• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.31 no.9
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• pp.903-909
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• 2007

A fatigue capsule is one of the special capsules to investigate the fatigue characteristics of the nuclear materials during an irradiation test in a research reactor, HANARO. In this study, the performance test and the preliminary fatigue test results by using a cyclic load device newly developed for a fatigue capsule are described. In order to obtain the characteristics such as a realization and a controllability of the periodic wave shape and the relationship between the pressure and the load, a spring and rigid bar specimens are used. The fatigue test for the 316L stainless steel specimen with 1.8mm in diameter and 12.5mm in gage length is also performed under the same conditions as the temperature($550^{\circ}C$) of the specimen during irradiation tests. As a result of the test, the fracture of the specimen occurs at a total of 70,120 cycles(about 12 days), and the displacement in this case is 2.02 mm. It is expected that these results will be used for determining test conditions and a comparison of the in-pile fatigue test results.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.697-708
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• 2012

The majority of instrumentation and control (I&C) systems in today's nuclear power plants (NPPs) are based on analog technology. Thus, most existing I&C systems now face obsolescence problems. Existing NPPs have difficulty in repairing and replacing devices and boards during maintenance because manufacturers no longer produce the analog devices and boards used in the implemented I&C systems. Therefore, existing NPPs are replacing the obsolete analog I&C systems with advanced digital systems. New NPPs are also adopting digital I&C systems because the economic efficiencies and usability of the systems are higher than the analog I&C systems. Digital I&C systems are based on two technologies: a microprocessor based system in which software programs manage the required functions and a programmable logic device (PLD) based system in which programmable logic devices, such as field programmable gate arrays, manage the required functions. PLD based systems provide higher levels of performance compared with microprocessor based systems because PLD systems can process the data in parallel while microprocessor based systems process the data sequentially. In this research, a bistable trip logic in a reactor protection system (RPS) was developed using very high speed integrated circuits hardware description language (VHDL), which is a hardware description language used in electronic design to describe the behavior of the digital system. Functional verifications were also performed in order to verify that the bistable trip logic was designed correctly and satisfied the required specifications. For the functional verification, a random testing technique was adopted to generate test inputs for the bistable trip logic.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.551-560
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• 2012

The Wolsong-1 (W-1) Phase-B pre-simulations were carried out in preparation for tests to be conducted for the restart of the reactor after a major refurbishment project that included replacement of the pressure tube. These pre-simulations for Wolsong-1 Phase-B differ from those in the past that were performed for the Wolsong-1,2,3,4 tests in that these tests use the WIMS/DRAGON/RFSP-IST code suite for verification of the tests and gadolinium instead of the traditional PPV/MULTICELL/RFSP code system and boron as poison in the moderator system. The use of gadolinium is deemed not to have domestically accumulated experience gained from the previous Phase-B tests. Thus, it is appropriate to conduct a study in order to gain a correct understanding and interpretation of potential differences in test results stemming from using gadolinium rather than boron. Although the calibration of the reactivity device will not be noticeably different using boron and gadolinium at a constant moderator temperature, the temperature dependency of the neutronic behavior due to the presence of gadolinium in the moderator system might be pronounced. The results of the pre-simulations using gadolinium revealed that the moderator temperature reactivity coefficients indeed showed significant differences in comparison with those with boron. In order to secure the validity of the analysis results, the newly acquired WIMS/DRAGON/RFSP-IST code suite was verified against the W-2,3,4 Phase-B test results. The results of the new code suite verifications revealed some overall improvements in accuracy; justification of the use of the code can be claimed for the validation of the W-1 Phase-B test results.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.154-158
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• 2016

A CRDM (Control Rod Drive Mechanism) is an electromagnetic device which drives a control rod assembly linearly to regulate the reactivity of a nuclear core. An RPIS (Rod Position Indication System) is used as a position indicator for a control rod assembly of a CRDM of SMART, and an RPIS consists of permanent magnets and reed switches. SMART is designed for the maximum coolant temperature of $350^{\circ}C$, and the permanent magnets are installed inside of the reactor. The reed switches and electrical circuit are installed outside of the reactor on the other hand. Test coil for a reed switch is test equipment for quality verification of a reed switch, and a test coil consists of a coil and core. In this study, magnetic property of test coil and permanent magnet on a reed switch is compared by using finite element electromagnetic simulation.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.425-429
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• 2011

In the unlikely of nuclear reactor meltdown, the leaked core melt or corium must be contained in a device called core-catcher so that the corium can be cooled and stabilized. The ex-vessel behavior of corium involves complex physical and chemical mechanisms of flow propagation, heat transfer, and reactions with sacrificial substrates. In this study, the detailed characteristics of corium flow and heat transfer were investigated by using a commercial CFD code for VULCANO VE-U7 test reported in the literature. The volume-of-fluid (VOF) model was used to predict the interfacial surface formation of corium and the surrounding air, and the discrete ordinate model was adopted to calculate radiation between corium and the surroundings. It was found that cooling via radiation through the top surface of corium had a dominant effect on the temperature and viscosity profiles at the front of the corium flow.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.120-126
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• 2015

Recently, the ever-increasing use of fossil fuels for rapid industrial development and population significantly caused an environment pollution and global warming such as climate change. So research and development of sustainable and eco-friendly energy have been performed. Especially the interest in nuclear fusion fuel was significantly increased from the developed countries. The system of fusion energy production was tritium separation, storage and delivery, and purification. Republic of Korea is in charge of Storage and Delivery System (SDS) in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). Welding part of the SDS bottles for storing the tritium is known to be susceptible to hydrogen embrittlement. In this study, conducted a study for the relaxation of the stability and hydrogen embrittlement of the weld area. The hydrogen heat treatment was processed through the Pressure-Composition-Temperature (PCT) device according to the time variation. Also mechanical properties such as impact test and hardness test according to using the alkaline cleaning liquid for hydrogen embrittlement relief and the fracture was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) after the mechanical properties evaluation.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.255-263
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• 2006

Vol-oxidizer is a device to convert $UO_2$ pellets into $U_3O_8$ powder and to feed a homogeneous powder into a Metal Conversion Reactor in the ACP(Advanced Spent Fuel Conditioning Process). In this paper, we propose a design model of the vol-oxidizer, develop the new vol-oxidizer with a capacity of 20 kg HM/batch in $UO_2$ pellets, and conduct a verification for the device. Design considerations include the internal structure, the capacity, the heating position of the device, and the size. The dimensions of the new vol-oxidizer are decided by the design model. We determine a permeability test of the $U_3O_8$ measuring the temperature distribution, and the volume of $UO_2$ and $U_3O_8$. We manufactured the new vol-oxidizer for a 20 kg HM/batch in $UO_2$ pellets, and then analyzed the characteristics of the $U_3O_8$ powder for the verification. The experimental results show that the permeability of the $U_3O_8$ throughout mesh enhance more than old vol-oxidizer, the oxidation time takes only 8 hours when compared with the 13 hours of the old device, and the average distribution of particle size is $40{\mu}m$. The capacities of new vol-oxidizer for a 20 kg HM/batch in $UO_2$ pellets were agree well with the predictions of design model.