• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.884-894
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• 2023

Design and safety assessment of fuel pins for application in innovative Generation IV fast reactors calls for a dedicated nuclear fuel modelling and for the extension of the fuel performance code capabilities to the envisaged materials and irradiation conditions. In the INSPYRE Project, comprehensive and physics-based models for the thermal-mechanical properties of U-Pu mixed-oxide (MOX) fuels and for fission gas behaviour were developed and implemented in the European fuel performance codes GERMINAL, MACROS and TRANSURANUS. As a follow-up to the assessment of the reference code versions ("pre-INSPYRE", NET 53 (2021) 3367-3378), this work presents the integral validation and benchmark of the code versions extended in INSPYRE ("post-INSPYRE") against two pins from the SUPERFACT-1 fast reactor irradiation experiment. The post-INSPYRE simulation results are compared to the available integral and local data from post-irradiation examinations, and benchmarked on the evolution during irradiation of quantities of engineering interest (e.g., fuel central temperature, fission gas release). The comparison with the pre-INSPYRE results is reported to evaluate the impact of the novel models on the predicted pin performance. The outcome represents a step forward towards the description of fuel behaviour in fast reactor irradiation conditions, and allows the identification of the main remaining gaps.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.866-872
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• 2024

Design Extension Conditions (DEC)-A assessments of the operating nuclear power plants are generally considered for the purpose of getting additional safety demonstrations of their capability to undergo conditions that are generally more severe than DBAs by features implemented in the design and accident management measures. The pursued methodology is generally based upon Best Estimate approaches aiming at verifying that the safety limits in terms of integrity of the barriers against eventual large or early releases of radioactive material are fulfilled. These aspects are nowadays being experimentally and analytically addressed within the OECD/NEA experimental projects like the ATLAS and PKL series where a set of DEC-A experiments are considered. In this paper, experiments related to SBLOCA at the vessel upper head of the pressurized vessel of ATLAS and PKL are analytically assessed using the CATHARE code. These experiments includes issues related to common cause failure of the safety injection system and operator actions for preventing core excessive overheating. It is shown that, on the one hand, the safety features embedded in the design together with the operator actions are capable to prevent the progression towards a severe accident state and on the other hand, the code prediction capabilities for such scenario are generally good but still to be enhanced.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.10
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• pp.3367-3378
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• 2021

The design phase and safety assessment of Generation IV liquid metal-cooled fast reactors calls for the improvement of fuel pin performance codes, in particular the enhancement of their predictive capabilities towards uranium-plutonium mixed oxide fuels and stainless-steel cladding under irradiation in fast reactor environments. To this end, the current capabilities of fuel performance codes must be critically assessed against experimental data from available irradiation experiments. This work is devoted to the assessment of three European fuel performance codes, namely GERMINAL, MACROS and TRANSURANUS, against the irradiation of two fuel pins selected from the SUPERFACT-1 experimental campaign. The pins are characterized by a low enrichment (~ 2 wt.%) of minor actinides (neptunium and americium) in the fuel, and by plutonium content and cladding material in line with design choices envisaged for liquid metal-cooled Generation IV reactor fuels. The predictions of the codes are compared to several experimental measurements, allowing the identification of the current code capabilities in predicting fuel restructuring, cladding deformation, redistribution of actinides and volatile fission products. The integral assessment against experimental data is complemented by a code-to-code benchmark focused on the evolution of quantities of engineering interest over time. The benchmark analysis points out the differences in the code predictions of fuel central temperature, fuel-cladding gap width, cladding outer radius, pin internal pressure and fission gas release and suggests potential modelling development paths towards an improved description of the fuel pin behaviour in fast reactor irradiation conditions.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.605-618
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• 2001

For the mechanical stability assessment of a deep underground high-level waste repository. computer simulations using FLAC3D were carried out and important parameters including stress ratio, depth, tunnel size, joint spacing, and joint properties were chosen from sensitivity analysis. The main effect as well as the interaction effect between the important parameters could be investigated effectively using fractional factorial design . In order to analyze the stability of the disposal tunnel and deposition hole in a discontinuous rock mass, different modelings were performed under different conditions using 3DEC and the influence of joint distribution and properties, rock properties and stress ratio could be determined. From the three dimensional modelings, it was concluded that the conceptual repository design was mechanically stable even in a discontinuous rock mass.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.350-355
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• 2011

This paper gives an overview and developing status of the on-board Automatic Train Control (ATC) System employed to control the Urban Maglev vehicle in Korea. In the construction of demonstration line for Urban Maglev Program, the Daewoo Engineering Company (DEC) has participated as a supplier of the whole ATC System since 2009. According to the contract with Korea Rail Network Authority, DEC is under progress for the development of the whole ATC system including Safety Integration Level (SIL) assessment from the ISA, which is followed by the international standards IEC62278, IEC62279, and EN50129. Once the Urban Maglev Program is completed successfully in 2013, the developed system will be the first localized whole ATC system which has SIL assessment and commercial operation experience in Korea.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.162-169
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• 2003

Purpose: This study was to compare the predictive validity of Norton Scale(1962), Cubbin & Jackson Scale(1991), and Song & Choi Scale(1991). Method: Data were collected three times per week from 48~72hours after admission based on the four pressure sore risk assessment scales and a skin assessment tool for pressure sore on 112 intensive care unit(ICU) patients in a educational hospital Ulsan during Dec, 11, 2000 to Feb, 10, 2001. Four indices of validity and area under the curve(AUC) of receiver operating characteristic(ROC) were calculated. Result: Based on the cut off point presented by the developer, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value were as follows : Norton Scale : 97%, 18%, 35%, 93% respectively; Cubbin & Jackson Scale : 89%, 61%, 51%, 92%, respectively; and Song & Choi Scale : 100%, 18%, 36%, 100% respectively. Area under the curves(AUC) of receiver operating characteristic(ROC) were Norton Scale .737, Cubbin & Jackson Scale .826, Song & Choi Scale .683. Conclusion: The Cubbin & Jackson Scale was found to be the most valid pressure sore risk assessment tool. Further studies on patients with chronic conditions may be helpful to validate this finding.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.243-253
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• 2008

The purpose of this study was to simulate the reduction effect of soil loss in the Yongdam reservoir watershed using SWAT model. To evaluate accuracy for flow and sediment yield of SWAT model, calibration was performed for the period from Jan. 2002 to Dec. 2003, and the verification for Jan. 2005 to Dec. 2005. The calibration and the verification were carried out using data observed at the Cheoncheon gaging station. The $R^2$ and EI values in terms of a flow were 0.8 and 0.78 respectively for calibration, whereas they for verification were 0.88 and 0.86 respectively. In terms of a sediment yield, they were 0.7 and 0.48 respectively for calibration, whereas for verification were 0.64 and 0.54 respectively. As a results from model simulation, annual mean soil loss rates in terms of forest, paddy and upland were 0.02 ton/ha/yr, 0.15 ton/ha/yr and 7.58 ton/ha/yr, respectively. The results show that the land use type of a upland has more significant impact on a total soil loss as well as a sediment yield than other types of land use. The sediment delivery ratio was determined to be about 0.35. In this study 2 land cover change scenarios for upland area were considered. These scenarios were used an input to SWAT model in order to evaluate their impact on soil loss and sediment delivery. The results show that a reduction of the upland area would reduce the soil loss and sediment yield.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.289-297
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• 2010

Common practice of Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model validation is to use a single variable (i.e., streamlfow) to calibrate SWAT model due to the paucity of actual hydrological measurement data in Korea. This approach, however, often causes errors in the simulated results because of numerous sources of uncertainty and complexity of SWAT model. We employed multi-variables (i.e., streamflow, evapotranspiration, and soil moisture), which were measured at mixed forest in Seolmacheon catchment ($8.54\;km^2$), in order to assess the performance and reduce the uncertainties of SWAT model output. Meteorological and surface topographical data of the catchment were obtained as basic input variables and SWAT model was calibrated using daily data of streamflow (Jan. - Dec.), evapotranspiration (Sep. - Dec.), and soil moisture (Jun. - Dec.) collected in 2007. The model performance was assessed by comparing its results with the observation (i.e., streamflow of 2003 to 2008 and evapotranspiration and soil moisture of 2008). When the multi-variable measurements were used to calibrate the SWAT model, the model results showed better agreement with the measurements compared to those using a single variable measurement by showing increases in coefficient of determination ($R^2$) from 0.72 to 0.76 for streamflow, from 0.49 to 0.59 for soil moisture, and from 0.52 to 0.59 for evapotranspiration. The findings highlight the importance of reliable and accurate collective observation data for improving performance of SWAT model and promote its facilitation for estimating more realistic hydrological cycles at catchment scale.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.7
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• pp.2395-2407
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• 2022

The sodium-cooled fast reactor is among the innovative nuclear technologies selected in the framework of the development of Generation IV concepts, allowing the irradiation of uranium-plutonium mixed oxide fuels (MOX). A fundamental step for the safety assessment of MOX-fuelled pins for fast reactor applications is the evaluation, by means of fuel performance codes, of the integral thermal-mechanical behaviour under irradiation, involving the fission gas behaviour and release in the fuel-cladding gap. This work is dedicated to the performance analysis of an inner-core fuel pin representative of the ASTRID sodium-cooled concept design, selected as case study for the benchmark between the GERMINAL and TRANSURANUS fuel performance codes. The focus is on fission gas-related mechanisms and integral outcomes as predicted by means of the SCIANTIX module (allowing the physics-based treatment of inert gas behaviour and release) coupled to both fuel performance codes. The benchmark activity involves the application of both GERMINAL and TRANSURANUS in their "pre-INSPYRE" versions, i.e., adopting the state-of-the-art recommended correlations available in the codes, compared with the "post-INSPYRE" code results, obtained by implementing novel models for MOX fuel properties and phenomena (SCIANTIX included) developed in the framework of the INSPYRE H2020 Project. The SCIANTIX modelling includes the consideration of burst releases of the fission gas stored at the grain boundaries occurring during power transients of shutdown and start-up, whose effect on a fast reactor fuel concept is analysed. A clear need to further extend and validate the SCIANTIX module for application to fast reactor MOX emerges from this work; nevertheless, the GERMINAL-TRANSURANUS benchmark on the ASTRID case study highlights the achieved code capabilities for fast reactor conditions and paves the way towards the proper application of fuel performance codes to safety evaluations on Generation IV reactor concepts.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.267-277
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• 2003

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the applicability of braden scale to assess pressure ulcer risk patients and to identify additional risk factors of pressure sores in an neurologic intensive care unit. Method: The subjects of this study were 66 patients in neurologic intensive care units. Data was prospectively collected from Sep. to Dec., 2002. Data were analyzed by mean, percentage, t-test, chi-square, discriminant analysis using Spss pc+. Result: The results of this study were as follows: 1) There was a significant difference between scoring of braden scale and pressure ulcer development. The subscales that predicted pressure ulcer development using braden scale only were sensory perception, moisture, mobility, friction & shear. By using these subscales, sensitivity was 86.7%, and specificity was 61.1%, and total hit ratio was 72.7%. 2) Additional pressure ulcer risk factors which showed significance for discriminating two group were protein, albumin, gender, level of consciousness, pattern of bowel elimination. By using the combination of these additional risk factors in addition to the braden scale, total hit ratio increased to 84.8%. Conclusion: This data suggest that albumin, protein, gender, level of consciousness, pattern of bowel elimination in addition to the braden scale should be included in the pressure sore assessment tool.