• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2010.09c
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• pp.135-139
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• 2010

A construction technique to install the soil-bentonite (SB) cut-off wall for in-situ geoenvironmental containment by employing the trench cutting and re-mixing deep wall method is first presented in this paper. The laboratory test results on the hydraulic barrier performance of SB in relation to the chemical compatibility are then discussed. Hydraulic conductivity tests using flexible-wall permeameters as well as swell tests were conducted for SB specimens exposed to various types and concentrations of chemicals (calcium chloride, heavy fuel oil, ethanol, and/or seawater) in the permeant and/or in the pore water of original soil. For the SB specimens in which the pore water of original soil did not contain such chemicals and thus the sufficient bentonite hydration occurred, k values were not significantly increased even when permeated with the relatively aggressive chemical solutions such as 1.0 mol/L $CaCl_2$ or 50%-concentration ethanol solution. In contrast, the SB specimens containing $CaCl_2$ in the pore water had the higher k values. The excellent linear correlation between log k and swelling pressure implies that the swelling pressure can be a good indicator for the hydraulic barrier performance of the SB.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Systems Engineering
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.33-39
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• 2017

This paper describes the system engineering approach for the heat transfer analysis of plus7 fuel rod for APR1400 using, a commercial software, ANSYS. The fuel rod is composed of fuel pellets, fill gas, end caps, plenum spring and cladding. The heat is transferred from the pellet outward by conduction through the pellet, fill gas and cladding and further by convection from the cladding surface to the coolant in the flow channel. The goal of this paper is to demonstrate the temperature and heat flux change from the fuel centerline to the cladding surface when having maximum fuel centerline temperature at 100% power. This phenomenon is modelled using the ANSYS FEM code and analyzed for steady state temperature distribution across the fuel pellet and clad and the results were compared to the standard values given in APR1400 SSAR. Specifically the applicability of commercial software in the evaluation of nuclear fuel temperature distribution has been accounted. It is note that special codes have been used for fuel rod mechanical analysis which calculates interrelated effects of temperature, pressure, cladding elastic and plastic behavior, fission gas release, and fuel densification and swelling under the time-varying irradiation conditions. To satisfactorily meet this objective we apply system engineering methodologies to formulate the process and allow for verification and validation of the results acquired. The close proximity of the results obtained validated the accuracy of the FEM analysis of the 2D axisymmetric model and 3D model. This result demonstrated the validity of commercial software instead of proprietary in-house code that is more costly to develop and maintain.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.11 no.4 s.33
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• pp.69-73
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• 2004

A series of $H_3PO_4$-doped composite membranes based on poly(vinyl alcohol)(PVA) and silica have been prepared by sol-gel process. The proton conductivity, as well as properties of swelling, methanol permeation, was measured in this study. The proton conductivity increased with the molar ratio of $H_3PO_4$ to silica. With the silica content increasing, swelling degree decreased and methanol permeability showed a slight increase. It suggested that the former was mainly determined by hydrophilicity of the membrane, while the latter was dominated by the interconnectivity of matrix. According to the value of on, the optimal conformations of these composite membranes were 60, 70, 80 wt.$\%$ of PS-x in membranes, where x were 1.5, 1.0, and 0.5, respectively. These composite membranes were thermal stability up to $200^{\circ}C$.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.11
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• pp.4041-4048
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• 2011

High molecular weight tetrasulfonated poly(arylene biphenylsulfone ether) (TsPBPSEH) copolymers containing up to four pendant sulfonate groups per repeat unit were synthesized via aromatic nucleophilic displacement condensation from 4,4'-bis(4-chloro-3-sulfonatophenylsulfonyl)biphenyl-2,2'-disulfonate (SBCSBPD), 4,4'-dichlorodiphenylsulfone (DCDPS) and 4,4'-(hexafluoroisopropylidene)diphenol (6F-BPA). The synthesized copolymers were structurally characterized using $^1H$ NMR and FT-IR techniques. They were analytically pure, amorphous and were readily soluble in a wide range of organic solvents. Electrolyte membranes were successfully cast using the synthesized polymers with various sulfonation levels and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone. This new class of polymer membranes exhibited elevated thermal and physical stabilities and reduced swelling at high temperatures. An increase of acidic functional groups in the copolymer yielded high ion exchange capacity and moderate ionic conductivity values even at higher temperatures, which makes them potential ion conducting candidates.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.125-146
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• 2014

This review aims to provide a synthesis of the knowledge generated and the lessons learned in roughly 15 years of UMo dispersion fuel R&D in Europe through a series of irradiation experiments. A lot of irradiations were also performed outside of Europe, particularly in the USA, Russia, Canada, Korea and Argentina. In addition, a large number of out-of-pile investigations were done throughout the world, providing support to the understanding of the phenomena governing the UMo behaviour in pile. However, the focus of this article will be on the irradiations and Post-Irradiation Examination (PIE) results obtained in European experiments. The introduction of the article provides a historic overview of the evolution and progress in the high density UMo dispersion fuel development. The ensuing sections then provide further details on the various phases of the development, from the UMo dispersion in a pure Al matrix through the addition of Si to the matrix to address the interaction layer formation and finally to the more advanced solutions to the excessive swelling encountered in various experiments. This review was based only on published results or results that are currently in the process of being published.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.171-179
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• 2015

Perfluorinated sulfonic acid ionomers (PFSAs) have been widely as solid electrolyte materials for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, since they exhibit excellent chemical durability under their harsh application conditions as well as good proton conductivity. Even PFSA materials, however, suffer from physical failures associated with repeated membrane swelling and deswelling, resulting in fairly reduced electrochemical lifetime. In this study, pore-filling membranes are prepared by impregnating a Nafion ionomer into the pore of a porous PTFE support film and their fundamental characteristics are evaluated. The developed pore-filling membranes exhibit extremely high proton conductivity of about $0.5S\;cm^{-1}@90^{\circ}C$ in liquid water.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.458-465
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• 2018

This study reports the fabrication of anion exchange membranes (AEMs) containing two kinds of functional groups: i) trimethylphosphite (TMP) and ii) trimethylamine (TMA). We carried out the synthesis of polymers to enhance thermal stability and ion conductivity. The alternative polymer was prepared using 2,2-bis(4-hydroxy-3-methylphenyl)propane and decafluorobiphenyl. The membrane was fabricated by solution casting method. The thermal stability of membranes was examined by TGA. The physiochemical properties of membranes were also investigated in terms of water uptake, swelling ratio, ion exchange capacity, and ion conductivity. The hydroxide ion conductivity of the membranes reached about 20.2 mS/cm for quaternary ammonium poly(arylene ether) (QA-PAE) containing TMA moiety and 5.1 mS/cm for quaternary phosphonium PAE (QP-PAE) containing TMP moiety at $90^{\circ}C$.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.147-158
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• 2014

In order to investigate how the microstructure of fuel/matrix-interaction (FMI) layers change during irradiation, different U-7Mo dispersion fuel plates have been irradiated to high fission density and then characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Specifially, samples from irradiated U-7Mo dispersion fuel elements with pure Al, Al-2Si and AA4043 (~4.5 wt.%Si) matrices were SEM characterized using polished samples and samples that were prepared with a focused ion beam (FIB). Features not observable for the polished samples could be captured in SEM images taken of the FIB samples. For the Al matrix sample, a relatively large FMI layer develops, with enrichment of Xe at the FMI layer/Al matrix interface and evidence of debonding. Overall, a significant penetration of Si from the FMI layer into the U-7Mo fuel was observed for samples with Si in the Al matrix, which resulted in a change of the size (larger) and shape (round) of the fission gas bubbles. Additionally, solid fission product phases were observed to nucleate and grow within these bubbles. These changes in the localized regions of the microstructure of the U-7Mo may contribute to changes observed in the macroscopic swelling of fuel plates with Al-Si matrices.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.19-27
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• 2022

A series of QPAE/TiO₂-x (x = 1, 4, 7 and 10 wt%) organic/inorganic composite membranes were prepared as electrolyte membranes for alkaline anion exchange membrane fuel cells by controlling the content of inorganic filler with quaternized poly(arylene ether) (QPAE) random copolymer. Among the prepared QPAE/TiO₂-x organic/inorganic composite membranes, the highest ionic conductivity was 26.6 mS cm^-1 at 30℃ in QPAE/TiO₂-7 composite membrane, which was improvement over the ionic conductivity value of 6.4 mS cm^-1 (at 30℃) of the pristine QPAE membrane. Furthermore, the water uptake, swelling ratio, ionic exchange capacity, and thermal property of QPAE/TiO₂-x composite membranes were improved compared to the pristine QPAE membrane. The results of these studies suggest that the fabricated QPAE/TiO₂-x composite membranes have good prospects for alkaline anion exchange membrane fuel cell applications.

• Proceedings of the Polymer Society of Korea Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.58-59
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• 2006

Less than a decade ago, most alternate membrane materials for fuel cells relied upon a post-sulfonation process to generate ionic groups capable of transporting protons from the anode to the cathode. These random post sulfonations showed some promise, but in general they produced materials that were not sufficiently stable or protonically conductive at ion exchange capacities where aqueous swelling could be restricted. Our group began to synthesize disulfonated monomers that could be used to incorporate into random copolymer proton exchange membranes. The expected limitation was that the aromatic polymers might not be stable enough to withstand fuel cell conditions. However, this was mostly based upon an accelerated test known was the Fenton's Reagent Test, which did not seem to this author as being a reliable predictor of performance. A much better approach has been to evaluate the open circuit voltage (OCV) for alternate membranes, as well as the benchmark perfluorosulfonic acid systems. When this is done, the aromatic ionomers of this study, primarily based upon disulfonated polyarylene ether sulfones, show up quite well. Real time 3000 hours DMFC results have also been generated. Obtaining conductive materials at low humidities is another major issue where alternate membranes have not been particularly successful. In order to address this problem, multiblock copolymers with relatively high water diffusion coefficients have been designed, which show promise for conductivity at lowered humidity.