• Proceedings of the Korea Society for Energy Engineering kosee Conference
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• 1998.05a
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• pp.235-242
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• 1998

Aiming at one of decisive alternatives for long term aspect of nuclear power concerns, an integral and closed nuclear system, AMBIDEXTER (Advanced Molten-salt Break-even Inherently-safe Dual-mission Experimental and TEst Reactor) concept is under development. The AMBIDEXTER complex essentially comprises two mutually independent loops of the radiation/material transport and the heat/energy conversion, centered at the integrated reactor assembly, which enables one to utilize maximum benefits of nuclear energy under minimum risks of nuclear radiation. And it provides precious radioisotopes and radiation sources from its waste stream. Also the reactor operates at very low level of fission products inventory throughout its lifetime. The nuclear and thermalhydraulic characteristics of the molten TH/$^{233}$ U fuel salt extend the capability of the self-sustaining AMBIDEXTER fuel cycle to enhance resource security and safeguard transparency. The reactor system is consisted of a single component module of the core, heat exchangers and recirculation pumps with neither pipe connections nor active valves in between, which will significantly improve inherent features of nuclear safety. States of the core technologies associated with designing and developing the AMBIDEXTER concept are mostly available in commercialized form and thus demonstration of integral aspects of the concept should be the prime area in future R＆D programs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2018.11a
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• pp.183-184
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• 2018

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.1135-1144
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• 2024

With the increasing ratio of renewables in the grid, a low-carbon and stable base load source that also is capable of load tracking is in demand. Sodium cooled fast reactors (SFRs) coupled to thermal heat storage system (THS) is a strong candidate for the need. This research focuses on the designing and performance validation of a two-tank THS based on molten salt to integrate with a 280 MW_th sodium cooled fast reactor. Designing of the THS includes the vital component, sodium-to-salt heat exchanger which is a technology gap that needs to be filled, and designing and parameter selection of the tanks and related pumps. Modeling of the designed THS is conducted followed by the description of operation strategies and control logics of the THS. Finally, the dynamic simulation of the designed THS is conducted based on Fortran. Results show, the proposed power system meets the need of the design requirements to store heat for 18 h during a day and provide 500 MW_th for peak demand for the rest of the day.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.1091-1099
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• 2024

Fluoride-salt-cooled High-temperature Reactor (FHR) is a promising nuclear reactor technology. Among many challenges presented by the molten fluoride salts is the corrosion of salt-facing structural components. Higher moisture contents, in the FLiNaK (LiF-NaF-KF, 46.5-11.5-42 mol%) salt, aggravate intergranular corrosion and pitting for the given alloys. Therefore, several thermal dehydration tests of FLiNaK salt were performed with a batch size suitable for thermal-hydraulic experiments. Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) was performed for the three constituent fluoride salts individually. Preliminary thermal dehydration plans were then proposed for NaF and KF salts based on the TGA curves. However, the dehydration process may not be required for LiF since its low mass loss (<1.3 wt%). To evaluate the performance of these thermal dehydration plans, a batch-scale salt dehydration test facility was designed and constructed. The preliminary thermal dehydration plans were tested by varying the heating rates, target temperature, and holding time. The sample mass loss data showed that the high temperatures (>500 ℃) were necessary to remove a significant amount of moisture (>1 wt%) from NaF salt, while relatively low temperatures (around 300 ℃) with a long holding time (>10 h) were sufficient to remove most of the moisture from KF salt.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.1243-1251
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• 2020

Irradiation-induced damage of binderless nanoporous-isotropic graphite (NPIG) prepared by isostatic pressing of mesophase carbon microspheres for molten salt reactor was investigated by 3.0 MeV He⁺ irradiation at room temperature and high temperature of 600 ℃, and IG-110 was used as the comparation. SEM, TEM, X-ray diffraction and Raman spectrum are used to characterize the irradiation effect and the influence of temperature on graphite radiation damage. After irradiation at room temperature, the surface morphology is rougher, the increase of defect clusters makes atom flour bend, the layer spacing increases, and the catalytic graphitization phenomenon of NPIG is observed. However, the density of defects in high temperature environment decreases and other changes are not obvious. Mechanical properties also change due to changes in defects. In addition, SEM and Raman spectra of the cross section show that cracks appear in the depth range of the maximum irradiation dose, and the defect density increases with the increase of irradiation dose.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.77-84
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• 2010

Reduction of oxides has been investigated for the volume reduction and recycling of the spent oxide fuel from commercial nuclear power plants. Various oxide reduction methods were proposed and KAERI (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) is currently developing an electrochemical reduction process using a LiCl-$Li_2O$ molten salt as a reaction medium. The electrochemical reduction process, the front end of the pyroprocessing, can connect the PWR (Pressurized Water Reactor) oxide fuel cycle to a metal fuel cycle of the sodium cooled fast reactor. This paper summarizes KAERI efforts on the development, improvement, and scale-up of the oxide reduction process.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.1560-1569
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• 2022

Liquid fueled molten salt reactors (MSRs) have seen renewed interest because of their inherent safety features, higher thermal efficiency and potential for efficient thorium utilisation for power generation. Thorium fluoride is one of the salts used in liquid fueled MSRs employing Th-U cycle. In the present study, ThF₄ was prepared by hydro-fluorination of ThO₂ using anhydrous HF gas. Process parameters viz. bed depth, hydrofluorination time and hydrofluorination temperature, were optimized for the preparation of ThF₄ in a static bed reactor setup. The products were characterized with X-Ray diffraction and experimental conditions for complete conversion to ThF₄ were established which also corroborated with the yield values. Hydrofluorination of ThO₂ at 450 ℃ for half an hour at a bed depth of 6 mm gave the best result, with a yield of about 99.36% ThF₄. No unconverted oxide or any other impurity was observed. Rietveld refinement was performed on the XRD data of this ThF₄, and Chi2 value of 3.54 indicated good agreement between observed and calculated profiles.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society for Energy Engineering kosee Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.81-87
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• 2002

원자로계통 전체가 원자로 용기안에 일체형으로 내장되었으며 열ㆍ에너지 수송회로와 물질ㆍ방사선 수송회로가 각각 분리, 혼합된 복합 원자력에너지시스템인 250MW$_{th}$ 실증로급 AMBIDEXTER (Advanced Molten-salt Break-even Inherently-safe Dual-missioning Experimental and TEst Reactor)는 부의 핵연료 반응도로 인한 고유안전성과 핵확산 방지, 폐기물 감축, 핵연료 경제성 및 자원 이용의 효율성을 갖춘 원자로로서 현재 아주대학교에 서 개념 설계중이다.(중략)

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.227-232
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• 2012

Inconel 617 and Hastelloy X are the most promising candidate materials for the heat exchanger of next generation nuclear reactor. Surface coating and its effects on high temperature properties for the Inconel 617 and Hastelloy X under molten FLiNaK (LiF-NaF-KF) salt environment have been investigated. For TiAlN and $Al_2O_3$ overlay coatings, the two different PVD (physical vapor deposition) methods of an arc discharge and a sputtering were applied, respectively. A study for the thermal stability of the surface modified Ni-Cr alloy substrates has been conducted. To evaluate the corrosion mechanism of Ni-Cr alloys in the molten salt, a ruptured Inconel pipe used for the molten salt transportation has been analyzed. The thermal properties of morphological and structural properties each sample were characterized before and after heat-treatment at $600^{\circ}C$ in molten FLiNaK salt. The results showed that the TiAlN and $Al_2O_3$ overlay coated specimens had the enhanced high temperature stability.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.817-825
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• 2022

A recent benchmarking effort, under the auspices of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), has been made to evaluate the current state of modeling and simulation tools available to model fluoride salt-cooled high temperature reactors (FHRs). The FHR benchmarking effort considered in this work consists of several cases evaluating the neutronic parameters of a 2D prismatic FHR fuel assembly model using the participants' choice of simulation tools. Benchmark participants blindly submitted results for comparison with overall good agreement, except for some which significantly differed on cases utilizing a molybdenum-bearing control rod. Participants utilizing more recently updated explicit isotopic cross sections had consistent results, whereas those using elemental molybdenum cross sections observed reactivity differences on the order of thousands of pcm relative to their peers. Through a series of supporting tests, the authors attribute the differences as being nuclear data driven from using older legacy elemental molybdenum cross sections. Quantitative analysis is conducted on the control rod to identify spectral, reaction rate, and cross section phenomena responsible for the observed differences. Results confirm the observed differences are attributable to the use of elemental cross sections which overestimate the reaction rates in strong resonance channels.