• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제52권7호
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• pp.1462-1470
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• 2020

Reliability in safety-critical systems and equipment is of vital importance, so the probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) has been widely used for many years in the nuclear industry to address reliability in a quantitative manner. As many nuclear power plants (NPPs) become digitalized, evaluating the reliability of safety-critical software has become an emerging issue. Due to a lack of available methods, in many conventional PSA models only hardware reliability is addressed with the assumption that software reliability is perfect or very high compared to hardware reliability. This study focused on developing a new method of safety-critical software reliability quantification, derived from hardware-software integrated environment testing. Since the complexity of hardware and software interaction makes the possible number of test cases for exhaustive testing well beyond a practically achievable range, an importance-oriented testing method that assures the most efficient test coverage was developed. Application to the test of an actual NPP reactor protection system demonstrated the applicability of the developed method and provided insight into complex software-based system reliability.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권2호
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• pp.421-431
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• 2023

Nuclear power plants (NPPs) have technical specifications (Tech Specs) to ensure that the equipment and key operating parameters necessary for the safe operation of the power plant are maintained within limiting conditions for operation (LCO) determined by a safety analysis. The LCO of Tech Specs that identify the lowest functional capability of equipment required for safe operation for a facility must be complied for the safe operation of NPP. There have been previous studies to aid in compliance with LCO relevant to rule-based expert systems; however, there is an obvious limit to expert systems for implementing the rules for many situations related to LCO. Therefore, in this study, we present a retrieval methodology for similar LCO cases in determining whether LCO is met or not met. To reflect the natural language processing of NPP features, a domain dictionary was built, and the optimal term frequency-inverse document frequency variant was selected. The retrieval performance was improved by adding a Boolean retrieval model based on terms related to the LCO in addition to the vector space model. The developed domain dictionary and retrieval methodology are expected to be exceedingly useful in determining whether LCO is met.

• 전기학회논문지
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• 제60권8호
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• pp.1632-1638
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• 2011

Electric cables are one of the most important components in a nuclear power plant since they provide the power needed to operate electrical equipment. Despite their importance, cables typically receive little attention since they are considered passive, long-lived components that have been very reliable over the years when subjected to the environmental conditions for which they were designed. The operating experience reveals that a defect of the insulator or poor construction causes the initial failure of cable. However, the number of cable failures increase with plant aging, and these cable failures are occurring within the plants' 40-year licensed period. These cable failures have resulted in plant transients, shutdown, loss of safety functions or redundancy, entries into limiting conditions for operation, and challenges for plant operators. Therefore, diagnosis of MV cable installed in NPPs has become one of the most urgent issues in recent years. In accordance with PSR, condition maintenance for cables is also continuously required. Recently, HFPD tests have been widely performed to diagnose cable in the transmission and distribution cable system. However, on-line HFPD wasn't used in the NPPs because of the danger of plant shutdown, measurement sensitivity and application problems, etc. In this paper, HFPD measurement with portable device was performed to evaluate the integrity of the 4.16kV & 13.8kV cable lines. The test results show that HFPD is highly attractive to the diagnosis of MV cables in NPP by high detection sensitivity on-site.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권1호
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• pp.110-116
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• 2022

Human failure event (HFE) dependency analysis is a part of human reliability analysis (HRA). For efficient HFE dependency analysis, a maximum number of minimal cut sets (MCSs) that have HFE combinations are generated from the fault trees for the probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) of nuclear power plants (NPPs). After collecting potential HFE combinations, dependency levels of subsequent HFEs on the preceding HFEs in each MCS are analyzed and assigned as conditional probabilities. Then, HFE recovery is performed to reflect these conditional probabilities in MCSs by modifying MCSs. Inappropriate HFE dependency analysis and HFE recovery might lead to an inaccurate core damage frequency (CDF). Using the above process, HFE recovery is performed on MCSs that are generated with a non-zero truncation limit, where many MCSs that have HFE combinations are truncated. As a result, the resultant CDF might be underestimated. In this paper, a new method is suggested to incorporate HFE recovery into the MCS generation stage. Compared to the current approach with a separate HFE recovery after MCS generation, this new method can (1) reduce the total time and burden for MCS generation and HFE recovery, (2) prevent the truncation of MCSs that have dependent HFEs, and (3) avoid CDF underestimation. This new method is a simple but very effective means of performing MCS generation and HFE recovery simultaneously and improving CDF accuracy. The effectiveness and strength of the new method are clearly demonstrated and discussed with fault trees and HFE combinations that have joint probabilities.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• 제26권2호
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• pp.43-49
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• 2008

Fatigue cracks due to thermal stratification or corrosion in pipelines of nuclear power plants can cause serious problems on reactor cooling system. Therefore, the development of an integrated technology including fabrication of standard specimens and their practical usage is needed to enhance the reliability of nondestructive testing. The test material was austenitic STS 304, which is used as pipelines in the Reactor Coolant System of a nuclear power plants. The best condition for fabrication of thermal fatigue cracks at the notch plate was selected using the thermal stress analysis of ANSYS. The specimen was installed from the tensile tester and underwent continuos tension loads of 51,000N. Then, after the specimen was heated to $450^{\circ}C$ for 1 minute using HF induction heater, it was cooled to $20^{\circ}C$ in 1 minute using a mixture of dry ice and water. The initial crack was generated at 17,000 cycles, 560 hours later (1cycle/2min.) and the depth of the thermal fatigue crack reached about 40% of the thickness of the specimen at 22,000 cycles. As a results of optical microscope and SEM analysis, it is confirmed that fabricated thermal fatigue cracks have the same characteristics as real fatigue cracks in nuclear power plants. The crack shape and size were identified.

• 대한기계학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한기계학회 2000년도 추계학술대회논문집A
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• pp.212-218
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• 2000

The importance and role of pre-/in-service inspection(PSI/ISI) for nuclear power plant(NPP) components are intimately related to plant design, safety, reliability, operation, etc. In this paper, for an effective and efficient management of large amounts of PSI/ISI data in NPPs, an intelligent database program(WS-IDPIN) for PSI/ISI data management of NPP was developed. WS-IDPIN program enables the prompt extraction of previously conducted PSI/ISI conditions and results so that the time-consuming data management, painstaking data processing and analysis in the past are avoided. Furthermore, development of ISI UT auto flaw evaluation and acceptance module based on ASME Code Sec. XI were presented. This module can be used for any angle beam examination from flat plate to spherical shapes as selected by the proper azimuthal angle. This program can be further developed as a unique PSI/ISI data management expert system.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• 제10권2호
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• pp.857-880
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• 2016

Due to an increasing number of cyberattacks globally, cybersecurity has become a crucial part of national security in many countries. In particular, the Digital Pearl Harbor has become a real and aggressive security threat, and is considered to be a global issue that can introduce instability to the dynamics of international security. Against this context, the cyberattacks that targeted nuclear power plants (NPPs) in the Republic of Korea triggered concerns regarding the potential effects of cyber terror on critical infrastructure protection (CIP), making it a new security threat to society. Thus, in an attempt to establish measures that strengthen CIP from a cybersecurity perspective, we perform a case study on the cyber-terror attacks that targeted the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., Ltd. In order to fully appreciate the actual effects of cyber threats on critical infrastructure (CI), and to determine the challenges faced when responding to these threats, we examine factual relationships between the cyberattacks and their responses, and we perform analyses of the characteristics of the cyberattack under consideration. Moreover, we examine the significance of the event considering international norms, while applying the Tallinn Manual. Based on our analyses, we discuss implications for the cybersecurity of CI in South Korea, after which we propose a framework for strengthening cybersecurity in order to protect CI. Then, we discuss the direction of national policies.

• 정보처리학회 논문지
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• 제13권5호
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• pp.227-235
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• 2024

원자력발전소에서 디지털 계측제어 시스템 비중이 높아지면서 원자력발전소에 대한 확률론적 안정성 평가 시 소프트웨어에 대한 신뢰도 평가가 중요해졌다. 원전 소프트웨어 신뢰도 추정을 위한 방법들이 몇 가지 제안 되었지만 해당 방법의 효과적 적용을 지원하는 도구 지원이 미비하였다. 본 연구에서는 소프트웨어 개발 품질 및 검증 품질과 같은 정성적 정보와 통계적 시험 결과와 같은 정량적 정보를 활용하여 원전 소프트웨어 신뢰도를 정량적으로 측정할 수 있는 자동화 도구를 설계하였고 구현하였다. 개발된 도구를 산업용 원자로 보호 시스템 사례에 적용한 결과, 개발된 도구가 원전 소프트웨어의 신뢰성 평가를 효과적으로 지원할 수 있음을 확인하였다.

• 대한토목학회논문집
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• 제44권3호
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• pp.277-282
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• 2024

최근 기후변화로 인해 태풍의 강도와 빈도가 증가하고 있으며, 태풍은 원자력발전소의 소외전원상실(LOOP)을 발생시킬 수 있다. 따라서, 태풍 동반 강풍에 대한 소외전력망의 확률론적 안전성 평가(PSA)를 통한 대비가 필요하다. 하지만, 원자력발전소의 소외전력망에 대한 태풍 동반 강풍 PSA 연구는 미흡한 실정이다. 본 연구에서는 국내원전부지 중 소외전력망의 피해가 잦았던 고리원전부지를 대상으로 소외전력망의 태풍 동반 강풍에 의한 PSA를 수행하였다. 태풍 동반 강풍에 의한 소외전력망의 PSA를 수행하기 위해 고리원전부지의 태풍재해도를 Logic Tree와 Monte Carlo Simulation을 활용하여 도출하였다. 전력망을 구성하는 요소의 취약도를 활용하여 전력망의 취약도 분석을 수행하였다. 최종적으로 소외전력망이 원자력발전소에 전력을 공급하지 못할 확률을 정량적으로 분석하였다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권2호
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• pp.640-647
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• 2023

Material corrosion in nuclear power plant (NPP) is not controlled only by amine injection but also by ion exchange (IX) which is the best option to remove trace Na⁺. This study was conducted to understand the Na⁺ leakage characteristics of IX beds packed with ethanolamine-form (ETAH-form) and hydrogen-form (H-form) resins in the simulated water-steam cycle in terms of intrinsic behaviors of four kinds of cation-exchange resins through ASTM test and Vanselow mass action modeling. Na⁺ was inappreciably escaped throughout the channel created in resin layer. Na⁺ leakage from IX bed was non-linearly raised because of its decreasing selectivity with increasing Na⁺ capture and with increasing the fraction of ETAH-form resin. Na⁺ did not reach the breakthrough earlier than ETAH⁺ and NH₄⁺ due to the increased selectivity of Na⁺ to the cation-exchange resin (H⁺ < ETAH⁺ < NH₄⁺ ≪ Na⁺) at the feed composition. Na⁺ leakage from the resin bed filled with small particles was decreased due to the enhanced dynamic IX processes, regardless of its low selectivity. Thus, the particle size is a predominant factor among intrinsic properties of IX resin to reduce Na⁺ leakage from the condensate polishing plant (CPP) in NPPs.