• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.587-609
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• 2019

Short-and long-term stabilities of bentonite, favored material as buffer in geological repositories for high-level waste were reviewed in this paper in addition to alternative design concepts of buffer to mitigate the thermal load from decay heat of SF (Spent Fuel) and further increase the disposal efficiency. It is generally reported that the irreversible changes in structure, hydraulic behavior, and swelling capacity are produced due to temperature increase and vapor flow between $150{\sim}250^{\circ}C$. Provided that the maximum temperature of bentonite is less than $150^{\circ}C$, however, the effects of temperature on the material, structural, and mineralogical stability seems to be minor. The maximum temperature in disposal system will constrain and determine the amount of waste to be disposed per unit area and be regarded as an important design parameter influencing the availability of disposal site. Thus, it is necessary to identify the effects of high temperature on the performance of buffer and allow for the thermal constraint greater than $100^{\circ}C$. In addition, the development of high-performance EBS (Engineered Barrier System) such as composite bentonite buffer mixed with graphite or silica and multi-layered buffer (i.e., highly thermal-conductive layer or insulating layer) should be taken into account to enhance the disposal efficiency in parallel with the development of multilayer repository. This will contribute to increase of reliability and securing the acceptance of the people with regard to a high-level waste disposal.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.27-35
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• 2018

The passive containment cooling system (PCCS) has been designed to remove the released decay heat during the accident by means of the condensation heat transfer phenomenon to guarantee the safety of the nuclear power plant. The heat removal performance of the PCCS is mainly governed by the condensation heat transfer of the steam-air mixture. In this study, the heat removal performance of the PCCS was evaluated by using the MARS-KS code with a new empirical correlation for steam condensation in the presence of a noncondensable gas. A new empirical correlation implemented into the MARS-KS code was developed as a function of parameters that affect the condensation heat transfer coefficient, such as the pressure, the wall subcooling, the noncondensable gas mass fraction and the aspect ratio of the condenser tube. The empirical correlation was applied to the MARS-KS code to replace the default Colburn-Hougen model. The various thermal-hydraulic parameters during the operation of the PCCS follonwing a large-break loss-of-coolant-accident were analyzed. The transient pressure behavior inside the containment from the MARS-KS with the empirical correlation was compared with calculated with the Colburn-Hougen model.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.19-30
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• 2010

Bentonite-based grout has been widely used to seal a borehole constructed for a closed-loop vertical ground heat exchanger in a geothermal heat pump system (GHP) because of its high swelling potential and low hydraulic conductivity. Three types of bentonites were compared one another in terms of viscosity and thermal conductivity in this paper. The viscosity and thermal conductivity of the grouts with bentonite contents of 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% by weight were examined to take into account a variable water content of bentonite grout depending on field conditions. To evaluate the effect of salinity (i.e., concentration of NaCl : 0.1M, 0.25M, and 0.5M) on swelling potential of the bentonite-based grouts, a series of volume reduction tests were performed. In addition, if the viscosity of bentonite-water mixture is relatively low, particle segregation can occur. To examine the segregation phenomenon, the degree of segregation has been evaluated for the bentonite grouts especially in case of relatively low viscosity. From the experimental results, it is found that (1) the viscosity of the bentonite mixture increased with time and/or with increasing the mixing ratio. However, the thermal conductivity of the bentonite mixture did not increase with time but increased with increasing the mixing ratio; (2) If bentonite grout has a relatively high swelling index, the volume reduction ratio in the saline condition will be low; (3) The additive, such as a silica sand, can settle down on the bottom of the borehole if the bentonite has a very low viscosity. Consequently, the thermal conductivity of the upper portion of the ground heat exchanger will be much smaller than that of the lower portion.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.731-744
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• 2013

Energy security is a topic of high importance to many countries throughout the world. Countries with access to vast energy supplies enjoy all of the economic and political benefits that come with controlling a highly sought after commodity. Given the desire to diversify away from fossil fuels due to rising environmental and economic concerns, there are limited technology options available for baseload electricity generation. Further complicating this issue is the desire for energy sources to be sustainable and globally scalable in addition to being economic and environmentally benign. Nuclear energy in its current form meets many but not all of these attributes. In order to address these limitations, TerraPower, LLC has developed the Traveling Wave Reactor (TWR) which is a near-term deployable and truly sustainable energy solution that is globally scalable for the indefinite future. The fast neutron spectrum allows up to a ~30-fold gain in fuel utilization efficiency when compared to conventional light water reactors utilizing enriched fuel. When compared to other fast reactors, TWRs represent the lowest cost alternative to enjoy the energy security benefits of an advanced nuclear fuel cycle without the associated proliferation concerns of chemical reprocessing. On a country level, this represents a significant savings in the energy generation infrastructure for several reasons 1) no reprocessing plants need to be built, 2) a reduced number of enrichment plants need to be built, 3) reduced waste production results in a lower repository capacity requirement and reduced waste transportation costs and 4) less uranium ore needs to be mined or purchased since natural or depleted uranium can be used directly as fuel. With advanced technological development and added cost, TWRs are also capable of reusing both their own used fuel and used fuel from LWRs, thereby eliminating the need for enrichment in the longer term and reducing the overall societal waste burden. This paper describes the origins and current status of the TWR development program at TerraPower, LLC. Some of the areas covered include the key TWR design challenges and brief descriptions of TWR-Prototype (TWR-P) reactor. Selected information on the TWR-P core designs are also provided in the areas of neutronic, thermal hydraulic and fuel performance. The TWR-P plant design is also described in such areas as; system design descriptions, mechanical design, and safety performance.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.124-132
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• 2016

In order to estimate the effect of flow distributors connected to an upper nozzle of CMT(Core Makeup Tank) on the thermal-hydraulic characteristics in the tank, a simplified 2 inch Small Break Loss of Coolant Accident(SBLOCA) was simulated by skipping the decay power and Passive Residual Heat Removal System(PRHRS) actuation. The CMT is a part of safety injection systems in the SMART (System Integrated Modular Advanced Reactor). Each test was performed with reliable boundary conditions. It means that the pressure distribution is provided with repeatable and reproducible behavior during SBLOCA simulations. The maximum flow rates were achieved at around 350 seconds after the initial opening of the isolation valve installed in CMT. After a short period of decreased flow rate, it attained a steady injection flow rate after about 1,250 seconds. This unstable injection period of the CMT coolant is due to the condensation of steam injected into the upper part of CMT. The steady injection flow rate was about 8.4% higher with B-type distributor than that with A-type distributor. The gravity injection during hot condition tests were in good agreement with that during cold condition tests except for the early stages.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.54-70
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• 2017

The accumulator is a passive safety injection device for emergency core cooling systems. As an important safety feature for providing a high-speed injection flow to the core by compressed nitrogen gas pressure during a loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA), the accumulator injects its precharged nitrogen into the system after its coolant has been emptied. Attention has been drawn to the possible negative effects caused by such a nitrogen injection in passive safety nuclear power plants. Although some experimental work on the nitrogen injection has been done, there have been no comparative tests in which the effects on the system responses and the core safety have been clearly assessed. In this study, a new thermal hydraulic integral test facility-the advanced core-cooling mechanism experiment (ACME)-was designed and constructed to support the CAP1400 safety review. The ACME test facility was used to study the nitrogen injection effects on the system responses to the small break loss-of-coolant accident LOCA (SBLOCA) transient. Two comparison test groups-a 2-inch cold leg break and a double-ended direct-vessel-injection (DEDVI) line break-were conducted. Each group consists of a nitrogen injection test and a nitrogen isolation comparison test with the same break conditions. To assess the nitrogen injection effects, the experimental data that are representative of the system responses and the core safety were compared and analyzed. The results of the comparison show that the effects of nitrogen injection on system responses and core safety are significantly different between the 2-inch and DEDVI breaks. The mechanisms of the different effects on the transient were also investigated. The amount of nitrogen injected, along with its heat absorption, was likewise evaluated in order to assess its effect on the system depressurization process. The results of the comparison and analyses in this study are important for recognizing and understanding the potential negative effects on the passive core cooling performance caused by nitrogen injection during the SBLOCA transient.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.394-405
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• 2011

In this paper, we applied coupled non-isothermal, multiphase fluid flow and geomechanical numerical modeling using TOUGH-FLAC coupled analysis to study the complex thermodynamic and geomechanical performance of underground lined rock caverns (LRC) for compressed air energy storage (CAES). Mechanical stress in concrete linings as well as pressure and temperature within a storage cavern were examined during initial and long-term operation of the storage cavern for CAES. Our geomechanical analysis showed that effective stresses could decrease due to air penetration pressure, and tangential tensile stress could develop in the linings as a result of the air pressure exerted on the inner surface of the lining, which would result in tensile fracturing. According to the simulation in which the tensile tangential stresses resulted in radial cracks, increment of linings' permeability and air leakage though the linings, tensile fracturing occurred at the top and at the side wall of the cavern, and the permeability could increase to $5.0{\times}10^{-13}m^2$ from initially prescribed $10{\times}10^{-20}m^2$. However, this air leakage was minor (about 0.02% of the daily air injection rate) and did not significantly impact the overall storage pressure that was kept constant thanks to sufficiently air tight surrounding rocks, which supports the validity of the concrete-lined underground caverns for CAES.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.1802-1813
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• 2023

Conjugate heat transfer between liquid metal and solid is a common phenomenon in a liquid-metal-cooled fast reactor's fuel assembly and heat exchanger, dramatically affecting the reactor's safety and economy. Therefore, comprehensively studying the sophisticated conjugate heat transfer in a liquid-metal-cooled fast reactor is profound. However, it has been evidenced that the traditional Simple Gradient Diffusion Hypothesis (SGDH), assuming a constant turbulent Prandtl number (Pr_t,, usually 0.85 - 1.0), is inappropriate in the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations of liquid metal. In recent decades, numerous studies have been performed on the four-equation model, which is expected to improve the precision of liquid metal's CFD simulations but has not been introduced into the conjugate heat transfer calculation between liquid metal and solid. Consequently, a four-equation model, consisting of the Abe k - ε turbulence model and the Manservisi k_𝜃 - ε_𝜃 heat transfer model, is applied to study the conjugate heat transfer concerning liquid metal in the present work. To verify the numerical validity of the four-equation model used in the conjugate heat transfer simulations, we reproduce Johnson's experiments of the liquid lead-bismuth-cooled turbulent pipe flow using the four-equation model and the traditional SGDH model. The simulation results obtained with different models are compared with the available experimental data, revealing that the relative errors of the local Nusselt number and mean heat transfer coefficient obtained with the four-equation model are considerably reduced compared with the SGDH model. Then, the thermal-hydraulic characteristics of liquid metal turbulent pipe flow obtained with the four-equation model are analyzed. Moreover, the impact of the turbulence model used in the four-equation model on overall simulation performance is investigated. At last, the effectiveness of the four-equation model in the CFD simulations of liquid sodium conjugate heat transfer is assessed. This paper mainly proves that it is feasible to use the four-equation model in the study of liquid metal conjugate heat transfer and provides a reference for the research of conjugate heat transfer in a liquid-metal-cooled fast reactor.