Risk assessment on hazards for decommissioning safety of a nuclear facility

A decommissioning plan should be followed by a qualitative and quantitative safety assessment of it. The safety assessment of a decommissioning plan is applied to identify the potential (radiological and non-radiological) hazards and risks. Radiological and non-radiological hazards arise during decommissioning activities. The non-radiological or industrial hazards to which workers are subjected during a decommissioning and dismantling process may be greater than those experienced during an operational lifetime of a facility. Workers need to be protected by eliminating or reducing the radiological and non-radiological hazards that may arise during routine decommissioning activities and as well as during accidents. The risk assessment method was developed by using risk matrix and fuzzy inference logic, on the basis of the radiological and non-radiological hazards for a decommissioning safety of a nuclear facility. Fuzzy inference of radiological and non-radiological hazards performs a mapping from radiological and non-radiological hazards to risk matrix. Defuzzification of radiological and non-radiological hazards is the conversion of risk matrix and priorities to the maximum criterion method and the mean criterion method. In the end, a composite risk assessment methodology, to rank the risk level on radiological and non-radiological hazards of the decommissioning tasks and to prioritize on the risk level of the decommissioning tasks, by simultaneously combining radiological and non-radiological hazards, was developed.     

Factor analysis on hazards for safety assessment in decommissioning workplace of nuclear facilities using a semantic differential method

The decommissioning of nuclear facilities must be accomplished according to its structural conditions and radiological characteristics. An effective risk analysis requires basic knowledge about possible risks, characteristics of potential hazards, and comprehensive understanding of the associated cause-effect relationships within a decommissioning for nuclear facilities. The hazards associated with a decommissioning plan are important not only because they may be a direct cause of harm to workers but also because their occurrence may, indirectly, result in increased radiological and non-radiological hazards. Workers need to be protected by eliminating or reducing the radiological and non-radiological hazards that may arise during routine decommissioning activities as well as during accidents. Therefore, to prepare the safety assessment for decommissioning of nuclear facilities, the radiological and non-radiological hazards should be systematically identified and classified. With a semantic differential method of screening factor and risk perception factor, the radiological and non-radiological hazards are screened and identified.     

A study of the decommissioning procedure of an activated structure through an evaluation of the decommissioning cost for a research reactor

As decommissioning of a research reactor and a nuclear installation requires a long period of time from the decommissioning preparation work to the site remediation, the management of the data generated during the entire period of decommissioning is one of the most important tasks. In particular, the data obtained from research reactor decontamination and decommissioning activities can be important resources securing the safety and economic feasibility for other research reactor decommissioning. The owner of the research reactor and nuclear power plant need to submit decommissioning plan to the regulatory body at the starting stage of the research reactor and nuclear installation decommissioning project. The cost plan for decommissioning and the method for assessing the amount of exposure to protect workers must be stated in the decommissioning plan.This paper introduces the DES (Decommissioning Engineering System) that can be able to manage the data generated in the process of decommissioning of the TRIGA research reactor, to calculate an amount of waste, to evaluate decommissioning cost after deriving unit work productivity factor, and to predict the decommissioning process in advance. To verify the usability of this system and data integrity through connections among the unit systems, it describes the process to calculate the decommissioning cost using the data generated in dismantling an activated bio-shielding concrete in the TRIGA research reactor.As a result of the experiment to calculate the decommissioning cost with the TRIGA research reactor structure, it was found that the calculations were done precisely without flaw as the purpose of the experiment. Therefore, the DES can not only be used for other research reactors decommissioning, but also it is expected to be applied to other research reactors in the future. As a decommissioning cost between an activated concrete and a non-activated concrete according to the method of the dismantling procedure was significantly different, a study regarding the dismantling procedure needs more research.     

Quantification model for estimating the radiological risks of decommissioning processes in nuclear facilities

This paper proposes a model for the quantification and estimating the radiological risks of decommissioning processes in nuclear facilities. Based on fuzzy linguistic variables, the membership function and inference rules were developed for quantifying the radiological risks of nuclear decommissioning processes. Also, the fuzzy inference system was developed and the proposed method was applied to the process of concrete decommissioning. The proposed model and system is flexible in that it allows a fast-computation of the subjective expert opinion when one or several input factors change. It is believed that the suggested model and system can be applied to evaluate the safety of complex systems by only changing the variable and inputs.     

反应堆退役三维辐射场实时计算及可视化

本文基于DELMIA和VIRTOOLS平台开发的反应堆退役三维仿真原型系统,提出了仿真系统、数据库和计算内核既相互独立又集成统一的三维辐射场计算和可视化技术方案。利用点核积分算法建立了三维辐射场计算模型,得到了能量的对数与转换系数的多项式拟合公式,考虑了设备屏蔽和自吸收效应。采用VS语言和SQL server软件平台编制了三维辐射场计算程序,经验证,在关键点处的辐射水平计算值与测量值的比值小于10,并嵌入了仿真系统,实现了退役场景三维辐射场的实时计算和数据更新。提出了基于行走路径的人员受照剂量计算方法,并实现了可视化显示。     

Structures and elements for the decommissioning cost estimations of nuclear research reactors

Decommissioning cost estimation is a very important technique when designing and planning a nuclear facilities’ decommissioning project. Decommissioning cost estimation should be made according to the phases of the decommissioning activities and the installed components of the nuclear facilities.     

Estimation on probability of radiological hazards for nuclear facilities decommissioning based on fuzzy and event tree method

This paper proposes the estimation method on probability of decommissioning hazards for nuclear facilities. Evaluation method of decommissioning hazardous accidents is based on fuzzy and event tree method. Expert’s knowledge was considered as state of the basic variable with a normal distribution, which was considered to represent the membership function. The proposed method has been successfully applied to the removal of rotary specimen rack in KRR-2.     

NURESIM - A European simulation platform for nuclear reactor safety: Multi-scale and multi-physics calculations, sensitivity and uncertainty analysis

Starting in 2005 with the NURESIM Integrated Project (FP6), a European Reference Simulation Platform for Nuclear Reactors called NURESIM is being developed. This development follows a roadmap which is consistent with the SRA (Strategic Research Agenda) of the European SNETP (Sustainable Nuclear Energy Technology Platform). After delivery of two successive versions during the course of the NURESIM project, the numerical simulation platform is presently being developed in the frame of the NURISP European Collaborative Project (FP7), which includes 22 organizations from 14 European countries.NURESIM intends to be a reference platform providing high quality software tools, physical models, generic functions and assessment results.The NURESIM platform provides an accurate representation of the physical phenomena by promoting and incorporating the latest advances in core physics, two-phase thermal-hydraulics and fuel modelling. It includes multi-scale and multi-physics features, especially for coupling core physics and thermal-hydraulics models for reactor safety. Easy coupling of the different codes and solvers is provided through the use of a common data structure and generic functions (e.g., for interpolation between nonconforming meshes).More generally, the platform includes generic pre-processing, post-processing and supervision functions through the open-source SALOME software, in order to make the codes more user-friendly.The platform also provides the informatics environment for testing and comparing different codes. For this purpose, it is essential to permit connection of the codes in a standardized way. The standards are being progressively built, concurrently with the process of developing the platform.The NURESIM platform and the individual models, solvers and codes are being validated through challenging applications corresponding to nuclear reactor situations, and including reference calculations, experiments and plant data. Quantitative deterministic and statistical sensitivity and uncertainty analyses tools are also developed and provided through the platform.A Users’ Group of European and non-European countries, including vendors, utilities, TSOs, and additional research organizations (beyond the current partners) has also been established in order to enhance the role of the simulation platform in meeting the needs of the nuclear industry, as applied to current and future nuclear reactors.This presentation summarizes the achievements and ongoing developments of the simulation platform in core physics, thermal-hydraulics, multi-physics, uncertainties and code integration.     

Structural homogenized analysis for a nuclear reactor core

A nuclear reactor core is composed of a great number of tubular beams with periodic structure, which are immersed in an acoustic fluid. In the present paper, a 3-D homogenization model is developed to predict its overall dynamic behavior. An approximate solution to the local problem is given. The application to an 1-D example shows that approximate expressions of the natural frequency, the added fluid mass and the equivalent sound speed can be used in engineering estimation.     

Some aspects of nuclear and radiological safety of operating a spent nuclear fuel repository

A model of an irregular situation in a spent nuclear fuel repository with the introduction of excess reactivity into the system, consisting of containers with spent fuel assemblies and water, is examined. The neutron kinetics of a critical system is calculated taking account of the thermohydraulics of the system. The character of the flow of a short-time self-sustained chain reaction — “neutron burst” — is described. It is found that an excursion of the system in the range of reactivity introduction rates examined will result in heating of the system and self-quenching of the chain reaction by negative reactivity effects with respect to fuel temperature. Intense fluxes of fission neutrons and prompt gamma rays, accompanying a self-sustained chain reaction, are formed in the excursion process. A mixed neutron and gamma ray field near the system considered is investigated. __________ Translated from Atomnaya énergiya,Vol. 104, No. 3, pp. 141–147, March, 2008.     

Stochastic kinetics of a reactor containing a weak source and nuclear safety

Power Physics Institute. Translated from Atomnaya Énergiya, Vol. 72, No. 1, pp. 13–18, January, 1992.     

反应堆压力容器退役包装屏蔽方案初探北大核心CSCD

为保证核电反应堆压力容器安全退役,本文以国内最早运行的秦山一期反应堆压力容器源项为参考,模拟设计保持压力容器完整和切割压力容器两种包装屏蔽方案,通过估算两种方案下废物体积、包装成本、运输及处置成本,对比分析发现切割压力容器方案更佳。研究成果可为核电站退役工作提供支持。     

Development of a PARCS/Serpent model for neutronics analysis of the Dalat nuclear research reactor

Cross-sectional homogenization for full-core calculations of small and complex reactor configurations,such as research reactors,has been recently recognized as ...     

Framework analysis of fluoride salt-cooled high temperature reactor probabilistic safety assessment

Probabilistic safety assessment(PSA) is important in nuclear safety review and analysis. Because the design and physics of the fluoride salt-cooled high temperature reactor(FHR) differ greatly from the pressurized water reactor(PWR), the methods and steps of PSA in FHR should be studied. The high-temperature gascooled reactor(HTR-PM) and sodium-cooled fast reactors have built the PSA framework, and the framework to finish the PSA analysis. The FHR is compared with the PWR, HTR-PM and sodium-cooled fast reactors from the physics, design and safety. The PSA framework of FHR is discussed. In the FHR, the fuel and coolant combination provides large thermal margins to fuel damage(hundreds of degrees centigrade). The tristructuralisotropic(TRISO) as the fuel is independent in FHR core and its failure is limited for the core. The core damage in Level 1 PSA is of lower frequency. Levels 1 and 2 PSA are combined in the FHR PSA analysis. The initiating events analysis is the beginning, and the source term analysis and the release types are the target. Finally, Level3 PSA is done.     

Optimal power control system of a research nuclear reactor

The power control system is a key control system for a nuclear reactor, which directly concerns the safe operation of a nuclear reactor. Much attention is paid to the power control system performance of nuclear reactor in engineering. The designers put a high value upon design of an optimal power control system. In this paper, a design method is applied to the design of power control system. According to the optimal control theory, an objective function, quadratic performance index with weight factors is proposed. Then, the objective function is transformed into frequency domain form by use of Paserval's theorem. In frequency domain, an optimal transfer function can be obtained at the lowest value of objective function. The system with optimal transfer function has an optimal performance. The transfer function of the power control system is derived from a typical research nuclear reactor. Using the state feedback theory, the transfer function is synthesized to the optimal transfer function. The simulative results with the optimal controller and with a conventional controller show that the performance of the optimal power control system is largely improved on dynamic characters. The method applied here not only can be used for research nuclear reactor but also can be easily extended to pressurized water reactor power plant and other fields.     

Improved analytical methodology for calculation assessment of material parameters in the nuclear installation decommissioning process

The process of nuclear installation decommissioning is, besides other features, characterized by production of large amount of various radioactive and non-radioactive materials or waste that have to be managed, taking into account its physical, chemical, toxic and radiological characteristics. Waste management is considered to be one of the key issues within the frame of the decommissioning process from the technological and also financial point of view. Because of that mentioned fact, the evaluation of costs and other parameters is necessary to be done as precise as possible in the decommissioning planning period. The calculation code OMEGA with its implemented module of integrated material flow, is suitable for the assessment and further optimization of the various decommissioning waste management scenarios considering the different input parameters.In the paper, the improved analytical methodology based on the identification of decommissioning materials, definition of detailed material streams, development of scenarios, calculation of output parameters and final optimization, is presented. The process of implementation of such methodology to the existing OMEGA material flow system, including the new or perspective technologies and methods for the waste managing, is also discussed more in details.Finally, the summarizing conclusions and recommendations resulting from the model calculation results, done for the verifying the suggested methodology and functionality of new improved material flow system of the OMEGA code, are presented.     

Design of an intelligent fuzzy logic controller for a nuclear research reactor

The main objective of this paper is to design an intelligent controller system based on the concepts of fuzzy logic. This latter will be used to control the power of a nuclear reactor. The principle of this controller is based on rules established from experiments used with a classical controller and from the knowledge and the expertise of the operators of the reactor. This intelligent controller could be used in parallel with the actual system, which is semiautomatic, as a decision aided system to assist the operators in the control room.