• Corrosion Science and Technology
• /
• 제14권6호
• /
• pp.301-312
• /
• 2015

Corrosion of zirconium fuel cladding is known to limit the lifetime and reloading cycles of fuel in nuclear reactors. Oxide layers formed on ZIRLO4^{TM}$ cladding samples, after immersion for 300-hour and 50-day in a simulated primary water chemistry condition ($360^{\circ}C$ and 20 MPa), were analyzed by using the scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), in-situ transmission electron microscopy (in-situ TEM) with the focused ion beam (FIB) technique, and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Both samples (immersion for 300 hours and 50 days) revealed the presence of the ZrO sub-oxide phase at the metal/oxide interface and columnar grains developed perpendicularly to the metal/oxide interface. Voids and micro-cracks were also detected near the water/oxide interface, while relatively large lateral cracks were found just above the less advanced metal/oxide interface. Equiaxed grains were mainly observed near the water/oxide interface.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제41권7호
• /
• pp.953-968
• /
• 2009

It is important to accurately predict the temperature and density distributions in large stratified enclosures both for design optimization and accident analysis. Current reactor system analysis codes only provide lumped-volume based models that can give very approximate results. Previous scaling analysis has shown that stratified mixing processes in large stably stratified enclosures can be described using one-dimensional differential equations, with the vertical transport by jets modeled using integral techniques. This allows very large reductions in computational effort compared to three-dimensional CFD simulation. The BMIX++ (Berkeley mechanistic MIXing code in C++) code was developed to implement such ideas. This paper summarizes major models for the BMIX++ code, presents the two-plume mixing experiment simulation as one validation example, and describes the codes' application to the liquid salt buffer pool system in the AHTR (Advanced High Temperature Reactor) design. Three design options have been simulated and they exhibit significantly different stratification patterns. One of design options shows the mildest thermal stratification and is identified as the best design option. This application shows that the BMIX++ code has capability to provide the reactor designers with insights to understand complex mixing behavior with mechanistic methods. Similar analysis is possible for liquid-metal cooled reactors.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제42권3호
• /
• pp.297-304
• /
• 2010

In the design of advanced light water reactors (ALWRs) and in the safety assessment of currently operating nuclear power plants, it is necessary to evaluate the possibility of experiencing a degraded core accident and to develop innovative safety technologies in order to assure long-term debris cooling. The objective of this experimental study is to investigate the enhancement factors of dryout heat flux in debris beds by coolant injection from below. The experimental facility consists mainly of an induction heater, a double-wall quartz-tube test section containing a steel-particle bed and coolant injection and recovery condensing loop. A fairly uniform heating of the particle bed was achieved in the radial direction and the axial variation was within 20%. This paper reports the experimental data for 3.2 mm and 4.8 mm particle beds with a 300 mm bed height. The dryout heat density data were obtained for both the top-flooding and the forced coolant injection from below with an injection mass flux of up to $1.5\;kg/m^2s$. The dryout heat density increased as the rate of coolant injection increased. At a coolant injection mass flux of $1.0\;kg/m^2s$, the dryout heat density was ${\sim}6.5\;MW/m^3$ for the 4.8 mm particle bed and ${\sim}5.6\;MW/m^3$ for the 3.2 mm particle bed. The enhancement factors of the dryout heat density were 1.6-1.8.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제43권1호
• /
• pp.19-24
• /
• 2011

These experimental studies are carried out to build a database for analyzing fuel performance in nuclear power plants. In particular, this study focuses on the mechanical and irradiation properties of three kinds of zirconium alloy (Alloy A, Alloy B and Alloy C) irradiated in the HANARO (High-flux Advanced Neutron Application Reactor), one of the leading multipurpose research reactors in the world. Yield strength and ultimate tensile strength were measured to determine the mechanical properties before and after irradiation, while irradiation growth was measured for the irradiation properties. The samples for irradiation testing are classified by texture. For the irradiation condition, all samples were wrapped into the capsule (07M-13N) and irradiated in the HANARO for about 100 days (E > 1.0 MeV, $1.1{\times}10^{21}\;n/cm^2$). These tests and results indicate that the mechanical properties of zirconium alloys are similar whether unirradiated or irradiated. Alloy B has shown the highest yield strength and tensile strength properties compared to other alloys in irradiated condition. Even though each of the zirconium alloys has a different alloying content, this content does not seem to affect the mechanical properties under an unirradiated condition and low fluence. And all the alloys have shown the tendency to increase in yield strength and ultimate tensile strength. Transverse specimens of each of the zirconium alloys have a slightly lower irradiation growth tendency than longitudinal specimens. However, for clear analysis of texture effects, further testing under higher irradiation conditions is needed.

• 한국세라믹학회지
• /
• 제51권5호
• /
• pp.435-441
• /
• 2014

Silicon carbide-based ceramics and their composites have been studied for application to fusion and advanced fission energy systems. For fission reactors, $SiC_f$/SiC composites can be applied to core structural materials. Multilayered SiC composite fuel cladding, owing to its superior high temperature strength and low hydrogen generation under severe accident conditions, is a candidate for the replacement of zirconium alloy cladding. The SiC composite cladding has to retain its mechanical properties and original structure under the inner pressure caused by fission products; as such it can be applied as a cladding in fission reactor. A hoop strength test using an expandable polyurethane plug was designed in order to evaluate the mechanical properties of the fuel cladding. In this paper, a hoop strength test of the multilayered SiC composite tube for nuclear fuel cladding was simulated using FEA. The stress caused by the plug was distributed nonuniformly because of the friction coefficient difference between the inner surface of the tube and the plug. Hoop stress and shear stress at the tube was evaluated and the relationship between the concentrated stress at the inner layer of the tube and the fracture behavior of the tube was investigated.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제50권2호
• /
• pp.268-279
• /
• 2018

The ALCYONE multidimensional fuel performance code codeveloped by the CEA, EDF, and AREVA NP within the PLEIADES software environment models the behavior of fuel rods during irradiation in commercial pressurized water reactors (PWRs), power ramps in experimental reactors, or accidental conditions such as loss of coolant accidents or reactivity-initiated accidents (RIAs). As regards the latter case of transient in particular, ALCYONE is intended to predictively simulate the response of a fuel rod by taking account of mechanisms in a way that models the physics as closely as possible, encompassing all possible stages of the transient as well as various fuel/cladding material types and irradiation conditions of interest. On the way to complying with these objectives, ALCYONE development and validation shall include tests on $PWR-UO_2$ fuel rods with advanced claddings such as M5(R) under "low pressure-low temperature" or "high pressure-high temperature" water coolant conditions. This article first presents ALCYONE V1.4 RIA-related features and modeling. It especially focuses on recent developments dedicated on the one hand to nonsteady water heat and mass transport and on the other hand to the modeling of grain boundary cracking-induced fission gas release and swelling. This article then compares some simulations of RIA transients performed on $UO_2$-M5(R) fuel rods in flowing sodium or stagnant water coolant conditions to the relevant experimental results gained from tests performed in either the French CABRI or the Japanese NSRR nuclear transient reactor facilities. It shows in particular to what extent ALCYONE-starting from base irradiation conditions it itself computes-is currently able to handle both the first stage of the transient, namely the pellet-cladding mechanical interaction phase, and the second stage of the transient, should a boiling crisis occur. Areas of improvement are finally discussed with a view to simulating and analyzing further tests to be performed under prototypical PWR conditions within the CABRI International Program. M5(R) is a trademark or a registered trademark of AREVA NP in the USA or other countries.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제49권7호
• /
• pp.1388-1395
• /
• 2017

The Helically coiled tube Once-Through Steam Generator (H-OTSG) is a key piece of equipment for compact small reactors. The present study developed and verified a thermal-hydraulic design and performance analysis computer code for a countercurrent H-OTSG installed in a small pressurized water reactor. The H-OTSG is represented by one characteristic tube in the model. The secondary side of the H-OTSG is divided into single-phase liquid region, nucleate boiling region, postdryout region, and single-phase vapor region. Different heat transfer correlations and pressure drop correlations are reviewed and applied. To benchmark the developed physical models and the computer code, H-OTSGs developed in Marine Reactor X and System-integrated Modular Advanced ReacTor are simulated by the code, and the results are compared with the design data. The overall characteristics of heat transfer area, temperature distributions, and pressure drops calculated by the code showed general agreement with the published data. The thermal-hydraulic characteristics of a typical countercurrent H-OTSG are analyzed. It is demonstrated that the code can be utilized for design and performance analysis of an H-OTSG.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• 제10권1호
• /
• pp.41-49
• /
• 1985

1,300 MWe 가압경수로 공동내에서 중성자의 흐름해석이 수행되었다. 중성자의 흐름을 해석하는데는 1차원 수송코드인 ANISN, 2차원 수송코드인 DOT3.5, 3차원 Monte Carlo 코드인 TRIPOLI-02와 이들을 접속시켜주는 DOTTRI 등의 전산코드가 이용되었고, 본 계산에 사용된 전산기는 IBM 3033형이었다. 계산된 선속 및 선량율은 900 MW 가압경수로의 공동내에서 측정한 측정치와 비교검토 되었고, 그 결과 중성자 군별로 약간의 오차는 있었으나 전체적으로 큰 오차는 없었다. 이 결과는 대용량의 원자로 차폐설계, 원자로보수시, 기타 원자로 공동내에 출입할 경우에 방사선방어상 필요한 방어수단을 제공하는데 기여하였다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제39권4호
• /
• pp.327-336
• /
• 2007

The influence of density differences on the mixing of the primary loop inventory and the Emergency Core Cooling (ECC) water in the downcomer of a Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR) was analyzed at the ROssendorf COolant Mixing (ROCOM) test facility. ROCOM is a 1:5 scaled model of a German PWR, and has been designed for coolant mixing studies. It is equipped with advanced instrumentation, which delivers high-resolution information for temperature or boron concentration fields. This paper presents a ROCOM experiment in which water with higher density was injected into a cold leg of the reactor model. Wire-mesh sensors measuring the tracer concentration were installed in the cold leg and upper and lower part of the downcomer. The experiment was run with 5% of the design flow rate in one loop and 10% density difference between the ECC and loop water especially for the validation of the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software ANSYS CFX. A mesh with two million control volumes was used for the calculations. The effects of turbulence on the mean flow were modelled with a Reynolds stress turbulence model. The results of the experiment and of the numerical calculations show that mixing is dominated by buoyancy effects: At higher mass flow rates (close to nominal conditions) the injected slug propagates in the circumferential direction around the core barrel. Buoyancy effects reduce this circumferential propagation. Therefore, density effects play an important role during natural convection with ECC injection in PWRs. ANSYS CFX was able to predict the observed flow patterns and mixing phenomena quite well.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제51권4호
• /
• pp.1069-1074
• /
• 2019

A novel fabrication method of oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) steel cladding tubes for advanced fast reactors has been investigated using the cold spray powder-based materials deposition process. Cold spraying has the potential advantage for rapidly fabricating ODS cladding tubes in comparison with the conventional multi-step extrusion process. A gas atomized spherical 14YWT (Fe-14%Cr, 3%W, 0.4%Ti, 0.2% Y, 0.01%O) powder was sprayed on a rotating cylindrical 6061-T6 aluminum mandrel using nitrogen as the propellant gas. The powder lacked the oxygen content needed to precipitate the nanoclusters in ODS steel, therefore this work was intended to serve as a proof-of-concept study to demonstrate that free-standing steel cladding tubes with prototypical ODS composition could be manufactured using the cold spray process. The spray process produced an approximately 1-mm thick, dense 14YWT deposit on the aluminum-alloy tube. After surface polishing of the 14YWT deposit to obtain desired cladding thickness and surface roughness, the aluminum-alloy mandrel was dissolved in an alkaline medium to leave behind a free-standing ODS tube. The as-fabricated cladding tube was annealed at $1000^{\circ}C$ for 1 h in an argon atmosphere to improve the overall mechanical properties of the cladding.