• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.1580-1586
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• 2021

The application of induction bending processes to industrial pipe production is increasing. The induction bending process has the effect of reducing the number of inspections and preventing leaks by reducing the weld of the pipe. For these reasons, efforts have been made to apply an induction bending process to the pipe of the PGSFR under development in Korea and this is the first attempt in the SFR design. Since the PGSFR pipe has a relatively large diameter-to-thickness ratio, it is difficult to fabricate an induction bending pipe that meets the requirements. In addition, the material properties may change because the pipe heats to a very high temperature during the induction bending process. In this study, P91 pipes were fabricated by induction bending, and the results from analyzing the induction bending process' applicability to the P91 pipe of the PGSFR are examined. The various dimensional measurements of the pipes fabricated by the induction bending process were surveyed to determine whether the requirements of the ASME Code were met. The minimum thickness, ovality, and wall buckling measured in the fabricated pipe met all the requirements. Tensile, impact, and hardness tests at various locations of the fabricated pipe also satisfied the requirements.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.11
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• pp.4125-4133
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• 2022

KAERI (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) developed the conceptual design of PGSFR (Prototype Gen-IV Sodium Cooled Fast Reactor) and Burner Reactor. Since the reactor characteristics of the PGSFR and Burner Reactor are different, the shape, size and the arrangement of the main components in the reactors must be different. Therefore, the conceptual design for the fuel handling and transfer systems needs to be performed coinciding with the structure of the reactor. Especially, because a redan structure dividing hot and cold pool is installed in the reactor vessel, the conceptual design of the fuel handling and transfer system largely changes depending on the location of the redan structure. Various elements of the conceptual design and an integral arrangement for the fuel handling and transfer system were arranged according to the characteristics, sizes and shapes of the reactors. In this paper, the conceptual designs of the fuel handling and transfer system for PGSFR and Burner Reactor are described. Especially, an A-frame method is selected as the fuel handling and transfer system for the Burner Reactor, considering the layout of the internal structure. The tilt angle, diameter and length of A-frame is determined and the strength evaluation of the A-frame is performed.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.101-106
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• 2016

NSSS (Nuclear Steam Supply System) and BOP (Balance of Plant) design works for PGSFR (Prototype Gen-IV Sodium Fast Reactor) have been conducted in Korea. NSSS major components, e.g. reactor vessel, steam generator and secondary sodium main pipes, are designed according to the rule of ASME boiler and pressure vessel code division 5, in which DBA (Design by Analysis) methods are used in the stress assessments. However, there is little discussions about detail rules for BOP piping design. In this paper, the detail methodologies of BOP piping stress assessment are discussed including safety systems and non-safety system pipings. It is confirmed that KEPIC MGE(ASME B31.1) and ASME BPV code division 5 HCB-3600 can be used in stress assessments of non-safety pipes and class B pipes, respectively. However, class A pipe design according to ASME BPV code division 5 HBB-3200 has many difficulties applying to PGSFR BOP design. Finally, future development plan for class A pipe stress assessment method is proposed in this paper.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.70-77
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• 2016

In this paper, the structural design and integrity evaluations for a reactor vessel of PGSFR sodium-cooled fast reactor(150MWe) are carried out in compliance with ASME BPV III, Division 5 Subsection HB. The reactor vessel is designed with a direct contact of primary sodium coolant to its inner surface and has a double vessel concept enclosing by containment vessel. To assure the structural integrity for 60 years design lifetime and elevated operating temperature of $545^{\circ}C$, which can invoke creep and creep-fatigue damage, the structural integrity evaluations are carried out in compliance with the ASME code rules. The design loads considered in this evaluations are primary loads and operation thermal cycling loads of normal heat-up and cool-down. From the evaluations, the PGSFR reactor vessel satisfies the ASME code limits but it was found that there is a little design margin of creep damage for inner surface at the region of cold pool free surface.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.1059-1070
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• 2016

The Prototype Gen IV sodium cooled fast reactor (PGSFR) has been developed for the last 4 years, fulfilling the technology demonstration of the burning capability of transuranic elements included in light water reactor spent nuclear fuel. The PGSFR design has been focused on the robustness of safety systems by enhancing inherent safety characteristics of metal fuel and strengthening passive safety features using natural circulation and thermal expansion. The preliminary safety information document as a major outcome of the first design phase of PGSFR development was issued at the end of 2015. The project entered the second design phase at the beginning of 2016. This paper summarizes the overall structures, systems, and components of nuclear steam supply system and safety characteristics of the PGSFR. The research and development activities to demonstrate the safety performance are also briefly introduced in the paper.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.351-359
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• 2016

The Korean Prototype Gen-IV sodium-cooled fast reactor (PGSFR) is supposed to be loaded with a relatively-costly low-enriched U fuel, while its envisaged transuranic fuels are not available for transmutation. In this work, the U-enrichment reduction by improving the neutron economy is pursued to save the fuel cost. To improve the neutron economy of the core, a new reflector material, PbO, has been introduced to replace the conventional HT9 reflector in the current PGSFR core. Two types of PbO reflectors are considered: one is the conventional pin-type and the other one is an inverted configuration. The inverted PbO reflector design is intended to maximize the PbO volume fraction in the reflector assembly. In addition, the core radial configuration is also modified to maximize the performance of the PbO reflector. For the baseline PGSFR core with several reflector options, the U enrichment requirement has been analyzed and the fuel depletion analysis is performed to derive the equilibrium cycle parameters. The linear reactivity model is used to determine the equilibrium cycle performances of the core. Impacts of the new PbO reflectors are characterized in terms of the cycle length, neutron leakage, radial power distribution, and operational fuel cost.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.10
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• pp.3571-3580
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• 2023

The application of the induction bending process to pipe systems in various industrial fields is increasing. Recently, efforts have also been made to apply this bending process to nuclear power plants because it can innovatively reduce welded parts of the curved pipes, such as elbows. However, there have been no cases of the application of induction bending to the piping of nuclear power plants. In this study, the applicability of the P91 induction bending piping for the sodium-cooled fast reactor PGSFR was validated through high temperature low cycle fatigue tests and creep tests using P91 induction bending pipe specimens. The tests confirmed that the materials sufficiently satisfied the fatigue life and the creep rupture life requirements for P91 steel at 550 ℃ in the ASME B&PV Code, Sec. III, Div. 5. The results show that the effects of heating and bending by the induction bending process on the material properties were not significant and the induction bending process could be applicable to piping system of PGSFR well.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.107-114
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• 2016

Four cylindrically shaped IHXs(Intermediate Heat Exchangers) are installed in the PHTS(Primary Heat Transfer System) of the PGSFR(Prototype Gen IV Sodium cooled Fast Reactor). As for the IHX, the temperature difference of structure is inevitable result caused by heat transfer between primary coolant sodium and IHTS(Intermediate Heat Transport System) sodium. It is necessary to evaluate the high temperature structural integrity of IHXs which operate at the elevated temperature condition over the creep temperature. In this paper, the high temperature structural integrity of IHX under assumed loading conditions has been reviewed according to ASME code.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.1109-1118
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• 2021

The construction of STELLA-2 facility is on-going to demonstrate the safety system of PGSFR and to provide comprehensive understanding of transient behavior under DBEs. Considering that most events are single-phase natural circulation flow with slow transient, STELLA-2 was designed with reduced-height of 1/5 length scale. The ratio of volume to surface area in the vessel can relatively increase resulting in excessive heat transfer. Therefore, a steady-state thermal-hydraulic analysis was performed and the effect of design change to reduce the heat transfer through redan was investigated. The heat transfer through single wall redan in STELLA-2 was 3% of the core power, comparable to 1% of the core power in PGSFR. By applying the insulated redan, about 70% of decrease effect was observed. The effect on transient behavior was also evaluated. The conclusion of this study was directly applied to the STELLA-2 design and the modified version is under construction.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.29-36
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• 2014

A computational study of a thermal striping in the upper plenum of PGSFR(Prototype Generation-IV Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor) being developed at the KAERI(Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) is presented. The LES(Large Eddy Simulation) approach is employed for the simulation of thermal striping in the upper plenum of the PGSFR. The LES is performed using the WALE (Wall-Adapting Local Eddy-viscosity) model. More than 19.7 million unstructured elements are generated in upper plenum region of the PGSFR using the CFX-Mesh commercial code. The time-averaged velocity components and temperature field in the complicated upper plenum of the PGSFR are presented. The time history of temperature fluctuation at the eight locations of solid walls of UIS(Upper Internal Structure) and IHX(Intermediate Heat eXchanger) are additionally stored. It has been confirmed that the most vulnerable regions to thermal striping are the first plate of UIS. From the temporal variation of temperature at the solid walls, it was possible to find the locations where the thermal stress is large and need to assess whether the solid structures can endure the thermal stress during the reactor life time.