원자력 발전소에서 배관 시스템은 냉각수 및 오염수를 운반하고 생성된 증기를 터빈으로 이동시켜 에너지를 생산하는 중요한 설비이다. 국내에 건설된 원자력 발전소의 가동연수가 증가함에 따라 배관 시스템의 물리적, 기계적 성질의 열화현상은 발생할 수 있으며 이를 경년열화로 정의한다. 배관 시스 템의 경년열화는 재료의 피로, 부식(국부감육), 마모 등과 같은 메커니즘을 통해 발생할 수 있으며 재 료의 강도 및 시스템의 성능 저하와 균열을 야기할 수 있다. 지속적이고 안정적인 에너지 생산을 위해 경제성과 정확도를 고려한 원전 배관 시스템의 손상 감시 기술은 필요하다. 따라서 본 연구는 원전 배 관 시스템의 손상 감시 기술을 개발하기 위한 기초적인 연구로써 배관 시스템의 취약요소로 판단되는 elbow의 국부적인 감육에 따른 거동의 변화를 분석하고자 한다.

The decommissioning of nuclear power plants will generate a lot of low and intermediate-level radioactive waste (LILW), and preliminary radioactive evaluation for these wastes should be carried out before decommissioning work. Mainly, Concrete, Carbon Steel, Stainless Steel-304 (SS304) and Inconel are used in many parts of nuclear power plants and considered as main resource of nuclear wastes. Depending on the material location, the number of neutrons irradiated to material varies, which can range from self-disposal waste to LILW. In this paper, activation analysis was performed to compare the radiation dose according to the presence or absence of impurity elements present in SS304. For the calculation, SS304 composition and impurity elements were used as described in the report of NUREG-3474. This report lists 41 impurity elements for SS304 and other materials. Calculation code is used ORIGEN-S module in SCALE 6.1 code. Neutron flux is used as arbitrary value that around 1E+11 level and irradiation time is set as 30 year with 10-year cooling time. In the ORIGEN-S calculation, 1g of SS304 is used for easy calculation of specific activity. The ORIGEN-S calculation results are as follows. All impurity elements contained case calculated 9.32E+07 Bq activity. In the absence of all impurity elements case and most cases shows that total Becquerel value after 10-year cooling time around 9.11E+07 Bq, and Co impurity case had larger result. The calculation was performed again by increasing the amount of impurity substances by 100 times to perform the sensitivity evaluation more reliably. Representatively, Li, N, Co, and Ba impurity elements cases were calculated to have a particularly high Becquerel. Especially Co impurity element case, a total Becquerel of 3.03E+08 was calculated. Accordingly, evaluation of impurities mixed in SS304 must be considered, and in particular, the inclusion rate for Co must be considered.

Safe management of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) is a key issue to determine sustainability of current light water reactor (LWR) fleet. However, none of the countries are actually conducting permanent disposal of SNFs yet. Instead, most countries are pursuing interim storage of spent nuclear fuels in dry cask storage system (DCSS). These dry casks are usually made of stainlesssteels for resistibility against cracking and corrosion, which can be occurred over a long-term storage period. Nevertheless, some corrosion called Chloride-Induced Stress Corrosion Cracking (CISCC) can arise in certain conditions, exacerbating the lifetime of dry casks. CISCC can occur if the three conditions are satisfied simultaneously: (i) residual tensile stress, (ii) material sensitization, and (iii) chloride-rich environment. A residual tensile stress is developed by the two processes. One is the bending process of stainless-steel plates into a cylindrical shape, and the other is the welding process, which can incur solidification-induced stress. These stresses provide a driving force of pit-to-crack transition. Around the fusion weld areas, chromium is precipitated at the grain boundary as a carbide form while it depletes chromium around it, leading to material susceptible to pitting corrosion. It is called sensitization. Finally, coastal regions, where nuclear power plants usually operate, tend to have a higher relative humidity and more chloride concentration compared to inland areas. This high humidity and chloride ion concentration initiate pitting corrosion on the surface of stainless-steels. To prevent initiation of CISCC, at least one of the three conditions should be removed. For this, several surface engineering techniques are under investigation. One of the most promising approaches is surface peening method, which is the process that impacts the surface of materials with media (e.g., small pins, balls, laser pulse). By this impact, plastic deformation on the surface occurs with compressive stress that counteracts with pre-existing residual tensile stress, so this approach can prevent pit-to-crack transition of stainless-steels. Also, cold spray deposition can prevent CISCC. Cold spray deposition is a method of spraying fine metal powder to a substrate by accelerating them to supersonic velocity with propellant gas. As a result, a thin coating composed of the feedstock powders can protect the substrate from outer corrosive environments. In addition, the impact of the feedstock powder on the substrate during the process provides compressive stress, similar to the peening method.

The microstructure and mechanical properties of the heat-affected zone welded using the GTAW process on SDSS material used in offshore structures were analyzed. The chemical composition of the specimen material was analyzed using XRF. The microstructure of the heat-affected zone where the plate was welded was examined by SEM, and the ferrite volume fraction was assessed using the point count method of ASTM E562. A lot of ferrite was formed in the overheated weldment region, and In the weld cap where the cooling rate was fast, ferrite was not converted back to austenite and the microstructure was not uniform. From the ferrite phase fraction, it was shown that it can be applied to the pitting resistance equivalent numbers through changes in mechanical properties according to welding conditions.

This study aims to evaluate the structural safety of a structural thermal barrier, installed inside the structure of a building and performed the role of a load-bearing element and an insulation simultaneously, contributing to the realization of net-zero buildings. To ensure the reliability of the analysis model, the analysis results derived from LS-DYNA were compared with the experimental results. Based on the results shown through the flexural experiment, the reliability of the thermal cross-section insulation structure model for slabs was validated. In addition, the effect of the UHPC block on the load support performance and its contribution to vertical deflection was verified.

It is reported that 48 pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs) are in operation, and 10 PHWRs including Wolsong-1 NPP have been permanently shut down in the world. In the case of PHWRs, which have been permanently ceased, they are managed through the delayed decommissioning method, but there are no cases of dismantling. Therefore, technology development is urgent for the effective decommissioning of PHWRs. Unlike PWRs, PHWRs are separated into coolant system and moderator system. Most of pipes and systems of coolant system are mainly composed of carbon steel, expect of the steam generator tubes which are composed of nickel alloy. On the other hand, the moderator system is composed of stainless steel. In the case of stainless steel, the inner layer of the oxide film is composed of chromium oxide, and the outer layer is composed of iron and nickel oxide in enriched. To remove two oxide layers, it is needs to different decontamination method, the coolant system can perform the system decontamination process through a reduction process, but in the case of the moderator system, the oxidation/reduction process is required because it has a material and oxide film similar to PWRs. In this study, this is evaluated the oxide film removal rate according to the type of stainless steel and temperature in order to remove the oxide film deposited in the moderator system. The experiments were carried out at temperatures of 60, 70, 80 and 90°C, with a concentration of 200 ppm of permanganic acid and nitric acid, and 2,000 ppm of oxalic acid, respectively. The results of the oxide film removal rate test for SUS304 showed 29% at 60°C, 38% at 70 and 80°C, and 41% at 90°C. For SUS403, the oxide film removal rate experiment results showed 62% at 60°C, 85% at 70°C, 94% at 80°C, over 99% at 90°C. The results showed that the removal efficiency of the oxide film increased as the temperature increased. Following the results of experimental, the optimum temperature of oxide removal in composed of the stainless steel material is to be 90°C for decontamination of PHWR.

Laser cutting has many advantages, including high-speed cutting potential, no reaction forces, narrow kerf widths, ease of remote control, and more. This makes it the next generation cutting technology for nuclear decommissioning. For this reason, various groups in countries with nuclear power plants have been working on applying laser cutting to nuclear decommissioning. Our group has also been developing in-air and underwater laser cutting technologies. Previous research has focused on efficiently cutting thicker steels. To accomplish this, a cutting head with a long focusing element with a focal length of 600 mm was utilized. A long focusing head is advantageous for cutting thick objects at high speeds because it can maintain a high power density over a long distance. However, with such a long focused beam, the residual laser power that remains after passing through the target object can cut or damage other unwanted objects located behind the target. Utilizing a short focused element can solve this problem, but if the focal length is too short, the cutting capability will be reduced. In this work, we developed and applied a cutting head that utilizes a focused element with a short focal length of 300 mm. Cutting tests with this head allowed us to cut 10-60 mm thick stainless steel plates at a laser power of 6 kW. We also obtained the maximum cutting speed and kerf width for each thickness while increasing the laser power by 1 kW from 1 to 6 kW. The results obtained in this work are expected to be utilized for safe cutting in future nuclear decommissioning applications.

For Korean nuclear fuel cycle project, it is necessary to design and evaluate the integrity of spent fuel storage. For the design and evaluation of spent fuel storage, it is necessary to evaluate the properties of various materials used in spent fuel storage. The materials previously considered in the design of nuclear power plants were limited to static properties and were listed in design and manufacturing code and standards. However, for the evaluation of the storage containers in scenarios such as transportation and events, dynamic material property evaluations are required. Research on the dynamic properties of materials is generally conducted in the fields of automotive and aerospace, and most of the studies are on metal materials under sheet conditions. Since the structural materials of the storage containers for used nuclear fuel are mostly composed of thick materials, consideration should be given to property evaluation methodology and quantitative comparison. In this study, the mechanical properties of stainless steel material with canister application were evaluated according to the strain rate, and the crack resistance evaluation was also performed. It was confirmed the changes in strength and crack resistance according to the increase in strain rate and observed differences in microstructural hardening behavior.

Long-term safe storage of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) determines sustainability of the current light water reactor (LWR) fleet. In the U.S., SNF is stored in stainless steel canister in dry cask storage system (DCSS) after spending several years in wet pool storage system while there is no DSCC in Republic of Korea. The SNF storage time in DSCC is expected to be multiple decades since no permanent geological repositories are identified in both countries. One limiting factor for extended storage of SNF in DSCC is chloride-induced stress corrosion cracking (CISCC) in the welded regions of the stainless steel canisters. The propensity for the occurrence of CISCC has warranted the development of the mitigation and repair technologies to ensure the safe and long-term storage for both present and new canister although no CISCC failure was reported yet. This study investigates cold spray deposition coatings of 304 L and 316 L stainless steels on prototypical stainless steel canisters such as sensitized flat and C-ring samples. The cold spray technology has been identified as the most promising approach by Extended Storage Collaboration Program (ESCP) driven by Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). The talk includes microstructural characterization, adhesion strength measurement, residual stress evaluation, and corrosion behavior of the coated materials in boiling MgCl2 solution and electrochemical corrosion tests in NaCl solution. In addition, the capability of repair of cracks on the canister surface using the coating technology will be presented.

In Korea, borated stainless steel (BSS) is used as spent fuel pool (SFP) storage rack to maintain nuclear criticality of spent fuels. As number of nuclear power plants and corresponding number of spent fuels increased, density in SFP storage rack also increased. In this regard, maintain subcriticality of spent nuclear fuels was raised as an issue and BSS was selected as structural material and neutron absorber for high density storage rack. Because it is difficult to replace storage rack, corrosion resistance and neutron absorbency are required for long period. BSS is based on stainless steel 304 and it is specified in the ASTM A887-89 standard depending on the boron concentration from 304B (0.20-0.29% B) to 304B7 (1.75-2.25% B). Due to low solubility of boron in austenitic stainless steel, metallic borides such as (Fe, Cr)2B are formed as secondary phase metallic borides could make Cr depletion near it which could decrease the corrosion resistance of material. In this paper, long-term corrosion behavior of BSS and its oxide microstructures are investigated through accelerated corrosion experiment in simulated SFP condition. Because corrosion rate of austenitic stainless steel is known to be dependent on the Arrhenius equation, a function of temperature, corrosion experiment is conducted by increasing the experimental temperature. Detail microstructural analysis was conducted with scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope and energy dispersive spectrometer. After oxidation, hematite structure oxide film is formed and pitting corrosions occur on the surface of specimens. Most of pitting corrosions are found at the substrate surface because corrosion resistance of substrate, which has low Cr content, is relatively low. Also, oxidation reaction of B in the secondary phase has the lowest Gibbs free energy compared to other elements. Furthermore, oxidation of Cr has low Gibbs free energy which means that oxidation of B and Cr could be faster than other elements. Thus, the long-term corrosion might affect to boron content and the neutron absorption ability of the material.

A heat exchanger refers to a pressure vessel that indirectly exchanges heat between low-temperature/ high-temperature fluids with a solid wall interposed therebetween, and a shell-and-tube cylindrical heat exchanger is generally applied. The shell-and-tube cylindrical heat exchanger is widely used in ships and there is a problem in that the welding area is narrow and welding defects occur a lot due to high-level welding. In particular, in the case of a ship heat exchanger, if a problem occurs in the welding part during operation, the possibility of a safety accident is high, and repair is not easy. In this study, to solve this problem, the GTAW(Gas Tungsten Arc Welding) method was applied to secure the optimum conditions for pipe welding of STS304 material with a thickness of 5.5mm and to conduct a test. Afterwards, in accordance with the ASME rules, welding performance was verified through cross-sectional observation of welds, mechanical property tests, (tensile strength, bending strength, cryogenic impact strength) and non-destructive testing(PT, RT).

The effect of the laser beam diameter on the microstructure and hardness of 17-4 PH stainless steel manufactured via the directed energy deposition process is investigated. The pore size and area fraction are much lower using a laser beam diameter of 1.0 mm compared with those observed using a laser beam diameter of 1.8 mm. Additionally, using a relatively larger beam diameter results in pores in the form of incomplete melting. Martensite and retained austenite are observed under both conditions. A smaller width of the weld track and overlapping area are observed in the sample fabricated with a 1.0 mm beam diameter. This difference appears to be mainly caused by the energy density based on the variation in the beam diameter. The sample prepared with a beam diameter of 1.0 mm had a higher hardness near the substrate than that prepared with a 1.8 mm beam diameter, which may be influenced by the degree of melt mixing between the 17-4 PH metal powder and carbon steel substrate.

물체의 무게감은 감각 측면에서 중요하게 다뤄진 연구 주제로 물체의 무게뿐만 아니라, 크기, 색상, 재질 등의 영 향을 받아 크기-무게, 색상-무게 그리고 재질-무게 왜곡 현상을 갖는 것으로 알려져 있다. 온도는 우리의 일상생활에 매우 중요한 환경적 요소이나, 물체의 온도가 무게감에 어떤 영향을 미치는지에 대해 충분한 연구가 되어 있지 않다. 본 연구는 물체의 온도가 무게감에 미치는 영향을 파악하고자 하였다. 이를 위해 본 연구는 물체의 온도, 무게를 조정하기 용이한 스테인리스 컵을 무게감 측정 물체로 선정하였고, 온도 5 수준(0, 9, 20, 40, 70℃), 무게 2 수준(250, 400g)의 조합으로 10개의 스테인리스 컵을 준비하였다. 무게감 실험에는 건강한 20대 남여 40명이 참여하였고, modulus 방법에 따라 기준 컵 대비 주어진 컵의 무게감을 평가하였다. 실험 데이터의 분석 결과, 온도, 무게 모두 무게감에 유의한 영향을 주는 것으로 나타났다. 온도가 무게감에 주는 영향은 물체의 무게에 따라 다르게 나타났는 데, 적은 컵 무게(250g)로 컵의 무게감이 작은 경우 컵의 온도는 무게감에 영향을 주지 않았다. 반면, 큰 컵 무게 (400g)에서 낮은 온도에서 무게감이 커지는 것으로 나타났다. 이의 결과는 온도의 물체 무게감의 영향이 크기-무게 왜곡에 따라 달라짐을 의미한다.

The optimum vitrification conditions of the radioactive waste using high-temperature furnace and HIP (Hot Isostatic Press) were studied for the successful reduction of the solidification volume, radioactive level, satisfying the disposal criteria such as leaching rate and compressive strength. Vitrification is receiving attention for the solidification disposal of intermediate and low-level radioactive wastes for its chemical-physical stability and leachability. Its principle is to trap the radioactive material in a fixed structure of the glass type materials, such as Boron Trioxide, Silicon Dioxide and Phosphorus Pentoxide. Sludge targeted in this study is assembly of materials while sludge is stored in the stainless-steel tank before disposal, which consists of Fe3O4 (14.9wt%), Fe2O3 (3.8wt%), and Cr2O3 (6.3wt%), cement paste (25wt%) and detergent/shower sludge (50wt%). The detergent/shower sludge generated from the washing the clothes that were worn during the work at the laboratory and nuclear power plant contains organic materials that are vulnerable to chemical reactions, therefore, immobilization of organic material by the incinerating step, which can also immobilize the radioactive substance, was applied. Its composition – containing Cs-133 and Co-59 substitution for Cs-134 and Co-60 that are radioactive – was analyzed by XRD before and after the mineralization of the sludge using high temperature furnace in different temperature, to identify the remaining element and the features of the mineralized sludge. Targeted sludge was vitrificated using Hot Isostatic Press in with different pressure and temperature conditions, to find out the optimum vitrification conditions. Vitrificated waste was evaluated in many aspects - leaching evaluation following ANS16.1, compressive strength evaluation of 3.44 MPa (waste disposal criteria), volume reduction before and after the sequence.

The formation behavior of a passive state film on the surface of STS304 in electrolytic solution was analyzed to determine its metallic ion composition. The properties of passive state films vary depending on the Fe and Cr ions in the electrolytic solution. It was observed that the passive state film surface became flat and glossy as the concentration of Fe and Cr ions in the electrolytic solution increased. The corrosion resistance property of the passive state film was proportional to the amount of Fe and Cr in the electrolytic solution. An initial passive state film with high Fe concentration was formed on the surface of STS304 during early electrolytic polishing. Osmotic pressure of Fe ions occurs between the passive state film and electrolytic solution due to the Fe ion concentration gradient. The Fe in the passive state film is dissolved into the electrolyte, and Cr fills up the Fe ion vacancies. As a result, a good corrosion-resistant floating film was formed. The more Fe ions in the electrolytic solution, the faster the film is formed, and as a result, a flat passive state film containing a large amount of Cr can be formed.

인류 문명은 재료의 발달과 함께 진화를 해왔으며 20세기 후반부터 등장한 스마트재료는 외부 환경에 맞춰 스스로 적응을 하는 재료이다. 많은 종류의 스마트재료 중 대표물질이라고 할 수 있는 형상기억합금은 온도에 반응하여 자가 치유효과 를 볼 수 있는 재료이다. 외부 하중에 의한 변형을 자가치유 효과를 사용하여 회복을 하고자 하는 연구는 계속되어 왔지만 온 도의 변화를 구조물 전체적으로 줘야한다는 많은 불편이 있었다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 이 효과를 증진하여 상온에서도 자가 치유효과를 할 수 있는 초탄성 형상기억합금을 이용한다. 구조물에 있어서의 초탄성 형상기억합금의 능력을 스테인리스강과 함 께 비교하고 비교를 위해 강재가 가장 변형되기 쉬운 형태인 와이어형태로 가공하여 다양한 인장실험을 진행한다. 인장실험의 종류는 총 3가지로 변위를 다르게, 인장속도를 다르게, 선 인장력을 다르게 하는 실험으로 진행된다. 이때의 응력, 변형률간의 그래프를 그리고 잔류변형, 재료의 항복점 및 회복, 에너지 소산과 같은 구조물에 있어서의 재료적 능력을 파악하고 따로 그래 프를 도식화 하여 해석하였다.

In this study, we have prepared a Ti-6Al-4V/V/17-4 PH composite structure via a direct energy deposition process, and analyzed the interfaces using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The joint interfaces comprise two zones, one being a mixed zone in which V and 17-4PH are partially mixed and another being a fusion zone in the 17-4PH region which consists of Fe+FeV. It is observed that the power of the laser used in the deposition process affects the thickness of the mixed zone. When a 210 W laser is used, the thickness of the mixed zone is wider than that obtained using a 150 W laser, and the interface resembles a serrated shape. Moreover, irrespective of the laser power used, the expected  phase is found to be absent in the V/17-4 PH stainless steel joint; however, many VN precipitates are observed.

This study investigates the effect of process stopping and restarting on the microstructure and local nanoindentation properties of 316L stainless steel manufactured via selective laser melting (SLM). We find that stopping the SLM process midway, exposing the substrate to air having an oxygen concentration of 22% or more for 12 h, and subsequently restarting the process, makes little difference to the density of the restarted area (~ 99.8%) as compared to the previously melted area of the substrate below. While the microstructure and pore distribution near the stop/restart area changes, this modified process does not induce the development of unusual features, such as an inhomogeneous microstructure or irregular pore distribution in the substrate. An analysis of the stiffness and hardness values of the nano-indented steel also reveals very little change at the joint of the stop/restart area. Further, we discuss the possible and effective follow-up actions of stopping and subsequently restarting the SLM process.

This article suggests the machine learning model, i.e., classifier, for predicting the production quality of free-machining 303-series stainless steel(STS303) small rolling wire rods according to the operating condition of the manufacturing process. For the development of the classifier, manufacturing data for 37 operating variables were collected from the manufacturing execution system(MES) of Company S, and the 12 types of derived variables were generated based on literature review and interviews with field experts. This research was performed with data preprocessing, exploratory data analysis, feature selection, machine learning modeling, and the evaluation of alternative models. In the preprocessing stage, missing values and outliers are removed, and oversampling using SMOTE(Synthetic oversampling technique) to resolve data imbalance. Features are selected by variable importance of LASSO(Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator) regression, extreme gradient boosting(XGBoost), and random forest models. Finally, logistic regression, support vector machine(SVM), random forest, and XGBoost are developed as a classifier to predict the adequate or defective products with new operating conditions. The optimal hyper-parameters for each model are investigated by the grid search and random search methods based on k-fold cross-validation. As a result of the experiment, XGBoost showed relatively high predictive performance compared to other models with an accuracy of 0.9929, specificity of 0.9372, F1-score of 0.9963, and logarithmic loss of 0.0209. The classifier developed in this study is expected to improve productivity by enabling effective management of the manufacturing process for the STS303 small rolling wire rods.