• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.61-62
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• 2004

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 1998.10b
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• pp.44-45
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• 1998

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.74-75
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• 2003

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.7
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• pp.2704-2710
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• 2024

Nuclear archaeology research provides scientific methods to reconstruct the operating histories of fissile material production facilities to account for past fissile material production. While it has typically focused on analyzing material in permanent reactor structures, spent fuel or high-level waste also hold information about the reactor operation. In this computational study, we explore a Bayesian inference framework for reconstructing the operational history from measurements of isotope ratios from a sample of nuclear waste. We investigate two different inference models. The first model discriminates between three potential reactors of origin (Magnox, PWR, and PHWR) while simultaneously reconstructing the fuel burnup, time since irradiation, initial enrichment, and average power density. The second model reconstructs the fuel burnup and time since irradiation of two batches of waste in a mixed sample. Each of the models is applied to a set of simulated test data, and the performance is evaluated by comparing the highest posterior density regions to the corresponding parameter values of the test dataset. Both models perform well on the simulated test cases, which highlights the potential of the Bayesian inference framework and opens up avenues for further investigation.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.259-271
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• 2024

A procedure for minimizing the environmental burden and maximizing the efficiency of storage sites used for the final disposal of spent fuel has been proposed. In this procedure, fission products (highly mobile and producing heat) are collected, and uranium and TRU-RE (transuranium-rare earth) oxide are independently stored. The possibility and applicability of radiation measurement for monitoring the nuclear materials effectively throughout the process has been simulated and evaluated. For the simulation, the properties of the chemical processes were analyzed, the major radiation emitters were determined, and the production of nuclear materials by chemical reactions were evaluated. In each process, the content of nuclear material was changed by up to 20% to represent abnormal conditions. The results showed that the plutonium peak was matched with the change in the TRU content and the measured signal was changed linearly with respect to the content change of the plutonium. From the neutron measurement, a linear response of the TRU content variation was obtained. In addition, a logic diagram was developed for the nuclear monitoring. The integration of radiation detections is recommended for monitoring the process effectively and efficiently.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.125-133
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• 2004

Fission products of DUPIC (Direct Use of Spent PWR Fuel in CANDU Reactors) fuel, irradiated in HANARO research reactor with 61 ㎾/m of maximum linear power and 1,770 ㎿d/tU of average burn-up, was characterized by EPMA(Electron Probe Micro Analyzer). In order to find accurate characterization, the analysis results by EPMA of fresh simulated DUPIC fuel containing fission products as chemicals were compared with that of wet chemical analysis. The metallic precipitates observed at the center of the fresh simulated DUPIC fuel were about 1 $\mu\textrm{m}$ in size and their major components by EPMA were Mo-53.89 at.%, Ru-37.40 at.%, and Pd+Rh-8.71 at.%. Established procedure through the fresh simulated DUPIC fuel was applied to the irradiated DUPIC fuel. Observed size of metallic precipitates were 2∼2.5 $\mu\textrm{m}$ and their compositions were Mo-47.34 at.%, Ru-46 at.%, and Pd+Rh-6.65 at.%. What are uncommon things for this experiment, special treatment for improving the conductivity was attempted to the specimen and the conditions of exact irradiation of electron beam to small metallic precipitate were suggested.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.584-591
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• 2000

The separation of Nd from the simulated $U_3Si/Al$ spent fuel solution with sequential two-step anion exchange separation has been studied. To prepare the simulated $U_3Si/Al$ spent nuclear fuel, unirradiated $U_3Si/Al$ whose composition consists of small $U_3Si$ particle dispersed in an Al matrix with Al cladding was dissolved with a mixture of 4 M HCl and 10 M $HNO_3$ and 8 or 15 fission product elements were added to the dissolved solution. The trace amount of silica in the solutions was removed by evaporating to dryness with HF and the U was adsorbed on the first anion exchange resin. Neodymium can be purely isolated from the fission product elements with a methanol-nitric acid eluent using the second anion exchange resin. A large excess of Al didn't influence on the elution velocity of Nd, but reduced the eluted contents of Nd, Al, Eu, Gd, Sm and Sr, A large amount of Al was removed first from the column with 3 mL of loading solution (0.8 M $HNO_3$/99.8% MeOH) before Nd elution by the eluent [0.04 M $HNO_3$-99.8% MeOH(1:9)]. The recovery of Nd was more than 94%, regardless of Al contents. Taking the 9 to 13 mL fraction of eluate was effective to purely isolate Nd.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.381-387
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• 2004

To characterize chemically a spent pressurized water reactor (PWR) fuel, an analytical method for trace amounts of tritium ($^3H$) in it has been established. Considering the effective management of radioactive wastes generated through the whole experimental process and the radiological safety for analysts, a separation condition under which $^{14}C$ and $^3H$ can be sequentially recovered from a single fuel sample was optimized using simulated spent PWR fuel dissolved solutions. $^{14}CO_2$ evolved during dissolution of the spent PWR fuels with nitric acid was trapped in an aliquot of 1.5 M NaOH. $^{129}I_2$ which was volatilized along with $^{14}CO_2$ was removed using a silver nitrate-impregnated silica gel absorbent. $^3H$ remaining in the fuel dissolved solution as $^3H_2O$ was selectively recovered by distillation. Its recovery yield was 97.9% with a relative standard deviation of 0.9% (n=3). $^3H$ in a spent PWR fuel with burnup value of 37,000 MWd/MtU was analyzed, reliability of this analytical method being evaluated by standard addition method.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.547-556
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• 2014

Korea expects a shortage in storage capacity for spent fuels at reactor sites. Therefore, a need for more metal and/or concrete casks for storage systems is anticipated for either the reactor site or away from the reactor for interim storage. For the purpose of interim storage and transportation, a dual purpose metal cask that can load 21 spent fuel assemblies is being developed by Korea Radioactive Waste Management Corporation (KRMC) in Korea. At first the gamma and neutron flux for the design basis fuel were determined assuming in-core environment (the temperature, pressure, etc. of the moderator, boron, cladding, $UO_2$ pellets) in which the design basis fuel is loaded, as input data. The evaluation simulated burnup up to 45,000 MWD/MTU and decay during ten years of cooling using the SAS2H/OGIGEN-S module of the SCALE5.1 system. The results from the source term evaluation were used as input data for the final shielding evaluation utilizing the MCNP Code, which yielded the effective dose rate. The design of the cask is based on the safety requirements for normal storage conditions under 10 CFR Part 72. A radiation shielding analysis of the metal storage cask optimized for loading 21 design basis fuels was performed for two cases; one for a single cask and the other for a $2{\times}10$ cask array. For the single cask, dose rates at the external surface of the metal cask, 1m and 2m away from the cask surface, were evaluated. For the $2{\times}10$ cask array, dose rates at the center point of the array and at the center of the casks' height were evaluated. The results of the shielding analysis for the single cask show that dose rates were considerably higher at the lower side (from the bottom of the cask to the bottom of the neutron shielding) of the cask, at over 2mSv/hr at the external surface of the cask. However, this is not considered to be a significant issue since additional shielding will be installed at the storage facility. The shielding analysis results for the $2{\times}10$ cask array showed exponential decrease with distance off the sources. The controlled area boundary was calculated to be approximately 280m from the array, with a dose rate of 25mrem/yr. Actual dose rates within the controlled area boundary will be lower than 25mrem/yr, due to the decay of radioactivity of spent fuel in storage.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.363-374
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• 2005

A heterogeneous thorium-based Kyung Hee Thorium Fuel (KTF) assembly design was assessed for application in the APR-1400 to study the feasibility of using thorium fuel in a conventional pressurized water reactor (PWR). Thermal hydraulic safety was examined for the thorium-based APR-1400 core, focusing on the Departure from Nucleate Boiling Ratio (DNBR) and Large Break Loss of Coolant Accident (LBLOCA) analysis. To satisfy the minimum DNBR (MDNBR) safety limit condition, MDNBR>1.3, a new grid design was adopted, that enabled grids in the seed and blanket assemblies to have different loss coefficients to the coolant flow. The fuel radius of the blanket was enlarged to increase the mass flow rate in the seed channel. Under transient conditions, the MDNBR values for the Beginning of Cycle (BOC), Middle of Cycle (MOC), and End of Cycle (EOC) were 1.367, 1.465, and 1.554, respectively, despite the high power tilt across the seed and blanket. Anticipated transient for the DNBR analysis were simulated at conditions of $112\%$ over-power, $95\%$ flow rate, and $2^{\circ}C$ higher inlet temperature. The maximum peak cladding temperature (PCT) was 1,173K for the severe accident condition of the LBLOCA, while the limit condition was 1,477K. The proliferation resistance potential of the thorium-based core was found to be much higher than that of the conventional $UO_2$ fuel core, $25\%$ larger in Bare Critical Mass (BCM), $60\%$ larger in Spontaneous Neutron Source (SNS), and $155\%$ larger in Thermal Generation (TG) rate; however, the radio-toxicity of the spent fuel was higher than that of $UO_2$ fuel, making it more environmentally unfriendly due to its high burnup rate.