• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.62-70
• /
• 2019

The APR1400 reactor may be operated for a long time under high temperature and pressure conditions, causing damage to the stud holes and causing stud bolts and holes to stick. The present practice is to manually remove the anti-sticking agent and foreign matter remaining in the APR1400 reactor stud hole and to visually check the surface condition of the thread to check the damage status of the threads. In the case of the APR1400 reactor stud holes, manually cleaning the threads increases the risk of radiation exposure and operator's fatigue. To avoid this, the autonomous mobile robot is used to automatically clean the reactor stud holes. The purpose of this study is to optimize the cleaning performance of the mobile robot by looking at the behavior of the surface roughness of the stud surface cleaned by the brush attached to the mobile robot due to changes in brush material, thickness of wire, and rotation speed. A microscopic approach to the surface roughness of the flank is needed to investigate the effects of the newly proposed brush of the autonomous mobile robot on the thread holes. According to this experiment, it is reasonable to use STS brush rather than Carbon one. Optimal operating conditions are derived and the safety of APR1400 reactor stud holes maintenance can be improved.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
• /
• v.6 no.1
• /
• pp.72-77
• /
• 2010

During the period of reinforcement work for the licensing renewal of CANDU NPP, the fuel channels, Calandria tubes and feeders of CANDU Reactor are replaced. The remote visual inspection of Calandria internal is also performed during the period of reinforcement work. This period is a unique opportunity to inspect the inside of the Calandria. The visual inspection for the Calandria vessel and its internals of Wolsong NPP Unit 1 was performed by Nuclear Engineering & Technology Institute(NETEC) of KHNP. To perform this inspection, NETEC developed equipment applied new technology such as the synchronization of 3D CAD, automatic alignment and control system. The inspection confirmed that the Calandria integrity of Wolsong NPP Unit 1 is perfect.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
• /
• 1999.05a
• /
• pp.124-124
• /
• 1999

An ultrasonic method is developed for the measurement of the two-phase mixture level in the reactor vessel or steam generator. The ultrasonic method is selected among the several non¬nuelear two-phase mixture level measurement methods through two steps of selection procedure. A commercial ultrasonic level measurement method is modified for application into the high temperature, pressure, and other conditions. The calculation method of the ultrasonic velocity is modified to consider the medium as the homogeneous mixture of air and steam. and to be applied into the high temperature and pressure conditions. The cross-correlation technique is adopted as a detection method to reduce the effects of the attenuation and the dif.JUsed reflection caused by suface fluctuation. The waveguides are developed to reduce the loss of echo and to remove the effects of obstructs. The present experimental study shows that the developed ultrasonic method measures the two-phase mixture level more accurately than the conventional methods do.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.54 no.11
• /
• pp.4359-4372
• /
• 2022

Turbulent mixing in buoyant flows is an essential mechanism involved in many scenarios related to nuclear safety in nuclear power plants. Comprehensive understanding and accurate predictions of turbulent buoyant flows in the reactor are of crucial importance, due to the function of mitigating the potential detrimental consequences during postulated accidents. The present study uses URANS methodology to investigate the buoyancy-influenced flows in the reactor pressure vessel under the main steam line break accident scenarios. With a particular focus on the influence of turbulent heat flux closure models, various combinations of two turbulence models and three turbulent heat flux models are utilized for the numerical simulations of three ROCOM tests which have different characteristic features in terms of the flow rate and fluid density difference between loops. The simulation results are compared with experimental measurements of the so-called mixing scalar in the downcomer and at the core inlet. The study shows that the anisotropic turbulent heat flux models are able to improve the accuracy of the predictions under conditions of strong buoyancy whilst in the weak buoyancy case, a major role is played by the selected turbulence models with essentially a negligible influence of the turbulent heat flux closure models.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.56 no.2
• /
• pp.575-600
• /
• 2024

During an earthquake on December 29th 2020, the Krško NPP automatically shutdown due to the trigger of the negative neutron flux rate signal on the power range nuclear instrumentation. From the time course of the detector signal, it can be concluded that the fluctuation in the detector signal may have been caused by the mechanical movement of the ex-core neutron detectors or the pressure vessel components rather than the actual change in reactor power. The objective of the analysis was to evaluate the sensitivity of the neutron flux at the ex-core detector position, if the detector is moved in the radial or axial direction. In addition, the effect of the core barrel movement and core inside the baffle movement in the radial direction were analysed. The analysis is complemented by the calculation of the thermal and total neutron flux gradient in radial, axial and azimuthal directions. The Monte Carlo particle transport code MCNP was used to study the changes in the response of the ex-core detector for the above-mentioned scenarios. Power and intermediate-range detectors were analysed separately, because they are designed differently, positioned at different locations, and have different response characteristics. It was found that the movement of the power range ex-core detector has a negligible effect on the value of the thermal neutron flux in the active part of the detector. However, the radial movement of the intermediate-range detector by 5 cm results in 7%-8% change in the thermal neutron flux in the active part of the intermediate-range detector. The analysis continued with an evaluation of the effects of moving the entire core barrel on the ex-core detector response. It was estimated that the 2 mm core barrel radial oscillation results in ~4% deviation in the power and intermediate-range detector signal. The movement of the reactor core inside baffle can contribute ~6% deviation in the ex-core neutron detector signal. The analysis showed that the mechanical movement of ex-core neutron detectors cannot explain the fluctuations in the ex-core detector signal. However, combined core barrel and reactor core inside baffle oscillations could be a probable reason for the observed fluctuations in the ex-core detector signal during an earthquake.

• 한국전산유체공학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2009.11a
• /
• pp.121-128
• /
• 2009

During a hypothetical high-pressure accident in a nuclear power plant (NPP), molten corium can be ejected through a breach of a reactor pressure vessel (RPV) and dispersed by a following jet of a high-pressure steam in the RPV. The dispersed corium is fragmented into smaller droplets in a reactor cavity of the NPP by the steam jet and released into other compartments of the NPP by a overpressure in the cavity. The fragments of the corium transfer thermal energy to the ambient air in the containment or interact chemically with steam and generate hydrogen which may be burnt in the containment. The thermal loads from the ejected molten corium on the containment which is called direct containment heating (DCH) can threaten the integrity of the containment. DCH in a NPP containment is related to many physical phenomena such as multi-phase hydrodynamics, thermodynamics and chemical process. In the evaluation of the DCH load, the melt dispersion rates depending on the RPV pressure are the most important parameter. Mostly, DCH was evaluated by using lumped-analysis codes with some correlations obtained from experiments for the dispersion rates. In this study, MC3D code was used to evaluate the dispersion rates in the APR1400 NPP during the high-pressure accidents. MC3D is a two-phase analysis code based on Eulerian four-fields for melt jet, melt droplets, gas and water. The dispersion rates of the corium melt depending on the RPV pressure were obtained from the MC3D analyses and the values specific to the APR1400 cavity geometry were compared to a currently available correlation.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.54 no.12
• /
• pp.4522-4533
• /
• 2022

For severe accident assessment of reactor pressure vessel (RPV), it is important to develop an accurate model that can predict transient thermo-mechanical behavior of the RPV lower head under the given condition. The present study revisits the lower head failure with two- and three-dimensional finite element models. In particular, we aim to give clear insight regarding the effect of the three-dimensionality present in the distribution of the thickness and thermal load of the lower head. For a rigorous validation of the result, both the OLHF-1 and the OLHF-2 tests are considered in this study. The result suggests that the three-dimensional effect is not negligible as far as the failure location is concerned. The non-uniformity of the thickness distribution is found to affect the failure location and time. The thermal load, which may not be axisymmetric in general, has the most significant effect on the failure assessment. We also observe that the creep property can affect the global deformation of the lower head, depending on the applied mechanical load.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.35 no.10
• /
• pp.1337-1345
• /
• 2011

In pressurized water reactors (PWRs), the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) upper head contains numerous control rod drive mechanism (CRDM) nozzles. In the last 10 years, the incidences of cracking in alloy 600 CRDM nozzles and their associated welds has increased significantly. Several axial and circumferential cracks have been found in CRDM nozzles in European PWRs and U.S. nuclear power plants. These cracks are caused by primary water stress corrosion cracking (PWSCC) and have been shown to be driven by welding residual stresses and operational stresses in the weld region. Therefore, detailed finite-element (FE) simulations for the Korea Nuclear Reactor Pressure Vessel have been conducted in order to predict the magnitudes of the weld residual stresses in the tube materials. In particular, the weld residual stress results are compared in terms for nozzle location, geometry factor$r_o$/t, geometry of fillet, and adjacent nozzle.

• Journal of KSNVE
• /
• v.5 no.3
• /
• pp.361-371
• /
• 1995

The vibration of reactor internals should be monitored and diagnosed for the early detection of the failure of reactor pressure vessel. This can be performed by analyzing the time-history signals from the excore neutron flux detertors. The conventional method is an on-demand system which generates power spectra through Fast Fourier Transform(FFT) algorithm. The operator can make his own decision to detect abnormal vibration using these spectra. This post- processing method, however, requires special expertise in the reactor noise analysis and signal processing for random data. It may mislead the operator into erroneous decision-making, if he is a novice in reactor noise analysis. Hence this study is focused on the automated monitoring and diagnosis procedure for the reactor noise analysis, especially on the Fuzzy algorithm to recognize the pattern of the vibration of Core Suport Barrel. The excore neutron signals of Yonggwang Nuclear Power Plant unit 3 is acquired and analyzed using conventional FFT spectra and tested to adopt the Fuzzy method. An Automated Monitoring and Diagnosis System for CSB Vibration using this Fuzzy method is proposed. Furthermore, vibration data for CSB of Youggwang Nnclear Power Plant unit 3 is presented.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.27-37
• /
• 1986

The neutron fluxes and dose rates due to radiation streaming from reactor cavities were evaluated at the KNU-1 reactor pressure vessel (RPY) head flange elevation. To find a suitable cross section data set for the evaluation, a benchmark test was performed for three data sets; DLC-23/CASK, DLC-31/FEWG, and DLC-47/BUGLE. The leakage fluxes from the KNU-1 RPV outer surface were calculated with two different methods: 1-D calculation with ANISN, and 2-D calculation with DOT3.5. The Monte Carlo procedures as embodied in the MORSE-CG code combined with the albedo option were applied to predict the radiation distributions in the cavity region. Finally, the activation analysis of the stud bolts was performed to identify the major activation products.