• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
• /
• v.29 no.12
• /
• pp.654-662
• /
• 2017

When emergency core cooling system (ECCS) is operated during loss of coolant accident (LOCA) in a pressurized water reactor (PWR), pressurized thermal shock (PTS) phenomenon can occur as cooling water is injected into a cold leg, mixed with hot primary coolant, and then entrained into a reactor vessel. Insufficient flow mixing may cause temperature stratification and steam condensation. In addition, flow vibration may cause thermal stresses in surrounding structures. This will reduce the life of the reactor vessel. Due to the importance of PTS phenomenon, in this study, calculation was performed for Test 1 among six types of OECD/NEA ROSA tests with ANSYS CFX R.17. Predicted results were then compared to measured data. Additionally, because temperature difference between the hot coolant at the inlet of the cold leg and the cold cooling water at the inlet of the ECCS injection line is 200 K or more, buoyancy force due to density difference might have significant effect on thermal-hydraulic characteristics of flow. Therefore, in this study, the necessity to include buoyancy force term in governing equations for accurate prediction of single phase thermal stratification in both cold legs and downcomer by ECCS injection was numerically studied.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.48 no.6
• /
• pp.1291-1302
• /
• 2016

This paper presents a new and efficient scheme to determine the optimal neutron source position in a model near-equilibrium pressurized water reactor, which is based on the OPR1000 Hanul Unit 3 Cycle 7 configuration. The proposed scheme particularly assigns importance of source positions according to the local adjoint flux distribution. In this research, detailed pin-by-pin reactor adjoint fluxes are determined by using the Monte Carlo KENO-VI code from solutions of the reactor homogeneous critical adjoint transport equations. The adjoint fluxes at each allowable source position are subsequently ranked to yield four candidate positions with the four highest adjoint fluxes. The study next simulates ex-core detector responses using the Monte Carlo MAVRIC code by assuming a neutron source is installed in one of the four candidate positions. The calculation is repeated for all positions. These detector responses are later converted into an inverse count rate ratio curve for each candidate source position. The study confirms that the optimal source position is the one with very high adjoint fluxes and detector responses, which is interestingly the original source position in the OPR1000 core, as it yields an inverse count rate ratio curve closest to the traditional 1/M line. The current work also clearly demonstrates that the proposed adjoint flux-based approach can be used to efficiently determine the optimal geometry for a neutron source and a detector in a modern pressurized water reactor core.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.51 no.4
• /
• pp.1109-1116
• /
• 2019

It is essential to predict the radioactivity distribution around the reactor cooling system (RCS) during obligatory cyclic operation of AP-1000. A home-developed program CPA-AP1000 is upgraded to predict the response of activated corrosion products (ACPs) in the RCS. The program is written in MATLAB and it uses state of the art MCNP as a subroutine for flux calculations. A pair of cyclic power profiles were superimposed after initial full power operation. The effect of cyclic operation is noticed to be more prominent for in-core surfaces, followed by the primary coolant and out-of-core structures. The results have shown that specific activity trends of $^{56}Mn$ and $^{24}Na$ promptly follow the power variations, whereas, $^{59}Fe$, $^{58}Co$, $^{99}Mo$ and $^{60}Co$ exhibit a sluggish power-following response. The investigations pointed out that promptly power-following response of ACPs in the coolant is vital as an instant radioactivity source during leakage incidents. However, the ACPs with delayed power-following response in the out-of-core components are perceived to cause a long-term activity. The present results are found in good agreement with those for a reference PWR. The results are useful for source term monitoring and optimization of work procedures for an innovative reactor design.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.40 no.2
• /
• pp.92-100
• /
• 2015

For the purpose of improving the efficiency of the radiation impact assessment of dry interim storage facilities for the spent nuclear fuel of pressurized water reactors (PWRs), radiation impact assessment was performed after the application of sensitivity assessment according to the radiation source term designation method, development of a 2-step calculation technique, and cooling time credit. The present study successively designated radiation source terms in accordance with the cask arrangement order in the shielding building, assessed sensitivity, which affects direct dose, and confirmed that the radiation dosage of the external walls of the shielding building was dominantly affected by the two columns closest to the internal walls. In addition, in the case in which shielding buildings were introduced into storage facilities, the present study established and assessed the 2-step calculation technique, which can reduce the immense computational analysis time. Consequently, results similar to those from existing calculations were derived in approximately half the analysis time. Finally, when radiation source terms were established by adding the storage period of the storage casks successively stored in the storage facilities and the cooling period of the spent nuclear fuel, the radiation dose of the external walls of the buildings was confirmed to be approximately 40% lower than the calculated values; the cooling period was established as being identical. The present study was conducted to improve the efficiency of the Monte Carlo shielding analysis method for radiation impact assessment of interim storage facilities. If reliability is improved through the assessment of more diverse cases, the results of the present study can be used for the design of storage facilities and the establishment of site boundary standards.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.337-344
• /
• 1994

Enthalpy rise hot channel factor($F_{\Delta{H}}$$^{N}$) is one of the most limiting constraints in determining the fuel loading pattern(LP) for PWR's. In order to enhance the LP design flexibility without any changes of not only basic fuel specifications but also Technical Specifications and Operation Procedures, we apply the enrichment zoning concept to Westinghouse designed PWR's to flatten the rod power distributions within the fuel assembly and thus to reduce $F_{\Delta{H}}$$^{N}$. Enrichment zoning is described that each assembly consists of two different enrichment fuels ; the lower enriched fuels are located in positions which are expected to have the higher rod power and vice versa for the higher enriched fuels. As a result of unit assembly calculations to flatten the rod power distribution within the assembly, the appropriate enrichment difference is found to be 0.3~0.4w/o. Through core depletion calculations for the 18-month cycle of Kori Unit 4, the $F_{\Delta{H}}$$^{N}$ behavior in core with the enrichment zoning concept is investigated. A comparison with the reference case without the enrichment zoning results in a reduction in $F_{\Delta{H}}$$^{N}$ of approximately 1.5%.TEX>H/$^{N}$ of approximately 1.5%.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.46 no.3
• /
• pp.313-342
• /
• 2014

A Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) benchmark for Uncertainty Analysis in Modeling (UAM) is defined in order to facilitate the development and validation of available uncertainty analysis and sensitivity analysis methods for best-estimate Light water Reactor (LWR) design and safety calculations. The benchmark has been named the OECD/NEA UAM-LWR benchmark, and has been divided into three phases each of which focuses on a different portion of the uncertainty propagation in LWR multi-physics and multi-scale analysis. Several different reactor cases are modeled at various phases of a reactor calculation. This paper discusses Phase I, known as the "Neutronics Phase", which is devoted mostly to the propagation of nuclear data (cross-section) uncertainty throughout steady-state stand-alone neutronics core calculations. Three reactor systems (for which design, operation and measured data are available) are rigorously studied in this benchmark: Peach Bottom Unit 2 BWR, Three Mile Island Unit 1 PWR, and VVER-1000 Kozloduy-6/Kalinin-3. Additional measured data is analyzed such as the KRITZ LEU criticality experiments and the SNEAK-7A and 7B experiments of the Karlsruhe Fast Critical Facility. Analyzed results include the top five neutron-nuclide reactions, which contribute the most to the prediction uncertainty in keff, as well as the uncertainty in key parameters of neutronics analysis such as microscopic and macroscopic cross-sections, six-group decay constants, assembly discontinuity factors, and axial and radial core power distributions. Conclusions are drawn regarding where further studies should be done to reduce uncertainties in key nuclide reaction uncertainties (i.e.: $^{238}U$ radiative capture and inelastic scattering (n, n') as well as the average number of neutrons released per fission event of $^{239}Pu$).

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.52 no.7
• /
• pp.1443-1451
• /
• 2020

The objective of this study is to design a robust power control system for a small pressurized water reactor (PWR) to achieve stable power operations under conditions of external disturbances and internal model uncertainties. For this purpose, the multiple-input multiple-output transfer function models of the reactor core at five power levels are derived from point reactor kinetics equations and the Mann's thermodynamic model. Using the transfer function models, five local reactor power controllers are designed using an H infinity (H_∞) mixed sensitivity method to minimize the core power disturbance under various uncertainties at the five power levels, respectively. Then a multimodel approach with triangular membership functions is employed to integrate the five local controllers into a multimodel robust control system that is applicable for the entire power range. The performance of the robust power system is assessed against 10% of full power (FP) step load increase transients with coolant inlet temperature disturbances at different power levels and large-scope, rapid ramp load change transient. The simulation results show that the robust control system could maintain satisfactory control performance and good robustness of the reactor under external disturbances and internal model uncertainties, demonstrating the effective of the robust power control design.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.34-41
• /
• 1987

This work concerns with a comparison of the 1-dimensional (or 1-D) load follow analysis method with reference to the detailed 3-dimensional (or 3-D) computations. For this purpose a 1-D two-group finite difference code, HLOFO, and a 3-D coarse-mesh code based on the modified Borresen's method, CMSNAC, are developed. The CMSNAC code is used to obtain the 3-D power peaks and reactivity parameters in response to power swing from 100 to 50 and back to 100% in the 12-3-6-3 load cycle for the BOL of the KORI Unit 1 PWR core. The 3-D result is then compared with the 1-D HLOFO computations, the cross section and buckling inputs of which are obtained by combining the flux-volume weighting scheme with the approximate flux from the auxiliary 3-D computations. It is shown that the 1-D computation has a limited accuracy, yet it is confirmed that it can describe the core axial average behavior which is fairly consistent with the detailed 3-D computation.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
• /
• v.65 no.5
• /
• pp.836-842
• /
• 2016

When an accident occurs in the nuclear power plant, the faulted information might mislead to the high possibility of aggravating the accident. At the Fukushima accident, the operators misunderstood that there was no core exposure despite in the processing of core damage, because the instrument information of the reactor water level was provided to the operators optimistically other than the actual situation. Thus, this misunderstanding actually caused to much confusions on the rapid countermeasure on the accident, and then resulted in multiplying the accident propagation. It is necessary to be equipped with the function that informs operators the status of instrument integrity in real time. If plant operators verify that the instruments are working properly during accident conditions, they are able to make a decision more safely. In this study, we have performed various tests for the fault detection sensitivity of an data-driven empirical model to review the usability of the model in the accident conditions. The test was performed by using simulation data from the compact nuclear simulator that is numerically simulated to PWR type nuclear power plant. As a result of the test, the proposed model has shown good performance for detecting the specified instrument faults during normal plant conditions. Although the instrument fault detection sensitivity during plant accident conditions is lower than that during normal condition, the data-drive empirical model can be detected an instrument fault during early stage of plant accidents.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.56-65
• /
• 1991

The LOFT LOCE L2-3 was simulated using the RELAP5/MOD2 Cycle 36.04 code to assess its capability in predicting the thermal-hydraulic phenomena in LBLOCA of a PWR. The reactor vessel was simulated with two core channels and split downcomer modeling for a base case calculation using the frozen code. The result of the base calculation showed that the code predicted the hydraulic behavior, and the blowdown thermal response at high power region of the core reasonably and that the code had deficiencies in the critical How model during subcooled-two-phase transition period, in the CHF correlation at high mass flux and in the blowdown rewet criteria. An overprediction of coolant inventory due to the deficiencies yielded the poor prediction of reflood thermal response. Improvement of the code, RELAP5 / MOD2 Cycle 36.04, based on the sensitivity study increased the accuracy of the prediction of the rewet phenomena.