• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.52-60
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• 2016

The Passive Auxiliary Feedwater System(PAFS) is one of the advanced safety concepts adopted in the Advanced Power Reactor Plus(APR+). To validate the operational performance of the PAFS, detailed understanding of a boiling heat transfer on horizontal tube outside is of great importance. Especially, in the mechanistic boiling heat transfer model, it is important to visualize the phenomena but there are some limitations with conventional experimental approaches. In the present study, we devised a heater based on the Flexible Printed Circuit Board (FPCB) for a more comprehensive visualization and subsequently, a digital image processing technique for the bubble motion measurement was established. Using the measurement technique, important parameters of the nucleate boiling are analyzed.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.568-573
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• 2003

When a safety valve equipped in a nuclear power plant opens in an instant by an accident, a moving shock wave propagates downstream the valve, inducing a complicated unsteady flow field. The moving shock wave may exert severe load to the structure. So, to reduce the load acting on the wall of POSRV, a gradual opening of POSRV is adopted in general. In theses connections, a numerical work is performed to investigate the effect of valve opening time on the unsteady flow fields downstream of the valve. Compressible, two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations are used with the finite volume method. The obtained results show that sharp pressure rise through moving shock tor the case of instant opening is attenuated by employing the gradual opening of valve. It is turned that the flows for the two cases of gradual valve opening time show the similar to that of highly under-expanded one in jet structure having expansion and compression waves and Mach stem. Also, comparing with the results for the two cases of opening time, the shorter the valve opening is, the pressure gradient at the downstream of the valve becomes softly.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.23-29
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• 2011

The renewed global interest in nuclear power has arisen from the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to provide sufficient electricity for a growing global population before the accident at Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Japan. In spite of the safety issues of nuclear power plants raised by the ongoing Japanese nuclear crisis, many countries with nuclear power plants (NPPs) are still implementing license extensions of 10~20 years, and even consideration is being given to the concept of life-beyond-60, a further period of license extension from 60 to 80 years. To solving the materials aging problem is integral to its success. To evaluate the plant aging phenomena, a lot of background information such as materials and environment of the parts of the reactor and plant systems is needed by the experts. Information on degradation mechanisms is also used. In this paper, a materials degradation evaluation program called OnMDE-SYS (On-line Materials Degradation Evaluation System) is introduced. The developed program provides a variety of information on the materials and stressors as well as operational experience to the experts. It is also anticipated that the experts can perform materials degradation assessment on the web directly by referring to domestic and international information about the degradation of a nuclear power plants through OnMDE-SYS.

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

• Journal of the Korean Society of Systems Engineering
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.1-15
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• 2020

Nuclear power plants in South Korea are operated to cover the baseload demand. Hence they are operated at 100% rated power and do not deploy power tracking control except for startup, shutdown, or during transients. However, as the contribution of renewable energy in the energy mix increases, load follow operation may be needed to cover the imbalance between consumption and production due to the intermittent nature of electricity produced from the conversion of wind or solar energy. Load follow operation may be quite challenging since the operators need to control the axial power distribution and core reactivity while simultaneously conducting the power maneuvering. In this paper, a systems engineering approach for multi-physics load follow simulation of APR1400 is performed. RELAP5/SCDAPSIM/MOD3.4/3DKIN multi-physics package is selected to simulate the Korean Advanced Power Reactor, APR1400, under load follow operation to reflect the impact of feedback signals on the system safety parameters. Furthermore, the systems engineering approach is adopted to identify the requirements, functions, and physical architecture to provide a set of verification and validation activities that guide this project development by linking each requirement to a validation or verification test with predefined success criteria.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.484-497
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• 2021

This paper proposes an extended time uncertainty analysis approach in Level 2 human reliability analysis (HRA) considering severe accident management (SAM) strategies. The method is a time-based model that classifies two time distribution functions-time required and time available-to calculate human failure probabilities from delayed action when implementing SAM strategies. The time required function can be obtained by the combination of four time factors: 1) time for diagnosis and decision by the technical support center (TSC) for a given strategy, 2) time for strategy implementation mainly by the local emergency response organization (ERO), 3) time to verify the effectiveness of the strategy and 4) time for portable equipment transport and installation. This function can vary depending on the given scenario and includes a summation of lognormal distributions and a choice regarding shifting the distribution. The time available function can be obtained via thermal-hydraulic code simulation (MAAP 5.03). The proposed approach was applied to assess SAM strategies that use portable equipment and safety depressurization system valves in a total loss of component cooling water event that could cause reactor vessel failure. The results from the proposed method are more realistic (i.e., not conservative) than other existing methods in evaluating SAM strategies involving the use of portable equipment.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.1429-1435
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• 2021

The temperature distribution of an electromagnetic pump was analyzed with a flow rate of 1380 L/min and a pressure of 4 bar designed for the sodium thermo-hydraulic test in the Sodium Test Loop for Safety Simulation and Assessment-Phase 1 (STELLA-1). The electromagnetic pump was used for the circulation of the liquid sodium coolant in the Intermediate Heat Transport System (IHTS) of the Prototype Gen-IV Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (PGSFR) with an electric power of 150 MWe. The temperature distribution of the components of the electromagnetic pump was numerically analyzed to prevent functional degradation in the high temperature environment during pump operation. The heat transfer was numerically calculated using ANSYS Fluent for prediction of the temperature distribution in the excited coils, the electromagnet core, and the liquid sodium flow channel of the electromagnetic pump. The temperature distribution of operating electromagnetic pump was compared with cooling of natural and forced air circulation. The temperature in the coil, the core and the flow gap in the two conditions, natural circulation and forced circulation, were compared. The electromagnetic pump with cooling of forced circulation had better efficiency than natural circulation even considering consumption of the input power for the air blower. Accordingly, this study judged that forced cooling is good for both maintenance and efficiency of the electromagnetic pump.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.8
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• pp.2757-2772
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• 2023

The fluid retention effect of the Volume Control Tank (VCT) leads to a long time delay in Reactor Coolant System (RCS) concentration during the boration process. A coupled model combining a lumped-parameter sub-model and a computational fluid dynamics sub-model is currently used to investigate the concentration dynamic characteristic of RCS during the boration process. This model is validated by comparison with experimental data, and the predicted results show excellent agreement with experimental data. We provide detailed fields in VCT and concentration variations of RCS to study the interaction between mixing in VCT and the transient responses of RCS. Moreover, the impacts of the inlet flow rate, inlet nozzle diameter, original concentration, and replenishing temperature of VCT on the RCS concentration characteristic are studied. The inlet flow rate and nozzle diameter of VCT remarkably affect the RCS concentration characteristic. Too-large or too-small inlet flow rates and nozzle diameters will lead to unacceptable long delays. In this work, the optimal inlet flow rate and nozzle diameter of VCT are 5 m³/h and 58.8 mm, respectively. Besides, the impacts of the original concentration and replenishing temperature of VCT are negligible under normal operating conditions.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.1448-1459
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• 2023

A key element of the safety analysis is Loss of Coolant Analysis (LOCA) which must be performed using system thermal-hydraulic codes. These codes are extensively validated against separate effect and integral experiments. RELAP/SCDAPSIM is one such code that may be used to predict LBLOCA response in a CANDU reactor. The RD-14M experiment selected for the Best Estimate Plus Uncertainty study is a 44 mm (22.7%) inlet header break test with no Emergency Coolant Injection. This work has two objectives first is to simulate pipe break with RELAP and compare these results to those available from experiment and from comparable TRACE calculations. The second objective is to quantify uncertainty in the fuel element sheath (FES) temperature arising from model coefficient as well as input parameter uncertainties using Integrated Uncertainty Analysis package. RELAP calculated results are found to be in good agreement with those of TRACE and with those of experiments. The base case maximum FES temperature is 335.5 ℃ while that of 95% confidence 95^th percentile is 407.41 ℃ for the first order Wilk's formula. The experimental measurements fall within the predicted band and the trends and sensitivities are similar to those reported for the TRACE code.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.1999-2010
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• 2023

Undesirable flapping motion of discs can cause the failure of swing check valves in nuclear passive safety systems. Time-resolved particle image velocimetry (PIV) was employed to investigate the flow characteristics around a free-to-rotate plate and the motion response, with the Reynolds numbers, based on the hydraulic diameter of the channel, from 1.32 × 10⁴ to 3.95 × 10⁴. Appreciable flapping motion (±3.52°) appeared at the Reynolds number of 2.6 × 10⁴ with the frequency of 5.08 Hz. In the low-Reynolds-number case, the plate showed negligible flapping. In the high-Reynolds-number case, the deflection angle increased with reduced flapping amplitude. The torque from the fluid determined the flapping amplitude. In the low-Reynolds-number case, Karman vortices were absent. With increasing Reynolds numbers, Karman vortices developed behind the plate with larger deflection angles. Strong interaction between the wake flow from the leading and trailing edge of the plate was observed. Based on power spectrum density (PSD) analysis, the vortex shedding frequency coincided with the flapping frequency, and the amplitude was positively correlated to the strength of the vortices. Proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) modes evince that, in the case of appreciable motion, coherent structures exhibited a larger spatial scale, enhancing the magnitude of the external torque on the plate.