• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2013

The safe management of radioactive waste is a national task required for sustainable generation of nuclear power and for energy self-reliance in Korea. Since the initial introduction of nuclear power to Korea in 1978, rapid growth in nuclear power has been achieved. This large nuclear power generation program has produced a significant amount of radioactive waste, both low- and intermediate-level waste (LILW) and spent nuclear fuel (SNF); and the amount of waste is steadily growing. For the management of LILW, the Wolsong LILW Disposal Center, which has a final waste disposal capacity of 800,000 drums, is under construction, and is expected to be completed by June 2014. Korean policy about how to manage the SNF has not yet been decided. In 2004, the Atomic Energy Commission decided that a national policy for SNF management should be established considering both technological development and public consensus. Currently, SNF is being stored at reactor sites under the responsibility of plant operator. The at-reactor SNF storage capacity will run out starting in 2024. In this paper, the fundamental principles and steps for implementation of a Korean policy for national radioactive waste management are introduced. Korean practices and prospects regarding radioactive waste management are also summarized, with a focus on strategy for policy-making on SNF management.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.79-90
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• 2005

In this paper are reviewed the current status of nuclear fuel management and reactor operational aid tools. In addition, we indicate deficiencies in current capabilities and what future research is judged warranted. For the nuclear fuel management review the focus is on light water reactors and the utilization of stochastic optimization methods applied to the lattice, fuel bundle, core loading pattern, and for BWRs the control rod pattern/core flow design decision making problems. Significant progress in addressing separately each of these design problems on a single cycle basis is noted; however, the outstanding challenge of addressing the integrated design problem over multiple cycles under conditions of uncertainty remains to be addressed. For the reactor operational aid tools review the focus is on core simulators, used to both process core instrumentation signals and as an operator aid to predict future core behaviors under various operational strategies. After briefly reviewing the current status of capabilities, a more in depth review of adaptive core simulation capabilities, where core simulator input data are adjusted within their known uncertainties to improved agreement between prediction and measurement, is presented. This is done in support of the belief that further development of adaptive core simulation capabilities is required to further significantly advance the utility of core simulators in support of reactor operational aid tools.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.17-28
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• 1999

A thermal-hydraulic analysis is conducted on the loss-of-coolant-accident (LOCA) during shutdown operation of YGN Units 3/4. Based on the review of plant-specific characteristics of YGN Units 3/4 in design and operation, a set of analysis cases is determined, and predicted by the RELAP5/MOD3.2 code during LOCA in the hot-standby mode. The evaluated thermal-hydraulic phenomena are blowdown, break flow, inventory distribution, natural circulation, and core thermal response. The difference in thermal-hydraulic behavior of LOCA at shutolown condition from that of LOCA at full power is identified as depressurization rate, the delay in peak natural circulation timing and the loop seal clearing (LSC) timing. In addition, the effect of high pressure safety injection (HPSI) on plant response is also evaluated. The break spectrum analysis shows that the critical break size can be between 1% to 2% of cold leg area, and that the available operator action time for the Sl actuation and the margin in the peak clad temperature (PCT) could be reduced when considering uncertainties of the present RELAP5 calculation.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.87-100
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• 2020

Performance shaping factors (PSFs) in a human reliability analysis (HRA) are one that may influence human performance in a task. Most currently applicable HRA methods for nuclear power plants (NPPs) use PSFs to highlight human error contributors and to adjust basic human error probabilities (HEPs) that assume nominal conditions of NPPs. Thus far, the effects of PSFs have been treated independently. However, many studies in the fields of psychology and human factors revealed that there may be relationships between PSFs. Therefore, the inter-relationships between PSFs need to be studied to better reflect their effects on operator errors. This study investigates these inter-relationships using two data sources and also suggests a context-based approach to treat the inter-relationships between PSFs. Correlation and factor analyses are performed to investigate the relationship between PSFs. The data sources are event reports of unexpected reactor trips in Korea and an experiment conducted in a simulator featuring a digital control room. Thereafter, context-based approaches based on the result of factor analysis are suggested and the feasibility of the grouped PSFs being treated as a new factor to estimate HEPs is examined using the experimental data.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.676-682
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• 2019

After the Fukushima Daiichi accident, there has been an increasing preference for passive safety features in the nuclear power industry. Some passive safety systems require limited active components to trigger subsequent passive operation. Under very serious accident conditions, passive safety features could be rendered inoperable or damaged. This study evaluates (i) the performance and effectiveness of the passive safety features of iPOWER (innovative Power Reactor), and (ii) whether a severe accident condition could be reached if the passive safety systems are damaged, namely the case of heat exchanger tube rupture. Analysis results show that the reactor coolant system remains in the hot shutdown condition without operator actions or electricity for over 72 h when the passive auxiliary feedwater systems (PAFSs) are operable without damage. However, heat exchanger tube rupture in the PAFS leads to core damage after about 18 h. Such results demonstrate that, to enhance the safety of iPOWER, maintaining the integrity of the PAFS is critical, and therefore additional protections for PAFS are necessary. To improve the reliability of iPOWER, additional battery sets are necessary for the passive safety systems using limited active components for accident mitigation under such extreme circumstances.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.295-300
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• 1998

In this paper, a real time diagnostic algorithm fur estimating the impact location by loose parts is proposed. It is composed of two modules such as the alarm discrimination module (ADM) and the impact-location estimation module(IEM). ADM decides whether the detected signal that triggers the alarm is the impact signal by loose parts or the noise signal. When the decision from ADM is concluded as the impact signal, the beginning time of burst-type signal, which the impact signal has usually such a form in time domain, provides the necessary data fur IEM. IEM by use of the arrival time method estimates the impact location of loose parts. The overall results of the estimated impact location are displayed on a computer monitor by the graphical mode and numerical data composed of the impact point, and thereby a plant operator can recognize easily the status of the impact event. This algorithm can perform the diagnosis process automatically and hence the operator's burden and the possible operator's error due to lack of expert knowledge of impact signals can be reduced remarkably. In order to validate the application of this method, the test experiment with a mock-up (flat board and reactor) system is performed. The experimental results show the efficiency of this algorithm even under high level noise and potential application to Loose Part Monitoring System (LPMS) for improving diagnosis capability in nuclear power plants.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.72-78
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• 2023

The purpose of this paper is to derive a quantified approach for Operator Manual Actions (OMAs) based on the existing fire Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) methodology developed by the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI). The existing fire HRA method was reviewed, and supplementary considerations for OMA quantification were established through a comparative analysis with NUREG-1852 criteria and the review of the existing literature. The OMA quantification approach involves a timeline that considers the occurrence of Multiple Spurious Operations (MSOs) during a Main Control Room Abandonment (MCRA) determination and movement towards the Remote Shutdown Panel (RSP) in the event of a Main Control Room (MCR) fire. The derived failure probability of an OMA from the approach proposed in this paper is expected to enhance the understanding of its reliability. Therefore, it allows moving beyond the deterministic classification of "reliable" or "unreliable" in NUREG-1852. Also, in the event of a nuclear power plant fire where multiple OMAs are required within a critical time range, it is anticipated that the OMA failure probability could serve as a criterion for prioritizing OMAs and determining their order of importance.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1997.10a
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• pp.848-851
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• 1997

A graphic simulation program is developed to assimilate the remote dismantling process of research nuclear reactors. This program makes extensive use of a commercial robot graphic instruction program. Firstly, a realistic graphic model of research reactors are built along with various dismantling equipments. Using the graphic instruction languages provided by IGRIP, then, a graphic process simulation program is developed that operates interactively with the user. Consequently, it is made possible for a process designer to visualize an arbitrary dismantling sequence and interactively modify the process. It is expected that the developed system will be utilized as an effective operator aid in both design and execution phases of remote dismantling of research reactor.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1996.05b
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• pp.592-597
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• 1996

The KALIMER core, of which nuclear design is largely governed by inherent safety and reactivity control issues, is fueled with metallic fuel, and the initial core will be loaded with 20% enriched Uranium metal fuel. KALIMER safety design objectives include the accommodation of unprotected, ATWS events without operator action, and without the support of active shutdown, shutdown heat removal, or any automatic system without damage to the plant and without jeopardizing public safety. The transient analysis of the core designs has been focused on severe events to assess the margins in the design, and ATWS events are the most severe events that must be accommodated by the KALIMER design. The ATWS performance has been evaluated for the preliminary initial core design of KALIMER with a particular emphasis on the inherent negative reactivity feedback effects, including the Doppler, sodium density, fuel axial expansion, core radial expansion, and control rod driveline expansion. Results show that the Uranium metal core design meets the temperature limits with margin.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.77-87
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• 1997

This paper describes the developement of a Design Issue Management System (DIMS). Although human factors engineering has been recognized as one of the critical activities in the design of man-machine system, it has been hardly successful nor effective in practice to cope with the hyman factors requirements by regulations. For supporting the human factors engineering in nuclear power plants, DIMS ahs three major modules : Design Requirements Data Base, Design Issue Tracking System, Issue Evaluation Support System. These modules function as formal verification architects that the licensing authority requests for verifying the safety of the equip- ment and facilities in nuclear power plants. An example application to an operator support system, named Critical Function Monitoring System, during its independent review of the human factors shows the usage and the benefit of DIMS.