• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.71-79
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• 2023

Air ingress incidents are major safety accidents in very-high-temperature reactors (VHTRs). Air containing a high volume fraction of oxygen may cause severe oxidation of core components at the VHTR, especially for the significantly thin alloy tube wall in the intermediate heat exchanger (IHE). The research objects of this study are Inconel 617 and Incoloy 800H, two candidate alloys for IHE in VHTR. The air ingress accident scenario is simulated with high-temperature air flow at 950 ℃. A continuous oxide scale was formed on the surfaces of both the alloys after the experiment. Because the oxide scale of Inconel 617 has a loose structure, whereas that of Incoloy 800H is denser, Inconel 617 exhibited significantly more severe internal oxidation than Incoloy 800H. Further, Inconel 617 showed a significant decrease in ultimate tensile strength and plasticity after aging for 200 h, whereas Incoloy 800H maintained its tensile properties satisfactorily. Through control experiment under vacuum, we preliminarily concluded that serious internal oxidation is the primary reason for the decline in the tensile properties of Inconel 617.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.12-24
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• 2023

With the improvement of laser technology, the strategic needs of efficient and precise decontamination of various components in nuclear application units can be fulfilled by laser decontamination. The surface contaminants of nuclear facilities mainly exist both as loose contaminated layer and fixed oxide layer. The types of radionuclides and contamination layer thickness are closely related to the operation status of nuclear facilities, which have an important influence on the laser decontamination process. This study reviewed the mechanism of laser surface treatment and the influence of laser process parameters on the decontamination thickness, decontamination factor, decontamination efficiency and the distribution of aerosol particle. Although multiple studies have been performed on the mechanism of laser processing and laser decontamination process, there are few studies on the microscopic process mechanism of laser decontamination and the influence of laser decontamination on surface properties. In particular, the interaction between laser and radioactive contaminants needs more research in the future.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.339-352
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• 2023

Prediction of the time-related traits of pebble flow inside pebble-bed HTGRs is of great significance for reactor operation and design. In this work, an image-driven approach with the aid of a convolutional neural network (CNN) is proposed to predict the remaining time of initially loaded pebbles and the time interval of paired flow images of the pebble bed. Two types of strategies are put forward: one is adding FC layers to the classic classification CNN models and using regression training, and the other is CNN-based deep expectation (DEX) by regarding the time prediction as a deep classification task followed by softmax expected value refinements. The current dataset is obtained from the discrete element method (DEM) simulations. Results show that the CNN-aided models generally make satisfactory predictions on the remaining time with the determination coefficient larger than 0.99. Among these models, the VGG19+DEX performs the best and its CumScore (proportion of test set with prediction error within 0.5s) can reach 0.939. Besides, the remaining time of additional test sets and new cases can also be well predicted, indicating good generalization ability of the model. In the task of predicting the time interval of image pairs, the VGG19+DEX model has also generated satisfactory results. Particularly, the trained model, with promising generalization ability, has demonstrated great potential in accurately and instantaneously predicting the traits of interest, without the need for additional computational intensive DEM simulations. Nevertheless, the issues of data diversity and model optimization need to be improved to achieve the full potential of the CNN-aided prediction tool.

• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.45-52
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• 2012

The success history of Light Water Reactors (PWR and BWR) showed how a dominant technology could be shaped in a political and economical context. The american nuclear politics, the interest of american nuclear industry, and the accumulated technological know-hows made it possible that the not inherently safe reactor-Light Water Reactor- became a prominent reactor model. The path dependency of reactor technology on LWR kept the engineers from developing a new safer reactor, even if the severe reactor accidents occurred. In oder to increase safety of nuclear power system, we should understand the social shaping process of nuclear technology.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.447-460
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• 2014

The results of this study, suggest public communication to promote the use of radiation as follows: first, suitable information for the recipient's perception patterns should be provided, as there is a difference in risk perception and acceptance between the experts and the public. Thus, information on the necessity of nuclear power should be provided to the public, while information based on technical risks is provided by the experts. Second, since the levels of perception, knowledge, and attitudes increased highly for sectors which use radiation after the class, classes should be provided continuously to increase students' perception, knowledge, and attitude, which are all preemptive variables which induce positive behavioral changes. Third, since the seven sectors which use radiation are highly correlated, arguments for the necessity of other sectors should be based on the necessity of the medical sector.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.108-116
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• 2020

Background: This foundational study on educational interventions aimed to analyze the changes in awareness, knowledge, and attitudes of young learners after they received objective information on safety management. Materials and Methods: Educational sessions on nuclear power and radiation safety were delivered to 4,934 Korean elementary, middle, and high school students in two separate sessions conducted in 2016 and 2017. The effects of these interventions were subsequently analyzed. Results and Discussion: Learner attitudes toward safety were found to be the predominant variables affecting the post-intervention risk (safety) awareness of nuclear power generation. Conclusion: The safety awareness of future generations will significantly influence policy decisions on nuclear power generation. Hence, the design of educational interventions on this subject must match variables suited to learner levels.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.187-198
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• 2014

I developed a curriculum reflecting the perspectives of students, science teachers, and professionals in order to carry out standardized, fundamental nuclear power and radiation education in schools. Among elementary, middle, and high schools, 78.4%, 78.6%, and 93.1% respectively exhibited (with high frequency) a need for nuclear power and radiation education. The proposed elementary and middle/high school course titles are "Radiation and Life" and "Nuclear Power and Radiation" respectively. The courses are offered at every grade level and span one semester each year. The duration of each weekly class varies; at the elementary, middle, and high school levels classes meet for 40, 45, and 50 minutes respectively. Thin textbooks containing an abundance of cartoons and photos were requested. The starting points for education were fixed at the sixth grade, second year of middle school, and the first year of high school. It was stipulated that the education be separate from the regular curriculum, and encompass a creative and experimental field study based on the principal and science teachers' needs. Similar trends were observable according to grade levels regarding class hours, textbook format, form of education, and educational necessity. A simulation of the devised curriculum revealed an overall goodness of fit totaling $3.88{\pm}0.60$, $3.89{\pm}0.60$, and $3.66{\pm}0.63$ out of five for elementary, middle school, and high school students respectively, which are scores equivalent to 70 and above (out of 100). The significance of this study is that it is the first to propose a curriculum designed to cultivate value judgment based on understanding nuclear power and radiation. However, the realization of nuclear power and radiation education requires that follow-up measures be taken regarding textbook development, amendments to related laws, and the providing of teaching plans.

• Journal of Korean Vacuum Science & Technology
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.46-50
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• 2002

C-SiC films with different content of SiC on stainless steel substrate were prepared with ion beam mixing. It was found that hydrogen concentrations in C-SiC coatings was higher than that in stainless steel after H$\^$+/ ion implantation followed by thermal annealing. Infrared (IR) transmission measurement was used to study the mechanism of hydrogen retention by C-SiC films. The vibrational features in the range between 400 and 3200 cm$\^$-1/ in IR transmission spectra show the Si-CH$_3$, Si-CH$_2$, Si-H, CH$_2$and CH$_3$bonds, which are responsible for retaining hydrogen.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.2298-2304
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• 2023

Titanium alloys are expected to become one of the candidate materials for nuclear-powered spacecraft due to their excellent overall performance. Nevertheless, atomistic mechanisms of the defect accumulation and evolution of the materials due to long-term exposure to irradiation remain scarcely understood by far. Here we investigate the heavy irradiation damage in a-titanium with a dose as high as 4.0 canonical displacements per atom (cDPA) using atomistic simulations of Frenkel pair accumulation. Results show that the content of surviving defects increases sharply before 0.04 cDPA and then decreases slowly to stabilize, exhibiting a strong correlation with the system energy. Under the current simulation conditions, the defect clustering fraction may be not directly dependent on the irradiation dose. Compared to vacancies, interstitials are more likely to form clusters, which may further cause the formation of 1/3<1210> interstitial-type dislocation loops extended along the (1010) plane. This study provides an important insight into the understanding of the irradiation damage behaviors for titanium.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.237-244
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• 2016

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The current South Korean government policy on food irradiation technology should be reformed based on an in-depth investigation of the communications aspect, because the issue is no longer of a technological nature, given the proven safety and efficacy of the processes. SUBJECTS/METHODS: The target population of the education program consisted of elementary, middle, and high school students attending 310 schools in South Korea (2013: 63 schools, 2014: 104 schools, 2015: 143 schools). Data subjected to analysis were 13,327 pre-education and 12,641 post-education questionnaires received from 7,582 elementary, 2,671 middle, and 3,249 high school students who participated in the education program from May 2012 to April 2015 (n = 12,831), after the exclusion of inadequately filled-in questionnaires. RESULTS: Analysis of the three-year educational effect trend was conducted by comparing levels of variables before and after food radiation education. The analysis yielded the finding that the post-education levels were significantly higher for all variables. That is, for interest in education, perception (necessity, safety, subjective knowledge, and information acquisition), objective knowledge, and attitude, with the sole exception of objective knowledge in 2013. CONCLUSIONS: Given that post-education levels of perception, knowledge, and attitude concerning irradiated foods increased considerably compared to pre-education levels, behavior change should be induced by providing continuous education to enhance, these primary variables.