Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (“KAERI”) has been developing various studies related to the nuclear fuel cycle. Among them, KAERI was focusing on the pyroprocess, which recycles some useful elements white reducing the volume and toxicity of spent nuclear fuel (SNF). Pyroprocess involves the handling of SNF, which cannot be handled directly by the facility worker. Therefore, SNF is handled and processed through remote handling device within a shielded facility such as a hot cell. Nuclear Facilities with such hot cells are called nuclear fuel cycle facilities, and unlike other facilities, heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system are particularly important in nuclear fuel cycle facilities to maintain the atmosphere in the hot cell and remove radioactive materials. In addition, due to the nature of the pyroprocess, which uses molten salt, corrosion is a problem in air atmosphere, so the process can only be carried out in an inert gas atmosphere. KAERI has a nuclear fuel cycle facility called the Irradiation Material Examination Facility (IMEF), and has built and operated the ACPF inside the IMEF, which operates an inert atmosphere hot cell for the demonstration of the pyroprocess. For efficient process development of the pyroprocess, it is necessary to put the developed equipment into the hot cell, which is a radiationcontrolled area, after sufficient verification in a mock-up facility. For this purpose, the ACPF mock-up facility, which simulates the system, space, and remote handling equipment of the ACPF, is operated separately in the general laboratory area. The inert gas conditioning system of the ACPF consists of very complex piping, blowers, and valves, requires special attention to maintenance. In addition, if there is a small leak in the piping within these valves or piping, radioactive materials can be directly exposed to facility workers, so continuous monitoring and maintenance are required to prevent accident. In this study, the applicability of acoustic emission technology and ultrasonic technology for leak detection in the inert gas conditioning system of ACPF mock-up facility was investigated. For this purpose, new bypass pipes and valves were installed in the existing system to simulate the leakage of pipes and valves. Acoustic emission sensors are attached directly to pipes or valves to detect signals, while ultrasonic sensors are installed at a distance to detect signals. The optimal parameters of each technology to effectively suppress background noise were derived and, and the feasibility of identifying normal and abnormal scenarios in the system was analyzed.

In the nuclear fuel cycle (NFC) facilities, the failure of Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system starts with minor component failures and can escalate to affecting the entire system, ultimately resulting in radiological consequences to workers. In the field of air-conditioning and refrigerating engineering, the fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) of HVAC systems have been studied since faults occurring in improper routine operations and poor preventive maintenance of HVAC systems result in excessive energy consumption. This paper aims to provide a systematic review of existing FDD methods for HVAC systems therefore explore its potential application in nuclear field. For this goal, typical faults and FDD methods are investigated. The commonly occurring faults of HVAC are identified through various literature including publications from International Energy Agency (IEA) and American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). However, most literature does not explicitly addresses anomalies related to pressure, even though in nuclear facilities, abnormal pressure condition need to be carefully managed, particularly for maintaining radiological contamination differently within each zone. To build simulation model for FDD, the whole-building energy system modeling is needed because HVAC systems are major contributors to the whole building’s energy and thermal comfort, keeping the desired environment for occupants and other purposes. The whole-building energy modeling can be grouped into three categories: physics-based modeling (i.e., white-box models), hybrid modeling (i.e., grey-box models), and data-driven modeling (i.e., black-box models). To create a white-box FDD model, specialized tools such as EnergyPlus for modeling can be used. The EnergyPlus is open source program developed by US-DOE, and features heat balance calculation, enabling the dynamic simulation in transient state by heat balance calculation. The physics based modeling has the advantage of explaining clear cause-and-effect relationships between inputs and outputs based on heat and mass transfer equations, while creating accurate models requires time and effort. Creating a black-box FDD model requires a sufficient quantity and diverse types of operational data for machine learning. Since operation data for HVAC systems in existing nuclear cycle facilities are not fully available, so efforts to establish a monitoring system enabling the collection, storage, and management of sensor data indicating the status of HVAC systems and buildings should be prioritized. Once operational data are available, well-known machine learning methods such as linear regression, support vector machines, random forests, artificial neural networks, and recurrent neural networks (RNNs) can be used to classify and diagnose failures. The challenge with black-box models is the lack of access to failure data from operating facilities. To address this, one can consider developing black-box models using reference failure data provided by IEA or ASHRAE. Given the unavailability of operation data from the operating NFC facilities, there is a need for a short to medium-term plan for the development of a physics-based FDD model. Additionally, the development of a monitoring system to gather useful operation data is essential, which could serve both as a means to validate the physics-based model and as a potential foundation for building data-driven model in the long term.

The primary heat transport system consists mainly of the in-core fuel channels connected to the steam generators by a system of feeder pipes and headers. The feeders and headers are made of carbon steel. Feeders run vertically upwards from the fuel channels across the face of the reactor and horizontally over the refueling machine to the headers. Structural materials of the primary systems of nuclear power plants (NPPs) are exposed to high temperature and pressure conditions, so that the materials employed in these plants have to take into accounts a useful design life of at least 30 years. The corrosion products, mainly iron oxides, are generated from the carbon steel corrosion which is the main constituent of the feeder pipes and headers of this circuit. Typical film thickness on CANDU-PHWR surface is 75μm or 30mg/cm2. Deposits on PHWR tends to be much thicker than PWR due to use of carbon steel and also for the source of corrosion products available on the carbon steel surface. Degradation of carbon steel for the feeder pipes transferring the primary system coolant by flow-assisted corrosion in high temperature has been reported in CANDU reactors including Point Lapreau, Gentully-2, Darlington and Bruce NPPs. The formation of Fe3O4 film on a carbon steel surface reduces the dissolution rate of steel substantially. The protectiveness of the Fe3O4 film over the carbon steel is affected by the environmental factors and the operational parameters of the feeder pipes, including the velocity, wall shear stress, solution pH, temperature, concentration of dissolved iron, quality of solution, etc. For effective chemical decontamination of these thick oxides containing radionuclides such as Co-60, it is necessary to understand the corrosion behaviors of feeder pipes and the characteristics of oxide formed on it. In this work, we investigated the growth of oxide films that develop on type SA-107 Gr. B carbon steel in high temperature water and steam environment by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and glow discharge optical emission spectrometry (GD-OES) for the quantification and the solidstate speciation of metal oxide films. This study was especially focused to set the experimental tests conditions how to increase the oxide thickness up to 50 m by changing the oxidation conditions, such as solution chemistry and thermo-hydraulic conditions both temperature and pressure and so on.

Radioactive contamination distribution in nuclear facilities is typically measured and analyzed using radiation sensors. Since generally used detection sensors have relatively high efficiency, it is difficult to apply them to a high radiation field. Therefore, shielding/collimators and small size detectors are typically used. Nevertheless, problems of pulse accumulation and dead time still remain. This can cause measurement errors and distort the energy spectrum. In this study, this problem was confirmed through experiments, and signal pile-up and dead time correction studies were performed. A detection system combining a GAGG sensor and SiPM with a size of 10 mm × 10 mm × 10 mm was used, and GAGG radiation characteristics were evaluated for each radiation dose (0.001~57 mSv/h). As a result, efficiency increased as the dose increased, but the energy spectrum tended to shift to the left. At a radiation dose intensity of 400 Ci (14.8 TBq), a collimator was additionally installed, but efficiency decreased and the spectrum was distorted. It was analyzed that signal loss occurred when more than 1 million particles were incident on the detector. In this high-radioactivity area, quantitative analysis is likely to be difficult due to spectral distortion, and this needs to be supplemented through a correction algorithm. In recent research cases, the development of correction algorithms using MCNP and AI is being actively carried out around the world, and more than 98% of the signals have been corrected and the spectrum has been restored. Nevertheless, the artificial intelligence (AI) results were based on only 2-3 overlapping pulse data and did not consider the effect of noise, so they did not solve realistic problems. Additional research is needed. In the future, we plan to conduct signal correction research using ≈10×10 mm small size detectors (GAGG, CZT etc.). Also, the performance evaluation of the measurement/analysis system is intended to be performed in an environment similar to the high radiation field of an actual nuclear facility.

선박의 설계과정에 있어, 선박의 중량은 유체역학적 성능에 큰 영향을 미치는 가장 중요한 요소 중 하나이다. 선박은 일반적으 로 최적의 흘수와 배수량을 갖는 하나의 조건으로 설계되지만, 실제로는 연료의 소비, 선박 평형수의 충전과 적재 조건과 같은 운항 활동 으로 인해 선박의 중량 및 흘수가 일정 범위 내에서 바뀐다. 본 연구에서는 소형선박을 대상으로 3가지 하중조건에 따른 선박의 저항성능 변화를 모형실험과 수치해석을 통해 연구하였다. 마지막으로 2050년까지 CO2 배출 가스를 50% 감축한다는 국제해사기구(IMO) 목표를 따 라 선박의 저항 성능을 개선하여 동력 요구 사항을 줄이기 위해 선박의 중량 변화에 따른 저항성능의 민감도를 연구하였다. 연구 결과, 선박의 중량변화에 따른 효과는 낮은 프루드 수에서 크게 나타나는 것으로 확인되며, 저항성능에 대한 연구 결과, 설계 흘수의 적재조건 을 기준으로 배수량이 11.1% 증가하고, 흘수가 5% 증가한 Over load의 적재조건에서 운항 시 선체의 총 저항이 모형시험과 CFD 시뮬레이 션에서 각각 15.97%, 14.31%까지 증가하는 것을 볼 수 있다.

This study was to psychological effects of insect healing programs in Insect ecological garden. A sample of participated 9 families and non-participated 9 families in the survey from near study area in Sangju and Mungyeong, Gyeongbuk. The nine families in the experimental group participated in an insect experience activity healing programs using emotional insects(butterfly, beetle and endangered insect) and edible insect. All the participants were examined to psychological effect with major family strength, PANAS, POMS-B, PSS, CES-D and GAD-7 in before and after the program. The results of this study showed that the healing program of insect experience activities had a positive effect on the participated families of Family strength, PANAS, POMS-B, PSS, CES-D and GAD-7. The participated families preferred insects more than before healing program of insect experience activities. And participated families in the insect healing program showed high satisfaction. As a result, we were going to investigate the effect of the family type insect healing program in this study. In the future, the insect ecological healing program will be able to be applied to various subjects. These result reveals that the insect healing program performed in insect ecological healing program may improve stress, depressive and anxiety disorders symptoms of people.

미국선녀벌레는 2009년 발견이후 현재 131개 시군에 15,730ha가 발생되고 있다. 주로 단감 등 10여종 이상의 작물을 흡즙하여 피해를 준다. 2017년 이탈리아 파도바 대학에서 천적인 선녀벌레집게벌(Neodryinus typhlocybae)을 도입하여 국립농업과학원에서 생태특성 조사, 대량사육 기술개발 및 미국선녀벌레 발생 현장에 방사하고 있다. 선녀벌레집게벌은 미국선녀벌레 어린약충(1~3령)에 기생하면 암컷의 비율이 낮고 수컷은 2화 성 개체가 많아져 생산이 비효율적이다. 본 연구에서 어린약충에 기생할 때 보다 노숙약충에 기생할 경우 3배정 도 암컷생산의 비율이 높아졌고, 월동하고 있는 고치들을 5월 중순 무렵에 20℃의 서늘한 곳에 보관하면 우화시 기를 상온에 놓아둔 것에 비해 10일 이상 늦추는 결과를 얻었다.

Because Scotinophara lurida has the habit of living under the rice plant, an introduction of a method for efficient control when spraying eco-friendly organic materials is needed. In this study, we investigated the density of S. lurida in drained- and irrigated-paddy field after spraying an organic material containing garlic bulb extracts, which has high insecticidal activity in S. lurida in direct spraying test in glass tube. As a result, an irrigated rice paddy showed a control effect of 66.4% after 3 days of spraying and 86.2% after 7 days, while a drained rice paddy showed a control effect of 33.9% after spraying and 61.9% after 7 days. These results suggest that effective control can be achieved in irrigated rice fields if organic farming materials are evenly sprayed and reach to the body of S. lurida. It is remained to study how irrigated water do contribute to increase the insecticidal effect in the future.

Scotinophara lurida is one of major sap-sucking pests in an organic rice farming paddy fields in Korea. Several Poaceae grasses (e.g, rice, barley etc) have been known as a host plant. To find out a true host plant of S. lurida, the developmental characteristics such as weight gain and developmental duration were checked on total eight grasses species including rice and corn. In the results, weight of the fifth nymphal stage was the highest value in the barnyard millet and rice plant. In addition, nymphal duration was the shortest value in the barnyard millet and rice plant. But, in corn and common millet plant, S. lurida nymphs could not complete the development to the adult stage. These results suggest that six Poaceae grasses including rice and barnyard millet out of eight test grasses are close related to true host plants of S. lurida.

뿌리응애류는 양파, 마늘, 생강, 백합 등의 뿌리를 가해한다. 최근 백합재배지에서는 질경이모자이크바이러 스(Plantago asiatica mosaic virus, PLAMV)에 의한 잎의 괴사 피해가 확산되고 있다. 태안 백합재배지에서 PlAMV 가 감염된 백합을 채집하여 구근을 조사한 결과, 식물체 당 뿌리응애 100개체 이상이 발견되었으며 Rhizoglyphus robini로 동정되었다. 이 종이 PlAMV의 보독여부를 확인하기 위해 채집된 R. robini에서 RNA를 추출하여 RT-PCR로 진단한 결과, 모든 개체에서 PlAMV가 확인되었다. 본 연구는 뿌리응애가 백합 구근 뿌리를 먹으면서 만든 상처를 통해 PlAMV가 전염될 수 있다는 가능성을 제시한다.

Cryptotympana atrata belongs to the family Cicadidae, has long been recognized as a damaging plant-sucking pest, and is distributed in East Asian countries. In addition, their cries cause direct harm to us through noise pollution and also reported twig damage in the forest environments. In this study, we isolated strains of the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium that occurred from C. atrata collected this year. Here, we provide the morphological character and molecular phylogenetic relationship of this species. This is the first record of the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium viridulum isolated from C. atrata in Korea and provides a candidate strain with potential use for biological agents.

Subfamily Eumeninae, also known as the potter wasp, constructs mud cells and lays a single egg in each cell. The adult female potter wasp hunts lepidopteran larvae and paralyzes them then brings them back to the nest for its offspring. This research is focused on the behavioral study of Euodynerus nipanicus nipanicus. The environmental characteristics, nesting behavior, predatory behavior, and parasitoids are represented. The rate of occupancy of the nest holes was 70.83%, with 5.4 cells per nest hole. The average length of cells was 12.11mm long, and they were filled with 4.23 larvae respectively. Also, the time period from egg to adult of the wasp was 36.27 days, on average. By analyzing the prey hunted and stored inside the nest cell, 4 different species in minimum were found to be hunted. Additionally, hymenopteran parasitoid and lepidopteran kleptoparasite are newly discovered. The research suggests that providing nest traps to potter wasps can increase the natural biological control held by the potter wasp species and could support the conservation of the potter wasps.