• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.11 no.8
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• pp.666-670
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• 2001

To improve the corrosion resistance of separator wet-seal area which is the barrier of commercialization of molten carbonate fuel cell(MCFC), Ni/Y/Al coating layer was fabricated by Ni electroplating and Y, Al e-beam PVD on AISI 316L stainless steel. NiAlY alloy coating layer was formed by heat treatment in reduction atmosphere at $800^{\circ}C$ for 5hr. Immersion test in molten carbonate salt at $650^{\circ}C$ was performed on as- received AISI 316L stainless steel and NiAlY coated specimen. According to cross sectional SEM/EDS observations, corrosion resistance of separator wet-seal area was improved by formation of dense oxide layers of Al and Y.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.1206-1212
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• 2022

Cold-crucible induction melting (CCIM) technology has been intensively studied as an advanced vitrification process for the immobilization of highly radioactive waste. This technology uses high-frequency induction to melt a glass matrix and waste, while the outer surface of the crucible is water-cooled, resulting in the formation of a frozen glass layer (skull). In this study, for the fabrication of borosilicate glass waste form, CCIM operation test with 60 kg of glass per batch was conducted using surrogate wastes composed of Cs, Sr, and Nd as a representative of highly radioactive nuclides generated during spent nuclear fuel management. A 60 kg-scale glass waste form was successfully fabricated through melting and draining processes using a CCIM system, and its physicochemical properties were analyzed. In particular, to enhance the controllability and reliability of the draining process, an air-cooling drain control method that can control draining through air-cooling near drain holes was developed, and its validity for draining control was verified. The method can offer controllability on various draining processes, such as molten salt or molten metal draining processes, and can be applied to a process requiring high throughput draining.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.46-52
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• 2021

Off-grade Ti generated from smelting and mechanical processing has a high oxygen content. In this work, off-grade Ti was deoxidized using Mg and a chloride mixture as the reductant and flux, respectively. The experiments were conducted in the α-Ti temperature range (1,023~1,123 K) and the effects of the reaction time, reaction temperature, quantitiy of Mg and chloride ratio on deoxidation were investigated. Notably, when YCl3 is used as the flux to react with MgO, it is possible to reduce the activity of MgO. Therefore Ti can be deoxidized using Mg. In this study, the O content was decreased from 0.5 wt% to 0.1004 wt% at 1073 K, for 6 hours, with Mg=3.6 g and $X_{YCl_3}=0.22$.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.121-129
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• 2015

The platinum anode for the electrolytic reduction process is generally surrounded by a nonporous ceramic shroud with an open bottom to offer a path for $O_2$ gas produced on the anode surface and prevent the corrosion of the electrolytic reducer. However, the $O^{2-}$ ions generated from the cathode are transported only in a limited fashion through the open bottom of the anode shroud because the nonporous shroud hinders the transport of the $O^{2-}$ ions to the anode surface, which leads to a decrease in the current density and an increase in the operation time of the process. In the present study, we demonstrate the electrolytic reduction of 1 kg-uranium oxide ($UO_2$) using the porous shroud to investigate its long-term stability. The $UO_2$ with the size of 1~4mm and the density of $10.30{\sim}10.41g/cm^3$ was used for the cathode. The platinum and 5-layer STS mesh were used for the anode and its shroud, respectively. After the termination of the electrolytic reduction run in 1.5 wt.% $Li_2O-LiCl$ molten salt, it was revealed that the U metal was successfully converted from the $UO_2$ and the anode and its shroud were used without any significant damage.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.25 no.8
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• pp.664-669
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• 2012

Nano-structured one-dimensional $Na_2Ti_6O_{13}$ particles were synthesized by a molten salt process. Effects of processing parameters on the microstructure and band gap energy of the $Na_2Ti_6O_{13}$ powder were studied in this paper. For the synthesis of the $Na_2Ti_6O_{13}$ particles, two different raw materials of tubular shaped Na-titanate (Na-TiNT) and spherical shaped $TiO_2$ were utilized. Synthesizing with the raw material of Na-TiNT, around 70nm thick 1D-$Na_2Ti_6O_{13}$ with the bandgap energy of 3.5 eV was obtained at $810^{\circ}C$. Below $810^{\circ}C$ or without the presence of NaCl, 1D-$Na_2Ti_6O_{13}$ was in a relatively short in length and agglomerated state. With the processing temperature increased, the thickness of the 1D-$Na_2Ti_6O_{13}$ was also observed to be increased. On the other hand, when $TiO_2$ was employed as a raw material, the mixed amount of $Na_2CO_3$ played an important role in transforming the morphology and phase of the raw material, affecting the bandgap energy of the synthesized product. Specific surface area of the synthesized 1D-$Na_2Ti_6O_{13}$ was significantly affected by the raw and mixed materials as well as processing temperature. When Na-TiNT was processed at $810^{\circ}C$ with NaCl, the specific surface area of the 1D-$Na_2Ti_6O_{13}$ showed the best value of 30.63 $m^2/g$.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.279-288
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• 2014

Nuclear energy is expected to meet the growing energy demand while avoiding CO2 emission. However, the problem of accumulating spent fuel from current nuclear power plants which is mainly composed of uranium oxides should be addressed. One of the most practical solutions is to reduce the spent oxide fuel and recycle it. Next-generation fuel cycles demand innovative features such as a reduction of the environmental load, improved safety, efficient recycling of resources, and feasible economics. Pyroprocessing based on molten salt electrolysis is one of the key technologies for reducing the amount of spent nuclear fuel and destroying toxic waste products, such as the long-life fission products. The oxide reduction process based on the electrochemical reduction in a LiCl-$Li_2O$ electrolyte has been developed for the volume reduction of PWR (Pressurized Water Reactor) spent fuels and for providing metal feeds for the electrorefining process. To speed up the electrochemical reduction process, the influences of the feed form for the cathode and the type of anode shroud on the reduction rate were investigated.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2010

In the present work, an electrowinning process in the LiCl-KCl/Cd system is considered to model and analyze the electrotransport of the actinide and rare-earth elements. A simple dynamic modeling of this process was performed by taking into account the material balances and diffusion-controlled electrochemical reactions in a diffusion boundary layer at an electrode interface between the molten salt electrolyte and liquid cadmium cathode. The proposed modeling approach was based on the half-cell reduction reactions of metal chloride occurring on the cathode. This model demonstrated a capability for the prediction of the concentration behaviors, a faradic current of each element and an electrochemical potential as function of the time up to the corresponding electrotransport satisfying a given applied current based on a galvanostatic electrolysis. The results of selected case studies including five elements (U, Pu, Am, La, Nd) system are shown, and a preliminary simulation is carried out to show how the model can be used to understand the electrochemical characteristics and provide better information for developing an advanced electrowinner.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.93-100
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• 1996

Polycrystalline $Sr_{2}(Ta_{1-x}Nbx)_{2}O_{7}$ and $La_{2}Ti_{2}O_{7}$ ceramics having very high Curie temperatures were synthesized by the conventional oxide mixing method (CON) and the molten salt synthesis method (MSS). Physical characteristics and phase relationship of calcined powders, as well as the sintering behavior, the grain-orientation and dielectric properties of sintered ceramics were investigated as a function of composition and firing temperature. The single $A_{2}B_{2}O_{7}$ phase was synthesized by using the MSS method at 100 - $150^{\circ}C$ lower temperature compared to the CON method. As Nb content increased in $Sr_{2}(Ta_{1-x}Nbx)_{2}O_{7}$ ceramics, the Curie temperature and the dielectric constant at Curie temperature were raised, and the sintering behavior and the degree of grain-orientation were also improved at the same time. The use of MSS-derived powders made it possible to lower the sintering temperature and to improve the dielectric properties of the sintering samples. However, the piezoelectric properties as well as the grain-orientation were not improved any further by the MSS route.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.341-350
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• 2023

The templated grain growth (TGG) method has gained significant attention for its ability to produce highly textured piezoelectric ceramics with significantly enhanced performance, making it a promising method for transducer and actuator applications. However, the texturing process using the TGG method requires the optimization of multiple steps, which can be challenging for beginners in this field. Therefore, in this tutorial, we provide an overview of the TGG method mainly based on our previous published works, including its various processing steps such as synthesizing anisotropic-shaped templates with size and size distribution control using the molten salt synthesis technique, tape casting, and identifying key factors for proper alignment of the templates in the target matrix system. Our goal is to provide a resource that can serve as a basic reference for researchers and engineers looking to improve their understanding and utilization of the TGG method for producing textured piezoelectric ceramics.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.12
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• pp.3879-3891
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• 2021

A heat pipe residual heat removal system is proposed to be incorporated into the reactor driven subcritical (RDS) facility, which has been proposed by MIT Nuclear Reactor Laboratory for testing and demonstrating the Fluoride-salt-cooled High-temperature Reactor (FHR). It aims to reduce the risk of the system operation after the shutdown of the facility. One of the main components of the system is an air-cooled heat pipe heat exchanger. The alkali-metal high-temperature heat pipe was designed to meet the operation temperature and residual heat removal requirement of the facility. The heat pipe model developed in the previous work was adopted to simulate the designed heat pipe and assess the heat transport capability. 3D numerical simulation of the subcritical facility active zone was performed by the commercial CFD software STAR CCM + to investigate the operation characteristics of this proposed system. The thermal resistance network of the heat pipe was built and incorporated into the CFD model. The nominal condition, partial loss of air flow accident and partial heat pipe failure accident were simulated and analyzed. The results show that the residual heat removal system can provide sufficient cooling of the subcritical facility with a remarkable safety margin. The heat pipe can work under the recommended operation temperature range and the heat flux is below all thermal limits. The facility peak temperature is also lower than the safety limits.