• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.54 no.6
• /
• pp.2135-2146
• /
• 2022

A nuclear energy facility is one of the most critical facilities to be safely protected during and after operation because the physical destruction of its barriers by an external attack could release radioactivity into the environment and can cause harmful effects. The barrier walls of nuclear energy facilities should be sufficiently robust to protect essential facilities from external attack or sabotage. Physical protection system (PPS) vulnerability assessment of a typical small nuclear research reactor was carried out by simulating an external attack with a tri-nitro toluene (TNT) shaped charge and results are presented. The reinforced concrete (RC) barrier wall of the research reactor located at a distance of 50 m from a TNT-shaped charge was the target of external attack. For the purpose of the impact assessment of the RC barrier wall, a finite element method (FEM) is utilized to simulate the destruction condition. The study results showed that a hole-size of diameter 342 mm at the front side and 364 mm at the back side was created on the RC barrier wall as a result of a 143.35 kg TNT-shaped charge. This aperture would be large enough to let at least one person can pass through at a time. For the purpose of the PPS vulnerability assessment, an Estimate of Adversary Sequence Interruption (EASI) model was used, which enabled the determination of most vulnerable path to the target with a probability of interruption equal to 0.43. The study showed that the RC barrier wall is vulnerable to a TNT-shaped charge impact, which could in turn reduce the effectiveness of the PPS.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.199-206
• /
• 2017

A geological repository for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste is generally constructed in host rock at depths of 500~1,000 meters below the ground surface. A geological repository system consists of a disposal canister with packed spent fuel, buffer material, backfill material, and intact rock. The buffer is indispensable to assure the disposal safety of high-level radioactive waste, and it can restrain the release of radionuclides and protect the canister from the inflow of groundwater. Since high temperature in a disposal canister is released to the surrounding buffer material, the thermal properties of the buffer material are very important in determining the entire disposal safety. Even though there have been many studies on thermal conductivity, there have been only few studies that have investigates the specific heat capacity of the bentonite buffer. Therefore, this paper presents a specific heat capacity prediction model for compacted Gyeongju bentonite buffer material, which is a Ca-bentonite produced in Korea. Specific heat capacity of the compacted bentonite buffer was measured using a dual probe method according to various degrees of saturation and dry density. A regression model to predict the specific heat capacity of the compacted bentonite buffer was suggested and fitted using 33 sets of data obtained by the dual probe method.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2005.06a
• /
• pp.339-344
• /
• 2005

A PEMFC system model for FCEV was constructed and simulated numerically to examine the heat/water flow of the system and air/fuel humidification process for various operation conditions (ambient pressure /temperature/humidity, operating temperature, power load). We modeled PEMFC stack which can generate maximum electricity of about 80 kW. This stack consists of 400 unit cells and each unit cell has $250cm^2$ reacting area. Uniform current density and uniform operating voltage per each cell was assumed. The results show the flow characteristics of heat and water at each component of PEMFC system in macro-scale. The capacity shortage of the radiator occurred when the ambient was hot $(over\;40^{\circ}C)$ and power level was high (over 50 kW). In spite of some heat release by evaporation of water in stack, heat unbalance reached to 20kW approximately in such a severe operating condition. This heat unbalance could be recovered by auxiliary radiators or high speed cooling fan with additional cost. In cold environment, the capacity of radiator exceeded the net heat generation to be released, which may cause a problem to drop the operating temperature of stack. We dealt with this problem by regulating mass flow rate of coolant and radiator fan speed. Finally, water balance was not easily broken when we retrieved condensed and/or unused water.

• Ocean and Polar Research
• /
• v.34 no.3
• /
• pp.305-323
• /
• 2012

The ocean's response to the Pinatubo and 1259 volcanic eruptions was investigated using an ocean general circulation model equipped with an energy balance model. Volcanic eruptions release gases into the atmosphere which increases the aerosol optical depth and acts to reduce the incoming short-wave radiation. For example, there was a huge volcanic eruption (Pinatubo) in 1991 which reduced the global mean radiative forcing by about 3 W $m^{-2}$. Two numerical experiments were simulated. The first experiment features the Pinatubo eruption and the second experiment simulates the much larger volcanic eruption that occurred in 1259 when the radiative forcing was reduced by 7 times compared to the Pinatubo event. With the reduced radiative forcing due to the Pinatubo eruption at about 3 W $m^{-2}$ and 1259 eruption at about 21 W $m^{-2}$, the global mean sea surface temperature (SST) decreased to its lowest in the second year after each event by about $0.4^{\circ}C$ and $1.6^{\circ}C$, respectively. Sea surface salinity (SSS) increased substantially in the northern North Pacific, northern North Atlantic, and the Southern Ocean. The reduced SST together with SSS increased ocean convection, which yielded an increase in North Atlantic Deep Water, Antarctic Bottom Water, and North Pacific Intermediate Water production and their outflows. The increase in overturning circulation eventually increased the pole-ward ocean heat fluxes. In conclusion, huge volcanic eruptions perturb the ocean substantially and their hallmarks last for more than a decade, confirming the importance of volcanic eruptions in illustrating the decadal-climate variability recorded in the paleoclimate proxy data for the past million years.

• Atmosphere
• /
• v.31 no.2
• /
• pp.143-156
• /
• 2021

This study investigates the impacts of land cover change due to urbanization on the Urban Heat Island Intensity (UHII) and the Heat Index (HI) over the Seoul metropolitan area using the Unified Model (UM) with the Met Office Reading Urban Surface Exchange Scheme (MORUSES) during the heat wave from 16, July to 5, August 2018. Two simulations are performed with the late 1980s land-use (EXP1980) and the late 2000s land-use (EXP2000). EXP2000 is verified using Automatic Weather Station (AWS) data from 85 points in the study area, and observation sites are classified into two categories according to the urban fraction change over 20 years; Category A is 0.2 or less increase, and Category B is 0.2 or more increase. The 1.5-m temperature and relative humidity in Category B increase by up to 1.1℃ and decreased by 7% at 1900 LST and 2000 LST, respectively. This means that the effect of the urban fraction changes is higher at night. UHII increases by up to 0.3℃ in Category A and 1.3℃ in Category B at 1900 LST. Analysis of the surface energy balance shows that the heat store for a short time during the daytime and release at nighttime with upward sensible heat flux. As a result of the HI, there is no significant difference between the two experiments during the daytime, but it increases 1.6℃ in category B during the nighttime (2200 LST). The results indicate that the urbanization increase both UHII, and HI, but the times of maximum difference between EXP1980 and EXP2000 are different.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.33 no.2
• /
• pp.67-76
• /
• 2008

As the first comprehensive attempt at a national implementation, this study aims at assessing the external costs of major electricity generation technologies in Korea, particularly an evaluation of the impacts on human health resulting from exposures to atmospheric radiological emissions from nuclear power plants, and a monetary quantification of their damages. The methodology used for the assessment of the externalities of the selected fuel cycles has been developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), namely the SimPacts Model Package. The model is internationally recognized as a tool which can be applied to a wide range of fuels, different technologies and locations, for an externalities study. In this study, the relevant emissions are quantified first and then their impacts on human health are evaluated and compared. The study focused on all the nuclear power plants for the last 6 years ($2001{\sim}2006$) in Korea. With respect to nuclear power, the impact analysis only focuses on a power generation, however the front- and back-end nuclear fuel cycles are not included, namely uranium mining, conversion, enrichment, reprocessing, conditioning, etc., because these facilities are not present in Korea. The analysis results show that nuclear power in general, generates low external costs. The highest damage costs from the nuclear power plants among the 4 sites in Korea were estimated to be 3.9 mills/MWh, which is about 1/20th of the result for a similar case study conducted in the U.K., implemented through the ExternE project. This difference is largely due to the number of radionuclides included in the study and the amount of released radioactive emissions based on up-to-date information in Korea. In this study, the sensitivities of the major factors for nuclear power plants were also calculated. The analysis indicates that there was around a ${\pm}3%$ damage costs variation to a ${\pm}15%$ change of the reference population density and a ${\pm}1%$ damage cost variation to a $1{\sim}30$ meters change of the effective release height, respectively. These sensitive calculations show that there is only a minor difference when the reference costs are compared.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.743-750
• /
• 1997

Direct measurement of the kinetics of free fatty acid transfer between phospholipid model membrane is technically limited by the rapid nature of the transfer process. Separation of membrane-bound fatty acid by centrifugation has shown that although the equilibrium distribution of free fatty acid is determined by this method, fatty acid transfer occurs too rapidly for accurate kinetic measurements. Recently fluorescence resonance energy transfer(FRET) assay has been developed to examine transfer of fatty acids between membranes. Donor membranes which has fluorescent fatty acid, anthroyloxy fatty acid(AOFA), is mixed with acceptor membranes which has non-interchangeable fluorescent quencher, nitrobenzo-xadiazol(NBD), using stopped flow apparatus. As the fluorescent fatty acids transfer from donor membrane to acceptor membrane, fluorescence intensity would be decreased and the rate and degree of fatty acid transfer can be analyzed. Fatty acid transfer between micelles is more complicated because of bile salt. Therefore in experiments with micelles, fluorescence self quenching assay is used. At high concentrations, a fluorophore tends to quench its own fluorescence causing a reduction in fluorescence intensity. Donor micelles contained self quenching concentrations of fluorophore and acceptor micelles had no fluorophore. Upon mixing of donor and acceptor micelles, the rate of transfer of the fluorophore from the donor to the acceptor was measured by monitoring the release in self quenching when its concentration in donor decreased over time.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.41 no.2
• /
• pp.123-131
• /
• 2021

The buffer is a key component of an engineered barrier system that safeguards the disposal of high-level radioactive waste. Buffers are located between disposal canisters and host rock, and they can restrain the release of radionuclides and protect canisters from the inflow of ground water. Since considerable heat is released from a disposal canister to the surrounding buffer, the thermal conductivity of the buffer is a very important parameter in the entire disposal safety. For this reason, a lot of research has been conducted on thermal conductivity prediction models that consider various factors. In this study, the thermal conductivity of a buffer is estimated using the machine learning methods of: linear regression, decision tree, support vector machine (SVM), ensemble, Gaussian process regression (GPR), neural network, deep belief network, and genetic programming. In the results, the machine learning methods such as ensemble, genetic programming, SVM with cubic parameter, and GPR showed better performance compared with the regression model, with the ensemble with XGBoost and Gaussian process regression models showing best performance.

• Toxicological Research
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.45-63
• /
• 2019

In view of the growing industrial use of Bacterial cellulose (BC), and taking into account that it might become airborne and be inhaled after industrial processing, assessing its potential pulmonary toxic effects assumes high relevance. In this work, the murine model was used to assess the effects of exposure to respirable BC nanofibrils (nBC), obtained by disintegration of BC produced by Komagataeibacter hansenii. Murine bone marrow-derived macrophages ($BMM{\Phi}$) were treated with different doses of nBC (0.02 and 0.2 mg/mL, respectively 1 and $10{\mu}g$ of fibrils) in absence or presence of 0.2% Carboxymethyl Cellulose (nBCMC). Furthermore, mice were instilled intratracheally with nBC or nBCMC at different concentrations and at different time-points and analyzed up to 6 months after treatments. Microcrystaline $Avicel-plus^{(R)}$ CM 2159, a plant-derived cellulose, was used for comparison. Markers of cellular damage (lactate dehydrogenase release and total protein) and oxidative stress (hydrogen peroxidase, reduced glutathione, lipid peroxidation and glutathione peroxidase activity) as well presence of inflammatory cells were evaluated in brochoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluids. Histological analysis of lungs, heart and liver tissues was also performed. BAL analysis showed that exposure to nBCMC or CMC did not induce major alterations in the assessed markers of cell damage, oxidative stress or inflammatory cell numbers in BAL fluid over time, even following cumulative treatments. $Avicel-plus^{(R)}$ CM 2159 significantly increased LDH release, detected 3 months after 4 weekly administrations. However, histological results revealed a chronic inflammatory response and tissue alterations, being hypertrophy of pulmonary arteries (observed 3 months after nBCMC treatment) of particular concern. These histological alterations remained after 6 months in animals treated with nBC, possibly due to foreign body reaction and the organism's inability to remove the fibers. Overall, despite being a safe and biocompatible biomaterial, BC-derived nanofibrils inhalation may lead to lung pathology and pose significant health risks.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.133-141
• /
• 2020

A geological repository comprises a natural barrier and an engineered barrier system. Its design components consist of canisters, buffers, backfill, and near-field rock. Among the engineered barrier system components, bentonite buffers minimize the groundwater flow from near-field rock and prevent the release of nuclide. Investigation of the hydraulic conductivity of the buffer to groundwater flow is an important factor in the performance evaluation of the stability and integrity of the engineered barrier of the repository. In this study, saturated hydraulic conductivity tests were performed using Gyeongju bentonite at various dry densities and temperatures, and a hydraulic conductivity prediction model was developed through multiple regression analysis using the 120 result sets of hydraulic conductivity. The test results showed that the hydraulic conductivity tends to decrease as the dry density increases. In addition, the hydraulic conductivity increased with increasing temperature. The multiple regression analysis results showed that the coefficient of determination (R²) of the hydraulic conductivity prediction equation was as high as 0.93. The hydraulic conductivity prediction equation presented in this study could be used for the design of engineered barrier systems.