• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2001.04a
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• pp.481-488
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• 2001

The HANARO in-chimney bracket was proposed as a structure which supports the guide tubes of irradiation facilities at the irradiation sites of CT, IR and OR4/5 in HANARO core for the reduction of flow-induced vibration and seismic response of the irradiation facilities. For the evaluation of the structural integrity of the in-chimney bracket, its finite element model is developed. The seismic response analysis was performed for the in-chimney bracket and related reactor structures, under the response spectrum of OBE and SSE. The analysis results show that stress values of the in-chimney bracket and reactor structures for the seismic loads are within the ASME code limits. It is also confirmed that its fatigue usage factor is much less than 1.0. For the verification of the implementation effects of the in-chimney bracket, the vibration level of the guide tube of the instrumented fuel assembly, which is subjected to fluid-induced vibration, was measured and analyzed. The vibration analysis results demonstrate that the vibration level of the instrumented fuel assembly has been remarkably reduced after installing the in-chimney bracket. Therefore, when the in-chimney bracket is installed at the reactor chimney, any damage on the structural integrity is not expected.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.301-307
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• 2005

The morphology of the high burnup $UO_2$ spent fuel, which was oxidized and annealed in a PIA (Post Irradiation Annealing) apparatus, has been observed. The high burnup fuel irradiated in Ulchin Unit 2, average rod burnup 57,000 MWd/tU, was transported to the KAERI's PIEF. The test specimen was used with about 200 mg of the spent $UO_2$ fuel fragment of the local burnup 65,000 MWd/tU. This specimen was annealed at $1400^{\circ}C$ for 4hrs after the oxidation for 3hrs to grain boundary using the PIA apparatus in a hot-cell. In order to oxidize the grain boundary, the oxidation temperature increased up to $500^{\circ}C$ and held for 3hrs in the mixed gas (60 ml He and 100 ml STD-air) atmosphere. The amount of 85Kr during the whole test process was measured to know the fission gas release behavior using the online system of a beta counter and a gamma counter. The detailed micro-structure was observed by a SEM to confirm the change of the fuel morphology after this test. As the annealing temperature increased, the fission products were observed to move to the grain surface and grain boundary of the $UO_2$ matrix. This specimen was re-structured through the reduction process, and the grain sizes were distributed from 5 to $10\;{\mu}m$.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.8
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• pp.1330-1338
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• 2018

High-density UMo/Zr monolithic nuclear fuel plates have a promising application prospect in high flux research and test reactors. The solid state welding method called co-rolling is used for their fabrication. Hot co-rolling simulations for the composite blanks of UMo/Zr monolithic nuclear fuel plates are performed. The effects of coupon sizes and mechanical property parameters on the contact pressures between the to-be-bonded surfaces are investigated and analyzed. The numerical simulation results indicate that 1) the maximum contact pressures between the fuel coupon and the Zircaloy cover exist near the central line along the plate length direction; as a whole the contact pressures decrease toward the edges in the plate width direction; and lower contact pressures appear at a large zone near the coupon corner, where de-bonding is easy to take place in the in-pile irradiation environments; 2) the maximum contact pressures between the fuel coupon and the Zircaloy parts increase with the initial coupon thickness; after reaching a certain thickness value, the contact pressures hardly change, which was mainly induced by the complex deformation mechanism and special mechanical constitutive relation of fuel coupon; 3) softer fuel coupon will result in lower contact pressures and form interfaces being more out-of-flatness.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.177-183
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• 2003

The purpose of this paper is to verify that the design stress value of fuel rod for the irradiation test satisfies the structural design requirement. In this structural safety analysis thermal effect is the most severe element for the safety. The thermal effects are very complicated problem to be analyzed for the structural safety in short hand. By the application of theoretical analysis, the design margin of stress which was used in this fuel rod design was verified in the conservative point of view. In the future design of fuel rod, this analysis can be used as the theoretical method for the verification of safe design.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.820-828
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• 2018

The growing nuclear threat has amplified the need for developing diverse and accurate nuclear forensics analysis techniques to strengthen nuclear security measures. The work presented here is part of a research effort focused on developing a methodology for reactor-type discrimination of weapons-grade plutonium. To verify the developed methodology, natural $UO_2$ fuel samples were irradiated in a thermal neutron spectrum at the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) and produced approximately $20{\mu}g$ of weapons-grade plutonium test material. Radiation transport simulations of common thermal reactor types that can produce weapons-grade plutonium were performed, and the results are presented here. These simulations were needed to verify whether the plutonium produced in the natural $UO_2$ fuel samples during the experimental irradiation at MURR was a suitable representative to plutonium produced in common thermal reactor types. Also presented are comparisons of fission product and plutonium concentrations obtained from computational simulations of the experimental irradiation at MURR to the nondestructive and destructive measurements of the irradiated natural $UO_2$ fuel samples. Gamma spectroscopy measurements of radioactive fission products were mostly within 10%, mass spectroscopy measurements of the total plutonium mass were within 4%, and mass spectroscopy measurements of stable fission products were mostly within 5%.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.614-620
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• 2003

KAERI has developed DUPIC nuclear fuel with the refabrication of spent PWR fuel discharged from domestic nuclear power plant by a dry process at M6 hot-cell in IMEF To verify the performance of DUPIC nuclear fuel, irradiation test at the operating conditions of commercial power plant is essential. Since the HANARO research reactor of KAERI does not have fuel test loop(FTL) for irradiating nuclear fuel under high temperature and high pressure conditions, DUPIC fuel cannot be irradiated in the FTL of HANARO. In the 13-th PRM among Korea, Canada, USA and IAEA, AECL proposed that KAERI fabricated DUPIC fuel can be irradiated in the FTL of the NRU research reactor without charge of neutrons. The transportation quantity of DUPIC fuel to Canada is 10 elements(about 6kg). This transportation package is classified as the 7-th class according to "recommendation on the transport of dangerous goods" made by the United Nations. In case of air shipment, until now, there is no proper air transportation cask for DUPIC fuel. In case of sea transportation is possible but requires very high cost.high cost.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.291-295
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• 2007

FTL(Fuel Test Loop) is a facility that confirms performance of nuclear fuel at a similar irradiation condition with that of nuclear power plant. FTL consists of In-Pile Test Section (IPS) and Out-Pile System (OPS). FTL construction work began on August, 2006 and ended on March, 2007. During Construction, ensuring the worker's safety was the top priority and installation of the FTL without hampering the integrity of the HANARO was the next one. Task Force Team was organized to do a construction systematically and the communication between members of the task force team was done through the CoP(community of Practice) notice board provided by the Institute. The installation works were done successfully overcoming the difficulties such as on the limited space, on the radiation hazard inside the reactor pool, and finally on the shortening of the shut down period of the HANARO. Without a sweet of the workers of the participating company of HEC(Hyundae Engineering Co, Ltd), HDEC(HyunDai Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd), equipment manufacturer, and the task force team, it is not possible to install the FTL facility within the planned shutdown period. The Commissioning of the FTL is on due to check the function and the performance of the equipment and the overall system as well. The FTL shall start operation with high burn up test fuels in early 2008 if the commissioning and licensing progress on schedule.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.305-309
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• 2007

FTL(Fuel Test Loop) is a facility that confirms performance of nuclear fuel at a similar irradiation condition with that of nuclear power plant. FTL construction work began on August, 2006 and ended on March, 2007. During Construction, ensuring the worker's safety was the top priority and installation of the FTL without hampering the integrity of the HANARO was the next one. The installation works were done successfully overcoming the difficulties such as on the limited space, on the radiation hazard inside the reactor pool, and finally on the shortening of the shut down period of the HANARO. The Commissioning of the FTL is to check the function and the performance of the equipment and the overall system as well. The FTL shall start operation with high burn up test fuels in early 2008 if the commissioning and licensing progress on schedule.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.437-442
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• 2006

European Material Test Reactors (MTRs) have provided essential support for nuclear power programs over the last 40 years. MTRs are now ageing in Europe and they cannot ensure the securing of experimental capability for the next decades. In this context, a new Material Testing Reactor, named Jules Horowitz Reactor -JHR-, operated as an international user-facility, is under development in Europe. The European MTRs context and the JHR objectives and status will be presented. Emphasis will be put on experiments in the field of nuclear fuels and materials irradiation which are developed in the framework of European and international collaboration.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.405-412
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• 2004

During the irradiation tests of material and fuel rod, all components of the cylindrical structure with multiple holes act like heat sources due to high gamma heat and fission heat. The objective of this study is to formulate the general solution for the temperature distribution to estimate the thermal integrity of structure during irradiation tests. For the temperature distribution analysis, the two-dimensional heat conduction theory is used. The unmerical analysis is performed by the commercial finite element analysis code, ANSYS 6.1. If the cylindrical structure with hole number would not exceed three holes, the analysis results and finite element results are good agreement together. For the structure with four holes, the discrepancy between FE results and analysis results of the structural temperature distribution is increased.