• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권10호
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• pp.3898-3906
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• 2023

The paper notes that the most common way of handling spent nuclear fuel (SNF) of power reactors is its temporary long-term dry storage. At the same time, the operation of the dry spent fuel storage facilities almost never use the modern capabilities of information systems in safety control and collecting information for the next studies under implementation of aging management programs. The author proposes a structure of an information system that can be implemented in a dry spent fuel storage facility with ventilated storage containers. To control the thermal component of spent fuel storage safety, a database structure has been developed, which contains 5 tables. An algorithm for monitoring the thermal state of spent fuel was created for the proposed information system, which is based on the comparison of measured and forecast values of the safety criterion, in which the level of heating the ventilation air temperature was chosen. Predictive values of the safety criterion are obtained on the basis of previously published studies. The proposed algorithm is an implementation of the information function of the system. The proposed information system can be used for effective thermal monitoring and collecting information for the next studies under the implementation of aging management programs for spent fuel storage equipment, permanent control of spent fuel storage safety, staff training, etc.

• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제19권4호
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• pp.435-446
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• 2021

This article examines the consequences of a significant spent fuel management decision or event in the United States, South Korea and Taiwan. For the United States, it is the financial impact of the Department of Energy's inability to take possession of spent fuel from commercial nuclear power companies beginning in 1998 as directed by Congress. For South Korea, it is the potential financial and socioeconomic impact of the successful construction, licensing and operation of a low and intermediate level waste disposal facility on the siting of a spent fuel/high level waste repository. For Taiwan, it is the operational impact of the Kuosheng 1 reactor running out of space in its spent fuel pool. From these, it draws six broad lessons other countries new to, or preparing for, nuclear energy production might take from these experiences. These include conservative planning, treating the back-end of the fuel cycle holistically and building trust through a step-by-step approach to waste disposal.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제50권5호
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• pp.717-723
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• 2018

Thermal analysis of accident conditions is an important problem during safety assessment of the dry spent nuclear fuel storage facilities. Thermal aspects of accident conditions with channel blockage of ventilated storage containers are considered in this article. Analysis of flow structure inside ventilated containers is carried out by numerical simulation. The main mechanisms of heat and mass transfer, which take part in spent nuclear fuel cooling, were detected. Classification of accidents on the basis of their influence on the maximum temperatures inside storage casks is proposed.

• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제20권3호
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• pp.365-369
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• 2022

Operating and decommissioning nuclear power plants generates radioactive waste. This radioactive waste can be categorized into several different levels, for example, low, intermediate, and high, according to the regulations. Currently, low and intermediate-level waste are stored in conventional 200-liter drums to be disposed. However, in Korea, the disposal of intermediate-level radioactive waste is virtually impossible as there are no available facilities. Furthermore, large-sized intermediate-level radioactive waste, such as reactor internals from decommissioning, need to be segmented into smaller sizes so they can be adequately stored in the conventional drums. This segmentation process requires additional costs and also produces secondary waste. Therefore, this paper suggests repurposing the no-longer-used spent nuclear fuel casks. The casks are larger in size than the conventional drums, thus requiring less segmentation of waste. Furthermore, the safety requirements of the spent nuclear fuel casks are severer than those of the drums. Hence, repurposed spent nuclear fuel casks could better address potential risks such as dropping, submerging, or a fire. In addition, the spent nuclear fuel casks need to be disposed in compliance with the regulations for low level radioactive waste. This cost may be avoided by repurposing the casks.

• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제20권2호
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• pp.255-258
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• 2022

Three government bodies, that is, the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT), Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy (MOTIE), and Nuclear Safety and Security (NSSC), jointly established the Institute for Korea Spent Nuclear Fuel (iKSNF) in December 2020 to secure the management technologies for spent nuclear fuel (SNF). The objective of iKSNF is to successfully conduct the long-term research and development program of the 「Development of Core Technologies to Ensure Safety of Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage and Disposal System」. Our program, known as the first multi-ministry program in the nuclear field of Korea, mainly focuses on developing core technologies required for the long-term management of SNF, including those for safe storage and deep geological disposal of SNF. The program comprises three subprograms and seven key projects covering the storage, disposal, and regulatory sectors of SNF management. Our program will last from 2021 through 2029, with a budget of approximately four billion USD sponsored by MSIT, MOTIE, and NSSC.

• 방사선산업학회지
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• 제18권3호
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• pp.255-266
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• 2024

The uranium nuclear fuel used in nuclear power generation needs to be replaced with new fuel after a certain period. In South Korea, the spent nuclear fuel generated during this process is temporarily stored within the nuclear power plant site, and there are ongoing issues with the saturation of storage capacity. To address these problems, the South Korea government has established a plan to manage high-level radioactive waste, including provisions for securing interim storage facilities. An interim storage facility is designed to safely store spent nuclear fuel for certain period before its permanent disposal. This study analyzed leading international cases of interim storage facilities that are technically feasible and can reduce the operating period of temporary storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel within nuclear power plant sites. It also presented the technical concepts required for the operation of interim storage facilities for spent fuel from PWR(Pressurized Water Reactor), reflecting the situation in South Korea.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제45권3호
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• pp.377-384
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• 2013

During the last three decades, South Korean nuclear power plants have discharged about 5,950 tons of spent fuel and the maximum burn-up reached 55 GWd/MTU in 2002. This study was performed to support the development of Korean dry spent fuel storage alternatives. First, we chose V5H-$17{\times}17$ and KSFA-$16{\times}16$ as representative domestic spent fuels, considering current accumulation and the future generation of the spent fuels. Examination reveals that their average burn-ups have already increased from 33 to 51 GWd/MTU and from 34.8 to 48.5 GWd/MTU, respectively. Evaluation of the fuel characteristics shows that at the average burn-up of 42 GWd/MTU, the oxide thickness, hydrogen content, and hoop stress ranged from $30{\sim}60{\mu}m$, 250 ~ 500 ppm, and 50 ~ 75 MPa, respectively. But when burn-up exceeds 55 GWd/MTU, those characteristics can increase up to 100 ${\mu}m$, 800 ppm, and 120 MPa, respectively, depending on the power history. These results demonstrate that most Korean spent nuclear fuels are expected to remain within safe bounds during long-term dry storage, however, the excessive hoop stress and hydrogen concentration may trigger the degradation of the spent fuel integrity early during the long-term dry storage in the case of high burn-up spent fuels exceeding 45 GWd/MTU.

• 한국정밀공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국정밀공학회 2006년도 춘계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.369-370
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• 2006

During demonstrations of a process conditioning spent nuclear fuels, it is necessary to transport and handle Spent fuel road cuts from Post Irradiation Examination facility to Slitting device in The hot cell. the spent fuel pellets which are highly radioactive materials are separated with its clad and are fed into the next conditioning process. For this, a spent fuel rod, 3.5 m long, is cut by 25 cm long which is suitable length for the decladding process. These rod-cuts are packed into the capsule and are moved to the ACPF(Advanced spent nuclear fuel Conditioning Process Facility). In the ACPF, Once the capsule is unloaded in the ACPF, Capsule is taken out one-by-one and installed on the decladding device. In these processes, the crushed spent fuel pellet can be scattered inside the facilities and thus it contaminate the hot cell. In this paper, we developed the specially designed transportation and storage device for spent nuclear fuel capsules.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제42권3호
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• pp.237-248
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• 2010

The safety of metal cask and concrete cask storage technology has been verified by CRIEPI through several research programs on demonstrative testing for the interim storage of spent fuel. The results have been reflected in the safety requirements for dry casks issued by NISA/METI (Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) of the Japanese government. On top of that, spent fuel integrity has been studied by the Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization (JNES). This paper reviews these research programs. Future issues include the long-term integrity of cask components and high burn-up spent fuel.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권6호
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• pp.1869-1877
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• 2021

This paper presents the neutron dose rate analysis of the new CONSTOR® RBMK-1500/M2 storage cask intended for the spent nuclear fuel storage at Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant in Lithuania. These casks are designed to be stored in a new "closed" type interim storage facility, with the capacity to store up to 202 CONSTOR® RBMK-1500/M2 casks. In 2016 y, the "hot trials" of this new facility were conducted and 10 CONSTOR® RBMK-1500/M2 casks loaded with the spent nuclear fuel were transported to the dedicated storage places in this facility. During "hot trials", the dose rate measurements of the CONSTOR® RBMK-1500/M2 casks were performed as the dose rate is one of the critical parameter to control and it must be below design (and safety) criteria. Therefore, having the actual data of the spent nuclear fuel characteristics, the neutron dose rate modeling of the CONSTOR® RBMK-1500/M2 cask loaded with this particular fuel was also performed. Neutron dose rate modeling was performed using MCNP 5 computer code with very detailed geometrical representation of the cask and the fuel. The obtained modeling results were compared with the measurement results and it was revealed, that modeling results are generally in good agreement with the measurements.