• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.257-272
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• 2007

Supercritical water-cooled reactors (SCWRs) are recognized as a Generation IV reactor concept. The Super LWR is a pressure-vessel type thermal spectrum SCWR with downward-flow water rods and is currently under study at the University of Tokyo. This paper reviews Super LWR safety. The fundamental requirement for the Super LWR, which has a once-through coolant cycle, is the core coolant flow rate rather than the coolant inventory. Key safety characteristics of the Super LWR inhere in the design features and have been identified through a series of safety analyses. Although loss-of-flow is the most important abnormality, fuel rod heat-up is mitigated by the "heat sink" and "water source" effects of the water rods. Response of the reactor power against pressurization events is mild due to a small change in the average coolant density and flow stagnation of the once-through coolant cycle. These mild responses against transients and also reactivity feedbacks provide good inherent safety against anticipated-transient-without-scram (ATWS) events without alternative actions. Initiation of an automatic depressurization system provides effective heat removal from the fuel rods. An "in-vessel accumulator" effect of the reactor vessel top dome enhances the fuel rod cooling. This effect enlarges the safety margin for large LOCA.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2014.10a
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• pp.110-115
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• 2014

The nuclear power plant was launched by Kori unit 1 in 1978 years. Currently, 23 nuclear power plants have been operating in Korea since 1978 years. The localization was completed for most of the reactor facility from Hanbit(Youngkwang) unit 3&4. However, RCP(Reactor Coolant Pump) and MMIS(Man Machine Interface System) is an important technology that has been excluded from the scope of the technical transfer has been dependent on a specific overseas vendor. Recent success in RCP development through co-operation with government and industries. Developed RCP will be applied to Shin-Hanul unit 1&2 nuclear power plants. The RCP operates in high speed and high pressure condition and only rotating component in the NSSS(Nuclear Steam Supply System). Therefore, the problem of vibration has arisen caused by the hydraulic forces of the working fluid. These forces can influence on the stability characteristics for entire RCS(Reactor Coolant System) loop, and can act as significant destabilizing forces. In this study, vibration evaluation of the pump shaft of development RCP estimated under normal operation and over speed conditions. In order to predict the vibration characteristics and dynamic behavior, modal analysis, critical speed analysis and unbalance response spectrum analysis were performed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.10
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• pp.2204-2220
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• 2020

An open-pool type research reactor is designed and operated considering the accessibility around the pool top area to enhance the reactor utilization. The reactor structure assembly is placed at the bottom of the pool and filled with water as a primary coolant for the core cooling and radiation shielding. Most radioactive materials are generated from the fuel assemblies in the reactor core and circulated with the primary coolant. If the primary coolant goes up to the pool surface, the radiation level increases around the working area near the top of the pool. Hence, the hot water layer is designed and formed at the upper part of the pool to suppress the rising of the primary coolant to the pool surface. The temperature gradient is established from the hot water layer to the primary coolant. As this temperature gradient suppresses the circulation of the primary coolant at the upper region of the pool, the radioactive primary coolant rising up directly to the pool surface is minimized. Water mixing between these layers is reduced because the hot water layer is formed above the primary coolant with a higher temperature. The radiation level above the pool surface area is maintained as low as reasonably achievable since the radioactive materials in the primary coolant are trapped under the hot water layer. The key to maintaining the stable hot water layer and keeping the radiation level low on the pool surface is to have a stable flow of the primary coolant. In the research reactor with a downward core flow, the primary coolant is dumped into the reactor pool and goes to the reactor core through the flow guide structure. Flow fields of the primary coolant at the lower region of the reactor pool are largely affected by the dumped primary coolant. Simple, circular, and duct type discharge headers are designed to control the flow fields and make the primary coolant flow stable in the reactor pool. In this research, flow fields of the primary coolant and hot water layer are numerically simulated in the reactor pool. The heat transfer rate, temperature, and velocity fields are taken into consideration to determine the formation of the stable hot water layer and primary coolant flow. The bulk Richardson number is used to evaluate the stability of the flow field. A duct type discharge header is finally chosen to dump the primary coolant into the reactor pool. The bulk Richardson number should be higher than 2.7 and the temperature of the hot water layer should be 1 ℃ higher than the temperature of the primary coolant to maintain the stability of the stratified thermal layer.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.117-123
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• 2015

To remove heat generated during a burn-up test of nuclear fuels, the heat generation rate of nuclear fuels should be calculated accurately, and a coolant should be circulated in the test loop at an adequate flow rate. HANARO is an open pool-type reactor with an independent test loop for the burn-up test of nuclear fuels. A test rig is installed in the test loop, and a coolant is circulated through the test loop to maintain the temperature of the nuclear fuel rods within a desired temperature during an irradiation test. The components and sensors in the test rig can be broken or malfunction owing to the flow-induced vibration. In this study, a coolant flow simulation system was developed to verify and confirm the soundness of components and sensors assembled in the test rig with a high flow rate of the coolant.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.147-152
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• 2017

The external reactor vessel cooling (ERVC) is well known strategy to mitigate a severe accident at which nuclear fuel inside the reactor vessel is molten. In order to compare the heat removal capacity of ERVC between the nuclear reactor designs quantitatively, numerical method is often used. However, the study for ERVC using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is still quite scarce. As a validation study on the numerical prediction for ERVC using CFD, the subcooled boiling flow and natural circulation of coolant at the ULPU-V experiment was simulated. The commercially available CFD software ANSYS-CFX was used. Shear stress transport (SST) model and RPI model were used for turbulence closure and wall-boiling, respectively. The averaged flow velocities in the downcomer and the baffle entry under the reactor vessel lower plenum are in good agreement with the available experimental data and recent computational results. Steam generated from the heated wall condenses rapidly and coolant flows maintains single-phase flow until coolant boils again by flashing process due to the decrease of saturation temperature induced by higher elevation. Hence, the flow rate of coolant natural circulation does not vary significantly with the change of heat flux applied at the reactor vessel, which is also consistent with the previous literatures.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.12a
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• pp.509-514
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• 2005

Main coolant pump (MCP) is a canned-motor-type axial pump to circulate the primary coolant between nuclear fuel rods and steam generators in an integral type reactor. The reactor is designed to operate under condition of 310 oC and 14.7 MPa. Thus MCP has to be tested under same operating condition as reactor design condition in order to verify its performance and safety. In present work, a test loop to simulate real operating situation of the reactor has been designed and constructed to test MCP. And then, as a part of qualification test, canned motor functional test and pump hydraulic performance test have been carried out upon a prototype MCP. Canned motor efficiency and pump hydraulic characteristics including homologous curves and NPSH curves were obtained from the qualification test.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.7
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• pp.921-928
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• 2009

As part of an evaluation for an in-vessel severe accident management strategy, a coolant injection into the reactor vessel under depressurization of the reactor coolant system (RCS) has been evaluated in detail using the SCDAP/RELAP5 computer code. A high-pressure sequence of a small break loss of coolant accident (SBLOCA) has been analyzed in the Optimized Power Reactor (OPR) 1000. The SCDAP/RELAP5 results have shown that safety injection timing and capacity with RCS depressurization timing and capacity are very effective on the reactor vessel failure during a severe accident. Only one train operation of the high pressure safety injection (HPSI) for 30,000 seconds with RCS depressurization prevents failure of the reactor vessel. In this case, the operation of only the low pressure safety injection (LPSI) without a HPSI does not prevent failure of the reactor vessel.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.6-16
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• 2017

This study presents a coolant void reactivity analysis of Canada Deuterium Uranium (CANDU)-6 and Advanced Canada Deuterium Uranium Reactor-700 (ACR-700) fuel lattices using a Monte Carlo code. The reactivity changes when the coolant was voided were assessed in terms of the contributions of four factors and spectrum shifts. In the case of single bundle coolant voiding, the contribution of each of the four factors in the ACR-700 lattice is large in magnitude with opposite signs, and their summation becomes a negative reactivity effect in contrast to that of the CANDU-6 lattice. Unlike the coolant voiding in a single fuel bundle, the $2{\times}2$ checkerboard coolant voiding in the ACR-700 lattice shows a positive reactivity effect. The neutron current between the no-void and voided bundles, and the four factors of each bundle were analyzed to figure out the mechanism of the positive coolant void reactivity of the checkerboard voiding case. Through a sensitivity study of fuel enrichment, type of burnable absorber, and moderator to fuel volume ratio, a design strategy for the CANDU reactor was suggested in order to achieve a negative coolant void reactivity even for the checkerboard voiding case.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society for Energy Engineering kosee Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.395-400
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• 2004

This study is that STEP based Data Repository of APR1400 Nuclear Power Plant Reactor Coolant System is developed. The STEP based Data Repository is accessed by Web-based and an attribute data of Reactor Coolant System Equipment is offered. Also, a P&ID drawing file & 3D CAD Model of Reactor Coolant System is loaded. The P&ID drawing file of Reactor Coolant System Equipment Model is connected with 3D CAD Model file. This 2D/3D CAD Model connected Prototype system confirms a real layout of Reactor Coolant System.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.2048-2054
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• 2022

The coolant temperature feedback coefficient is an important parameter of reactor core power control system. To study the coolant temperature feedback coefficient influence on the core power control system of small PWR, the core power control system is built with the nonlinear model and fuzzy control theory. Then, the uncertainty quantification method of reactor core parameters is established based on the Latin hypercube sampling method and the Bootstrap method. Finally, under the conditions of reactivity step perturbation and coolant inlet temperature step perturbation, uncertainty analysis for two cases is carried out. The result shows that with fuzzy controller and fuzzy PID controller, the uncertainty of the coolant temperature feedback coefficient affects the core power control system, and the maximum uncertainties of core relative power, coolant temperature deviation, fuel temperature deviation and total reactivity are acceptable.