lifetime of Alloy 182 weld is directly related to the crack initiation time. Owing to the large time scatter in most crack initiation tests, a probabilistic model, such as the Weibull distribution, has mainly been adopted for prediction. However, since statistically more advanced methods than current typical methods may be applied, we suggest a statistical procedure for parameter estimation of the crack initiation time of Alloy 182 weld, considering right-censored data and the covariate effect. Furthermore, we suggest a procedure for uncertainty evaluation of the estimators based on the bootstrap method. The suggested statistical procedure can be applied not only to Alloy 182 weld but also to any material degradation data set including right-censored data with covariate effect.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.124-133
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• 2017

In-vessel retention by passive external reactor vessel cooling under severe accident conditions is a viable approach for retention of radioactive core melt within the reactor vessel. In this study, a new and versatile coating technique known as "cold spray" that can readily be applied to operating and advanced reactors was developed to form a microporous coating on the outer surface of a simulated reactor lower head. Quenching experiments were performed under simulated in-vessel retention by passive external reactor vessel cooling conditions using test vessels with and without cold spray coatings. Quantitative measurements show that for all angular locations on the vessel outer surface, the local critical heat flux (CHF) values for the coated vessel were consistently higher than the corresponding CHF values for the bare vessel. However, it was also observed for both coated and uncoated surfaces that the local rate of boiling and local CHF limit vary appreciably along the outer surface of the test vessel. Nonetheless, results of this intriguing study clearly show that the use of cold spray coatings could enhance the local CHF limit for downward-facing boiling by > 88%.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.521-530
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• 2009

Neutron science and technology, the utilization of neutron beams for a wide variety of scientific and engineering research ranging from materials and life science to industrial applications, has been one of the key elements of modem science and technology. Currently, the neutron science and technology in Korea is in rapid growth with the operation of the 30 MW High-flux Advanced Neutron Application Reactor (HANARO) at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, which is one of the most powerful nuclear research reactors in the world. Furthermore, a state of the art HANARO cold neutron research facility, which will open a new era for the neutron science and technology in Korea, is expected to become available in 2010. In this paper, the progress of neutron science and technology in Korea is reviewed and its unprecedented new opportunities and challenges in coming years are presented.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.455-465
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• 2021

The Molten Salt Reactor (MSR), one of the six advanced reactor types of the 4th generation nuclear energy systems, has many impressive features including economic advantages, inherent safety and nuclear non-proliferation. This paper introduces a system analysis code named TREND, which is developed and used for the steady and transient simulation of MSRs. The TREND code calculates the distributions of pressure, velocity and temperature of single-phase flows by solving the conservation equations of mass, momentum and energy, along with a fluid state equation. Heat structures coupled with the fluid dynamics model is sufficient to meet the demands of modeling MSR system-level thermal-hydraulics. The core power is based on the point reactor neutron kinetics model calculated by the typical Runge-Kutta method. An incremental PID controller is inserted to adjust the operation behaviors. The verification and validation of the TREND code have been carried out in two aspects: detailed code-to-code comparison with established thermal-hydraulic system codes such as RELAP5, and validation with the experimental data from MSRE and the CIET facility (the University of California, Berkeley's Compact Integral Effects Test facility).The results indicate that TREND can be used in analyzing the transient behaviors of MSRs and will be improved by validating with more experimental results with the support of SINAP.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.530-537
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• 2020

This study investigates the effect of an included angle and heat flux on heat transfer of V-shape tube array having a horizontal upper tube. The test uses two stainless steel tubes with a smooth surface submerged under the water at atmospheric pressure. The angle varies from 2° to 24°. The heat transfer coefficient gets decreasing in consequence as the angle increases. The enhancement due to the lower tube is distinct as the heat flux is lower than 60 kW/㎡, where the effect of the convective flow is dominant. The present study and the published results show a similar tendency. Although the heat transfer coefficient for the present study is smaller than the symmetry case, enhanced heat transfer is observed compared to the tube array having a lower horizontal tube as the included angle is less than 10°.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.423-440
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• 2001

For sodium cooling liquid metal reactors during the last 25 years, it was most important to verify the safety of the steam generator, which absolutely requires a water leak detection system with fine sensitivity and response. This study describes the structure and leak classification of the HAMMER (Korea Advanced Liquid Metal Reactor) steam generator, compared with other classifications, and explains the effects of leak development. The requirements and experimental situations for the development of the KALIMER acoustic leak detection system (KADS) which detects micro leaks, not intermediate leaks, are introduced. We proposed four frequency bands, 1∼8kHz, 8∼20kHz, 20∼40kHz and 40∼200kHz, split effectively for analyzing the detected acoustic leak signals obtained from the sodium-water reaction model or water model in the mock-up system.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.187-192
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• 2007

The basic research on fast reactor technology was started in the mid-1960's in China. The emphasis was put on fast reactor neutronics, thermohydraulics, sodium technology, materials, fuels, safety, sodium devices and instrumentation. In 1987, the research turned to applied basic research with the conceptual design of a 60 MW experimental fast reactor as a target. The Project of the China Experimental Fast Reactor(CEFR) with a thermal power 65 MW was launched in 1993. The R&D of fast reactor technology then carried out to serve a design demonstration connected with the different phases of the conceptual, preliminary and detailed design of the CEFR. Recently, three directions of fast rector technology R&D activities have been considered, and some research programs have been developed. They are: (1) R&D related to the CEFR, i.e. experiments to be conducted on the CEFR for its safe operation, (2) R&D related to the projects of a prototype and the demonstration of fast reactors, and(3) advanced SFR technology within the framework of the international cooperation of INPRO and GIF.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.335-346
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• 2013

The Critical Heat Flux (CHF) of water with dispersed alumina nanoparticles was measured for the geometry and flow conditions relevant to the In-Vessel Retention (IVR) situation which can occur during core melting sequences in certain advanced Light Water Reactors (LWRs). CHF measurements were conducted in a flow boiling loop featuring a test section designed to be thermal-hydraulically similar to the vessel/insulation gap in the Westinghouse AP1000 plant. The effects of orientation angle, pressure, mass flux, fluid type, boiling time, surface material, and surface state were investigated. Results for water-based nanofluids with alumina nanoparticles (0.001% by volume) on stainless steel surface indicate an average 70% CHF enhancement with a range of 17% to 108% depending on the specific flow conditions expected for IVR. Experiments also indicate that only about thirty minutes of boiling time (which drives nanoparticle deposition) are needed to obtain substantial CHF enhancement with nanofluids.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.1326-1338
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• 2017

The continuous energy Monte Carlo neutron transport code, MC21, was coupled to the CTF subchannel thermal-hydraulics code using a combination of Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL) tools and in-house Python scripts. An MC21/CTF solution for VERA Core Physics Benchmark Progression Problem 6 demonstrated good agreement with MC21/COBRA-IE and VERA solutions. The MC21/CTF solution for VERA Core Physics Benchmark Progression Problem 7, Watts Bar Unit 1 at beginning of cycle hot full power equilibrium xenon conditions, is the first published coupled Monte Carlo neutronics/subchannel T-H solution for this problem. MC21/CTF predicted a critical boron concentration of 854.5 ppm, yielding a critical eigenvalue of $0.99994{\pm}6.8E-6$ (95% confidence interval). Excellent agreement with a VERA solution of Problem 7 was also demonstrated for integral and local power and temperature parameters.