• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.79-84
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• 2007

Inventories of soluble elements in the gap and grain boundaries of domestic used PWR fuel pellets were measured to estimate the quantities of radionuclides that are liable to be rapidly released into the groundwater of a disposal site. The gap inventory of cesium for the pellets in the used fuel with a burn-up range of 45 to 66 GWD/MTU showed 0.85 to 1.7% of its total inventory, which was close to 1/6 to 1/3 of the fission gas release fraction (FGRF). However, the amounts of cesium released from the gaps of the pellets below 40 GWD/MTU of a burn-up and less than 1% FGRF were so erratic that the gap inventory could not be defined by ie FGRF. Strontium inventories in the gap and grain boundaries of the pellets in the same rod were not significantly varied, and the iodine inventory in the gap of the used PWR fuels was estimated to be less than or the same as the FGRF.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.229-236
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• 2012

A molten salt technology using $Li_2O$-LiCl has been extensively investigated to recover uranium metal from spent fuels in the field of nuclear energy. In the reduction process, it is an important point to maintain the concentration of $Li_2O$. $ZrO_2$ is inevitably contained in the spent fuels because Zr is one of the main components of fuel rod hulls. Therefore, the fate of $ZrO_2$ in $Li_2O$-LiCl molten salt has been investigated. It was found that $Li_2ZrO_3$ and $Li_4ZrO_4$ were formed chemically and electrochemically and they were not reduced to Zr. The recycling of $Li_2O$ is the key mechanism ruling the total reaction in the electrolytic reduction process. However, $ZrO_2$ will have a role as a $Li_2O$ sink.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.342-348
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• 2003

Ultrasonic backscattering profiles of the Zr plates(with a thickness of 1.32mm) with/without Be-Zr alloy layer(with a thickness of $100{\mu}m$) were measured at various incidence positions to evaluate the characteristics of Be diffusion layer. Four principal subprofiles were observed in the backward ultrasound radiated from leaky Lamb waves. The angles and the intensities of the subprofile peaks decreased by the stiffening effect of Be layer. Generation and change of the subprofiles were explained by the acoustical property, collective group velocity and leaky factor difference of the plates under consideration. Backward radiation subprofiles turned out to be an useful method for evaluating thin diffusion layers on plates.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.17 no.5 s.54
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• pp.66-75
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• 2003

Long cylinder, subjected to internal pressure, is important in the analysis and design of nuclear fuel rod structures. In many cases, long cylinder problems have been considered as a plane strain condition. However, strictly speaking, long cylinder problems are not plane strain problems, but rather a general plane strain (GPS) condition, which is a combination of a plane strain state and a uniform strain state. The magnitude of the uniform axial strain is required, in order to make the summation of the axial force zero. Although there has been the GPS element, this paper proposes a general technique to solve long cylinder problems, using several pseudo-general plane strain (PGPS) elements. The conventional GPS elements and PGPS elements employed are as follows: axisymmetric GPS element (GA3), axisymmetric PGPS element (PGA8/6), 2-D GPS element (GIO), 3-D PGPS element (PG20/16), and reduced PGPS elements (RPGA6, RPG20/16). In particular, PGPS elements (PGA8/6, PG20/16) can be applied in periodic structure problems. These finite elements are tested, using several kinds of examples, thereby confirming the validity of the proposed finite element models.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.67-75
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• 2013

The flow stress of zircaloy-4 used in the spacer grid supporting a nuclear fuel rod was determined by the Johnson-Cook model, and model parameters were determined using reverse engineering. Parameters such as A, B, n and $\dot{\varepsilon}_0$ were determined by the tensile test result. To obtain the parameters C and m, a slot milling test and numerical simulation were performed. The objective functions were defined as the difference between the experimental and the simulation results, and then, the parameters were determined by minimizing the objective function. To verify the validity of the determined parameters, cross-verification for each case was conducted through a shearing test and simulation. The results tend to show agreement with the experimental results, such as the features of sheared edges and maximum punch force, with the correlation coefficients exceeding at least 0.97.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.229-236
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• 2019

This study investigates the stress singularity that occurs at the contact edge of three bodies in a frictional complete contact. We use the asymptotic analysis method, wherein we constitute an eigenvalue problem and observe the eigenvalue behavior, which we use to obtain the order of the stress singularity. For the present geometry of three bodies in contact, a contact between a cracked indenter and half plane is considered. This is a typical geometry of the PCMI problem of a nuclear fuel rod. Thus, this paper, specifically presents the characteristics of the PCMI problem from the perspective of stress singularity. Consequently, it is noted that the behavior of the stress singularity varies with the difference in the crack angle, coefficient of friction, and material dissimilarity, as is observed in a frictional complete contact of two bodies. In addition, we find that the stress singularity changes essentially linearly with respect to the coefficient of friction, regardless of the variation in the crack angle and material dissimilarity. Concurrently, we find the order of singularity to be 0.5 at a certain coefficient of friction, irrespective of the crack angle, which we also observe in the crack problem of a homogeneous and isotropic body. The order of singularity can also exceed 0.5 in the frictional complete contact problem of three bodies. This implies that the propensity for failure when three bodies are in frictional complete contact can be even worse than that in case of a failure induced by a crack.