• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.1339-1345
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• 2017

In the framework of the EU funded project NURESAFE, the subchannel code CTF and the neutronics code DYN3D were integrated and coupled on the NURESIM platform. The developments achieved during this 3-year project include assembly-level and pin-by-pin multiphysics thermal hydraulics/neutron kinetics coupling. In order to test this coupling, a PWR rod ejection transient was simulated on a MOX/UOX minicore. The transient is simulated using two different models of the minicore. In the first simulation, both codes model the core with an assembly-wise resolution. In the second simulation, a pin-by-pin fuel-centered model is used in CTF for the central assembly, and a pin power reconstruction method is applied in DYN3D. The analysis shows the influence of the different models on global parameters, such as the power and the average fuel temperature, but also on local parameters such as the maximum fuel temperature.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.06d
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• pp.821-827
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• 2001

As one of the advanced design features of the Korea next generation reactor, direct vessel injection (DVI) system is being considered instead of conventional cold leg injection (CLl) system. It is known that the DVI system greatly enhances the reliability of the emergency core cooling (ECC) system. However, there is still a dispute on its performance in terms of water delivery to the reactor core during the reflood period of a large-break loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA). Thus, experimental validation is under progress. In this paper, a new scaling method, using time and velocity reduced linear scaling law, is suggested for the design of a scaled-down experimental facility to investigate the direct ECC bypass phenomena in PWR downcomer.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.7
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• pp.885-892
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• 2009

This manuscript will discuss a numerical method where the six equations of two-phase flow, the solid heat conduction equations, and the two equations that describe neutron diffusion and precursor concentration are solved together in a tightly coupled, nonlinear fashion for a simplified model of a nuclear reactor core. This approach has two important advantages. The first advantage is a higher level of accuracy. Because the equations are solved together in a single nonlinear system, the solution is more accurate than the traditional "operator split" approach where the two-phase flow equations are solved first, the heat conduction is solved second and the neutron diffusion is solved third, limiting the temporal accuracy to $1^{st}$ order because the nonlinear coupling between the physics is handled explicitly. The second advantage of the method described in this manuscript is that the time step control in the fully implicit system can be based on the timescale of the solution rather than a stability-based time step restriction like the material Courant limit required of operator-split methods. In this work, a pilot code was used which employs this tightly coupled, fully implicit method to simulate a reactor core. Results are presented from a simulated control rod movement which show $2^{nd}$ order accuracy in time. Also described in this paper is a simulated rod ejection demonstrating how the fastest timescale of the problem can change between the state variables of neutronics, conduction and two-phase flow during the course of a transient.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.80-87
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• 1988

Predicted in this paper are flow distributions in average and hot channels of the reactor core during small and large break LOCAs. Also estimated based on REALP5/MOD2 calculations are the effects of cross flow between channels on LOCA analysis results. It has been so far generally accepted that a single average channel is sufficient for small break LOCA core hydraulic modelling. However, based on these calculation results, hot channel modeling (two channel modeling) is found necessary in order to guarantee more reliable and conservative results. In large break LOCA blowdown phase, the hot channel thermal hydraulics is worse than that of average channel in both cases with the without consideration of cross flow.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.25-78
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• 2005

As a key and core knowledge for the design of various types of nuclear reactors, the discipline of reactor physics has been advanced continually in the past six decades and has led to a very sophisticated fabric of analysis methods and computer codes in use today. Notwithstanding, the discipline faces interesting challenges from next-generation nuclear reactors and innovative new fuel designs in the coming. After presenting a brief overview of important tasks and steps involved in the nuclear design and analysis of a reactor, this article focuses on the currently-used design and analysis methods, issues and limitations, and current activities to resolve them as follows: (1) Derivation of the multi group transport equations and the multi group diffusion equations, with representative solution methods thereof. (2) Elements of modem (now almost three decades old) diffusion nodal methods. (3) Limitations of nodal methods such as transverse integration, flux reconstruction, and analysis of UO2-MOX mixed cores. Homogenization and related issues. (4) Description of the analytic function expansion nodal (AFEN) method. (5) Ongoing efforts for three-dimensional whole-core heterogeneous transport calculations and acceleration methods. (6) Elements of spatial kinetics calculation methods and coupled neutronics and thermal-hydraulics transient analysis. (7) Identification of future research and development areas in advanced reactors and Generation-IV reactors, in particular, in very high temperature gas reactor (VHTR) cores.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.7
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• pp.2670-2689
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• 2022

STREAM - a lattice transport calculation code with method of characteristics for the purpose of light water reactor analysis - has been developed by the Computational Reactor Physics and Experiment laboratory (CORE) of the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST). Recently, efforts have been taken to develop a photon module in STREAM to assess photon heating and the influence of gamma photon transport on power distributions, as only neutron transport was considered in previous STREAM versions. A multi-group photon library is produced for STREAM based on the ENDF/B-VII.1 library with the use of the library-processing code NJOY. The developed photon solver for the computation of 2D and 3D distributions of photon flux and energy deposition is based on the method of characteristics like the neutron solver. The photon library and photon module produced and implemented for STREAM are verified on VERA pin and assembly problems by comparison with the Monte Carlo code MCS - also developed at UNIST. A short analysis of the impact of photon transport during depletion and thermal hydraulics feedback is presented for a 2D core also from the VERA benchmark.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.455-465
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• 2021

The Molten Salt Reactor (MSR), one of the six advanced reactor types of the 4th generation nuclear energy systems, has many impressive features including economic advantages, inherent safety and nuclear non-proliferation. This paper introduces a system analysis code named TREND, which is developed and used for the steady and transient simulation of MSRs. The TREND code calculates the distributions of pressure, velocity and temperature of single-phase flows by solving the conservation equations of mass, momentum and energy, along with a fluid state equation. Heat structures coupled with the fluid dynamics model is sufficient to meet the demands of modeling MSR system-level thermal-hydraulics. The core power is based on the point reactor neutron kinetics model calculated by the typical Runge-Kutta method. An incremental PID controller is inserted to adjust the operation behaviors. The verification and validation of the TREND code have been carried out in two aspects: detailed code-to-code comparison with established thermal-hydraulic system codes such as RELAP5, and validation with the experimental data from MSRE and the CIET facility (the University of California, Berkeley's Compact Integral Effects Test facility).The results indicate that TREND can be used in analyzing the transient behaviors of MSRs and will be improved by validating with more experimental results with the support of SINAP.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.7
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• pp.1738-1748
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• 2019

Previous research has shown that the inclined condition has an impact on the natural circulation (natural circulation) mode operation of Floating Nuclear Power Plant (FNPP) mounted on the movable marine platform. Due to its compact structure, small volume, strong maneuverability, the Integral Pressurized Water Reactor (IPWR) is adopted as marine reactor in general. The OTSGs of IPWR are symmetrically arranged in the annular region between the reactor vessel and core support barrel in this paper. Therefore, many parallel natural circulation loops are built between the core and the OTSGs primary side when the main pump is stopped. and the inclined condition would lead to discrepancies of the natural circulation drive head among the OTSGs in different locations. In addition, the flow rate and temperature nonuniform distribution of the core caused by inclined condition are coupled with the thermal hydraulics parameters maldistribution caused by OTSG group operating mode on low power operation. By means of the RELAP5 codes were modified by adding module calculating the effect of inclined, heaving and rolling condition, the simulation model of IPWR in inclined condition was built. Using the models developed, the influences on natural circulation operation by inclined angle and OTSG position, the transitions between forced circulation (forced circulation) and natural circulation and the effect on natural circulation operation by different OTSG grouping situations in inclined condition were analyzed. It was observed that a larger inclined angle results the temperature of the core outlet is too high and the OTSG superheat steam is insufficient in natural circulation mode operation. In general, the inclined angle is smaller unless the hull is destroyed seriously or the platform overturn in the ocean. In consequence, the results indicated that the IPWR in the movable marine platform in natural circulation mode operation is safety. Selecting an appropriate average temperature setting value or operating the uplifted OTSG group individually is able to reduce the influence on natural circulation flow of IPWR by inclined condition.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.452-459
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• 2023

The core power control is an important issue for the study of dynamic characteristics in China initiative accelerator driven subcritical system (CiADS), which has direct impact on the control strategy and safety analysis process. The CiADS is an experimental facility that is only controlled by the proton beam intensity without considering the control rods in the current engineering design stage. In order to get the optimized operation scheme with the stable and reliable features, the variation of beam intensity using the continuous and periodic control approaches has been adopted, and the change of collimator and the adjusting of duty ratio have been proposed in the power control process. Considering the neutronics and the thermal-hydraulics characteristics in CiADS, the physical model for the core power control has been established by means of the point reactor kinetics method and the lumped parameter method. Moreover, the multi-inputs single-output (MISO) logical structure for the power control process has been constructed using proportional integral derivative (PID) controller, and the meta-heuristic algorithm has been employed to obtain the global optimized parameters for the stable running mode without producing large perturbations. Finally, the verification and validation of the control method have been tested based on the reference scenarios in considering the disturbances of spallation neutron source and inlet temperature respectively, where all the numerical results reveal that the optimization method has satisfactory performance in the CiADS core power control scenarios.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.116-124
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• 2019

$M^2LFR-1000$ is a medium-power modular lead-cooled fast reactor, developed by University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), aiming at achieving a reactor design fulfilling the Gen IV nuclear system requirements and meanwhile emphasizing the optimum safety and economics. In order to evaluate the safety performance of $M^2LFR-1000$ reactor core, three typical transients are selected from initiating events, which are unprotected transient overpower (UTOP), unprotected loss of offsite power (ULOHS+ULOF) and increase of feedwater flowrate with primary pumps trip (IFW+PLOF). These three transients presented and discussed in this paper are performed with the code Analysis of THermal-hydraulics of LEaks and Transients (ATHLET), which is developed by Gesellschaft $f{\ddot{u}}r$ Anlagen-und Reaktorsicherheit gGmbH (GRS). The results indicate that the $M^2LFR$ is safe enough under these three transients due to the good inherent safety features of the reactor, without human intervention, the reactor will reach a new steady state under UTOP condition.