• 한국압력기기공학회 논문집
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• 제10권1호
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• pp.64-69
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• 2014

Gr. 91 steel is used for the major structural components of Generation-IV reactor systems, such as a very high temperature reactor(VHTR) and sodium-cooled fast reactor(SFR). Since these structures are designed for up to 60 years at elevated temperatures, the prediction of long-term creep life is important for a design application of Gr. 91 steel. In this study, a number of creep rupture data were collected through world-wide literature surveys, and using these data, the long-term creep life was predicted in terms of three methods: the single-C method in Larson-Miller(L-M) parameter, multi-C constant method in the L-M parameter, and a modified method("sinh" equation) in the L-M parameter. The results of the creep-life prediction were compared using the standard deviation of error value, respectively. Modified method proposed by the "sinh" equation revealed better agreement in creep life prediction than the single-C L-M method.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제47권3호
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• pp.306-314
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• 2015

This paper examines the difference in the value of the nuclear fuel cycle cost calculated by the deterministic and probabilistic methods on the basis of an equilibrium model. Calculating using the deterministic method, the direct disposal cost and Pyro-SFR (sodium-cooled fast reactor) nuclear fuel cycle cost, including the reactor cost, were found to be 66.41 mills/kWh and 77.82 mills/kWh, respectively (1 mill = one thousand of a dollar, i.e., $10^{-3}$ $). This is because the cost of SFR is considerably expensive. Calculating again using the probabilistic method, however, the direct disposal cost and Pyro-SFR nuclear fuel cycle cost, excluding the reactor cost, were found be 7.47 mills/kWh and 6.40 mills/kWh, respectively, on the basis of the most likely value. This is because the nuclear fuel cycle cost is significantly affected by the standard deviation and the mean of the unit cost that includes uncertainty. Thus, it is judged that not only the deterministic method, but also the probabilistic method, would also be necessary to evaluate the nuclear fuel cycle cost. By analyzing the sensitivity of the unit cost in each phase of the nuclear fuel cycle, it was found that the uranium unit price is the most influential factor in determining nuclear fuel cycle costs.

• 한국전산유체공학회지
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• 제19권4호
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• pp.29-36
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• 2014

A computational study of a thermal striping in the upper plenum of PGSFR(Prototype Generation-IV Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor) being developed at the KAERI(Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) is presented. The LES(Large Eddy Simulation) approach is employed for the simulation of thermal striping in the upper plenum of the PGSFR. The LES is performed using the WALE (Wall-Adapting Local Eddy-viscosity) model. More than 19.7 million unstructured elements are generated in upper plenum region of the PGSFR using the CFX-Mesh commercial code. The time-averaged velocity components and temperature field in the complicated upper plenum of the PGSFR are presented. The time history of temperature fluctuation at the eight locations of solid walls of UIS(Upper Internal Structure) and IHX(Intermediate Heat eXchanger) are additionally stored. It has been confirmed that the most vulnerable regions to thermal striping are the first plate of UIS. From the temporal variation of temperature at the solid walls, it was possible to find the locations where the thermal stress is large and need to assess whether the solid structures can endure the thermal stress during the reactor life time.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• 제22권1호
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• pp.34-42
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• 2017

Material defects in the Steam Generator Tubes (SGT) of sodium cooled fast breeder reactor (PFBR) can lead to leakage of water into sodium. The water and sodium reaction will lead to major accidents. Therefore, the examination of steam generator tubes for the early detection of defects is an important requirement for safety and economic considerations. In this work, the Magnetic Flux Leakage (MFL) based Non Destructive Testing (NDT) technique is used to perform the defect detection process. The rectangular notch defects on the outer surface of steam generator tubes are modeled using COMSOL multiphysics 4.3a software. The obtained MFL images are de-noised to improve the integrity of flaw related information. Grey Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) features are extracted from MFL images and taken as input parameter to train the neural network. A comparative study on characterization have been carried out using feed-forward back propagation (FFBP) and cascade-forward back propagation (CFBP) algorithms. The results of both algorithms are evaluated with Mean Square Error (MSE) as a prediction performance measure. The average percentage error for length, depth and width are also computed. The result shows that the feed-forward back propagation network model performs better in characterizing the defects.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권9호
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• pp.3122-3125
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• 2021

Electromagnetic vortex flowmeter is a new type of instrument for detecting leakage of steam generator, and the signal processing method based on the envelope to calculate energy ratio can effectively detect bubbles in sodium flow. The signal processing method is not affected by changes in the amplitude of the sensor output signal, which is caused by changes in magnetic field strength and other factors. However, the detection sensitivity of the electromagnetic vortex flowmeter is reduced. To this end, a signal processing method based on inverse Fourier transform to calculate energy ratio is proposed. According to the difference between the frequency band of the bubble noise signal and the flow signal, only the amplitude in the frequency band of the flow signal is retained in the frequency domain, and then the flow signal is obtained by the inverse Fourier transform method, thereby calculating the energy ratio. Using this method to process the experimental data, the results show that it can detect 0.1 g/s leak rate of water in the steam generator, and its performance is significantly better than that of the signal processing method based on the envelope to calculate energy ratio.

• 대한기계학회논문집A
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• 제38권8호
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• pp.831-836
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• 2014

본 연구에서는 한국원자력연구원 내에 설치될 예정인 소듐시험 시설인 SELFA(Sodium Thermal-hydraulic Experiment Loop for Finned-tube Sodium-to-Air heat exchanger) 내에서 정상상태 가동온도가 $510^{\circ}C$의 고온 압력용기인 팽창탱크에 대해 고온 건전성 평가를 수행하였다. 팽창탱크에 대해 3 차원 유한요소해석에 기초하여 고온설계 기술기준인 ASME Section III Subsection NH 와 프랑스의 RCC-MRx 코드를 따라 크리프-피로 손상평가를 수행하였다. 평가결과 팽창탱크는 크리프-피로 설계 과도 하중 하에서 구조적 건전성을 유지하는 것으로 나타났다. 316L 스테인리스강 재질의 동 압력용기에 대해 정량적 코드 비교 분석을 수행하였다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제43권1호
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• pp.63-74
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• 2011

The 600 MWe, pool-type, sodium-cooled, metallic fuel loaded KALIMER-600 (Korea Advanced LiquId MEtal Reactor, 600 MWe) has been conceptually designed with an emphasis on safety by self-regulating (inherent/intrinsic) negative reactivity feedback in the core. Its inherent safety under the ATWS (Anticipated Transient Without Scram) events was demonstrated in an earlier study. Initiating events of an HCDA (Hypothetical Core Disruptive Accident), however, also need to be analyzed for assessment of the margins in the current design. In this study, a hypothetical triple-fault accident, ULOF (Unprotected Loss Of Flow) with a reduced pump halving time, is investigated as an initiator of a core disruptive accident. A ULOF with insufficient primary pump inertia may cause core sodium boiling due to a power-to-flow mismatch. If the positive sodium reactivity resulting from this boiling is not compensated for by other intrinsic negative reactivity feedbacks, the resulting core power burst would challenge the fuel integrity. The present study focuses on determination of the limit of the pump inertia for assuring inherent reactivity feedback and behavior of the core after sodium boiling as well. Transient analyses are performed with the safety analysis code SSC-K, which now incorporates a new sodium boiling model. The results show that a halving time of more than 6.0 s does not allow sodium boiling even with very conservative assumptions. Boiling takes place for a halving time of 1.8 s, and its behavior can be predicted reasonably by the SSC-K.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• 제54권6호
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• pp.863-870
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• 2016

본 논문의 목적은 소듐냉각고속로(sodium cooled fast reactor, SFR)와 초임계 $CO_2$ Brayton cycle의 연계 시, 원자로 열수송 계통과 동력변환 계통의 압력 경계를 형성하는 회로인쇄형 열교환기의 경계면에 균열이 발생해 고압(약 200 bar)의 $CO_2$가 상압 수준의 액체소듐유로 측에 유입되었을 때의 물리/화학적 현상을 파악하여 열교환기 설계에 활용 가능한 실험 자료를 생산하는 것이다. 열교환기의 소듐-$CO_2$ 경계면 균열 현상은 경계면의 균열 크기에 따라 미세 균열에 의한 소듐유로막힘(plugging) 현상과 상대적으로 큰 균열에 의한 열교환기 재료손상(wastage) 현상으로 나뉜다. Plugging 실험결과, 소듐유로 직경이 3mm일 때 $CO_2$ 주입 즉시 소듐 흐름이 정지한 반면 소듐유로 직경이 5 mm일 때는 유량이 감소되기 시작하는 시점은 3 mm의 경우와 유사하게 $CO_2$ 주입 즉시 나타났지만 소듐의 흐름이 완전히 정지할 때까지는 상대적으로 오랜 시간이 소요되었다. 이러한 실험결과는 실제 열교환기의 소듐-$CO_2$ 경계면에서 미세균열이 발생했을 때, 소듐유로 직경이 3 mm로 좁을 경우 균열 발생과 동시에 해당 소듐유로가 반응생성물에 의해 막혀 해당 유로 외의 유로들로 지속적인 열교환기 운전이 가능하지만, 소듐유로의 직경이 5 mm로 넓어질 경우 소듐유로가 고체생성물에 의해 즉시 막히지 않고 생성물이 소듐유로를 따라 계통 내부를 이동하다 일정 농도 이상이 되어야 소듐유로를 막게 할 것으로 예상할 수 있는 결과이다. Wastage 실험결과, 열교환의 재질(STS316, Inconel600, G91 합금강), 운전온도($400{\sim}500^{\circ}C$), 노즐직경(0.2~0.8 mm), 시편-노즐 거리(2~6 mm)와 무관하게 고압(약 200~250 bar)의 $CO_2$ 분사에 의한 시편의 물리적 손상(erosion) 현상은 발생하지 않았다. 노즐에서의 분사되는 $CO_2$의 분사속도는 마하 0.4~0.7인 것으로 확인되었다. 본 연구의 실험결과는 열교환기 파손 대처 설계에 배경 실험 자료로 활용될 것으로 기대된다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제52권5호
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• pp.925-936
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• 2020

To ascertain the characteristics of pool sloshing behavior that might be encountered during a core disruptive accident of sodium-cooled fast reactors, in our earlier work several series of experiments were conducted under various scenarios including the condition with mono-sized solid particles. It is found that under the particle-bed condition, three typical flow regimes (namely the bubble-impulsion dominant regime, the transitional regime and the bed-inertia dominant regime) could be identified and a flow-regime model (base model) has been even successfully established to estimate the regime transition. In this study, aimed to further understand this behavior at more realistic particle-bed conditions, a series of simulated experiments is newly carried out using mixed-size particles. Through analyses, it is verified that for present scenario, by applying the area mean diameter, our previously-developed base model can provide the most appropriate predictive results among the various effective diameters. To predict the regime transition with a form of extension scheme, a correction factor which is based on the volume-mean diameter and the degree of convergence in particle-size distribution is suggested and validated. The conducted analyses in this work also indicate that under certain conditions, the potential separation between different particle components might exist during the sloshing process.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제47권3호
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• pp.240-252
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• 2015

In the original licensing application for the prototype fast-breeder reactor, MONJU, the event progression during an unprotected loss of flow (ULOF), which is one of the technically inconceivable events postulated beyond design basis, was evaluated. Through this evaluation, it was confirmed that radiological consequences could be suitably limited even if mechanical energy was released. Following the Fukushima-Daiichi accident, a new nuclear safety regulation has become effective in Japan. The conformity of MONJU to this new regulation should hence be investigated. The objectives of the present study are to conduct a preliminary evaluation of ULOF for MONJU, reflecting the knowledge obtained after the original licensing application through CABRI experiments and EAGLE projects, and to gain the prospect of in-vessel retention for the conformity of MONJU to the new regulation. The preliminary evaluation in the present study showed that no significant mechanical energy release would take place, and that thermal failure of the reactor vessel could be avoided by the stable cooling of disrupted-core materials. This result suggests that the prospect of in-vessel retention against ULOF, which lies within the bounds of the original licensing evaluation and conforms to the new nuclear safety regulation, will be gained.