• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.168-174
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• 2001

For human error analysis, the structure and situation of a task should be analyzed in advance. The paper introduces Structured Information Analysis (SIA) as a task analysis method for error analysis, and delineates the result of application on the emergency procedure of Korean Standard Nuclear Plants (KSNPs). From the task analysis about emergency procedure of KSNP, total 72 specific task goals were identified in the level of system function, and 86 generic tasks were classified from the viewpoint of physical sameness of the task description. Human errors are dependent on task types so that the result of task analysis would be used as a basis for the error analysis on the emergency tasks in nuclear power plants.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.118-126
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• 2005

While emergency operating procedures (EOPs) occupy an important role in the management of various abnormal situations in nuclear power plants (NPPs), current technology for the validation of EOPs still largely depends on manual review. A validation method for EOPs of NPPs is thus proposed based on dynamic multi-level flow modeling (MFM). The MFM modeling procedure and the EOP validation procedure are developed and provided in the paper. Application of the proposed method to EOPs of an actual NPP shows that the proposed method provides an efficient means of validating EOPs. It is also found that the information on state transitions in MFM models during the management of abnormal situations is also useful for further analysis on EOPs including their optimization.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.825-832
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• 2021

A simulation-based approach is proposed to study the protective actions taken by residents during nuclear emergencies using cognitive findings. Human perception-based behaviors are not heavily incorporated in the evacuation study for nuclear emergencies despite their known importance. This study proposes a generic framework of perception-based behavior simulation, in accordance with the ecological concept of affordance theory and a formal representation of affordance-based finite state automata. Based on the generic framework, a simulation model is developed to allow an evacuee to perceive available actions and execute one of them according to Newton's laws of motion. The case of a shadow evacuation under nuclear emergency is utilized to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed framework. The illustrated planning algorithm enables residents to compute not only prior knowledge of the environmental map, but also the perception of dynamic surroundings, using widely observed heuristics. The simulation results show that the temporal and spatial dynamics of the evacuation behaviors can be analyzed based on individual perception of circumstances, while utilizing the findings in cognitive science under unavoidable data restriction of nuclear emergencies. The perception-based analysis of the proposed framework is expected to enhance nuclear safety technology by complementing macroscopic analyses for advanced protective measures.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.725-733
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• 2023

The Korea Institute of Radiological and Medical Sciences has started a radiation epidemiological study, titled "Korean Radiation Worker Study," to evaluate the health effects of occupational exposure to radiation. As a part of this study, we investigated the methodologies and results of reconstructing organ-specific absorbed doses based on personal dose equivalent, H_p(10), reported from 1984 to 2019 for 20,605 Korean radiation workers. For the organ dose reconstruction, representative exposure scenarios (i.e., radiation energy and exposure geometry) were first determined according to occupational groups, and dose coefficients for converting H_p(10) to organ absorbed doses were then appropriately taken based on the exposure scenarios. Individual annual doses and individual cumulative doses were reconstructed for 27 organs, and the highest values were observed in the thyroid doses (on average 0.77 mGy/y and 10.47 mGy, respectively). Mean values of individual cumulative absorbed doses for the red bone marrow, colon, and lungs were 7.83, 8.78, and 8.43 mSv, respectively. Most of the organ doses were maximum for industrial radiographers, followed by nuclear power plant workers, medical workers, and other facility workers. The organ dose database established in this study will be utilized for organ-specific risk estimation in the Korean Radiation Worker Study.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.13-24
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• 2002

Reduction and prevention of human error is one of the major interests for the enhancement of system safety and availability in Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs). As human beings have become the weak point in the system safety, a systematic evaluation on human performance during emergency situation should be performed in advance to identify the potential vulnerability of human tasks. Though the data gathering and analysis from real field is an important precondition, there were no available data in nuclear field of korea. This paper presents the result of human performance analysis on emergency tasks in NNPs. Firstly, a task analysis was performed to identify the characteristics of operator tasks during emergency condition and to classify them into a set of generic emergency tasks. Secondly, simulation data were collected and analyzed for the emergency tasks using the full scope simulator of Younggwang NPPs. The analyzed human performance information cover the event diagnosis time, the execution time of each procedural step, observation parameters, typer of irrelevant response, pattern of communication among staffs, and so on. These performance data would be used for human reliability analysis and the research of human error as technical bases.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.32-37
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• 2009

The emergency diesel generator (EDG) in a nuclear power plant (NPP) shall start within 10 secondss and supply electrical power to engineered safety features within one minute and less if a loss of offsite power (LOOP), A design-basis event, or their combination occur. Each NPP has an EDG set consisting of two diesel generators for redundancy. In addition to the EDG set, an alternate Alternating Current Diesel Generator (AAC DG) is installed and shared by several units to cope with a station black out (SBO), i.e., loss of the offsite power concurrent with reactor trip and unavailability of the EDG set. The objective of this study is to analyze the failure data of emergency diesel generators reported in overseas nuclear power plants.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.415-420
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• 2012

It is important to understand the amount of time required to execute an emergency procedural task in a high-stress situation for managing human performance under emergencies in a nuclear power plant. However, the time to execute an emergency procedural task is highly dependent upon expert judgment due to the lack of actual data. This paper proposes an analytical method to estimate the operator's performance time (OPT) of a procedural task, which is based on a measure of the task complexity (TACOM). The proposed method for estimating an OPT is an equation that uses the TACOM as a variable, and the OPT of a procedural task can be calculated if its relevant TACOM score is available. The validity of the proposed equation is demonstrated by comparing the estimated OPTs with the observed OPTs for emergency procedural tasks in a steam generator tube rupture scenario.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.949-958
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• 2024

In contrast to all-time flooded small modular reactor (SMR) systems, an in-kind flooding safety system (FSS) has been proposed as a passive safety system applicable to small modular reactors (SMRs) that adopt a metal containment vessel (MCV). Under transient conditions, the FSS can provide emergency cooling to dry reactor cavities and sustain long-term coolability using re-acquired evaporated steam in the reactor building on demand. When designing an FSS, the effect of the flooding flow area is vital as it affects the overall accident sequence and safety. Therefore, in this study, a MELCOR model of a reference SMR is developed and numerical analysis is performed under postulated accident scenarios. Without flooding, the MCV pressure of the reactor module exceeds the design pressure before core damage. To prevent core damage, an emergency flooding strategy is devised using various flow path parameters and requirements to ensure an adequate emergency coolant supply before the core damage is investigated. The results indicate that a flow area exceeding 0.02 m2 is required in the FSS to prevent MCV overpressure and core damage. This study is the first to report a strategic analysis for appropriately sizing an FSS flooding valve applicable to innovative SMRs.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.195-206
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• 2020

Although the national radiological emergency response system has been improved by incorporating lessons from the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident and recent domestic natural disasters, it has not fully incorporated these lessons. In addition, it cannot deal with a variety of aftermath of the radiological disaster. Even for the same disaster, the national emergency response system should comply with multiple domestic laws in our country. Furthermore, there are a few discrepancies between the articles of the domestic laws that the national radiological emergency response system should address. Therefore, this study investigates the characteristics of radiological disasters, examines articles on the domestic laws related to the national radiological emergency response system, and analyses the Japanese government's responses to the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident. Based on the results of the review, suggestions for the improvement of the national radiological emergency response system in terms of response organization and framework have been proposed in this study.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1995.10a
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• pp.272-277
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• 1995

The current direction of emergency procedures for CANDU reactors is reviewed and compared based on scope, methodology and format preponderantly, and an attempt is made to integrate these procedures. As a result, a recommendation for Wolsong 2, 3 & 4 emergency procedures is presented as event-specific procedures, generic procedure and whose format is combination of logic diagram and technical basis document.