• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제16권3호
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• pp.359-367
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• 2018

Long-lived Small Modular Reactors are being promoted as an innovative way of catering to emerging markets and isolated regions. They can be operated continuously for decades without requiring additional fuel. A novel configuration of long-lived reactor core employs a mixed neutron spectrum, providing an improvement in nonproliferation metrics and in safety characteristics. Starting with a base sodium reactor design, moderating material is inserted in outer core assemblies to modify the fast spectrum. The assemblies are shuffled once during core lifetime to ensure that every fuel rod is exposed to the thermalized spectrum. The Mixed Spectrum Reactor is able to maintain a core lifetime over two decades while ensuring the plutonium it breeds is below the weapon-grade limit at the fuel discharge. The main drawbacks of the design are higher front-end fuel cycle costs and a 58% increase in core volume, although it is alleviated to some extent by a 48% higher power output.

• 한국방사성폐기물학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국방사성폐기물학회 2004년도 Proceedings of the 4th Korea-China Joint Workshop on Nuclear Waste Management
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• pp.150-164
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• 2004

According to the Korean long-term plan for nuclear technology development, KAERI is conducting a few R&D projects related to the proliferation-resistant back-end fuel cycle. The R&D activities for the back-end fuel cycle are reviewed in this work, especially focusing on the study of the partitioning and transmutation(P&T) of long-lived radionuclides. The P&T study is currently being carried out in order to develop key technologies in the areas of partitioning and transmutation. The partitioning study is based on the development of pyroprocessing such as electrorefining and electrowinning because they can be adopted as proliferation-resistant technologies in the fuel cycle. In this study, various behaviors of the electrodeposition of uranium and rare earth elements in the LiCl-KCl electrorefining system have been examined through fundamental experimental work. As for the transmutation system, KAERI is studying the HYPER (HYbrid Power Extraction Reactor), a kind of subcritical reactor which will be connected with a proton accelerator. Up to now, a conceptual study has been carried out for the major elemental systems of the subcritical reactor such as core, transuranic fuel, long-lived fission product target, and the Pb-Bi cooling system, etc. In order to enhance the transmutation efficiency of the transuranic elements as well as to strengthen the reactor safety, the reactor core was optimized by determining its most suitable subcriticality, the ratio of height/diameter, and by introducing the concepts of optimum core configuration with a transuranic enrichment as well as a scattered reloading of the fuel assemblies.

• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제16권2호
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• pp.195-202
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• 2018

원칙적으로, 지층 처분은 고준위 방사성 폐기물의 최종 처분을 위한 안전한 방법으로 간주된다. 그러나 사용후핵연료에 함유된 $^{99}Tc$ 및 $^{129}I$와 같은 일부 장수명 핵분열 생성물은 지하 환경에서 흡수성이 적은 음이온 핵종으로 이동성이 매우 크며 수백 keV 범위의 베타선 방출로 생태계에 피폭선량을 야기시킬 수 있다. 따라서 이 두 핵종을 효율적으로 분리하여 방사능으로 유해하지 않은 핵종으로 전환할 수 있다면 처분 안정성에 긍정적인 영향을 줄 수 있다. 이를 위한 하나의 방법은 이 두 가지 핵종을 원자로에서 수명이 짧은 핵종 또는 안정적인 핵종으로 변환하는 것이다. 이를 위해 두 핵종을 태우는 데 어느 원자로 유형이 더 효율적인지 평가하는 것이 필요하다. 본 연구에서는 경수로(PWR), 중수로(CANDU) 및 고속로(SFR, MET-1000)의 $^{99}Tc$ 및 $^{129}I$의 핵 변환 시뮬레이션 결과를 비교하고 고찰하였다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제48권2호
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• pp.304-317
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• 2016

An accelerator-driven system consists of a subcritical reactor and a controllable external neutron source. The reactor in an accelerator-driven system can sustain fission reactions in a subcritical state using an external neutron source, which is an intrinsic safety feature of the system. The system can provide efficient transmutations of nuclear wastes such as minor actinides and long-lived fission products and generate electricity. Recently at Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute (KURRI; Kyoto, Japan), a series of reactor physics experiments was conducted with the Kyoto University Critical Assembly and a Cockcrofte-Walton type accelerator, which generates the external neutron source by deuteriu-metritium reactions. In this paper, neutronic analyses of a series of experiments have been re-estimated by using the latest Monte Carlo code and nuclear data libraries. This feasibility study is presented through the comparison of Monte Carlo simulation results with measurements.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제39권4호
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• pp.237-248
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• 2007

Sodium-cooled fast reactor is considered in France as a potential candidate for a prototype of 4th generation system to be built by 2020. A detailed working program has been launched recently to identify by 2012 the potential improvement tracks for later industrial development of these reactors. The goals for innovation are first identified: Progress of the safety with a special attention to severe accidents risk minimization and mitigation (defense in depth approach); Economic competitiveness of the system mainly by reducing the capital cost, the investment risks by enhancing in service inspection and repair capacities, and raising the availability; Sustainability with fissile material management while reducing the proliferation risk; capacity for long-lived waste transmutation.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제38권6호
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• pp.459-482
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• 2006

A geochemical approach to the long-term safety of waste disposal is discussed in connection with the significance of actinides, which shall deliver the major radioactivity inventory subsequent to the relatively short-term decay of fission products. Every power reactor generates transuranic (TRU) elements: plutonium and minor actinides (Np, Am, Cm), which consist chiefly of long-lived nuclides emitting alpha radiation. The amount of TRU actinides generated in a fuel life period is found to be relatively small (about 1 wt% or less in spent fuel) but their radioactivity persists many hundred thousands years. Geological confinement of waste containing TRU actinides demands, as a result, fundamental knowledge on the geochemical behavior of actinides in the repository environment for a long period of time. Appraisal of the scientific progress in this subject area is the main objective of the present paper. Following the introductory discussion on natural radioactivities, the nuclear fuel cycle is briefly brought up with reference to actinide generation and waste disposal. As the long-term disposal safety concerns inevitably with actinides, the significance of the aquatic actinide chemistry is summarized in two parts: the fundamental properties relevant to their aquatic behavior and the geochemical reactions in nanoscopic scale. The constrained space of writing allows discussion on some examples only, for which topics of the primary concern are selected, e.g. apparent solubility and colloid generation, colloid-facilitated migration, notable speciation of such processes, etc. Discussion is summed up to end with how to make a geochemical approach available for the long-term disposal safety of nuclear waste or for the performance assessment (PA) as known generally.

• 대한기계학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한기계학회 2001년도 춘계학술대회논문집D
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• pp.915-920
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• 2001

A spent fuel problem has prevented the nuclear power from claiming to be a completely clean energy source. The nuclear transmutation technology to incinerate the long lived radioactive nuclides and produce energy during the incineration process is believed to be one or the best solutions. HYPER(Hybrid Power Extraction Reactor) is the accelerator driven transmutation system which is being developed by KAERI(Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute). Some major feature of HYPER have been developed and employed. On-power fueling concepts are employed to keep system power constant with minimum variation of accelerator power. A hollow cylinder-type metal fuel is designed for the on-line refueling concept. Lead-bismuth(Pb-Bi) is adopted as a coolant and Spallation target material. HYPER is a subcritical reactor which needs an external neutron source. 1GeV proton beam is irradiated to Lead-bismuth(Pb-Bi) target inside HYPER, and spallation neutrons are produced. When proton beams are irradiated, much heat is also deposited in the Pb-Bi target and beam window which separates Pb-Bi and accelerator vacuum. Therfore, an effective cooling is needed for HYPER target. In this paper, we performed the thermal-hydraulic analysis of HYPER target using FLUENT code, and also calculated thermal and mechanical stress of the beam window using ANSYS code.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제47권1호
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• pp.47-58
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• 2015

Four recycling scenarios involving pyroprocessing of spent fuel (SF) have been investigated for a 600-MWe transmutation sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR), KALIMER. Performance evaluation was done with code system REBUS connected with TRANSX and TWODANT. Scenario Number 1 is the pyroprocessing of Canada deuterium uranium (CANDU) SF. Because the recycling of CANDU SF does not have any safety problems, the CANDU-Pyro-SFR system will be possible if the pyroprocessing capacity is large enough. Scenario Number 2 is a feasibility test of feed SF from a pressurized water reactor PWR. Thefsensitivity of cooling time before prior to pyro-processing was studied. As the cooling time sensitivity of cooling time before prior to pyro-processing was studied. As the cooling time increases, excess reactivity at the beginning of the equilibrium cycle (BOEC) decreases, thereby creating advantageous reactivity control and improving the transmutation performance of minor actinides. Scenario Number 3 is a case study for various levels of recovery factors of transuranic isotopes (TRUs). If long-lived fission products can be separated during pyroprocessing, the waste that is not recovered is classified as low- and intermediate-level waste, and it is sufficient to be disposed of in an underground site due to very low-heat-generation rate when the waste cooling time becomes >300 years at a TRU recovery factor of 99.9%. Scenario Number 4 is a case study for the recovery factor of rare earth (RE) isotopes. The RE isotope recovery factor should be lowered to ${\leq}20%$ in order to make sodium void reactivity less than <7$, which is the design limit of a metal fuel.

• 한국원자력학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국원자력학회 1995년도 추계학술발표회논문집(2)
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• pp.879-884
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• 1995

The results of performance assessment analyses have shown that the long-lived radionuclides such as I-129 control the potential individual dose impact to the public. I-129 is difficult-to-measure(DTM) in low-level waste because it is non-gamma emitting radionuclides and exists at extremely low concentrations in radioactive waste generated by nuclear reactors. In this study, computer modeling technique to predict release rate of I-129 is developed to provide another tools far performance assessment of land disposal facilities and characteristics of radwaste. Model suggested in this study will give conservative values of I-129 release rate far determination of radwaste characteristics. More detailed approach is implemented to account for release conditions of fuel source-nuclides. 1-131 concentration measured from reactor coolant and released fraction from tramp fuel have dominant roles in calculating release rate of I-129 with fuel defect conditions.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• 제5권6호
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• pp.201-205
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• 2006

HYPER(Hybrid Power Extraction Reactor) is the accelerator driven subcritical transmutation system developed by KAERI(Korea Atomic Research Institute). HYPER is designed to transmute long-lived transuranic actinides and fission products such as Tc-99 and I-129. Liquid lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE). Has been a primary candidate for coolant and spallation neutron target due to its appropriate thermal-physical and chemical properties, However, it is very corrosive to the common steels used in nuclear installations at high temperature. This corrosion problem is one of the main factors considered to set the upper limits of temperature and velocity of HYPER system. In this study, a parametric study for a corrosion model was performed. And a preliminary corrosion model was also developed to predict the corrosion rate in isothermal Pb and LBE flow loops.