• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.29-45
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• 1979

In this paper. nuclear characteristics of TRIGA Mark-III has been analyzed in detail for six different fuel options. Presently, 70 w/o enriched FLIP fuels are adopted for TRIGA core to improve fuel lifetime. However, such highly enriched fuels are not easily obtained due to nonproliferation treaty. This research examines the possible substitution for FLIP fuels with high density fuels without reducing the nuclear performance. This work will provide long-time plan for TRIGA operation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1999.05a
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• pp.414-414
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• 1999

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.720-724
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• 2003

In order to develop the decontamination process for self-disposal with authorization of duct waste generated from the decommissioning of retired TRIGA research reactors, the surface characterization of duct specimen taken from TRIGA research reactor was carried out and the adequate decontamination method was selected. It can be known that the paint coated internal surface of duct is contaminated with $^{60}Co$and $^{137}Cs$, which are penetrated into the paint layer and incorporated into zinc plated surface of galvanized iron as the material of duct. Two step chemical decontamination process, in which sodium hydroxide and sulfuric acid solutions are used in turn, is quite successful to remove the surface contamination of duct waste.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.608-616
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• 2022

Power peaking factors (PPF) is an important parameter for safe and efficient reactor operation. There are several methods to calculate the PPF at TRIGA research reactors such as MCNP and TRIGLAV codes. However, these methods are time-consuming and required high specifications of a computer system. To overcome these limitations, artificial intelligence was introduced for parameter prediction. Previous studies applied the neural network method to predict the PPF, but the publications using the ANFIS method are not well developed yet. In this paper, the prediction of PPF using the ANFIS was conducted. Two input variables, control rod position, and neutron flux were collected while the PPF was calculated using TRIGLAV code as the data output. These input-output datasets were used for ANFIS model generation, training, and testing. In this study, four ANFIS model with two types of input space partitioning methods shows good predictive performances with R² values in the range of 96%-97%, reveals the strong relationship between the predicted and actual PPF values. The RMSE calculated also near zero. From this statistical analysis, it is proven that the ANFIS could predict the PPF accurately and can be used as an alternative method to develop a real-time monitoring system at TRIGA research reactors.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.291-309
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• 1973

Exposure rates due to leakage gamma-rays from operating reactors TRIGA Mark II and III were measured in a horizontal plane by means of scintillation spectrometry using a 3"$\times$3" cylindrical Nal(T1) detector associated with a 400 channel pulse height analyzer under varied conditions of reactor operation. In determining exposure rate due to the leakage gamma-rays at each point of measurement, Moriuchi's spectrum-exposure rate conversion theory was applied instead of using conventional responce matrix method which necessitates very complicated procedures to convert a spectrum into exposure rate. The results show that a basic pattern of "typical" spectrum of the reactor leakage gamma-rays is neither affected by thermal output of the reactor, nor influenced by overall attenuation in radiation intensity. It was indicated that he attenuation of the leakage gamma-rays in air in terms of exposure rate as a whole follows an exponential law, and the total exposure rate due to the leakage gamma-rays at a certain point is nearly proportional to thermal output of the reactor. The complexity in spectrum measured for a movable core reactor, TRIGA Mark III, was analyzed through spectrum resolution, and proper judgement of the leakage gamma-rays in a complex spectrum was discussed.ctrum was discussed.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.109-120
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• 1999

Residual radiation and radioactivity level in TRIGA Mark-II, III research reactors and facilities at the KAERI Seoul site, which are to be decommissioned, have been measured, analyzed and evaluated to know the current status of radiation and radioactivity level and to establish and to provide the technical requirements for the safe decommissioning of the facilities which shall be applied in minimizing the radiation exposure for workers and in preventing the release of the radioactive materials to the environment. Radiation dose rate and surface radioactivity contamination level on the experimental equipments, floors, walls of the facilities, and the surface of the activated materials within the reactor pool structure were measured and evaluated. Radioactivity and radionuclides in the pool and cooling water were also analyzed. In case of the activated reactor pool structures which are very difficult to measure the radiation and radioactivity level, a computer code Fispin was additionally used for estimation of the residual radioactivity and radionuclides. The radiation and radioactivity data obtained in this study were effectively used as basic data for decontamination and dismantling plan for safe decommissioning of TRIGA Mark-II, III facilities.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.264-276
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• 1981

A simulation procedure which can represent time-dependent nuclear characteristics of TRIGA Mark-III reactor is developed. CITATION, a multi-group diffusion-depletion program, has been utilized as calculational tool. The group structure employed in this study consists of 7 groups: -3-fast and 4-thermal-which is conventionally utilized in TRIGA type reactor analysis. Three-dimensional nuclear characteristics are synthesized by combining results from two-dimensional plane calculation and two-dimensional cylinder calculation, since direct three-dimensional approach is not yet possible. An effort ia made to develope a method which can extract effective zone and group dependent bucklings by neutron diffusion theory rather than conventional zone and/or group independent Ducklings by neutron transport theory, since neutron leakage is quite high for small core such as research reactors. It is turned out that the method developed in this study gives satisfactory results. The calculation is performed under assumptions that all control rods are fully withdrawn, that no samples are inserted in the irradiation holes and that the core is located in the center of the reactor pool. Burnup-dependent variation of core excess reactivity, time dependent change of Xe-135 poisoning and reactivity worth of rotary specimen rack are calculated and compared with operation records. Neutron flux and power distribution as well as neutron spectrum in each irradiation .facility are presented.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.11
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• pp.4226-4230
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• 2022

The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) has designed a Hybrid-Low Power Research Reactor (H-LPRR) which can be used for critical assembly and conventional research reactor as well. It is an open tank-in-pool type research reactor (Thermal Power: 50 kW_th) of which the most important applications are Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA), Radioisotope (RI) production, education and training. There are eight irradiation holes on the edge of the reactor core: IR (6 holes for RI production) and NA (2 holes for NAA) holes. In order to quantify the elemental concentration in target samples through the Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA), it is necessary to measure neutron spectrum parameters such as thermal neutron flux, the deviation from the ideal 1/E epithermal neutron flux distribution (α), and the thermal-to-epithermal neutron flux ratio (f) for the irradiation holes. In this study, the MCNP6.1 code and FORTRAN 90 language are applied to determine the parameters for the two irradiation holes (NA-SW and NA-NW) in H-LPRR, and in particular its α and f parameters are compared to values of other research reactors. The results confirmed that the neutron irradiation holes in H-LPRR are designed to be sufficiently applied to neutron activation analysis, and its performance is comparable to that of foreign research reactors including the TRIGA MARK II.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.139-150
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• 2005

A robust control design procedure for a nuclear reactor has been developed and experimentally validated on the Penn State TRIGA research reactor. The utilization of the robust controller as a component of an autonomous control system is also demonstrated. Two methods of specifying a low order (fourth-order) nominal-plant model for a robust control design were evaluated: 1) by approximation based on the 'physics' of the process and 2) by an optimal Hankel approximation of a higher order plant model. The uncertainty between the nominal plant models and the higher order plant model is supplied as a specification to the ,u-synthesis robust control design procedure. Two methods of quantifying uncertainty were evaluated: 1) a combination of additive and multiplicative uncertainty and 2) multiplicative uncertainty alone. The conclusions are that the optimal Hankel approximation and a combination of additive and multiplicative uncertainty are the best approach to design robust control for this application. The results from nonlinear simulation testing and the physical experiments are consistent and thus help to confirm the correctness of the robust control design procedures and conclusions.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.33-40
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• 2006

The characteristics of the aluminum waste melting and the distribution of the radioactive nuclides have been investigated for the estimation on the volume reduction and the decontamination of the aluminum wastes from the decommissioning of the TRIGA MARK it and III research reactors at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute(KAERI). The aluminum wastes were melted with the use of the fluxes such as flux $A:NaCl-KCl-Na_3AlF_6$, flux B:NaCl-NaF-KF, flux $C:CaF_2$, and flux $D:LiF-KCl-BaCl_2$ in the DC graphite arc furnace. For the assessment of the distribution of the radioactive nuclides during the melting of the aluminum, the aluminum materials were contaminated by the surrogate nuclides such as cobalt(Co), cesium(Cs) and strontium(Sr). The fluidity of aluminum melt was increased with the addition of the fluxes, which has slight difference according to the type of fluxes. The formation of the slag during the aluminum melting added the flux type C and D was larger than that with the flux A and B. The rate of the slag formation linearly increased with increasing the flux concentration. The results of the XRD analysis showed that the surrogate nuclide was transferred to the slag, which can be easily separated from the melt and then they combined with aluminum oxide to form a more stable compound. The distribution ratio of cobalt in ingot to that in slag was more than 40% at all types of fluxes. Since vapor pressures of cesium and strontium were higher than those that of the host metals at the melting temperature, their removal efficiency from the ingot phase to the slag and the dust phase was by up to 98%.