• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권3호
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• pp.941-948
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• 2024

The effects of radiation on the corrosion of canister materials were investigated for the reliable disposal of high-level radioactive waste. The test specimens were gamma-irradiated at a very low dose rate of approximately 0.1 Gy/h for six and twelve months. The copper and cast iron species were less corroded when irradiated. It is hypothesized that gamma rays suppress the formation of lower-enthalpy species like metal oxides and activate reductive reactions. In contrast, it was difficult to evaluate the effect of radiation on the corrosion of titanium and stainless steel.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제50권6호
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• pp.890-898
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• 2018

Nondestructive inspection (NDI) is an integral part of structural integrity analyses of dry storage casks that house spent nuclear fuel. One significant concern for the structural integrity is stress corrosion cracking in the heat-affected zone of welds in the stainless steel canister that confines the spent fuel. In situ NDI methodology for detection of stress corrosion cracking is investigated, where the inspection uses a delivery robot because of the presence of the harsh environment and geometric constrains inside the cask protecting the canister. Shear horizontal (SH) guided waves that are sensitive to cracks oriented either perpendicular or parallel to the wave vector are used to locate welds and to detect cracks. SH waves are excited and received by electromagnetic acoustic transducers (EMATs) using noncontact ultrasonic transduction and pulse-echo mode. A laboratory-scale canister mock-up is fabricated and inspected using the proposed methodology to evaluate the ability of EMATs to excite and receive SH waves and to locate welds. The EMAT's capability to detect notches from various distances is evaluated on a plate containing 25%-through-thickness surface-breaking notches. Based on the results of the distances at which notch reflections are detectable, NDI coverage for spent nuclear fuel storage canisters is determined.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권1호
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• pp.317-327
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• 2024

This study investigated the chloride-induced stress corrosion cracking (CISCC) behavior expected to occur in welds of austenitic stainless steel, which are considered candidate materials for dry storage containers for spent nuclear fuel. The behavior was studied by varying temperature, relative humidity (RH), and chloride concentration. 304L-ER308L welded plates were processed into U-bend specimens and exposed to a cyclic corrosion chamber for 12 weeks. The CISCC behavior was then analyzed using electron microscopy. A previous study by the authors confirmed that CISCC occurred in ER308L at 60 ℃, 30% RH, and 0.6 M NaCl via selective corrosion of δ-ferrite. When the temperature was lowered from 60 ℃ to 50 ℃, CISCC still occurred. However, when the humidity was reduced to 20% RH, CISCC did not happen. This can be attributed to the retardation of the deliquescence of NaCl at lower humidity, which was insufficient to promote CISCC. Furthermore, increased chloride concentration to 1.0 M resulted in the absence of CISCC and widespread surface corrosion with severe pitting corrosion because of the increase in thin film thickness.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권11호
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• pp.4032-4038
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• 2023

Cu, which exhibits excellent corrosion resistance in underground environments, has been investigated as a canister material for use in the deep geological disposal of spent nuclear fuels. In this study, the technical viability of atmospheric plasma spraying for producing Cu-coated canisters was investigated. A high-purity Cu film (millimeter scale) was deposited onto a stainless-steel substrate using a plasma gun with a shroud structure. Potentiodynamic polarization studies revealed that the Cu film exhibited a sufficiently low corrosion rate in the groundwater electrolyte. In addition, no pitting corrosion was observed on the Cu film surface after accelerated corrosion studies. A prototype cylindrical Cu film was fabricated on a 1/20 scale on a stainless-steel tube to demonstrate the scalability of atmospheric plasma spraying in producing Cu-coated canisters.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권6호
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• pp.2131-2140
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• 2024

The chloride-induced stress corrosion cracking (CISCC) is one of the major integrity concerns in dry storage canisters made of austenitic stainless steels (ASSs). In this study, an advanced duplex stainless steel (DSS) with a composition of Fe-19Cr-4Ni-2.5Mo-4.5Mn (ADCS) was developed and its performance was compared with that of commercial ASS and DSS alloys. The chemical composition of ADCS was determined to obtain greater pitting and CISCC resistance as well as a proper combination of strength and ductility. Then, the thermomechanical processing (TMP) condition was applied, which resulted in higher strength than ASSs (304L SS and 316L SS) and better ductility than DSSs (2101 LDSS and 2205 DSS). The potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) results represented the better pitting corrosion resistance of ADCS compared to 304L SS and 316L SS by forming a better passive layer. The CISCC tests using four-point loaded specimens showed that cracks were initiated at 24 h for 304L SS and 144 h for 316L SS, while crack was not found until 1008 h for ADCS. Overall, the developed alloy, ADCS, showed better combination of CISCC resistance and mechanical properties as dry storage canister materials than commercial alloys.

• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제16권2호
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• pp.233-242
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• 2018

본 연구에서는 탄소강 심부시추공 처분용기가 가지는 고온에서의 물성 저하와 내부식성 문제 등을 해결하기 위하여, 열전도도가 우수한 SiC를 이용한 심부시추공 처분용기의 제작 가능성을 살펴보았다. 먼저 사용후핵연료 집합체 1다발을 수용할 수있는 심부시추공 처분용기를 설계하였으며, 설계된 처분용기는 내부 SiC 기밀용기와 취급 편의와 심부정치를 위한 외부 스테인리스 용기로 구성하였다. 그리고 SiC 세라믹 용기의 제작 가능성을 확인하기 위해, 1/3 규모의 소형 SiC 용기를 실제 제작하였다. 제작된 SiC 용기에서 시편을 추출하여 열전도도를 측정하였으며, KURT 지하 $70^{\circ}C$ 고온조건에서 3년간 내구성 시험도 실시하였다. 그 결과 SiC는 $100^{\circ}C$에서도 $70W{\cdot}m^{-1}{\cdot}K^{-1}$ 이상의 열전도도를 보였으며, 내구성 시험 후에도 변화가 전혀 보이지 않았다. 따라서 SiC는 높은 열전도도와 우수한 내부식성을 갖고 있어, 심부시추공 처분용기 재료로 적합하다고 보았다.

• 한국대기환경학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국대기환경학회 2002년도 춘계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.231-232
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• 2002

대기중에 존재하는 미량의 극성 유기화합물들은 비극성 유기화합물 보다는 반응성이 크고 불안정하므로 이를 채취하여 분석하는 과정이 매우 어려운 실정이다. 일반적으로 sampling에 자주 사용되는 stainless steel로 특수 내면처리 시킨 canister를 이용하였으나 이 방법에 의한 시료 채취방법은 고가의 비용이 소요되며, 반응성이 큰 VOC의 경우에는 성분에 따라 안정도가 낮은 경우도 많다. 그러므로 본 연구에서는 대기 시료를 bag 이나 캐니스터와 같은 용기로서 채취하여 측정할 경우 극성 VOC 성분이 얼마나 안정하게 유지될수 있는지를 조사하고저 하였다. (중략)

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권3호
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• pp.1098-1108
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• 2022

The effect of the material hardening model of the canister on a finite element vertical cask drop simulation is investigated for the strain-based acceptance evaluation. Three different hardening models are considered in this paper: the isotropic hardening model, the strain rate-dependent Johnson-Cook (J-C) hardening model, and the modified J-C model which are believed to be the most accurate. By comparing the results using the modified J-C model, it is found that the use of the J-C model provides similar or larger stresses and strains depending on the magnitudes of the strain and strain rate. The use of the isotropic hardening model always yields larger stresses and strains. For the strain-based acceptance evaluation, the use of the isotropic hardening model can produce highly conservative assessment results. The use of the J-C model, however, produces satisfactory results.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권12호
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• pp.4647-4658
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• 2023

In this paper, elastic-plastic fracture mechanics analysis is performed to determine the critical crack sizes of the multipurpose canister (MPC) manufactured using austenitic stainless steel under dynamic loading conditions that simulate drop accidents. Firstly, dynamic finite element (FE) analysis is performed using Abaqus v.2018 with the KORAD (Korea Radioactive Waste Agency)-21 model under two drop accident conditions. Through the FE analysis, critical locations and through-thickness stress distributions in the MPC are identified, where the maximum plastic strain occurs during impact loadings. Then, the evaluation using the failure assessment diagram (FAD) is performed by postulating an external surface crack at the critical location to determine the critical crack depth. It is found that, for the drop cases considered in this paper, the principal failure mechanism for the circumferential surface crack is found to be the plastic collapse due to dominant high bending axial stress in the thickness. For axial cracks, the plastic collapse is also the dominant failure mechanism due to high membrane hoop stress, followed by the ductile tearing analysis. When incorporating the strain rate effect on yield strength and fracture toughness, the critical crack depth increases from 10 to 20%.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권7호
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• pp.2386-2394
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• 2022

In this paper, smooth and notched bar tensile tests of austenitic stainless steel 304 are performed, covering four different multi-axial stress states and six different strain rate conditions, to investigate the effect of the stress triaxiality and strain rate on fracture strain. Test data show that the measured true fracture strain tends to decrease with increasing stress triaxiality and strain rate. The test data are then quantified using the Johnson-Cook (J-C) fracture strain model incorporating combined effects of the stress triaxiality and strain rate. The determined J-C model can predict true fracture strain overall conservatively with the difference less than 20%. The conservatism in the strain-based acceptance criteria in ASME B&PV Code, Section III, Appendix FF is also discussed.