• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.31 no.11
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• pp.593-600
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• 2021

Herein, a series of g-C₃N₄ modified Bi₂MoO₆ nanocomposites using Bi₂MoO₆ and melamine as original materials are fabricated via sintering process. For presynthesis of Bi₂MoO₆ an ultrasonic-assisted hydrothermal technique is researched. The structure and composition of the nanocomposites are characterized by Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and high-resolution field emission scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The improved photoelectrochemical properties are studied by photocurrent density, EIS, and amperometric i-t curve analysis. It is found that the structure of Bi₂MoO₆ nanoparticles remains intact, with good dispersion status. The as-prepared g-C₃N₄/Bi₂MoO₆ nanocomposites (BMC 5-9) are selected and investigated by SEM analysis, which inhibits special morphology consisting of Bi₂MoO₆ nanoparticles and some g-C₃N₄ nanosheets. The introduction of small sized g-C₃N₄ nanosheets in sample BMC 9 is effective to improve the charge separation and transfer efficiency, resulting in enhancing of the photoelectric behavior of Bi₂MoO₆. The improved photoelectronic behavior of g-C₃N₄/Bi₂MoO₆ may be attributed to enhanced charge separation efficiency, photocurrent stability, and fast electron transport pathways for some energy applications.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.1253-1260
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• 2022

This paper reports the control method for the core power of the China initiative Accelerator Driven System (CiADS) facility. In the CiADS facility, an intense external neutron source provided by a proton accelerator coupled to a spallation target is used to drive a sub-critical reactor. Without any control rod inside the sub-critical reactor, the core power is controlled by adjusting the proton beam intensity. In order to continuously change the beam intensity, an adjustable aperture is considered to be used at the Low Energy Beam Transport (LEBT) line of the accelerator. The aperture size is adjusted based on the Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controllers, by comparing either the setting beam intensity or the setting core power with the measured value. To evaluate the proposed control method, a CiADS core model is built based on the point reactor kinetics model with six delayed neutron groups. The simulations based on the CiADS core model have indicated that the core power can be controlled stably by adjusting the aperture size. The response time in the adjustment of the core power depends mainly on the adjustment time of the beam intensity.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.71-75
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• 2022

Graphene oxide was stirred with a ZnCl₂:NaCl electrolyte and electrochemically coated by cyclic voltammetry to simplify the electron transpfer layer film forming process for organic solar cells and to fabricate an organic solar cell having it. The device structure is FTO/ZnO:graphene/P3HT:PCBM/PEDOT:PSS/Ag. Morphology and chemical properties of ETL were confirmed by scanning electron microscopy(SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Raman spectroscopy. As a result of XPS measurement, ZnO metal oxide and carbon bonding were simultaneously confirmed, and ZnO and graphene peaks were confirmed by Raman spectroscopy. The electrical characteristics of the manufactured solar cell were specified with a solar simulator, and the ETL device coated twice at a rate of 0.05 V/s showed the highest photoelectric conversion efficiency of 1.94%.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.523-531
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• 2022

In order to study the sensitivity and the uncertainty of the Moroccan research reactor TRIGA Mark II, a model of this reactor has been developed in our ERSN laboratory for use with the N-Particle MCNP Monte Carlo transport codes (version 6). In this article, the sensitivities of the effective multiplication factor of this reactor are evaluated using the ENDF/B-VII.0, ENDF/B-VII.1 and JENDL-4.0 libraries and in 44 energy groups, for the cross sections of the fuel (U-235 and U-238) and the moderator (H-1 and O-16). However, the quantification of the uncertainty of the nuclear data is performed using the nuclear code NJOY99 for the generation and processing of covariance matrices. On the one hand, the highest uncertainty deviations, calculated using the ENDFB-VII.1 and JENDL4.0 evaluations, are 2275, 386 and 330 pcm respectively for the reactions U₂₃₅(n, f), $ U_{235}(n\bar{\nu})$ and H₁(n, γ). On the other hand, these differences are very small for the neutron reactions of O-16 and U-238. Regarding the neutron spectra, in CT-mid plane, they are very close for the three evaluations (ENDF/B-VII.0, ENDF/B-VII.1 and JENDL-4.0). These spectra present two peaks (thermal and fission) around the energies 0.05 eV and 1 MeV.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.7
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• pp.2592-2598
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• 2022

Research groups in the field of PET instrumentation are studying time-of-flight(TOF) technology to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of PET images. Scintillation light transport and collection plays an important role in improving the coincidence resolving time(CRT) of PET detector based on a pixelated crystal array. Four crystal arrays were designed by the different optical reflection configuration such as external reflectors and surface treatment on the CRT and compared with the light output, energy resolution and CRT. The design proposed in the study was composed of 8 × 8 LYSO crystal array consisted of 3 × 3 × 15 mm³ pixels. The entrance side was roughened while the other five surfaces were polished. Four sides of all crystal pixels were wrapped with ESR-film, and the entrance surface was covered by Teflon-tape. The design provided an excellent timing resolution of 210 ps and improved the CRT by 16% compared to the conventional method using a polishing treatment and ESR-film. This study provided a method for improving the light output and CRT of a pixelated scintillation crystal-based brain TOF PET detector. The proposed configuration might be an attractive detector design for TOF brain PET requiring fast timing performance with high cost-effectiveness.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.43-58
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• 2022

The BARC flow is studied via Direct Numerical Simulation at a relatively low turbulent Reynolds number, with focus on the geometrical representation of the leading-edge (LE) corners. The study contributes to further our understanding of the discrepancies between existing numerical and experimental BARC data. In a first part, rounded LE corners with small curvature radii are considered. Results show that a small amount of rounding does not lead to abrupt changes of the mean fields, but that the effects increase with the curvature radius. The shear layer separates from the rounded LE at a lower angle, which reduces the size of the main recirculating region over the cylinder side. In contrast, the longitudinal size of the recirculating region behind the trailing edge (TE) increases, as the TE shear layer is accelerated. The effect of the curvature radii on the turbulent kinetic energy and on its production, dissipation and transport are addressed. The present results should be contrasted with the recent work of Rocchio et al. (2020), who found via implicit Large-Eddy Simulations at larger Reynolds numbers that even a small curvature radius leads to significant changes of the mean flow. In a second part, the LE corners are fully sharp and the exact analytical solution of the Stokes problem in the neighbourhood of the corners is used to locally restore the solution accuracy degraded by the singularity. Changes in the mean flow reveal that the analytical correction leads to streamlines that better follow the corners. The flow separates from the LE with a lower angle, resulting in a slightly smaller recirculating region. The corner-correction approach is valuable in general, and is expected to help developing high-quality numerical simulations at the high Reynolds numbers typical of the experiments with reasonable meshing requirements.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.1676-1685
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• 2021

We develop a new high-fidelity multiphysics model to simulate boron chemistry in the porous Chalk River Unidentified Deposit (CRUD) deposits. Heat transfer, capillary flow, solute transport, and chemical reactions are fully coupled. The evaporation of coolant in the deposits is included in governing equations modified by the volume-averaged assumption of wick boiling. The axial offset anomaly (AOA) of the Seabrook nuclear power plant is simulated. The new model reasonably predicts the distributions of temperature, pressure, velocity, volumetric boiling heat density, and chemical concentrations. In the thicker CRUD regions, 60% of the total heat is removed by evaporative heat transfer, causing boron species accumulation. The new model successfully shows the quantitative effect of coolant evaporation on the local distributions of boron. The total amount of boron in the CRUD layer increases by a factor of 1.21 when an evaporation-driven increase of soluble and precipitated boron concentrations is reflected. In addition, the concentrations of B(OH)₃ and LiBO₂ are estimated according to various conditions such as different CRUD thickness and porosity. At the end of the cycle in the AOA case, the total mass of boron incorporated in CRUD deposits of a reference single fuel rod is estimated to be about 0.5 mg.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.361-369
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• 2022

Countries worldwide are shifting to a hydrogen economy to respond to stringent environmental regulations, and the transport of hydrogen between countries is expected to increase in the mid- to long-term. Hydrogen is traded between countries in different forms, such as ammonia, liquid hydrogen, and LOHC (Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier), on account of the renewable energy resources in exporting countries, the type of hydrogen use in importing countries, and the technological maturity; however, it is not traded only in a singular form. As marine transportation of ammonia and LOHC is a relatively mature technology compared to that of liquid hydrogen, in this article, we analyzed the technical feasibility of liquid hydrogen carriers while identifying detailed technologies required for their future development and securing possible designs through various technical alternatives.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.59-66
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• 2022

To investigate the rate-determining step of nickel, cobalt and copper electrowinning, experiments were conducted by varying the electrolyte temperature and agitation speed using a rotating disc electrode. Analyzing the rate-determining step by calculating the activation energy in the electrowinning process, it was found that nickel electrowinning is controlled by a mixed mechanism (partly by chemical reaction and partly by mass transport), cobalt is controlled by chemical reaction, and copper is controlled by mass transfer. Electrowinning of nickel, cobalt and copper was performed by varying the electrolyte temperature and agitation speed, and the comparison of the current efficiencies was used the determine the rate-determining step.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.44-51
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• 2023

Background: Aptamers are currently being used in various fields including medical treatments due to their characteristics of selectively binding to specific molecules. Due to their special characteristics, the aptamers are expected to be used to remove radionuclides from a large amount of liquid radioactive waste generated during the decommissioning of nuclear power plants. The radiological effects on the aptamers should be evaluated to ensure their integrity for the application of a radionuclide removal technique. Materials and Methods: In this study, Monte Carlo N-Particle transport code version 6 (MCNP6) and Monte Carlo damage simulation (MCDS) codes were employed to evaluate the radiological effects on the aptamers. MCNP6 was used to evaluate the secondary electron spectrum and the absorbed dose in a medium. MCDS was used to calculate the DNA damage by using the secondary electron spectrum and the absorbed dose. Binding experiments were conducted to indirectly verify the results derived by MCNP6 and MCDS calculations. Results and Discussion: Damage yields of about 5.00×10^-4 were calculated for 100 bp aptamer due to the radiation dose of 1 Gy. In experiments with radioactive materials, the results that the removal rate of the radioactive ⁶⁰Co by the aptamer is the same with the non-radioactive ⁵⁹Co prove the accuracy of the previous DNA damage calculation. Conclusion: The evaluation results suggest that only very small fraction of significant number of the aptamers will be damaged by the radioactive materials in the liquid radioactive waste.