• 에너지공학
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• 제24권2호
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• pp.154-166
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• 2015

The in-core instrumentation measures core power distribution and coolant temperature in local regions of the core in pressurized water reactors. The installation types are distinguished by the designs of routing paths that exit either through reactor bottom mounted instrument nozzles or through reactor top mounted instrument nozzles. Although each type has unique advantages, it is generally known that top mounted design is more competitive with respect to emphasizing nuclear safety issues and ability to cope with severe accidents. The international nuclear vendors have provided various types of reactors with top mounted design. Nuclear power reactors in Korea, however, only have been designed to be applicable to the use of bottom mounted design, and it has been pointed out that the capabilities of Korean reactors against severe accidents should be further enhanced. The paper deals with technical issues on reactor internal and external design, in-core instrumentation, support assembly, sealing mechanism with nozzles, handling, and analytical issues in order to establish the ways of development.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제49권3호
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• pp.651-661
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• 2017

The Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, as a representative organization of Korea, in February 2012 participated in an international Program to Assess the Reliability of Emerging Nondestructive Techniques initiated by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The goal of the Program to Assess the Reliability of Emerging Nondestructive Techniques is to investigate the performance of emerging and prospective novel nondestructive techniques to find flaws in nickel-alloy welds and base materials. In this article, Korean round-robin test results were evaluated with respect to the test blocks and various nondestructive examination techniques. The test blocks were prepared to simulate large-bore dissimilar metal welds, small-bore dissimilar metal welds, and bottom-mounted instrumentation penetration welds in nuclear power plants. Also, lessons learned from the Korean round-robin test were summarized and discussed.

• 한국전산구조공학회논문집
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• 제29권3호
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• pp.245-252
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• 2016

상부 탑재형 노내계측기(TM-ICI) 개발은 원자로하부헤드 대신 원자로상부헤드로 계측기를 삽입함으로써 중대사고 위험을 줄이기 위해 진행 중이다. 이 개발 과제의 일환으로, NUREG/CR-6909와 Code Case N-761의 두 방법에 따라 TM-ICI 노즐에 대한 환경피로평가가 수행되었다. TM-ICI 노즐은 level A, level B 및 시험 조건에서의 과도조건에 따른 하중을 받는데 이에 대해 피로평가를 해야 한다. 원자로냉각재환경이 고려된 TM-ICI 노즐의 누적사용계수는 1이하로 평가되었고, 이는 ASME Code 허용기준을 만족한다.

• 시스템엔지니어링학술지
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• 제12권1호
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• pp.25-40
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• 2016

The Systems Engineering (SE) approach is characterized by the application of a structured engineering methodology for the design of a complex system or component. In this study, the SE methodology is used to design a nondestructive inspection system for Bottom Mounted Instrumentation (BMI) nozzles. We developed a system that enables nondestructive inspection of BMI nozzles during regular refueling outage without removing the reactor internals. A special ultrasonic (UT) probe is introduced to scan and detect cracks within the weld region of the nozzle. A 3D model of the inspection structure system was developed along with the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) and internals which permits a virtual 3D simulation of the operation to check the design concept and effectiveness of the system and to provide a good visualization of the system. This approach allows for a virtual walk through to verify the proposed BMI nozzle inspection system.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• 제34권5호
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• pp.13-18
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• 2016

Toshiba has developed a laser peening system for PWRs(pressurized water reactors) as well after the one for BWRs(boiling water reactors), and applied it for BMI(bottom-mounted instrumentation) nozzles, core deluge line nozzles and primary water inlet nozzles of Ikata Unit 1 and 2 of Shikoku Electric Power Company since 2004, which are Japanese operating PWR power plants. Laser pulses were delivered through twin optical fibers and irradiated on two portions in parallel to reduce operation time. For BMI nozzles, we developed a tiny irradiation head for small tubes and we peened the inner surface around J-groove welds after laser ultrasonic testing (LUT) as the remote inspection, and we peened the outer surface and the weld for Ikata Unit 2 supplementary. For core deluge line nozzles and primary water inlet nozzles, we peened the inner surface of the dissimilar metal welding, which is of nickel base alloy, joining a safe end and a low alloy metal nozzle. In this paper, the development and the actual application of the laser peening system for PWR power plants will be described.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제48권1호
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• pp.228-235
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• 2016

Flaws at dissimilar metal welds (DMWs), such as reactor coolant systems components, Control Rod Drive Mechanism (CRDM), Bottom Mounted Instrumentation (BMI) etc., in nuclear power plants have been found. Notably, primary water stress corrosion cracking (PWSCC) in the DMWs could cause significant reliability problems at nuclear power plants. Therefore, phased array ultrasound is widely used for inspecting surface break cracks and stress corrosion cracks in DMWs. However, inspection of DMWs using phased array ultrasound has a relatively low probability of detection of cracks, because the crystalline structure of welds causes distortion and splitting of the ultrasonic beams which propagates anisotropic medium. Therefore, advanced evaluation techniques of phased array ultrasound are needed for improvement in the probability of detection of flaws in DMWs. Thus, in this study, an investigation of focusing and steering phased array ultrasound in DMWs was carried out using a time reversal technique, and an adaptive focusing technique based on finite element method (FEM) simulation. Also, evaluation of focusing performance of three different focusing techniques was performed by comparing amplitude of phased array ultrasonic signals scattered from the targeted flaw with three different time delays.

• 비파괴검사학회지
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• 제29권2호
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• pp.153-161
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• 2009

2002년 미국 Davis Besse 원전에서 원자로 압력용기의 상부헤드 관통관 부위의 손상이 발견되고, 2002년 벨기에 Tihange 2호기 및 2003년 일본 쓰루가 원전의 가압기 노즐에서 균열이 발견되어 세계적으로 니켈합금기기의 일차 수응력 부식균열(PWSCC; primary water stress corrosion cracking)이 원자력안전에 상당히 위협적임을 인식하게 되었다. 이에 따라 2005년부터 4년간 계획으로 미국 NRC를 중심으로 니켈합금기기의 검사에 관한 국제공동연구(PINC; program for the inspection of nickel alloy components, 이하 PINC라 함)를 시작하였고 본 논문에는 2005년부터 수행된 PINC 국제공동연구의 수행현황에 대해서 소개한다. PINC 국제공동연구의 목적은 일차 수응력 부식균열의 형상(morphology)을 규명하고, 일차 수응력 부식균열에 대한 비파괴검사기법을 평가하는 것이다. 이 목적을 위하여 한국에서는 한국원자력안전기술원(Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, KINS, 이하 KINS라 함)을 주축으로 한국원자력연구원, 성균관대, 원자력발전기술원, 한전KPS, (주)엔스코, (주)UMI, (주)세안, 두산중공업(주)이 참가하였고, PINC 수행 결과는 2009년 상반기에 NUREG 보고서로 발간될 예정이다. 이러한 국제공동연구를 수행함으로써 국내 기계재료분야의 결함 형성 및 분석기술이 선진국 수준임을 과시하고, 국내 비파괴검사 기술을 선진국 수준으로 끌어 올릴 수 있었으며, 이번 기회를 통하여 국내 산학연이 서로 협력하여 니켈합금기기의 건전성평가 기술을 한 단계 상승시킬 수 있었다.