• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.54 no.9
• /
• pp.3567-3579
• /
• 2022

This paper provides an assessment of fluid transport and mixing processes inside the primary circuit of the test facility ROCOM through the numerical simulation of Test 2.1 with the system code ATHLET. The experiment represents an asymmetric injection of cold and non-borated water into the reactor coolant system (RCS) of a pressurized water reactor (PWR) to restore core cooling, an emergency procedure which may subsequently trigger a core re-criticality. The injection takes place at low velocity under single-phase subcooled conditions and presents a major challenge for the simulation in lumped parameter codes, due to multidimensional effects in horizontal piping and vessel arising from density gradients and gravity forces. Aiming at further validating ATHLET 3-D capabilities against horizontal geometries, the experiment conditions are applied to a ROCOM model, which includes a newly developed horizontal pipe object to enhance code prediction inside coolant loops. The obtained results show code strong simulation capabilities to represent multidimensional flows. Enhanced prediction is observed at the vessel inlet compared to traditional 1-D approach, whereas mixing overprediction from the descending denser plume is observed at the upper-half downcomer region, which leads to eventual deviations at the core inlet.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.243-253
• /
• 2021

In the dismantling process of a reactor coolant system (RCS) piping, a radiation protection plan should be established to minimize the radiation exposure doses of dismantling workers. Hence, it is necessary to estimate the individual effective dose in the RCS piping dismantling process when decommissioning a nuclear power plant. In this study, the radiation exposure doses of the dismantling workers at different positions was estimated using the MicroShield dose assessment program based on the NUREG/CR-1595 report. The individual effective dose, which is the sum of the effective dose to each tissue considering the working time, was used to estimate the radiation exposure dose. The estimations of the simulation results for all RCS piping dismantling tasks satisfied the dose limits prescribed by the ICRP-60 report. In dismantling the RCS piping of the Kori-1 or Wolsong-1 units in South Korea, the estimation and reduction method for the radiation exposure dose, and the simulated results of this study can be used to implement the radiation safety for optimal dismantling by providing information on the radiation exposure doses of the dismantling workers.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.13-19
• /
• 2008

In order to predict a remaining life of a plant, it is necessary to select the components that are critical to the plant life. The remaining life of those components shall be evaluated by considering the aging effect of materials used as well as numerous factors. However, when evaluating reliability of nuclear structural components, some problems are quite formidable because of lack of information such as operating history, material property change and uncertainty in damage models. Accordingly, if structural integrity and safety are evaluated by the deterministic fracture mechanics approach, it is expected that the results obtained are too conservative to perform a rational evaluation of plant life. The probabilistic fracture mechanics approaches are regarded as appropriate methods to rationally evaluate the plant life since they can consider various uncertainties such as sizes and shapes of cracks and degradation of material strength due to the aging effects. The objective of this study is to evaluate the structural integrity for a reactor pressure vessel under the small break loss of coolant accident by applying the deterministic and probabilistic fracture mechanics. The deterministic fracture mechanics analysis was performed using the three dimensional finite element model. The probabilistic integrity analysis was based on the Monte Carlo simulation. The selected random variables are the neutron fluence on the vessel inside surface, the content of copper, nickel, and phosphorus in the reactor pressure vessel material, and initial RTNDT.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.30-36
• /
• 2020

In SMART, the flow mixing header assembly (FMHA) is used to mix the coolant flowing into the reactor core to maintain a uniform temperature. The FMHA is designed to have enough stiffness so the resonance with reactor internal structures does not occurs during the pipe break and the seismic accidents. Since the gap between the FMHA and the core support barrel assembly is very narrow compared with the diameter of FMHA, the hydrodynamic mass effect acting on the FMHA is not negligible. Therefore the hydrodynamic mass characteristics on the FMHA are investigated to consider the fluid and structure interaction effects. The result of modal analysis for the dry and underwater conditions, the natural frequency of primary vibration mode for the horizontal direction is reduced from 136.67 Hz to 43.76 Hz. Also the result of frequency response spectrum seismic analysis for the dry and underwater conditions, the maximum equivalent stress are increased from 13.89 MPa to 40.23 MPa. Therefore, reactor internal structures located in underwater condition shall consider carefully the hydrodynamic mass effects even though they have sufficient stiffness required for performing its functions under the dry condition.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
• /
• v.16 no.3
• /
• pp.389-396
• /
• 2018

The Kori-1 Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), WH 2-Loop Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) operated for approximately 40 years in Korea, was permanently ceased on June 18, 2017. To reduce worker exposure to radiation by reducing the dose rate in the system before starting main decommissioning activities, the permanently ceased Kori-1 NPP will be subjected to full system decontamination. Generally, the range of system decontamination includes Reactor Pressure Vessels (RPV), Pressurizer (PZR), Steam Generators (SG), Chemical & Volume Control System (CVCS), Residual Heat Removal System (RHRS), and Reactor Coolant System (RCS) piping. In order to decontaminate these systems and equipment in an effective manner, it is necessary to evaluate the influence of the flow characteristics in the RCS during the decontamination period. There are various methods of providing circulating flow rate to the system decontamination. In this paper, the flow characteristics in Kori-1 NPP reactor coolant according to RHR pump operation were evaluated. The evaluation results showed that system decontamination using an RHR pump was not effective at decontamination due first to impurities deposited in piping and equipment, and second to the extreme flow unbalance in the RCS caused deposition of impurities.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.93-100
• /
• 2016

Since the sodium-cooled fast reactor is operated in a hostile environment due to the use of liquid sodium as its coolant, advanced techniques for in-service inspection are required to periodically verify the integrity of the reactor. This paper presents the development of in-service inspection techniques for Proto-type Generation IV Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor. First, the 10 m long plate-type ultrasonic waveguide sensor has been developed for in-service inspection of reactor internals, and its feasibility was verified through several under-water and under-sodium experiments. Second, the combined inspection system for in-service inspection of ferromagnetic steam generator tubes has been developed. The remote field eddy current testing and magnetic flux leakage testing can be conducted simultaneously by using the developed inspection system, and the detectability was demonstrated through several damage detection experiments. Finally, the electro-magnetic acoustic transducer which can withstand high temperature and be installable in the remote operated vehicle has been developed for in-service inspection of the reactor vessel, and its detectability was investigated through damage detection experiments.

• 한국전산유체공학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2011.05a
• /
• pp.579-586
• /
• 2011

During a reactor normal operation, a primary coolant was designed to remove the fission reaction heat of the reactor. When one pump is failure and the other pump shall supply the cooling water to cool the reduced power, it is necessary to estimate how much flow will be supplied to cool the reactor. We carried a flow net work analysis for two parallel pumping system as based on the piping net work of the primary cooling system in HANARO. As result, it is estimated that the flow of one pump increased than the rated flow of the pump below the cavitation critical flow.

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

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
• /
• 2003.04a
• /
• pp.131-136
• /
• 2003

CF8M cast austenitic stainless steel is used for several components such as primary coolant piping, elbow, pump casing, and valve bodies in light water reactors. These components are subject to thermal aging at the reactor operating temperature. Thermal aging results in spinodal decomposition of the delta-ferrite leading to increased strength and decreased toughness. In this study, three kinds of the aged CF8M specimen were prepared using an artificially simulated aging method. The objective of this study is to summarize the method of estimating ferrite contents, Charpy impact energy and J-R curve, and to evaluate the thermal embrittlement of the CF8M cast austenitic stainless steel piping used in the domestic nuclear power plants.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.40-45
• /
• 2008

There exist many types of pipe and component fatigue through vibrations, thermal fatigues or shifting. In some cases of thermal stratification/thermal fatigue, pipes & components are receiving thermal stress by means of material expansion and shrinkage by continuous thermal repetitive variation. Small cracks initially occur on the inside surface by thermal stress. These cracks grow in depth the pipe wall and finally come to a rupture. Pipe parts of susceptibility to thermal stratification and thermal fatigue are now being examined by conventional UT(ultrasonic test) as volumetric examination. It is difficult to fully satisfy the code & standards requirements because 3" weldolet weldments of RCS 16" pipe to 3" branch connection lines have complex structural shape. To solve the problems of conventional UT examination, we made a realistic mock-up and UT calibration block. We performed a simulation of phased array UT utilizing CIVA as NDE(Non-Destructive Examination) simulation software. Also we designed phased array UT transducer and wedge, optimal frequency by using simulation data. We performed phased array UT experiment through mock-up including artificial flaws(notch). The phased array UT technique is finally developed to improve the reliability of ultrasonic test at RCS 16" pipe to 3" branch connection weld.