• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제39권6호
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• pp.683-690
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• 2007

Because of increasing concerns regarding global warming and the longevity of oil and gas reserves, the importance of nuclear energy as a major source of sustainable energy is gaining recognition worldwide. To make nuclear energy truly sustainable, it is necessary to ensure not only the sustainability of the fuel supply but also the sustained availability of waste repositories, especially those for high-level radioactive waste (HLW). From this perspective, the effort to maximize the waste loading density in a given repository is important for easing repository capacity problems. In most cases, the loading of a repository is controlled by the decay heat of the emplaced waste. In this paper, a comparison of the decay heat characteristics of HLW is made among the various fuel cycle options. It is suggested that, for a future fast breeder reactor (FBR) cycle, the removal and burning of minor actinides (MA) would significantly reduce the heat load in waste and would allow for a reduction of repository size by half.

• 한국원자력학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국원자력학회 1998년도 춘계학술발표회논문집(1)
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• pp.52-57
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• 1998

In this paper, we performed a design study of a thorium fueled reactor according to the design concept of the Radkowsky Thorium Reactor (RTR) and evaluated its overall performance. To enhance its performance and alleviate its problems, we introduced a new metallic uranium fuel, uranium-zirconium hydride (U-Zr $H_{1.6}$), as a seed fuel. For comparison, typical ABB/CE-type PWR based on SYSTBM 80+ and standard RTR-type thorium reactor were also studied. From the results of performance analysis, we could ascertain advantages of RTR-type thorium fueled reactor in proliferation resistance, fuel cycle economics, and back-end fuel cycle. Also, we found that enhancement of proliferation resistance and safer operating conditions may be achieved by using the U-Zr $H_{l.6}$ fuel in the seed region without additional penalties in comparison with the standard RTR's U-Zr fuelr fuelel

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제48권5호
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• pp.1109-1119
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• 2016

Although, the direct use of spent pressurized water reactor (PWR) fuel in CANda Deuterium Uranium (CANDU) reactors (DUPIC) cycle is still under investigation, DUPIC cycle is a promising method for uranium utilization improvement, for reduction of high level nuclear waste, and for high degree of proliferation resistance. This paper focuses on the effect of DUPIC cycle on CANDU reactor safety parameters. MCNP6 was used for lattice cell simulation of a typical 3,411 MWth PWR fueled by $UO_2$ enriched to 4.5w/o U-235 to calculate the spent fuel inventories after a burnup of 51.7 MWd/kgU. The code was also used to simulate the lattice cell of CANDU-6 reactor fueled with spent fuel after its fabrication into the standard 37-element fuel bundle. It is assumed a 5-year cooling time between the spent fuel discharges from the PWR to the loading into the CANDU-6. The simulation was carried out to calculate the burnup and the effect of DUPIC fuel on: (1) the power distribution amongst the fuel elements of the bundle; (2) the coolant void reactivity; and (3) the reactor point-kinetics parameters.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제49권1호
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• pp.148-164
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• 2017

The focus on the issues surrounding spent nuclear fuel and lifetime extension of old nuclear power plants continues to grow nowadays. A transparent decision-making process to identify the best suitable nuclear fuel cycle (NFC) is considered to be the key task in the current situation. Through this study, an attempt is made to develop an equilibrium model for the NFC to calculate the material flows based on 1 TWh of electricity production, and to perform integrated multicriteria decision-making method analyses via the analytic hierarchy process technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution, preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluation, and multiattribute utility theory methods. This comparative study is aimed at screening and ranking the three selected NFC options against five aspects: sustainability, environmental friendliness, economics, proliferation resistance, and technical feasibility. The selected fuel cycle options include pressurized water reactor (PWR) once-through cycle, PWR mixed oxide cycle, or pyroprocessing sodium-cooled fast reactor cycle. A sensitivity analysis was performed to prove the robustness of the results and explore the influence of criteria on the obtained ranking. As a result of the comparative analysis, the pyroprocessing sodium-cooled fast reactor cycle is determined to be the most competitive option among the NFC scenarios.

• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제6권2호
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• pp.141-145
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• 2008

후행 핵연료주기 경제성 평가는 추정 비용의 불확실성, 평가 대상기간의 장기성, 적용 할인율에 따른 계산결과의 변동성 등 많은 불확실성을 내포하고 있기 때문에 평가기관 또는 평가자에 따라 그 결과가 서로 상이하다. 본고에서는 지금까지 수행된 주요 경제성 평가 연구들을 조사/분석하여 그 특징과 한계를 알아봄으로써 현재 국내에서 추진되고 있는 사용후핵연료 공론화 및 후행 핵연료주기 정책 연구 추진에 기초자료로 활용될 수 있도록 하고자 하였다. 분석 결과 사용후핵연료 재활용 옵션에 비해 직접처분 옵션이 유리하나, 입력 자료로 사용된 파라미터 값에 따라 결과의 불확실성이 많이 나타나 이 부분에 대한 추가적인 연구가 필요하다는 사실을 알 수 있었다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제52권8호
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• pp.1724-1731
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• 2020

Low cycle fatigue tests on the hydrogenated welding seam of Zr-Sn-Nb alloy at room temperature and 360 ℃ had been carried out by using the funnel-shaped flat specimens. The relationships between nominal stress & strain directly measured across the funnel and local stress & strain at the root of the funnel are given by considering cyclic plasticity correction. The results show that the fatigue resistance of welding seam at room temperature is only slightly better than that at 360 ℃. Probabilistic fatigue life curves are obtained by using a two-parameter power function.

• 시스템엔지니어링학술지
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• 제13권2호
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• pp.26-33
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• 2017

Pyro project, one of complex project, is now under research and development. To manage this kind project successfully, it is essential to apply the processes of technical management (TM) based on systems engineering (SE) and project management (PM). In this paper, the project management processes from ISO-21500 standard, PMBOK guide, and PRINCE2 guide were reviewed, and then some common PM for the large national R&D project were selected. An integrated technical management and project management frame work was finally established and suggested for Pyro project.

• 한국방사선학회논문지
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• 제15권1호
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• pp.37-43
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• 2021

국내에는 다수의 원자력시설이 존재하며, 지리적으로 비핵화 대상국인 북한을 주변국으로 두고 있다. 변화하는 국제 정세에 따른 선제적 대응으로 대상시설에 대한 핵감식 데이터를 구축할 필요가 있다. 이를 위해 국내 원자력시설 및 핵연료 주기를 고려하여 핵물질 및 기타 방사성물질의 기원 또는 출처를 파악하는데 사용되는 표지물질을 제시하였다. 국내에서는 경수로 및 중수로를 운용하고 있으며 각각 핵연료로 농축 우라늄과 천연우라늄을 사용한다. 국내 선행핵연료주기에서 표지물질은 중수로형 원자력발전소의 연료인 천연우라늄과 우라늄 농축과정의 UF6으로 생각할 수 있다. 국내 후행핵연료주기는 재처리 과정을 제외된 비순환 주기를 채택하고 있어 주요 표지물질은 사용후핵연료가 된다. 해당 물질들에 대해 IAEA 문헌에서 권고하는 표지물질의 시그니처 중요도를 판단하고 조사 항목을 제시하였다. 향후 핵감식에서 핵물질 관리에 대한 무결성 입증과 국가 핵감식 역량을 높이기 위한 핵감식 라이브러리 구축을 위해 국내 원자력시설과 핵연료주기를 고려한 표지물질을 파악하고 해당물질 별 시그니처 데이터를 확보해야 할 것으로 생각된다.

• 한국원자력학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국원자력학회 2004년도 추계학술발표회 발표논문집
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• pp.121-122
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• 2004

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제9권3호
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• pp.139-149
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• 1977

고리원자력발전소 1호 및 2호기에 대한 최적 핵연료주기를 확립하고자 했다. 고리 발전소가 채택할 수 있는 몇가지 핵연료주기의 경제성을 비교하기 위한 기준으로서 개개핵연료주기의 운용에 소요되는 총 요구 비용을 잡았고, 그 요구비용은 핵연료 가격자료의 시세변동을 고려하여 표본추출에 의한 확율적 방법으로 계산하였다. 결과는 핵연료주기 요구비용에 대한 확율분포 히스토그램으로 제시했으며 이 히스토그램에서 얻은 요구비용의 기대치를 근거로 우라늄이나 우라늄과 풀루토니움이 모두 재사용되는 재처리주기가 고리발전소의 경우 가장 경제적인 핵주기라는 결론을 얻었다.