• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.9
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• pp.3516-3525
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• 2022

The high capture cross-section (𝜎_c) of Gadolinium (Gd-155 and Gd-157) causes reactivity penalty and swing at the initial stage of fuel burnup in Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR). The present study is concerned with the feasibility of the combination of mixed burnable poison with both low and high 𝜎_c as an approach to minimize these effects. Two considered reference designs are fuel assemblies with 24 IBA rods of Gd₂O₃ and Er₂O₃ respectively. Models comprise nuclear fuel with a homogeneous mixture of Er₂O₃, AmO₂, SmO₂, and HfO₂ with Gd₂O₃ as well as the coating of PaO₂ and ZrB₂ on the Gd₂O₃ pellet's outer surface. The infinite multiplication factor was determined and reactivity was calculated considering 3% neutron leakage rate. All models except Er₂O₃ and SmO₂ showed expected results namely higher values of these parameters than the reference design of Gd₂O₃ at the early burnup period. The highest value was found for the model of PaO₂ and Gd₂O₃ followed by ZrB₂ and HfO₂. The cycle burnup, discharge burnup, and cycle length for three batch refueling were calculated using Linear Reactivity Model (LRM). The pin power distribution, energy-dependent neutron flux and Fuel Temperature Coefficient (FTC) were also studied. An optimization of model 1 was carried out to investigate effects of different isotopic compositions of Gd₂O₃ and absorber coating thickness.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.17-29
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• 1993

The method has been proposed for the risk assessment of petro-chemical plant, specially which can evaluate relative risk levels on the materials and process-es. The each potential risk of materials and processes are derived numerically and combined these values, finally Fire and Explosion Index was found. Material factor was evaluated with the flammability and the reactivity and process factor with emprical factor called penalty. This F&EI can be performed for relative risk assesment at the whole plant and directely applicable at the line.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1996.11a
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• pp.15-20
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• 1996

We present the result of physical studies for three integral-type burnable absorbers of gadolinia, erbia and IFBA, in the hexagonal fuel assembly. The analysis of nuclear characteristics for gadolinia and IFBA cases shows that the spectrum hardening of hexagonal fuel assembly compared to rectangular one leads to smaller reactivity hold-down worth(RHW) and less change of MTC in the negative direction per insertion of one burnable absorber rod. Erbia case, on the other hand, exhibits reversed trend in RHW and MTC due to the enhanced absorption of large resonance of Erbium at 0.5 eV It turns out to be that Erbia performs best in terms of minimizing the peak pin power and maintaining as more negative MTC as practically attainable during the entire operational phase, and IFBA provides the least residual reactivity penalty at EOC. Therefore, we take Erbium as the suitable burnable absorber and provide optimal designs of 60, 120, 180, 240 and 300 erbia-shimmed hexagonal fuel assemblies with regard to minimizing the peak pin power.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.837-845
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• 2002

Based on ab initio calculations at the MP2(FULL)/6-31+G**//RHF/6-31G** level, we compare the energetic and mechanistic features of a model reaction for catalytic action of Δ?-3-ketosteroid isomerase (KSL,E.C.5.3,3.1) with those of a corresponding nonenzymatic reaction in aqueous solution. The results show that the two catalytic acid residues,Tyr14 and Asp99, can lower the free energy of activation by 8.6kcal/mol, which is in good agreement with the experimentally predicted~9 kcal/mol,contribution of electrophilic catalyses to the whole enzymatic rate enhancement. The dienolate intermediate formed by proton transfer from the substrate carbon acid to the catalytic base residue (Asp38) ins predicted to be stabilized by 12.0 kcal/mol in the enzymatic reaction, making its formation thermodynamically favorable. It has been argued that enzymes catalyzing the reactions of carbon acids should resolve the thermodynamic problem of stabilizing the enolate intermediate as well as the kinetic porblem of lowering the free energy of activation for porton abstraction. We find that KSI can successfully overcome the thermodynamic difficulty ingerent in the nonenzymatic reaction through the electrophilic catalyses of the two acid residues. Owing to the stabilization of dienolate intermediate, the reketonization step could influence the overall reaction rate more significantly in the KSI- catalyzed reaction than in the nonenzymatic reaction, further supporting the previous experimental findings. However, the electrophilic catalyses alone cannot account for the whole catalygic capability (12-13 kcal/mol), confiming the earlier experimental implications for the invement of additional catalytic components. The present computational study indicates clearly how catalytic residues of KSI resolve the fundamental problems associated with the entropic penalty for forming the rate-limiting transition state and its destabilization in the bulk solvation environment.