• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.37-46
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• 2010

The development of advanced nuclear fuel cycle(ANFC) technology is essential to meet the national mission for energy independence via a nuclear option in Korea. The action target is to develop environmentally friendly, cost-effective measures to reduce the burden of long term disposal. The proper scenarios regarding potential radionuclide release from a repository have been developed in this study based on the advanced korean Reference Disposal System(A-KRS). To predict safety for the various scenarios, a new assessment code based on the GoldSim software has also been developed. Deterministic analysis indicates an environmental benefit from the ANFC as long as the solid waster from the ANFC act as a proper barrier.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.348-353
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• 2005

In designing the structures of railway rolling stocks, deterministic methods associated with the concept of a safety factor have been traditionally used. The deterministic approaches based on the mean values of applied loads and material properties have been used as safety verification for the design of rolling-stock car body structures. The uncertainties in the applied loading for the high speed train and the strength of new materials in the rolling stocks require the application of probabilistic approaches to ensure fatigue safety in the desired system. Pressure loadings acting on the car body when the train passes through tunnels show reflected pressure waves for high-speed trains and they may cause a fatigue failure in vehicle bodies. Use of new material technology as body structures also introduces uncertainties in the material strength. A probabilistic approach is more adaptable in designing reliable structures when the pressure waves from the tunnels pounds and new material technology is adopted. In this paper, it is proposed that a fatigue design and assessment method based on a reliability which deals with the loading variations on a railway vehicle due to the pressure reflected in tunnels and the strength variations of material. Equation for the fatigue reliability index has been formulated to calculate the reliability assessment of a vehicle body under fluctuating pressure loadings in a tunnel. Considered in this formulation are the pressure distribution characteristics, the fatigue strength distribution characteristics, and the concept of stress-transfer functions due to the pressure loading.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.33-44
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• 2008

Most of the civil structure - bridges, offshore structures, plant, etc. - have been designed by the classical approaches which deal with all the design parameters as deterministic variables. However, some more advanced techniques are required to evaluate the inherent randomness and uncertainty of each design variable. In this research, a seismic safety assessment algorithm based on the structural reliability analysis has been formulated and computerized for more reasonable seismic design of turbine-generator foundations. The formulation takes the design parameters of the system and loading properties as random variables. Using the proposed method, various kinds of parametric studies have been performed and probabilistic characteristics of the resulted structural responses have been evaluated. Afterwards, the probabilistic safety of the system has been quantitatively evaluated and finally presented as the reliability indexes and failure probabilities. The proposed procedure is expected to be used as a fundamental tool to improve the existing design techniques of turbine-generator foundations.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.295-305
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• 2017

This paper reviews current status of the unified approach known as integrated safety assessment (ISA), as well as the associated SCAIS (simulation codes system for ISA) computer platform. These constitute a proposal, which is the result of collaborative action among the Nuclear Safety Council (CSN), University of Madrid (UPM), and NFQ Solutions S.L, aiming to allow independent regulatory verification of industry quantitative risk assessments. The content elaborates on discussions of the classical treatment of time in conventional probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) sequences and states important conclusions that can be used to avoid systematic and unacceptable underestimation of the failure exceedance frequencies. The unified ISA method meets this challenge by coupling deterministic and probabilistic mutual influences. The feasibility of the approach is illustrated with some examples of its application to a real size plant.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.56-61
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• 2016

After Japanese Fukushima nuclear power plant accident caused by the beyond design basis earthquake and tsunami, it has turned to be a major challenge for nuclear safety. IAEA, US NRC and EU have provided new safety design standards for beyond design basis event, Domestic regulatory bodies have also enacted guidances for licensees and applicants on additional methods related to beyond design basis events. This paper describes several evaluation methods for applying to nuclear power plants piping for beyond design basis earthquake. As a results, energy method based on the absorbed energy on nuclear power plant, deterministic method following design code and theory, experience method considering past earthquake data and information and probabilistic methods similar to probabilistic risk assessment were reviewed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.470-484
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• 1998

An analysis program for the evaluation of pressure vessel integrity under pressurized thermal shock (PTS) is developed. For given material properties and transient history such as temperature and pressure, the stress distribution is calculated and then stress intensity factors are obtained for a wide range of crack sizes. The stress intensity factors are compared with the fracture toughness to check if cracking is expected to occur during the transient. Using this program a round robin problem of PTS during a small break loss of coolant transient has been analyzed as a part of the international comparative assessment study. The allowable maximum reference nil-ductility transition temperatures are determined for various crack sizes.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 1993.10a
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• pp.240-247
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• 1993

The precise prediction of reserved carrying capacity of bridge as a system is extremely difficult especially when the bridges are highly redundant and significantly deteriorated or damaged. This paper is intended to propose a new approach for the evaluation of reserved system carrying capacity of bridges in terms of equivalent system-strength, which may be defined as a bridge system-strength corresponding to the system reliability of the bridge. This can be derived from an inverse process based on the concept of FOSM form of system reliability index. It may be emphasized that this approach is very useful for the evaluation of the deterministic system redundancy and reserve strength which are measured in terms of either probabilistic system redundancy factor and reserve factor or deterministic system redundancy factor and reserve factor. The system reliability of bridges is formulated as a parallel-series model obtained from the FAM(Failure Mode Approach) based on the major failure mechanisms. AFOSM and IST methods are used for the reliability analysis of the proposed models. The proposed approach and method for the system redundancy and reserve safety/strength are applied to the safety assessment of actual RC and steel box-girder bridges. The results of the evaluation of reserved system safety or bridge system-strength in terms of the system redundancy and the system safety/strength are significantly different from those of element reliability-based or conventional methods.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.327-348
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• 2008

A risk-informed regulatory approach implies that risk insights be used as supplement of deterministic information for safety decision-making purposes. In this view, the use of risk assessment techniques is expected to lead to improved safety and a more rational allocation of the limited resources available. On the other hand, it is recognized that uncertainties affect both the deterministic safety analyses and the risk assessments. In order for the risk-informed decision making process to be effective, the adequate representation and treatment of such uncertainties is mandatory. In this paper, the risk-informed regulatory framework is considered under the focus of the uncertainty issue. Traditionally, probability theory has provided the language and mathematics for the representation and treatment of uncertainty. More recently, other mathematical structures have been introduced. In particular, the Dempster-Shafer theory of evidence is here illustrated as a generalized framework encompassing probability theory and possibility theory. The special case of probability theory is only addressed as term of comparison, given that it is a well known subject. On the other hand, the special case of possibility theory is amply illustrated. An example of the combination of probability and possibility for treating the uncertainty in the parameters of an event tree is illustrated.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.49-58
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• 2018

The regulatory periodic inspection program (PSI) conducted at every overhaul period is the most important process for confirming the safety of nuclear power plants. The PSI for operating nuclear power plants in Korea mainly consist of component level performance check that had been developed based on deterministic approach putting the same degree of importance to all the inspection items. This inspection methodology is likely to be effective for preoperational inspection. However, once the plant is put into service, the PSI must be focused on whether to minimize the risk of accident using defense-in-depth concept and risk insight. The incorporation of defense-in-depth concept and risk insight into the deterministic based safety inspection has not been well studied so far. In this study, two track approaches are proposed to make sure that core damage be avoided: one is to secure success path and the other to block the failure path in a specific event tree of PSA. The investigation shows how to select safety important components and how to set up inspection group to ensure that core damage would not occur for a given initiating event, which results in strengthening defense-in-depth level 3.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2006

The seismic safety of reinforced concrete containment building can be evaluated by probabilistic analysis considering randomness of earthquake, which is more rational than deterministic analysis. In the safety assessment of earthquake-resistant structures by the deterministic theory, it is not easy to consider the effects of random variables but the reliability theory and random vibration theory are useful to assess the seismic safety with considering random effects. The reliability assessment of reinforced concrete containment building subjected to earthquake load includes the structural analysis considering random variables such as load, resistance and analysis method, the definition of limit states and the reliability analysis. The reliability analysis procedure requires much time and labor and also needs to get the high confidence in results. In this study, random vibration analysis of containment building is performed with random variables as earthquake load, concrete compressive strength, modal damping ratio. The seismic responses of critical elements of structure are approximated at the most probable failure point by the response surface method. The response surface method helps to figure out the quantitative characteristics of structural response variability. And the limit state is defined as the failure surface of concrete under multi-axial stress, finally the limit state probability of failure can be obtained simply by first-order second moment method. The reliability analysis for the multiaxial strength limit state and the uniaxial strength limit state is performed and the results are compared with each other. This study concludes that the multiaxial failure criterion is a likely limit state to predict concrete failure strength under combined state of stresses and the reliability analysis results are compatible with the fact that the maximum compressive strength of concrete under biaxial compression state increases.