• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제45권5호
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• pp.689-694
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• 2013

A duplex stainless steel sheet with 1 wt.% gadolinium was fabricated for a neutron absorbing material with high strength, excellent corrosion resistance, and low cost as well as high neutron absorption capability. The microstructure of the as-cast specimen has typical duplex phases including 31% ferrite and 69% austenite. Main alloy elements like chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), and gadolinium (Gd) are relatively uniformly distributed in the matrix. Gadolinium rich precipitates were present in the grains and at the grain boundaries. The solution treatment at $1070^{\circ}$ for 50 minutes followed by the hot-rolling above $950^{\circ}$ after keeping the sheet at $1200^{\circ}$ for 1.5 hours are important points of the optimum condition to produce a 6 mm-thick plate without cracking.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제45권6호
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• pp.811-820
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• 2013

SiC has been under investigation as a potential cladding for LWR fuel, due to its high melting point and drastically reduced chemical reactivity with liquid water, and steam at high temperatures. As SiC is a brittle material its behavior during the reflood phase of a Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA) is another important aspect of SiC that must be examined as part of the feasibility assessment for its application to LWR fuel rods. In this study, an experimental assessment of thermal shock performance of a monolithic alpha phase SiC tube was conducted by quenching the material from high temperature (up to $1200^{\circ}C$) into room temperature water. Post-quenching assessment was carried out by a Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) image analysis to characterize fractures in the material. This paper assesses the effects of pre-existing pores on SiC cladding brittle fracture and crack development/propagation during the reflood phase. Proper extension of these guidelines to an SiC/SiC ceramic matrix composite (CMC) cladding design is discussed.

• 한국세라믹학회지
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• 제55권5호
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• pp.498-503
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• 2018

Using the thermal ablation method, the oxidation behavior of $SiC_f/SiC$ composites was investigated in air and in the temperature range of $1,300^{\circ}C$ to $2,000^{\circ}C$. At the relatively low temperature of $1,300^{\circ}C$, passive oxidation, which formed amorphous phase, predominantly occurred in the thermal ablation test. When the oxidation temperature increased, SiO (g) and CO (g) were formed by active oxidation and the dense oxide layer changed to a porous one by vaporization of gas phases. In the higher temperature oxidation test, both active oxidation due to $SiO_2$ decomposition on the surface of the oxide layer and active/passive oxidation transition due to interfacial reaction between oxide and base materials such as SiC fiber and matrix phase simultaneously occurred. This was another cause of high temperature degradation of $SiC_f/SiC$ composites.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제50권8호
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• pp.1306-1313
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• 2018

The randomness and incipient nature of certain faults in reactor systems warrant a robust and dynamic detection mechanism. Existing models and methods for fault diagnosis using different mathematical/statistical inferences lack incipient and novel faults detection capability. To this end, we propose a fault diagnosis method that utilizes the flexibility of data-driven Support Vector Machine (SVM) for component-level fault diagnosis. The technique integrates separately-built, separately-trained, specialized SVM modules capable of component-level fault diagnosis into a coherent intelligent system, with each SVM module monitoring sub-units of the reactor coolant system. To evaluate the model, marginal faults selected from the failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) are simulated in the steam generator and pressure boundary of the Chinese CNP300 PWR (Qinshan I NPP) reactor coolant system, using a best-estimate thermal-hydraulic code, RELAP5/SCDAP Mod4.0. Multiclass SVM model is trained with component level parameters that represent the steady state and selected faults in the components. For optimization purposes, we considered and compared the performances of different multiclass models in MATLAB, using different coding matrices, as well as different kernel functions on the representative data derived from the simulation of Qinshan I NPP. An optimum predictive model - the Error Correcting Output Code (ECOC) with TenaryComplete coding matrix - was obtained from experiments, and utilized to diagnose the incipient faults. Some of the important diagnostic results and heuristic model evaluation methods are presented in this paper.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제51권1호
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• pp.1-12
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• 2019

One of proposed Accident Tolerant Fuel (ATF) concept is fully ceramic micro-encapsulated fuel (FCMF). FCMF using uranium mononitride (UN) has better safety aspects than $UO_2$ pellet fuel although it might not have a better neutronic performance due to the presence of matrix and high neutron-induced interaction of $^{14}N$. Before implementing UN-FCMF technology in Small-PWR, further research must be taken place to make sure the proposed design of fuel assembly has inherent safety features and maintain the fuel performance. This study focusses on the neutronic analysis of UN-FCMF based fuel assembly using Serpent and SCALE codes. It is shown in the proposed fuel assembly design has inherent safety features with respect to the fuel temperature reactivity coefficient, void reactivity coefficient, and moderator temperature reactivity coefficient. It is noted that the use of FCMF leads to a lower ratio of burnup to $^{235}U$ enrichment ratio compared to the $UO_2/Zr$ fuel.

• 시스템엔지니어링학술지
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• 제17권1호
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• pp.21-34
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• 2021

The use of Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) in the development of safety-related Human-Machine Interface (HMI) systems has gained much momentum in nuclear applications. Recently, one of the application areas for the Advanced Power Reactor 1400 (APR1400) is in the development of the advanced Component Interface Module (CIM) of the Engineered Safety Features Actuation System (ESFAS). Using systems engineering approach, we have developed a new FPGA-based advanced CIM software. The first step of our software development process involves the Preliminary Hazard Analysis (PHA) based on the previous CIM design. In this paper, we describe the qualitative approach used in performing the preliminary hazard analysis. The paper presents the methodology for applying a modified Hazard and Operability (HAZOP) procedure for the conduct of PHA which resulted in a qualitative risk-ranking scheme that informed the decisions for the safety criteria in the requirements specification phase. The qualitative approach provided the justification for design changes during the advanced CIM software development process.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권8호
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• pp.2889-2896
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• 2023

The waste acceptance criteria for heavy metals in mixed waste should be developed by reflecting the leaching behaviors that could highly depend on the repository design and environment surrounding the waste. The current standards widely used to evaluate the leaching characteristics of heavy metals would not be appropriate for the silo-type repository since they are developed for landfills, which are more common than a silo-type repository. This research aimed to explore the leaching behaviors of cementitious waste with Pb, Cd, and Sb metallic and oxide powders in an environment simulating a silo-type radioactive waste repository. The Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) and the ANS 16.1 standard were employed with standard and two modified solutions: concrete-saturated deionized and underground water. The compositions and elemental distribution of leachates and specimens were analyzed using an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy combined with scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDS). Lead and antimony demonstrated high leaching levels in the modified leaching solutions, while cadmium exhibited minimal leaching behavior and remained mainly within the cement matrix. The results emphasize the significance of understanding heavy metals' leaching behavior in the repository's geochemical environment, which could accelerate or mitigate the reaction.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권11호
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• pp.4048-4056
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• 2023

The feasibility of using the Monte Carlo code MCS to generate multigroup cross sections for nodal diffusion simulations RAST-F of liquid metal fast reactors is investigated in this paper. The performance of the MCS/RAST-F code system is assessed using steady-state simulations of the ANTS-100e core. The results show good agreement between MCS/RAST-F and MCS reference solutions, with a keff difference of less than 77 pcm and root-mean-square differences in radial and axial power of less than 0.5% and 0.25%, respectively. Furthermore, the MCS/RAST-F reactivity feedback coefficients are within three standard deviations of the MCS coefficients. To validate the internal thermal-hydraulic (TH) feedback capability in RAST-F code, the coupled neutronic/TH1D simulation of ANTS-100e is performed using the case matrix obtained from MCS branch calculations. The results are compared to those obtained using the MARS-LBE system code and show good agreement with relative temperature differences in fuel and coolant of less than 0.8%. This study demonstrates that the MCS/RAST-F code system can produce accurate results for core steady-state neutronic calculations and for coupled neutronic/TH simulations.

• 한국세라믹학회지
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• 제42권8호
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• pp.575-581
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• 2005

SiC-based ceramics are considered as candidate materials for the advanced nuclear energy systems such as the generation IV reactors and the fusion reactors due to their excellent high-temperature strength and irradiation resistance. The advanced nuclear energy systems and their main components adopting ceramic composites were briefly reviewed. A novel fabrication method of $SiC_f/SiC$ composites by introducing SiC whiskers was also described. In addition, the charged-particle irradiation ($Si^{2+}$ and $H^{+}$ ion) into CVD SiC was carried out to simulate the severe environments of the advanced nuclear reactors. SiC whiskers grown in the fiber preform increased the matrix infiltration rate by more than $60\%$ compared to the conventional CVI process. The highly crystalline and pure SiC showed little degradation in hardness and elastic modulus up to a damage level of 10 dpa at $1000^{\circ}C$.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제26권4호
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• pp.453-460
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• 1994

암반(Porous Rock Matrix)과 균열(fracture)에서 일차원의 이동 방정식(Migration Equation)을 3-Member Decay Chain까지 화장하고, Laplace Transform을 이용하여 초기조건이 Delta Function과 Bateman Equation인 각각에 대해 해석해를 구한다. 그 해를 이용하여 Actinide Chain 중 4n＋1과 4n＋2 Chain에서 선택된 Np$^{241}$-U$^{233}$ -Th$^{229}$ 와 U$^{234}$ -Th$^{230}$ -Ra$^{226}$ Chain의 각 핵종들의 균열에서의 농도를 상대농도로 나타낸다. 이핵종들의 지연계수(Retardation Coefficient)는 화강암에 대한 것을 사용하여 균열에서의 농도 변화를 볼 수 있다. 본 연구에 의한 결과로는 U$^{233}$ , Th$^{229}$ , Th$^{230}$ Ra$^{226}$ 같은 핵종들은 비록 초기 inventory에는 작은 양일지라도 균열과 암반에서 모핵종의 붕괴(decay)에 의해 생기므로써 처분장으로부터 먼 거리에서는 중요한 핵종이 된다는 것을 알 수 있다.