• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.167-174
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• 2021

Recent investigation into the integrity of nuclear containment buildings has highlighted the importance of developing an elaborate diagnostic method to evaluate the distribution and size of cavities inside concrete walls. As part of developing such a method, this paper presents a finite element approach to modeling elastic waves propagating in the containment building walls of a nuclear power plant. We introduce a perfectly matched layer (PML) wave-absorbing boundary to limit the large-scale nuclear containment wall to the region of interest. The formulation results in a semi-discrete form with symmetric damping and stiffness matrices. The transient elastic wave equations for a mixed unsplit-field PML were solved for displacement and stresses in the time domain. Numerical results show that the sensitivity of displacement, velocity, acceleration, and stresses is large depending on the size and location of the cavity. The dynamic response of the wall slightly differs depending on the existence of the containment liner plate. The results of this study can be applied to a full-waveform inversion approach for characterizing cavities inside a containment wall.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.309-322
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• 2007

This study deals with the irradiation effects on some selected components which are being used in an Advanced Spent Fuel Conditioning Process (ACP). Irradiation test components have a higher priority from the aspect of their reliability because their degradation or failure is able to critically affect the performance of an ACP equipment. Components that we chose for the irradiation tests were the AC servo motor, potentiometer, thermocouples, accelerometer and CCD camera. ACP facility has a number of AC servo motors to move the joints of a manipulator and to operate process equipment. Potentiometers are used for a measurement of several joint angles in a manipulator. Thermocouples are used for a temperature measurement in an electrolytic reduction reactor, a vol-oxidation reactor and a molten salt transfer line. An accelerometer is installed in a slitting machine to forecast an incipient failure during a slitting process. A small CCD camera is used for an in-situ vision monitoring between ACP campaigns. We made use of a gamma-irradiation facility with cobalt-60 source for an irradiation test on the above components because gamma rays from among various radioactive rays are the most significant for electric, electronic and robotic components. Irradiation tests were carried out for enough long time for total doses to be over expected threshold values. Other components except the CCD camera showed a very high radiation hardening characteristic. Characteristic changes at different total doses were investigated and threshold values to warrant at least their performance without a deterioration were evaluated as a result of the irradiation tests.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.164-170
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• 2004

Liquid Injection Nozzle(LIN) tube and Calandria tube(CT) in pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) are .ross-aligned horizontally. These neighboring tubes can contact each other due to the sag of the calandria tube resulting from the irradiation creep and thermal creep, and fuel load, etc. In order to judge the contact which might be the safety concern, the remote field eddy current (RFEC) technology is applied for the gap measurement in this paper. LIN can be detected by inserting the RFEC probe into pressure tube (PT) at the crossing point directly. To obtain the optimal conditions of the RFEC inspection, the sensitivity, penetration and noise signals are considered simultaneously. The optimal frequency and coil spacing are 1kHz and 200mm respectively. Possible noises during LIN signal acquisition are caused by lift-off, PT thickness variation, and gap variation between PT and CT. The simulated noise signals were investigated by the Volume Integral Method(VIM). Signal analysis on the voltage plane describes the amplitude and shape of LIN and possible defects at several frequencies. All the RFEC measurements in the laboratory were done in variance with the CT/LIN gap and showed the relationship between the LIN gap and the signal parameters by analyzing the voltage plane signals.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.35 no.11
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• pp.1499-1506
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• 2011

The IHX (intermediate heat exchanger) is a key component of nuclear hydrogen systems for the production of massive amounts hydrogen. The IHX transfers the $950^{\circ}C$ heat generated by the VHTR (very high temperature reactor) to a hydrogen production plant. The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute established a small-scale gas loop to test the performance of key VHTR components and manufactured a small-scale PCHE (printed circuit heat exchanger) prototype, which is being considered as a candidate for the IHX, for testing in the small-scale gas loop. In this study, as a part of the high-temperature structural integrity evaluation of the small-scale PCHE prototype, we carried out high-temperature structural analysis modeling and macroscopic thermal and structural analysis for the small-scale PCHE prototype under the small-scale gas loop test conditions. This analysis serves as a precedent study to scheduled PCHE performance test in the small-scale gas loop. The results obtained in this study will be compared with the test results for the small-scale PCHE and then used to design the medium-scale PCHE prototype.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.334-341
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• 2003

When the pressure tubes(f are in contact with the calandria tube(CT) in the pressurized heavy water reactor(PHWR), the temperature difference between inner and outer wall of W results in a thermal diffusion of hydrogen (deuterium) and hydride blisters are formed on the outer surface of PT. Because the hydride blisters and zirconium matrix are acoustically continuous, it is not easy to distinguish the blisters from the matrix with conventional ultrasonic method. An ultrasonic velocity ratio method was developed to detect small hydride blisters on the zirconium pressure tube. Hydride blisters were grown in the PT specimen using a steady state thermal diffusion device. The flight times of longitudinal echo and reflected shear echo from the outer surface were measured accurately. The velocity ratio of the longitudinal wave to the shear wave was calculated and displayed using contour plot. Compared to the conventional flight time method of longitudinal wave, the velocity ratio method shows superior sensitivity to detect smaller blisters as well as better images for the blister shapes. Detectable limit of the outer shape of the hydride blisters was conservatively estimated as $500{\mu}m$, with the same specifications of ultrasonic transducer used in the actual PHWR pressure tube inspection.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.200-208
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• 2011

The neutron fluence measurement and evaluation technology is very important for material irradiation test. The most essential technology in this study is the neutron irradiation evaluation method using a fluence monitor. The fluence monitors were fabricated with metal wires of the purity ${\geq}$ 99.9%, whose dimensions were 0.1mm diameter, about 3 mm length, and around 150-200 ${\mu}g$ mass range. Three wire samples (Fe, Ni, Ti) were prepared for one irradiation aluminum capsule. Five capsules were irradiated in the OR5 hole of the HANARO reactor at 30 MW power for about 25 days. After irradiation tests, radiation activities were measured with the high purity germanium (HPGe) detector. The reaction rates were calculated by using the measured radiation activity data, and then neutron fluence were obtained from the reaction rates and the weighted neutron cross section with calculated neutron spectrum at the fluence monitor position.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.662-669
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• 2010

To develop the manufacturing methods for the blanket first wall (FW) of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) and to verify the integrity of the joint, Be/Cu mockups were fabricated and tested at the KoHLT-1 (Korea Heat Load Test facility), a graphite heater facility located at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI). Since Be and Cu joining is the focus of the present study, the fabricated mockups had a CuCrZr heat sink joined with three Be tiles as an armor material, unlike the original ITER blanket FW, which has a stainless steel structure and coolant tubes. Hot isostatic pressing (HIP) was carried out at $580^{\circ}C$ and 100 MPa for 2 hours as the method for Be/Cu joining. Three interlayers, namely, $1{\mu}mCr/10{\mu}mCu$, $1{\mu}mTi/0.5{\mu}mCr/10{\mu}mCu$, and $5{\mu}mTi/10{\mu}mCu$ were applied as a coating to the Be tiles by a physical vapor deposition (PVD) method. A shear test was performed with the specimens, which were fabricated by the same methods as those used to fabricate the mockups. The average values were 125 MPa to 180 MPa, and the samples with the $1{\mu}mCr/10{\mu}mCu$ interlayer showed the lowest value. No defect or delamination was found in the joints of the mockups by the developed ultrasonic test using a flat-type probe with a 10 MHz frequency and a 0.25 inch diameter. High heat flux (HHF) tests were performed at $1.0\;MW/m^2$ heat flux for each mockup using the given conditions, and the results were analyzed by ANSYS-CFX code. For the test criteria, an expected fatigue lifetime about 1,000 cycles was obtained by analysis with ANSYS-mechanical code. Mockups using the interlayers of $1{\mu}mTi/0.5{\mu}mCr/10{\mu}mCu$ and $5{\mu}mTi/10{\mu}mCu$ survived up to 1,100 cycles over the required number of cycles. However, one of the Be tiles in the other two mockups using the $1{\mu}mCr/10{\mu}mCu$ interlayer was detached during the screening test, and others were detached by discharge after 862 cycles. The integrity of the joints using the proposed interlayers was proven by the HHF test, but the other interlayer requires more study before it can be used for the joining of Be to Cu. Moreover, it was confirmed that the measured temperatures agreed well with the analysis temperatures, which were used to estimate the lifetime and that the developed facility showed its capability of the long time operation.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.327-334
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• 2018

The nano/micro composites with highly porous surface area have attracted of great interest, particularly the synthesis of porous and thin film sheets of high performance. In this paper, an easy method of cost-effective synthesis of thin film ceramic fiber membranes based on Hydroxyapatite, and activated carbon by turned into studied to be applied within the service-facilitated the transport of radioactive waste such as $^{90}Sr$, $^{137}Cs$ and $^{60}Co$) as activated product of radioisotopes from ETRR-2 research reactor and dissolved in 3M $HNO_3$, across a thin flat-sheet supported liquid membrane (TFSSLM). Radionuclides are transported from alkaline pH values. The presence of sodium salts in the aqueous media improves in $HNO_3$, the lowering of permeability because the initial $HNO_3$ concentration is improved. The study some parameters on the thin sheet ceramic supported liquid membrane. EDTA as stripping phase concentration, time of extraction and temperature were studied. The study of maximum permeability of radioisotopes for all parameters. The pertraction of a radioactive waste solution from nitrate medium were examined at the optimized conditions. Under the optimum experimental 98.6-99.9% of $^{90}Sr$, 79.65-80.3% of $^{137}Cs$ and $^{60}Co$ 45.5-55.5% in 90-110 min with were extracted in 10-30 min, respectively. The process of diffusion in liquid membranes is governed by the chemical diffusion process.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.55-59
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• 2015

Research about the proton nuclear reaction is actively achieving on the proton therapy including material development of fusion reactor. The proton induced gamma ray energy(2754, 1386 keV) spectrum of 27Al(p,3p+n)24Na reaction was measured with 100 MeV high energy proton beam. The proton beam in the experiment was derived from 100 MeV proton linear accelerator in the KOMAC. We measured the gamma ray intensity ratio of the decay level from the energy spectrum. The previous results have been compared with the current result. Strength of measured gamma rays will provide very important information though decide high energy gamma radiation detection efficiency.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Systems Engineering
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.33-45
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• 2013

Systems Engineering Approach was applied to the development of operator-support core management system based on the on-site operation experience and document of core management procedures, which is for enhancing operability and safety in PHWR (Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor) operation. The dissertation and definition of the system were given on th basis of investigating and analyzing the core management procedures. Fuel management, detector calibration, safety management, core power distribution monitoring, and integrated data management were defined as main user's requirements. From the requirements, 11 upper functional requirements were extracted by considering the on-site operation experience and investigating documents of core management procedures. Detailed requirements of the system which were produced by analyzing the upper functional requirements were identified by interviewing members who have responsibility of the core management procedures, which were written in SRS (Software Requirement Specification) document by using IEEE 830 template. The system was designed on the basis of the SRS and analysis in terms of nuclear engineering, and then tested by simulation using on-site data as a example. A model of core power monitoring related to the core management was suggested and a standard process for the core management was also suggested. And extraction, analysis, and documentation of the requirements were suggested as a case in terms of systems engineering.