• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.313-326
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• 2017

The systematic management of plant risk is crucial for enhancing the safety of nuclear power plants and for designing new nuclear power plants. Accident sequence precursor (ASP) analysis may be able to provide risk significance of operational experience by using probabilistic risk assessment to evaluate an operational event quantitatively in terms of its impact on core damage. In this study, an ASP methodology for two operation mode, full power and low power/shutdown operation, has been developed and applied to significant accident precursors that may occur during the operation of nuclear power plants. Two operational events, loss of feedwater and steam generator tube rupture, are identified as ASPs. Therefore, the ASP methodology developed in this study may contribute to identifying plant risk significance as well as to enhancing the safety of nuclear power plants by applying this methodology systematically.

• Mycobiology
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.259-268
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• 2022

The nuclear import of proteins is a fundamental process in the eukaryotes including plant. It has become evident that such basic process is exploited by nuclear effectors that contain nuclear localization signal (NLS) and are secreted into host cells by fungal pathogens of plants. However, only a handful of nuclear effectors have been known and characterized to date. Here, we first summarize the types of NLSs and prediction tools available, and then delineate examples of fungal nuclear effectors and their roles in pathogenesis. Based on the knowledge on NLSs and what has been gleaned from the known nuclear effectors, we point out the gaps in our understanding of fungal nuclear effectors that need to be filled in the future researches.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.11
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• pp.2660-2666
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• 2020

Korea successfully achieved energy independence in the shortest period of time from being the poorest country in terms of energy 50 years ago through steady development of nuclear technology. In the past, the nuclear industry has been driven through government-centered policy development, public institution-based research, and industrial facility and infrastructure construction. Consequently, South Korea became a nuclear energy powerhouse exporting nuclear power plants to the UAE, surpassing the level of domestic technological independence. However, in recent years, the nuclear industry in Korea has experienced a decline in new plant construction since the Fukushima accident in Japan, which caused changes in public perspectives regarding nuclear power plant operation, more stringent safety standards on the operation of nuclear power plants, and a shift in governmental energy policy. These changes are expected to change the domestic nuclear industry ecosystem. Therefore, in this study, we investigate the priority of technology development investment from the perspective of experts in private nuclear power companies, shifting the focus from government-led nuclear R&D policies. To establish a direction in nuclear technology development, a survey was conducted by applying an analytic hierarchy analysis to experts who have worked in nuclear power plants for more than 15 years. The analysis items of focus were the 3 attributes of strategic importance, urgency, and business feasibility of four major fields related to nuclear energy: nuclear safety, decommissioning, radioactive waste management, and strengthening industrial competitiveness.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2015

Local wall thinning and integrity degradation caused by several mechanisms, such as flow accelerated corrosion (FAC), cavitation, flashing and/or liquid drop impingements, are a main concern in carbon steel piping systems of nuclear power plant in terms of safety and operability. Thinned pipe management program (TPMP) had been developed and optimized to reduce the possibility of unplanned shutdown and/or power reduction due to pipe failure caused by wall thinning in the secondary side piping system. This program also consists of several technical elements such as prediction of wear rate for each component, prioritization of components for inspection, thickness measurement, calculation of actual wear and wear rate for each component. Decision making is associated with replacement or continuous service for thinned pipe components. Establishment of long-term strategy based on diagnosis of plant condition regarding overall wall thinning is also essential part of the program. Prediction models of wall thinning caused by FAC had been established for 24 operating nuclear plants. Long term strategies to manage the thinned pipe component were prepared and applied to each unit, which was reflecting plant specific design, operation, and inspection history, so that the structural integrity of piping system can be maintained. An alternative integrity assessment criterion and a computer program for thinned piping items were developed for the first time in the world, which was directly applicable to the secondary piping system of nuclear power plant. The thinned pipe management program is applied to all domestic nuclear power plants as a standard procedure form so that it contributes to preventing an accident caused by FAC.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Systems Engineering
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.76-84
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• 2021

Radioactive waste generated from nuclear power plant decommissioning shall be strictly managed so that radioactive materials above the allowable limit are not leaked into the environment. Radioactive wastes shall be classified and treated for management based on characteristics such as the type of waste, physicochemical properties, nuclide concentration and radioactivity. Waste characterization report shall be prepared and submitted to the disposal facility operator to ensure that the treated waste is suitable for disposal. The disposal facility operator shall review the waste Characterization report and visit the nuclear power plant decommissioning site to ensure that the wastes are processed step by step according to the plan. The waste Characterization report may be used as input data to evaluate disposal facility safety. Domestic and foreign data are collected and reviewed to confirm the entire processes from waste generation to delivery. This paper proposes the method to prepare the waste Characterization report which contains data and information on waste characteristics, treatment facilities & method and packaging method & container.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.1319-1320
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• 2004

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.161-162
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• 2005

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.62-67
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to analyze the degree of risk of the working unit of nuclear power plants construction. In order to do this, and the risk index by type and source of risk judgment derived in the previous study were utilized. Further, to derive a risk index of unit work in nuclear power plant construction, a survey targeting safety professionals was conducted. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was used for analysis of the survey. The following results were obtained. Firstly, the results of AHP showed that main building work is the most dangerous work, and base excavation work is the second dangerous work among 21 unit works. Secondly, so, it is required to invest more and to take a increasing interest in unit works of civil and architecture as compared to other unit works. Further, the results could be used to reduce the degree of risk in construction of the nuclear power plant.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.85-96
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• 2006

Main control room(MCR) man-machine interface(MMI) design of advanced nuclear power plants(NPPs) such as APR(advanced power reactor)-1400 can be validated through performance-based tests to determine whether it acceptably supports safe operation of the plant. In this work, plant performance, personnel task, situation awareness, workload, teamwork, and anthropometric/physiological factor are considered as factors for the human performance evaluation. For development of measures in each of the factors, techniques generally used in various industries and empirically proven to be useful are adopted as main measures and some helpful techniques are developed in order to complement the main measures. Also the development of the measures is addressed based on the theoretical background. Finally we discuss the way in which the measures can be effectively integrated and then HUPESS(HUman Performance Evaluation Support System) which is in development based on the integrated way is briefly introduced.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.814-826
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• 2023

Sensor faults in nuclear power plant instrumentation have the potential to spread negative effects from wrong signals that can cause an accident misdiagnosis by plant operators. To detect sensor faults and make accurate accident diagnoses, prior studies have developed a supervised learning-based sensor fault detection model and an accident diagnosis model with faulty sensor isolation. Even though the developed neural network models demonstrated satisfactory performance, their diagnosis performance should be reevaluated considering real-time connection. When operating in real-time, the diagnosis model is expected to indiscriminately accept fault data before receiving delayed fault information transferred from the previous fault detection model. The uncertainty of neural networks can also have a significant impact following the sensor fault features. In the present work, a pilot study was conducted to connect two models and observe actual outcomes from a real-time application with an integrated system. While the initial results showed an overall successful diagnosis, some issues were observed. To recover the diagnosis performance degradations, additive logics were applied to minimize the diagnosis failures that were not observed in the previous validations of the separate models. The results of a case study were then analyzed in terms of the real-time diagnosis outputs that plant operators would actually face in an emergency situation.