• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제52권1호
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• pp.51-58
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• 2020

Despite the recent growth of interest in molten salt reactor technology and the crucial role which heat transfer plays in the design of power reactors, specific studies on the design of heat exchangers for the Molten Salt Fast Reactor have not yet been performed. In this work we deliver a preliminary but quantitative analysis of the intermediate heat exchangers, based on reference design data from the SAMOFAR H2020-Euratom project. Two different promising reference technologies are selected for study thanks to their compactness features, the Printed Circuit and the Helical Coil heat exchangers. We present preliminary design results for each technology, based on simplified design tools. Results highlight the limiting effects of the compactness constraints imposed on the fuel salt inventory and the allowed size. Large pressure drops on both flow sides are to be expected, with negative consequences on pumping power and natural circulation capabilities. The small size required for the flow channels also represents possible fabrication issues and safety concerns regarding channel blockage.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권3호
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• pp.834-841
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• 2022

System thermal-hydraulic (STH) code is adopted for nuclear safety analysis. The critical flow model (CFM) is significant for the accuracy of STH simulation. To overcome the defects of current CFMs (low precision or long calculation time), a CFM based on a genetic neural network (GNN) has been developed in this work. To build a powerful model, besides the critical mass flux, the critical pressure and critical quality were also considered in this model, which was seldom considered before. Comparing with the traditional homogeneous equilibrium model (HEM) and the Moody model, the GNN model can predict the critical mass flux with a higher accuracy (approximately 80% of results are within the ±20% error limit); comparing with the Leung model and the Shannak model for critical pressure prediction, the GNN model achieved the best results (more than 80% prediction results within the ±20% error limit). For the critical quality, similar precision is achieved. The GNN-based CFM in this work is meaningful for the STH code CFM development.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• 제9권5호
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• pp.1501-1510
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• 2014

Low voltage direct current (LVDC) distribution system is a suitable techno-economic candidate which can create an innovative solution for distribution network development with respect to rural electrification. This research focuses on the use of LVDC distribution system to replace some of KEPCO's existing traditional medium voltage alternating current (MVAC) distribution network for rural electrification in South Korea. Considering the technical and economic risks and benefits involved in such project, a comparative techno-economic analysis on the LVDC and the MVAC distribution networks is conducted using economic assessment method such as the net present value (NPV) on a discounted cash flow (DCF) basis as well as the sensitivity analysis technique. Each would play a role in an economic performance indicator and a measure of uncertainty and risk involved in the project. In this work, a simulation model and a computational tool are concurrently developed and employed to aid the techno-economic analysis, evaluation, and estimation of the various systems efficiency and/or performance.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권3호
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• pp.1081-1090
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• 2024

The liquid Lead-bismuth eutectic is used as the coolant for Gen-IV reactor concepts. However, due to its strong corrosive and high operating temperature, it is difficult to accurately measure the flow rate in long-term operating conditions. Venturi flowmeter is a simple structured flowmeter, which plays a very important role in the flow measurement of high-temperature liquid metals, especially since the existing flowmeters are difficult to be competent. It has the advantages of easy maintenance and stable operation. Therefore, it is necessary to study the operating conditions of the venturi flowmeter under high-temperature conditions. This work performs a series of simulations of the fluid-solid interaction between the flow liquid metal and venturi flowmeter with COMSOL software, including the dimensional sensitivity analysis of the venturi flowmeter to explore the most suitable structure and parameters for liquid heavy metal, the sensitivity analysis of the geometric parameters of the venturi tube on the varying conditions. It shows that when the contraction angle of the venturi flowmeter is 33°, the diffusion angle is 13°, the diameter of the throat is 8 mm, and the temperature of the lead-bismuth eutectic is 733.15 K, it is most suitable for the measurement in the lead-bismuth circuit.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제52권2호
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• pp.296-307
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• 2020

Permanent magnet sodium flowmeter (PMSF) have been used to measure the sodium flow in fast breeder reactors. Due to the effects of irradiation, thermal cycling, time lapse, etc., the magnetic flux density of the PMSF will decrease after being used in the reactor for a period of time. Therefore, it must be calibrated regularly. But some flowmeters that immersed in sodium cannot be removed for an off-line calibration, so the on-line calibration is required. However, the best online calibration accuracy of PMSF using cross-correlation analysis method was 2.0-level without considering the repeatability. In order to further improve this work, the operational principle of the transducer in PMSF is analyzed and the design principle of the transducer is proposed. The transducers were tested on the sodium flow loop to collect the experimental data. The signal characteristics are analyzed from the time and frequency domains, respectively. The cross-correlation analysis method based on biased estimation is adopted to obtain the flow rate. The verification experimental results showed that the measurement accuracy is 1.0-level when the flow velocity is above 0.5 m/s, and the measurement accuracy is 3.0-level when the flow velocity is in the range of 0.2 m/s to 0.5 m/s.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제41권3호
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• pp.347-354
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• 2009

Welding is required for a connection between two different components in the nuclear fuel of a pressurized water reactor. This work relies on a mechanical experiment and analytic results to investigate the structural integrity of nuclear fuel in a situation where some components are not welded to each other. A series of lateral vibration tests are performed in a test facility, and the test structures are examined in terms of dynamic behavior. In the tests, the displacement signal at every grid structure that sustains fuel rods is measured and processed to identify the dynamic properties. The fluid-elastic stability of the structure is also analyzed to evaluate susceptibility to a cross flow with an assumed conservative cross flow distribution. The test and analysis results confirm that the structural integrity can be maintained even in the absence of some welding connections.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제51권3호
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• pp.908-914
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• 2019

Fusion power shutdown system (FPSS) is a safety system to stop plasma in case of accidents or incidents. The gas injection system for the FPSS presented in this work is designed to research the flow development in a closed system. As the efficiency of the system is a crucial property, plenty of experiments are executed to get optimum parameters. In this system, the flow is driven by the pressure difference between a gas storage tank and a vacuum vessel with a source pressure. The idea is based on a constant volume system without extra source gases to guarantee rapid response and high throughput. Among them, valves and gas species are studied because their properties could influence the velocity of the fluid field. Then source pressures and volumes are emphasized to investigate the volume flow rate of the injection. The source pressure has a considerable effect on the injected volume. From the data, proper parameters are extracted to achieve the best performance of the FPSS. Finally, experimental results are used as a quantitative benchmark for simulations which can add our understanding of the inner gas flow in the pipeline. In generally, there is a good consistency and the obtained correlations will be applied in further study and design for the FPSS.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제31권2호
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• pp.157-171
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• 1999

In this work, an automatic software verification method for Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) protection system is developed. This method utilizes Colored Petri Net (CPN) for system modeling and Prototype Verification System (PVS) for mathematical verification. In order to help flow-through from modeling by CPN to mathematical proof by PVS, an information extractor from CPN models has been developed in this work. In order to convert the extracted information to the PVS specification language, a translator also has been developed. ML that is a higher-order functional language programs the information extractor and translator. This combined method has been applied to a protection system function of Wolsong NPP SDS2(Steam Generator Low Level Trip). As a result of this application, we could prove completeness and consistency of the requirement logically. Through this work, in short, an axiom or lemma based-analysis method for CPN models is newly suggested in order to complement CPN analysis methods and a guideline for the use of formal methods is proposed in order to apply them to NPP Software Verification and Validation.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권5호
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• pp.1902-1912
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• 2024

This paper presents results from system-level modeling of a water-based reactor cavity cooling system using RELAP5-3D. The computational model is benchmarked with experimental data from a half-scale RCCS test facility at Argonne National Laboratory. The model prediction is first compared with a two-phase oscillatory baseline experimental case where mixed accuracy is obtained. The model shows reasonable prediction of mass flow rate, pressure, and temperature but significant overprediction of void fraction. The model prediction is then compared with a fault case where the inlet of the risers is gradually reduced using a throttling valve. As the valve is closed, the model is able to predict some major flow phenomena observed in the experiment such as the dampening of oscillations, the reintroduction of oscillations, as well as boiling, flashing, and geysering in the risers. However, the timeline of these events are not well captured by the model. The model is also used to investigate the evolution of flow regime in the chimney. This work highlights that the semi-empirical constitutive relations used in RELAP-3D could have a strong influence on the accuracy of the model in two-phase oscillatory flows.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• 제9권3호
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• pp.812-819
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• 2014

The proposed technical work attempts to compare the two key technologies of power distribution, i.e. direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) in a fiscal manner. The DC versus AC debate has been around since the earliest days of electric power. Here, at least four types of a low voltage DC (LVDC) distribution are examined as an alternative to the existing medium voltage AC (MVAC) distribution with an economic assessment technique for a project investment. Besides, the sensitivity analysis will be incorporated in the overall economic analysis model to cover uncertainties of the input data. A detailed feasibility study indicates that many of the common benefits claimed for an LVDC distribution will continue to grow more profoundly as it is foreseen to arise with the increased integration of renewable energy sources and the proliferation of energy storage associated with the enhanced utilization of uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems.