• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제51권6호
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• pp.1540-1553
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• 2019

A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a highly complex system-of-systems as manifested through its internal systems interdependence. The negative impact of such interdependence was demonstrated through the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. As such, there is a critical need for new strategies to overcome the limitations of current risk assessment techniques (e.g. the use of static event and fault tree schemes), particularly through simulation of the nonlinear dynamic feedback mechanisms between the different NPP systems/components. As the first and key step towards developing an integrated NPP dynamic probabilistic risk assessment platform that can account for such feedback mechanisms, the current study adopts a system dynamics simulation approach to model the thermal dynamic processes in: the reactor core; the secondary coolant system; and the pressurized water reactor. The reactor core and secondary coolant system parameters used to develop system dynamics models are based on those of the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station. These three system dynamics models are subsequently validated, using results from published work, under different system perturbations including the change in reactivity, the steam valve coefficient, the primary coolant flow, and others. Moving forward, the developed system dynamics models can be integrated with other interacting processes within a NPP to form the basis of a dynamic system-level (systemic) risk assessment tool.

• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제16권3호
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• pp.359-367
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• 2018

Long-lived Small Modular Reactors are being promoted as an innovative way of catering to emerging markets and isolated regions. They can be operated continuously for decades without requiring additional fuel. A novel configuration of long-lived reactor core employs a mixed neutron spectrum, providing an improvement in nonproliferation metrics and in safety characteristics. Starting with a base sodium reactor design, moderating material is inserted in outer core assemblies to modify the fast spectrum. The assemblies are shuffled once during core lifetime to ensure that every fuel rod is exposed to the thermalized spectrum. The Mixed Spectrum Reactor is able to maintain a core lifetime over two decades while ensuring the plutonium it breeds is below the weapon-grade limit at the fuel discharge. The main drawbacks of the design are higher front-end fuel cycle costs and a 58% increase in core volume, although it is alleviated to some extent by a 48% higher power output.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권7호
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• pp.2474-2482
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• 2023

The development of fast reactors with complex designs and operation status requires more accurate and effective simulation. The Monte-Carlo method can generate multi-group cross-sections in arbitrary geometry without approximation on resonances treatment and leads to good results in combination with diffusion codes. However, in previous studies, the coupling of Monte-Carlo generated multi-group cross-sections (MC-MGXS) and transport solvers has shown relatively large biases in fast reactor problems. In this paper, the main contribution to the biases is proved to be the neglect of the angle-dependence of the total cross-sections. The flux-moment homogenization technique (MHT) is proposed to take into account this dependence. In this method, the angular dependence is attributed to the transfer cross-sections, keeping an independent form for the total sections. For the MET-1000 benchmark, the multi-group transport simulation results with MC-MGXS generated with MHT are improved by 700 pcm and an additional 120 pcm with higher order scattering. The factors that cause the residual bias are discussed. The core power distribution bias is also significantly reduced when MHT is used. It proves that the MCMGXS with MHT can be applicable with transport solvers in fast reactor analysis.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제49권1호
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• pp.267-276
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• 2017

In any reactor physics analysis, the instantaneous power distribution in the core can be calculated when the actual bundle-wise burnup distribution is known. Considering the fact that CANDU (Canada Deuterium Uranium) utilizes on-power refueling to compensate for the reduction of reactivity due to fuel burnup, in the CANDU fuel management analysis, snapshots of power and burnup distributions can be obtained by simulating and tracking the reactor operation over an extended period using various tools such as the $^*SIMULATE$ module of the Reactor Fueling Simulation Program (RFSP) code. However, for some studies, such as an evaluation of a conceptual design of a next-generation CANDU reactor, the preferred approach to obtain a snapshot of the power distribution in the core is based on the patterned-channel-age model implemented in the $^*INSTANTAN$ module of the RFSP code. The objective of this approach is to obtain a representative snapshot of core conditions quickly. At present, such patterns could be generated by using a program called RANDIS, which is implemented within the $^*INSTANTAN$ module. In this work, we present an alternative approach to derive the patterned-channel-age model where a simulated-annealing-based algorithm is used to find such patterns, which produce reasonable power distributions.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제47권1호
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• pp.94-101
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• 2015

This paper presents findings on the second-order sliding-mode controller for a nuclear research reactor. Sliding-mode controllers for nuclear reactors have been used for some time, but higher-order sliding-mode controllers have the added advantage of reduced chattering. The nonlinear model of Pakistan Research Reactor-1 has been used for higherorder sliding-mode controller design and performance evaluation. The reactor core is simulated based on point kinetics equations and one delayed neutron groups. The model assumes feedback from lumped fuel and coolant temperatures. The effect of xenon concentration is also considered. The employed method is easy to implement in practical applications, and the second-order sliding-mode control exhibits the desired dynamic properties during the entire output-tracking process. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller in terms of performance, robustness, and stability.

• 대한기계학회논문집A
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• 제40권5호
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• pp.437-447
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• 2016

원자력 발전소의 반응로에 핵연료 봉으로 이루어진 집합체가 있으며 핵 연료의 연소를 통한 열을 이용하여 발전을 한다. 핵연료 봉은 핵연료와 그를 감싸는 피복관으로 이루어졌으며 연소되는 동안 서로의 상호작용에 대한 해석은 안전성을 평가함에 있어 중요한 사실이다. 본 논문에서는 핵연료와 피복관의 연소 상태에서 기계적 상호작용에 대한 해석 방법에 대하여 제시한다. 온도 해석에 있어서 핵연료와 간극 사이에서의 열전도도가 중요하며 간극 거리와 접촉여부에 따른 접촉 압력이 또한 중요 요소이다. 이에 간극 열전도도는 비결정론적이기 때문에 이를 해결할 수 있는 방법에 대하여 제시했다. 핵 연료의 열팽창에 따른 피복관과의 접촉을 해결하기 위한 계산을 수행하였고 그에 따라 접촉 시 발생하는 응력이 항복함수를 넘어 소성 변형이 일어날 경우 또한 고려하였다. 핵연료의 열팽창에 따라 피복관과 접촉에 의한 소성 변형을 해석하므로 핵연료 봉의 안정성을 평가할 수 있다. 이를 적용하기 위해 3차원 유한요소 모듈을 FORTRAN90을 이용하여 개발하였다. 핵연료와 피복관의 접촉에 의한 탄소성 변형을 주로 다루며 두꺼운 실린더를 통한 간단한 이론 모델을 제시하여 코드에 대해 검증을 실시하였다.

• 전기학회논문지
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• 제61권11호
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• pp.1565-1570
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• 2012

Nuclear power generation is increasing domestic power supply ratio by lower CO2 emission and fuel prices. Currently, nuclear power generator has been operated with maximum power output. Therefore, nuclear power generator could be no effect to managing the reactive power reserve on power system. The reactive power reserve is calculated to the difference between maximum facility and operation generation capacity of the power system. This paper was proposed that load following of nuclear power is control by using 15-bus power system model. In the simulation result, power system is shown to safety state by operating load following of nuclear power generator. This method has be improved the supplied reliability through economic and efficient operation.

• 한국방사성폐기물학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국방사성폐기물학회 2017년도 추계학술논문요약집
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• pp.85-86
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• 2017

• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제17권4호
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• pp.389-403
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• 2019

Large amounts of concrete waste are likely to arise from the decommissioning of a Kori-1 nuclear power plant. Several studies have been conducted on decommissioning concrete waste in recent decades, however, they have been limited to contaminated concrete issues or were small pilot-scale experiments. This study constructed two industrial-scale models of on-site concrete waste management for clean as well as contaminated concrete. To evaluate the performance of both the models, simulations were conducted using the Flexsim software. The concrete particle size distribution of Kori-1 and concrete processor properties based on widely used construction equipment were used as sources of input data for the simulations. It was observed that it may take over two years to complete the on-site concrete management processes owing to the performance of existing processors. In addition, it was demonstrated that it is essential to identify bottlenecks in the system and enhance the performance of the relevant processors to avoid delays of the decommissioning schedule. Our results suggest that this novel approach can contribute to developing schedules or expediting delayed activities in the Kori-1 decommissioning project.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제50권1호
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• pp.35-42
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• 2018

This article presents clean core criticality calculations and control rod worth calculations for TRIGA (Training, Research, Isotope production-General Atomics) Mark II research reactor benchmark cores using Winfrith Improved Multi-group Scheme-D/4 (WIMS-D/4) and Program for Reactor In-core Analysis using Diffusion Equation (PRIDE) codes. Cores 133 and 134 were analyzed in 2-D (r, ${\theta}$) and 3-D (r, ${\theta}$, z), using WIMS-D/4 and PRIDE codes. Moreover, the influence of cross-section data was also studied using various libraries based on Evaluated Nuclear Data File (ENDF/B-VI.8 and VII.0), Joint Evaluated Fission and Fusion File (JEFF-3.1), Japanese Evaluated Nuclear Data Library (JENDL-3.2), and Joint Evaluated File (JEF-2.2) nuclear data. The simulation results showed that the multiplication factor calculated for all these data libraries is within 1% of the experimental results. The reactivity worth of the control rods of core 134 was also calculated with different homogenization approaches. A comparison was made with experimental and reported Monte Carlo results, and it was found that, using proper homogenization of absorber regions and surrounding fuel regions, the results obtained with PRIDE code are significantly improved.