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Nuclide composition non-uniformity in used nuclear fuel for considerations in pyroprocessing safeguards

  • Woo, Seung Min;Chirayath, Sunil S.;Fratoni, Massimiliano
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.50 no.7
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    • pp.1120-1130
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    • 2018
  • An analysis of a pyroprocessing safeguards methodology employing the Pu-to-$^{244}Cm$ ratio is presented. The analysis includes characterization of representative used nuclear fuel assemblies with respect to computed nuclide composition. The nuclide composition data computationally generated is appropriately reformatted to correspond with the material conditions after each step in the head-end stage of pyroprocessing. Uncertainty in the Pu-to-$^{244}Cm$ ratio is evaluated using the Geary-Hinkley transformation method. This is because the Pu-to-$^{244}Cm$ ratio is a Cauchy distribution since it is the ratio of two normally distributed random variables. The calculated uncertainty of the Pu-to-$^{244}Cm$ ratio is propagated through the mass flow stream in the pyroprocessing steps. Finally, the probability of Type-I error for the plutonium Material Unaccounted For (MUF) is evaluated by the hypothesis testing method as a function of the sizes of powder particles and granules, which are dominant parameters to determine the sample size. The results show the probability of Type-I error is occasionally greater than 5%. However, increasing granule sample sizes could surmount the weakness of material accounting because of the non-uniformity of nuclide composition.

Evaluation of nuclear material accountability by the probability of detection for loss of Pu (LOPu) scenarios in pyroprocessing

  • Woo, Seung Min;Chirayath, Sunil S.
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.51 no.1
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    • pp.198-206
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    • 2019
  • A new methodology to analyze the nuclear material accountability for pyroprocessing system is developed. The $Pu-to-^{244}Cm$ ratio quantification is one of the methods for Pu accountancy in pyroprocessing. However, an uncertainty in the $Pu-to-^{244}Cm$ ratio due to the non-uniform composition in used fuel assemblies can affect the accountancy of Pu. A random variable, LOPu, is developed to analyze the probability of detection for Pu diversion of hypothetical scenarios at a pyroprocessing facility considering the uncertainty in $Pu-to-^{244}Cm$ ratio estimation. The analysis is carried out by the hypothesis testing and the event tree method. The probability of detection for diversion of 8 kg Pu is found to be less than 95% if a large size granule consisting of small size particles gets sampled for measurements. To increase the probability of detection more than 95%, first, a new Material Balance Area (MBA) structure consisting of more number of Key Measurement Points (KMPs) is designed. This multiple KMP-measurement for the MBA shows the probability of detection for 8 kg Pu diversion is greater than 96%. Increasing the granule sample number from one to ten also shows the probability of detection is greater than 95% in the most ranges for granule and powder sizes.

Impact of molybdenum cross sections on FHR analysis

  • Ramey, Kyle M.;Margulis, Marat;Read, Nathaniel;Shwageraus, Eugene;Petrovic, Bojan
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.54 no.3
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    • pp.817-825
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    • 2022
  • A recent benchmarking effort, under the auspices of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), has been made to evaluate the current state of modeling and simulation tools available to model fluoride salt-cooled high temperature reactors (FHRs). The FHR benchmarking effort considered in this work consists of several cases evaluating the neutronic parameters of a 2D prismatic FHR fuel assembly model using the participants' choice of simulation tools. Benchmark participants blindly submitted results for comparison with overall good agreement, except for some which significantly differed on cases utilizing a molybdenum-bearing control rod. Participants utilizing more recently updated explicit isotopic cross sections had consistent results, whereas those using elemental molybdenum cross sections observed reactivity differences on the order of thousands of pcm relative to their peers. Through a series of supporting tests, the authors attribute the differences as being nuclear data driven from using older legacy elemental molybdenum cross sections. Quantitative analysis is conducted on the control rod to identify spectral, reaction rate, and cross section phenomena responsible for the observed differences. Results confirm the observed differences are attributable to the use of elemental cross sections which overestimate the reaction rates in strong resonance channels.

Geometry Optimization of Dispersed U-Mo Fuel for Light Water Reactors

  • Ondrej Novak;Pavel Suk;Dusan Kobylka;Martin Sevecek
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.55 no.9
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    • pp.3464-3471
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    • 2023
  • The Uranium/Molybdenum metallic fuel has been proposed as promising advanced fuel concept especially in the dispersed fuel geometry. The fuel is manufactured in the form of small fuel droplets (particles) placed in a fuel pin covered by a matrix. In addition to fuel particles, the pin contains voids necessary to compensate material swelling and release of fission gases from the fuel particles. When investigating this advanced fuel design, two important questions were raised. Can the dispersed fuel performance be analyzed using homogenization without significant inaccuracy and what size of fuel drops should be used for the fuel design to achieve optimal utilization? To answer, 2D burnup calculations of fuel assemblies with different fuel particle sizes were performed. The analysis was supported by an additional 3D fuel pin calculation with the dispersed fuel particle size variations. The results show a significant difference in the multiplication factor between the homogenized calculation and the detailed calculation with precise fuel particle geometry. The recommended fuel particle size depends on the final burnup to be achieved. As shown in the results, for lower burnup levels, larger fuel drops offer better multiplication factor. However, when higher burnup levels are required, then smaller fuel drops perform better.

Prismatic-core advanced high temperature reactor and thermal energy storage coupled system - A preliminary design

  • Alameri, Saeed A.;King, Jeffrey C.;Alkaabi, Ahmed K.;Addad, Yacine
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.52 no.2
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    • pp.248-257
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    • 2020
  • This study presents an initial design for a novel system consisting in a coupled nuclear reactor and a phase change material-based thermal energy storage (TES) component, which acts as a buffer and regulator of heat transfer between the primary and secondary loops. The goal of this concept is to enhance the capacity factor of nuclear power plants (NPPs) in the case of high integration of renewable energy sources into the electric grid. Hence, this system could support in elevating the economics of NPPs in current competitive markets, especially with subsidized solar and wind energy sources, and relatively low oil and gas prices. Furthermore, utilizing a prismatic-core advanced high temperature reactor (PAHTR) cooled by a molten salt with a high melting point, have the potential in increasing the system efficiency due to its high operating temperature, and providing the baseline requirements for coupling other process heat applications. The present research studies the neutronics and thermal hydraulics (TH) of the PAHTR as well as TH calculations for the TES which consists of 300 blocks with a total heat storage capacity of 150 MWd. SERPENT Monte Carlo and MCNP5 codes carried out the neutronics analysis of the PAHTR which is sized to have a 5-year refueling cycle and rated power of 300 MWth. The PAHTR has 10 metric tons of heavy metal with 19.75 wt% enriched UO2 TRISO fuel, a hot clean excess reactivity and shutdown margin of $33.70 and -$115.68; respectively, negative temperature feedback coefficients, and an axial flux peaking factor of 1.68. Star-CCM + code predicted the correct convective heat transfer coefficient variations for both the reactor and the storage. TH analysis results show that the flow in the primary loop (in the reactor and TES) remains in the developing mixed convection regime while it reaches a fully developed flow in the secondary loop.

A Study on the Wave Generating Characteristics of the Multi-directional Irregular Wave Basin (다방향불규칙파 조파수조의 조파특성에 관한 연구)

  • SOHN Byung-Kyu;RYU Cheong-Ro
    • Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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    • v.34 no.6
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    • pp.705-712
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    • 2001
  • It is of great importance to represent the directional ocean waves in a laboratory basin for hydraulic model tests. The directional ocean waves can be expressed as a linear superposition of a large number of component waves with different frequencies and propagating directions. The aim of the study is to check the wave generating characteristics by serpent-type wave generating system in PKNU (Pukyong National University) which is composed of 10 piston-type wave generators. In the experiment, spatial variation of irregular wave heights and propagating angles are measured in the multi-directional wave maker basin. Target wave directional spectrum is reproduced in the area of multi-directional wave maker basin. The directional spreading of the generated waves varied spacially in the basin. They differed from target spectrum as the measurement point becomes far from the center line normal to the generator face, The effective generation area where that target can be reproduced is limited to the triangular area attached the generator face. According to the results, it is emphasized that the effective experiment area in the basin considered wave generator characteristics should be determined in consideration of experimental conditions including structural shapes, water depth, wave directionality etc.

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LEU+ loaded APR1400 using accident tolerant fuel cladding for 24-month two-batch fuel management scheme

  • Husam Khalefih;Taesuk Oh;Yunseok Jeong;Yonghee Kim
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.55 no.7
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    • pp.2578-2590
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    • 2023
  • In this work, a 24-month two-batch fuel management strategy for the APR1400 using LEU + has been investigated, where enrichments of 5.9 and 5.2 w/o are utilized in lieu of the conventional 4-5 w/o UO2 fuel. In addition, an Accident Tolerant Fuel (ATF) clad based on the swaging technology is applied to APR1400 fuel assemblies. In this special ATF clad design, both outer and inner SS316 layers protect the conventional zircaloy clad. Erbia (Er2O3) is introduced as a burnable absorber with two-fold goals to lower the critical boron concentration in the long-cycle LEU + loaded core as well as to handle the LEU + fuel in the existing front-end fuel facilities without renewing the license. Two types of fuel assemblies with different loading of gadolinia (Gd2O3) are considered to control both the reactivity and the core radial power distribution. The erbia burnable absorber is uniformly admixed with UO2 in all fuel pins except for the gadolinia-bearing ones. In this study, two core designs were devised with different erbia loading, and core performance and safety parameters were evaluated for each case in comparison with a core design without any burnable absorbers. The core analysis was done using the two-step method. First, cross-sections are generated by the SERPENT 2 Monte Carlo code, and the 3-D neutronic analysis is performed with an in-house multi-physics nodal code KANT.

The Characteristics of Transitional Garden in The Early National Period in America - Focused on the analysis of Paca's Garden, Mount Vernon and Monticello - (미국 초기국가시대 전환기 정원의 특성 - 파커 정원, 마운트 버논, 몬티첼로 분석을 중심으로 -)

  • Paek, Nan-Young;Lee, Jong-Sung;Kim, Hyun
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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    • v.32 no.4
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    • pp.132-142
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    • 2014
  • This study is the first stage to identify distinctive characteristics of American Romantic Garden compared to English Romantic Garden. The purpose of the study is to identify characteristics of transitional garden in the early period of America by analyzing of Paca garden, Mount Vernon and Monticello when English Naturalistic Garden was firstly imported. The analysis studied historical background, people who designed garden, formal garden and characteristics of natural garden through reference. Also based on data through reference and field research, spatial configuration and garden factors of each site were analyzed. In spatial configuration, straight line and curve line, formal terrace and natural slope, visible axis and invisible axis, symetric and asymmetric, and perspective and oblique perspectives were used as analyzing factors. As a result of analysis, each garden showed different type from that of formal gardens from colony period, which is natural garden of asymmetric garden(English natural garden) coexisted. Paca garden which planned formal garden and natural garden in each space showed characteristics of each space, but in formal garden residential axis and garden axis does not coincide which shows it is out of formal garden type. Such phenomena and the fact that naturalistic garden coexist in the same garden shows that the formal garden type from early days in US is starting to change in different types. Mount Vernon garden, similar to Paca garden, was designed to have two different types of gardens in harmony rather than divide the space into different space and design it. It adapted serpent walkway but shows symmetric by central axis and considered formalistic plan through same materials. However through terrace in hills and spatial plan of oblique perspective, one could observe that naturalistic type was beginning to settle in US gardens. Through Monticello analysis, space was designed with major characteristics of naturalistic garden which is serpent walkway, ornamental farm, winding flower bed grove and bush and oblique perspective, and it completely duplicates characteristics of naturalistic garden which could not be found in gardens imported from UK.

A Study on Lightweight Block Cryptographic Algorithm Applicable to IoT Environment (IoT 환경에 적용 가능한 경량화 블록 암호알고리즘에 관한 연구)

  • Lee, Seon-Keun
    • Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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    • v.19 no.3
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    • pp.1-7
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    • 2018
  • The IoT environment provides an infinite variety of services using many different devices and networks. The development of the IoT environment is directly proportional to the level of security that can be provided. In some ways, lightweight cryptography is suitable for IoT environments, because it provides security, higher throughput, low power consumption and compactness. However, it has the limitation that it must form a new cryptosystem and be used within a limited resource range. Therefore, it is not the best solution for the IoT environment that requires diversification. Therefore, in order to overcome these disadvantages, this paper proposes a method suitable for the IoT environment, while using the existing block cipher algorithm, viz. the lightweight cipher algorithm, and keeping the existing system (viz. the sensing part and the server) almost unchanged. The proposed BCL architecture can perform encryption for various sensor devices in existing wire/wireless USNs (using) lightweight encryption. The proposed BCL architecture includes a pre/post-processing part in the existing block cipher algorithm, which allows various scattered devices to operate in a daisy chain network environment. This characteristic is optimal for the information security of distributed sensor systems and does not affect the neighboring network environment, even if hacking and cracking occur. Therefore, the BCL architecture proposed in the IoT environment can provide an optimal solution for the diversified IoT environment, because the existing block cryptographic algorithm, viz. the lightweight cryptographic algorithm, can be used.

The Healing Effect of 'Self-archetype' Manifested in the Analysis of 'Hunger' and 'Compulsive Overeating' : Investigation Focused on the 'Serpent' Imago ('배고픔'과 '폭식충동'을 주소로 하는 내담자의 분석과정에서 발현된 '자기원형'의 치유적 기능 : '뱀'의 상징을 중심으로 한 고찰)

  • Kim, Kye-Hee
    • Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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    • v.25 no.1
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    • pp.73-85
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    • 2017
  • Objectives : In this study I made investigations how 'strange hunger' and 'compulsive overeating' threatening the ego could be resolved and healed. And I aim to present a healing model of psychotherapy and analysis as one of methods of treatment for 'eating disorder'. Methods : The analysands of this study were outpatients who visited the department of psychiatry of Yong-In Mental Hospital from March 2008 to February 2017 with 'hunger' and 'compulsive overeating' as their chief complaints. This study is based on the detailed records of the process of analysis including dreams and visions. Results : 1) Throughout the process of analysis that explore both consciousness and unconsciousness(dream, vision), hunger and compulsive overeating is improved and healed in all analysands. 2) The Imago of 'Snake' appeared in dreams and visions of all analysands. 3) By suffering impulse rather than acting it out, impulse transformes itself into 'Imago'. As impulse transforms into 'Imago' and reveals the 'meaning' of it, ego-threatening power of impulse weakens and mood is calmed. And as a result, synthesis of consciousness and unconsciousness and creative transformation of personality can be possible. Conclusions : In some people, 'hunger' and 'compulsive overeating' are 'creative impulses' that aim 'Self-realization' which can be fruited as creative transformation of personality and as creative transformation in the relation with the world. 'Creative impulses', which often can be experienced as instinctive impulse or emotional suffering unless ego realizes the meaning, reveal the meaning in dreams or visions through 'Imago' and 'Symbol'.