• Advances in Energy Research
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.29-45
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• 2016

There has been a growing interest in the recent time for the development of solar power tower plants, which are mainly used for utility scale power generation. Combined heat and power (CHP) is an efficient and clean approach to generate electric power and useful thermal energy from a single heat source. The waste heat from the topping Brayton cycle is utilized in the bottoming HRSG cycle for driving steam turbine and also to produce process steam so that efficiency of the cycle is increased. A thermal storage system is likely to add greater reliability to such plants, providing power even during non-peak sunshine hours. This paper presents a conceptual configuration of a solar power tower combined heat and power plant with a topping air Brayton cycle. A simple downstream Rankine cycle with a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) and a process heater have been considered for integration with the solar Brayton cycle. The conventional GT combustion chamber is replaced with a solar receiver. The combined cycle has been analyzed using energy as well as exergy methods for a range of pressure ratio across the GT block. From the thermodynamic analysis, it is found that such an integrated system would give a maximum total power (2.37 MW) at a much lower pressure ratio (5) with an overall efficiency exceeding 27%. The solar receiver and heliostats are the main components responsible for exergy destruction. However, exergetic performance of the components is found to improve at higher pressure ratio of the GT block.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2008.07a
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• pp.1663-1664
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• 2008

Many years ago, most of thermal power plants built in this country were of subcritical pressure, of medium or small size, of constant pressure operations and of drum type steam generators with circulation type boilers. But, nowadays almost all of them were of high efficiency, of supercritical pressure, of big capacity, of sliding pressure operations, and of once through type steam generators. Presently built once through boilers introduce turbine bypass systems to variable pressure operation which eliminates unexpected materials in boiler tube during startup, minimizes fuel loss by short startup period and eventually improve both total efficiency and power system stability.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.98-103
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• 2009

The nuclear power plants have been safely operated by plugging the steam generator tubes which have the crack indications. Tube rupture events can occur if analysts fail to detect crack indications during in-service inspection. There are various types of crack indication in steam generator tubes and they have been detected by the eddy current test. The integrity assessment should be performed using the crack-sizing results from eddy current data when the crack indication is detected. However, it is not easy to evaluate the crack-depth precisely and consistently due to the complexity of the methods. The current crack-sizing methods were reviewed in this paper and the suitable ones were selected through the laboratory tests. The retired steam generators of Kori Unit 1 were used for this study. The round robin tests by the domestic qualified analysts were carried out and the statistical models were introduced to establish the appropriate depth-sizing techniques. It is expected that the proposed techniques in this study can be utilized in the Steam Generator Management Program.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.89-96
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• 2007

The bobbin probe examination is basic and the important method among other ECT techniques for the steam generator tube integrity assesment that is practiced during each plant outage. The bobbin probe is one of the essential components which consist of the whole ECT examination system, and provides us a decisive data for the evaluation of tube integrity in compliance with acceptance criteria described in specific procedures. The selection of examination probe is especially important because the quality of acquired ECT data is determined by the probe design characteristics, such as geometry and operation frequency, and has enormous effects on examination results. In this study, An optimal differential bobbin probe is designed for the steam generator tube inspection in nuclear power plants(NPPs). Based on the test results for electrical and ECT signal characteristics, the prototype bobbin probe satisfies all the criteria.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.6-10
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• 2013

The Heat Recovery Steam Generator(HRSG) is a device recycling the exhaust gas of gas turbine in combined power and chemical plants. Since service temperatures was very high, the damage of HRSG tubes intensively occurred in superheater and reheater. The aim of this paper is to determine life and hardness relationship that addresses creep-rupture test and creep-interrupt test in modified 9Cr-1Mo steel. The measured life that consists of function of hardness was found to constant tendency.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.8
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• pp.2840-2851
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• 2022

Electric boilers (EBs) are the backup steam source for the auxiliary steam system of high-temperature gas-cooled reactor nuclear power plants. When the plant is in normal operations, the EB is always in hot standby status. However, the current hot standby operation strategy has problems of slow response, high power consumption, and long operation time. To solve these problems, this study focuses on the optimization of hot standby operations for the EB system. First, mathematical models of an electrode immersion EB and its accompanying deaerator were established. Then, a control simulation platform of the EB system was developed in MATLAB/Simulink implementing the established mathematical models and corresponding control systems. Finally, two optimization strategies for the EB hot standby operation were proposed, followed by dynamic simulations of the EB system transient from hot standby to normal operations. The results indicate that the proposed optimization strategies can significantly speed up the transient response of the EB system from hot standby to normal operations and reduce the power consumption in hot standby operations, improving the dynamic performance and economy of the system.

• KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.33-38
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• 2018

This study applied upgrades to the processes of a 10 MW wet amine $CO_2$ capture pilot plant and conducted performance evaluation. The 10 MW $CO_2$ Capture Pilot Plant is a facility that applies 1/50 of the combustion flue gas produced from a 500 MW coal-fired power plant, and is capable of capturing up to 200 tons of $CO_2$. This study aimed to quantitatively measure efficiency improvements of post-combustion $CO_2$ capture facilities resulting from process upgrades to propose reliable data for the first time in Korea. The key components of the process upgrades involve absorber intercooling, lean/rich amine exchanger efficiency improvements, reboiler steam TVR (Thermal Vapor Recompression), and lean amine MVR (Mechanical Vapor Recompression). The components were sequentially applied to test the energy reduction effect of each component. In addition, the performance evaluation was conducted with the absorber $CO_2$ removal efficiency maintained at the performance evaluation standard value proposed by the IEA-GHG ($CO_2$ removal rate: 90%). The absorbent used in the study was the highly efficient KoSol-5 that was developed by KEPCO (Korea Electric Power Corporation). From the performance evaluation results, it was found that the steam consumption (regeneration energy) for the regeneration of the absorbent decreased by $0.38GJ/tonCO_2$ after applying the process upgrades: from $2.93GJ/ton\;CO_2$ to $2.55GJ/tonCO_2$. This study confirmed the excellent performance of the post-combustion wet $CO_2$ capture process developed by KEPCO Research Institute (KEPRI) within KEPCO, and the process upgrades validated in this study are expected to substantially reduce $CO_2$ capture costs when applied in demonstration $CO_2$ capture plants.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.6-16
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• 1992

Since world-wide oil shock on 1970s, many large size-low speed diesel engines, instead of steam turbines, are used for the industrial electric power generating plants due to their economic advantage of low specific fuel consumption. But it is very important to control their electric power fluctuation problems for the purpose of smooth parallel operation with existing power plants. In this paper the fluctuation problem of KEPCO Nam-cheju No.1 generator driven by diesel ngine(B & W 7K 60MC, 13931x138.5RPM) is investigated with analysis of torsional vibration of which 4th harmonic component is related to its power fluctuation. The problem can be improved by modification of cylinder arrangement and flywheel position in reverse sequence, equalizing the combustion gas pressure of all cylinder and installation of torsional vibration damper enlarged 30%(Je=7287Kg.m$^{2}$) and high quality balancing of generator rotor.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.236-241
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• 1996

This paper presents a new eddy current testing system for inspecting tubes of steam generator in nuclear power plant. The proposed system adopted embedded expert system concept to automate tasks of the inspection such as inspection planning and flaw signal interpretation, and integrated all the tasks into a client/server type computing architecture using database management system. Therefore, human factor errors occurred during inspection could be minimized and the inspection data could be transferred in real-time. As a result, we can increase the level of inspection confidence and the productivity of a personal inspector. A prototype of the proposed system has been developed for 5 years and the test operation has been performed in domestic nuclear power plants.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.16-25
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• 2016

In severe loss of coolant accidents (LOCA), similar to those experienced at Fukushima Daiichi and Three Mile Island Unit 1, the zirconiumalloy fuel claddingmaterials are rapidlyheateddue to nuclear decay heating and rapid exothermic oxidation of zirconium with steam. This heating causes the cladding to rapidly react with steam, lose strength, burst or collapse, and generate large quantities of hydrogen gas. Although maintaining core cooling remains the highest priority in accident management, an accident tolerant fuel (ATF) design may extend coping and recovery time for operators to restore emergency power, and cooling, and achieve safe shutdown. An ATF is required to possess high resistance to steam oxidation to reduce hydrogen generation and sufficient mechanical strength to maintain fuel rod integrity and core coolability. The initiative undertaken by Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) is to demonstrate the feasibility of developing an ATF cladding with capability to maintain its integrity in $1,200-1,500^{\circ}C$ steam for at least 24 hours. This ATF cladding utilizes thin-walled Mo-alloys coated with oxidation-resistant surface layers. The basic design consists of a thin-walled Mo alloy structural tube with a metallurgically bonded, oxidation-resistant outer layer. Two options are being investigated: a commercially available iron, chromium, and aluminum alloy with excellent high temperature oxidation resistance, and a Zr alloy with demonstratedcorrosionresistance.Asthese composite claddings will incorporate either no Zr, or thin Zr outer layers, hydrogen generation under severe LOCA conditions will be greatly reduced. Key technical challenges and uncertainties specific to Moalloy fuel cladding include: economic core design, industrial scale fabricability, radiation embrittlement, and corrosion and oxidation resistance during normal operation, transients, and severe accidents. Progress in each aspect has been made and key results are discussed in this document. In addition to assisting plants in meeting Light Water Reactor (LWR) challenges, accident-tolerant Mo-based cladding technologies are expected to be applicable for use in high-temperature helium and molten salt reactor designs, as well as nonnuclear high temperature applications.