• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.7
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• pp.1537-1546
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• 2017

Many thermal-hydraulic tests have been conducted at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute for verification of the SMART (System-integrated Modular Advanced ReacTor) design, the standard design approval of which was issued by the Korean regulatory body. In this paper, the contributions of these tests to the standard design approval of SMART are discussed. First, an integral effect test facility named VISTA-ITL (Experimental Verification by Integral Simulation of Transients and Accidents-Integral Test Loop) has been utilized to assess the TASS/SMR-S (Transient and Set-point Simulation/Small and Medium) safety analysis code and confirm its conservatism, to support standard design approval, and to construct a database for the SMART design optimization. In addition, many separate effect tests have been performed. The reactor internal flow test has been conducted using the SCOP (SMART COre flow distribution and Pressure drop test) facility to evaluate the reactor internal flow and pressure distributions. An ECC (Emergency Core Coolant) performance test has been carried out using the SWAT (SMART ECC Water Asymmetric Two-phase choking test) facility to evaluate the safety injection performance and to validate the thermal-hydraulic model used in the safety analysis code. The Freon CHF (Critical Heat Flux) test has been performed using the FTHEL (Freon Thermal Hydraulic Experimental Loop) facility to construct a database from the $5{\times}5$ rod bundle Freon CHF tests and to evaluate the DNBR (Departure from Nucleate Boiling Ratio) model in the safety analysis and core design codes. These test results were used for standard design approval of SMART to verify its design bases, design tools, and analysis methodology.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.219-230
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• 2017

This study was conducted to predict and evaluate the uncertainty of safety after closure of the second phase surface disposal facility of the Gyeongju intermediate and low level repository in Korea. In this study, four scenarios are developed considering both intact and degraded states of multi-layered covers and disposal containers; also, the fluid flow by a rainfall into the disposal facility is simulated. The rainfall conditions are implemented based on the monthly average data of the past 30 years (1985~2014); the simulation period is 300 years, the management period regulated by institutional provisions. As a result of the evaluation of the basic scenario, in which the integrity of both of the containers and the covers is maintained, it was confirmed that penetration of rainfall does not completely saturate the inside of the disposal facility. It is revealed that the multiple cover layers and concrete containers effectively play the role of barrier against the permeation of rainfall.

• Korean System Dynamics Review
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.39-57
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• 2011

This paper is the result of simulation modeling concerning high-level radioactive waste repository(HLRWR) and people's mind for the facility. We describe a procedure of simulation modeling for resident's policy acceptance and perceived risk of HLRWR facility by using System Dynamics approach. To Complete some complicated works, we made the 20 pieces of stock-flow diagrams based on the causal loop diagram that is a blue print of whole variables and relations. The simulation outputs clearly show that cental government efforts to siting the HLRWR will be failed if nothing to give for the region's residents. On the contrary, a monetary incentive and a regional development program help to turn this gloomy situation into a desirable and acceptable condition dramatically. Government has to prepare the schemes considering the HLRWR acceptance and total supporting program including the cash and local development programs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.411-415
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• 2008

This paper presents on design factor considered in an altitude test cell facility to determine the best sizing to optimize exhaust diffuser pressure recovery and the exact cooling load required to be supplied under transient operation. Engine simulation was performed to analyse the exhaust gas temperature, exit mass flow rate, specific fuel consumption and exhaust velocity helpful in determining secondary mass air flow and the mixed air temperature entering the ejector. based on this, the amount of cooling load was deduced. It was found that improved pressure recovery reduces operational cost(air supply facility, cooling water).

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.1446-1453
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• 2021

In the past, several experimental investigations aiming at characterizing the natural circulation (NC) behavior in test facilities were carried out. They showed a variety of flow patterns characterized by an inverted U-shape of the NC flow curve versus primary mass inventory. On the other hand, attempts to reproduce such curves using thermal-hydraulic system codes, showed 10-30% differences between the measured and calculated NC mass flow rate. Actually, the used computer codes are generally based upon nodalization using single U-tube representation. Such model may not allow getting accurate simulation of most of the NC phenomena occurring during such tests (like flow redistribution and flow reversal in some SG U-tubes). Simulations based on multi-U-tubes model, showed better agreement with the overall behavior, but remain unable to predict NC phenomena taking place in the steam generator (SG) during the experiment. In the current study, the CATHARE code is considered in order to assess a NC characterization test performed in the four loops PKL facility. For this purpose, four different SG nodalizations including, single and multi-U-tubes, 1D and 3D SG inlet/outlet zones are considered. In general, it is shown that the 1D and 3D models exhibit similar prediction results up to a certain point of the rising part of the inverted U-shape of the NC flow curve. After that, the results bifurcate with, on the one hand, a tendency of the 1D models to over-predict the measured NC mass flow rate and on the other hand, a tendency of the 3D models to under-predict the NC flow rate.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.143-149
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• 2012

Groundwater flow simulations were performed to obtain data of groundwater flow used in a safety assessment for a hypothetical geological disposal facility assumed to be located in the KURT (KAERI Underground Research Tunnel) site. A regional scale modeling of the groundwater flow system was carried out to make boundary conditions for a local scale modeling. And, fracture zones identified at the study site were involved in the local scale groundwater flow model. From the results of the local scale modeling, a hydraulic head distribution was indicated and it was used in a particle tracking simulation for searching pathway of groundwater from the location of the hypothetical disposal facility to the surface where the groundwater reached. The flow distance and discharge rate of the groundwater in the KURT site were calculated. It was thought that the modeling methods used in this study was available to prepare the data of groundwater flow in a safety assessment for a geological disposal facility of radioactive wastes.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.1555-1562
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• 2023

Natural circulation phenomena have been nowadays largely revisited aiming to investigate the performances of passive safety systems in carrying-out heat removal under accidental conditions. For this purpose, assessment studies using CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) and also 3D thermal-hydraulic system codes are considered at different levels of the design and safety demonstration issues. However, these tools have not being extensively validated for specific natural circulation flow regimes involving flow mixing, temperature stratification, flow recirculation and instabilities. In the present study, an experimental test case based on a small-scale pool test rig experiment performed by Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, is considered for code-to-code and code-to-experimental data comparison. The test simulation is carried out using the FLUENT and the 3D thermal-hydraulic system CATHARE-2 codes. The objective is to evaluate and compare their prediction capabilities with respect to the test conditions of the experiment. It was observed that, notwithstanding their numerical and modelling differences, similar agreement results are obtained. Nevertheless, additional investigations efforts are still needed for a better representation of the considered phenomena.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.8
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• pp.2477-2487
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• 2021

To improve safety analysis technology for a nuclear reactor containment considering an interaction between a reactor coolant system (RCS) and containment, this study aims at an experimental investigation on the integrated simulation of the RCS and containment, with an integral effect test facility, ATLAS-CUBE. For a realistic simulation of a pressure and temperature (P/T) transient, the containment simulation vessel was designed to preserve a volumetric scale equivalently to the RCS volume scale of ATLAS. Three test cases for a steam line break (SLB) transient were conducted with variation of the initial condition of the passive heat sink or the steam flow direction. The test results indicated a stratified behavior of the steam-gas mixture in the containment following a high-temperature steam injection in prior to the spray injection. The test case with a reduced heat transfer on the passive heat sink showed a faster increase of the P/T inside the containment. The effect of the steam flow direction was also investigated with respect to a multi-dimensional distribution of the local heat transfer on the passive heat sink. The integral effect test data obtained in this study will contribute to validating the evaluation methodology for mass and energy (M/E) and P/T transient of the containment.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.321-329
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• 2016

Based on the results of groundwater flow system modeling for a hypothetical deep geological repository site, quantitative and spatial distributions of groundwater flow rates at the positions of deposition holes, groundwater travel length and time from the positions to the surface environment were analyzed and used to suggest a method for determining locations of deposition holes. The hydraulic head values at the depth of the deposition holes and a particle tracking method were used to calculate the ground-water flow rates and groundwater travel length and time, respectively. From the results, an approach to designing a layout of deposition holes was suggested by selecting relatively favorable positions for maintaining performance of the disposal facility and screening some positions of deposition holes that did not comply with specific constraints for the groundwater flow rates, travel length and time. In addition, a method for determining a geometrical direction for extension of the disposal facility was discussed. Designing the layout of deposition holes with the information of groundwater flow at the disposal depth can contribute to secure performance and safety of the disposal facility.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.478-487
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• 2018

Pyroprocessing technology has been regarded as a promising solution for recycling spent fuel in nuclear power plants. The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute has been studying the current status of equipment and facilities for pyroprocessing and found that existing facilities are manually operated; therefore, their applications have been limited to laboratory scale because of low productivity and safety concerns. To extend the pyroprocessing technology to a commercial scale, the facility, including all the processing equipment and the material-handling devices, should be enhanced in view of automation. In an automated pyroprocessing facility, a supervised control system is needed to handle and manage material flow and associated operations. This article provides a preliminary design of the supervising system for pyroprocessing. In particular, a manufacturing execution system intended for an automated pyroprocessing facility, named Pyroprocessing Execution System, is proposed, by which the overall production process is automated via systematic collaboration with a planning system and a control system. Moreover, a simulation-based prototype system is presented to illustrate the operability of the proposed Pyroprocessing Execution System, and a simulation study to demonstrate the interoperability of the material-handling equipment with processing equipment is also provided.