• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권3호
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• pp.834-841
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• 2022

System thermal-hydraulic (STH) code is adopted for nuclear safety analysis. The critical flow model (CFM) is significant for the accuracy of STH simulation. To overcome the defects of current CFMs (low precision or long calculation time), a CFM based on a genetic neural network (GNN) has been developed in this work. To build a powerful model, besides the critical mass flux, the critical pressure and critical quality were also considered in this model, which was seldom considered before. Comparing with the traditional homogeneous equilibrium model (HEM) and the Moody model, the GNN model can predict the critical mass flux with a higher accuracy (approximately 80% of results are within the ±20% error limit); comparing with the Leung model and the Shannak model for critical pressure prediction, the GNN model achieved the best results (more than 80% prediction results within the ±20% error limit). For the critical quality, similar precision is achieved. The GNN-based CFM in this work is meaningful for the STH code CFM development.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제47권6호
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• pp.662-668
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• 2015

A suspension of titanium nanoparticles (Ti NPs) in liquid sodium (Na) has been proposed as a method to mitigate the violent sodium-water reaction (SWR). The interparticle potential between Ti NPs in liquid Na may play a significant role in the agglomeration of NPs on the reaction surface and in the bulk liquid Na, since the potential contributes to a reduction in the long-term dispersion stability. For the effective control of the SWR with NPs, a physical understanding of the molecular dynamics of NPs in liquid Na is key. Therefore in this study, the nonretarded Van der Waals model and the solvation potential model are employed to analyze the interparticle potential. The ab initio calculation reveals that a strong repulsive force driven by the solvation potential exceeds the interparticle attraction and predicts the agglomeration energy required for two 10-nm Ti NPs to be $4{\times}10^{-17}J$. The collision theory suggests that Ti NPs can be effective suppressors of the SWR due to the high energy barrier that prevents significant agglomeration of Ti NPs in quiescent liquid Na.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제49권7호
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• pp.1495-1504
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• 2017

In a previous study, a set of polygon-mesh (PM)-based skin models including a $50-{\mu}m-thick$ radiosensitive target layer were constructed and used to calculate skin dose coefficients (DCs) for idealized external beams of electrons. The results showed that the calculated skin DCs were significantly different from the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) Publication 116 skin DCs calculated using voxel-type ICRP reference phantoms that do not include the thin target layer. The difference was as large as 7,700 times for electron energies less than 1 MeV, which raises a significant issue that should be addressed subsequently. In the present study, therefore, as an extension of the initial, previous study, skin DCs for three other particles (photons, protons, and helium ions) were calculated by using the PM-based skin models and the calculated values were compared with the ICRP-116 skin DCs. The analysis of our results showed that for the photon exposures, the calculated values were generally in good agreement with the ICRP-116 values. For the charged particles, by contrast, there was a significant difference between the PM-model-calculated skin DCs and the ICRP-116 values. Specifically, the ICRP-116 skin DCs were smaller than those calculated by the PM models-which is to say that they were under-estimated-by up to ~16 times for both protons and helium ions. These differences in skin dose also significantly affected the calculation of the effective dose (E) values, which is reasonable, considering that the skin dose is the major factor determining effective dose calculation for charged particles. The results of the current study generally show that the ICRP-116 DCs for skin dose and effective dose are not reliable for charged particles.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권9호
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• pp.3450-3463
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• 2023

In the two-step analysis of Pebble-Bed type High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (PB-HTGR), the lattice physics calculation for the generation of homogenized cross-sections is based on the fuel pebble. However, the randomly-dispersed fuel particles in the fuel pebble introduce double heterogeneity and randomness. Compared to the deterministic method, the Monte Carlo method which is flexible in geometry modeling provides a high-fidelity treatment. Therefore, the Monte Carlo code NECP-MCX is extended in this study to perform the lattice physics calculation of the PB-HTGR. Firstly, the capability for the simulation of randomly-dispersed media, using the explicit modeling approach, is developed in NECP-MCX. Secondly, the capability for the generation of the homogenized cross-section is also developed in NECP-MCX. Finally, simplified PB-HTGR problems are calculated by a two-step neutronics analysis tool based on Monte Carlo homogenization. For the pebble beds mixed by fuel pebble and graphite pebble, the bias is less than 100 pcm when compared to the high-fidelity model, and the bias is increased to 269 pcm for pebble bed mixed by depleted fuel pebble. Numerical results show that the Monte Carlo lattice physics calculation for the two-step analysis of PB-HTGR is feasible.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제52권4호
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• pp.721-733
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• 2020

In nuclear engineering, the occurrence of critical heat flux (CHF) is complicated for rod bundle, and it is much more difficult to predict the CHF when it is in natural circulation under motion condition. In this paper, the dryout-type CHF is investigated for the rod bundle in a natural circulation loop under rolling motion condition based on the coupled analysis of subchannel method, a one-dimensional system analysis method and a CHF mechanism model, namely the three-fluid model for annular flow. In order to consider the rolling effect of the natural circulation loop, the subchannel model is connected to the one-dimensional system code at the inlet and outlet of the rod bundle. The subchannel analysis provides the local thermal hydraulic parameters as input for the CHF mechanism model to calculate the occurrence of CHF. The rolling motion is modeled by additional motion forces in the momentum equation. First, the calculation methods of the natural circulation and CHF are validated by a published natural circulation experiment data and a CHF empirical correlation, respectively. Then, the CHF of the rod bundle in a natural circulation loop under both the stationary and rolling motion condition is predicted and analyzed. According to the calculation results, CHF under stationary condition is smaller than that under rolling motion condition. Besides, the CHF decreases with the increase of the rolling period and angular acceleration amplitude within the range of inlet subcooling and mass flux adopted in the current research. This paper can provide useful information for the prediction of CHF in natural circulation under motion condition, which is important for the nuclear reactor design improvement and safety analysis.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제34권6호
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• pp.533-544
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• 2002

The neutron induced nuclear data for Mo-95, Tc-99, Ru-101 and Rh-103 was calculated and evaluated in the fast energy region. The energy dependent optical model potential parameters were extracted based on the recent experimental data and applied up to 20 MeV. The s-wave strength function was calculated from the parameters. Spherical optical model, statistical model in equilibrium energy, multistep direct and multistep compound model in pre-equilibrium energy and direct capture model were used in the calculation. The theoretically calculated cross sections were compared with the experimental data and the evaluated files The model- calculated total and capture cross sections were in good agreement with the reference experimental data. The direct capture contribution improved the capture cross sections in pre- equilibrium region. The evaluated cross section results were compiled to ENDF-6 format and will improve the ENDF/B-Vl.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제35권1호
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• pp.35-44
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• 2003

The neutron induced nuclear data for Eu-153, Gd-155 and Cd-157 are calculated and evaluated in the high energy region. The evaluation procedure for deformed nuclei is setup by using Ecis-Empire codes. The energy dependent optical model potential parameters are searched based on the recent experimental data and applied up to 20 MeV. Optical model, full featured Hauser-Feshbach model and multistep direct and multistep compound model are used in the calculation. The direct-semidirect capture model and the direct coupled-channels contribution to discrete levels are introduced to improve the capture and inelastic scattering cross sections. The theoretically calculated cross sections are compared with the experimental data and the evaluated files. The model-calculated total and capture cross sections are in good agreement with the reference experimental data. The evaluated cross section results are compiled to ENDF-6 format and are expected to improve the ENDF/B-Vl.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제37권1호
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• pp.101-108
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• 2005

The neutron induced nuclear cross-section data for Pd-105, Ag-109, Xe-131, and Cs-133 were calculated and evaluated from an unresolved energy to 20 MeV. The energy dependent optical model potential parameters were extracted based on recent experimental data and applied up to 20 MeV. A spherical optical model and a statistical model for the equilibrium energy, and a multistep direct and a multistep compound model for the pre-equilibrium energy were used in the calculation. The direct capture model was recently introduced for fast neutron capture. The theoretically calculated cross-sections were compared with the experimental data and the evaluated files. The total and capture cross-sections calculated using the model were in good agreement with the reference experimental data. The evaluated cross-section results were compiled in ENDF-6 format and merged with the resonance component, already adopted in the ENDF/B-VI release 8. New data library files covering from thermal to 20 MeV were created. They are at the preliminary stage of an ENDF/B- VII release.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제34권4호
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• pp.370-381
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• 2002

The neutron induced nuclear data for Pr-141, Nd-143, Nd-145, Sm-147 and Sm-149 were calculated and evaluated from 10 keV to 20 MeV. The energy dependent optical model potential parameters were extracted based on the recent experimental data and applied up to 20 MeV. The s-wave strength function was calculated. Spherical optical model , statistical model in equilibrium energy, multistep direct and multistep compound model in pre-equilibrium energy and direct capture model were introduced in Empire calculation. The theoretically calculated cross sections were compared with the experimental data and the evaluated files. The model calculated total and capture cross sections were in good agreement with the reference experimental data. The capture cross sections in pre-equilibrium were enhanced in recent released Empire version. The evaluated cross section results were compiled to ENDF-6 format and will improve the ENDF/B-Vl.

• 한국원자력학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국원자력학회 1996년도 춘계학술발표회논문집(1)
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• pp.179-184
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• 1996

Power density distribution and criticality of a pressurized water reactor are calculated with a Monte Carlo calculation using the MCNP code. The MCNP model is based on one-eighth core symmetry. Individual fuel assemblies are modeled with fullscope three dimensional description except grid spacer. The fuel rod is divided into eight axial segments. Core internals above and below the active fuel region is represented as coolant. After 400 cycle calculations, the system converges to a k value of 1.09151$\pm$0.00066. Fission reaction rate in each rod is also calculated to use as the source term in pressure vessel fluence calculation.