• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.255-268
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• 2008

The greater demand for electricity and the available capacity within safety margins in some operating NPPs are prompting nuclear utilities to request license modification to enable operation at a higher power level, beyond their original license provisions. Such plant modifications require an in-depth safety analysis to evaluate the possible safety impact. The analysis must consider the thermo hydraulic, radiological and structural aspects, and the plant behavior, while taking into account the capability of the structures, systems and components, and the reactor protection and safeguard systems set points. The purpose of this paper is to introduce international experiences and approaches for implementation of power uprates related to the reactor thermal power of nuclear power plants. The paper is intended to give the reader a general overview of the major processes, work products, issues, challenges, events, and experiences in the power uprates program. The process of increasing the licensed power level of a nuclear power plants is called a power uprate. One way of increasing the thermal output from a reactor is to increase the amount of fissile material in use. It is also possible to increase the core power by increasing the performance of the high power bundles. Safety margins can be maintained by either using fuels with a higher performance, or through the use of improved methods of analysis to demonstrate that the required margins are retained even at the higher power levels. The paper will review all types of power uprates, from small to large, and across various reactor types, including light and heavy water, pressurized, and boiling water reactors. Generally, however, the content of the report focuses on power uprates of the stretch and extended type. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is developing a technical guideline on power uprates and side effects of power uprates in nuclear power plants.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.382-392
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• 2021

In recent years, floating offshore wind turbines have attracted more attention as a new renewable energy resource while bottom-fixed offshore wind turbines reach their limit of water depth. Various projects have been proposed with the rapid increase in installed floating wind power capacity, but the economic aspect remains as a biggest issue. To figure out sensible approaches for saving costs, a comparison analysis of the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) between floating and bottom-fixed offshore wind turbines was carried out. The LCOE was reviewed from a social perspective and a cost breakdown and a literature review analysis were used to itemize the costs into its various components in each level of power plant and system integration. The results show that the highest proportion in capital expenditure of a floating offshore wind turbine results in the substructure part, which is the main difference from a bottom-fixed wind turbine. A floating offshore wind turbine was found to have several advantages over a bottom-fixed wind turbine. Although a similarity in operation and maintenance cost structure is revealed, a floating wind turbine still has the benefit of being able to be maintained at a seaport. After emphasizing the cost-reduction advantages of a floating wind turbine, its LCOE outlook is provided to give a brief overview in the following years. Finally, some estimated cost drivers, such as economics of scale, wind turbine rating, a floater with mooring system, and grid connection cost, are outlined as proposals for floating wind LCOE reduction.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.277-286
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• 2019

In 2014, the first demineralization plant, using nanofiltration (NF) membrane coupled with renewable energies was realized at Al Annouar high school of Sidi Taibi, Kenitra, Morocco. This project has revealed difficulties related to the membrane performances loss (pressure increase, flux decline, poor water quality of the produced water and increase of energy consumption), as consequences of membrane fouling. To solve this problem, an autopsy of the membrane was done in order to determine the nature and origin of the fouling. The samples of membrane and fouling were then analyzed by scanning electron microscopy using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) connected with an energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) detection system and X-ray diffractometer (XRD). Moreover, three cleaning solutions (hydrochloric acid, nitric acid and sulfuric acid) were tested and assessed in a single cleaning step to find the suitable one for the fouled membrane to regain its initial permeability and performances. The analysis of the experimental results showed that the fouling layer is mainly composed of calcium carbonate (inorganic fouling). Results showed also that the permeability is improved by the hydrochloric acid cleaning (pH=3) with a cleaning efficiency of 93%. Cleaning efficiency did not exceed 75 % with nitric acid (pH=3) and 40 % with sulfuric acid (pH=3).

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.120-126
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• 2019

Recently, accurate prediction of power consumption based on machine learning techniques in Internet of Energy (IoE) has been actively studied using the large amount of electricity data acquired from advanced metering infrastructure (AMI). In this paper, we propose a deep learning model based on Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) as an artificial intelligence (AI) network that can effectively perform pattern recognition of time series data such as the power consumption, and analyze performance of the prediction based on real household power usage data. In the performance analysis, performance comparison between the proposed GRU-based learning model and the conventional learning model of Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) is described. In the simulation results, mean squared error (MSE), mean absolute error (MAE), forecast skill score, normalized root mean square error (RMSE), and normalized mean bias error (NMBE) are used as performance evaluation indexes, and we confirm that the performance of the prediction of the proposed GRU-based learning model is greatly improved.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.109-116
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• 2022

The energy corporation of Kosovo continuously monitors and analyzes the impact of its own activities on the environment. Regarding the environmental situation, energy corporation of Kosovo- ECK regularly informs and reports objectively to the competent state institutions, local municipal institutions and interested parties. ECK, through numerous contacts with the competent authorities, firstly with different ministers, harmonizes the positions regarding environmental issues in the direction of achieving certain environmental standards or legal requirements in order to gradually be in accordance with them, based on the real possibilities, especially the financial ones. From this point of view, the environmental issue is very sensitive, quite complex and represents one of the biggest challenges of society currently and in the future. The researched variables show a continuous increase in the need for electricity production in Kosovo and this increase in production conditions a wide range of environmental impacts both at the local, regional and global levels. The aim of the work is to reduce the emission of pollutants through the main variables without inhibiting the economic development of the country, i.e. to bring the pollution as a result of the activities of the ECK operation into compliance with the permitted environmental norms. As a result of ECK's operational activities, the following follows: Air pollution mainly as a result of emissions from TCs in the air, transport, etc. Water pollution - as a result of technological water discharges, Land degradation - as a result of surface mining activities of the entire mining area. The purpose of the paper is to research and analyze the main water variables in the area of the Kosova B power plant, which is to determine the degree of their pollution from the activities of the power plants, as well as to assess the real state of surface water quality and control the degree of pollution of these waters. Methodology of the work: The analyzes of the water samples were done in the company Institute "INKOS" JSC by simultaneous methods using different reagents.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.25 no.4_1
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• pp.493-504
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• 2022

Recently, as interest in eco-friendliness grows, the supply of hybrid electric vehicles and pure electric vehicles (EVs) for improving fuel efficiency of automobiles is rapidly expanding. The average daily energy consumption of electric vehicles is less than 20 [%] of the total ESS capacity of the vehicle, and research on additional functions using the ESS of the vehicle is urgently needed to expand the supply of electric vehicles. V2H(Vehicle to Home), like V2G(Vehicle to Grid), includes the concept of cooperating with system stabilization using ESS of electric vehicles. In addition, it includes various operations that can realize home welfare, such as uninterrupted power supply in case of power outage at home, and power supply for home DC devices. Therefore, in order to expand the supply of eco-friendly electric vehicles, it is urgently required to develop a V2H system with various functions that can realize home welfare. In this paper, we propose a V2H system with a CLLC resonant converter and a non-isolated step-up converter that can solve different impedance and resonant frequencies depending on the power transfer direction. The proposed V2H system is 6 [kVA] applicable to 150-450 [V], the voltage range that can use the ESS voltage for electric vehicles, and is designed with a capacity that can handle instantaneous electricity use at home. In addition, in order to verify the feasibility, an experiment by Psim simulation and prototype production was performed.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.130-139
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• 2023

Thermoelectric materials and devices are energy-harvesting devices that can effectively recycle waste heat into electricity. Thermoelectric power generation is widely used in factories, engines, and even in human bodies as they continuously generate heat. However, thermoelectric elements exhibit poor performance and low energy efficiency; research is being conducted to find new materials or improve the thermoelectric performance of existing materials, that is, by ensuring a high figure-of-merit (zT) value. For increasing zT, higher σ (electrical conductivity) and S (Seebeck coefficient) and a lower κ (thermal conductivity) are required. Here, interface engineering by atomic layer deposition (ALD) is used to increase zT of n-type BiTeSe (BTS) thermoelectric powders. ALD of the BTS powders is performed in a rotary-type ALD reactor, and 40 to 100 ALD cycles of ZnO thin films are conducted at 100℃. The physical and chemical properties and thermoelectric performance of the ALD-coated BTS powders and pellets are characterized. It is revealed that electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity are decoupled, and thus, zT of ALD-coated BTS pellets is increased by more than 60% compared to that of the uncoated BTS pellets. This result can be utilized in a novel method for improving the thermoelectric efficiency in materials processing.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.2
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• pp.202-207
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• 2023

In the case of driving water electrolysis by receiving surplus electricity from solar and wind power generation, operation and stopping must be repeated according to weather fluctuations. When the PEMWE(Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Water Electrolysis) is driven and stopped, the PEM fuel cell is in the same state as the PEM fuel cell due to the residual hydrogen and oxygen, and the high potential of the water electrolysis formed during operation is highly likely to cause degradation of the electrode and membrane even during stopping. In this study, in order to check how much degradation of the electrode and membrane progresses during the repeated driving/shutdown process of PEM water electrolysis, the performance decrease was measured by changing the number of driving/shutdown for 144 hours. Changes in electrode catalyst active area, hydrogen permeability and fluorine emision rate of membranes were analyzed to measure changes in the properties of electrodes and polymer membranes. Overall, the PEMWE performance decreased as the number of stops increased. When stopped 5 times in 144 hours, the IrO_x catalyst activity decreased by more than 30%, and the hydrogen permeability increased by 80%, confirming that both the electrode and the membrane were deteriorated.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.667-672
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• 2023

This study proposes polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) based cogeneration system for greenhouse heating and cooling. The main scope of this study is to examine the proposed cogeneration system's suitability for the 660 m²-class greenhouse. A 25 kW PEMFC system generates electricity for two identical air-cooled heat pumps, each with a nominal heating capacity of 70 kW and a cooling capacity of 65 kW. Heat recovered from the fuel cell supports the heat pump, supplying hot water to the greenhouse. In cooling mode, the adsorption system provides cold water to the greenhouse using recovered heat from the fuel cell. As a result, the cogeneration system satisfies both heating and cooling capability, performing 175 and 145 kW, respectively.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.127-135
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• 2023

This study examined the impact of changes in agricultural production methods on society, the economy, and the environment. While traditional open-field farming relied heavily on natural conditions, modern approaches, including greenhouse and smart farming, have emerged to mitigate the effects of climate and seasonal variations. Facility horticulture has been on the rise since the 1990s, and recently, there has been a growing interest in smart farms due to reasons such as climate change adaptation and food security. We compared open-field spinach and greenhouse spinach using agricultural income survey data, and we also compared greenhouse tomato cultivation with smart farming tomato cultivation, utilizing data from the smart farm survey reports. The economic results showed that greenhouse spinach increased yield by 25.8% but experienced a 29% decrease in income due to equipment depreciation. In the case of tomato production in smart farms, both yield and income increased by 36-39% and 34-46%, respectively. In terms of environmental impact, we also compared fertilizer and energy usage. It was found that greenhouse spinach used 29% less fertilizer but 14% more energy compared to open-field spinach. Smart farming for tomatoes saw a negligible decrease in electricity and fuel costs. Regarding the social impact, greenhouse spinach reduced labor hours by 31%, and the introduction of smart farming for tomatoes led to an average 11% reduction in labor hours. This reduction is expected to have a positive effect on sustainable farming. In conclusion, the transition from open-field to greenhouse cultivation and from greenhouse cultivation to smart farming appears to yield positive effects on the economy, environment, and society. Particularly, the reduction in labor hours is beneficial and could potentially contribute to an increase in rural populations.