• Title/Summary/Keyword: Fukushima Nuclear Accident

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Life-Cycle Analysis of Nuclear Power Plant with Seismic Isolation System (면진장치 적용을 고려한 원전구조물 생애주기 분석)

  • Kim, Sunyong;Lee, Hong-Pyo;Cho, Myung-Sug
    • Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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    • v.26 no.6
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    • pp.415-421
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    • 2013
  • In order to extend the service life of a nuclear power plant(NPP) ensuring the structural safety, effective and efficient management of NPP considering structural deteriorations and various natural hazard risks has been treated as a significant tool(IAEA 1998). The systemic efforts is required to prevent the potential loss of NPPs resulting from the natural hazard including earthquakes, hurricane and flooding since the Fukushima accident. Earthquake risk of building structures can be mitigated through appropriate seismic isolation system installation. It has been known that a seismic isolation system can lead to reduction of the deleterious effect on ground motion induced by earthquakes, and structural safety can be improved. In this paper, the NPP life-cycle management is reviewed. Furthermore, effect of seismic isolation on the NPP life-cycle cost analysis with earthquake, and cost-benefit analysis in terms of life-cycle cost when applying the seismic isolation systems to NPP are introduced.

A Study on the Ways to Joint Marine Development and Joint Marine Environmental Protection in Northeast Asia (동북아 해역 권원중첩수역 공동개발합의와 공동환경보호합의 도출 방안)

  • Kim, Ki-Sun
    • Strategy21
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    • s.37
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    • pp.193-241
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    • 2015
  • China, Japan and Korea are the world's top 10 energy consumers, and so very interested in the development of seabed hydrocarbon resources in order to meet their energy demands. The East China Sea is the tri-junction area where three countries' entitlements on the maritime boundaries are overlapped. There are abundant oil reserves in the East China Sea, and therefore competitions among countries are growing to get control of them. Although these countries have concluded the bilateral agreements to jointly develop resources in the East China Sea, they do not function as well. Because joint development and management of seabed petroleum resources can lead to stable development system, and to lower possibility of legal and political disputes, the needs for joint development agreement among three countries are urgent. Meanwhile, Northeast Asian seas are semi-closed seas, which are geographically closed and vulnerable to marine pollution. Moreover there are a lot of nuclear power plants in coastal area, and seabed petroleum resources are being developed. So it is likely to occur nuclear and oil spill accidents. Fukushima nuclear disaster and Bohai Bay oil spill accident in 2011 are the cases to exhibit the potential of major marine pollution accidents in this area. It is anticipated that the risks become higher because power plants and offshore oil platforms are extending gradually. Therefore, the ways to seek the joint marine environmental protection agreement focused on regulation of nuclear power plant and offshore oil platform have to be considered. In this paper, we try to find the way to make joint development and joint environmental protection agreement in Northeast Asian seas. We concentrate on the measure to drive joint development of seabed petroleum deposits in East China Sea's overlap area, despite of maritime delimitation and territorial disputes, and we try to drive joint marine environmental protection system to respond to marine pollution and accidents due to offshore oil platform and nuclear power plants. Through these consideration, we seek solutions to deal with lack of energy, disputes of maritime territorial and boundary delimitation, and marine pollution in Northeast Asia.

A PRELIMINARY EVALUATION OF UNPROTECTED LOSS-OF-FLOW ACCIDENT FOR A PROTOTYPE FAST-BREEDER REACTOR

  • SUZUKI, TOHRU;TOBITA, YOSHIHARU;KAWADA, KENICHI;TAGAMI, HIROTAKA;SOGABE, JOJI;MATSUBA, KENICHI;ITO, KEI;OHSHIMA, HIROYUKI
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.47 no.3
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    • pp.240-252
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    • 2015
  • In the original licensing application for the prototype fast-breeder reactor, MONJU, the event progression during an unprotected loss of flow (ULOF), which is one of the technically inconceivable events postulated beyond design basis, was evaluated. Through this evaluation, it was confirmed that radiological consequences could be suitably limited even if mechanical energy was released. Following the Fukushima-Daiichi accident, a new nuclear safety regulation has become effective in Japan. The conformity of MONJU to this new regulation should hence be investigated. The objectives of the present study are to conduct a preliminary evaluation of ULOF for MONJU, reflecting the knowledge obtained after the original licensing application through CABRI experiments and EAGLE projects, and to gain the prospect of in-vessel retention for the conformity of MONJU to the new regulation. The preliminary evaluation in the present study showed that no significant mechanical energy release would take place, and that thermal failure of the reactor vessel could be avoided by the stable cooling of disrupted-core materials. This result suggests that the prospect of in-vessel retention against ULOF, which lies within the bounds of the original licensing evaluation and conforms to the new nuclear safety regulation, will be gained.

Design Concept of Hybrid SIT (복합안전주입탱크(Hybrid SIT) 설계개념)

  • Kwon, Tae-Soon;Euh, Dong-Jin;Kim, Ki-Hwan
    • The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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    • v.17 no.6
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    • pp.104-108
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    • 2014
  • The recent Fukushima nuclear power plant accidents shows that the core make up at high RCS pressure condition is very important to prevent core melting. The core make up flow at high pressure condition should be driven by gravity force or passive forces because the AC-powered safety features are not available during a Station Black Out (SBO) accident. The reactor Coolant System (RCS) mass inventory is continuously decreased by releasing steam through the pressurizer safety valves after reactor trip during a SBO accident. The core will be melted down within 2~3 hours without core make up action by active or passive mode. In the new design concept of a Hybrid Safety Injection Tank (Hybrid SIT) both for low and high RCS pressure conditions, the low pressure nitrogen gas serves as a charging pressure for a LBLOCA injection mode, while the PZR high pressure steam provides an equalizing pressure for a high pressure injection mode such as a SBO accident. After the pressure equalizing process by battery driven initiation valve at a high pressure SBO condition, the Hybrid SIT injection water will be passively injected into the reactor downcomer by gravity head. The SBO simulation by MARS code show that the core makeup injection flow through the Hybrid SIT continued up to the SIT empty condition, and the core heatup is delayed as much.

Explaining One Less Nuclear Energy Policy from Governance Perspective: Energy Transition and Effectiveness of Urban Energy Policy (대안적 에너지 정책에 대한 탐색: 서울시 원전하나 줄이기 정책과 거버넌스의 역할)

  • Lee, Joo Hun
    • Korean Journal of Legislative Studies
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    • v.23 no.1
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    • pp.151-185
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    • 2017
  • Seoul's One Less Nuclear Power Plant is the major urban energy policy launched in April 2012. Its effort to respond to climate change and energy crisis in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear accident turned out very successful, considering huge decrease of energy consumption. However, the question of how the cut of energy consumption was possible remains unanswered. This paper introduces the concept of urban governance capacity as the cause of the success. It is the managing and governing capability to maintain the logical consistency policy system, comprising of policy perception, goals, policy tools and evaluation. Without this logical correspondence between the policy factors, any system including energy regime easily falls apart during the systemic transitional period. Governance capacity provides the integrating framework, so that the system as a whole maintains the internal homeostasis.

A Systems Engineering Approach to Predict the Success Window of FLEX Strategy under Extended SBO Using Artificial Intelligence

  • Alketbi, Salama Obaid;Diab, Aya
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Systems Engineering
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    • v.16 no.2
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    • pp.97-109
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    • 2020
  • On March 11, 2011, an earthquake followed by a tsunami caused an extended station blackout (SBO) at the Fukushima Dai-ichi NPP Units. The accident was initiated by a total loss of both onsite and offsite electrical power resulting in the loss of the ultimate heat sink for several days, and a consequent core melt in some units where proper mitigation strategies could not be implemented in a timely fashion. To enhance the plant's coping capability, the Diverse and Flexible Strategies (FLEX) were proposed to append the Emergency Operation Procedures (EOPs) by relying on portable equipment as an additional line of defense. To assess the success window of FLEX strategies, all sources of uncertainties need to be considered, using a physics-based model or system code. This necessitates conducting a large number of simulations to reflect all potential variations in initial, boundary, and design conditions as well as thermophysical properties, empirical models, and scenario uncertainties. Alternatively, data-driven models may provide a fast tool to predict the success window of FLEX strategies given the underlying uncertainties. This paper explores the applicability of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to identify the success window of FLEX strategy for extended SBO. The developed model can be trained and validated using data produced by the lumped parameter thermal-hydraulic code, MARS-KS, as best estimate system code loosely coupled with Dakota for uncertainty quantification. A Systems Engineering (SE) approach is used to plan and manage the process of using AI to predict the success window of FLEX strategies under extended SBO conditions.

Effects of the Questionnaire and Radioactivity Measurement of Fishery from the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster (후쿠시마 원자력 재해 이후 수산물의 방사능 측정 및 설문 조사)

  • Kim, Myung Jun;Kang, Seok Min;Kweon, Dae Cheol
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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    • v.10 no.1
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    • pp.53-58
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    • 2016
  • March 11, 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant accident has occurred, the last four years, his is the current state of anxiety remains on the consumer. Therefore, 2015 the current progress continues to have continued research for the purpose of resolving the insecurity of fishery in the country. We measured the radiation of the origin of fishery products, by 2015, research was carried out through a number of references to get additional data or studies that influence this to some degree. Create a consumer and one for the seller for the survey to find out the thoughts of both consumers and sellers on fisheries was to create the statistics by direct survey in 2014 year survey meter using PM1405 equipment dynamics of several species of aquatic origin in accordance with the (Taiwan, China, Russia), mackerel, pomfret, hairtail, saury, shrimp, squid measurements of radiation were investigated. The measurement in 2014 was $0.043{\sim}0.073{\mu}Sv/h$. The seller influenced the survey (90%) on fishery products sales, consumer safety, without this fishery (90%), radioactive contamination very high (28%) and the polarization was not as nearly 72%. The study of the stability of the radiation determined by the radiation levels of the aquatic marine products in a comparison the radiation levels result was determined in ICRP below the standard value (1 mSv/y).

Removal of Debris Blocking an Entryway: Inverse Kinematic Control and Balancing Controller Design for Humanoid (휴머노이드 로봇의 입구 통로를 막고 있는 잔해 제거를 위한 역 기구학 제어와 자세 제어기 설계)

  • Lee, In-Ho;Kim, Inhyeok;Oh, Jun-Ho
    • Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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    • v.20 no.10
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    • pp.1063-1066
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    • 2014
  • The humanoid robot, DRC-HUBO is developed from the KHR (KAIST Humanoid Robot) series to meet the requirements of the DARPA Robotics Challenge. DARPA Robotics Challenge was a competition to develop semi-autonomous humanoid robot so that dispatched in dangerous environments in place of humans like the Fukushima nuclear accident. In this paper, we introduce DRCH-UBO briefly and a methodology to remove debris blocking an entryway. The methodology includes inverse kinematics for DRC-HUBO and stabilization controller based on ZMP. Proposed inverse kinematics is robust, and pelvis-related tasks improve the manipulability and workspace of the arms. The controller improves the damping characteristic of the system and mitigates the instability during removal of debris. For given position and orientation of the debris, DRC-HUBO generates motion to reach the debris and lift up while stabilizing itself. Many experimental results verify our proposed methodology.

Housing Analysis for Ocean Radiation Detection (해양 방사선 탐지를 위한 하우징 분석)

  • Park, Gang-teak;Kim, Jong-Yeol;Jung, Hyun-kyu;Lee, Nam-ho;Hwang, Young-gwan
    • Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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    • 2017.10a
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    • pp.714-715
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    • 2017
  • Much of the interest in ocean radiation detection has been heightened as a lot of radioactivity has leaked to the ocean due to the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. In the study, MCNP simulation for radiation detection in the ocean was performed. Unlike in the air, the marine environment must ensure the stability of the sensor from water depth, temperature, pressure, and salinity. In the marine environment, too much radiation is shielded. Therefore, it is an object to select a housing with a low radiation shielding ratio.

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Comparison of Perception Differences About Nuclear Energy in 4 East Asian Country Students: Aiming at $10^{th}$ Grade Students who Participated in Scientific Camps, from Four East Asian Countries: Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore (동아시아 4개국 학생들의 핵에너지에 대한 인식 비교: 과학캠프에 참가한 한국, 일본, 대만, 싱가포르 10학년 학생들을 대상으로)

  • Lee, Hyeong-Jae;Park, Sang-Tae
    • Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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    • v.32 no.4
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    • pp.775-788
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    • 2012
  • This study was done at a scientific camp sponsored by Nara Women's University Secondary School, Japan. In this school, $10^{th}$ grade students from 4 East Asian countries: Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore, participated. We made a research on students' perceptions about nuclear energy. Sample populations include 77 students in total, with 12 Korean, 46 Japanese, 9 Taiwanese and 10 Singaporean students. Overall perceptions comparison about nuclear energy shows average values from the order of highest Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and to lowest, Japan. We implemented a T-test to identify perception differences about nuclear energy, with one group that include 3 countries (Korea, Taiwan and Singapore) and another group that includes all the Japanese students. T-test results of perceptions about nuclear energy shows students from the 3 countries of Korea, Taiwan and Singapore having higher average than Japanese students. (p<.05). Korean average scores regarding overall perceptions about nuclear energy show as the highest in all 4 East Asian countries and also highest in all subcategories. On the contrary in Japan, they have lower and negative perceptions of nuclear energy. In spite of these facts, perceptions of Japanese students about nuclear energy seem lowest and negative mainly because of the recent Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster, caused by the tsunami and its subsequent damages and fears of radiation leaks, etc. This shows that negative information about future disasters and its resulting damages like the Chernobyl nuclear accident could influence more on people's risk perception than general information like nuclear energy-related technologies or the news that the plant is operating normally, etc. Even if the possibility of this kind of accident is very low, just one accident could bring abnormal risks to technology itself. This strong signal makes negative image and strengthens its perceptions to the people. This could bring a stigma about nuclear energy. This study shows that Government's policy about the highest priority for nuclear energy safety is most important. As long as such perception and decision are fixed, we found that it might not be easy to get changed again because they were already fortified and maintained.