• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.318-329
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• 2016

Reducing critical boron concentration in a commercial pressurized water reactor core offers many advantages in view of safety and economics. This paper presents a preliminary investigation of a reduced-boron pressurized water reactor core to achieve a clearly negative moderator temperature coefficient at hot zero power using the newly-proposed "Burnable absorber-Integrated Guide Thimble" (BigT) absorbers. The reference core is based on a commercial OPR1000 equilibrium configuration. The reduced-boron ORP1000 configuration was determined by simply replacing commercial gadolinia-based burnable absorbers with the optimized BigT-loaded design. The equilibrium cores in this study were directly searched via repetitive Monte Carlo depletion calculations until convergence. The results demonstrate that, with the same fuel management scheme as in the reference core, application of the BigT absorbers can effectively reduce the critical boron concentration at the beginning of cycle by about 65 ppm. More crucially, the analyses indicate promising potential of the reduced-boron OPR1000 core with the BigT absorbers, as its moderator temperature coefficient at the beginning of cycle is clearly more negative and all other vital neutronic parameters are within practical safety limits. All simulations were completed using the Monte Carlo Serpent code with the ENDF/B-VII.0 library.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.661-673
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• 2020

The quarter-core simulation of BEAVRS Cycle 2 depletion benchmark has been conducted using the MCS/CTF coupling system. MCS/CTF is a cycle-wise Picard iteration based inner-coupling code system, which couples sub-channel T/H (thermal/hydraulic) code CTF as a T/H solver in Monte Carlo neutron transport code MCS. This coupling code system has been previously applied in the BEAVRS benchmark Cycle 1 full-core simulation. The Cycle 2 depletion has been performed with T/H feedback based on the spent fuel materials composition pre-generated by the Cycle 1 depletion simulation using refueling capability of MCS code. Meanwhile, the MCS internal one-dimension T/H solver (MCS/TH1D) has been also applied in the simulation as the reference. In this paper, an analysis of the detailed criticality boron concentration and the axially integrated assembly-wise detector signals will be presented and compared with measured data based on the real operating physical conditions. Moreover, the MCS/CTF simulated results for neutronics and T/H parameters will be also compared to MCS/TH1D to figure out their difference, which proves the practical application of MCS into the BEAVRS benchmark two-cycle depletion simulations.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics A
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• v.28A no.9
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• pp.736-742
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• 1991

N$^{+}$poly gate NMOSFETs and p$^{+}$ poly gate (surface type) PMOSFETs with three different gate oxides(SiO2, NO, and ONO) were fabricated. The rapid thermal nitridation and reoxidation techniques have been applied to gate oxide formation. The current drivability of the ONO NMOSFET shows larger values than that of the SiO2 NMOSFET. The snap-back occurs at a lower drain voltage for SiO$_2$ cases for ONO NMOSFET. Under the maximum substrate current bias conditions, hot-carrier effects inducting threshold voltage shift and transconductance degradation were investigated. The results indicate that ONO films exhibit less degradation in terms of threshold voltage shift. It was confirmed that the ONO samples achieve good improvement of hot-carrier immunity. In a SiO$_2$ SC-PMOSFET, with significant boron penetration, it becomes a depletion type (normally-on). But ONO films show excellent impurity barrier properties to boron penetration from the gate.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.481-496
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• 2020

After nuclear power plants are permanently shut down and decommissioned, the remaining irradiated metal components such as stainless steel, carbon steel, and Inconel can be used as neutron absorber. This study investigates the possibility of reusing these metal components as neutron absorber materials, that is burnable poison. The absorption cross section of the irradiated metals did not lose their chemical properties and performance even if they were irradiated over 40-50 years in the NPPs. To examine the absorption capability of the waste metals, the lattice calculations of WH 17×17 fuel assembly were analyzed. From the results, Inconel-718 significantly hold-down fuel assembly excess reactivity compared to stainless steel 304 and carbon steel because Inconel-718 contains a small amount of boron nuclide. From the results, a 20wt% impurity of boron in irradiated Inconel-718 enhances the excess reactivity suppression. The application of irradiated Inconel-718 as a burnable absorber for SMR core was investigated. The irradiated Inconel-718 impurity with 20wt% of boron content can maintain and suppress the whole core reactivity. We emphasize that the irradiated metal components can be used as burnable absorber materials to control the reactivity of commercial reactor power and small modular reactors.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.247-259
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• 2009

This study is focused on the relationship between whole rock boron contents and metamorphic P-T conditions of metasedimentary rocks from northeastern Yeongnam massif around Samcheok area, Korea. Metamorphic P-T conditions of sillimanite and garnet zones based on the Ti-biotite geothermometer is 553-687$^{\circ}C$ and 582-722$^{\circ}C$ at 4-6 kbar, respectively. In the metasedimentary rocks, boron contents in whole rock decrease with increasing metamorphic grade, from sillimanite zone (9.60-189 ppm B) to garnet zone (2.63-15.97 ppm B), except one sample (90.9 ppm B) from garnet zone containing graphites. Boron depletion in garnet zone has relation with mode of tourmaline which are broken down with increasing metamorphic temperature. Boron contents are indirectly proportional to major and trace elements such as $Al_2O_3$, MgO, $Fe_2O_3$, $K_2O$, Li, Ba, Sc, Co, Cr, Rb and Cs that are abundant in tourmalines. In conclustion, tourmalines and graphite are modulator of boron contents in metasedimentary rocks. In the biotite granitic gneisses, boron contents (2.62-12.2 ppm B) are similar or lower than those of metasedimentary rocks and have no relation with metamorphic P-T conditions.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.53.1-53.1
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• 2010

결정질 실리콘 태양전지의 효율을 향상시키기 위하여 수광면에 서로 다른 도핑농도를 가지는 고농도 도핑영역과 저농도 도핑영역으로 이루어진 emitter를 형성하는 것이 요구되며 이를 selective emitter라 칭한다. Selective emitter를 형성하면 고농도 도핑영역에서 금속전극과 저항 접촉이 잘 형성되기 때문에 직렬 저항이 최소화되고 저농도 도핑영역에서는 전하 재결합의 감소로 인하여 태양전지의 변환효율이 상승하는 이점이 있다. Selective emitter의 형성방법은 이미 다양한 방법이 제안되고 있으나, 본 연구에서는 기존에 제시된 방법과는 다르게 열산화 시 dopant redistribution에 의한 Boron depletion 현상을 이용하여 selective emitter를 형성하는 방법을 제안하였고, 이를 Simulation을 통하여 검증하였다. 초기 emitter 확산 후 junction depth는 0.478um, 면저항은 $104.2{\Omega}/sq.$ 이었으며, nitride masking layer 두께는 0.3um로 설정하였다. $1100^{\circ}C$에서 30분간 습식산화 공정을 거친 후 nitride mask가 있는 부분의 junction depth는 1.48um, 면저항은 $89.1{\Omega}/sq$의 값을 보였고, 산화막이 형성된 부분의 junction depth는 1.16um, 면저항은 $261.8{\Omega}/sq$의 값을 보였다. 위 조건의 구조를 가진 태양전지의 변환 효율은 19.28%의 값을 나타내었고 Voc, Jsc 및 fill factor는 각각 645.08mV, $36.26mA/cm^2$, 82.42%의 값을 보였다. 한편 일반적인 구조로 설정한 태양전지의 변환 효율, Voc, Isc 및 fill factor는 각각 18.73%, 644.86mV, $36.26mA/cm^2$, 80.09%의 값을 보였다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.12
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• pp.4431-4446
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• 2023

A Multiphysics coupling framework, MPCORE, has been developed to analyze safety parameters using the best estimate codes. The framework contains neutron kinetics (NK), thermal hydraulics (TH), and fuel performance (FP) codes to analyze fuel burnup, radial power distribution, and coolant temperature (T_bc). Shuffling and rotation capabilities have been verified on the Watts Bar reactor for three cycles. This study focuses on two coupling approaches for TH and FP modules. The one-way coupling approach involves coupling the FP code with the NK code, providing no data to the TH modules but getting T_bc as boundary condition from TH module. The two-way coupling approach exchanges information from FP to TH modules, so that the simplified heat conduction solver of the TH module is not used. The power profile in both approaches does not differ significantly, but there is an impact on coolant and cladding parameters. The one-way coupling approach tends to over-predict the cladding hydrogen concentration (CHC). This research highlights the difference between one-way and two-way coupling on critical boron concentration, T_bc, CHC, oxide surface temperature, and pellet centerline temperature. Overall, MPCORE framework with two-way coupling provides a more accurate and reliable analysis of safety parameters for nuclear reactors.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.233-237
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• 2002

A giga-bit DRAM(dynamic random access memory) technology with W/WNx/poly-Si dual gate electrode is presented in 7his papers. We fabricated $0.16\mu\textrm{m}$ CMOS using this technology and succeeded in suppressing short-channel effects. The saturation current of nMOS and surface-channel pMOS(SC-pMOS) with a $0.16\mu\textrm{m}$ gate was observed 330 $\mu\A/\mu\textrm{m}$ and 100 $\mu\A/\mu\textrm{m}$ respectively. The lower salutation current of SC-pMOS is due to the p-doped poly gate depletion. SC-pMOS shows good DIBL(dram-induced harrier lowering) and sub-threshold characteristics, and there was no boron penetration.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.7
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• pp.2104-2125
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• 2021

This paper presents the verification and validation (V&V) of a calculation module for isotope inventory prediction to control the back-end cycle of spent nuclear fuel (SNF). The calculation method presented herein was implemented in a two-step code system of a lattice code STREAM and a nodal diffusion code RAST-K. STREAM generates a cross section and provides the number density information using branch/history depletion branch calculations, whereas RAST-K supplies the power history and three history indices (boron concentration, moderator temperature, and fuel temperature). As its primary feature, this method can directly consider three-dimensional core simulation conditions using history indices of the operating conditions. Therefore, this method reduces the computation time by avoiding a recalculation of the fuel depletion. The module for isotope inventory calculates the number densities using the Lagrange interpolation method and power history correction factors, which are applied to correct the effects of the decay and fission products generated at different power levels. To assess the reliability of the developed code system for back-end cycle analysis, validation study was performed with 58 measured samples of pressurized water reactor (PWR) SNF, and code-to-code comparison was conducted with STREAM-SNF, HELIOS-1.6 and SCALE 5.1. The V&V results presented that the developed code system can provide reasonable results with comparable confidence intervals. As a result, this paper successfully demonstrates that the isotope inventory prediction code system can be used for spent nuclear fuel analysis.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.829-834
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• 2004

Annealing of $Cu(B)/Ti/SiO_2$ in vacuum has been carried out to investigate the effects of Ti underlayer on microstructure in $Cu(B)/Ti/SiO_2$ structures. For comparison, $Cu(B)/Ti/SiO_2$ structures was also annealed in vacuum. Three different temperature dependence of Cu growth can be seen in $Cu(B)/Ti/SiO_2$; B precipitates- pinned grain growth, abnormal grain growth, normal grain growth. The Ti underlayer having a strong affinity for B atoms reacts with the out-diffused B to the Ti surface and forms titanium boride at the Cu-Ti interface. The formation of titanium boride acts as a sink for the out-diffusion of B atoms. The depletion of boron in grain boundaries of Cu films, as results of the rapid diffusion of B along the grain boundaries and the insufficient segregation of B to the grain boundaries, induces grain boundaries to migrate and causes the abnormal grain growth. The increased bulk diffusion coefficient of B within Cu grains can be responsible for the normal grain growth occurring in the annealed $Cu(B)/Ti/SiO_2\;at\;600^{\circ}C$. In contrast, the $Cu/SiO_2$ structures show only the abnormal growth of grains and their sizes increasing as the temperature increases above $400^{\circ}C$.