• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제33권2호
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• pp.209-224
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• 2001

The SSC-K system analysis code is under development at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) as a part of the KALIMER project. The SSC-K code is being used as the principal tool for analyzing a variety of off-normal conditions or accidents of the preliminary KALIMER design. The SSC-K code features a multiple-channel core representation coupled with a point kinetics model with reactivity feedback. It provides a detailed, one-dimensional thermal-hydraulic simulation of the primary and secondary sodium coolant circuits, as well as the balance-of-plant steam/water circuit. Recently a two-dimensional hot pool model was incorporated into SSC-K for analysis of thermal stratification phenomena in the hot pool. In addition, SSC-K contains detailed models for the passive decay heat removal system and a generalized plant control system. The SSC-K code has also been applied to the computational engine for an interactive simulation of the KALIMER plant. This paper presents an overview of the recent activities concerned with SSC-K code model development This paper focuses on both descriptions of the newly adopted thermal hydraulic and neutronic models, and applications to KALIMER analyses for typical anticipated transients without scram.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제48권5호
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• pp.1071-1082
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• 2016

Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute has been developing a pool-type sodium-cooled fast reactor of the Prototype Gen-IV Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (PGSFR). To assess the effectiveness of the inherent safety features of the PGSFR, the system transients during design basis accidents and design extended conditions are analyzed with MARS-LMR and the subchannel blockage events are analyzed with MATRA-LMR-FB. In addition, the invessel source term is calculated based on the super-safe, small, and simple reactor methodology. The results show that the PGSFR meets safety acceptance criteria with a sufficient margin during the events and keeps accidents from deteriorating into more severe accidents.

• 한국추진공학회지
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• 제10권2호
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• pp.115-128
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• 2006

스크램제트 추진기술에 대한 최근 개발동향과 주요기술을 분석하였다. 스크램제트엔진은 지난 10여년간 급속한 기술 발전으로 지상시험에서 비행시험 단계에 접어들고 있으며, 수년 내 실용시험을 목표로 활발하게 연구개발 중이다. 광범위한 비행 마하수를 만족하는 이중연소램제트와 이중모드램제트 형태의 엔진은 각각 군용과 민수용으로 개발되고 있으며, 복합엔진은 차세대 우주발사체의 대안으로 개발되고 있다. 엔진 작동 특성의 미케니즘에 대한 정확한 이해와 이에 상응되는 기술, 흡열연료 및 CSiC 복합재료를 사용한 내열 문제 해결, 가변 흡입구와 노즐을 이용한 안정된 추진력 구현을 목전에 두고 있다.

• 한국소음진동공학회논문집
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• 제20권7호
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• pp.658-664
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• 2010

A control element drive mechanism(CEDM) is a reactor regulating system, which inserts, withdraws or maintains a control rod containing a neutron absorbing material within a reactor core to control the reactivity of the core. The ball-screw type CEDM for the integral reactor has a spring-damper system to reduce the impact force due to the scram of the CEDM. This paper describes the experimental results to obtain the drop and damping characteristics of the CEDM. The drop tests are performed by using a drop test rig and a facility. A drop time and a displacement after an impact are measured using a LVDT. The influences of the rod weight, the drop height and the flow area of hydraulic damper on the drop and damping behavior are also estimated on the basis of test results. The drop time of the control element is within 4.5s to meet the design requirement, and the maximum displacement is measured as 15.6 mm. It is also found that the damping system using a spring-hydraulic damper plays a good damper role in the CEDM.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제17권1호
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• pp.16-24
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• 1985

풀형 고속증식로에서의 과도 현상을 모사할 수 있는 전산 모델이 개발되었다. 이 전산 모델 SIM-FARP는 어떠한 펌프로의 전원 상실사고나 완전한 강제냉각 상실사고, 그리고 자연순환 과정 등을 모사할 수 있는 Fast Running Computer Code이다. 이에 따라 8개의 지배방정식이 유도되었으며, 이8개의 미분 방정식을 풀기 위해 Runge-Kutta의 수치해석방법이 사용되었다. 개발된 전산 프로그램은 두 가지 예제에 적용되었는데 이는 Super-Phenix-I에서의 펌프에의 전원상실사고 및 원자로가 정지되지 않는 상태에서의 외부전원 상실사고이다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제39권4호
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• pp.257-272
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• 2007

Supercritical water-cooled reactors (SCWRs) are recognized as a Generation IV reactor concept. The Super LWR is a pressure-vessel type thermal spectrum SCWR with downward-flow water rods and is currently under study at the University of Tokyo. This paper reviews Super LWR safety. The fundamental requirement for the Super LWR, which has a once-through coolant cycle, is the core coolant flow rate rather than the coolant inventory. Key safety characteristics of the Super LWR inhere in the design features and have been identified through a series of safety analyses. Although loss-of-flow is the most important abnormality, fuel rod heat-up is mitigated by the "heat sink" and "water source" effects of the water rods. Response of the reactor power against pressurization events is mild due to a small change in the average coolant density and flow stagnation of the once-through coolant cycle. These mild responses against transients and also reactivity feedbacks provide good inherent safety against anticipated-transient-without-scram (ATWS) events without alternative actions. Initiation of an automatic depressurization system provides effective heat removal from the fuel rods. An "in-vessel accumulator" effect of the reactor vessel top dome enhances the fuel rod cooling. This effect enlarges the safety margin for large LOCA.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제49권3호
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• pp.495-503
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• 2017

Operators of nuclear power plants may not be equipped with sufficient information during a loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA), which can be fatal, or they may not have sufficient time to analyze the information they do have, even if this information is adequate. It is not easy to predict the progression of LOCAs in nuclear power plants. Therefore, accurate information on the LOCA break position and size should be provided to efficiently manage the accident. In this paper, the LOCA break size is predicted using a cascaded fuzzy neural network (CFNN) model. The input data of the CFNN model are the time-integrated values of each measurement signal for an initial short-time interval after a reactor scram. The training of the CFNN model is accomplished by a hybrid method combined with a genetic algorithm and a least squares method. As a result, LOCA break size is estimated exactly by the proposed CFNN model.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제43권1호
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• pp.63-74
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• 2011

The 600 MWe, pool-type, sodium-cooled, metallic fuel loaded KALIMER-600 (Korea Advanced LiquId MEtal Reactor, 600 MWe) has been conceptually designed with an emphasis on safety by self-regulating (inherent/intrinsic) negative reactivity feedback in the core. Its inherent safety under the ATWS (Anticipated Transient Without Scram) events was demonstrated in an earlier study. Initiating events of an HCDA (Hypothetical Core Disruptive Accident), however, also need to be analyzed for assessment of the margins in the current design. In this study, a hypothetical triple-fault accident, ULOF (Unprotected Loss Of Flow) with a reduced pump halving time, is investigated as an initiator of a core disruptive accident. A ULOF with insufficient primary pump inertia may cause core sodium boiling due to a power-to-flow mismatch. If the positive sodium reactivity resulting from this boiling is not compensated for by other intrinsic negative reactivity feedbacks, the resulting core power burst would challenge the fuel integrity. The present study focuses on determination of the limit of the pump inertia for assuring inherent reactivity feedback and behavior of the core after sodium boiling as well. Transient analyses are performed with the safety analysis code SSC-K, which now incorporates a new sodium boiling model. The results show that a halving time of more than 6.0 s does not allow sodium boiling even with very conservative assumptions. Boiling takes place for a halving time of 1.8 s, and its behavior can be predicted reasonably by the SSC-K.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제45권5호
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• pp.625-636
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• 2013

Pressing demands of economic competitiveness, the need for large-scale deployment, minimizing the need of human intervention, and experience from the past events and incidents at operating reactors have guided the evolution and innovations in reactor technologies. Indian innovative reactor 'AHWR' is a pressure-tube type natural circulation based boiling water reactor that is designed to meet such requirements, which essentially reflect the needs of next generation reactors. The reactor employs various passive features to prevent and mitigate accidental conditions, like a slightly negative void reactivity coefficient, passive poison injection to scram the reactor in event of failure of the wired shutdown systems, a large elevated pool of water as a heat sink inside the containment, passive decay heat removal based on natural circulation and passive valves, passive ECC injection, etc. It is designed to meet the fundamental safety requirements of safe shutdown, safe decay heat removal and confinement of activity with no impact in public domain, and hence, no need for emergency planning under all conceivable scenarios. This paper examines the role of the various passive safety systems in prevention and mitigation of severe plant conditions that may arise in event of multiple failures. For the purpose of demonstration of the effectiveness of its passive features, postulated scenarios on the lines of three major severe accidents in the history of nuclear power reactors are considered, namely; the Three Mile Island (TMI), Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents. Severe plant conditions along the lines of these scenarios are postulated to the extent conceivable in the reactor under consideration and analyzed using best estimate system thermal-hydraulics code RELAP5/Mod3.2. It is found that the various passive systems incorporated enable the reactor to tolerate the postulated accident conditions without causing severe plant conditions and core degradation.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제48권5호
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• pp.1083-1095
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• 2016

The design of Prototype Gen-IV Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor (PGSFR) has been developed and the validation and verification (V&V) activities to demonstrate the system performance and safety are in progress. In this paper, the current status of test activities is described briefly and significant results are discussed. The large-scale sodium thermal-hydraulic test program, Sodium Test Loop for Safety Simulation and Assessment-1 (STELLA-1), produced satisfactory results, which were used for the computer codes V&V, and the performance test results of the model pump in sodiumshowed good agreement with those in water. The second phase of the STELLA program with the integral effect tests facility, STELLA-2, is in the detailed design stage of the design process. The sodium thermal-hydraulic experiment loop for finned-tube sodium-to-air heat exchanger performance test, the intermediate heat exchanger test facility, and the test facility for the reactor flow distribution are underway. Flow characteristics test in subchannels of a wire-wrapped rod bundle has been carried out for safety analysis in the core and the dynamic characteristic test of upper internal structure has been performed for the seismic analysis model for the PGSFR. The performance tests for control rod assemblies (CRAs) have been conducted for control rod drive mechanism driving parts and drop tests of the CRA under scram condition were performed. Finally, three types of inspection sensors under development for the safe operation of the PGSFR were explained with significant results.