• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• 제33권4호
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• pp.345-348
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• 2016

In December 2015, we have installed neutron monitor at the Jang Bogo station in Antarctica. The Jang Bogo station is the second science station which is located at the coast ($74^{\circ}\;37.4^{\prime}S$, $164^{\circ}\;13.7^{\prime}E$) of Terra Nova Bay in Northern Victoria Land of Antarctica. A neutron monitor is an instrument to detect neutrons from secondary cosmic rays collided by the atmosphere. The installation of neutron monitor at Jang Bogo station is a part of transferred mission for neutron monitor at McMurdo station of USA. Among 18 tubes of 18-NM64 neutron monitor, we have completed relocation of 6 tubes and the rest will be transferred in December 2017. Currently, comparison of data from both neutron monitors is under way and there is a good agreement between the data. The neutron monitor at Jang Bogo station will be quite useful to study the space weather when the installation is completed.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• 제30권3호
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• pp.175-178
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• 2013

Recently, two instruments of cosmic ray are operating in South Korea. One is Seoul muon detector after October 1999 and the other is Daejeon neutron monitor (Kang et al. 2012) after October 2011. The former consists of four small plastic scintillators and the latter is the standard 18 NM 64 type. In this report, we introduce the characteristics of both instruments. We also analyze the flux variations of cosmic ray such as diurnal variation and Forbush decrease. As the result, the muon flux shows the typical seasonal and diurnal variations. The neutron flux also shows the diurnal variation. The phase which shows the maximum flux in the diurnal variation is around 13-14 local time. We found a Forbush decrease on 7 March 2012 by both instruments. It is also identified by Nagoya multi-direction muon telescope and Oulu neutron monitor. The observation of cosmic ray at Jangbogo station as well as in Korean peninsula can support the important information on space weather in local area. It can also enhance the status of Korea in the international community of cosmic ray experiments.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• 제37권3호
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• pp.165-170
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• 2020

Muons and neutrons are representative secondary particles that are generated by interactions between primary cosmic ray particles (mostly protons) and the nuclei of atmospheric gas compounds. Previous studies reported that muons experience seasonal variations because of the meteorological effects of temperature. The intensity of neutrons has a typical modulation with various periods and reasons, such as diurnal and solar variation or transient events. This paper reports that cosmic ray particles, which were observed by neutron monitors, have seasonal variations using the daily data at the Oulu neutron monitor. To eliminate the effects of solar activity across time, the daily data were normalized by two different transformations: transformations with respect to the grand mean and yearly mean. The data after transformation with respect to the yearly mean showed more statistical stability and clear seasonal variations. On the other hand, it is difficult to determine if the seasonal variation results from terrestrial effects, such as meteorological factors, or extraterrestrial effects, such as the position of the Earth in its orbit of revolution.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제36권4호
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• pp.200-208
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• 2011

Fluence monitor(F/M)는 조사 시편을 원자로의 노심에 넣은 후 방사화 된 조사 시편의 방사능을 측정한 후 역산하여 중성자의 선량을 계산하는 기법으로 원자로내의 중성자 분포를 조사하기 위하여 반드시 필요한 기술이다. 이 기술은 중성자에 대한 에너지 스펙트럼 측정이 간접적으로 가능하며, 현존하는 중성자 분포 측정 기법 중에서 우수한 정밀도를 지니고 있다. 하나로(HANARO)에서 수행하는 재료조사 시험에서의 중성자량 측정을 위하여 본 연구에서는 지름 0.1 mm, 길이 3 mm 미만의 질량 150~200 ${\mu}g$ 범위, 순도 99.9% 이상의 Fe, Ni, Ti 와이어를 F/M 시편으로 사용하였다. 이 시편은 알루미늄 캡슐에 봉입하여 30 MW 의 하나로 OR5공에 약 25일간 조사하였다. 조사를 마친 시편은 high purity germanium (HPGe) detector를 이용하여 감마선을 측정하였고, SAND-II code로 reaction rate와 중성자 cross-section등을 고려하여 fluence monitor 위치에서의 중성자 플루언스를 계산하였다. F/M이 장착 되었던 하나로 OR5공의 중성자 플루언스 값은 MCNP 코드를 이용하여 계산된 결과를 사용하였으며, SAND-II code로 장착된 F/M 위치에서의 중성자 플루언스를 계산하여 적용된 시편의 reaction에 따른 결과값의 차이를 비교 분석하였다.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• 제32권4호
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• pp.281-287
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• 2015

Two mini neutron monitors are installed at Concordia research station (Dome C, Central Antarctica, $75^{\circ}06^{\prime}S$, $123^{\circ}23^{\prime}E$, 3,233 m.a.s.l.). The site has unique properties ideal for cosmic ray measurements, especially for the detection of solar energetic particles: very low cutoff rigidity < 0.01 GV, high elevation and poleward asymptotic acceptance cones pointing to geographical latitudes > $75^{\circ}S$. The instruments consist of a standard neutron monitor and a "bare" (lead-free) neutron monitor. The instrument operation started in mid-January 2015. The barometric correction coefficients were computed for the period from 1 February to 31 July 2015. Several interesting events, including two notable Forbush decreases on 17 March 2015 and 22 June 2015, and a solar particle event of 29 October 2015 were registered. The data sets are available at cosmicrays.oulu.fi and nmdb.eu.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제41권2호
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• pp.105-109
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• 2016

Background: For an accelerator-based BNCT, we have fabricated a new detector consisting of quartz optical fibers that have excellent radiation-resistant characteristics. Materials and Methods: The developed detectors were irradiated at Kyoto University Research Reactor. Results and Discussion: The experimental results showed that the new detector had good output linearity for the neutron intensity, and the response of the new detector did not decrease during the irradiation. Conclusion: The new detector consisting of quartz optical fibers can be applied to measurement of neutron field of an accelerator-based BNCT.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 제어로봇시스템학회 1988년도 한국자동제어학술회의논문집(국제학술편); 한국전력공사연수원, 서울; 21-22 Oct. 1988
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• pp.804-809
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• 1988

PRNM(Power Range Neutron Monitoring) of BWR (Boiling Water Reactor) is a system that processes signals from about two hundred LPRM (Local Power Range Monitor) sensors in the nuclear reactor and this system monitors the neutron flux level during the plant operating region. Development has been made by employing a special technique for multiplexing neutron sensor signals and the recent advanced microelectronics technology. It is applicable to the total plant digital control system for a nuclear power plant.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• 제35권4호
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• pp.219-225
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• 2018

Cosmic rays are ions that move at relativistic speeds. They generate secondary cosmic rays by successive collisions with atmospheric particles, and then, the secondary particles reach the ground. The secondary particles are mainly neutrons and muons, and the neutrons are observed by the ground neutron monitor. This study compared the diurnal variation in cosmic ray intensity obtained via harmonic analysis and that obtained through the pile-up method, which was examined in a previous study. In addition, we analyzed the maximum phase of the diurnal variation using four neutron monitors with a cutoff rigidity below approximately 6 GV, located at similar longitudes to the Oulu and Rome neutron monitors. Expanding the data of solar cycles 20-24, we examined the time of the maximum cosmic ray intensity, that is, the maximum phase regarding the solar cyclic modulation. During solar cycles 20-24, the maximum phase derived by harmonic analysis showed no significant difference with that derived by the pile-up method. Thus, the pile-up method, a relatively straightforward process to analyze diurnal variation, could replace the complex harmonic analysis. In addition, the maximum phase at six neutron monitors shows the 22-year cyclic variation very clearly. The maximum phase tends to appear earlier and increase the width of the variation in solar cycles as the cutoff rigidity increases.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제52권3호
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• pp.477-484
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• 2020

The control rod drive mechanism needs to be debugged after reactor fresh fuel loading. It is of great importance to monitor the subcriticality of this process accurately. A modified method was applied to the subcriticality monitoring process, in which only a single control rod cluster was fully withdrawn from the core. In order to correct the error in the results obtained by Neutron Source Multiplication Method, which is based on one point reactor model, Monte Carlo neutron transport code was employed to calculate the fission neutron distribution, the iterated fission probability and the neutron flux in the neutron detector. This article analyzed the effect of a coarse mesh and a fine mesh to tally fission neutron distributions, the iterated fission probability distributions and to calculate correction factors. The subcriticality before and after modification is compared with the subcriticality calculated by MCNP code. The modified results turn out to be closer to calculation. It's feasible to implement the modified NSM method in large local reactivity addition process using Monte Carlo code based on 3D model.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제40권2호
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• pp.79-86
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• 2015

헬륨-3는 높은 반응효율, 장시간 사용가능성, 감마선에 대한 낮은 반응확률 등과 같은 장점들을 가지고 있기 때문에 대부분의 중성자 검출기의 반응물질로 사용되어 왔다. 그러나 지난 몇 년 사이 전세계적인 헬륨-3의 부족으로 인해 기체의 수급이 어려워지고 있고 이에 따라 가격이 급격히 증가하게 되었다. 이러한 이유로 헬륨-3 대체 물질들을 이용한 고효율의 중성자 검출기의 개발에 대한 연구가 많은 연구그룹에 의해 활발히 진행되기 시작하였다. 이러한 연구에서는 다양한 물질들을 이용하고 있으며, 이 중에서 붕소-10은 다른 대체물질과 비교할 때 상대적으로 높은 중성자 반응확률, 낮은 감마반응효율, 물질의 안정성, 가격적 이점 그리고 기존 헬륨-3를 이용한 검출기의 계측회로의 재활용 가능성 등과 같은 장점들 때문에 많은 연구그룹에서 붕소-10을 이용한 중성자 검출기 개발을 진행하고 있다. 본 논문에서는 중성자 검출기에 사용될 수 있는 붕소-10 박막을 개발하고 이에 대한 성능평가를 수행하였다. 중성자 검출기의 반응물질로 붕소-10을 사용하기 위해서는 중성자와 붕소-10이 반응하여 생성되는 이차방사선을 측정할 수 있어야 한다. 본 연구에서 활용한 기체충진형 중성자 검출기의 경우 붕소-10을 얇은 박막 형태로 제작하여 중성자와 반응하여 생성된 이차방사선이 기체를 이온화 시켜서 생성되는 이온쌍을 측정하는 방법을 이용한다. 그러므로 중성자 반응효율과 이차방사선의 재흡수율을 고려한 붕소-10(탄화붕소)의 적절한 두께를 선정할 필요가 있다. 이를 위해서 본 논문에서는 몬테칼로 기법을 이용하는 MCNP6를 이용하여 다양한 두께에 따른 중성자신호수집효율의 변화를 계산하였다. 또한, 스퍼터링 기법을 이용하여 다양한 두께의 박막을 제작하고 이를 이용하여 중성자 반응신호를 측정하였다. 그리고 제작된 박막의 2차원 모니터링을 위한 다중선 비례계수기의 적용가능성을 타진하기 위해 제작된 붕소박막이 설치된 2차원 다중선 비례계수기를 제작하고 중성자 응답 특성을 평가하였다.