• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.1658-1663
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• 2021

Research on climate change and global warming on the power generation systems are rapidly increasing because of the Importance of the sustainable energy supply, thus the electricity supply since its growing share, in the end, uses energy supply. However, some researchers conducted this field, but many research gaps are not mentioned and filled in this field's literature since the lack of general statements and the quantitative models and formulation of the issue. In this research, an exergy-based model is implemented to model a set of six power generation technologies (combined cycle, gas turbine, nuclear plant, solar PV, and wind turbine) and use this model to simulate each technology's responses to climate change impacts. Finally, using these responses to define and calculate a formulation for the relationship between the system's energy performance in different environmental situations and a dimensionless index to quantize each power technology's reliability against the climate change impacts called the Pahlev reliability index (P-index) of the power technology. The results have shown that solar and nuclear technologies are the most, and wind turbines are the least reliable power generation technologies.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.8
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• pp.2883-2897
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• 2022

According to the Renewable Energy 3020 Implementation Plan announced in 2017 by the South Korean government, the electricity share of renewable energy will be expanded to 20% of the total electricity generation by 2030. Given the intermittency of electricity generation from renewable energy, realization of such a plan presents challenges to managing South Korea's isolated national electric grid and implies potentially large excess electricity generation in certain situations. The purpose of this study is: 1) to develop a model to accurately simulate the effects of excess electricity generation from renewables which would arise during the transition, and 2) to propose strategies to manage excess electricity generation through effective utilization of domestic electricity generating capabilities. Our results show that in periods of greater PV and wind power, namely the spring and fall seasons, the frequency of excess electricity generation increases, while electricity demand decreases. This being the case, flexible operation of coal and nuclear power plants along with LNG and pumped-storage hydroelectricity can be used to counterbalance the excess electricity generation from renewables. In addition, nuclear energy plays an important role in reducing CO₂ emissions and electricity costs unlike the fossil fuel-based generation sources outlined in the 8th Basic Plan.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.107-115
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• 2020

This paper introduces the first vital area identification (VAI) process for the physical protection of nuclear power plants (NPPs) during low power and shutdown (LPSD) operation. This LPSD VAI is based on the 3rd generation VAI method which very efficiently utilizes probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) event trees (ETs). This LPSD VAI process was implemented to the virtual NPP during LPSD operation in this study. Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) had developed the 2nd generation full power VAI method that utilizes whole internal and external (fire and flooding) PSA results of NPPs during full power operation. In order to minimize the huge burden of the 2nd generation full power VAI method, the 3rd generation full power VAI method was developed, which utilizes ETs and minimal PSA fault trees instead of using the whole PSA fault tree. In the 3rd generation full power VAI method, (1) PSA ETs are analyzed, (2) minimal mitigation systems for avoiding core damage are selected from ETs by calculating system-level target sets and prevention sets, (3) relatively small sabotage fault tree that has the systems in the shortest system-level prevention set is composed, (4) room-level target sets and prevention sets are calculated from this small sabotage fault tree, and (5) the rooms in the shortest prevention set are defined as vital areas that should be protected. Currently, the 3rd generation full power VAI method is being employed for the VAI of Korean NPPs. This study is the first development and application of the 3rd generation VAI method to the LPSD VAI of NPP. For the LPSD VAI, (1) many LPSD ETs are classified into a few representative LPSD ETs based on the functional similarity of accident scenarios, (2) a few representative LPSD ETs are simplified with some VAI rules, and then (3) the 3rd generation VAI is performed as mentioned in the previous paragraph. It is well known that the shortest room-level prevention sets that are calculated by the 2nd and 3rd generation VAI methods are identical.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.109-117
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• 2024

In order to determine the level of awareness of nuclear power generation and Fukushima contaminated water, this study conducted an online survey targeting the general public living in the Busan area and analyzed a total of 201 questionnaires. Independent samples t-test and one-way analysis of variance were conducted to verify differences in variables according to the characteristics of the study subjects, and correlation analysis was conducted to confirm the correlation between variables. First, the results of the study showed that women had a more negative perception of nuclear power generation and Fukushima contaminated water than men. In terms of age, it was found that people in their 40s and older had a high level of negative perception. In terms of political inclination, progressive respondents showed a higher negative perception toward nuclear power generation and Fukushima contaminated water. Second, information on nuclear energy was most often collected through the Internet, broadcasting, and SNS. Third, the higher the negative perception of nuclear power generation, the more negative the results were in terms of issues of concern following the discharge of contaminated water at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Nuclear power cannot be separated from human life. Therefore, it is believed that accurate information and a knowledge delivery system are needed to ensure correct awareness of nuclear power generation.

• Journal of Korea Society of Digital Industry and Information Management
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.61-68
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• 2020

Nuclear power plants have a lower cost of power generation, and they are more eco-friendly than other power generation plants. Also, we need to prepare nuclear plant accidents because of their severe damage. In the event of a safety accident, such as a radiation leak, by applying a wireless sensor network to a nuclear power plant, many sensor nodes can be used to monitor radiation and transmit information to an external base station to appropriately respond to the accident. However, applying a wireless sensor network to nuclear power plants requires routing protocols that consider the sensor network size and bypass obstacles such as plant buildings. In general, the hierarchical-based routing protocols are efficient in energy consumption. In this study, we look into the problems that may occur if hierarchical-based routing protocols are applied to nuclear power plants and propose improved routing protocols to solve these problems. Simulation results show that the proposed routing protocol is more effective in energy consumption than the existing LEACH protocol.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.311-318
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• 2011

Small-scale reactors have recently attracted attention as a potential power generation source for the future. The Regional Energy Research Institute for Next Generation is currently developing a small-scale reactor called Regional Energy rX 10 MVA (REX-10). The current paper deals with a power system to be used with small-scale reactors for multi-purpose regional energy systems. This small nuclear system can supply electric and thermal energy like a co-generation system. The electrical model of the REX-10 has been developed as a part of the SCADA system. REX-10's dynamic and electromagnetic performance on the power system is analyzed. Simulations are carried out on a test system based on Ulleung Island's power system to validate REX-10 availability on a power system. RSCAD/RTDS and PSS/E software tools are used for the simulation.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.171-185
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• 1989

On the basis of equal health hazard risk, economic assessment of nuclear was compared with that of coal for the expansion planning of electric power generation in the year 2000. In comparing health risks, the risk of coal was roughly ten times higher than that of nuclear according to various previous risk assessments of energy system. The zero risk condition can never be achievable. Therefore, only excess relative health risk of coal over nuclear was considered as social cost. The social cost of health risk was estimated by calculation of mortality and morbidity costs. Mortality cost was ＄250,000 and morbidity cost was ＄90,000 in the year 2000.(1986US＄) Through Cost/Benefit Analysis, the optimal emission standards of coal-fired power generation were predicted. These were obtained at the point of least social cost for power generation. In the year 2000, the optimal emission standard of SOx was analyzed as 165ppm for coal-fired power plants in Korea. From this assessment, economic comparison of nuclear and coal in the year 2000 showed that nuclear would be more economical than coal, whereas uncertainty of future power generation cost of nuclear would be larger than that of coal.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.10
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• pp.3695-3702
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• 2022

South Korea, a country that built a world-class nuclear power infrastructure, shifted to a nuclear phaseout during the previous government's reign. This shift was pursued as part of a larger task of electricity mix reform, and one of the integral motives for such reform is addressing greenhouse gas (GHG) and fine dust problems. Thus, verifying the relationships between the public's concerns about GHG/fine dust and their acceptance of nuclear power generation is essential for designing public communication strategies to revive nuclear power under the ongoing environmental regime. Our analysis using a nationwide survey sample of South Korea (N = 1009, through proportionated quota sampling method) showed that the more people are concerned about GHG and fine dust, the less they accept nuclear power. These relationships held even after controlling for the effect of a third variable-energy-related environmentalism. This finding means that despite past communication efforts positioning nuclear power as a generation source that can mitigate GHG/fine dust emissions and the widely accepted scientific evidence that supports such positioning, nuclear power in Korea is in jeopardy. Our finding provides implications for public communications and fundamental knowledge for research on the determinants of nuclear power acceptance.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.7
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• pp.704-711
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• 2005

In this study, life cycle assessment(LCA) for the nuclear power generation system and the thermal power generation system, which make a great distribution of the electric power supply in Korea, has been carried out to compare the environmental impact between two power generation systems. In system boundary of this study, the stage of construction, operation and demolition & disposal were included. For life cycle impact assessment(LCIA), three cases were considered; the single environmental impact for the $CO_2$ emissions, the 8 major global environmental impact, and the major global environmental impact categories including radioactive impact. As the results, it was found that the nuclear power generation system is environmentally superior to the thermal power generation system as 10,000 times in the evaluation for the $CO_2$ emissions, 90 times in the evaluation for the 8 major environmental impact categories, and 40 times in the evaluation for the environmental impact categories including radioactive impact.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.711-731
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• 2022

In Korea, nuclear power plants are major sources of electricity supply with relatively low costs. Despite the importance and scale of nuclear electricity generation, the Korean tax and levy system is less organized than those in other countries, such as France and Japan, where nuclear power plants also play significant roles for electricity supply. Countries impose tax on nuclear electricity generation roughly in three ways: tax on nuclear reactors; tax on uranium fuel; tax on electricity from nuclear power plants. The Korean government may consider taxing nuclear electricity generation based on uranium fuel or electricity generation. If taxing on uranium fuel at the rate of 90 KRW per milligram of uranium, the Korean government can collect additional tax revenue of 430 billion KRW. If taxing on electricity from nuclear power plants at the rate of 11 KRW per kilowatt-hour, the government can collect additional tax revenue of 1,600 billion KRW.