• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.135-147
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• 2020

A methodology for evaluation of mechanical and thermal effects of localized non-axisymmetric oxidation in zircaloy claddings on LWR fuel reliability is proposed. To this end, the basic capabilities of the FALCON fuel behaviour code are used. Examples of methodology application to adjustment of selected operational limits for modern BWR fuel rods, to capture effects of the excess local oxidation, are presented. Specifically, the limiting rod internal pressure for the onset of cladding lift-off is reduced, depending on initial excess oxidation spot sizes. Also, the power limits for Anticipated Operational Occurrences are adjusted, to preclude fuel melting and cladding failure due to PCMI and PCI-SCC in the affected fuel rods.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.41.1-41
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• 2002

• International Journal of Fuzzy Logic and Intelligent Systems
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.163-172
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• 2016

Electric load forecasting is essential for effective power system planning and operation. Complex and nonlinear relationships exist between the electric loads and their exogenous factors. In addition, time-series load data has non-stationary characteristics, such as trend, seasonality and anomalous day effects, making it difficult to predict the future loads. This paper proposes a locally-weighted polynomial neural network (LWPNN), which is a combination of a polynomial neural network (PNN) and locally-weighted regression (LWR) for daily shortterm peak load forecasting. Model over-fitting problems can be prevented effectively because PNN has an automatic structure identification mechanism for nonlinear system modeling. LWR applied to optimize the regression coefficients of LWPNN only uses the locally-weighted learning data points located in the neighborhood of the current query point instead of using all data points. LWPNN is very effective and suitable for predicting an electric load series with nonlinear and non-stationary characteristics. To confirm the effectiveness, the proposed LWPNN, standard PNN, support vector regression and artificial neural network are applied to a real world daily peak load dataset in Korea. The proposed LWPNN shows significantly good prediction accuracy compared to the other methods.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.753-764
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• 2009

JAEA started the LSTF experiments in 1985 for the fourth stage of the ROSA Program (ROSA-IV) for the LWR thermal-hydraulic safety research to identify and investigate the thermal-hydraulic phenomena and to confirm the effectiveness of ECCS during small-break LOCAs and operational transients. The LSTF experiments are underway for the ROSA-V Program and the OECD/NEA ROSA Project that intends to resolve issues in thermal-hydraulic analyses relevant to LWR safety. Six types of the LSTF experiments have been done for both the system integral and separate-effect experiments among international members from 14 countries. Results of four experiments for the ROSA Project are briefly presented with analysis by a best-estimate (BE) code and a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code to illustrate the capability of the LSTF and codes to simulate the thermal-hydraulic phenomena that may appear during SBLOCAs and transients. The thermal-hydraulic phenomena dealt with are coolant mixing and temperature stratification, water hammer up to high system pressure, natural circulation under high core power condition, and non-condensable gas effect during asymmetric SG depressurization as an AM action.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.367-373
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• 2016

In this paper, range measurement performance of LRF (Laser Range Finder) module and image contrast of color CCD camera are evaluated under the aerosol (high temperature steam) environments, which are simulated severe accident conditions of the LWR (Light-Water-Reactor) nuclear power plant. Data of LRF and color CCD camera are key informations, which are needed in the implementation of SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) function for emergency response robot system to cope with urgently accidents of the nuclear power plant.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.819-823
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• 2024

The main criteria used in NEI 18-04 to define SSCs as risk-significant include (1) the SSC is required to keep all LBEs within the F-C target, and (2) the total frequency with the SSC failed exceeds 1% of the limit for at least one of the three cumulative risk metrics used for evaluating the integrated plant risk. The first one is a reasonable criterion in determining the risk significant SSCs. However, the second criterion may not be adequate to serve the purpose of determining the risk significance of SSCs. In the second criterion, the cumulative risk metric values representing the integrated plant risk (less the preventive and mitigative effects of the SSC being evaluated) are compared to a risk limit that represents a very small contribution to the overall integrated plant risk, which corresponds appropriately to the contributions from individual SSCs. The easiest approach to redefine the NEI 18-04 definition of risk-significant SSCs in relation to the integrated plant risk metrics is to compare the difference, between the risk metric value calculated with the SSC failed and the risk metric value calculated with the SSC credited, with 1% of the risk limit established for the integrated plant risk metrics.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.79-89
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• 2012

This study was conducted to investigate the chlorophyll contents, photosynthetic characteristics, chlorophyll fluorescence, and growth performance of Parasenecio firmus under changing light environment. Parasenecio firmus was grown under non-treated (full sunlight) and three different shading conditions (88~93%, 65~75% and 45%~55% of full sunlight) for the experiment. Total chlorophyll content, photochemical efficiency (Fv/Fm), T/R ratio, specific leaf area (SLA), leaf area ratio (LAR), and leaf weight ratio (LWR) were increased with increasing shading level, but decreased dark respiration. Therefore, light absorption and light utilization efficiency were improved under the low intensity light. Plants under 65~75% of full sunlight had best maximum photosynthetic rate and net apparent quantum yield in May. On the other hand, the non-treated plants had lower maximum photosynthetic rate, photochemical efficiency, and chlorophyll content than the treated ones. Parasenecio firmus considered to be a sciophyte, is fairly sensitive to high intensity light. If 88-93% of full sunlight lasts for a long period, photosynthetic capacity will be sharply decreased, though limiting light. These results suggest that growth of Parasenecio firmus adapted to 65~75% of full sunlight.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.100 no.4
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• pp.598-608
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to examine potential effects of shading and fertilizing treatment - two basic applicable factors in production of 1-year-old container seedling - on growth and seedling quality of Quercus myrsinaefolia, one of evergreen tree species in warm temperate zone of Korean. Every experimental process was conducted in a facility that consisted of compartments under the lighting control with full sunlight and shading (35%, 55% and 75% of full sunlight). Based on fertilizing treatment, this study made an experiment in 4 groups of container seedling: control (non-treated seedlings) and 1000, 2000, 3000 ppm group (3 groups with different concentrations of water-soluble fertilizer (N:P:K=19:19:19, v/v). Seedlings under 55% shading with 2000 ppm concentration showed the highest height (totaling 21.1 cm), and under 35% shading with 2000 ppm concentration showed the highest root collar diameter growth (totaling 3.96 mm) among others. All three fertilizing groups except control showed H/D ratio ranging from 4.27 to 5.26 regardless of fertilizer concentration under 35% and 55% shading where container seedlings showed a tendency toward excellent growth of height and root collar diameter. Overall, 2000 ppm group under 55% shading showed highest dry mass production of leaves (1,292 g) among others, while 2000 ppm group under 35% shading showed highest dry mass production of shoots and roots (0.592 g and 0.998 g, respectively) among others. Also, it was found that 2000 ppm group under 35% shading showed the highest dry mass production of whole seedling, which was followed by 2000 ppm group under 55% shading and 3000 ppm group under 35% shading, respectively. According to analysis on LWR of Quercus myrsinaefolia depending on shading and fertilizing treatment, it was found that 3000 ppm group under 75% shading showed highest LWR level among others, whereas every fertilized group showed lower RWR level than control without fertilizing regardless of shading levels. In general, all fertilized groups under 55% shading had relatively high quality index (QI), and 2000 ppm group under 35% shading had highest QI among others. Based on the findings of this study, it is concluded that shading level ranging from 35 to 55% and fertilizing concentration of 2,000 ppm are suitable for producing 1-year-old container seedlings of Quercus myrsinaefolia with excellent growth and high quality index.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.7
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• pp.929-944
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• 2009

The present study is concerned with the extension of the Effective Convectivity Model (ECM) to the phase-change problem to simulate the dynamics of the melt pool formation in a Light Water Reactor (LWR) lower plenum during hypothetical severe accident progression. The ECM uses heat transfer characteristic velocities to describe turbulent natural convection of a melt pool. The simple approach of the ECM method allows implementing different models of the characteristic velocity in a mushy zone for non-eutectic mixtures. The Phase-change ECM (PECM) was examined using three models of the characteristic velocities in a mushy zone and its performance was compared. The PECM was validated using a dual-tier approach, namely validations against existing experimental data (the SIMECO experiment) and validations against results obtained from Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. The results predicted by the PECM implementing the linear dependency of mushy-zone characteristic velocity on fluid fraction are well agreed with the experimental correlation and CFD simulation results. The PECM was applied to simulation of melt pool formation heat transfer in a Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) and Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) lower plenum. The study suggests that the PECM is an adequate and effective tool to compute the dynamics of core melt pool formation.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.575-602
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• 2009

In the wake of the Three Mile Island accident, vigorous research efforts were initiated to acquire a basic knowledge of the progression and consequences of accidents that involve a substantial degree of core degradation and melting. The primary emphasis of this research was placed on containment integrity, with: i) hydrogen combustion-detonation, ii) steam explosion, iii) direct containment heating (DCH), and iv) melt attack on the BWR Mark-I containment shell identified as energetic processes that could lead to early containment failure (i.e., within the first 24 hours of the accident). Should the core melt fail the reactor vessel, then non-condensable gas production from Molten Core-Concrete Interaction (MCCI) was identified as a mechanism that could fail the containment by pressurization over the long term. One signification question that arose as part of this investigation was the effectiveness of water in terminating an MCCI by flooding the interacting masses from above, thereby quenching the molten core debris and rendering it permanently coolable. Successful quenching of the core melt would prevent basemat melt through, as well as continued containment pressurization by non-condensable gas production, and so the accident progression would be successfully terminated without release of radioactivity to the environment. Based on these potential merits, ex-vessel corium coolability has been the focus of extensive research over the last 20 years as a potential accident management strategy for current plants. In addition, outcomes from this research have impacted the accident management strategies for the Gen III+LWR plant designs that are currently being deployed around the world. This paper provides: i) an historical overview of corium coolability research, ii) summarizes the current status of research in this area, and iii) highlights trends in severe accident management strategies that have evolved based on the findings from this work.