• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.229-233
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• 2015

Developing novel anode materials to replace the Pt anode currently used in electrolytic reduction is an important issue on pyroprocessing. In this study, the electrochemical behavior of TiN was investigated as the conductive ceramic anode which evolves O₂ gas during the reaction. The feasibility and stability of the TiN anode was examined during the electrolytic reduction of UO₂. The TiN anode could electrochemically convert UO₂ to metallic U in a LiCl–Li₂O molten salt electrolyte. No oxidation of TiN was observed during the reaction; however, the formation of voids in the bulk section appeared to limit the lifetime of the TiN anode.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.15 no.3 s.47
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• pp.146-153
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• 2006

A performance test of the stainless steel based sintered metal filter was conducted on the low and intermediate level radioactive waste (LILW) vitrification process. The applicability of the metal filter was based on the test results as well. The baseline pressure drop of the metal filter was evaluated similar to the ceramic filter. During the test, when the flow rate of off-gas was $110Nm^{3}/h$, the total baseline pressure drop was shown as $92mmH_{2}O$. The total pressure drop was attributed to the filter media and the residual dust layer and the value of each was $25mmH_{2}O\;and\;67mmH_{2}O$ respectively. The SEM-EDS spectrum and micrograph of the metal filter specimen showed, no corrosion and no physical damage both at the skin membrane and at the support layer. And most of the baseline pressure drop was caused by the deposition of dust on the surface of the membrane. In conclusion, even though the filter exposure time was short at the test, the performance of the stainless steel based metal filter was acceptable for the treatment of LILW vitrification process.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.31-39
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• 2013

Nuclear fuel can be damaged under unexpected circumstances in a nuclear reactor. Fuel rod failure can be occurred due to debris fretting or excessive hydriding or PCI (Pellet-to-clad Interaction) etc. It is important to identify the causes of such failed fuel rods for the safe operation of nuclear power plants. If a fuel rod failure occurs during the operation of a nuclear power plant, the coolant water is contaminated by leaked fission products, and in some case the power level of the plant may be lowered or the operation stopped. In addition, all spent fuels must be transferred to a dry storage. But failed fuel can not be transferred to a dry storage. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to develop a system which is capable of inspecting whether the spent fuel in the storage pool is failed or not. The sipping technology is to analyze the leakage of fission products in state of gas and liquid. The failed fuel inspection system with gamma analyzer has successfully demonstrated that the system is enough to find the failed fuel at Wolsong plant.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.65-70
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• 2009

Ir-192 radiation sealed sources are widely employed to the therapeutic applications as well as the non-destructive testing. Production of Ir-192 sources requires a delicate but robust welding technique because it is employed in a high radioactive working environment. A GTA(Gas Tungsten Arc) welding technique is currently well established for this purpose. However, this welding method requires a frequent replacement of the electrode, which results in the delay of the production to take a preparatory action such as to isolate the radiation sources from the working place before getting access to the welding machine. Hence, a resistance welding technique is considered as an alternative method of the GTA welding technique. The advantages of resistance welding are high welding speed and high-rate production. Also it has very long life of electrode comparing to GTA welding. In this study, the resistance welding system and proper welding conditions were established for sealing Ir-192 source capsule. As a results of various experiments, it showed that electrode displacement can be employed as a indicator to predict welding quality. We proposed two mathematical models(linear and curvilinear) to estimate electrode displacement with process parameters such as applied force, welding current and welding time by using regression analysis method. Predicting results of both linear and curvilinear model were relatively good agreement with experiment.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.632-638
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• 2006

There are numerous approaches available to cleanup a contaminated surface and subsurface ground currently in use, however, these methods all classify the decontamination after the contamination has penetrated into the soil masses and is costly. Unlike these approaches, in this study, utilization of soil's self-decontamination ability by rearranging and preplanning of the topographical features and surface and subsurface drainage systems for the potential contamination sites before or during contamination process has been considered as an another cleanup method. Step by step explanations on why and how to develop the self-decontamination procedure is proposed in detail. Two examples are presented including contaminated saltwater intrusion along a coastal region and control or prevention of radioactive toxic radon gas ($^{222}Rn$) in residential areas. The effectiveness of the proposed systems to these two examples using the soil's self-decontamination ability is well illustrated.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.125-132
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• 2012

The dehydration schemes of rare earth (La, Ce, Nd, Pr, Sm. Eu, Gd, Y) chloride hydrates was investigated by using a dehydration apparatus. To prevent the formation of the rare earth oxychlorides, the operation temperature was changed step by step ($80{\rightarrow}150{\rightarrow}230^{\circ}C$) based on the TGA (thermo-gravimetric analysis) results of the rare earth chloride hydrates. A vacuum pump and preheated Ar gas were used to effectively remove the evaporated moisture and maintain an inert condition in the dehydration apparatus. The dehydration temperature of the rare earth chloride hydrate was increased when the atomic number of the rare earth nuclide was increased. The content of the moisture in the rare earth chloride hydrate was decreased below 10% in the dehydration apparatus.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.141-145
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• 2017

Background: The concrete walls inside the vaults of cyclotron facilities are activated by neutrons emitted by the targets during radioisotope production. Reducing the amount of radioactive waste created in such facilities is very important in case they are decommissioned. Thus, we proposed a strategy of reducing the neutron activation of the concrete walls in cyclotrons during operation. Materials and Methods: A polyethylene plate and B-doped Al sheet (30 wt% of B and 2.5 mm in thickness) were placed in front of the wall in the cyclotron room of a radioisotope production facility for pharmaceutical use. The target was Xe gas, and a Cu block was utilized for proton dumping. The irradiation time, proton energy, and beam current were 8 hours, 30 MeV, and $125{\mu}A$, respectively. To determine a suitable thickness for the polyethylene plate set in front of the B-doped Al sheet, the neutron-reducing effects achieved by inserting such sheets at several depths within polyethylene plate stacks were evaluated. The neutron fluence was monitored using an activation detector and 20-g on de Au foil samples with and without 0.5-mm-thick Cd foil. Each Au foil sample was pasted onto the center of a polyethylene plate and B-doped Al sheet, and the absolute activity of one Au foil sample was measured as a standard using a Ge detector. The resulting relative activities were obtained by calculating the ratio of the photostimulated luminescence of each foil sample to that of the standard Au foil. Results and Discussion: When the combination of a 4-cm-thick polyethylene plate and B-doped Al sheet was employed, the thermal neutron rate was reduced by 78%. Conclusion: The combination of a 4-cm-thick polyethylene plate and B-doped Al sheet effectively reduced the neutron activation of the investigated concrete wall.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.221-227
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• 2010

The solidification methods for powder wastes dried at CWDS(Concentrate Waste Drying System) in PWR have been studied in a variety of ways both at home and abroad. The solidification for these wastes has been performed using stabilization agents such as cement, paraffin and polymer. The applicability studies to maximize the reduction ratio of wastes and operational effectiveness for wastes treatment have been carried out, recently. It is necessary to pretreat the powder wastes before feeding wastes to vitrification facility because the fines flying brings about clogging of feeding pipes and off-gas treatment system or workers' exposure to radiation during maintenance. This paper describes an effective method for treatment of powder wastes to improve safety and stability of vitrification facilities.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.193-206
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• 2007

The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute has developed an advanced fast reactor concept, KALIMER-600, which satisfies the Generation IV reactor design goals of sustainability, economics, safety, and proliferation resistance. The concept enables an efficient utilization of uranium resources and a reduction of the radioactive waste. The core design has been developed with a strong emphasis on proliferation resistance by adopting a single enrichment fuel without blanket assemblies. In addition, a passive residual heat removal system, shortened intermediate heat-transport system piping and seismic isolation have been realized in the reactor system design as enhancements to its safety and economics. The inherent safety characteristics of the KALIMER-600 design have been confirmed by a safety analysis of its bounding events. Research on important thermal-hydraulic phenomena and sensing technologies were performed to support the design study. The integrity of the reactor head against creep fatigue was confirmed using a CFD method, and a model for density-wave instability in a helical-coiled steam generator was developed. Gas entrainment on an agitating pool surface was investigated and an experimental correlation on a critical entrainment condition was obtained. An experimental study on sodium-water reactions was also performed to validate the developed SELPSTA code, which predicts the data accurately. An acoustic leak detection method utilizing a neural network and signal processing units were developed and applied successfully for the detection of a signal up to a noise level of -20 dB. Waveguide sensor visualization technology is being developed to inspect the reactor internals and fuel subassemblies. These research and developmental efforts contribute significantly to enhance the safety, economics, and efficiency of the KALIMER-600 design concept.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.579-590
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• 2018

The lakes' metabolism bears important information for the assessment of the carbon budget due to the accumulation or loss of carbon in the lake as well as the dynamics of the food webs through primary production. A lake-scale metabolism is evaluated by Gross Primary Production (GPP), Ecosystem Respiration (R), and Net Ecosystem Production (NEP), which is the difference between the first two values. Methods for estimating GPP and R are based on the levels carbon and oxygen. Estimation of carbon is expensive because of the use of radioactive materials which requires a high degree of proficiency. The purpose of this study was to estimate Lake Daecheong ecosystem metabolism using high frequency water temperature data and DO measurement sensor, widely utilized in the field of water quality monitoring, and to evaluate the possibility of using the application method. High frequency data was collected at intervals of 10 minutes from September to December 2017 by installing a thermistor chain and a DO sensor in downstream of Daechung Dam. The data was then used to estimate GPP, R and NEP using the R public program LakeMetabolizer, and other metabolism models (mle, ols, kalman, bookkeep). Calculations of gas exchange coefficient methods (cole, crusius, heiskanen, macIntyre, read, soloviev, vachon) were compared. According to the result, Lake Daecheong has some deviation based on the application method, but it was generally estimated that the NEP value is negative and acts as a source of atmospheric carbon in a heterotrophic system. Although the high frequency sensor data used in this study had negative and positive GPP and R values during the physical mixing process, they can be used to monitor real-time metabolic changes in the ecosystem if these problems are solved.