• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.8
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• pp.2960-2973
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• 2022

Since Fukushima nuclear power plant (NPP) accident in 2011, the importance of research on various severe accident phenomena has been emphasized. Particularly, detailed analysis of combustion risk is necessary following the containment damage caused by combustion in the Fukushima accident. Many studies have been conducted to evaluate the risk of local hydrogen concentration increases and flame propagation using computational code. In particular, the potential for combustion by local hydrogen concentration in specific areas within the containment has been emphasized. In this study, the process of flame propagation generated inside a reactor core to containment during a loss of coolant accident (LOCA) was analyzed using MELCOR 2.1 code. Later in the LOCA scenario, it was expected that hydrogen combustion occurred inside the reactor core owing to oxygen inflow through the cold leg break area. The main driving force of the oxygen intrusion is the elevated containment pressure due to the molten corium-concrete interaction. The thermal and mechanical loads caused by the flame threaten the integrity of the containment. Additionally, the containment spray system effectiveness in this situation was evaluated because changes in pressure gradient and concentrations of flammable gases greatly affect the overall behavior of ignition and subsequent containment integrity.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.412-415
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• 2004

This study was performed to verify the behaviors of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors attached to the containment structure in the nuclear power plant as a part of structural integrity test which demonstrates that the structural response of the non-prototype primary containment structure is within predicted limits plus tolerances when pressurized to $115\%$ of containment design pressure, and that the containment does not sustain any structural damage.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.18 no.2_spc
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• pp.237-245
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• 2020

Metal seals are the main components that establish the containment boundary in bolted casks, which store spent nuclear fuel. These seals are degraded by heat and radiation. In addition, creep occurs when the seals are exposed to intense heat for an extended period. This creep results in the stress relaxation of the seals, which consequently impairs the seal integrity. The stress relaxation can reduce the sealing performance of the metal seal, which can further cause leakage in the storage cask. Moreover, the reduction of bolt tension leads to sealing performance degradation. In this study, the results of high-temperature-accelerated tests were obtained to evaluate the containment integrity of metal seals and the decrease in bolt tension. During the tests, the leakage rate, bolt strain, and ambient temperature of the metal seals were measured and analyzed. The metal seals were found to maintain containment integrity for 50 years of storage. The validity of the acceleration test was also investigated.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2005.11c
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• pp.73-75
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• 2005

A number of the power cables arc installed in the containment of the nuclear power plant. According to the IEEE Standard 835, the calculation of the temperature rise shows the operation possibility of power cables in the containment. In this paper, we expect the integrity of the power cables by using the calculation of the temperature rise and the development of the lifetime extension of the cables.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.69-74
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• 2023

The paper presents the results investigating the effect of aircraft engine impact location on the intended function evaluation results of spent nuclear fuel transport cask. As a result of the investigation, it is found that the structural integrity is maintained as the maximum accumulated equivalent plastic strain is below the acceptable criterion regardless of the collision location. It is identified that when the aircraft engine collided with the upper part of the transport cask without considering impact limiter the containment performance is weakened compared to when the aircraft engine collided with the central part.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.597-604
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• 2013

Containment Filtered Vent Systems (CFVSs) have been mainly equipped in nuclear power plants in Europe and Canada for the controlled depressurization of the containment atmosphere under severe accident conditions. This is to keep the containment integrity against overpressure during the course of a severe accident, in which the radioactive gas-steam mixture from the containment is discharged into a system designed to remove the radionuclides. In Korea, a CFVS was first introduced in the Wolsong unit-1 nuclear power plant as a mitigation measure to deal with the threat of over pressurization, following post-Fukushima action items. In this paper, the overall features of a CFVS installation such as risk assessments, an evaluation of the performance requirements, and a determination of the optimal operating strategies are analyzed for the Wolsong unit 1 nuclear power plant using a severe accident analysis computer code, ISAAC.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.643-646
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• 2004

The posttensioning system of nuclear containment have to be verified its structural integrity by the periodic inspection because the structural behavior of the containment is changed by the variation of the physical property of concrete and tendon as time passes. In this study a program 'SAPONC-CANDU' which is able to monitor and analysis the micro structural behavior of the domestic CANDU type containment at all times was developed. The readings of vibrating-wire strain gauges embedded into the concrete of containment were used as input data for operating the program. This program provides the long-term prediction values and bands of the concrete strain due to the time dependent factors of the concrete and tendon of the domestic CANDU type containment.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.468-482
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• 2001

As a process of Direct Containment Heating (DCH) issue resolution for Korean Standard Nuclear Power Plants (KSNPs), a containment load/strength assessment with two different approaches, the probabilistic and the deterministic, was performed with all plant-specific and phenomena-specific data. In case of the probabilistic approach, the framework developed to support the Zion DCH study, Two-Cell Equilibrium (TCE) coupled with Latin Hypercubic Sampling (LHS), provided a very efficient tool to resolve DCH issue. In case of the deterministic approach, the evaluation methodology using the sophisticated mechanistic computer code, CONTAIN 2.0 was developed, based on findings from DCH-related experiments or analyses. For three bounding scenarios designated as Scenarios V, Va, and VI, the calculation results of TCE/LHS and CONTAIN 2.0 with the conservatism or typical estimation for uncertain parameters, showed that the containment failure resulted from DCH loads was not likely to occur. To verify that these two approaches might be conservative , the containment loads resulting from typical high-pressure accident scenarios (SBO and SBLOCA) for KSNPs were also predicted. The CONTAIN 2.0 calculations with boundary and initial conditions from the MAAP4 predictions, including the sensitivity calculations for DCH phenomenological parameters, have confirmed that the predicted containment pressure and temperature were much below those from these two approaches, and, therefore, DCH issue for KSNPS might be not a problem.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.71-75
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• 2013

Nuclear containment building is used as second blockage to protect us from a radiation leakage caused by the natural disaster or any accidents, so it's safety is important and must be kept with continuous surveillance. In this study, we measured the strain of a nuclear containment building's wall by using FBG sensor and investigated the structural safety of a nuclear containment building. 50 FBG strain sensors and 18 FBG strain sensors were attached on the side wall and upper dome of a nuclear containment building, respectively. We measured the strains of the outside concrete wall during the Structural Integrity Test (SIT) of a nuclear containment building. The strain of an upper dome was larger than that of a side wall, about $200{\mu}{\varepsilon}$. And the very small strain was measured at vertical direction of a side wall. These experimental results were used to evaluate the structural health of nuclear containment building.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.5A
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• pp.901-908
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• 2006

The structural integrity of containment building in Nuclear Power Plants has to be verified by the ISI(In Service Inspection) because there are some variations on the structural behavior of it due to the change of the physical properties of concrete and tendon with the lapse of time. In this study, the program 'SAPONC-CANDU' which can monitor and analyze the structural behavior of the containment building with grouted tendon (CANDU-type, 'Wolsong unit-2, 3, and 4' in Korea) was developed. This program is based on the algorithm which can calculate the prediction values of the quantities of strain variation for the vibrating-wire strain gauges embedded into the concrete of the containment building under temperature and time dependent factors which are creep, shrinkage, and prestressing force. The readings of the strain gauges are used as input data for the operation of the program. And it finally provides graphically a prediction value, line and band of the quantity of strain variation for the respective strain gauges, therefore, it is thought that the site engineers are able to assess the structural integrity of the domestic containment building with grouted tendon with easy using this program.