• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.345-355
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• 2019

Use of the reconstructed fuel assemblies from partially burnt nuclear fuel pins is analyzed. This reutilization option is a potential candidate technique to make better use of the nuclear resources. Standard two step method is used to calculate node i.e. fuel assembly average burnup and then pin by pin ${\eta}$ values are reconstructed to ascertain the residual reactivity in the used fuel pins. Fuel pins with ${\eta}$ > 1:0 are used to reconstruct to-be-reused fuel assemblies. These reconstructed fuel assemblies are burnt during the cycle 3, 4, 5 and 6 of a 1000 MW PWR core by replacing fresh, once burnt and twice burnt fuel assemblies of the reference core configurations. It is concluded that using reconstructed fuel assemblies for the fresh fuel affect dearly on the cycle length (>50 EFPD) when more than 16 fresh fuel assemblies are replaced. However, this loss is less than 20 days if the number of fresh fuel assemblies is less than eight. For the case of replacing twice burned fuel, cycle length could be increased slightly (10 days or so) provided burnt fuel pins from other reactors were also available. Reactor safety parameters, like axial off set (< ${\pm}10%$), Doppler temperature coefficient (<0), moderator temperature coefficient at HFP (<0) are always satisfied. Though, 2D and 3D pin peaking factors are satisfied (<1:55) and (<2:52) respectively, for the cases using eight or less reconstructed fuel assemblies only.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.186-189
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• 2008

The flow induced vibration in the nuclear fuel assembly causes the fretting wear between the fuel cladding tubes and the supporting grids. The reduction in tube thickness due to the fretting wear could be related to the serious damage on nuclear fuel assembly. In this paper, the effect of the water flow on fretting wear of nuclear fuel cladding tube against supporting grid was investigated through the fretting wear tester with water spout equipment. The test results were compared with the data conducted in the stationary water. At stationary water environment the wear debris was trapped between fretting surfaces, and then the fretting wear occurred by three-body abrasion. However, in the case of water flow, the two-body abrasive wear was the dominant wear mechanism, because the wear debris was easily removed by water flow.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.9
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• pp.3260-3271
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• 2022

Experience shows that the solution to waste management in any national programme is lengthy and burdened with uncertainties. There are several uncertainties that contribute to the costs associated with spent fuel management. In this work, we have analysed the impact of the current nuclear data on the isotopic composition of the spent fuel and consequently their influence on the main spent fuel observables such as decay heat, activity, neutron multiplication factor, and neutron and photon source terms. Nuclear libraries based on the most general nuclear data ENDF/B-VII.0, ENDF/B-VII.1, ENDF/B-VIII.0 and JEFF-3.3 are considered. A typical NPP Krško fuel assembly is analysed using the Monte Carlo code Serpent 2. The analysis considers burnup of up to 60 GWd/tU and cooling times of up to 100 years. The comparison of results showed significant differences, which should be taken into account when selecting the library and evaluating the uncertainty in determining the characteristics of the spent fuel.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.1339-1345
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• 2017

In the framework of the EU funded project NURESAFE, the subchannel code CTF and the neutronics code DYN3D were integrated and coupled on the NURESIM platform. The developments achieved during this 3-year project include assembly-level and pin-by-pin multiphysics thermal hydraulics/neutron kinetics coupling. In order to test this coupling, a PWR rod ejection transient was simulated on a MOX/UOX minicore. The transient is simulated using two different models of the minicore. In the first simulation, both codes model the core with an assembly-wise resolution. In the second simulation, a pin-by-pin fuel-centered model is used in CTF for the central assembly, and a pin power reconstruction method is applied in DYN3D. The analysis shows the influence of the different models on global parameters, such as the power and the average fuel temperature, but also on local parameters such as the maximum fuel temperature.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.95-100
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• 1990

The exact expression for the 1151 force on a fuel assembly in a reactor core is derived in terms of calculable hydraulic parameters. The relation for the lift force. pressure drop, buoyancy force, viscous force. and fuel assembly weight is discussed. Based on the derived exact expression. error analysis is made for a simple expression applying COBRA IV-i to a typical PWR fuel assembly. The error analysis revealed that the error of the simple expression consists of four terms and the overall error depends on the flow rate change direction, and its magnitude is about 1%.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.8
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• pp.2454-2463
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• 2021

The objective of this research is to the use of americium (AmO₂) as a burnable absorber effectively instead of conventional gadolinium (Gd₂O₃) for VVER-1200 reactor by analyzing its impacts on reactivity, power peaking factor (PPF), safety factor, and quality of the spent fuel. The assembly is burned to 60 GWd/t by using SRAC-2006 code and JENDL-4.0 data library for finding the optimum amount and effective way of using AmO₂ as a burnable absorber. From these studies, it is found that AmO₂ can decrease the excess reactivity like Gd₂O₃ without changing the criticality life span and enrichment of ²³⁵U. A homogeneous mixture of the 0.20% AmO₂+ 4.95% enriched UO₂ fuel rod (model MF-4) decreases the PPF than the reference assembly. The use of AmO₂+UO₂ in the integral burnable absorber (IBA) rod or the outer layer could also decrease the PPF up to 10 GWd/t but increases rapidly after 30 GWd/t, which could be a safety threat. The fuel temperature coefficient and void coefficient of the model MF-4 are the same as the reference assembly. In addition, 22% of initially loaded Am are burning effectively and contributing to the power production.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.298-306
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• 2001

As fuel burnup proceeds, thermal gradients, differential swelling, and inter-assembly loading may induce assembly duct bowing. Since duct bowing affects the reactivity, such as long or short term power-reactivity-decrement variations, handling problem, caused by top end deflection of the bowed assembly duct, and the integrity of the assembly duct itself. Assembly duct bowing were first observed at EBR-ll in 1965, and then several designs of assembly ducts and core restraint system were used to accommodate this problem. In this study, NUBOW-2D KMOD was used to analyze the bowing behavior of the assembly duct under the KALIMER(Korea Advanced Liquid MEtal Reactor) core restraint system conditions. The mechanical behavior of assembly ducts related to several design parameters are evaluated. ACLP(Above Core Load Pad) positions, the gap distance between the ducts, and the gap distance between the duct and restraint ring were selected as the sensitivity parameter for the evaluation of duct deflection.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.128-128
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• 2001

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.339.1-339
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• 2001

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.237-237
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• 2002