• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.1174-1183
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• 2016

Hydrogen release during severe accidents poses a serious threat to containment integrity. Mitigating procedures are necessary to prevent global or local explosions, especially in large steel shell containments. The management of hydrogen safety and prevention of over-pressurization could be implemented through a hydrogen reduction system and spray system. During the course of the hypothetical large break loss-of-coolant accident in a nuclear power plant, hydrogen is generated by a reaction between steam and the fuel-cladding inside the reactor pressure vessel and also core concrete interaction after ejection of melt into the cavity. The MELCOR 1.8.6 was used to assess core degradation and containment behavior during the large break loss-of-coolant accident without the actuation of the safety injection system except for accumulators in Beznau nuclear power plant. Also, hydrogen distribution in containment and performance of hydrogen reduction system were investigated.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.3479-3484
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• 2007

Two steam explosion experiments were performed in the TROI facility by using metal-added molten corium (core material) which is produced during a postulated severe accident in the nuclear reactor. A triggered steam explosion occurred in a case, but no triggered steam explosion did in the other case. The dynamic pressure and the dynamic load measured in the former experiment show a stronger explosion that those performed previously with oxidic corium. A steam explosion is prohibited when the melt temperature is low, because the melt is easily solidified to prevent a liquid-liquid interaction.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.535-550
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• 2006

The objectives of this paper are twofold to summarize the new findings and confirmed results from the Phebus FPT-1 experimental data and to report useful information to MELCOR users regarding the better use of MELCOR. For the core damage behavior, the early stage of a melt progression was predicted well; however, the late phase models, concerned with fuel dissolution, oxide cladding failure, fuel slumping, rubble debris heat up, effects of burn-up fuel, and so on, still showed limitations in MELCOR. For the fission product behavior, the comparison showed unexpected phenomena, various limitations, unresolved issues, and even absence of models. The issues summarized in this study have revealed the main areas where our endeavors need to be intensified in order to improve our understanding of severe accident phenomena. From the analysis of the Phebus FPT-1 test results, not only new core damage features, such as foaming or core expansion, but also possible new fission product release patterns due to effects from a high burn-up fuel have raised alternative challenging phenomena that should be solved in the next severe accident research phase.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.72-86
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• 2016

A steam explosion may occur during a severe accident, when the molten core comes into contact with water. The pressurized water reactor and boiling water reactor ex-vessel steam explosion study, which was carried out with the multicomponent three-dimensional Eulerian fuel-coolant interaction code under the conditions of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Steam Explosion Resolution for Nuclear Applications project reactor exercise, is presented and discussed. In reactor calculations, the largest uncertainties in the prediction of the steam explosion strength are expected to be caused by the large uncertainties related to the jet breakup. To obtain some insight into these uncertainties, premixing simulations were performed with both available jet breakup models, i.e., the global and the local models. The simulations revealed that weaker explosions are predicted by the local model, compared to the global model, due to the predicted smaller melt droplet size, resulting in increased melt solidification and increased void buildup, both reducing the explosion strength. Despite the lower active melt mass predicted for the pressurized water reactor case, pressure loads at the cavity walls are typically higher than that for the boiling water reactor case. This is because of the significantly larger boiling water reactor cavity, where the explosion pressure wave originating from the premixture in the center of the cavity has already been significantly weakened on reaching the distant cavity wall.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.84-87
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• 2001

Severe accident management can be defined as the use of existing and alternative resources, systems, and actions to prevent or mitigate a core-melt accident in nuclear power plants. TRAIN (Training pRogram for AMP In NPP), developed for training control room staff and the technical group, is introduced in this paper. The TRAIN composes of phenomenological knowledge base (KB), accident sequence KB and accident management procedures with AM strategy control diagrams and information needs. This TRAIN might contribute to training them by obtaining phenomenological knowledge of severe accidents, understanding plant vulnerabilities, and solving problems under high stress.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.10
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• pp.3909-3918
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• 2022

In the event of a severe accident, the reactor core may melt due to insufficient cooling. the high-temperature core melt will have a strong interaction (FCI) with the coolant, which may lead to steam explosion. Steam explosion would pose a serious threat to the safety of the reactors. Therefore, the study of steam explosion is of great significance to the assessment of severe accidents in nuclear reactors. This research focuses on the development of a two-dimensional steam explosion integrated analysis code called SEINA. Based on the semi-implicit Euler scheme, the three-phase field was considered in this code. Besides, the influence of evaporation drag of melt and the influence of solidified shell during the process of melt droplet fragmentation were also considered. The code was simulated and validated by FARO L-14 and KROTOS KS-2 experiments. The calculation results of SEINA code are in good agreement with the experimental results, and the results show that if the effects of evaporation drag and melt solidification shell are considered, the FCI process can be described more accurately. Therefore, it is proved that SEINA has the potential to be a powerful and effective tool for the analysis of steam explosions in nuclear reactors.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.11
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• pp.4266-4273
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• 2023

In a severe reactor accident, a crust will form on the surface of the molten material during the core melting process. The crust will have a contact melting with the internal components of the reactor. In this paper, the contact melting process of the molten material on the austenitic stainless steel plate bundles is studied. The contact melting model of parabolic molten material on the plate bundles is proposed, and the rule and main effect factors of the contact melting are analyzed. The results show that the melting velocity is proportional to the slope of the paraboloid, the heat flux and the distance between two plates D. The influence of melt gravity and the plate width on melting velocity is negligible. The thickness of the molten liquid film is proportional to the heat flux and plate width, and it is inversely proportional to the gravity. With the increase of D, the liquid film thickness decreases at first and then increases gradually. The liquid film thickness has a minimum against D. When the width of the plate is small, the width of the plate is the main factor affecting the thickness of the liquid film. The parameters are coupled with each other. In a severe reactor accident, the wider internal components of reactor, which can increase the thickness of the melting liquid film and reduce the net input heat flux from the molten material to the components, are the effective measures to delay the melting process.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1997.05a
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• pp.473-478
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• 1997

A severe accident management strategy, in-vessel retention corium through external reactor vessel cooling(ERVC) is being studied worldwide as a means to prevent reactor vessel failure following a core melt accident. An evaluation of feasibility of this ERVC for a large Advanced Light Water Reactor (ALWR) is presented. To account for the coolability of corium and metal in the reactor vessel, a thermal analysis is performed using an existing method. Results show that the peak heat flux along the inner surface of the reactor vessel lower head has a relatively smaller margin than a small capacity reactor such as AP600 in regards with the critical heat flux attainable at the outer surface of the reactor vessel lower head.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1998.11c
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• pp.1054-1060
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• 1998

Previous counter-current flow limitation (CCFL) and critical heat flux (CHF) studies included investigations on the inlet entrance, inclined channel and gap effects for the most part. In this study, the local CHF correlation was presented to be used in the numerical analysis for the 3 dimensional hemispherical geometry. Also, first-principle analyses were performed to determine the maximum heat removal capability from the debris through the gap that may be formed during a core melt accident. The maximum heat removal capability by gap cooling can be applied in quantitatively assessing the severe accident management measures.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1998.11b
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• pp.706-712
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• 1998

Previous counter-current flow limitation (CCFL) and critical heat flux (CHF) studies included investigations on the inlet entrance, inclined channel and gap effects for the most part. In this study, the local CHF correlation was presented to be used in the numerical analysis for the 3 dimensional hemispherical geometry. Also, first-principle analyses were performed to determine the maximum heat removal capability from the debris through the gap that may be formed during a core melt accident. The maximum heat removal capability by gap cooling can be applied in quantitatively assessing the severe accident management measures.