• Title/Summary/Keyword: Used fuel

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MAKING THE CASE FOR SAFE STORAGE OF USED NUCLEAR FUEL FOR EXTENDED PERIODS OF TIME: COMBINING NEAR-TERM EXPERIMENTS AND ANALYSES WITH LONGER-TERM CONFIRMATORY DEMONSTRATIONS

  • Sorenson, Ken B.;Hanson, Brady
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.45 no.4
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    • pp.421-426
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    • 2013
  • The need for extended storage of used nuclear fuel is increasing globally as disposition schedules for used fuel are pushed further into the future. This is creating a situation where dry storage of used fuel may need to be extended beyond normal regulatory licensing periods. While it is generally accepted that used fuel in dry storage will remain in a safe condition, there is little data that demonstrate used fuel performance in dry storage environments for long periods of time. This is especially true for high burnup used fuel. This paper discusses a technical approach that defines a process that develops the technical basis for demonstrating the safety of used fuel over extended periods of time.

Evaluation of the reutilization of used nuclear fuel in a PWR core without reprocessing

  • Zafar, Zafar Iqbal;Park, Yun Seo;Kim, Myung Hyun
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.51 no.2
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    • pp.345-355
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    • 2019
  • Use of the reconstructed fuel assemblies from partially burnt nuclear fuel pins is analyzed. This reutilization option is a potential candidate technique to make better use of the nuclear resources. Standard two step method is used to calculate node i.e. fuel assembly average burnup and then pin by pin ${\eta}$ values are reconstructed to ascertain the residual reactivity in the used fuel pins. Fuel pins with ${\eta}$ > 1:0 are used to reconstruct to-be-reused fuel assemblies. These reconstructed fuel assemblies are burnt during the cycle 3, 4, 5 and 6 of a 1000 MW PWR core by replacing fresh, once burnt and twice burnt fuel assemblies of the reference core configurations. It is concluded that using reconstructed fuel assemblies for the fresh fuel affect dearly on the cycle length (>50 EFPD) when more than 16 fresh fuel assemblies are replaced. However, this loss is less than 20 days if the number of fresh fuel assemblies is less than eight. For the case of replacing twice burned fuel, cycle length could be increased slightly (10 days or so) provided burnt fuel pins from other reactors were also available. Reactor safety parameters, like axial off set (< ${\pm}10%$), Doppler temperature coefficient (<0), moderator temperature coefficient at HFP (<0) are always satisfied. Though, 2D and 3D pin peaking factors are satisfied (<1:55) and (<2:52) respectively, for the cases using eight or less reconstructed fuel assemblies only.

Lubrication Characteristics in Fuel Injection Pump with Variation of Fuel Oils (연료 변경에 의한 연료분사펌프의 윤활 특성)

  • Hong, Sung-Ho
    • Tribology and Lubricants
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    • v.31 no.6
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    • pp.245-250
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    • 2015
  • This study investigates the lubrication characteristics of fuel injection pumps with reference to different fuel oils. Medium-speed diesel engines use fuel oils with various viscosities, such as heavy fuel oil (HFO, which is a high-viscosity fuel oil) and light diesel oil (LDO, which is a low-viscosity fuel oil). When fuel oil with a low viscosity is used, both fuel oil and lubricating oil lubricate the system. Thus, the lubrication of the fuel injection pump is in a multi-viscosity condition when the fuel oil in use changes. We suggest three cases of multi-viscosity models, and divide the fuel injection pump into three lubrication sections: a, the new oil section; b, the mixed oil section; and c, the used oil section. This study compares the lubrication characteristics with variation of the multi-viscosity model, clearance. The volume of Section b does not affect the lubrication characteristics. The lubrication characteristics of the fuel injection pump are poor when high-viscosity fuel oil transfers to low-viscosity fuel oil. This occurs because the viscosity in the new oil section (i.e., Section a) dominates the lubrication characteristics of the fuel injection pump. However, the lubricant oil supply in the used oil section (i.e., Section c) can improve the lubrication characteristics in this condition. Moreover, the clearances of the stem and head significantly influence the lubrication characteristics when the fuel oil changes.

EXTENDED DRY STORAGE OF USED NUCLEAR FUEL: TECHNICAL ISSUES: A USA PERSPECTIVE

  • Mcconnell, Paul;Hanson, Brady;Lee, Moo;Sorenson, Ken
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.43 no.5
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    • pp.405-412
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    • 2011
  • Used nuclear fuel will likely be stored dry for extended periods of time in the USA. Until a final disposition pathway is chosen, the storage periods will almost definitely be longer than were originally intended. The ability of the important-tosafety structures, systems, and components (SSCs) to continue to meet storage and transport safety functions over extended times must be determined. It must be assured that there is no significant degradation of the fuel or dry cask storage systems. Also, it is projected that the maximum discharge burnups of the used nuclear fuel will increase. Thus, it is necessary to obtain data on high burnup fuel to demonstrate that the used nuclear fuel remains intact after extended storage. An evaluation was performed to determine the conditions that may lead to failure of dry storage SSCs. This paper documents the initial technical gap analysis performed to identify data and modeling needs to develop the desired technical bases to ensure the safety functions of dry stored fuel.

The Affect of Fuel Properties on Exhaust Emissions Formation of Used Vegetable Oil in a Diesel Engine (폐식용유를 연료로 하는 디젤 기관(機關)의 배기(排氣) 배출물 생성(生成)에 미치는 연료(燃料) 성상(性狀)의 영향(影響))

  • Oh, Y.Y.
    • Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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    • v.3 no.6
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    • pp.162-175
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    • 1995
  • Exhaust emissions in diesel engine are affected by fuel properties, but the reason for this is not clear. Especially, the recent strong interest in using low-grade fuel such as used vegetable oil as alternative diesel fuel demands extensive investigation in order to clarify the exhaust emissions. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of a used vegetable oil as an alternative fuel in a diesel engine in terms of exhaust emissions. The emission concentration of used vegetable oil such as formaldehyde and acrolein is two times than that of diesel fuel. However, since that of alcohol is ten times than that of used vegetable oil and that concentration is very low, it is not a problem for human health.

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PYROPROCESSING FLOWSHEETS FOR RECYCLING USED NUCLEAR FUEL

  • Williamson, M.A.;Willit, J.L.
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.43 no.4
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    • pp.329-334
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    • 2011
  • Two conceptual flowsheets were developed for recycling used nuclear fuel. One flowsheet was developed for recycling used oxide nuclear fuel from light water reactors while the other was developed for recycling used metal fuel from fast spectrum reactors. Both flowsheets were developed from a set of design principles including efficient actinide recovery, nonproliferation, waste minimization and commercial viability. Process chemistry is discussed for each unit operation in the flowsheet.

ELECTROCHEMICAL PROCESSING OF USED NUCLEAR FUEL

  • Goff, K.M.;Wass, J.C.;Marsden, K.C.;Teske, G.M.
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.43 no.4
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    • pp.335-342
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    • 2011
  • As part of the Department of Energy's Fuel Cycle Research and Development Program an electrochemical technology employing molten salts is being developed for recycle of metallic fast reactor fuel and treatment of light water reactor oxide fuel to produce a feed for fast reactors. This technology has been deployed for treatment of used fuel from the Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR-II) in the Fuel Conditioning Facility, located at the Materials and Fuel Complex of Idaho National Laboratory. This process is based on dry (non-aqueous) technologies that have been developed and demonstrated since the 1960s. These technologies offer potential advantages compared to traditional aqueous separations including: compactness, resistance to radiation effects, criticality control benefits, compatibility with advanced fuel types, and ability to produce low purity products. This paper will summarize the status of electrochemical development and demonstration activities with used nuclear fuel, including preparation of associated high-level waste forms.

A study on the usability of used vegetable oil as a diesel substitute in diesel engine (디젤기관의 대체연료로서 폐식용유의 유용성에 관한 연구)

  • O, Yeong-Taek
    • Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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    • v.22 no.4
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    • pp.481-488
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    • 1998
  • In recently, lots of researcher have been attached to develope various alternative fuels and to use renewable fuels for solution of the exhaust emission problems. In this study, the usability of used vegetable oil as alternative fuel for diesel engines has been investigated. This paper was compared with the exhaust emissions and performance in diesel engine with used vegetable oil and conventional diesel fuel. Since the vegetable oil includes oxygen of about 10%, it influenced the combustion process strongly. So, the smoke emissions of used vegetable oil were exhausted to be lower than those of diesel fuel. Also, the used vegetable oil was much the same cycle to cycle variation with diesel fuel except $P_{(dP}$d.theta.)max/, but the cycle to cycle variation of used vegetable oil was reduced significantly by preheating of the fuel and swirling of the intake air. It was concluded that used vegetable oil could be utilized effectively as renewable fuel for diesel engine.e.

Assessment of Dual Fuel Engine Performance Using Biomass Syngas (바이오매스 합성가스를 이용한 혼소식 디젤엔진 발전기의 적용성 평가)

  • Yoon, Yeo Seong;Seo, Do Hyun;Kang, ku;Choi, Sun Hwa;Hong, Seong Gu
    • Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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    • v.59 no.1
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    • pp.109-116
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    • 2017
  • Biomass gasification produces syngas or producer gas as low calorific fuel gas that can be used as a fuel for combustion or prime movers as well as chemical synthesis. Internal combustion engines are readily available with lower costs and easily used for producing distributed power using biomass syngas. In this study, a dual fuel diesel engine was used to evaluate its performance when biomass syngas is used for fuel. The engine was originally developed for biogas application with a diesel engine with a 2,607 cc displacement. Both diesel fuel and syngas consumptions were observed at the different load conditions. The results indicate that the dual fuel engine showed a reasonably good performance and up to 63 % of diesel fuel saving.

Combustion Characteristics of an Agricultural Diesel Engine using Biodiesel Fuel

  • Ryu, Kyunghyun;Oh, Youngtaig
    • Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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    • v.18 no.4
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    • pp.709-717
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    • 2004
  • Biodiesel has great potential as an alternative fuel for diesel engines that would reduce air pollution. It is a domestically produced, renewable fuel that can be manufactured from fresh or used vegetable oils, or from animal fats. In this study, a biodiesel fuel derived from rice bran oil was tested as an alternative fuel for agricultural diesel engines. The emissions were characterized for both neat and blended biodiesel fuels, and for conventional diesel fuel. Since this biodiesel fuel contained 11 % oxygen, it strongly influenced the combustion process. The use of biodiesel fuel resulted in lower carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and smoke emissions, without any increase in nitrous oxide emissions. The study demonstrated that biodiesel fuel could be effectively used as a renewable and environmentally innocuous fuel for agricultural diesel engines.