• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.2288-2297
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• 2023

Current designs of both large reactor units and small modular reactors utilize a nuclear fuel with increasing enrichment. This increasing demand for better nuclear fuel utilization is a challenge for nuclear fuel handling facilities. The operation with higher enriched fuels leads to reduced reserves to legislative and safety criticality limits of spent fuel transport, storage and final disposal facilities. Design changes in these facilities are restricted due to a boron content in steel and aluminum alloys that are limited by rolling, extrusion, welding and other manufacturing processes. One possible solution for spent fuel pools and casks is the burnup credit method that allows decreasing very high safety margins associated with the fresh fuel assumption in spent fuel facilities. This solution can be supplemented or replaced by an alternative solution based on placing the neutron absorber material directly into the fuel assembly, where its efficiency is higher than between fuel assemblies. A neutron absorber permanently fixed in guide tubes decreases system reactivity more efficiently than absorber sheets between the fuel assemblies. The paper summarizes possibilities of fixed neutron absorbers for various nuclear fuel and fuel handling facilities. Moreover, an absorber material was optimized to propose alternative options to boron. Multiple effective absorbers that do not require steel or aluminum alloy compatibility are discussed because fixed absorbers are placed inside zirconium or steel cladding.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.249-257
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• 2015

A fuel assembly consists of fuel rods composed of pellets (UO2) and a cladding tube (Zircaloy). The role of the fuel rods in the reactor is to generate heat by nuclear fission, as well as to retain fission products during operation. A simulation method using a computer program was used to evaluate the safety of the nuclear fuel rods. This computer program has been called the fuel performance code. In the analysis of a light water reactor fuel rod, the gap conductance, which depended on the distance between the pellets and cladding tube, mainly influenced the thermomechanical behavior of the fuel rod. In this work, a 3D gap element was proposed to simulate the thermo-mechanical behavior of the nuclear fuel rod, considering the gap conductance. To implement the proposed 3D gap element, a 3D thermo-mechanical module was also developed using FORTRAN90. The asymmetric characteristics of the nuclear fuel rod, such as the MPS (missing pellet surface) and eccentricity, were simulated to evaluate the proposed 3D gap element.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.22-33
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• 1987

The confirmed integrity of nuclear fuel cladding materials is an important object during steady state and transient operations at nuclear power plant. In this context, the clad material yielding behavior is especially important because of pellet-clad gap expansion. During the steep power excursion, the in-pile irradiation behavior differences between uranium-dioxide fuel pellet and zircaloy clad induce the contact pressure between them. If this pressure reaches the zircaloy clad yield pressure, the zircaloy clad will be plastically deformed. After the reactor power resumed to normal state, this plastic permanent expansion of clad tube give rise to the pellet-clad gap expansion. In this paper, the simple mandrel expansion test method which utilizes thermal expansion difference between copper mandrel and zircaloy tube was adopted to simulate this phenomenon. That is, copper mandrel which has approximately three times of thermal expansion coefficient of zircaloy-4 (PWR fuel cladding material) were used in this experiment at the temperature range from 400C to 700C. The measured plastic expansion of zircaloy outer radius and derived mathematical relations give the yield pressure, yield stress of zircaloy-4 clad at the various clad wall temperatures, the activation energy of zircaloy tube yielding, and pellet-clad gap expansion. The obtained results are in good agreement with previous experimental results. The mathematical analysis and simple test method prove to be a reliable and simple technique to assess the yielding behavior and gap expansion measurement between zircaloy-4 tube and uranium-dioxide fuel pellet under biaxial stress conditions.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.2488-2493
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• 2007

A gap conductance is very important factor which can affect nuclear fuel temperature. Especially, in case of an annular fuel, a gap conductance effect can lead an unexpected heat split phenomena which is caused by a large difference of an inner and outer gap conductance. The gap conductance mechanism is very complicated behavior due to the its strong dependency on microscopic factors such as a contact surface roughness, local contact pressure and local temperature. In this paper, for the decision of test temperature and pressure range, a procedure and calculation results of in-reactor fuel temperature and pressure analysis are summarized which can be applied to test equipment design and determination of test matrix. Based upon analysis results, it is concluded that the minimum and maximum test temperature are $300^{\circ}C$ and $530^{\circ}C$ respectively, and the maximum pellet/cladding interfacial contact pressure should be observed up to 45MPa.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.151-163
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• 1977

Being based on the Segal method, calculation was carried out for the natural uranium nuclear fuel cost with Zircaloy-4 cladding having design Parameters of Wolsung Nuclear Power Plant, CANDU-PHWR (Unit 1) , currently under construction in Korea aiming at its completion in 1982. An attempt was also made for tile sensitivity analysis of each fuel component; j. e., depreciation of fuel manufacturing plant caused by its life time, its load factor, production scale expansion of plant facilities, variations of construction and operating costs of fuel manufacturing plant, fluctuation of interest rates, extent of uranium ore price increases and effect of learning factor.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.10
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• pp.2402-2409
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• 2020

Analytical criteria for the onset of fuel fragmentation and Burst Fission Gas Release in fuel rods with ballooned claddings are formulated. On that basis, the GRSW-A model integrated with a fuel behaviour code is updated. After modification, the updated code is successfully applied to simulation of the Halden LOCA test IFA-650.12. Specifically, the calculation with Burst Fission Gas Release during the test resulted in prediction of cladding failure, whereas it could not be predicted at the test planning, before new models were implemented. A good agreement of the current model with experimental data for transient Fission Gas Release in the tests IFA-650.12 and IFA-650.14 is shown, as well.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.219-219
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• 2003

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.307-307
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• 2003

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.379-380
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• 2009

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.5-8
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• 2011