Advances in technologies for decay heat removal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yadigaroglu, G.; Berkovich, V.; Bianchi, A.; Chen B.; Meseth, J.; Vecchiarelli, J.; Vidard, M.

1999-01-01

The various decay heat removal concepts that have been used for the evolutionary water reactor plant designs developed worldwide are examined and common features identified. Although interesting new features of the 'classical' plants are mentioned, the emphasis is on passive core and containment decay heat removal systems. The various systems are classified according to the function they have to accomplish; they often share common characteristics and similar equipment. (author)

Status of the Japanese decay heat standard

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Katakura, Jun-ichi

1992-01-01

Fission product decay heat power plays an important role in the safety evaluation of nuclear power plants, especially for the analysis of hypothetical reactor accident scenarios. The ANS-5.1 decay heat standard for safety evaluation issued in 1979 has been used widely, even in Japan. Since the issuance of the standard, several improvements have been made to measurements and summation calculations. Summation calculations, in particular, have improved because of the adoption of theoretically calculated decay energies for nuclides with incomplete decay data. Taking into consideration those improvements, the Atomic Energy Society of Japan (AESJ) organized a research committee on a standard for decay heat power in nuclear reactors in 1987. The committee issued its recommendation after more than 2 yr discussion. After the AESJ recommendation, the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan also began to discuss whether the recommendation should be included in its regulatory guide. The commission concluded in 1992 that the recommendation should be approved for licensing analysis of reactors if three times the uncertainties attached to the recommendation are included in the analysis. The AESJ recommendation may now be used for the safety evaluation of reactors in Japan in addition to the standards already used, which include ANS-5.1 (1973), General Electric Corporation (GE) curve, and ANS-5.1 (1979)

Passive safety systems for decay heat removal of MRX

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ochiai, M; Iida, H; Hoshi, T [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Ibaraki (Japan). Nuclear Ship System Lab.

1996-12-01

The MRX (marine Reactor X) is an advanced marine reactor, its design has been studied in Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. It is characterized by four features, integral type PWR, in-vessel type control rod drive mechanisms, water-filled containment vessel and passive decay heat removal system. A water-filled containment vessel is of great advantage since it ensures compactness of a reactor plant by realizing compact radiation shielding. The containment vessel also yields passive safety of MRX in the event of a LOCA by passively maintaining core flooding without any emergency water injection. Natural circulation of water in the vessels (reactor and containment vessels) is one of key factors of passive decay heat removal systems of MRX, since decay heat is transferred from fuel rods to atmosphere by natural circulation of the primary water, water in the containment vessel and thermal medium in heat pipe system for the containment vessel water cooling in case of long terms cooling after a LOCA as well as after reactor scram. Thus, the ideal of water-filled containment vessel is considered to be very profitable and significant in safety and economical point of view. This idea is, however, not so familiar for a conventional nuclear system, so experimental and analytical efforts are carried out for evaluation of hydrothermal behaviours in the reactor pressure vessel and in the containment vessel in the event of a LOCA. The results show the effectiveness of the new design concept. Additional work will also be conducted to investigate the practical maintenance of instruments in the containment vessel. (author). 4 refs, 9 figs, 2 tabs.

Decay heat experiment and validation of calculation code systems for fusion reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Maekawa, Fujio; Ikeda, Yujiro [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan). Tokai Research Establishment; Wada, Masayuki

1999-10-01

Although accurate estimation of decay heat value is essential for safety analyses of fusion reactors against loss of coolant accidents and so on, no experimental work has been devoted to validating the estimation. Hence, a decay heat measurement experiment was performed as a task (T-339) of ITER/EDA. A new detector, the Whole Energy Absorption Spectrometer (WEAS), was developed for accurate and efficient measurements of decay heat. Decay heat produced in the thirty-two sample materials which were irradiated by 14-MeV neutrons at FNS/JAERI were measured with WEAS for a wide cooling time period from 1 min to 400 days. The data presently obtained were the first experimental decay heat data in the field of fusion. Validity of decay heat calculation codes of ACT4 and CINAC-V4, activation cross section libraries of FENDL/A-2.0 and JENDL Activation File, and decay data was investigated through analyses of the experiment. As a result, several points that should be modified were found in the codes and data. After solving the problems, it was demonstrated that decay heat valued calculated for most of samples were in good agreement with the experimental data. Especially for stainless steel 316 and copper, which were important materials for ITER, decay heat could be predicted with accuracy of {+-}10%. (author)

Decay heat experiment and validation of calculation code systems for fusion reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maekawa, Fujio; Ikeda, Yujiro; Wada, Masayuki

1999-10-01

Although accurate estimation of decay heat value is essential for safety analyses of fusion reactors against loss of coolant accidents and so on, no experimental work has been devoted to validating the estimation. Hence, a decay heat measurement experiment was performed as a task (T-339) of ITER/EDA. A new detector, the Whole Energy Absorption Spectrometer (WEAS), was developed for accurate and efficient measurements of decay heat. Decay heat produced in the thirty-two sample materials which were irradiated by 14-MeV neutrons at FNS/JAERI were measured with WEAS for a wide cooling time period from 1 min to 400 days. The data presently obtained were the first experimental decay heat data in the field of fusion. Validity of decay heat calculation codes of ACT4 and CINAC-V4, activation cross section libraries of FENDL/A-2.0 and JENDL Activation File, and decay data was investigated through analyses of the experiment. As a result, several points that should be modified were found in the codes and data. After solving the problems, it was demonstrated that decay heat valued calculated for most of samples were in good agreement with the experimental data. Especially for stainless steel 316 and copper, which were important materials for ITER, decay heat could be predicted with accuracy of ±10%. (author)

Contribution of short-lived nuclides to decay heat

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Katakura, Jun-ichi

1987-01-01

Comments are made on the calculation of decay heat, centering on evaluation of average decay energy. It is difficult to obtain sufficiently useful decay diagrams of short lived nucleides. High-energy levels are often missing in inferior decay diagrams, leading to an overestimation of the intensity of beta-rays at low-energy levels. Such an overestimation or underestimation due to the inferiority of a decay diagram is referred to as pandemonium effect. The pandemonium effect can be assessed by means of the ratio of the measured energy of the highest level of the daughter nuclide to the Q β -value of the beta-decay. When a satisfactory decay diagram cannot be obtained, the average decay energy has to be estimated by theoretical calculation. The gross theory for beta-decay proposed by Yamada and Takahashi is employed for the calculation. To carry out the calculation according to this theory, it is required to determine the value for the parameter Q 00 , the lowest energy of the daughter nuclide that meets the selection rule for beta-decay. Currently, Q 00 to be used for this purpose is estimated from data on the energy of the lowest level found in a decay diagram, even if it is inferior. Some examples of calculation of decay heat using the average beta- or gamma-ray energy are shown and compared with measurements. (author)

Consistency among integral measurements of aggregate decay heat power

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Takeuchi, H.; Sagisaka, M.; Oyamatsu, K.; Kukita, Y. [Nagoya Univ. (Japan)

1998-03-01

Persisting discrepancies between summation calculations and integral measurements force us to assume large uncertainties in the recommended decay heat power. In this paper, we develop a hybrid method to calculate the decay heat power of a fissioning system from those of different fissioning systems. Then, this method is applied to examine consistency among measured decay heat powers of {sup 232}Th, {sup 233}U, {sup 235}U, {sup 238}U and {sup 239}Pu at YAYOI. The consistency among the measured values are found to be satisfied for the {beta} component and fairly well for the {gamma} component, except for cooling times longer than 4000 s. (author)

Application of least-squares method to decay heat evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schmittroth, F.; Schenter, R.E.

1976-01-01

Generalized least-squares methods are applied to decay-heat experiments and summation calculations to arrive at evaluated values and uncertainties for the fission-product decay-heat from the thermal fission of 235 U. Emphasis is placed on a proper treatment of both statistical and correlated uncertainties in the least-squares method

Total decay heat estimates in a proto-type fast reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sridharan, M.S.

2003-01-01

Full text: In this paper, total decay heat values generated in a proto-type fast reactor are estimated. These values are compared with those of certain fast reactors. Simple analytical fits are also obtained for these values which can serve as a handy and convenient tool in engineering design studies. These decay heat values taken as their ratio to the nominal operating power are, in general, applicable to any typical plutonium based fast reactor and are useful inputs to the design of decay-heat removal systems

Summary report of RAMONA investigations into passive decay heat removal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoffmann, H.; Marten, K.; Weinberg, D.; Frey, H.H.; Rust, K.; Ieda, Y.; Kamide, H.; Ohshima, H.; Ohira, H.

1995-07-01

An important safety feature of an advanced sodium-cooled reactor (e.g. European Fast Reactor, EFR) is the passive decay heat removal. This passive concept is based on several direct reactor cooling systems operating independently from each other. Each of the systems consists of a sodium/sodium decay heat exchanger immersed in the primary vessel and connected via an intermediate sodium loop to a heat sink formed by a sodium/air heat exchanger installed in a stack with air inlet and outlet dampers. The decay heat is removed by natural convection on the sodium side and natural draft on the air side. To demonstrate the coolability of the pool-type primary system by buoyancy-driven natural circulation, tests were performed under steady-state and transient conditions in facilities of different scale and detail. All these investigations serve to understand the physical processes and to verify computer codes used to transfer the results to reactor conditions. RAMONA is the three-dimensional 1:20-scaled apparatus equipped with all active components. Water is used as simulant fluid for sodium. The maximum core power is 75 kW. The facility is equipped with about 250 thermocouples to register fluid temperatures. Velocities and mass flows are measured by Laser Doppler Anemometers and magneto-inductive flowmeters. Flow paths are visualized by tracers. The conclusion of the investigations is that the decay heat can be removed from the primary system by means of natural convection. Always flow paths develop, which ensure an effective cooling of all regions. This is even proved for extreme conditions, e.g. in case of delays of the decay heat exchanger startup, failures of several DHR chains, and a drop of the fluid level below the inlet windows of the IHXs and decay heat exchangers. (orig.) [de

Castor-1C spent fuel storage cask decay heat, heat transfer, and shielding analyses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rector, D.R.; McCann, R.A.; Jenquin, U.P.; Heeb, C.M.; Creer, J.M.; Wheeler, C.L.

1986-12-01

This report documents the decay heat, heat transfer, and shielding analyses of the Gesellschaft fuer Nuklear Services (GNS) CASTOR-1C cask used in a spent fuel storage demonstration performed at Preussen Elektra's Wurgassen nuclear power plant. The demonstration was performed between March 1982 and January 1984, and resulted in cask and fuel temperature data and cask exterior surface gamma-ray and neutron radiation dose rate measurements. The purpose of the analyses reported here was to evaluate decay heat, heat transfer, and shielding computer codes. The analyses consisted of (1) performing pre-look predictions (predictions performed before the analysts were provided the test data), (2) comparing ORIGEN2 (decay heat), COBRA-SFS and HYDRA (heat transfer), and QAD and DOT (shielding) results to data, and (3) performing post-test analyses if appropriate. Even though two heat transfer codes were used to predict CASTOR-1C cask test data, no attempt was made to compare the two codes. The codes are being evaluated with other test data (single-assembly data and other cask data), and to compare the codes based on one set of data may be premature and lead to erroneous conclusions

Properties of Fission-Product decay heat from Minor-Actinide fissioning systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oyamatsu, Kazuhiro; Mori, Hideki

2000-01-01

The aggregate Fission-Product (FP) decay heat after a pulse fission is examined for Minor Actinide (MA) fissiles 237 Np, 241 Am, 243 Am, 242 Cm and 244 Cm. We find that the MA decay heat is comparable but smaller than that of 235 U except for cooling times at about 10 8 s (approx. = 3 y). At these cooling times, either the β or γ component of the FP decay heat for these MA's is substantially larger than the one for 235 U. This difference is found to originate from the cumulative fission yield of 106 Ru (T 1/2 = 3.2x10 7 s). This nuclide is the parent of 106 Rh (T 1/2 = 29.8 s) which is the dominant source of the decay heat at 10 8 s (approx. = 3 y). The fission yield is nearly an increasing function of the fissile mass number so that the FP decay heat is the largest for 244 Cm among the MA's at the cooling time. (author)

Decay heat removal for the liquid metal fast breeder reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zemanick, P.P.; Brown, N.W.

1975-01-01

The functional and reliability requirements of the decay heat removal systems are described. The reliability requirement and its rationale as adequate assurance that public health and safety are safeguarded are presented. The means by which the reliability of the decay heat removal systems are established to meet their requirement are identified. The heat removal systems and their operating characteristics are described. The discussion includes the overflow heat removal service and its role in decay heat removal if needed. The details of the systems are described to demonstrate the elements of redundancy and diversity in the systems design. The quantitative reliability assessment is presented, including the reliability model, the most important assumptions on which the analysis is based, sources of failure data, and the preliminary numerical results. Finally, the qualitative analyses and administrative controls will be discussed which ensure reliability attainment in design, fabrication, and operation, including minimization of common mode failures. A component test program is planned to provide reliability data on selected critical heat removal system equipment. This test plan is described including a definition of the test parameters of greatest interest and the motivation for the test article selection. A long range plan is also in place to collect plant operational data and the broad outlines of this plan are described. A statement of the high reliability of the Clinch River Breeder reactor Plant decay heat removal systems and a summary of the supporting arguments is presented. (U.S.)

Decay Heat Removal for the Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zemanick, P. P.; Brown, N. W.

1975-10-15

The functional and reliability requirements of the decay heat removal systems are described. The reliability requirement and its rationale as adequate assurance that public health and safety are safeguarded are presented. The means by which the reliability of the decay heat removal systems are established to meet their requirement are identified. The heat removal systems and their operating characteristics are described. The discussion includes the overflow heat removal service and its role in decay heat removal if needed. The details of the systems are described to demonstrate the elements of redundancy and diversity in the systems design. The quantitative reliability assessment is presented, including the reliability model, the most important assumptions on which the analysis is based, sources of failure data, and the preliminary numerical results. Finally, the qualitative analyses and administrative controls will be discussed which ensure reliability attainment in design, fabrication, and operation, including minimization of common mode failures. A component test program is planned to provide reliability data on selected critical heat removal system equipment. This test plan is described including a definition of the test parameters of greatest interest and the motivation for the test article selection. A long range plan is also in place to collect plant operational data and the broad outlines of this plan are described. The paper closes with a statement of the high reliability of the Clinch River Breeder Reactor Plant decay heat removal systems and a summary of the supporting arguments. (author)

Decay Heat Calculations for Reactors: Development of a Computer Code ADWITA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Raj, Devesh

2015-01-01

Estimation of release of energy (decay heat) over an extended period of time after termination of neutron induced fission is necessary for determining the heat removal requirements when the reactor is shutdown, and for fuel storage and transport facilities as well as for accident studies. A Fuel Cycle Analysis Code, ADWITA (Activation, Decay, Waste Incineration and Transmutation Analysis) which can generate inventory based on irradiation history and calculate radioactivity and decay heat for extended period of cooling, has been written. The method and data involved in Fuel Cycle Analysis Code ADWITA and some results obtained shall also be presented. (author)

Thermal-hydraulic analysis of an innovative decay heat removal system for lead-cooled fast reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Giannetti, Fabio; Vitale Di Maio, Damiano; Naviglio, Antonio; Caruso, Gianfranco

2016-01-01

Highlights: • LOOP thermal-hydraulic transient analysis for lead-cooled fast reactors. • Passive decay heat removal system concept to avoid lead freezing. • Solution developed for the diversification of the decay heat removal functions. • RELAP5 vs. RELAP5-3D comparison for lead applications. - Abstract: Improvement of safety requirements in GEN IV reactors needs more reliable safety systems, among which the decay heat removal system (DHR) is one of the most important. Complying with the diversification criteria and based on pure passive and very reliable components, an additional DHR for the ALFRED reactor (Advanced Lead Fast Reactor European Demonstrator) has been proposed and its thermal-hydraulic performances are analyzed. It consists in a coupling of two innovative subsystems: the radiative-based direct heat exchanger (DHX), and the pool heat exchanger (PHX). Preliminary thermal-hydraulic analyses, by using RELAP5 and RELAP5-3D© computer programs, have been carried out showing that the whole system can safely operate, in natural circulation, for a long term. Sensitivity analyses for: the emissivity of the DHX surfaces, the PHX water heat transfer coefficient (HTC) and the lead HTC have been carried out. In addition, the effects of the density variation uncertainty on the results has been analyzed and compared. It allowed to assess the feasibility of the system and to evaluate the acceptable range of the studied parameters. A comparison of the results obtained with RELAP5 and RELAP5-3D© has been carried out and the analysis of the differences of the two codes for lead is presented. The features of the innovative DHR allow to match the decay heat removal performance with the trend of the reactor decay heat power after shutdown, minimizing at the same time the risk of lead freezing. This system, proposed for the diversification of the DHR in the LFRs, could be applicable in the other pool-type liquid metal fast reactors.

Thermal-hydraulic analysis of an innovative decay heat removal system for lead-cooled fast reactors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Giannetti, Fabio; Vitale Di Maio, Damiano; Naviglio, Antonio; Caruso, Gianfranco, E-mail: gianfranco.caruso@uniroma1.it

2016-08-15

Highlights: • LOOP thermal-hydraulic transient analysis for lead-cooled fast reactors. • Passive decay heat removal system concept to avoid lead freezing. • Solution developed for the diversification of the decay heat removal functions. • RELAP5 vs. RELAP5-3D comparison for lead applications. - Abstract: Improvement of safety requirements in GEN IV reactors needs more reliable safety systems, among which the decay heat removal system (DHR) is one of the most important. Complying with the diversification criteria and based on pure passive and very reliable components, an additional DHR for the ALFRED reactor (Advanced Lead Fast Reactor European Demonstrator) has been proposed and its thermal-hydraulic performances are analyzed. It consists in a coupling of two innovative subsystems: the radiative-based direct heat exchanger (DHX), and the pool heat exchanger (PHX). Preliminary thermal-hydraulic analyses, by using RELAP5 and RELAP5-3D© computer programs, have been carried out showing that the whole system can safely operate, in natural circulation, for a long term. Sensitivity analyses for: the emissivity of the DHX surfaces, the PHX water heat transfer coefficient (HTC) and the lead HTC have been carried out. In addition, the effects of the density variation uncertainty on the results has been analyzed and compared. It allowed to assess the feasibility of the system and to evaluate the acceptable range of the studied parameters. A comparison of the results obtained with RELAP5 and RELAP5-3D© has been carried out and the analysis of the differences of the two codes for lead is presented. The features of the innovative DHR allow to match the decay heat removal performance with the trend of the reactor decay heat power after shutdown, minimizing at the same time the risk of lead freezing. This system, proposed for the diversification of the DHR in the LFRs, could be applicable in the other pool-type liquid metal fast reactors.

Jeff-3 and decay heat calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huynh, T.D.

2009-07-01

The decay heat power, i.e. the residual heat generated by irradiated nuclear fuels, is a significant parameter to define the power of a reactor. A good evaluation of this power depends both on the accuracy of the processing algorithm and on the quality of the physical data used. This report describes the steps carried out, ranging from tests of consistency to the validation by calculations - experiments comparisons, allowing to choose the validated nuclear data. We have compared the Jeff-3 evaluation (only the file 8 containing decay data) with the Jeff-2.2 and Endf/B7.O evaluations through the computation of residual power. It appears that the residual powers computed by the DARWIN code from Jeff-3.1.1 data for short times agree more with experimental data. There is a slight discrepancy (∼ 2%) between Jeff-3.1 and Jeff-3.1.1 on the total residual power computed for PWR UO 2 fuel. For long decay times the discrepancy is more significant between Jeff-3.1.1 and Jeff-2 on the computation of detailed residual powers because some prevailing isotopes have more formation channels taken into account in Jeff-3 and Jeff-3.1.1 than in Jeff-2

Method for removal of decay heat of radioactive substances

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hesky, H.; Wunderer, A.

1981-01-01

In this process, the decay heat from radioactive substances is removed by means of a liquid carried in the coolant loop. The liquid is partially evaporated by the decay heat. The steam is used to drive the liquid through the loop. When a static pressure level equivalent to the pressure drop in the loop is exceeded, the steam is separated from the liquid, condensed, and the condensate is reunited with the return flow of liquid for partial evaporation. (orig.) [de

Sensitivity and uncertainty analysis for fission product decay heat calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rebah, J.; Lee, Y.K.; Nimal, J.C.; Nimal, B.; Luneville, L.; Duchemin, B.

1994-01-01

The calculated uncertainty in decay heat due to the uncertainty in basic nuclear data given in the CEA86 Library, is presented. Uncertainties in summation calculation arise from several sources: fission product yields, half-lives and average decay energies. The correlation between basic data is taken into account. The uncertainty analysis were obtained for thermal-neutron-induced fission of U235 and Pu239 in the case of burst fission and irradiation time. The calculated decay heat in this study is compared with experimental results and with new calculation using the JEF2 Library. (from authors) 6 figs., 19 refs

Uncertainties on decay heat power due to fission product data uncertainties; Incertitudes sur la puissance residuelle dues aux incertitudes sur les donnees de produits de fission

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rebah, J

1998-08-01

Following a reactor shutdown, after the fission process has completely faded out, a significant quantity of energy known as 'decay heat' continues to be generated in the core. The knowledge with a good precision of the decay heat released in a fuel after reactor shutdown is necessary for: residual heat removal for normal operation or emergency shutdown condition, the design of cooling systems and spent fuel handling. By the summation calculations method, the decay heat is equal to the sum of the energies released by individual fission products. Under taking into account all nuclides that contribute significantly to the total decay heat, the results from summation method are comparable with the measured ones. Without the complete covariance information of nuclear data, the published uncertainty analyses of fission products decay heat summation calculation give underestimated errors through the variance/covariance analysis in consideration of correlation between the basic nuclear data, we calculate in this work the uncertainties on the decay heat associated with the summation calculations. Contribution to the total error of decay heat comes from uncertainties in three terms: fission yields, half-lives and average beta and gamma decay energy. (author)

The effect of load factor on fission product decay heat from discharged reactor fuel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Davies, B.S.J.

1978-07-01

A sum-of-exponentials expression representing the decay heat power following a burst thermal irradiation of 235 U has been used to investigate the effect of load factor during irradiation on subsequent decay heat production. A sequence of random numbers was used to indicate reactor 'on' and 'off' periods for irradiations which continued for a total of 1500 days at power and were followed by 100 days cooling. It was found that for these conditions decay heat is almost proportional to load factor. Estimates of decay heat uncertainty arising from the random irradiation pattern are also given. (author)

Decay uncovered in nonverbal short-term memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Mercer, Tom; McKeown, Denis

2014-02-01

Decay theory posits that memory traces gradually fade away over the passage of time unless they are actively rehearsed. Much recent work exploring verbal short-term memory has challenged this theory, but there does appear to be evidence for trace decay in nonverbal auditory short-term memory. Numerous discrimination studies have reported a performance decline as the interval separating two tones is increased, consistent with a decay process. However, most of this tone comparison research can be explained in other ways, without reference to decay, and these alternative accounts were tested in the present study. In Experiment 1, signals were employed toward the end of extended retention intervals to ensure that listeners were alert to the presence and frequency content of the memoranda. In Experiment 2, a mask stimulus was employed in an attempt to distinguish between a highly detailed sensory trace and a longer-lasting short-term memory, and the distinctiveness of the stimuli was varied. Despite these precautions, slow-acting trace decay was observed. It therefore appears that the mere passage of time can lead to forgetting in some forms of short-term memory.

Theoretical analysis of oscillatory terms in lattice heat-current time correlation functions and their contributions to thermal conductivity

Science.gov (United States)

Pereverzev, Andrey; Sewell, Tommy

2018-03-01

Lattice heat-current time correlation functions for insulators and semiconductors obtained using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations exhibit features of both pure exponential decay and oscillatory-exponential decay. For some materials the oscillatory terms contribute significantly to the lattice heat conductivity calculated from the correlation functions. However, the origin of the oscillatory terms is not well understood, and their contribution to the heat conductivity is accounted for by fitting them to empirical functions. Here, a translationally invariant expression for the heat current in terms of creation and annihilation operators is derived. By using this full phonon-picture definition of the heat current and applying the relaxation-time approximation we explain, at least in part, the origin of the oscillatory terms in the lattice heat-current correlation function. We discuss the relationship between the crystal Hamiltonian and the magnitude of the oscillatory terms. A solvable one-dimensional model is used to illustrate the potential importance of terms that are omitted in the commonly used phonon-picture expression for the heat current. While the derivations are fully quantum mechanical, classical-limit expressions are provided that enable direct contact with classical quantities obtainable from MD.

A passive decay heat removal system for LWRs based on air cooling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mochizuki, Hiroyasu, E-mail: mochizki@u-fukui.ac.jp [Research Institute of Nuclear Engineering, University of Fukui, 1-2-4 Kanawa-cho, Tsuruga, Fukui 914-0055 (Japan); Yano, Takahiro [Graduate School of Engineering, University of Fukui, 1-2-4 Kanawa-cho, Tsuruga, Fukui 914-0055 (Japan)

2015-05-15

Highlights: • A passive decay heat removal system for LWRs is discussed. • An air cooler model which condenses steam is developed. • The decay heat can be removed by air coolers with forced convection. • The dimensions of the air cooler are proposed. - Abstract: The present paper describes the capability of an air cooling system (ACS) to remove decay heat from a core of LWR such as an advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR) and a pressurized water reactor (PWR). The motivation of the present research is the Fukushima severe accident (SA) on 11 March 2011. Since emergency cooling systems using electricity were not available due to station blackout (SBO) and malfunctions, many engineers might understand that water cooling was not completely reliable. Therefore, a passive decay heat removal (DHR) system would be proposed in order to prevent such an SA under the conditions of an SBO event. The plant behaviors during the SBO are calculated using the system code NETFLOW++ for the ABWR and PWR with the ACS. Two types of air coolers (ACs) are applied for the ABWR, i.e., a steam condensing air cooler (SCAC) of which intake for heat transfer tubes is provided in the steam region, and single-phase type of which intake is provided in the water region. The DHR characteristics are calculated under the conditions of the forced air circulation and also the natural air convection. As a result of the calculations, the decay heat can be removed safely by the reasonably sized ACS when heat transfer tubes are cooled with the forced air circulation. The heat removal rate per one finned heat transfer tube is evaluated as a function of air flow rate. The heat removal rate increases as a function of the air flow rate.

Overview report of RAMONA-NEPTUN program on passive decay heat removal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weinberg, D.; Rust, K.; Hoffmann, H.

1996-03-01

The design of the advanced sodium-cooled European Fast Reactor provides a safety graded decay heat removal concept which ensures the coolability of the primary system by natural convection when forced cooling is lost. The findings of the RAMONA and NEPTUN experiments indicate that the decay heat can be safely removed by natural convection. The operation of the decay heat exchangers being installed in the upper plenum causes the formation of a thermal stratification associated with a pronounced temperature gradient. The vertical extent of the stratification and the qualitity of the gradient are depending on the fact whether a permeable or an impermeable shell covers the above core structure. A delayed startup time of the decay heat exchangers leads only to a slight increase of the temperatures in the upper plenum. A complete failure of half of the decay heat exchangers causes a higher temperature level in the primary system, but does not alter the global temperature distribution. The transient development of the temperatures is faster going on in a three-loop model than in a four-loop model due to the lower amount of heat stored in the compacter primary vessel. If no coolant reaches the core inlet side via the intermediate heat exchangers, the core remains coolable. In this case, cold water of the upper plenum penetrates into the subassemblies (thermosyphon effects) and the interwrapper spaces existing in the NEPTUN core. The core coolability from above is feasible without any difficulty though the temperatures increase to a minor degree at the top end of the core. The thermal hydraulic computer code FLUTAN was applied for the 3D numerical simulation of the majority of the steady state RAMONA and NEPTUN tests as well as for selected transient RAMONA tests. (orig./HP) [de

Study on the impact of transition from 3-batch to 4-batch loading at Loviisa NPP on the long-term decay heat and activity inventory

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lahtinen, Tuukka [Fortum Power and Heat Ltd., Fortum (Finland)

2017-09-15

The fuel economy of Loviisa NPP was improved by implementing a transition from 3-batch to 4-batch loading scheme between 2009 and 2013. Equilibrium cycle length as well as all process parameters were retained unchanged while the increase of fuel enrichment enabled to reduce the annual reload batch size from 102 to 84 assemblies. The fuel cycle transition obviously had an effect on the long-term decay heat and activity inventory. However, due to simultaneous change in several quantities the net effect over the relevant cooling time region is not self-evident. In this study the effect is analyzed properly, i. e. applying consistent calculation models and detailed description of assembly-wise irradiation histories. The study concludes that for the cooling time, foreseen typical prior to encapsulation of assemblies, the decay heat of discharge batch increases 2 - 3%. It is also concluded that, in order to maintain 100% filling degree of final disposal canisters, the cooling time prior to encapsulation needs to be prolonged by 10 - 15 years.

Experience with after-shutdown decay heat removal - BWRs and PWRs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haugh, J.J.; Mollerus, F.J.; Booth, H.R.

1992-01-01

Boiling-water reactors (BWRs) and pressurized-water reactors (PWRs) make use of residual heat removal systems (RHRSs) during reactor shutdown. RHRS operational events involving an actual loss or significant degradation of an RHRS during shutdown heat removal are often prompted or aggravated by complex, changing plant conditions and by concurrent maintenance operations. Events involving loss of coolant inventory, loss of decay heat removal capability, or inadvertent pressurization while in cold shutdown have occurred. Because fewer automatic protective fetures are operative during cold shutdowns, both prevention and termination of events depend heavily on operator action. The preservation of RHRS cooling should be an important priority in all shutdown operations, particularly where there is substantial decay heat and a reduced water inventory. 13 refs., 3 figs., 4 tabs

Influence of high burnup on the decay heat power of spent fuel at long-term storage

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bergelson, B.; Gerasimov, A.; Tikhomirov, G.

2005-01-01

Development and application of advanced fuel with higher burnup is now in practice of NPP with light water reactors in an increasing number of countries. High burnup allows to decrease significantly consumption of uranium. However, spent fuel of this type contains increased amount of high active actinides and fission products in comparison with spent fuel of common-type burnup. Therefore extended time of storage, improved cooling system of the storage facility will be required along with more strong radiation protection during storage, transportation and processing. Calculated data on decay heat power of spent uranium fuel of light water VVER-1000 type reactor are discussed in the paper. Long-term storage of discharged fuel during 100000 years is considered. Calculations were made for burnups of 40-70 MW d/kg. In the initial 50-year period of storage, power of fission products is much higher than that of actinides. Power of gamma-radiation is mainly due to fission products. During subsequent storage power of fission products quickly decreases, the main contribution to the power is given by actinides rather than by fission products. (author)

In Search of Decay in Verbal Short-Term Memory

Science.gov (United States)

Berman, Marc G.; Jonides, John; Lewis, Richard L.

2009-01-01

Is forgetting in the short term due to decay with the mere passage of time, interference from other memoranda, or both? Past research on short-term memory has revealed some evidence for decay and a plethora of evidence showing that short-term memory is worsened by interference. However, none of these studies has directly contrasted decay and…

A proposed Regulatory Guide basis for spent fuel decay heat

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hermann, O.W.; Parks, C.V.; Renier, J.P.

1991-01-01

A proposed revision to Regulatory Guide 3.54, ''Spent Fuel Heat Generation in an Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation'' has been developed for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The proposed revision includes a data base of decay heat rates calculated as a function of burnup, specific power, cooling time, initial fuel 235 U enrichment and assembly type (i.e., PWR or BWR). Validation of the calculational method was done by comparison with existing measured decay heat rates. Procedures for proper use of the data base, adjustment formulae accounting for effects due to differences in operating history and initial enrichment, and a defensible safety factor were derived. 15 refs., 6 tabs

Analysis of the WCLL European demo blanket concept in terms of activation and decay heat after exposure to neutron irradiation

OpenAIRE

Stankunas Gediminas; Tidikas Andrius

2017-01-01

This comparative paper describes the activation and decay heat calculations for water-cooled lithium-lead performed part of the EURO fusion WPSAE programme and specifications in comparison to other European DEMO blanket concepts on the basis of using a three-dimensional neutronics calculation model. Results are provided for a range of decay times of interest for maintenance activities, safety and waste management assessments. The study revealed that water-c...

AEA studies on passive decay heat removal in advanced reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lillington, J.N.

1994-01-01

The main objectives of the UK study were: to identify, describe and compare different types of systems proposed in current designs; to identify key scenarios in which passive decay heat removal systems play an important preventative or mitigative role; to assess the adequacy of the relevant experimental database; to assess the applicability and suitability of current generation models/codes for predicting passive decay heat removal; to assess the potential effectiveness of different systems in respect of certain key licensing questions

Passive decay heat removal from the core region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hichen, E.F.; Jaegers, H.

2002-01-01

The decay heat in commercial Light Water Reactors is commonly removed by active and redundant safety systems supported by emergency power. For advanced power plant designs passive safety systems using a natural circulation mode are proposed: several designs are discussed. New experimental data gained with the NOKO and PANDA facilities as well as operational data from the Dodewaard Nuclear Power Plant are presented and compared with new calculations by different codes. In summary, the effectiveness of these passive decay heat removal systems have been demonstrated: original geometries and materials and for the NOKO facility and the Dodewaard Reactor typical thermal-hydraulic inlet and boundary conditions have been used. With several codes a good agreement between calculations and experimental data was achieved. (author)

A passive decay-heat removal system for an ABWR based on air cooling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mochizuki, Hiroyasu, E-mail: mochizki@u-fukui.ac.jp [Research Institute of Nuclear Engineering, University of Fukui, 1-2-4 Kanawa-cho, Tsuruga, Fukui 914-0055 (Japan); Yano, Takahiro [School of Engineering, University of Fukui, 1-2-4 Kanawa-cho, Tsuruga, Fukui 914-0055 (Japan)

2017-01-15

Highlights: • A passive decay heat removal system for an ABWR is discussed using combined system of the reactor and an air cooler. • Effect of number of pass of the finned heat transfer tubes on heat removal is investigated. • The decay heat can be removed by air coolers with natural convection. • Two types of air cooler are evaluated, i.e., steam condensing and water cooling types. • Measures how to improve the heat removal rate and to make compact air cooler are discussed. - Abstract: This paper describes the capability of an air cooling system (ACS) operated under natural convection conditions to remove decay heat from the core of an Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR). The motivation of the present research is the Fukushima Severe Accident (SA). The plant suffered damages due to the tsunami and entered a state of Station Blackout (SBO) during which seawater cooling was not available. To prevent this kind of situation, we proposed a passive decay heat removal system (DHRS) in the previous study. The plant behavior during the SBO was calculated using the system code NETFLOW++ assuming an ABWR with the ACS. However, decay heat removal under an air natural convection was difficult. In the present study, a countermeasure to increase heat removal rate is proposed and plant transients with the ACS are calculated under natural convection conditions. The key issue is decreasing pressure drop over the tube banks in order to increase air flow rate. The results of the calculations indicate that the decay heat can be removed by the air natural convection after safety relief valves are actuated many times during a day. Duct height and heat transfer tube arrangement of the AC are discussed in order to design a compact and efficient AC for the natural convection mode. As a result, a 4-pass heat transfer tubes with 2-row staggered arrangement is the candidate of the AC for the DHRS under the air natural convection conditions. The heat removal rate is re-evaluated as

PANDA passive decay heat removal transient test results

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bandurski, Th.; Dreier, J.; Huggenberger, M.

1997-01-01

PANDA is a large scale facility for investigating the long-term decay heat removal from the containment of a next generation of 'passive' Advanced Light Water Reactors (ALWR). PANDA was used to examine the long-term LOCA response of the Passive Containment Cooling System (PCCS) for the General Electric (GE) Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (SBWR). The first PANDA test series had the dual objectives of demonstrating the performance of the SBWR PCCS and extending the data base available for containment analysis code qualification. The test objectives also include the study of the effects of mixing and stratification of steam and noncondensible gases in the drywell (DW) and in the suppression chamber or wetwell (WW). Ten tests were conducted in the course of the PANDA SBWR Program. The tests demonstrated a favorable and robust overall PCCS performance under different conditions. The present paper focuses on the main phenomena observed during the tests with respect to PCCS operation and DW gas mixing. (author)

Tests for removal of decay heat by natural convection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kashiwagi, E.; Wataru, M.; Gomi, Y.; Hattori, Y.; Ozaki, S.

1993-01-01

Interim storage technology for spent fuel by dry storage casks have been investigated. The casks are vertically placed in a storage building. The decay heat is removed from the outer cask surface by natural convection of air entering from the building wall to the roof. The air flow pattern in the storage building was governed by the natural driving pressure difference and circulating flow. The purpose of this study is to understand the mechanism of the removal of decay heat from casks by natural convection. The simulated flow conditions in the building were assumed as a natural and forced combined convection and were investigated by the turbulent quantities near wall. (author)

Decay heat power of spent nuclear fuel of power reactors with high burnup at long-term storage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ternovykh Mikhail

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Decay heat power of actinides and fission products from spent nuclear fuel of power VVER-1000 type reactors at long-term storage is calculated. Two modes of storage are considered: mode in which single portion of actinides or fission products is loaded in storage facility, and mode in which actinides or fission products from spent fuel of one VVER reactor are added every year in storage facility during 30 years and then accumulated nuclides are stored without addition new nuclides. Two values of fuel burnup 40 and 70 MW·d/kg are considered for the mode of storage of single fuel unloading. For the mode of accumulation of spent fuel with subsequent storage, one value of burnup of 70 MW·d/kg is considered. Very long time of storage 105 years accepted in calculations allows to simulate final geological disposal of radioactive wastes. Heat power of fission products decreases quickly after 50-100 years of storage. The power of actinides decreases very slow. In passing from 40 to 70 MW·d/kg, power of actinides increases due to accumulation of higher fraction of 244Cm. These data are important in the back end of fuel cycle when improved cooling system of the storage facility will be required along with stronger radiation protection during storage, transportation and processing.

Decay heat power of spent nuclear fuel of power reactors with high burnup at long-term storage

Science.gov (United States)

Ternovykh, Mikhail; Tikhomirov, Georgy; Saldikov, Ivan; Gerasimov, Alexander

2017-09-01

Decay heat power of actinides and fission products from spent nuclear fuel of power VVER-1000 type reactors at long-term storage is calculated. Two modes of storage are considered: mode in which single portion of actinides or fission products is loaded in storage facility, and mode in which actinides or fission products from spent fuel of one VVER reactor are added every year in storage facility during 30 years and then accumulated nuclides are stored without addition new nuclides. Two values of fuel burnup 40 and 70 MW·d/kg are considered for the mode of storage of single fuel unloading. For the mode of accumulation of spent fuel with subsequent storage, one value of burnup of 70 MW·d/kg is considered. Very long time of storage 105 years accepted in calculations allows to simulate final geological disposal of radioactive wastes. Heat power of fission products decreases quickly after 50-100 years of storage. The power of actinides decreases very slow. In passing from 40 to 70 MW·d/kg, power of actinides increases due to accumulation of higher fraction of 244Cm. These data are important in the back end of fuel cycle when improved cooling system of the storage facility will be required along with stronger radiation protection during storage, transportation and processing.

Analysis of a convection loop for GFR post-LOCA decay heat removal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Williams, W.C.; Hejzlar, P.; Saha, P.

2004-01-01

A computer code (LOCA-COLA) has been developed at MIT for steady state analysis of convective heat transfer loops. In this work, it is used to investigate an external convection loop for decay heat removal of a post-LOCA gas-cooled fast reactor (GFR). The major finding is that natural circulation cooling of the GFR is feasible under certain circumstances. Both helium and CO 2 cooled system components are found to operate in the mixed convection regime, the effects of which are noticeable as heat transfer enhancement or degradation. It is found that CO 2 outdoes helium under identical natural circulation conditions. Decay heat removal is found to have a quadratic dependence on pressure in the laminar flow regime and linear dependence in the turbulent flow regime. Other parametric studies have been performed as well. In conclusion, convection cooling loops are a credible means for GFR decay heat removal and LOCA-COLA is an effective tool for steady state analysis of cooling loops. (authors)

WAD, a program to calculate the heat produced by alpha decay

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jarvis, R.G.; Bretzlaff, C.I.

1982-09-01

The FORTRAN program WAD (Watts from Alpha Decay) deals with the alpha and beta decay chains to be encountered in advanced fuel cycles for CANDU reactors. The data library covers all necessary alpha-emitting and beta-emitting nuclides and the program calculates the heat produced by alpha decay. Any permissible chain can be constructed very simply

Decay heat measurement on fusion reactor materials and validation of calculation code system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Maekawa, Fujio; Ikeda, Yujiro; Wada, Masayuki [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan). Tokai Research Establishment

1998-03-01

Decay heat rates for 32 fusion reactor relevant materials irradiated with 14-MeV neutrons were measured for the cooling time period between 1 minute and 400 days. With using the experimental data base, validity of decay heat calculation systems for fusion reactors were investigated. (author)

On Error Analysis of ORIGEN Decay Data Library Based on ENDF/B-VII.1 via Decay Heat Estimation after a Fission Event

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Do Heon; Gil, Choong-Sup; Lee, Young-Ouk [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2015-10-15

The method is strongly dependent on the available nuclear structure data, i.e., fission product yield data and decay data. Consequently, the improvements in the nuclear structure data could have guaranteed more reliable decay heat estimation for short cooling times after fission. The SCALE-6.1.3 code package includes the ENDF/B-VII.0-based fission product yield data and ENDF/B-VII.1-based decay data libraries for the ORIGEN-S code. The generation and validation of the new ORIGEN-S yield data libraries based on the recently available fission product yield data such as ENDF/B-VII.1, JEFF-3.1.1, JENDL/FPY-2011, and JENDL-4.0 have been presented in the previous study. According to the study, the yield data library in the SCALE-6.1.3 could be regarded as the latest one because it resulted in almost the same outcomes as the ENDF/B-VII.1. A research project on the production of the nuclear structure data for decay heat estimation of nuclear fuel has been carried out in Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI). The data errors contained in the ORIGEN-S decay data library of SCALE-6.1.3 have been clearly identified by their changing variables. Also, the impacts of the decay data errors have been analyzed by estimating the decay heats for the fission product nuclides and their daughters after {sup 235}U thermal-neutron fission. Although the impacts of decay data errors are quite small, it reminds us the possible importance of decay data when estimating the decay heat for short cooling times after a fission event.

Evaluation of Heat Removal Performance of Passive Decay Heat Removal system for S-CO{sub 2} Cooled Micro Modular Reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moon, Jangsik; Lee, Jeong Ik; Jeong, Yong Hoon [KAIST, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2015-05-15

The modular systems is able to be transported by large trailer. Moreover, dry cooling system is applied for waste heat removal. The characteristics of MMR takes wide range of construction area from coast to desert, isolated area and disaster area. In MMR, Passive decay heat removal system (PDHRS) is necessary for taking the advantage on selection of construction area where external support cannot be offered. The PDHRS guarantees to protect MMR without external support. In this research, PDHRS of MMR is introduced and decay heat removal performance is analyzed. The PDHRS guarantees integrity of reactor coolant system. The high level of decay heat (2 MW) can be removed by PDHRS without offsite power.

Total Absorption Spectroscopy of Fission Fragments Relevant for Reactor Antineutrino Spectra and Decay Heat Calculations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Porta A.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Beta decay of fission products is at the origin of decay heat and antineutrino emission in nuclear reactors. Decay heat represents about 7% of the reactor power during operation and strongly impacts reactor safety. Reactor antineutrino detection is used in several fundamental neutrino physics experiments and it can also be used for reactor monitoring and non-proliferation purposes. 92,93Rb are two fission products of importance in reactor antineutrino spectra and decay heat, but their β-decay properties are not well known. New measurements of 92,93Rb β-decay properties have been performed at the IGISOL facility (Jyväskylä, Finland using Total Absorption Spectroscopy (TAS. TAS is complementary to techniques based on Germanium detectors. It implies the use of a calorimeter to measure the total gamma intensity de-exciting each level in the daughter nucleus providing a direct measurement of the beta feeding. In these proceedings we present preliminary results for 93Rb, our measured beta feedings for 92Rb and we show the impact of these results on reactor antineutrino spectra and decay heat calculations.

Post shut-down decay heat removal from nuclear reactor core by natural convection loops in sodium pool

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rajamani, A. [Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036 (India); Sundararajan, T., E-mail: tsundar@iitm.ac.in [Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036 (India); Prasad, B.V.S.S.S. [Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036 (India); Parthasarathy, U.; Velusamy, K. [Nuclear Engineering Group, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam 603102 (India)

2016-05-15

Highlights: • Transient simulations are performed for a worst case scenario of station black-out. • Inter-wrapper flow between various sub-assemblies reduces peak core temperature. • Various natural convection paths limits fuel clad temperatures below critical level. - Abstract: The 500 MWe Indian pool type Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) has a passive core cooling system, known as the Safety Grade Decay Heat Removal System (SGDHRS) which aids to remove decay heat after shut down phase. Immediately after reactor shut down the fission products in the core continue to generate heat due to beta decay which exponentially decreases with time. In the event of a complete station blackout, the coolant pump system may not be available and the safety grade decay heat removal system transports the decay heat from the core and dissipates it safely to the atmosphere. Apart from SGDHRS, various natural convection loops in the sodium pool carry the heat away from the core and deposit it temporarily in the sodium pool. The buoyancy driven flow through the small inter-wrapper gaps (known as inter-wrapper flow) between fuel subassemblies plays an important role in carrying the decay heat from the sub-assemblies to the hot sodium pool, immediately after reactor shut down. This paper presents the transient prediction of flow and temperature evolution in the reactor subassemblies and the sodium pool, coupled with the safety grade decay heat removal system. It is shown that with a properly sized decay heat exchanger based on liquid sodium and air chimney stacks, the post shutdown decay heat can be safely dissipated to atmospheric air passively.

The ratio between the decay heat output and activity content of discharged magnox fuel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Davies, B.S.J.

1977-01-01

Values of the ratio between activity and heat production rate have been calculated for magnox fuel irradiated to 3500 and 8000 MWd.Te -1 and for cooling times of 100, 200 and 500 days. Results are expressed in terms of both MeV.decay -1 and MCi.KW -1 . The results indicate that: for these irradiation and cooling conditions 21 nuclides account for over 99% of the total activity; the calculated values show only small variations with burn-up and cooling time, although the mean energy per decay does fall slightly at 500 days cooling: so for many purposes a median value of 0.63 MeV.decay -1 (0.27 MCi.MW -1 ) may be used; the calculated values have standard deviations ranging from 2.6% at 100 days cooling to 9% at 500 days cooling. (author)

Analysis of decay heat removal by natural convection in PFBR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kasinathan, N.; Vaidyanathan, G.; Chetal, S.C.; Bhoje, S.B.

1993-01-01

PFBR is a 500 MWe, 1200 MWt pool type LMFBR. In order to assure reliable decay heat removal, four totally independent Safety Grade Decay Heat Removal Systems (SGDHRS) which removes heat directly from the hot pool, is provided. Each of the SGDHRS comprises of a hot pool dipped decay heat exchanger (DHX), a sodium - air heat exchanger (AHX) at a suitable elevation and associated piping and circuits. This paper brings out the step by step approach that have been taken to decide on the preliminary sizing of the SGDHRS components, and static and transient analysis to assess the adequacy of the Decay Heat Removal capacity of the SGDHRS during the worst of the foreseen design basis conditions. The maximum values the important safety related temperatures viz., clad hotspot, hot pool top surface, reactor inlet, fuel subassembly outlets etc., would reach, can be obtained only through a comprehensive transient analysis. In order to get quick and reasonably meaningful results, one dimensional thermal-hydraulics models for the core, hot and cold pools, IHX, DHX, AHX and various pipings were developed and a code DHDYN formulated. With this a total power failure situation followed by initiations of DHR half an hour later was studied and the results revealed the following: (i) clad hotspot temperature in the in-vessel stored spent fuel subassemblies could be held below 800 deg. C only if primary sodium flow through these subassemblies are increased up to three times the originally allocated flow in the design, (ii) hotpool top zone temperature reaches 572 deg. C, (iii) reactor inlet temperature reaches 482 deg. C, (iv) the hot pool top zone temperature cools down to 450 deg. C in about 25 h. Thus these results satisfactorily established the adequacy of the sizing and the capability of the SGDHRS. DHDYN code is also used to study the RAMONA water experiments conducted in Germany. Initial results available has brought out the conservative nature of the DHDYN predictions as compared

Passive Decay Heat Removal System for Micro Modular Reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moon, Jangsik; Lee, Jeong Ik; Jeong, Yong Hoon [KAIST, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2015-10-15

Dry cooling system is applied as waste heat removal system therefore it is able to consider wide construction site. Schematic figure of the reactor is shown in Fig. 1. In safety features, the reactor has double containment and passive decay heat removal (PDHR) system. The double containment prevents leakage from reactor coolant system to be emitted into environment. The passive decay heat removal system copes with design basis accidents (DBAs). Micros Modular Reactor (MMR) which has been being developed in KAIST is S-CO{sub 2} gas cooled reactor and shows many advantages. The S-CO{sub 2} power cycle reduces size of compressor, and it makes small size of power plant enough to be transported by trailer.The passive residual heat removal system is designed and thermal hydraulic (TH) analysis on coolant system is accomplished. In this research, the design process and TH analysis results are presented. PDHR system is designed for MMR and coolant system with the PDHR system is analyzed by MARS-KS code. Conservative assumptions are applied and the results show that PDHR system keeps coolant system under the design limitation.

Decay heat rates calculated using ORIGEN-S and CINDER10 with common data libraries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brady, M.C.; Hermann, O.W.; Beard, C.A.; Bohnhoff, W.J.; England, T.R.

1991-01-01

A set of two benchmark problems were proposed as part of an international comparison of decay heat codes. Problem specifications included explicit fission-yield, decay and capture data libraries to be used in the calculations. This paper describes the results obtained using these common data to perform the benchmark calculations with two popular depletion codes, ORIGEN-S and CINDER10. Short descriptions of the methods used by each of these codes are also presented. Results from other contributors to the international comparison are discussed briefly. This comparison of decay heat codes using common data libraries demonstrates that discrepant results in calculated decay heat rates are the result of differences in the nuclear data input to the codes and not the method of solution. 15 refs., 2 figs., 8 tabs

Study on decay heat removal capability of reactor vessel auxiliary cooling system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nishi, Y.; Kinoshita, I.

1991-01-01

The reactor vessel auxiliary cooling system (RVACS) is a simple, Passive decay heat removal system for an LMFBR. However, the heat removal capacity of this system is small compared to that of an immersed type of decay heat exchanger. In this study, a high-porosity porous body is proposed to enhance the RVACS's heat transfer performance to improve its applicability. The objectives of this study are to propose a new method which is able to use thermal radiation effectively, to confirm its heat removal capability and to estimate its applicability limit of RVACS for an LMFBR. Heat transfer tests were conducted in an experimental facility with a 3.5 m heat transfer height to evaluate the heat transfer performance of the high-porosity porous body. Using the experimental results, plant transient analyses were performed for a 300 MWe pool type LMFBR under a Total Black Out (TBO) condition to confirm the heat removal capability. Furthermore, the relationship between heat removal capability and thermal output of a reactor were evaluated using a simple parameter model

Measurements of decay heat and gamma-ray intensity of spent LWR fuel assemblies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vogt, J.; Agrenius, L.; Jansson, P.; Baecklin, A.; Haakansson, A.; Jacobsson, S.

1999-01-01

Calorimetric measurements of the decay heat of a number of BWR and PWR fuel assemblies have been performed in the pools at the Swedish Central Interim Storage Facility for Spent Nuclear Fuel, CLAB. Gamma-ray measurements, using high-resolution gamma-ray spectroscopy (HRGS), have been carried out on the same fuel assemblies in order to test if it is possible to find a simple and accurate correlation between the 137 CS -intensity and the decay heat for fuel with a cooling time longer than 10-12 years. The results up to now are very promising and may ultimately lead to a qualified method for quick and accurate determination of the decay heat of old fuel by gamma-ray measurements. By means of the gamma spectrum the operator declared data on burnup, cooling time and initial enrichment can be verified as well. CLAB provides a unique opportunity in the world to follow up the decay heat of individual fuel assemblies during several decades to come. The results will be applicable for design and operation of facilities for wet and dry interim storage and subsequent encapsulation for final disposal of the fuel. (author)

Decay heat removal analyses on the heavy liquid metal cooled fast breeding reactor. Comparisons of the decay heat removal characteristics on lead, lead-bismuth and sodium cooled reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sakai, Takaaki; Ohshima, Hiroyuki; Yamaguchi, Akira

2000-04-01

The feasibility study on several concepts for the commercial fast breeder reactor(FBR) in future has been conducted in JNC for the kinds of possible coolants and fuel types to confirm the direction of the FBR developments in Japan. In this report, Lead and Lead-Bismuth eutectic coolants were estimated for the decay heat removal characteristics by the comparison with sodium coolant that has excellent features for the heat transfer and heat transport performance. Heavy liquid metal coolants, such as Lead and Lead-Bismuth, have desirable chemical inertness for water and atmosphere. Therefore, there are many economical plant proposals without an intermediate heat transport system that prevents the direct effect on a reactor core by the chemical reaction between water and the liquid metal coolant at the hypocritical tube failure accidents in a steam generator. In this study, transient analyses on the thermal-hydraulics have been performed for the decay heat removal events in Equivalent plant' with the Lead, Lead-Bismuth and Sodium coolant by using Super-COPD code. And a resulted optimized lead cooled plant in feasibility study was also analyzed for the comparison. In conclusion, it is become clear that the natural circulation performance, that has an important roll in passive safety characteristic of the reactor, is more excellent in heavy liquid metals than sodium coolant during the decay heat removal transients. However, we need to confirm the heat transfer reduction by the oxidized film or the corrosion products expected to appear on the heat transfer surface in the Lead and Lead-Bismuth circumstance. (author)

Fission yield covariance generation and uncertainty propagation through fission pulse decay heat calculation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fiorito, L.; Diez, C.J.; Cabellos, O.; Stankovskiy, A.; Van den Eynde, G.; Labeau, P.E.

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Fission yield data and uncertainty comparison between major nuclear data libraries. • Fission yield covariance generation through Bayesian technique. • Study of the effect of fission yield correlations on decay heat calculations. • Covariance information contribute to reduce fission pulse decay heat uncertainty. - Abstract: Fission product yields are fundamental parameters in burnup/activation calculations and the impact of their uncertainties was widely studied in the past. Evaluations of these uncertainties were released, still without covariance data. Therefore, the nuclear community expressed the need of full fission yield covariance matrices to be able to produce inventory calculation results that take into account the complete uncertainty data. State-of-the-art fission yield data and methodologies for fission yield covariance generation were researched in this work. Covariance matrices were generated and compared to the original data stored in the library. Then, we focused on the effect of fission yield covariance information on fission pulse decay heat results for thermal fission of 235 U. Calculations were carried out using different libraries and codes (ACAB and ALEPH-2) after introducing the new covariance values. Results were compared with those obtained with the uncertainty data currently provided by the libraries. The uncertainty quantification was performed first with Monte Carlo sampling and then compared with linear perturbation. Indeed, correlations between fission yields strongly affect the uncertainty of decay heat. Eventually, a sensitivity analysis of fission product yields to fission pulse decay heat was performed in order to provide a full set of the most sensitive nuclides for such a calculation

Analysis of Multiple Spurious Operation Scenarios for Decay Heat Removal Function of CANDU Reactors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Youngseung; Bae, Yeon-kyoung; Kim, Myungsu [KHNP CRI, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-10-15

The worst fire broke out in the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant on March 22, 1975. A fire occurrence in a nuclear power plant has recognized a latently serious incident. Nuclear power plants should achieve and maintain the safe shutdown conditions during and after the occurrence of a fire. Functions of the safe shutdown are five such as the shutdown function, the decay heat removal function, the containment function, monitoring and control function, and the supporting function for CANDU type reactors. The purpose of this paper is to analyze that the decay heat removal function of the safe shutdown functions for CANDU type reactors is achieved under the fire induced multiple spurious operation. The scenarios of the fire induced multiple spurious operations (MSO) for the systems used for the decay heat cooling were analyzed. Additionally, Integrated Severe Accident Analysis code for CANDU plants (ISAAC) for determining success criteria of thermal hydraulic analysis was used. Decay heat cooling systems of CANDU reactors are the auxiliary feedwater system, the emergency water supply system, and the shutdown cooling system. A big fire can threat the safety of nuclear power plants, and safe shutdown conditions. The regulatory body in Korea requires the fire hazard analysis including fire induced MSOs. The safe shutdown functions for CANDU reactors are the shutdown function, the decay heat removal function, the containment function, the monitoring and control function, and the supporting service function. The number of spurious operations for the auxiliary feedwater system is more than six and that for the emergency water supply system is one. Additionally, misoperations for the shutdown cooling system are more than two. Accordingly, if total nine components could be spuriously operated, the decay heat removal function would be lost entirely.

Analysis of Multiple Spurious Operation Scenarios for Decay Heat Removal Function of CANDU Reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Youngseung; Bae, Yeon-kyoung; Kim, Myungsu

2016-01-01

The worst fire broke out in the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant on March 22, 1975. A fire occurrence in a nuclear power plant has recognized a latently serious incident. Nuclear power plants should achieve and maintain the safe shutdown conditions during and after the occurrence of a fire. Functions of the safe shutdown are five such as the shutdown function, the decay heat removal function, the containment function, monitoring and control function, and the supporting function for CANDU type reactors. The purpose of this paper is to analyze that the decay heat removal function of the safe shutdown functions for CANDU type reactors is achieved under the fire induced multiple spurious operation. The scenarios of the fire induced multiple spurious operations (MSO) for the systems used for the decay heat cooling were analyzed. Additionally, Integrated Severe Accident Analysis code for CANDU plants (ISAAC) for determining success criteria of thermal hydraulic analysis was used. Decay heat cooling systems of CANDU reactors are the auxiliary feedwater system, the emergency water supply system, and the shutdown cooling system. A big fire can threat the safety of nuclear power plants, and safe shutdown conditions. The regulatory body in Korea requires the fire hazard analysis including fire induced MSOs. The safe shutdown functions for CANDU reactors are the shutdown function, the decay heat removal function, the containment function, the monitoring and control function, and the supporting service function. The number of spurious operations for the auxiliary feedwater system is more than six and that for the emergency water supply system is one. Additionally, misoperations for the shutdown cooling system are more than two. Accordingly, if total nine components could be spuriously operated, the decay heat removal function would be lost entirely

Control of the ASTRA decay heat removal system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nedelik, A.

1982-11-01

To ensure a minimum of core cooling even under severest accident conditions (loss of reactor pool water) a core spray system for decay heat removal has been installed at the ASTRA-reactor. The automatic and manual control of the system, its power supply and test procedures are shortly described. (Author)

Strategy of experimental studies in PNC on natural convection decay heat removal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ieda, Y.; Kamide, H.; Ohshima, H.; Sugawara, S.; Ninokata, H.

1993-01-01

Experimental studies have been and are being carried out in PNC to establish the design and safety evaluation methods and the design and safety evaluation guide lines for decay heat removal by natural convection. A strategy of the experimental studies in PNC is described in this paper. The sphere of studies in PNC is to develop the evaluation methods to be available to DRACS as well as PRACS and IRACS for the plant where decay heat is removed by natural convection in some cases of loss of station service power. Similarity parameters related to natural convection are derived from the governing equations. The roles of both sodium and water experiments are defined in consideration of the importance of the similarity parameters and characteristics of scale model experiments. The experimental studies in PNC are reviewed. On the basis of the experimental results, recommended evaluation methods are shown for decay heat removal feature by natural convection. Future experimental works are also proposed. (author)

Transient testing of the FFTF for decay-heat removal by natural convection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beaver, T.R.; Johnson, H.G.; Stover, R.L.

1982-06-01

This paper reports on the series of transient tests performed in the FFTF as a major part of the pre-operations testing program. The structure of the transient test program was designed to verify the capability of the FFTF to safely remove decay heat by natural convection. The series culminated in a scram from full power to complete natural convection in the plant, simulating a loss of all electrical power. Test results and acceptance criteria related to the verification of safe decay heat removal are presented

Extension of hybrid micro-depletion model for decay heat calculation in the DYN3D code

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bilodid, Yurii; Fridman, Emil; Shwageraus, E.

2017-01-01

This work extends the hybrid micro-depletion methodology, recently implemented in DYN3D, to the decay heat calculation by accounting explicitly for the heat contribution from the decay of each nuclide in the fuel.

Extension of hybrid micro-depletion model for decay heat calculation in the DYN3D code

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bilodid, Yurii; Fridman, Emil [Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf e.V., Dresden (Germany). Reactor Safety; Kotlyar, D. [Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States); Shwageraus, E. [Cambridge Univ. (United Kingdom)

2017-06-01

This work extends the hybrid micro-depletion methodology, recently implemented in DYN3D, to the decay heat calculation by accounting explicitly for the heat contribution from the decay of each nuclide in the fuel.

Development of margin assessment methodology of decay heat removal function against external hazards. (2) Tornado PRA methodology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nishino, Hiroyuki; Kurisaka, Kenichi; Yamano, Hidemasa

2014-01-01

Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) for external events has been recognized as an important safety assessment method after the TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station accident. The PRA should be performed not only for earthquake and tsunami which are especially key events in Japan, but also the PRA methodology should be developed for the other external hazards (e.g. tornado). In this study, the methodology was developed for Sodium-cooled Fast Reactors paying attention to that the ambient air is their final heat sink for removing decay heat under accident conditions. First, tornado hazard curve was estimated by using data recorded in Japan. Second, important structures and components for decay heat removal were identified and an event tree resulting in core damage was developed in terms of wind load and missiles (i.e. steel pipes, boards and cars) caused by a tornado. Main damage cause for important structures and components is the missiles and the tornado missiles that can reach those components and structures placed on high elevations were identified, and the failure probabilities of the components and structures against the tornado missiles were calculated as a product of two probabilities: i.e., a probability for the missiles to enter the intake or outtake in the decay heat removal system, and a probability of failure caused by the missile impacts. Finally, the event tree was quantified. As a result, the core damage frequency was enough lower than 10 -10 /ry. (author)

Decay heat removal plan of the SNR-300: a licensed concept

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morgenstern, F.H.; Gyr, W.; Stoetzel, H.; Vossebrecker, H.

1976-01-01

The report describes how the decay heat removal plan of the SNR-300 has been established in 3 essential licensing steps, thus giving a very significant example for the slow but steady progress in the overall licensing process of the plant. (1) Introduction of an ECCS in addition to the 3 main heat transfer chains as a back-up for rather unlikely and undefined occurrences, 1970; (2) Experimental and computational demonstration of a reliable functioning of the in-vessel natural convection of the fluid flow, 1974; and (3) Proof of fulfilling the general safety and specific reliability criteria for the overall decay heat removal plan; i.e., the 3 main heat transfer chains with specific installations on the steam/water system side and the ECCS, 1976. Some special problem areas, for instance the cavity concept provided for the pipe fracture accident, have still to be licensed, but they do not contribute considerably to the overall risk

Studies related to emergency decay heat removal in EBR-II

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Singer, R.M.; Gillette, J.L.; Mohr, D.; Tokar, J.V.; Sullivan, J.E.; Dean, E.M.

1979-01-01

Experimental and analytical studies related to emergency decay heat removal by natural circulation in the EBR-II heat transport circuits are described. Three general categories of natural circulation plant transients are discussed and the resultant reactor flow and temperature response to these events are presented. these categories include the following: (1) loss of forced flow from decay power and low initial flow rates; (2) reactor scram with a delayed loss of forced flow; and (3) loss of forced flow with a plant protective system activated scram. In all cases, the transition from forced to natural convective flow was smooth and the peak in-core temperature rises were small to moderate. Comparisons between experimental measurements in EBR-II and analytical predictions of the NATDEMO code are included

A study on the characteristics of the decay heat removal capacity for a large thermal rated LMR design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Uh, J. H.; Kim, E. K.; Kim, S. O.

2003-01-01

The design characteristics and the decay heat removal capacity according to the type of DHR (Decay Heat Removal) system in LMR are quantitatively analyzed, and the general relationship between the rated core thermal power and decay heat removal capacity is created in this study. Based on these analyses results, a feasibility of designing a larger thermal rating KALIMER plant is investigated in view of decay heat removal capacity, and DRC (Direct Reactor Cooling) type DHR system which rejects heat from the reactor pool to air is proper to satisfy the decay heat removal capacity for a large thermal rating plant above 1,000 MWth. Some defects, however, including the heat loss under normal plant operation and the lack of reliance associated with system operation should be resolved in order to adopt the total passive concept. Therefore, the new concept of DHR system for a larger thermal rating KALIMER design, named as PDRC (passive decay heat removal circuit), is established in this study. In the newly established concept of PDRC, the Na-Na heat exchanger is located above the sodium cold pool and is prevented from the direct sodium contact during normal operation. This total passive feature has the superiority in the aspect of the minimizing the normal heat loss and the increasing the operation reliance of DHR system by removing either any operator action or any external operation signal associated with system operation. From this study, it is confirmed that the new concept of PDRC is useful to the designing of a large thermal rating power plant of KALIMER-600 in view of decay heat removal capability

Parametric decay instabilities in ECR heated plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Porkolab, M.

1982-01-01

The possibility of parametric excitation of electron Bernstein waves and low frequency ion oscillations during ECR heating at omega/sub o/ approx. = l omega/sub ce/, l = 1,2 is examined. In particular, the thresholds for such instabilities are calculated. It is found that Bernstein waves and lower hybrid quasi-modes have relatively low homogeneous where T/sub e/ approx. = T/sub i/. Thus, these processes may lead to nonlinear absorption and/or scattering of the incident pump wave. The resulting Bernstein waves may lead to either more effective heating (especially during the start-up phase) or to loss of microwave energy if the decay waves propagate out of the system before their energy is absorbed by particles. While at omega/sub o/ = omega/sub UH/ the threshold is reduced due to the WKB enhancement of the pump wave, (and this instability may be important in tokamaks) in EBT's and tandem mirrors the instability at omega /sub o/ greater than or equal to 2 omega/sub ce/ may be important. The instability may persist even if omega > 2 omega/sub ce/ and this may be the case during finite beta depression of the magnetic field in which case the decay waves may be trapped in the local magnetic well so that convective losses are minimized. The excited fluctuations may lead to additional scattering of the ring electrons and the incident microwave fields. Application of these calculations to ECR heating of tokamaks, tandem mirrors, and EBT's will be examined

Decay heat removal and transient analysis in accidental conditions in the EFIT reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bandini, G.; Meloni, P.; Polidori, M.; Casamirra, M.; Castiglia, F.; Giardina, M.

2007-01-01

The development of a conceptual design of an industrial scale transmutation facility (EFIT) of several 100 MW thermal power based on Accelerator Driven System (ADS) is addressed in the frame of the European EUROTRANS Integral Project. In normal operation, the core power of EFIT reactor is removed through steam generators by four secondary loops fed by water. A safety-related Decay Heat Removal (DHR) system provided with four independent inherently safe loops is installed in the primary vessel to remove the decay heat by natural convection circulation under accidental conditions which lead to the Loss of Heat Sink (LOHS). In order to confirm the adequacy of the adopted solution for decay heat removal in accidental conditions, some multi-D analyses have been carried out with the SIMMER-III code. The results of the SIMMER-III code have been then used to support the RELAP5 1-D representation of the natural circulation flow paths in the reactor vessel. Finally, the thermal-hydraulic RELAP5 code has been employed for the analysis of LOHS accidental scenarios. (author)

Decay Heat Removal and Transient Analysis in Accidental Conditions in the EFIT Reactor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giacomino Bandini

2008-01-01

Full Text Available The development of a conceptual design of an industrial-scale transmutation facility (EFIT of several 100 MW thermal power based on accelerator-driven system (ADS is addressed in the frame of the European EUROTRANS Integral Project. In normal operation, the core power of EFIT reactor is removed through steam generators by four secondary loops fed by water. A safety-related decay heat removal (DHR system provided with four independent inherently safe loops is installed in the primary vessel to remove the decay heat by natural convection circulation under accidental conditions which are caused by a loss-of-heat sink (LOHS. In order to confirm the adequacy of the adopted solution for decay heat removal in accidental conditions, some multi-D analyses have been carried out with the SIMMER-III code. The results of the SIMMER-III code have been then used to support the RELAP5 1D representation of the natural circulation flow paths in the reactor vessel. Finally, the thermal-hydraulic RELAP5 code has been employed for the analysis of LOHS accidental scenarios.

Removal of decay heat by specially designed isolation condensers for advanced heavy water reactors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dhawan, M L; Bhatia, S K [Reactor Engineering Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai (India)

1994-06-01

For Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR), removal of decay heat and containment heat is being considered by passive means. For this, special type of isolation condensers are designed. Isolation condensers when submerged in a pool of water, are the best choice because condensation of high temperature steam is an extremely efficient heat transfer mechanism. By the use of isolation condensers, not only heat is removed but also pressure and temperature of the system are automatically controlled without losing the coolant and without using conventional safety relief valves. In this paper, design optimisation studies of isolation condensers of different types with natural circulation for the removal of core decay heat for AHWR is presented. (author). 8 refs., 2 figs.

Reduction of weighing errors caused by tritium decay heating

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shaw, J.F.

1978-01-01

The deuterium-tritium source gas mixture for laser targets is formulated by weight. Experiments show that the maximum weighing error caused by tritium decay heating is 0.2% for a 104-cm 3 mix vessel. Air cooling the vessel reduces the weighing error by 90%

Specialists' meeting on evaluation of decay heat removal by natural convection

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1993-02-01

Decay heat removal by natural convection (DHRNC) is essential to enhancing the safety of liquid metal fast reactors (LMFRs). Various design concepts related to DHRNC have been proposed and experimental and analytical studies have been carried out in a number of countries. The purpose of this Specialists' Meeting on 'Decay Heat Removal by Natural Convection' organized by the International Working Group on Fast Reactors IAEA, is to exchange information about the state of the art related to methodologies on evaluation of DHRNC features (experimental studies and code developments) and to discuss problems which need to be solved in order to evaluate DHRNC properly and reasonably. The following main topical areas were discussed by delegates: Overview; Experimental studies and code validation; Design study. Two main DHR systems for LMFR are under consideration: (i) direct reactor auxiliary cooling system (DRACS) with immersed DFIX in main vessel, intermediate sodium loop and sodium-air heat exchanger; and (ii) auxiliary cooling system which removes heat from the outside surface of the reactor vessel by natural convection of air (RVACS). The practicality and economic viability of the use of RVACS is possible up to a modular type reactor or a middle size reactor based on current technology. For the large monolithic plant concepts DRACS is preferable. The existing experimental results and the codes show encouraging results so that the decay heat removal by pure natural convection is feasible. Concerning the objective, 'passive safety', the DHR by pure natural convection is essential feature to enhance the reliability of DHR.

Specialists' meeting on evaluation of decay heat removal by natural convection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-02-01

Decay heat removal by natural convection (DHRNC) is essential to enhancing the safety of liquid metal fast reactors (LMFRs). Various design concepts related to DHRNC have been proposed and experimental and analytical studies have been carried out in a number of countries. The purpose of this Specialists' Meeting on 'Decay Heat Removal by Natural Convection' organized by the International Working Group on Fast Reactors IAEA, is to exchange information about the state of the art related to methodologies on evaluation of DHRNC features (experimental studies and code developments) and to discuss problems which need to be solved in order to evaluate DHRNC properly and reasonably. The following main topical areas were discussed by delegates: Overview; Experimental studies and code validation; Design study. Two main DHR systems for LMFR are under consideration: (i) direct reactor auxiliary cooling system (DRACS) with immersed DFIX in main vessel, intermediate sodium loop and sodium-air heat exchanger; and (ii) auxiliary cooling system which removes heat from the outside surface of the reactor vessel by natural convection of air (RVACS). The practicality and economic viability of the use of RVACS is possible up to a modular type reactor or a middle size reactor based on current technology. For the large monolithic plant concepts DRACS is preferable. The existing experimental results and the codes show encouraging results so that the decay heat removal by pure natural convection is feasible. Concerning the objective, 'passive safety', the DHR by pure natural convection is essential feature to enhance the reliability of DHR

In-calandria retention of corium in Indian PHWR - experimental simulations with decay heat

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nayak, A.K.

2015-01-01

The severe accident at Fukushima has compelled the nuclear community to relook at the safety of existing nuclear power plants (NPP) against natural origin events of beyond design basis and prolonged station black out (SBO). A major lesson learned is to assess the capability of the safety systems to cool the reactor core and spent fuel storage facilities in the event of a prolonged station black out (SBO). Similar safety review is planned for the Indian Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) considering a prolonged SBO. The Indian PHWR is a heavy water-moderated and cooled, natural uranium-fuelled reactor in which the horizontal fuel channels are submerged in a pool of heavy water moderator located inside the calandria vessel. The calandria vessel is surrounded by a calandria vault having large volume of light water. Concerns are raised that in the event of an unmitigated SBO, it may result into a low probable severe accident leading to core melt down. The core melt may further fail the calandria vessel in case the melt is not quenched. If the calandria vessel fails, the corium shall interact with the cold calandria vault water and concrete resulting in generation of large amount of non-condensable gases and steam which will lead to over pressurization of containment and may cause its failure. Therefore, in-calandria corium retention via external cooling using vault water can be considered as an important accident management program in PHWR. In this strategy, the core melt retains inside the calandria vessel by continually removing the stored heat and decay heat through outer surface of the vessel by cooling water and maintaining the integrity of the vessel. The present study focuses on experimental investigation in a scaled facility of an Indian PHWR to investigate the coolability of molten corium with simulated decay heat by using the calandria vault water. Molten borosilicate glass was used as the simulant due to its comparable heat transfer characteristics

Summary report of NEPTUN investigations into transient thermal hydraulics of the passive decay heat removal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weinberg, D.; Hoffmann, H.; Rust, K.; Frey, H.H.; Hain, K.; Leiling, W.; Hayafune, H.

1995-12-01

The results corroborate the findings of tests with the RAMONA model. With the core power reduction at scram and the start of the decay heat exchangers operation cold fluid is delivered into the prevailing upper plenum. A temperature stratification develops with distinct large temperature gradients. The onset of natural convection is mainly influenced by two effects, namely, the temperature increase on the intermediate heat exchangers primary sides as a result of which the downward pressures are reduced, and the startup of the decay heat exchangers which leads to a decrease of the buoyancy forces in the core. The temperatures of the upper plenum are systematically reduced as soon as the decay heat exchangers are in operation. Then mixed fluid in the hot plenum reaches the intermediate heat exchangers inlet windows and causes an increase in the core flow rate. The primary pump coastdown curve influences the primary system thermal hydraulics only during the first thousand seconds after scram. The longer the pumps operate the more cold fluid is delivered via the core to the upper plenum. The delay of the start of the decay heat exchangers operation separates the two effects which influence the core mass flow, namely the heatup of the intermediate heat exchangers as well as the formation of the stratification in the upper plenum. Increasing the power as well as the operation of only half of the available decay heat exchangers increase the system temperatures. A permeable above core structure produces a temperature stratification along the total upper plenum, and therefore a lower temperature gradient in the region between core outlet and lower edge of the above core structure, in comparison to the impermeable design. A complete flow path blockage of the primary fluid through the intermediate heat exchangers leads to an enhanced cooling effect of the interstitial flow and gives rise to a thermosiphon effect inside the core elements. (orig./GL) [de

Passive Decay Heat Removal Strategy of Integrated Passive Safety System (IPSS) for SBO-combined Accidents

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Sang Ho; Chang, Soon Heung; Jeong, Yong Hoon [Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2014-10-15

The weak points of nuclear safety would be in outmoded nuclear power plants like the Fukushima reactors. One of the systems for the safety enhancement is integrated passive safety system (IPSS) proposed after the Fukushima accidents. It has the five functions for the prevention and mitigation of a severe accident. Passive decay heat removal (PDHR) strategy using IPSS is proposed for coping with SBO-combined accidents in this paper. The two systems for removing decay heat before core-melt were applied in the strategy. The accidents were simulated by MARS code. The reference reactor was OPR1000, specifically Ulchin-3 and 4. The accidents included loss-of-coolant accidents (LOCA) because the coolant losses could be occurred in the SBO condition. The examples were the stuck open of PSV, the abnormal open of SDV and the leakage of RCP seal water. Also, as LOCAs with the failure of active safety injection systems were considered, various LOCAs were simulated in SBO. Based on the thermal hydraulic analysis, the probabilistic safety analysis was carried out for the PDHR strategy to estimate the safety enhancement in terms of the variation of core damage frequency. AIMS-PSA developed by KAERI was used for calculating CDF of the plant. The IPSS was applied in the PDHR strategy which was developed in order to cope with the SBO-combined accidents. The estimation for initiating SGGI or PSIS was based on the pressure in RCS. The simulations for accidents showed that the decay heat could be removed for the safety duration time in SBO. The increase of safety duration time from the strategy provides the increase of time for the restoration of AC power.

Development of a new decay heat removal system for a high temperature gas-cooled reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sim, Yoon Sub; Park, Rae Young; Kim, Seyun

2007-01-01

The heat removal capacity of a RCCS is one of the major parameters limiting the capacity of a HTGR based on a passive safety system. To improve the plant economy of a HTGR, the decay heat removal capacity needs to be improved. For this, a new analysis system of an algebraic method for the performance of various RCCS designs was set up and the heat transfer characteristics and performance of the designs were analyzed. Based on the analysis results, a new passive decay heat removal system with a substantially improved performance, LFDRS was developed. With the new system, one can have an expectation that the heat removal capacity of a HTGR could be doubled

Large scale experiments with a 5 MW sodium/air heat exchanger for decay heat removal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stehle, H.; Damm, G.; Jansing, W.

1994-01-01

Sodium experiments in the large scale test facility ILONA were performed to demonstrate proper operation of a passive decay heat removal system for LMFBRs based on pure natural convection flow. Temperature and flow distributions on the sodium and the air side of a 5 MW sodium/air heat exchanger in a natural draught stack were measured during steady state and transient operation in good agreement with calculations using a two dimensional computer code ATTICA/DIANA. (orig.)

Preliminary study of the decay heat removal strategy for the gas demonstrator allegro

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mayer, Gusztáv, E-mail: gusztav.mayer@energia.mta.hu [Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Centre for Energy Research, P.O. Box 49, H-1525 Budapest (Hungary); Bentivoglio, Fabrice, E-mail: fabrice.bentivoglio@cea.fr [CEA/DEN/DM2S/STMF/LMES, F-38054, Grenoble (France)

2015-05-15

Highlights: • Improved decay heat removal strategy was adapted for the 75 MW ALLEGRO MOX core. • New nitrogen injection strategy was proposed for the DEC LOCA transients. • Preliminary CATHARE study shows that most of the investigated transients fulfill criteria. • Further improvements and optimizations are needed for nitrogen injection. - Abstract: The helium cooled Gas Fast Reactor (GFR) is one of the six reactor concepts selected in the frame of the Generation IV International Forum. Since no gas cooled fast reactor has ever been built, a medium power demonstrator reactor – named ALLEGRO – is necessary on the road towards the 2400 MWth GFR power reactor. The French Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique (CEA) completed a wide range of studies during the early stage of development of ALLEGRO, and later the ALLEGRO reactor concept was developed in several European Union projects in parallel with the GFR2400. The 75 MW thermal power ALLEGRO is currently developed in the frame of the European ALLIANCE project. As a result of the collaboration between CEA and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Centre for Energy Research (MTA EK) new improvements were done in the safety approach of ALLEGRO. A complete Decay Heat Removal (DHR) strategy was devised, relying on the primary circuits as a first way to remove decay heat using pony-motors to drive the primary blowers, and on the secondary and tertiary circuits being able to work in forced or natural circulation. Three identical dedicated loops circulating in forced convection are used as a second way to remove decay heat, and these loops can circulate in natural convection for pressurized transients, providing a third way to remove decay heat in case of accidents when the primary circuit is still under pressure. The possibility to use nitrogen to enhance both forced and natural circulation is discussed. This DHR strategy is supported by a wide range of accident transient simulations performed using the CATHARE2 code

Development of whole energy absorption spectrometer for decay heat measurement on fusion reactor materials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Maekawa, Fujio; Ikeda, Yujiro [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan). Tokai Research Establishment

1997-03-01

To measure decay heat on fusion reactor materials irradiated by D-T neutrons, a Whole Energy Absorption Spectrometer (WEAS) consisting of a pair of large BGO (bismuth-germanate) scintillators was developed. Feasibility of decay heat measurement with WEAS for various materials and for a wide range of half-lives (seconds - years) was demonstrated by experiments at FNS. Features of WEAS, such as high sensitivity, radioactivity identification, and reasonably low experimental uncertainty of {approx} 10 %, were found. (author)

Application study of the heat pipe to the passive decay heat removal system of the modular HTR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ohashi, K.; Okamoto, F.; Hayakawa, H.; Hayashi, T.

2001-01-01

To investigate the applicability of the heat pipe to the decay hat removal (DHR) system of the modular HTRs, preliminary study of the Heat Pipe DHR System was performed. The results show that the Heat Pipe DHR System is applicable to the modular HTRs and its heat removal capability is sufficient. Especially by applying the variable conductance heat pipe, the possibility of a fully passive DHR system with lower heat loss during normal operation is suggested. The experiments to obtain the fundamental characteristics data of the variable conductance heat pipe were carried out. The experimental results show very clear features of self-control characteristics. The experimental results and the experimental analysis results are also shown. (author)

Deposition of aerosols formed by HCDA due to decay heat transport in inner containment atmospheres

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vate, J.F. van de

1976-01-01

Coupling of decay heat transfer by aerosol-laden inner containment atmospheres with aerosol deposition from such atmospheres leads to useful and simple models for calculation of the time dependence of the aerosol mass concentration. Special attention is given to thermophoretic deposition (dry case) and condensation followed by gravitational deposition (wet case). Attractive features of the models are: 1) coagulation can be omitted and therefore complicated and doubtful calculations on coagulation are avoided, 2) material and particle size of the aerosol are not important for the aerosol decay rate, 3) the aerosol decay rate is related to the decay heat production which is known function of time, and the relevant part of it must be assessed usually for other purposes as well. (orig.) [de

Derivation of decay heat benchmarks for U235 and Pu239 by a least squares fit to measured data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tobias, A.

1989-05-01

A least squares technique used by previous authors has been applied to an extended set of available decay heat measurements for both U235 and Pu239 to yield simultaneous fits to the corresponding beta, gamma and total decay heat. The analysis takes account of both systematic and statistical uncertainties, including correlations, via calculations which use covariance matrices constructed for the measured data. The results of the analysis are given in the form of beta, gamma and total decay heat estimates following fission pulses and a range of irradiation times in both U235 and Pu239. These decay heat estimates are considered to form a consistent set of benchmarks for use in the assessment of summation calculations. (author)

Detailed comparison between decay heat data calculated by the summation method and integral measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rudstam, G.

1979-01-01

The fission product library FPLIB has been used for a calculation of the decay heat effect in nuclear fuel. The results are compared with integral determinations and with results obtained using the ENDF/BIV data base. In the case of the beta part, and also for the total decay heat, the FPLIB-data seem to be superior to the ENDF/BIV-data. The experimental integral data are in many cases reproduced within the combined limits of error of the methods. (author)

RELAP5 and SIMMER-III code assessment on CIRCE decay heat removal experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bandini, Giacomino; Polidori, Massimiliano; Meloni, Paride; Tarantino, Mariano; Di Piazza, Ivan

2015-01-01

Highlights: • The CIRCE DHR experiments simulate LOHS+LOF transients in LFR systems. • Decay heat removal by natural circulation through immersed heat exchangers is investigated. • The RELAP5 simulation of DHR experiments is presented. • The SIMMER-III simulation of DHR experiments is presented. • The focus is on the transition from forced to natural convection and stratification in a large pool. - Abstract: In the frame of THINS Project of the 7th Framework EU Program on Nuclear Fission Safety, some experiments were carried out on the large scale LBE-cooled CIRCE facility at the ENEA/Brasimone Research Center to investigate relevant safety aspects associated with the removal of decay heat through heat exchangers (HXs) immersed in the primary circuit of a pool-type lead fast reactor (LFR), under loss of heat sink (LOHS) accidental conditions. The start-up and operation of this decay heat removal (DHR) system relies on natural convection on the primary side and then might be affected by coolant mixing and temperature stratification phenomena occurring in the LBE pool. The main objectives of the CIRCE experimental campaign were to verify the behavior of the DHR system under representative accidental conditions and provide a valuable database for the assessment of both CFD and system codes. The reproduced accidental conditions refer to a station blackout scenario, namely a protected LOHS and loss of flow (LOF) transient. In this paper the results of 1D RELAP5 and 2D SIMMER-III simulations are compared with the experimental data of more representative DHR transients T-4 and T-5 in order to verify the capability of these codes to reproduce both forced and natural convection conditions observed in the primary circuit and the right operation of the DHR system for decay heat removal. Both codes are able to reproduce the stationary conditions and with some uncertainties the transition to natural convection conditions until the end of the transient phase. The trend

BWR spent fuel storage cask performance test. Volume 2. Pre- and post-test decay heat, heat transfer, and shielding analyses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wiles, L.E.; Lombardo, N.J.; Heeb, C.M.; Jenquin, U.P.; Michener, T.E.; Wheeler, C.L.; Creer, J.M.; McCann, R.A.

1986-06-01

This report describes the decay heat, heat transfer, and shielding analyses conducted in support of performance testing of a Ridhihalgh, Eggers and Associates REA 2033 boiling water reactor (BWR) spent fuel storage cask. The cask testing program was conducted for the US Department of Energy (DOE) Commercial Spent Fuel Management Program by the Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) and by General Electric at the latters' Morris Operation (GE-MO) as reported in Volume I. The analyses effort consisted of performing pretest calculations to (1) select spent fuel for the test; (2) symmetrically load the spent fuel assemblies in the cask to ensure lateral symmetry of decay heat generation rates; (3) optimally locate temperature and dose rate instrumentation in the cask and spent fuel assemblies; and (4) evaluate the ORIGEN2 (decay heat), HYDRA and COBRA-SFS (heat transfer), and QAD and DOT (shielding) computer codes. The emphasis of this second volume is on the comparison of code predictions to experimental test data in support of the code evaluation process. Code evaluations were accomplished by comparing pretest (actually pre-look, since some predictions were not completed until testing was in progress) predictions with experimental cask testing data reported in Volume I. No attempt was made in this study to compare the two heat transfer codes because results of other evaluations have not been completed, and a comparison based on one data set may lead to erroneous conclusions

Decay heat and gamma dose-rate prediction capability in spent LWR fuel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Neely, G.J.; Schmittroth, F.

1982-08-01

The ORIGEN2 code was established as a valid means to predict decay heat from LWR spent fuel assemblies for decay times up to 10,000 year. Calculational uncertainties ranged from 8.6% to a maximum of 16% at 2.5 years and 300 years cooling time, respectively. The calculational uncertainties at 2.5 years cooling time are supported by experiment. Major sources of uncertainty at the 2.5 year cooling time were identifed as irradiation history (5.7%) and nuclear data together with calculational methods (6.3%). The QAD shielding code was established as a valid means to predict interior and exterior gamma dose rates of spent LWR fuel assemblies. A calculational/measurement comparison was done on two assemblies with different irradiation histories and supports a 35% calculational uncertainty at the 1.8 and 3.0 year decay times studied. Uncertainties at longer times are expected to increase, but not significantly, due to an increased contribution from the actinides whose inventories are assigned a higher uncertainty. The uncertainty in decay heat rises to a maximum of 16% due to actinide uncertainties. A previous study was made of the neutron emission rate from a typical Turkey Point Unit 3, Region 4 spent fuel assembly at 5 years decay time. A conservative estimate of the neutron dose rate at the assembly surface was less than 0.5 rem/hr

Summary report of NEPTUN investigations into the steady state thermal hydraulics of the passive decay heat removal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rust, K.; Weinberg, D.; Hoffmann, H.; Frey, H.H.; Baumann, W.; Hain, K.; Leiling, W.; Hayafune, H.; Ohira, H.

1995-12-01

During the course of steady state NEPTUN investigations, the effects of different design and operating parameters were studied; in particular: The shell design of the above core sturcture, the core power, the number of decay heat exchangers put in operation, the complete flow path blockage at the primary side of the intermediate heat exchangers, and the fluid level in the primary vessel. The findings of the NEPTUN experiments indicate that the decay heat can be safely removed by natural convection. The interwrapper flow makes an essential contribution to that behavior. The decay heat exchangers installed in the upper plenum cause a thermal stratification associated with a pronounced gradient. The vertical extent of the stratification and the quantity of the gradient are depending on the fact whether a permeable or an impermeable shell covers the above core structure. An increase of the core power or a reduction of the number of decay heat exchangers being in operation leads to a higher temperature level in the primary system but does not alter the global temperature distribution. In the case that no coolant enters the inlet windows at the primary side of the intermediate and decay heat exchangers, the core remains coolable as far as the primary vessel is filled with fluid up to a minimum level. Cold water penetrates from the upper plenum into the core and removes the decay heat. The thermal hydraulic computer code FLUTAN was applied for the three-dimensional numerical simulation of the majority of NEPTUN tests reported here. The comparison of computed against experimental data indicates a qualitatively and quantitatively satisfying agreement of the findings with respect to the field of isotherms as well as the temperature profiles in the upper plenum and within the core region of very complex geometry. (orig./HP) [de

Decay Heat Removal in GEN IV Gas-Cooled Fast Reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lap-Yan, C.; Wie, T. Y. C.

2009-01-01

The safety goal of the current designs of advanced high-temperature thermal gas-cooled reactors (HTRs) is that no core meltdown would occur in a depressurization event with a combination of concurrent safety system failures. This study focused on the analysis of passive decay heat removal (DHR) in a GEN IV direct-cycle gas-cooled fast reactor (GFR) which is based on the technology developments of the HTRs. Given the different criteria and design characteristics of the GFR, an approach different from that taken for the HTRs for passive DHR would have to be explored. Different design options based on maintaining core flow were evaluated by performing transient analysis of a depressurization accident using the system code RELAP5-3D. The study also reviewed the conceptual design of autonomous systems for shutdown decay heat removal and recommends that future work in this area should be focused on the potential for Brayton cycle DHRs.

A revised ANS standard for decay heat from fission products

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schrock, V.E.

1978-01-01

The draft ANS 5.1 standard on decay heat was published in 1971 and given minor revision in 1973. Its basis was the best estimate working curve developed by K. Shure in 1961. Liberal uncertainties were assigned to the standard values because of lack of data for short cooling times and large discrepancies among experimental data. Research carried out over the past few years has greatly improved the knowledge of this phenomenon and a major revision of the standard has been completed. Very accurate determination of the decay heat is now possible, expecially within the first 10 4 seconds, where the influence of neutron capture in fission products may be treated as a small correction to the idealized zero capture case. The new standard accounts for differences among fuel nuclides. It covers cooling time to 10 9 seconds, but provides only an ''upper bound'' on the capture correction in the interval 10 4 9 seconds. (author)

Effect of heat-treatment with raw cotton seed oil on decay resistance and dimensional stability of Beech (Fagus orientalis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

مریم قربانی

2015-05-01

Full Text Available This research was conducted to determine the effect of heat-treatment with raw cotton seed oil on decay resistance and dimensional stability of beech according to EN113 and ASTM-D1037 standards respectively. The heat treatment with raw cotton seed oil was carried out in the cylinder at the temperatures of 130 and 170oC for 30 and 60 minutes. Oil uptake, density, volumetric swelling, water absorption and weight loss exposed to decay were measured. Oil uptake at 30 and 60 min were determined 10.5 and 13.3 Kg/cm3 respectively. Oil-heat treated samples at 30min and 130°C indicated the maximum density with 87.7% increase. According to results, oil-heat treatment improved water repellency and dimensional stability. Water absorption in 130°C and 60 minutes decreased 76% in comparison with control. Decay resistance of oil soaked samples for 60minutes was 80.2% more than control samples. Oil-heat treatment compared with oil treatment improved decay resistance, this effect was significant at 30 min. The temperature rise of oil–heat treatment at 30 minutes improved decay resistance, but the improvement under same level of temperature with increase time was not significant.

Experimental validation of decay heat calculation codes and associated nuclear data libraries for fusion energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maekawa, Fujio; Wada, Masayuki; Ikeda, Yujiro

2001-01-01

Validity of decay heat calculations for safety designs of fusion reactors was investigated by using decay heat experimental data on thirty-two fusion reactor relevant materials obtained at the 14-MeV neutron source facility of FNS in JAERI. Calculation codes developed in Japan, ACT4 and CINAC version 4, and nuclear data bases such as JENDL/Act-96, FENDL/A-2.0 and Lib90 were used for the calculation. Although several corrections in algorithms for both the calculation codes were needed, it was shown by comparing calculated results with the experimental data that most of activation cross sections and decay data were adequate. In cases of type 316 stainless steel and copper which were important for ITER, prediction accuracy of decay heat within ±10% was confirmed. However, it was pointed out that there were some problems in parts of data such as improper activation cross sections, e,g., the 92 Mo(n, 2n) 91g Mo reaction in FENDL, and lack of activation cross section data, e.g., the 138 Ba(n, 2n) 137m Ba reaction in JENDL. Modifications of cross section data were recommended for 19 reactions in JENDL and FENDL. It was also pointed out that X-ray and conversion electron energies should be included in decay data. (author)

Experimental validation of decay heat calculation codes and associated nuclear data libraries for fusion energy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Maekawa, Fujio; Wada, Masayuki; Ikeda, Yujiro [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan). Tokai Research Establishment

2001-01-01

Validity of decay heat calculations for safety designs of fusion reactors was investigated by using decay heat experimental data on thirty-two fusion reactor relevant materials obtained at the 14-MeV neutron source facility of FNS in JAERI. Calculation codes developed in Japan, ACT4 and CINAC version 4, and nuclear data bases such as JENDL/Act-96, FENDL/A-2.0 and Lib90 were used for the calculation. Although several corrections in algorithms for both the calculation codes were needed, it was shown by comparing calculated results with the experimental data that most of activation cross sections and decay data were adequate. In cases of type 316 stainless steel and copper which were important for ITER, prediction accuracy of decay heat within {+-}10% was confirmed. However, it was pointed out that there were some problems in parts of data such as improper activation cross sections, e,g., the {sup 92}Mo(n, 2n){sup 91g}Mo reaction in FENDL, and lack of activation cross section data, e.g., the {sup 138}Ba(n, 2n){sup 137m}Ba reaction in JENDL. Modifications of cross section data were recommended for 19 reactions in JENDL and FENDL. It was also pointed out that X-ray and conversion electron energies should be included in decay data. (author)

Impact of the total absorption gamma-ray spectroscopy on FP decay heat calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoshida, Tadashi; Tachibana, Takahiro; Katakura, Jun-ichi

2004-01-01

We calculated the average β- and γ-ray energies, E β and E γ , for 44 short-lived isotopes of Rb, Sr, Y, Cs, Ba, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm and Eu from the data by Greenwood et al, who measured the β-feed in the decay of these nuclides using the total absorption γ-ray spectrometer. These E β and E γ were incorporated into the decay files from JENDL, JEF2.2 and ENDF-B/VI, and the decay heats were calculated. The results were compared with the integral measurements by the University of Tokyo, ORNL and Lowell. In the case of JENDL, where the correction for the so-called Pandemonium effect is applied on the basis of the gross theory, the very good agreement is no longer maintained. The γ-ray component is overestimated in the cooling time range from 3 to 300 seconds, suggesting a kind of an over-correction as for the Pandemonium effect. We have to evaluate both the applicability of the TAGS results and the correction method itself in order to generate a more consistent data basis for decay heat summation calculations. (author)

'Thermal ghosts': apparent decay of fixed surfaces caused by heat diffusion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Livadiotis, George

2007-01-01

The behaviour concerning classical heat diffusion on fixed thermal surfaces, studied by observations, still holds surprises. As soon as convective and radiative processes are negligible within the medium, this is considered to be free from energy sources and sinks. Then, the heat diffusion equation is conveniently solved using standard Fourier methods. Some considerations about the contrast effect suggest that the surface boundary would rather be observed to follow specific area decay dynamics than remaining fixed and static. Here it is shown that the apparent boundary lies on a specific isothermal spatiotemporal curve, which depends on the observing device. This is characterized by a slight, though determinative, difference between its radiance and that of the ambient background. Thereafter, the heat diffusion yields apparent boundary shrinkage with the passing of time. This phenomenon is particularly notable for two reasons: its lifetime and final decay rate depend only on the medium thermal properties, while being independent of the apparent boundary spatiotemporal curve. Thus, the former provides a suitable method for measuring the medium thermal properties via the observational data. The latter strongly reveal a kind of universality of some characteristic properties of the phenomenon, common to all observers

Integral decay-heat measurements and comparisons to ENDF/B--IV and V

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

England, T.R.; Schenter, R.E.; Schmittroth, F.

Results from recent integral decay-power experiments are presented and compared with summation calculations. The experiments include the decay power following thermal fission of 233 U, 235 U, and 239 Pu. The summation calculations use ENDF/B-IV decay data and yields from Versions IV and V. Limited comparisons of experimental β and γ spectra with summation calculations using ENDF/B-IV are included. Generalized least-squares methods are applied to the recent 235 U and 239 Pu decay-power experiments and summation calculations to arrive at evaluated values and uncertainties. Results for 235 U imply uncertainties less than 2% (1 sigma) for the ''infinite'' exposure case for all cooling times greater than 10 seconds. The uncertainties for 239 Pu are larger. Accurate analytical representations of the decay power are presented for 235 , 238 U, and 239 Pu for use in light-water reactors and as the nominal values in the new ANS 5.1 Draft Standard (1978). Comparisons of the nominal values with ENDF/B-IV and the 1973 ANS Draft Standard in current use are included. Gas content, important to decay-heat experiments, and absorption effects on decay power are reviewed. 37 figures, 8 tables

Analysis of decay heat removal following loss of RHR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naff, S.A.; Ward, L.W.

1991-01-01

Recent plant experience has included many events occurring during outages at pressurized water reactors. A recent example is the loss of residual heat removal system event that occurred March 20, 1990 at the Vogtle-1 plant following refueling. Plant conditions during outages differ markedly from those prevailing at normal full-power operation on which most past research has concentrated. Specifically, during outages the core power is low, the coolant system may be in a drained state with air or nitrogen present, and various reactor coolant system closures may be unsecured. With the residual heat removal system operating, the core decay heat is readily removed. However, if the residual heat removal system capability is lost and alternative heat removal means cannot be established, heat up of the coolant could lead to core coolant boil-off, fuel rod heat up, and core damage. A study was undertaken by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to identify what information was needed to understand pressurized water reactor response to an extended loss of residual heat removal event during refueling and maintenance outages. By identifying the possible plant conditions and cooling methods that might be used, the controlling thermal-hydraulic processes and phenomena were identified. Controlling processes and phenomena include: gravity drain into the reactor coolant system, core water boil-off, and reflux condensation cooling processes

Filtered thermal neutron captured cross sections measurements and decay heat calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pham Ngoc Son; Vuong Huu Tan

2015-01-01

Recently, a pure thermal neutron beam has been developed for neutron capture measurements based on the horizontal channel No.2 of the research reactor at the Nuclear Research Institute, Dalat. The original reactor neutron spectrum is transmitted through an optimal composition of Bi and Si single crystals for delivering a thermal neutron beam with Cadmium ratio (R ed ) of 420 and neutron flux (Φ th ) of 1.6*10 6 n/cm 2 .s. This thermal neutron beam has been applied for measurements of capture cross sections for nuclide of 51 V, by the activation method relative to the standard reaction 197 Au(n,γ) 198 Au. In addition to the activities of neutron capture cross sections measurements, the study on nuclear decay heat calculations has been also considered to be developed at the Institute. Some results on calculation procedure and decay heat values calculated with update nuclear database for 235 U are introduced in this report. (author)

Performance of ALMR passive decay heat removal system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boardman, C.E.; Hunsbedt, A.

1991-01-01

The Advanced Liquid Metal Reactor (ALMR) concept has a totally passive safety-grade decay heat removal system referred to as the Reactor Vessel Auxiliary Cooling System (RVACS) that rejects heat from the small (471 MWt) modular reactor to the environmental air by natural convection heat transfer. The system has no active components, requires no operator action to initiate, and is inherently reliable. The RVACS can perform its function under off-normal or degraded operating conditions without significant loss in performance. Several such events are described and the RVACS thermal performance for each is given and compared to the normal operation performance. The basic RVACS performance as well as the performance during several off-normal events have been updated to reflect design changes for recycled fuel with minor actinides for end of equilibrium cycle conditions. The performance results for several other off-normal events involving various degrees of RVACS air flow passage blockages are presented. The results demonstrated that the RVACS is unusually tolerant to a wide range of postulated faults. (author)

Analysis and testing of W-DHR system for decay heat removal in the lead-cooled ELSY reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bandini, Giacomino; Meloni, Paride; Polidori, Massimiliano; Gaggini, Piero; Labanti, Valerio; Tarantino, Mariano; Cinotti, Luciano; Presciuttini, Leonardo

2009-01-01

An innovative LFR system that complies with GEN IV goals is under design in the frame of ELSY European project. ELSY is a lead-cooled pool-type reactor of about 1500 MW thermal power which normally relies on the secondary system for decay heat removal. Since the secondary system is not safety-grade and must be fully depressurized in case of detection of a steam generator tube rupture, an independent and much reliable decay heat removal (DHR) system is foreseen on the primary side. Owing to the limited capability of the Reactor Vessel Air Cooling System (RVACS) in this large power reactor, additional safety-grade loops equipped with coolers immersed in the primary coolant are necessary for an efficient removal of decay heat. Some of these loops (W-DHR) are of innovative design and may operate with water at atmospheric pressure. In the frame of the ICE program to be performed on the integral facility CIRCE at ENEA/Brasimone research centre within the EUROTRANS European project, integral circulation experiments with core heat transport and heat removal by steam generator will be conducted in a reactor pool-type configuration. Taking advantage from this experimental program, a mock-up of W-DHR heat exchanger will be tested in order to investigate its functional behavior for decay heat removal. Some pre-test calculations of W-DHR heat exchanger operation in CIRCE have been performed with the RELAP5 thermal-hydraulic code in order to support the heat exchanger design and test conduct. In this paper the experimental activity to be conducted in CIRCE and main results from W-DHR pre-test calculations are presented, along with a preliminary investigation of the W-DHR system efficiency in ELSY configuration. (author)

Evaluation of induced activity, decay heat and dose rate distribution after shutdown in ITER

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Maki, Koichi [Hitachi Ltd., Ibaraki (Japan). Hitachi Research Lab.; Satoh, Satoshi; Hayashi, Katsumi; Yamada, Koubun; Takatsu, Hideyuki; Iida, Hiromasa

1997-03-01

Induced activity, decay heat and dose rate distributions after shutdown were estimated for 1MWa/m{sup 2} operation in ITER. The activity in the inboard blanket one day after shutdown is 1.5x10{sup 11}Bq/cm{sup 3}, and the average decay heating rate 0.01w/cm{sup 3}. The dose rate outside the 120cm thick concrete biological shield is two order higher than the design criterion of 5{mu}Sv/h. This indicates that the biological shield thickness should be enhanced by 50cm in concrete, that is, total thickness 170cm for workers to enter the reactor room and to perform maintenance. (author)

Evaluation of spent fuel isotopics, radiation spectra and decay heat using the scale computational system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parks, C.V.; Hermann, O.W.; Ryman, J.C.

1986-01-01

In order to be a self-sufficient system for transport/storage cask shielding and heat transfer analysis, the SCALE system developers included modules to evaluate spent fuel radiation spectra and decay heat. The primary module developed for these analyses is ORIGEN-S which is an updated verision of the original ORIGEN code. The COUPLE module was also developed to enable ORIGEN-S to easily utilize multigroup cross sections and neutron flux data during a depletion analysis. Finally, the SAS2 control module was developed for automating the depletion and decay via ORIGEN-S while using burnup-dependent neutronic data based on a user-specified fuel assembly and reactor history. The ORIGEN-S data libraries available for depletion and decay have also been significantly updated from that developed with the original ORIGEN code

Fission yields data generation and benchmarks of decay heat estimation of a nuclear fuel

Science.gov (United States)

Gil, Choong-Sup; Kim, Do Heon; Yoo, Jae Kwon; Lee, Jounghwa

2017-09-01

Fission yields data with the ENDF-6 format of 235U, 239Pu, and several actinides dependent on incident neutron energies have been generated using the GEF code. In addition, fission yields data libraries of ORIGEN-S, -ARP modules in the SCALE code, have been generated with the new data. The decay heats by ORIGEN-S using the new fission yields data have been calculated and compared with the measured data for validation in this study. The fission yields data ORIGEN-S libraries based on ENDF/B-VII.1, JEFF-3.1.1, and JENDL/FPY-2011 have also been generated, and decay heats were calculated using the ORIGEN-S libraries for analyses and comparisons.

Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (GFR) Decay Heat Removal Concepts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

K. D. Weaver; L-Y. Cheng; H. Ludewig; J. Jo

2005-01-01

Current research and development on the Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (GFR) has focused on the design of safety systems that will remove the decay heat during accident conditions, ion irradiations of candidate ceramic materials, joining studies of oxide dispersion strengthened alloys; and within the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI) the fabrication of carbide fuels and ceramic fuel matrix materials, development of non-halide precursor low density and high density ceramic coatings, and neutron irradiation of candidate ceramic fuel matrix and metallic materials. The vast majority of this work has focused on the reference design for the GFR: a helium-cooled, direct power conversion system that will operate with an outlet temperature of 850 C at 7 MPa. In addition to the work being performed in the United States, seven international partners under the Generation IV International Forum (GIF) have identified their interest in participating in research related to the development of the GFR. These are Euratom (European Commission), France, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Of these, Euratom (including the United Kingdom), France, and Japan have active research activities with respect to the GFR. The research includes GFR design and safety, and fuels/in-core materials/fuel cycle projects. This report is a compilation of work performed on decay heat removal systems for a 2400 MWt GFR during this fiscal year (FY05)

Filtered thermal neutron captured cross-sections measurements and decay heat calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Son, Pham Ngoc; Tan, Vuong Huu

2014-01-01

Recently, a pure thermal neutron beam has been developed for neutron capture measurements based on the horizontal channel No.2 of the research reactor at the Nuclear Research Institute, Dalat. The original reactor neutron spectrum is transmitted through an optimal composition of Bi and Si single crystals for delivering a thermal neutron beam with Cadmium ratio (R cd ) of 420 and neutron flux (Φ th ) of 1.6x10 6 n/cm 2 .s. This thermal neutron beam has been applied for measurements of capture cross-sections for nuclide of 51 V, 55 Mn, 180 Hf and 186 W by the activation method relative to the standard reaction 197 Au(n,g) 198 Au. In addition to the activities of neutron capture cross-sections measurements, the study on nuclear decay heat calculations has been also considered to be developed at the Institute. Some results on calculation procedure and decay heat values calculated with update nuclear database for 235 U, 238 U, 239 Pu and 232 Th are introduced in this report. (author)

Code ACTIVE for calculation of the transmutation, induced activity and decay heat in neutron irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ioki, Kimihiro; Harada, Yuhei; Asami, Naoto.

1976-03-01

The computer code ACTIVE has been prepared for calculation of the transmutation rate, induced activity and decay heat. Calculations are carried out with activation chain and spatial distribution of neutron energy spectrum. The spatial distribution of secondary gamma-ray source due to the unstable nuclides is also obtainable. Special attension is paid to the short life decays. (auth.)

A review of U-235 decay heat measurements and calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Walker, W.H.

1979-08-01

Recent scintillator measurements of fission product decay β and γ power, and calorimetric measurements of their sum are analyzed to obtain estimates of E sub(β) and E sub(γ), the β and γ components of the delayed energy per fission in a reactor. Calculations using the ENDF/B-4 fission product file are compared to the measured results and used to estimate the contributions to E sub(β) and E sub(γ) for decay times greater than 10 5 s. A value of E sub(ν), the anti-neutrino component, consistent with the measured component is also calculated. It is found that the decay heat measured in two calorimetric experiments (the sum of the β and γ components) is about 15 percent greater than the separately-measured energies (averages of five β and two γ measurements). Thus, depending on normalization, E sub(β) and E sub(γ) can vary widely. After all experimental uncertainties are taken into account the range of possible values has as lower limits the values calculated using ENDF/B-4, with upper limits about 40 percent greater. (author)

Heat generation and heating limits for the IRUS LLRW disposal facility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Donders, R.E.; Caron, F.

1995-10-01

Heat generation from radioactive decay and chemical degradation must be considered when implementing low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) disposal. This is particularly important when considering the management of spent radioisotope sources. Heating considerations and temperature calculations for the proposed IRUS (Intrusion Resistant Underground Structure) near-surface disposal facility are presented. Heat transfer calculations were performed using a finite element code with realistic but somewhat conservative heat transfer parameters and environmental boundary conditions. The softening-temperature of the bitumen waste-form (38 deg C) was found to be the factor that limits the heat generation rate in the facility. This limits the IRUS heat rate, assuming a uniform source term, to 0.34 W/m 3 . If a reduced general heat-limit is considered, then some higher-heat packages can be accepted with restrictions placed on their location within the facility. For most LLRW, heat generation from radioactive decay and degradation are a small fraction of the IRUS heating limits. However, heating restrictions will impact on the disposal of higher-activity radioactive sources. High activity 60 Co sources will require decay-storage periods of about 70 years, and some 137 Cs will need to bed disposed of in facilities designed for higher-heat waste. (author). 21 refs., 8 tabs., 2 figs

Application of optimal estimation techniques to FFTF decay heat removal analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nutt, W.T.; Additon, S.L.; Parziale, E.A.

1979-01-01

The verification and adjustment of plant models for decay heat removal analysis using a mix of engineering judgment and formal techniques from control theory are discussed. The formal techniques facilitate dealing with typical test data which are noisy, redundant and do not measure all of the plant model state variables directly. Two pretest examples are presented. 5 refs

Decay heat from products of 235U thermal fission by fast-response boil-off calorimetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yarnell, J.L.; Bendt, P.J.

1977-09-01

A cryogenic boil-off calorimeter was used to measure the decay heat from the products of thermal-neutron-induced fission of 235 U. Data are presented for cooling times between 10 and 10 5 s following a 2 x 10 4 s irradiation at constant thermal-neutron flux. The experimental uncertainty (1 sigma) in these measurements was approximately 2 percent, except at the shortest cooling times where it rose to approximately 4 percent. The beta and gamma energy from an irradiated 235 U sample was absorbed in a thermally isolated 52-kg copper block that was held at 4 K by an internal liquid helium reservoir. The absorbed energy evaporated liquid helium from the reservoir and a hot-film anemometer flowmeter recorded the evolution rate of the boil-off gas. The decay heat was calculated from the gas-flow rate using the heat of vaporization of helium. The calorimeter had a thermal time constant of 0.85 s. The energy loss caused by gamma leakage from the absorber was less than or equal to 3 percent; a correction was made by Monte Carlo calculations based on experimentally determined gamma spectra. The data agree within the combined uncertainties with summation calculations using the ENDF/B-IV data base. The experimental data were combined with summation calculations to give the decay heat for infinite (10 13 s) irradiation

Probabilistic analysis of the loss of the decay heat removal function for Creys-Malville reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lanore, J.M.; Villeroux-Lombard, C.; Bouscatie, F.; Pavret de la Rochefordiere, A.

1982-01-01

The classical fault tree/event tree methods do not take into account the dependence in time of the systems behaviour during the sequences, and that is quite unrealistic for the decay heat removal function. It was then necessary to use a new methodology based on functional states of the whole system and on transition laws between these states. Thus, the probabilistic analysis of the decay heat removal function for Creys-Malville plant is performed in a global way. The main accident sequences leading to the loss of the function are then determined a posteriori. The weak points are pointed out, in particular the importance of common mode failures

Development of a water boil-off spent-fuel calorimeter system. [To measure decay heat generation rate

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Creer, J.M.; Shupe, J.W. Jr.

1981-05-01

A calorimeter system was developed to measure decay heat generation rates of unmodified spent fuel assemblies from commercial nuclear reactors. The system was designed, fabricated, and successfully tested using the following specifications: capacity of one BWR or PWR spent fuel assembly; decay heat generation range 0.1 to 2.5 kW; measurement time of < 12 h; and an accuracy of +-10% or better. The system was acceptance tested using a dc reference heater to simulate spent fuel assembly heat generation rates. Results of these tests indicated that the system could be used to measure heat generation rates between 0.5 and 2.5 kW within +- 5%. Measurements of heat generation rates of approx. 0.1 kW were obtained within +- 15%. The calorimeter system has the potential to permit measurements of heat generation rates of spent fuel assemblies and other devices in the 12- to 14-kW range. Results of calorimetry of a Turkey Point spent fuel assembly indicated that the assembly was generating approx. 1.55 kW.

Fluoxetine Inhibits Natural Decay of Long-Term Memory via Akt/GSK-3β Signaling.

Science.gov (United States)

Yi, Jee Hyun; Zhang, JiaBao; Ko, Sang Yoon; Kwon, Huiyoung; Jeon, Se Jin; Park, Se Jin; Jung, Jiwook; Kim, Byung C; Lee, Young Choon; Kim, Dong Hyun; Ryu, Jong Hoon

2018-02-09

Understanding the mechanisms underlying the natural decay of long-term memory can help us find means of extending the duration of long-term memory. However, the neurobiological processes involved in the decay of long-term memory are poorly understood. In the present study, we examined the effect of acute and chronic treatment of fluoxetine on natural decay of long-term memory and the possible mechanism. Late administration of fluoxetine prolonged the persistence of long-term memory in mice, as demonstrated by object location recognition and Barnes maze tests. Fluoxetine altered Akt/glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β)/β-catenin signaling in the hippocampus. Late short- and long-term pharmacological inhibition of GSK-3β mimicked the effect of fluoxetine on memory persistence. Pharmacological inhibition of Akt blocked the effect of fluoxetine on memory persistence. Finally, late infusion of fluoxetine increased hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) and pharmacological inhibition of GSK-3β blocked the natural decline in LTP. These results demonstrate that GSK-3β might be a key molecule in memory decay process, and fluoxetine extends the period of long-term memory maintenance via Akt/GSK-3β signaling.

Performance of the prism reactor's passive decay heat removal system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Magee, P.M.; Hunsbedt, A.

1989-01-01

The PRISM modular reactor concept has a totally passive safety-grade decay heat removal system referred to as the Reactor Vessel Auxiliary Cooling System (RVACS) that rejects heat from the reactor by radiation and natural convection of air. The system is inherently reliable and is not subject to the failure modes commonly associated with active cooling systems. The thermal performance of RVACS exceeds requirements and significant thermal margins exist. RVACS has been shown to perform its function under many postulated accident conditions. The PRISM power plant is equipped with three methods for shutdown: condenser cooling in conjunction with intermediate sodium and steam generator systems, and auxiliary cooling system (ACS) which removes heat from the steam generator by natural convection of air and transport of heat from the core by natural convection in the primary and intermediate systems, and a safety- grade reactor vessel auxiliary cooling system (RVACS) which removes heat passively from the reactor containment vessel by natural convection of air. The combination of one active and two passive systems provides a highly reliable and economical shutdown heat removal system. This paper provides a summary of the RVACS thermal performance for expected operating conditions and postulated accident events. The supporting experimental work, which substantiates the performance predictions, is also summarized

An evaluation of nodalization/decay heat/ volatile fission product release models in ISAAC code

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Song, Yong Mann; Park, Soo Yong; Kim, Dong Ha

2003-03-01

An ISAAC computer code, which was developed for a Level-2 PSA during 1995, has developed mainly with fundamental models for CANDU-specific severe accident progression and also the accident-analyzing experiences are limited to Level-2 PSA purposes. Hence the system nodalization model, decay model and volatile fission product release model, which are known to affect fission product behavior directly or indirectly, are evaluated to both enhance understanding for basic models and accumulate accident-analyzing experiences. As a research strategy, sensitivity studies of model parameters and sensitivity coefficients are performed. According to the results from core nodalization sensitivity study, an original 3x3 nodalization (per loop) method which groups horizontal fuel channels into 12 representative channels, is evaluated to be sufficient for an optimal scheme because detailed nodalization methods have no large effect on fuel thermal-hydraulic behavior, total accident progression and fission product behavior. As ANSI/ANS standard model for decay heat prediction after reactor trip has no needs for further model evaluation due to both wide application on accident analysis codes and good comparison results with the ORIGEN code, ISAAC calculational results of decay heat are used as they are. In addition, fission product revaporization in a containment which is caused by the embedded decay heat, is demonstrated. The results for the volatile fission product release model are analyzed. In case of early release, the IDCOR model with an in-vessel Te release option shows the most conservative results and for the late release case, NUREG-0772 model shows the most conservative results. Considering both early and late release, the IDCOR model with an in-vessel Te bound option shows mitigated conservative results.

Radionuclide mass inventory, activity, decay heat, and dose rate parametric data for TRIGA spent nuclear fuels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sterbentz, J.W.

1997-03-01

Parametric burnup calculations are performed to estimate radionuclide isotopic mass and activity concentrations for four different Training, Research, and Isotope General Atomics (TRIGA) nuclear reactor fuel element types: (1) Aluminum-clad standard, (2) Stainless Steel-clad standard, (3) High-enrichment Fuel Life Improvement Program (FLIP), and (4) Low-enrichment Fuel Life Improvement Program (FLIP-LEU-1). Parametric activity data are tabulated for 145 important radionuclides that can be used to generate gamma-ray emission source terms or provide mass quantity estimates as a function of decay time. Fuel element decay heats and dose rates are also presented parametrically as a function of burnup and decay time. Dose rates are given at the fuel element midplane for contact, 3.0-feet, and 3.0-meter detector locations in air. The data herein are estimates based on specially derived Beginning-of-Life (BOL) neutron cross sections using geometrically-explicit TRIGA reactor core models. The calculated parametric data should represent good estimates relative to actual values, although no experimental data were available for direct comparison and validation. However, because the cross sections were not updated as a function of burnup, the actinide concentrations may deviate from the actual values at the higher burnups

A decay heat removal system requiring no external energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Costes, D.; Fermandjian, J.

1983-12-01

A new Decay heat Removal System is described for PWR's with dry containment, i.e. a containment building which encloses no permanent reserve of cooling water. This new system is intended to provide a high level of safety since it uses no external energy, but only the thermodynamic energy of the air-steam-liquid water mixture generated in the containment after the failure of the primary circuit (''LOCA'') or of the secondary circuit. Thermodynamics of the system is evaluated first: after some design considerations, the use of the system for protecting actual PWR's is addressed

Reliability assessment on decay heat removal system of a fast reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hioki, Kazumasa

1991-01-01

The reliability of a decay heat removal system (DHRS) is influenced by the success criteria, the components which constitute the system, the support systems configuration, and the mission time. Assessments were performed to investigate quantitatively the effects of these items. Failure probabilities of DHRS under forced or natural circulation modes were calculated and then components and systems of large importance for each mode were identified. (author)

A computer code for calculation of radioactive nuclide generation and depletion, decay heat and γ ray spectrum. FPGS90

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ihara, Hitoshi; Katakura, Jun-ichi; Nakagawa, Tsuneo

1995-11-01

In a nuclear reactor radioactive nuclides are generated and depleted with burning up of nuclear fuel. The radioactive nuclides, emitting γ ray and β ray, play role of radioactive source of decay heat in a reactor and radiation exposure. In safety evaluation of nuclear reactor and nuclear fuel cycle, it is needed to estimate the number of nuclides generated in nuclear fuel under various burn-up condition of many kinds of nuclear fuel used in a nuclear reactor. FPGS90 is a code calculating the number of nuclides, decay heat and spectrum of emitted γ ray from fission products produced in a nuclear fuel under the various kinds of burn-up condition. The nuclear data library used in FPGS90 code is the library 'JNDC Nuclear Data Library of Fission Products - second version -', which is compiled by working group of Japanese Nuclear Data Committee for evaluating decay heat in a reactor. The code has a function of processing a so-called evaluated nuclear data file such as ENDF/B, JENDL, ENSDF and so on. It also has a function of making figures of calculated results. Using FPGS90 code it is possible to do all works from making library, calculating nuclide generation and decay heat through making figures of the calculated results. (author)

A computer code for calculation of radioactive nuclide generation and depletion, decay heat and {gamma} ray spectrum. FPGS90

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ihara, Hitoshi; Katakura, Jun-ichi; Nakagawa, Tsuneo [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan). Tokai Research Establishment

1995-11-01

In a nuclear reactor radioactive nuclides are generated and depleted with burning up of nuclear fuel. The radioactive nuclides, emitting {gamma} ray and {beta} ray, play role of radioactive source of decay heat in a reactor and radiation exposure. In safety evaluation of nuclear reactor and nuclear fuel cycle, it is needed to estimate the number of nuclides generated in nuclear fuel under various burn-up condition of many kinds of nuclear fuel used in a nuclear reactor. FPGS90 is a code calculating the number of nuclides, decay heat and spectrum of emitted {gamma} ray from fission products produced in a nuclear fuel under the various kinds of burn-up condition. The nuclear data library used in FPGS90 code is the library `JNDC Nuclear Data Library of Fission Products - second version -`, which is compiled by working group of Japanese Nuclear Data Committee for evaluating decay heat in a reactor. The code has a function of processing a so-called evaluated nuclear data file such as ENDF/B, JENDL, ENSDF and so on. It also has a function of making figures of calculated results. Using FPGS90 code it is possible to do all works from making library, calculating nuclide generation and decay heat through making figures of the calculated results. (author).

Validation of intermediate heat and decay heat exchanger model in MARS-LMR with STELLA-1 and JOYO tests

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Choi, Chiwoong; Ha, Kwiseok; Hong, Jonggan; Yeom, Sujin; Eoh, Jaehyuk [Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor Design Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), 989-111, Daedeok-Daero, Yuseong-Gu, Daejeon 305-353 (Korea, Republic of); Jeong, Hae-yong, E-mail: hyjeong@sejong.ac.kr [Department of Nuclear Engineering, Sejong University, 209 Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul 143-747 (Korea, Republic of)

2016-11-15

Highlights: • The capability of the MARS-LMR for heat transfer through IHX and DHX is evaluated. • Prediction of heat transfer through IHXs and DHXs is essential in the SFR analysis. • Data obtained from the STELLA-1 and the JOYO test are analyzed with the MARS-LMR. • MARS-LMR adopts the Aoki’s correlation for tube side and Graber-Rieger’s for shell. • The performance of the basic models and other available correlations is evaluated. • The current models in MARS-LMR show best prediction for JOYO and STELLA-1 data. - Abstract: The MARS-LMR code has been developed by the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) to analyze transients in a pool-type sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR). Currently, KAERI is developing a prototype Gen-IV SFR (PGSFR) with metallic fuel. The decay heat exchangers (DHXs) and the intermediate heat exchangers (IHXs) were designed as a sodium-sodium counter-flow tube bundle type for decay heat removal system (DHRS) and intermediate heat transport system (IHTS), respectively. The IHX and DHX are important components for a heat removal function under normal and accident conditions, respectively. Therefore, sodium heat transfer models for the DHX and IHX heat exchangers were added in MARS-LMR. In order to validate the newly added heat transfer model, experimental data were obtained from the JOYO and STELLA-1 facilities were analyzed. JOYO has two different types of IHXs: type-A (co-axial circular arrangement) and type-B (triangular arrangement). For the code validation, 38 and 39 data points for type A and type B were selected, respectively. A DHX performance test was conducted in STELLA-1, which is the test facility for heat exchangers and primary pump in the PGSFR. The DHX test in STELLA-1 provided eight data points for a code validation. Ten nodes are used in the heat transfer region is used, based on the verification test for the heat transfer models. RMS errors for JOYO IHX type A and type B of 19.1% and 4.3% are obtained

Experimental and analytical studies for the validation of HTR-VGD and primary cell passive decay heat removal. Supplement. Calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Geiss, M.; Giannikos, A.; Hejzlar, P.; Kneer, A.

1993-04-01

The alternative concept for a modular HTR-reactor design by Siempelkamp, Krefeld, using a prestressed cast iron vessel (VGD) combined with a cast iron/concrete module for the primary cell with integrated passive decay heat removal system was fully qualified with respect to operational and accidental thermal loads. The main emphasis was to confirm and validate the passive decay heat removal capability. An experimental facility (INWA) was designed, instrumented and operated with an appropriate electrical heating system simulating steady-state operational and transient accidental thermal loads. The experiments were accompanied by extensive computations concerning the combination of conductive, radiative and convective energy transport mechanisms in the different components of the VGD/primary cell structures, as well as elastic-plastic stress analyses of the VGD. In addition, a spectrum of potential alternatives for passive energy removed options have been parametrically examined. The experimental data clearly demonstrate that the proposed Siempelkamp-design is able to passively and safely remove the decay heat for operational and accidental conditions without invalidating technological important thermal limits. This also holds in case of failures of both the natural convection system and ultimate heat sink by outside concrete water film cooling. (orig./HP) [de

Design of Passive Decay Heat Removal System using Mercury Thermosyphon for SFR

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

You, Byung Hyun; Jeong, Yong Hoon [Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2013-10-15

In this study, thermosyphon application is suggested to accomplish the fully passive safety grade system and compactness of components via enhance the heat removal performance. A two-phase evaporating thermosyphon operates when the evaporator is heated, the working fluid start boiling, the vapor that is formed moves to the condenser, where it is condensed on the walls, giving up the heat of phase change to the cooling fluid. Gravity forces cause the condensate to condensed liquid flow to the evaporator again. These processes occur continuously, which causes transfer of heat from evaporator to condenser vice versa. After the thermal design and performance evaluation, the results were compared with the performance of conventional DRACS system. For the same amount of decay heat removal performance of PDRC system of KALIMER-600 mercury thermosyphon system can archive around 30∼50% of compactness. For the detailed design, improved analytical model and experimental data for the validation will be required to specify the new DHR system.

An Operators View of Reliability Testing and Decay Heat Rejection Systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Henderson, J.D.C.

1975-01-01

The object of this paper is to review the in-situ testing of DHR systems, and to convey policy rather than to indicate a definitive test programme. The test policy is aimed primarily at commissioning the plant and secondly at providing such support for reliability predictions as is practical. Provisions for removal of decay heat from the core and from the reactor tank are described in papers by Broadley and Davies

Activity inventories and decay heat calculations for a DEMO with HCPB and HCLL blanket modules

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stankunas, Gediminas; Tidikas, Andrius; Pereslavstev, Pavel; Catalán, Juan; García, Raquel; Ogando, Francisco; Fischer, Ulrich

2016-01-01

Highlights: • The afterheat and activity inventories were calculated for Eurofer steel which is the reference structural material for DEMO. • The decay heat for the HCPB DEMO was found to be larger than for the HCLL both for short and longer cooling times. • The comparison calculations were performed for a single outboard blanket module of the HCLL DEMO assuming High-Temperature Ferritic–Martensitic (HT-FM) steel and SS-316 (LN) as structural material. - Abstract: Activation inventories, decay heat and radiation doses are important nuclear quantities which need to be assessed on a reliable basis for the safe operation of a fusion nuclear power reactor. The afterheat and activity inventories were shown to be dominated by the Eurofer steel which is the reference structural material for DEMO. The decay heat for the HCPB DEMO was found to be larger than for the HCLL both for short (a few days) and longer (more than a year) cooling times. As for the alternative steels, the induced radioactivity was turned out to be lowest for the SS-316 until about 200 years after shut-down. Afterwards, the activity level of SS-316 steel was found to be the highest. For these times, the activity of both Eurofer and the HT-FM steel is about one order of magnitude lower.

Activity inventories and decay heat calculations for a DEMO with HCPB and HCLL blanket modules

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stankunas, Gediminas, E-mail: gediminas.stankunas@lei.lt [Lithuanian Energy Institute, Laboratory of Nuclear Installation Safety, Breslaujos Str. 3, LT-44403 Kaunas (Lithuania); Tidikas, Andrius [Lithuanian Energy Institute, Laboratory of Nuclear Installation Safety, Breslaujos Str. 3, LT-44403 Kaunas (Lithuania); Pereslavstev, Pavel [Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute for Neutron Physics and Reactor Technology, Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen (Germany); Catalán, Juan; García, Raquel; Ogando, Francisco [Departamento de Ingeniería Energética, UNED, 28040 Madrid (Spain); Fischer, Ulrich [Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute for Neutron Physics and Reactor Technology, Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen (Germany)

2016-11-01

Highlights: • The afterheat and activity inventories were calculated for Eurofer steel which is the reference structural material for DEMO. • The decay heat for the HCPB DEMO was found to be larger than for the HCLL both for short and longer cooling times. • The comparison calculations were performed for a single outboard blanket module of the HCLL DEMO assuming High-Temperature Ferritic–Martensitic (HT-FM) steel and SS-316 (LN) as structural material. - Abstract: Activation inventories, decay heat and radiation doses are important nuclear quantities which need to be assessed on a reliable basis for the safe operation of a fusion nuclear power reactor. The afterheat and activity inventories were shown to be dominated by the Eurofer steel which is the reference structural material for DEMO. The decay heat for the HCPB DEMO was found to be larger than for the HCLL both for short (a few days) and longer (more than a year) cooling times. As for the alternative steels, the induced radioactivity was turned out to be lowest for the SS-316 until about 200 years after shut-down. Afterwards, the activity level of SS-316 steel was found to be the highest. For these times, the activity of both Eurofer and the HT-FM steel is about one order of magnitude lower.

Decay heat and activity of the structural materials of the fuel and blanket assemblies of the second and third core of KNK II

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Winterhagen, D.

1986-06-01

The decay heat and activity caused by structural materials have been calculated for the fuel assemblies of KNK II (second and third core) with a residence time of 720 equivalent full-power days (efpd) and the blanket assemblies with 1880 efpd. The values are given for the different zones of the assemblies (head, active zone, fission gas plenum, foot and stellite area) for decay times from 1 to 20 years. For decay times beyond 2 years more than 80 % of the decay heat are caused by the Co60-decay, more than 60 % of which result from the stellite in the foot area [de

Design of passive decay heat removal system using thermosyphon for low temperature and low pressure pool type LWR

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moon, Jangsik; You, Byung Hyun; Jung, Yong Hun; Jeong, Yong Hoon [Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2013-10-15

In seawater desalination process which doesn't need high temperature steam, the reactor has profitability. KAIST has be developing the new reactor design, AHR400, for only desalination. For maximizing safety, the reactor requires passive decay heat removal system. In many nuclear reactors, DHR system is loop form. The DHR system can be designed simple by applying conventional thermosyphon, which is fully passive device, shows high heat transfer performance and simple structure. DHR system utilizes conventional thermosyphon and its heat transfer characteristics are analyzed for AHR400. For maximizing safety of the reactor, passive decay heat removal system are prepared. Thermosyphon is useful device for DHR system of low pressure and low temperature pool type reactor. Thermosyphon is operated fully passive and has simple structure. Bundle of thermosyphon get the goal to prohibit boiling in reactor and high pressure in reactor vessel.

Total absorption gamma-ray spectroscopy (TAGS): Current status of measurement programmes for decay heat calculations and other applications. Summary report of consultants' meeting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nichols, A.L.; Nordborg, C.

2009-02-01

A Consultants' Meeting on 'Total Absorption Gamma-ray Spectroscopy (TAGS)' was held on 27-28 January 2009 at the IAEA Headquarters, Vienna, Austria. All presentations, discussions and recommendations of this meeting are contained within this report. The purpose of the meeting was to report and discuss progress and plans to measure total gamma-ray spectra in order to derive mean beta and gamma decay data for decay heat calculations and other applications. This form of review had been recommended by contributors to Subgroup 25 of the OECD-NEA Working Party on International Evaluation Cooperation of the Nuclear Science Committee, for implementation in 2008/09. Hence, relevant specialists were invited to discuss their recently performed and planned TAGS studies, along with experimentalists proposing to assemble and operate such dedicated facilities. Knowledge and quantification of antineutrino spectra is believed to be a significant asset in the non-invasive monitoring of reactor operations and possible application in safeguards, as well as fundamental in the study of neutrino oscillations - these data needs were also debated in terms of appropriate TAGS measurements. A re-assessment of the current request list for TAGS studies is merited and was undertaken in the context of decay heat calculations, and agreement was reached to extend these requirements to the derivation of antineutrino spectra. (author)

Possible design of PBR for passive decay heat removal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sambuu, Odmaa; Obara, Toru

2016-01-01

Conditions for design parameters of above-ground and underground, prismatic high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR)s for passive decay heat removal based on fundamental heat transfer mechanisms were obtained in the previous works. In the present study, analogous conditions were obtained for pebble bed reactors by performing the same procedure using the model for heat transfer in porous media of COMSOL 4.3a software, and the results were compared. For the power density profile, several approximated distributions together with original one throughout the 10-MWt high-temperature gas-cooled reactor-test module (HTR-10) were used, and it was found that an HTR-10 with a uniform power density profile has the higher safety margin than those with other profiles. In other words, the safety features of a PBR can be enhanced by flattening the power density profile. We also found that a prismatic HTGR with a uniform power density profile throughout the core has a greater safety margin than a PBR with the same design characteristics. However, when the power density profile is not flattened during the operation, the PBR with the linear power density profile has more safety margin than the prismatic HTGR with the same design parameters and with the power density profile by cosine and Bessel functions. (author)

Thermal hydraulic parametric investigation of decay heat removal from degraded core of a sodium cooled fast Breeder reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Verma, Lokesh [Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Delhi, Delhi 110007 (India); Kumar Sharma, Anil, E-mail: aksharma@igcar.gov.in [Reactor Design Group, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, HBNI, Kalpakkam (India); Velusamy, K. [Reactor Design Group, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, HBNI, Kalpakkam (India)

2017-03-15

Highlights: • Decay heat removal from degraded core of a typical SFR is highlighted. • Influence of number of DHXs in operation on PAHR is analyzed. • Investigations on structural integrity of the inner vessel and core catcher. • Feasibility study for retention of a part of debris in upper pool of SFR. - Abstract: Ensuring post accident decay heat removal with high degree of reliability following a Core Disruptive Accident (CDA) is very important in the design of sodium cooled fast reactors (SFR). In the recent past, a lot of research has been done towards the design of an in-vessel core catcher below the grid plate to prevent the core debris reaching the main vessel in a pool type SFR. However, during an energetic CDA, the entire core debris is unlikely to reach the core catcher. A significant part of the debris is likely to settle in core periphery between radial shielding subassemblies and the inner vessel. Failure of inner vessel due to the decay heat can lead to core debris reaching the main vessel and threatening its integrity. On the other hand, retention of a part of debris in core periphery can reduce the load on main core catcher. Towards achieving an optimum design of SFR and safety evaluation, it is essential to quantify the amount of heat generating core debris that can be retained safely within the primary vessel. This has been performed by a mathematical simulation comprising solution of 2-D transient form of the governing equations of turbulent sodium flow and heat transfer with Boussinesq approximations. The conjugate conduction-convection model adopted for this purpose is validated against in-house experimental data. Transient evolutions of natural convection in the pools and structural temperatures in critical components have been predicted. It is found that 50% of the core debris can be safely accommodated in the gap between radial shielding subassemblies and inner vessel without exceeding structural temperature limit. It is also

Optimized design of an ex-vessel cooling thermosyphon for decay heat removal in SFR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choi, Jae Young; Jeong, Yong Hoon; Song, Sub Lee; Chang, Soon Heung

2017-01-01

Passive decay heat removal and sodium fire are two major key issues of nuclear safety in sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR). Several decay heat removal systems (DHR) were suggested for SFR around the world so far. Those DHRS mainly classified into two concepts: Direct reactor cooling system and ex-vessel cooling system. Direct reactor cooling method represented by PDHRS from PGSFR has disadvantages on its additional in-vessel structure and potential sodium fire risk due to the sodium-filled heat exchanger exposed to air. Contrastively, ex-vessel cooling method represented by RVACS from PRISM has low decay heat removal performance, which cannot be applicable to large scale reactors, generally over 1000 MWth. No passive DHRSs which can solve both side of disadvantages has been suggested yet. The goal of this study was to propose ex-vessel cooling system using two-phase closed thermosyphon to compensate the disadvantages of the past DHRSs. Reference reactor was Innovative SFR (iSFR), a pool-type SFR designed by KAIST and featured by extended core lifetime and increased thermal efficiency. Proposed ex-vessel cooling system consisted of 4 trains of thermosyphons and designed to remove 1% of thermal power with 10% of margin. The scopes of this study were design of proposed passive DHRS, validation of system analysis and optimization of system design. Mercury was selected as working fluid to design ex-vessel thermosyphon in consideration of system geometry, operating temperature and required heat flux. SUS 316 with chrome coated liner was selected as case material to resist against high corrosivity of mercury. Thermosyphon evaporator was covered on the surface of reactor vessel as the geometry of hollow shell filled with mercury. Condenser was consisted of finned tube bundles and was located in isolated water pool, the ultimate heat sink. Operation limits and thermal resistance was estimated to guarantee whether the design was adequate. System analysis was conducted by in

Improved Design Concept for ensuring the Passive Decay Heat Removal Performance of an SFR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eoh, Jae Hyuk; Lee, Tae Ho; Han, Ji Woong; Kim, Seong O

2011-01-01

In order to enhance the operational reliability of a purely passive decay heat removal system in KALIMER, which is named as PDRC, three design options to prevent a sodium freezing in an intermediate decay heat removal circuit were proposed, and their feasibilities was quantitatively evaluated. For all the options, more specific design considerations were made to confirm their feasibility to properly materialize their concepts in a practical system design procedure, and the general definitions for a purely passive concept and its design features have been discussed. A numerical study to evaluate the coastdown flow effect of the primary pump was performed to figure out the early stage DHR capability inside reactor pool during a loss of normal heat sink accident. The thermal-hydraulic calculations have been made by using the COMMIX-1AR/P code, and it was found that the initiation of heat removal by DHX could be accelerated by the increase of the coastdown time but it needs a large-sized flywheel. For the demonstration of the innovative concept, a large scale sodium thermal-hydraulic test facility is currently being designed. It is very difficult to reproduce both a hydrodynamic and a thermodynamic similarity to the prototype plant if the thermal driving head is determined by structure-to-fluid heat transfer under natural circulation flow. Hence the similitude requirements for the sodium thermal-hydraulic test facility employing natural convection heat transfer were developed, and the preliminary design data of the test facility by implementing proper scaling methodologies was produced. The design restrictions imposed on the test facility and the scaling distortions of the design data to the full-scale system were also discussed

Beta and gamma decay heat evaluation for the thermal fission of 235U

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schenter, G.K.; Schmittroth, F.

1979-01-01

Beta and gamma fission product decay heat curves are evaluated for the thermal fission of 235 U. Experimental data that include beta, gamma, and total measurements are combined with summation calculations based on ENDF/B in a consistent evaluation. Least-squares methods are used that take proper account of data uncertainties and correlations. 4 figures, 2 tables

Method and device to remove the decay heat produced in the core of a nuclear reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Loimann, E.; Reutler, H.

1977-01-01

For decay haet removal of the HTGR the heat absorbed by the top reflector is discharged by means of heat exchangers. For this purpose the heat exchangers are arranged between the top bricks consisting of graphite blocks. By convection or forced circulation with the aid of pumps the liquid coolant is flowing in a cycle between the individual heat exchangers connected in parallel and a heat sink arranged outside the containment. The distributing and collection pipes are mounted between the upper and lower thermal shield. The heat exchanger compartments themselves consist of double-walled hollow bodies with a disc-shaped section and a columnar part extending from there to one side respectively. (RW) [de

A value/impact assessment for alternative decay heat removal systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cave, L.; Kastenberg, W.E.; Lin, K.Y.

1984-01-01

A Value/Impact assessment for several alternative decay heat removal systems has been carried out using several measures. The assessment is based on an extension of the methodology presented in the Value/Impact Handbook and includes the effects of uncertainty. The assessment was carried out as a function of site population density, existing plant features, and new plant features. Value/Impact measures based on population dose are shown to be sensitive to site, while measures which monetize and aggregate risk are less so. The latter are dominated by on-site costs such as replacement power costs. (orig.)

Short term memory bowing effect is consistent with presentation rate dependent decay.

Science.gov (United States)

Tarnow, Eugen

2010-12-01

I reanalyze the free recall data of Murdock, J Exp Psychol 64(5):482-488 (1962) and Murdock and Okada, J Verbal Learn and Verbal Behav 86:263-267 (1970) which show the famous bowing effect in which initial and recent items are recalled better than intermediate items (primacy and recency effects). Recent item recall probabilities follow a logarithmic decay with time of recall consistent with the tagging/retagging theory. The slope of the decay increases with increasing presentation rate. The initial items, with an effectively low presentation rate, decay with the slowest logarithmic slope, explaining the primacy effect. The finding that presentation rate limits the duration of short term memory suggests a basis for memory loss in busy adults, for the importance of slow music practice, for long term memory deficiencies for people with attention deficits who may be artificially increasing the presentation rates of their surroundings. A well-defined, quantitative measure of the primacy effect is introduced.

Understanding decay resistance, dimensional stability and strength changes in heat treated and acetylated wood

Science.gov (United States)

Roger M. Rowell; Rebecca E. Ibach; James McSweeny; Thomas Nilsson

2009-01-01

Reductions in hygroscopicity, increased dimensional stability and decay resistance of heat-treated wood depend on decomposition of a large portion of the hemicelluloses in the wood cell wall. In theory, these hemicelluloses are converted to small organic molecules, water and volatile furan-type intermediates that can polymerize in the cell wall. Reductions in...

Localized dryout: An approach for managing the thermal hydrologi-cal effects of decay heat at Yucca Mountain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buscheck, T. A.; Nitao, J.J.; Ramspott, L.D.

1995-11-01

For a nuclear waste repository in the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain, there are two thermal loading approaches to using decay heat constructively -- that is, to substantially reduce relative humidity and liquid flow near waste packages for a considerable time, and thereby limit waste package degradation and radionuclide dissolution and release. ''Extended dryout'' achieves these effects with a thermal load high enough to generate large-scale (coalesced) rock dryout. ''Localized dryout''(which uses wide drift spacing and a thermal load too low for coalesced dryout) achieves them by maintaining a large temperature difference between the waste package and drift wall; this is done with close waste package spacing (generating a high line-heat load) and/or low-thermal-conductivity backfill in the drift. Backfill can greatly reduce relative humidity on the waste package in both the localized and extended dryout approaches. Besides using decay heat constructively, localized dryout reduces the possibility that far-field temperature rise and condensate buildup above the drifts might adversely affect waste isolation

Beta decay heat following U-235, U-238 and Pu-239 neutron fission

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Shengjie

1997-09-01

This is an experimental study of beta-particle decay heat from 235U, 239Pu and 238U aggregate fission products over delay times 0.4-40,000 seconds. The experimental results below 2s for 235U and 239Pu, and below 20s for 238U, are the first such results reported. The experiments were conducted at the UMASS Lowell 5.5-MV Van de Graaff accelerator and 1-MW swimming-pool research reactor. Thermalized neutrons from the 7Li(p,n)7Be reaction induced fission in 238U and 239Pu, and fast neutrons produced in the reactor initiated fission in 238U. A helium-jet/tape-transport system rapidly transferred fission fragments from a fission chamber to a low background counting area. Delay times after fission were selected by varying the tape speed or the position of the spray point relative to the beta spectrometer that employed a thin-scintillator-disk gating technique to separate beta-particles from accompanying gamma-rays. Beta and gamma sources were both used in energy calibration. Based on low-energy(energies 0-10 MeV. Measured beta spectra were unfolded for their energy distributions by the program FERD, and then compared to other measurements and summation calculations based on ENDF/B-VI fission-product data performed on the LANL Cray computer. Measurements of the beta activity as a function of decay time furnished a relative normalization. Results for the beta decay heat are presented and compared with other experimental data and the summation calculations.

Order effects and vowel decay in short-term memory: the neutralization hypothesis

OpenAIRE

Karypidis, Charalampos

2007-01-01

International audience; Information stored in short-term memory decays extremely fast compared to the content of long-termmemory. The nature of this memory loss being littleknown (random or systematic), this paper examinesthe presentation order effect in the light of the neutralization hypothesis, according to which the firstvowel in a pair decays, while retained in short-termmemory, toward [er]. Twelve French listeners participated in three AX roving discrimination sessions.For each of the 1...

Study on thermalhydraulics of natural circulation decay heat removal in FBR. Experiment with water of typical reactor trip in the demonstration FBR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koga, Tomonari; Murakami, Takahiro; Eguchi, Yuzuru

2010-01-01

Intending to enhance safety and to reduce costs, an FBR plant is being developed in Japan. In relies solely on natural circulation of the primary cooling loop to remove a decay heat of the core after reactor trips. A water test was carried out to advance the development. The test used a 1/10 reduced scale model simulating the core and cooling systems. The experiments simulated representative accidents from steady state to decay heat removal through reactor trip and clarified thermal-hydraulic issues on the thermal circulation performance. Some modifications of the system design were proposed for solving serious problems of natural circulation. An improved design complying with the suggestions will make it possible for natural circulation of the cooling systems to remove the decay heat of the core without causing and unstable or unpredictable change. (author)

Investigation on natural convection decay heat removal for the EFR status of the program

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hofmann, F [Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe (Germany); Essig, C [Siemens AG, Bergisch Gladbach (Germany); Georgeoura, S [AEA Reactor Service, Dounreay (United Kingdom); Tenchine, D [CEA Grenoble (France)

1993-02-01

The European Research and Development (R+D) Program on decay heat removal by natural convection for the European Fast Reactor (EFR) covers the calculational methods and the model experiments performed for code validation. The studies concentrate on important physical effects of the cooling modes within the primary system and the direct reactor cooling circuits and include reactor experiments. (author)

Investigation on natural convection decay heat removal for the EFR status of the program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hofmann, F.; Essig, C; Georgeoura, S.; Tenchine, D.

1993-01-01

The European Research and Development (R+D) Program on decay heat removal by natural convection for the European Fast Reactor (EFR) covers the calculational methods and the model experiments performed for code validation. The studies concentrate on important physical effects of the cooling modes within the primary system and the direct reactor cooling circuits and include reactor experiments. (author)

The loss of short-term visual representations over time: decay or temporal distinctiveness?

Science.gov (United States)

Mercer, Tom

2014-12-01

There has been much recent interest in the loss of visual short-term memories over the passage of time. According to decay theory, visual representations are gradually forgotten as time passes, reflecting a slow and steady distortion of the memory trace. However, this is controversial and decay effects can be explained in other ways. The present experiment aimed to reexamine the maintenance and loss of visual information over the short term. Decay and temporal distinctiveness models were tested using a delayed discrimination task, in which participants compared complex and novel objects over unfilled retention intervals of variable length. Experiment 1 found no significant change in the accuracy of visual memory from 2 to 6 s, but the gap separating trials reliably influenced task performance. Experiment 2 found evidence for information loss at a 10-s retention interval, but temporally separating trials restored the fidelity of visual memory, possibly because temporally isolated representations are distinct from older memory traces. In conclusion, visual representations lose accuracy at some point after 6 s, but only within temporally crowded contexts. These findings highlight the importance of temporal distinctiveness within visual short-term memory. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Meeting of Specialists on the Reliability of Decay Heat Removal Systems for Fast Reactors. Summary Report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1975-10-01

The Specialists Meeting on Reliability of Decay Heat Removal Systems proposed for Fast Reactors was sponsored by the UKAEA Safety & Reliability Directorate and held at Harwell between 28th April and 1st May, 1975. The meeting was attended by delegates from six countries - (USA, Federal Republic of Germany, France, Japan, USSR and the UK). A list of participants is included in an Appendix to this report. The subject matter of the meeting was concerned with the degree to which the ability to maintain decay heat removal from a fast reactor after shutdown in normal and abnormal circumstances could be guaranteed by design provisions and substantiated by reliability analysis techniques, operational testing etc. Consideration of conditions prevailing after a hypothetical core melt down incident were not included in the subject matter. The deliberations of the meeting were focussed at each working session on a defined theme and its dependant topics as shown in the detailed Agenda included in this report. Although provision had been made in the Agenda for a limited amount of discussion of the decay heat rejection problems of Gas Cooled Fast Reactors, delegates had no contributions to offer on this subject. During each session a Recording Secretary prepared a summary of the main points made by national delegates and of the resulting recommendations and conclusions. These draft summaries were made available to delegates during subsequent sessions of the meeting and approved by them for inclusion in the Summary, General Conclusions and Recommendations provided under Table of Contents (item 3 and 4)

Improvement of the decay heat removal characteristics of the generation IV gas-cooled fast reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Epiney, A.S.

2010-01-01

Gas cooling in nuclear power plants (NPPs) has a long history, the corresponding reactor types developed in France, the UK and the US having been thermal neutron spectrum systems using graphite as the moderator. The majority of NPPs worldwide, however, are currently light water reactors, using ordinary water as both coolant and moderator. These NPPs - of the so-called second generation - will soon need replacement, and a third generation is now being made available, offering increased safety while still based on light water technology. For the longer-term future, viz. beyond the year 2030, R and D is currently ongoing on Generation IV NPPs, aimed at achieving closure of the nuclear fuel cycle, and hence both drastically improved utilization of fuel resources and minimization of long-lived radioactive wastes. Like the SFR, the GFR is an efficient breeder, also able to work as iso-breeder using simply natural uranium as feed and producing waste which is predominantly in the form of fission products. The main drawback of the GFR is the difficulty to evacuate decay heat following a loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) due to the low thermal inertia of the core, as well as to the low coolant density. The present doctoral research focuses on the improvement of decay heat removal (DHR) for the Generation-IV GFR. The reference GFR system design considered in the thesis is the 2006 CEA concept, with a power of 2400 MWth. The CEA 2006 DHR strategy foresees, in all accidental cases (independent of the system pressure), that the reactor is shut down. For high pressure events, dedicated DHR loops with blowers and heat exchangers are designed to operate when the power conversion system cannot be used to provide acceptable core temperatures under natural convection conditions. For de-pressurized events, the strategy relies on a dedicated small containment (called the guard containment) providing an intermediate back-up pressure. The DHR blowers, designed to work under these pressure

Improvement of the decay heat removal characteristics of the generation IV gas-cooled fast reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Epiney, A. S.

2010-09-01

The majority of NPPs worldwide are currently light water reactors, using ordinary water as both coolant and moderator. (...) For the longer-term future, viz. beyond the year 2030, Research and Development is currently ongoing on Generation IV NPPs, aimed at achieving closure of the nuclear fuel cycle, and hence both drastically improved utilization of fuel resources and minimization of long-lived radioactive wastes. Since the very beginning of the international cooperation on Generation IV, viz. the year 2000, the main research interest in Europe as regards the advanced fast-spectrum systems needed for achieving complete fuel cycle closure, has been for the Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (SFR). However, the Gas-cooled Fast Reactor (GFR) is currently considered as the main back-up solution. Like the SFR, the GFR is an efficient breeder, also able to work as iso-breeder using simply natural uranium as feed and producing waste which is predominantly in the form of fission products. The main drawback of the GFR is the difficulty to evacuate decay heat following a loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) due to the low thermal inertia of the core, as well as to the low coolant density. The present doctoral research focuses on the improvement of decay heat removal (DHR) for the Generation-IV GFR. The reference GFR system design considered in the thesis is the 2006 CEA concept, with a power of 2400 MWth. The CEA 2006 DHR strategy foresees, in all accidental cases (independent of the system pressure), that the reactor is shut down. For high pressure events, dedicated DHR loops with blowers and heat exchangers are designed to operate when the power conversion system cannot be used to provide acceptable core temperatures under natural convection conditions. For depressurized events, the strategy relies on a dedicated small containment (called the guard containment) providing an intermediate back-up pressure. The DHR blowers, designed to work under these pressure conditions, need to be

Investigation on natural convection decay heat removal for the EFR: Status of the program

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hoffmann, H; Weinberg, D [Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe GmbH, IATF, Karlsruhe (Germany); Webster, R [AEA Reactor Services, Dounreay (United Kingdom)

1991-07-01

The European Research and Development Program on decay heat removal by natural convection for the European Fast Reactor (EFR) covers the calculational methods and the model experiments performed for code validation. The studies concentrate on important physical effects of the cooling modes withinthe primary system and the direct reactor cooling circuits and include fundamental tests as well as reactor experiments. (author)

Analysis of Decay Heat Removal by Natural Convection in LMR with a Combined Steam Generator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Eui Kwang; Eoh, Jae Hyuk; Han, Ji Woong; Lee, Tae Ho

2011-01-01

Liquid metal reactors (LMRs) conventionally employ an intermediate heat transport system (IHTS) to protect the nuclear core during a sodium-water reaction (SWR) event. However these SWR-related components increase plant construction costs. In order to eliminate the need for an IHTS, a combined steam generator, which is an integrated heat exchanger of a steam generator and intermediate heat exchanger (IHX), was proposed by the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI). The objective of this work is to analyze the natural circulation heat removal capability of the rector system using a combined steam generator. As a means of decay heat removal, a normal heat transport path is composed of a primary sodium system, intermediate lead-bismuth circuit combined with SG and steam/water system. This paper presents the results of the possible temperature and natural circulation flows in all circuits during a steady state for a given reactor power level varied as a function of time

Shutdown decay heat removal analysis: Plant case studies and special issues: Summary report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ericson, D.M. Jr.; Cramond, W.R.; Sanders, G.A.; Hatch, S.W.

1989-04-01

Shutdown Decay Heat Removal Requirements has been designated as Unresolved Safety Issue (USI) A-45. The overall objectives of the USI A-45 program were to evaluate the safety adequacy of decay heat removal (DHR) systems in existing light water reactor nuclear power plants and to assess the value and impact (benefit-cost) of alternative measures for improving the overall reliability of the DHR function. To provide the technical data required to meet these objectives a program was developed that examined the state of DHR system reliability in a sample of existing plants. This program identified potential vulnerabilities and identified and established the feasibility of potential measures to improve the reliability of the DHR function. A value/impact (V/I) analysis of the more promising of such measures was conducted and documented. This report summarizes those studies. In addition, because of the evolving nature of V/I analyses in support of regulation, a number of supporting studies related to appropriate procedures and measures for the V/I analyses were also conducted. These studies are also summarized herein. This report only summarizes findings of technical studies performed by Sandia National Laboratories as part of the program to resolve this issue. 46 refs., 7 figs., 124 tabs

Material composition and nuclear data libraries' influence on nickel-chromium alloys activation evaluation: a comparison with decay heat experiments

CERN Document Server

Cepraga, D G

2000-01-01

The paper presents the activation analyses on Inconel-600 nickel-chromium alloy. Three activation data libraries, namely the EAF-4.1, the EAF-97 and the FENDL/A-2, and the FENDL/D-2 decay data library, have been used to perform the calculation with the European activation code ANITA-4/M. The neutron flux distribution into the material samples was provided by JAERI as results of 3D Monte-Carlo MCNP transport code experiment simulation. A comparison with integral decay heat measurement performed at the Fusion Neutronics Source (FNS), JAERI, Tokai, Japan, is used to validate the computational approach. The calculation results are given and discussed. The impact of the material composition, including impurities, on the decay heat of samples irradiated in fusion-like neutron spectra is assessed and discussed. The discrepancies calculations-experiments are within the experimental errors, that is between 6% and 10%, except for the short cooling times (less than 40 min after the end of irradiation). To improve calcul...

Decay heat of 235U fission products by beta- and gamma-ray spectrometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dickens, J.K.; Love, T.A.; McConnell, J.W.; Peelle, R.W.

1976-09-01

The fast-rabbit facilities of the ORRR were used to irradiate 1- to 10-μg samples of 235 U for 1, 10, and 100 s. Released power is observed using nuclear spectroscopy to permit separate observations of emitted β and γ spectra in successive time intervals. The spectra were integrated over energy to obtain total decay heat and the β- and γ-ray results are summed together. 10 fig, 2 tables

JENDL FP decay data file 2000 and the beta-decay theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoshida, Tadashi; Katakura, Jun Ichi; Tachibana, Takahiro

2002-01-01

JENDL FP Decay Data File 2000 has been developed as one of the special purpose files of the Japanese Evaluated Nuclear Data Library (JENDL), which constitutes a versatile nuclear data basis for science and technology. In the format of ENDF-6 this file includes the decay data for 1087 unstable fission product (FP) nuclides and 142 stable nuclides as their daughters. The primary purpose of this file is to use in the summation calculation of FP decay heat, which plays a critical role in nuclear safety analysis; the loss-of-coolant accident analysis of reactors, for example. The data for a given nuclide are its decay modes, the Q value, the branching ratios, the average energies released in the form of beta- and gamma-rays per decay, and their spectral data. The primary source of the decay data adopted here is the ENSDF (Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data File). The data in ENSDF, however, cover only the measured values. The data of the short-lived nuclides, which are essential for the decay heat calculations at short cooling times, are often fully lacking or incomplete even if they exist. This is mainly because of their short half-life nature. For such nuclides a theoretical model calculation is applied in order to fill the gaps between the true and the experimentally known decay schemes. In practice we have to predict the average decay energies and the spectral data for a lot of short-lived FPs by use of beta-decay theories. Thus the beta-decay theory plays a very important role in generating the FP decay data file

FAKIR: a user-friendly standard for decay heat and activity calculation of LWR fuel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pretesacque, P.; Nimal, J.C.; Huynh, T.D.; Zachar, M.

1993-01-01

The shipping casks owned by the transporters and the unloading and storage facilities are subjected by their design safety report to decay heat and activity limits. It is the responsibility of the consignor or the consignee to check the compliance of the fuel assemblies to the shipped or stored with regard to these limiting safety parameters. Considering the diversity of the parties involved in the transport and storage cycle, a standardization has become necessary. This has been achieved by the FAKIR code. The FAKIR development started in 1984 in collaboration between COGEMA, CEA-SERMA and NTL. Its main specifications were to be a user-friendly code, to use the contractual data given in the COGEMA transport and reprocessing sheet 1 as input, and to over-estimate decay heat and activity. Originally based on computerizable standards such as ANSI or USNRC, the FAKIR equations and data libraries are now based on the fully qualified PEPIN/APOLLO calculation codes. FAKIR is applicable to all patterns of irradiation histories, with burn up from 1000 MWd/TeU to 70.000 MWd/TeU and cooling times from 1 second to 100 years. (J.P.N.)

Reliability study of a special decay heat removal system of a gas-cooled fast reactor demonstrator

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Burgazzi, Luciano, E-mail: luciano.burgazzi@enea.it

2014-12-15

The European roadmap toward the development of generation IV concepts addresses the safety and reliability assessment of the special system designed for decay heat removal of a gas-cooled fast reactor demonstrator (GFRD). The envisaged system includes the combination of both active and passive means to accomplish the fundamental safety function. Failure probabilities are calculated on various system configurations, according to either pressurized or depressurized accident events under investigation, and integrated with probabilities of occurrence of corresponding hardware components and natural circulation performance assessment. The analysis suggests the improvement of measures against common cause failures (CCF), in terms of an appropriate diversification among the redundant systems, to reduce the system failure risk. Particular emphasis is placed upon passive system reliability assessment, being recognized to be still an open issue, and the approach based on the functional reliability is adopted to address the point. Results highlight natural circulation as a challenging factor for the decay heat removal safety function accomplishment by means of passive devices. With the models presented here, the simplifying assumptions and the limited scenarios considered according to the level of definition of the design, where many systems are not yet established, one can conclude that attention has to be paid to the functional aspects of the passive system, i.e. the ones not pertaining to the “hardware” of the system. In this article the results of the analysis are discussed, where the effects of the analytical assumptions, design options, accident managements on the reliability are examined. The design diversity of the components undergoing CCFs can be effective for the improvement and some accident management measures are also possible by making use of the long grace period in GFRD.

Passive Decay Heat Removal System Options for S-CO2 Cooled Micro Modular Reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moon, Jangsik; Jeong, Yong Hoon; Lee, Jeong Ik

2014-01-01

To achieve modularization of whole reactor system, Micro Modular Reactor (MMR) which has been being developed in KAIST took S-CO 2 Brayton power cycle. The S-CO 2 power cycle is suitable for SMR due to high cycle efficiency, simple layout, small turbine and small heat exchanger. These characteristics of S-CO 2 power cycle enable modular reactor system and make reduced system size. The reduced size and modular system motived MMR to have mobility by large trailer. Due to minimized on-site construction by modular system, MMR can be deployed in any electricity demand, even in isolated area. To achieve the objective, fully passive safety systems of MMR were designed to have high reliability when any offsite power is unavailable. In this research, the basic concept about MMR and Passive Decay Heat Removal (PDHR) system options for MMR are presented. LOCA, LOFA, LOHS and SBO are considered as DBAs of MMR. To cope with the DBAs, passive decay heat removal system is designed. Water cooled PDHR system shows simple layout, but has CCF with reactor systems and cannot cover all DBAs. On the other hand, air cooled PDHR system with two-phase closed thermosyphon shows high reliability due to minimized CCF and is able to cope with all DBAs. Therefore, the PDHR system of MMR will follows the air-cooled PDHR system and the air cooled system will be explored

Influence of fission product transport on delayed neutron precursors and decay heat sources in LMFBR accidents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Apperson, C.E. Jr.

1981-01-01

A method is presented for studying the influence of fission product transpot on delayed neutron precursors and decay heat sources during Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor (LMFBR) unprotected accidents. The model represents the LMFBR core as a closed homogeneous cell. Thermodynamic phase equilibrium theory is used to predict fission product mobility. Reactor kinetics behavior is analyzed by an extension of point kinetics theory. Group dependent delayed neutron precursor and decay heat source retention factors, which represent the fraction of each group retained in the fuel, are developed to link the kinetics and thermodynamics analysis. Application of the method to a highly simplified model of an unprotected loss-of-flow accident shows a time delay on the order of 10 ms is introduced in the predisassembly power history if fission product motion is considered when compared to the traditional transient solution. The post-transient influence of fission product transport calculated by the present model is a 24 percent reduction in the decay heat level in the fuel material which is similar to traditional approximations. Isotopes of the noble gases, Kr and Xe, and the elements I and Br are shown to be very mobile and are responsible for a major part of the observed effects. Isotopes of the elements Cs, Se, Rb, and Te were found to be moderately mobile and contribute to a lesser extent to the observed phenomena. These results obtained from the application of the described model confirm the initial hypothesis that sufficient fission product transport can occur to influence a transient. For these reasons, it is concluded that extension of this model into a multi-cell transient analysis code is warranted

Parametric Decay during HHFW on NSTX

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilson, J.R.; Bernabei, S.; Biewer, T.; Diem, S.; Hosea, J.; LeBlanc, B.; Phillips, C.K.; Ryan, P.; Swain, D.W.

2005-01-01

High Harmonic Fast Wave (HHFW) heating experiments on NSTX have been observed to be accompanied by significant edge ion heating (T i >> T e ). This heating is found to be anisotropic with T perp > T par . Simultaneously, coherent oscillations have been detected with an edge Langmuir probe. The oscillations are consistent with parametric decay of the incident fast wave (ω > 13ω ci ) into ion Bernstein waves and an unobserved ion-cyclotron quasi-mode. The observation of anisotropic heating is consistent with Bernstein wave damping, and the Bernstein waves should completely damp in the plasma periphery as they propagate toward a cyclotron harmonic resonance. The number of daughter waves is found to increase with rf power, and to increase as the incident wave's toroidal wavelength increases. The frequencies of the daughter wave are separated by the edge ion cyclotron frequency. Theoretical calculations of the threshold for this decay in uniform plasma indicate an extremely small value of incident power should be required to drive the instability. While such decays are commonly observed at lower harmonics in conventional ICRF heating scenarios, they usually do not involve the loss of significant wave power from the pump wave. On NSTX an estimate of the power loss can be found by calculating the minimum power required to support the edge ion heating (presumed to come from the decay Bernstein wave). This calculation indicates at least 20-30% of the incident rf power ends up as decay waves

Effect of tin oxide nano particles and heat treatment on decay resistance and physical properties of beech wood (Fagus orientalis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maryam Ghorbani

2014-11-01

Full Text Available This research was conducted to investigate the effect of Tin oxide nanoparticles and heat treatment on decay resistance and physical properties of beech wood. Biological and physical test samples were prepared according to EN-113 and ASTM-D4446-05 standards respectively. Samples were classified into 4 groups: control, impregnation with Tin oxide nanoparticles, heat treatment and nano-heat treatment. Impregnation with Tin oxide nano at 5000ppm concentration was carried out in the cylinder according to Bethell method. Then, samples were heated at 140, 160 and 185˚C for 2 and 4 hours. According to results, decay resistance improved with increasing time and temperature of heat treatment. Least weight loss showed 46.39% reduction in nano-heat samples treated at 180˚C for 4 hours in comparison with control at highest weight loss. Nano-heat treated samples demonstrated the maximum amount of water absorption without significant difference with control and nanoparticles treated samples. Increase in heat treatment temperature reduced water absorption so that it is revealed 47.8% reduction in heat treated samples at 180°C for 4h after 24h immersion in water. In nano-heat treated samples at 180˚C for 2h was measured least volume swelling. Volume swelling in nano-treated samples decreased 8.7 and 22.76% after 2 and 24 h immersion in comparison with the control samples respectively.

Trophic position and metabolic rate predict the long-term decay process of radioactive cesium in fish: a meta-analysis.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hideyuki Doi

Full Text Available Understanding the long-term behavior of radionuclides in organisms is important for estimating possible associated risks to human beings and ecosystems. As radioactive cesium (¹³⁷Cs can be accumulated in organisms and has a long physical half-life, it is very important to understand its long-term decay in organisms; however, the underlying mechanisms determining the decay process are little known. We performed a meta-analysis to collect published data on the long-term ¹³⁷Cs decay process in fish species to estimate biological (metabolic rate and ecological (trophic position, habitat, and diet type influences on this process. From the linear mixed models, we found that 1 trophic position could predict the day of maximum ¹³⁷Cs activity concentration in fish; and 2 the metabolic rate of the fish species and environmental water temperature could predict ecological half-lives and decay rates for fish species. These findings revealed that ecological and biological traits are important to predict the long-term decay process of ¹³⁷Cs activity concentration in fish.

Passive decay heat removal by natural air convection after severe accidents

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Erbacher, F.J.; Neitzel, H.J. [Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe Institut fur Angewandte Thermo- und Fluiddynamik, Karlsruhe (Germany); Cheng, X. [Technische Universitaet Karlsruhe Institut fur Stroemungslehre und Stroemungsmaschinen, Karlsruhe (Germany)

1995-09-01

The composite containment proposed by the Research Center Karlsruhe and the Technical University Karlsruhe is to cope with severe accidents. It pursues the goal to restrict the consequences of core meltdown accidents to the reactor plant. One essential of this new containment concept is its potential to remove the decay heat by natural air convection and thermal radiation in a passive way. To investigate the coolability of such a passive cooling system and the physical phenomena involved, experimental investigations are carried out at the PASCO test facility. Additionally, numerical calculations are performed by using different codes. A satisfying agreement between experimental data and numerical results is obtained.

The status of thermal-hydraulic studies on the decay heat removal by natural convection using RAMONA and NEPTUN models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoffmann, H.; Hain, K.; Marten, K.; Rust, K.; Weinberg, D.; Ohira, H.

2004-01-01

Thermal-hydraulic experiments were performed with water in order to simulate the decay heat removal by natural convection in a pool-type sodium-cooled reactor. Two test rigs of different scales were used, namely RAMONA (1:20) and NEPTUN (1:5). RAMONA served to study the transition from nominal operation by forced convection to decay heat removal operation by natural convection. Steady-state similarity tests were carried out in both facilities. The investigations cover nominal and non-nominal operation conditions. These data provide a broad basis for the verification of computer programs. Numerical analyses performed with the three-dimensional FLUTAN code indicated that the thermal-hydraulic processes can be quantitatively simulated even for the very complex geometry of the NEPTUN test rig. (author)

Heating tokamaks by parametric decay of intense extraordinary mode radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elder, G.B.; Perkins, F.W.

1979-08-01

Intense electron beam technology has developed coherent, very high power (350 megawatts) microwave sources at frequencies which are a modest fraction of the electron cyclotron frequency in tokamaks. Propagation into a plasma occurs via the extraordinary mode which is subject to parametric decay instabilities in the density range ω/sub o/ 2 2 < ω/sub o/(ω/sub o/ + Ω/sub e/). For an incident wave focused onto a hot spot by a dish antenna of radius rho, the effective threshold power P/sub o/ required to induced effective parametric heating is P/sub o/ approx. = 10 MW x/rho Ω/sub e//ω/sub o/ (T/sub e//1 keV)/sup 3/2/ where x denotes the distance to the hot spot

Phase coherence of parametric-decay modes during high-harmonic fast-wave heating in the National Spherical Torus Experiment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carlsson, J. A., E-mail: carlsson@pppl.gov [Crow Radio and Plasma Science, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 (United States); Wilson, J. R.; Hosea, J. C.; Greenough, N. L.; Perkins, R. J. [Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, P.O. Box 451, Princeton, New Jersey 08543-0451 (United States)

2016-06-15

Third-order spectral analysis, in particular, the auto bicoherence, was applied to probe signals from high-harmonic fast-wave heating experiments in the National Spherical Torus Experiment. Strong evidence was found for parametric decay of the 30 MHz radio-frequency (RF) pump wave, with a low-frequency daughter wave at 2.7 MHz, the local majority-ion cyclotron frequency. The primary decay modes have auto bicoherence values around 0.85, very close to the theoretical value of one, which corresponds to total phase coherence with the pump wave. The threshold RF pump power for onset of parametric decay was found to be between 200 kW and 400 kW.

Easy-to-use application programs for decay heat and delayed neutron calculations on personal computers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oyamatsu, Kazuhiro [Nagoya Univ. (Japan)

1998-03-01

Application programs for personal computers are developed to calculate the decay heat power and delayed neutron activity from fission products. The main programs can be used in any computers from personal computers to main frames because their sources are written in Fortran. These programs have user friendly interfaces to be used easily not only for research activities but also for educational purposes. (author)

Nuclear decay data measurements at the INEL ISOL facility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Greenwood, R.C.; Helmer, R.G.; Putnam, M.H.; Struttmann, D.A.; Watts, K.D.

1991-01-01

In recent years, the use of the mass separation technique coupled on-line to a source of fission product nuclides has provided a wealth of new information on the nuclear decay properties of such nuclides. In addition to their relevance in basic studies of nuclear properties of neutron-rich nuclei, the fission product nuclides as a group, because of their intimate link with energy production in fission reactors, occupy a unique position in the field of applied nuclear decay data. Further, in addition to their critical role in nuclear reactor technology (decay heat source term, environmental concerns, etc.), such data have important applications in astrophysical calculations involving the rapid neutron capture process (r-process) of elemental synthesis in stellar environments. The scope of the nuclear decay data measurements being undertaken using the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory's (INEL) isotope separation on-line (ISOL) facility is focused on a systematic study of the gross nuclear decay properties of short-lived fission product isotopes, i.e., ground-state half-lives, beta-decay energies and beta-decay feeding (or beta-strength) distributions. In this paper, the authors discuss the results of new measurements of beta-decay energies and feeding distributions

Development of core hot spot evaluation method for decay heat removal by natural circulation under transient conditions in sodium-cooled fast reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ohshima, Hiroyuki; Doda, Norihiro; Kamide, Hideki; Watanabe, Osamu; Ohkubo, Yoshiyuki

2010-01-01

Toward the commercialization of fast reactors, a design study of Japan Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (JSFR) is being performed. In this design study, the adoption of decay heat removal system operated by fully natural circulation is being examined from viewpoints of economic competitiveness and passive safety. This paper describes a new evaluation method of core hot spot under transient conditions from forced to natural circulation operations that is necessary for confirming feasibility of the fully natural circulation decay heat removal system. The new method consists of three analysis steps in order to include effects of thermal hydraulic phenomena particular to the natural circulation decay heat removal, e.g., flow redistribution in fuel assemblies caused by buoyancy force, and therefore it enables more rational hot spot evaluation rather than conventional ones. This method was applied to a hot spot evaluation of loss-of-external-power event and the result was compared with those by conventional 1D and detailed 3D simulations. It was confirmed that the proposed method can estimate the hot spot with reasonable degree of conservativeness. (author)

Decay heat removal and heat transfer under normal and accident conditions in gas cooled reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-08-01

The meeting was convened by the International Atomic Energy Agency on the recommendation of the IAEA's International Working Group on Gas Cooled Reactors. It was attended by participants from China, France, Germany, Japan, Poland, the Russian Federation, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The meeting was chaired by Prof. Dr. K. Kugeler and Prof. Dr. E. Hicken, Directors of the Institute for Safety Research Technology of the KFA Research Center, and covered the following: Design and licensing requirements for gas cooled reactors; concepts for decay heat removal in modern gas cooled reactors; analytical methods for predictions of thermal response, accuracy of predictions; experimental data for validation of predictive methods - operational experience from gas cooled reactors and experimental data from test facilities. Refs, figs and tabs

Design of DC Conduction Pump for PGSFR Active Decay Heat Removal System

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Dehee; Hong, Jonggan; Lee, Taeho [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2014-05-15

A DC conduction pump has been designed for the ADHRS of PGSFR. A VBA code developed by ANL was utilized to design and optimize the pump. The pump geometry dependent parameters were optimized to minimize the total current while meeting the design requirements. A double-C type dipole was employed to produce the calculated magnetic strength. Numerical simulations for the magnetic field strength and its distribution around the dipole and for the turbulent flow under magnetic force will be carried out. A Direct Current (DC) conduction Electromagnetic Pump (EMP) has been designed for Active Decay Heat Removal System (ADHRS) of PGSFR. The PGSFR has active as well as passive systems for the DHRS. The passive DHRS (PDHRS) works by natural circulation head and the ADHRS is driven by an EMP for the DHRS sodium loop and a blower for the finned-tube sodium-to-air heat exchanger (FHX). An Annular Linear Induction Pump (ALIP) can be also considered for the ADHRS, but DC conduction pump has been chosen. Selection basis of DHRS EMP is addressed and EMP design for single ADHRS loop with 1MWt heat removal capacity is introduced.

Catalytic heat exchangers - a long-term evaluation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Silversand, Fredrik A. [CATATOR AB, Lund (Sweden)

2003-10-01

A long-term evaluation concerning catalytic heat exchangers (CHEs) has been performed. The idea concerning CHEs was originally described in a number of reports issued by Catator almost a decade ago. The general idea with CHEs is to combust a fuel with a catalyst inside a heat exchanger to enable an effective heat transfer. The first design approaches demonstrated the function and the possibilities with CHEs but were defective concerning the heat exchanger design. Consequently, a heat exchanger company (SWEP International AB), which was specialised on brazed plate-type heat exchangers, joined the continued development project. Indeed, the new design approach containing Catator's wire-mesh catalysts and SWEP's plate-type heat exchangers enabled us to improve the concept considerably. The new design complied with a number of relevant technical demands, e.g.: Simplicity; Compactness and integration (few parts); High thermal efficiency; Low pressure drop; Excellent emissions; High turn-down ratio; Reasonable production cost. Spurred by the technical progresses, the importance of a long-term test under realistic conditions was clear. A long-term evaluation was initialised at Sydkraft Gas premises in Aastorp. The CHE was installed on a specially designed rig to enable accelerated testing with respect to the number of transients. The rig was operated continuously for 5000 hours and emission mapping was carried out at certain time intervals. Following some problems during the initial phase of the long-term evaluation, which unfortunately also delayed the project, the results indicated very stable conditions of operation. The emissions have been rather constant during the course of the test and we cannot see any tendencies to decreased performances. Indeed, the test verifies the function, operability and reliability of the CHE-concept. Apart from domestic boilers we foresee a number of interesting and relevant applications in heating and process technology. Since

Experimental observation of microwave absorption and electron heating due to the two plasmon decay instability and resonance absorption

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rasmussen, D.A.

1981-01-01

The interaction of intense microwaves with an inhomogeneous plasma is studied in two experimental devices. In the first device an investigation was made of microwave absorption and electron heating due to the parametric decay of microwaves into electron plasma waves (Two Plasmon Decay instability, TPDI), modeling a process which can occur near the quarter critical surface in laser driven pellets. P-polarized microwave (f = 1.2 GHz, P 0 less than or equal to 12 kW) are applied to an essentially collisionless, inhomogeneous plasma, in an oversized waveguide, in the U.C. Davis Prometheus III device. The initial density scale length near the quarter critical surface is quite long (L/lambda/sub De/ approx. = 3000 or k 0 L approx. = 15). The observed threshold power for the TPDI is quite low (P/sub T/approx. = 0.1 kW or v/sub os//v/sub e/ approx. = 0.1). Near the threshold the decay waves only occur near the quarter critical surface. As the incident power is increased above threshold, the decay waves spread to lower densities, and for P 0 greater than or equal to lkW, (v/sub os//v/sub e/ greater than or equal to 0.3) suprathermal electron heating is strong for high powers (T/sub H/ less than or equal to 12 T/sub e/ for P 0 less than or equal to 8 kW or v/sub os//v/sub e/ less than or equal to 0.9)

JNDC FP decay data file

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamamoto, Tohru; Akiyama, Masatsugu

1981-02-01

The decay data file for fission product nuclides (FP DECAY DATA FILE) has been prepared for summation calculation of the decay heat of fission products. The average energies released in β- and γ-transitions have been calculated with computer code PROFP. The calculated results and necessary information have been arranged in tabular form together with the estimated results for 470 nuclides of which decay data are not available experimentally. (author)

Design of an experiment to measure the decay heat of an irradiated PWR fuel: MERCI experiment; Conception d'une experience de mesure de la puissance residuelle d'un combustible irradie: l'experience MERCI

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bourganel, St

2002-11-01

After a reactor shutdown, a significant quantity of energy known as 'decay heat' continues to be generated from the irradiated fuel. This heat source is due to the disintegration energy of fission products and actinides. Decay heat determination of an irradiated fuel is of the utmost importance for safety analysis as the design cooling systems, spent fuel transport, or handling. Furthermore, the uncertainty on decay heat has a straight economic impact. The unloading fuel spent time is an example. The purpose of MERCI experiment (irradiated fuel decay heat measurement) consists in qualifying computer codes, particularly the DARWIN code system developed by the CEA in relation to industrial organizations, as EDF, FRAMATOME and COGEMA. To achieve this goal, a UOX fuel is irradiated in the vicinity of the OSIRIS research reactor, and then the decay heat is measured by using a calorimeter. The objective is to reduce the decay heat uncertainties from 8% to 3 or 4% at short cooling times. A full simulation on computer of the MERCI experiment has been achieved: fuel irradiation analysis is performed using transport code TRIPOLI4 and evolution code DARWIN/PEPIN2, and heat transfer with CASTEM2000 code. The results obtained are used for the design of this experiment. Moreover, we propose a calibration procedure decreasing the influence of uncertainty measurements and an interpretation method of the experimental results and evaluation of associated uncertainties. (author)

Uncertainty of decay heat calculations originating from errors in the nuclear data and the yields of individual fission products

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rudstam, G.

1979-01-01

The calculation of the abundance pattern of the fission products with due account taken of feeding from the fission of 235 U, 238 U, and 239 Pu, from the decay of parent nuclei, from neutron capture, and from delayed-neutron emission is described. By means of the abundances and the average beta and gamma energies the decay heat in nuclear fuel is evaluated along with its error derived from the uncertainties of fission yields and nuclear properties of the inddividual fission products. (author)

Activation, decay heat, and waste classification studies of the European DEMO concept

Science.gov (United States)

Gilbert, M. R.; Eade, T.; Bachmann, C.; Fischer, U.; Taylor, N. P.

2017-04-01

Inventory calculations have a key role to play in designing future fusion power plants because, for a given irradiation field and material, they can predict the time evolution in chemical composition, activation, decay heat, gamma-dose, gas production, and even damage (dpa) dose. For conceptual designs of the European DEMO fusion reactor such calculations provide information about the neutron shielding requirements, maintenance schedules, and waste disposal prospects; thereby guiding future development. Extensive neutron-transport and inventory calculations have been performed for a reference DEMO reactor model with four different tritium-breeding blanket concepts. The results have been used to chart the post-operation variation in activity and decay heat from different vessel components, demonstrating that the shielding performance of the different blanket concepts—for a given blanket thickness—varies significantly. Detailed analyses of the simulated nuclide inventories for the vacuum vessel (VV) and divertor highlight the most dominant radionuclides, potentially suggesting how changes in material composition could help to reduce activity. Minor impurities in the raw composition of W used in divertor tiles, for example, are shown to produce undesirable long-lived radionuclides. Finally, waste classifications, based on UK regulations, and a recycling potential limit, have been applied to estimate the time-evolution in waste masses for both the entire vessel (including blanket modules, VV, divertor, and some ex-vessel components) and individual components, and also to suggest when a particular component might be suitable for recycling. The results indicate that the large mass of the VV will not be classifiable as low level waste on the 100 year timescale, but the majority of the divertor will be, and that both components will be potentially recyclable within that time.

Passive decay heat removal by sump cooling after core meltdown

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Knebel, J.U.; Mueller, U.

1996-01-01

This article presents the basic physical phenomena and scaling criteria of decay heat removal from a large coolant pool by single-phase and two-phase natural circulation flow. The physical significance of the dimensionless similarity groups derived is evaluated. The above results are applied to the SUCO program that is performed at the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe. The SUCO program is a three-step series of scaled model experiments investigating the possibility of a sump cooling concept for future light water reactors. The sump cooling concept is based on passive safety features within the containment. The work is supported by the German utilities and the Siemens AG. The article gives first measurement results of the 1:20 linearly scaled plane two-dimensional SUCOS-2D test facility. The experimental results of the model geometry are transformed to prototype conditions

Evaluation of the decay heat removal capability using the concept of a thermosyphon in the liquid metal reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Y. S.; Sim, Y. S.; Kim, W. K.

2000-01-01

A study related to understand the characteristics of the heat pipe and thermosyphon was performed to evaluate their applicabilities to the current PSDRS (Passive Safety Decay heat Removal System) in the KALIMER (Korea Advanced LIquid MEtal Reactor) design. The possible heat transfer rate by the heat pipe and thermosyphon was reviewed to compare the required capability in the PSDRS. A quantitative comparison was done between the current PSDRS and the modified PSDRS with the thermosyphon. The result showed the dominant heat transfer rate in the air channel, e.g. radiation or convection, is different from each other. The total heat transfer rate is not sensitive to the operating temperature of the thermosyphon. The heat removal by the air in the modified case is relatively reduced and the resultant outlet temperature appears less than above 10 .deg. C. A reversal heat transfer between the air and the thermosyphon may exist near the exit of the active heat transfer region. The total heat transfer rate by the modified case showed about 20∼40% increase relative to the reference one

Simulation of decay heat removal by natural convection in a pool type fast reactor model-ramona-with coupled 1D/2D thermal hydraulic code system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kasinathan, N.; Rajakumar, A.; Vaidyanathan, G.; Chetal, S.C. [Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam (India)

1995-09-01

Post shutdown decay heat removal is an important safety requirement in any nuclear system. In order to improve the reliability of this function, Liquid metal (sodium) cooled fast breeder reactors (LMFBR) are equipped with redundant hot pool dipped immersion coolers connected to natural draught air cooled heat exchangers through intermediate sodium circuits. During decay heat removal, flow through the core, immersion cooler primary side and in the intermediate sodium circuits are also through natural convection. In order to establish the viability and validate computer codes used in making predictions, a 1:20 scale experimental model called RAMONA with water as coolant has been built and experimental simulation of decay heat removal situation has been performed at KfK Karlsruhe. Results of two such experiments have been compiled and published as benchmarks. This paper brings out the results of the numerical simulation of one of the benchmark case through a 1D/2D coupled code system, DHDYN-1D/THYC-2D and the salient features of the comparisons. Brief description of the formulations of the codes are also included.

Radioactivity and decay heat generation in precambrian magmatic rocks (with the South Pamirs as an example)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Batyrmurzaev, A.S.; Alibekov, G.I.; Bekieva, A.A.

2003-01-01

The evaluation of the heat generation share in the results of the long-living radioactive elements (RAE) decay in the Earth surface layers is accomplished on the basis of the data on the uranium and thorium concentration in the precambrian magmatic rocks of the South Pamirs. It was supposed by the calculations, that the value of the heat flux, generated by the rocks, is determined mainly by the RAE content in the Earth upper layer crust itself of 10-15 km. It is shown that the radioheat generation share is within the range of 5-10% from the measured values of the geothermal flows [ru

Source term evaluation model for high-level radioactive waste repository with decay chain build-up.

Science.gov (United States)

Chopra, Manish; Sunny, Faby; Oza, R B

2016-09-18

A source term model based on two-component leach flux concept is developed for a high-level radioactive waste repository. The long-lived radionuclides associated with high-level waste may give rise to the build-up of activity because of radioactive decay chains. The ingrowths of progeny are incorporated in the model using Bateman decay chain build-up equations. The model is applied to different radionuclides present in the high-level radioactive waste, which form a part of decay chains (4n to 4n + 3 series), and the activity of the parent and daughter radionuclides leaching out of the waste matrix is estimated. Two cases are considered: one when only parent is present initially in the waste and another where daughters are also initially present in the waste matrix. The incorporation of in situ production of daughter radionuclides in the source is important to carry out realistic estimates. It is shown that the inclusion of decay chain build-up is essential to avoid underestimation of the radiological impact assessment of the repository. The model can be a useful tool for evaluating the source term of the radionuclide transport models used for the radiological impact assessment of high-level radioactive waste repositories.

Short term memory decays and high presentation rates hurry this decay: The Murdock free recall experiments interpreted in the Tagging/Retagging model

OpenAIRE

Tarnow, Dr. Eugen

2009-01-01

I show that the curious free recall data of Murdock (1962) can be explained by the Tagging/Retagging model of short term memory (Tarnow, 2009 and 2008) in which a short term memory item is a tagged long term memory item. The tagging (linear in time) corresponds to the synaptic process of exocytosis and the loss of tagging (logarithmic in time) corresponds to synaptic endocytosis. The Murdock recent item recall probabilities follow a logarithmic decay with time of recall. The slope of the d...

Design of an experiment to measure the decay heat of an irradiated PWR fuel: MERCI experiment; Conception d'une experience de mesure de la puissance residuelle d'un combustible irradie: l'experience MERCI

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bourganel, St

2002-11-01

After a reactor shutdown, a significant quantity of energy known as 'decay heat' continues to be generated from the irradiated fuel. This heat source is due to the disintegration energy of fission products and actinides. Decay heat determination of an irradiated fuel is of the utmost importance for safety analysis as the design cooling systems, spent fuel transport, or handling. Furthermore, the uncertainty on decay heat has a straight economic impact. The unloading fuel spent time is an example. The purpose of MERCI experiment (irradiated fuel decay heat measurement) consists in qualifying computer codes, particularly the DARWIN code system developed by the CEA in relation to industrial organizations, as EDF, FRAMATOME and COGEMA. To achieve this goal, a UOX fuel is irradiated in the vicinity of the OSIRIS research reactor, and then the decay heat is measured by using a calorimeter. The objective is to reduce the decay heat uncertainties from 8% to 3 or 4% at short cooling times. A full simulation on computer of the MERCI experiment has been achieved: fuel irradiation analysis is performed using transport code TRIPOLI4 and evolution code DARWIN/PEPIN2, and heat transfer with CASTEM2000 code. The results obtained are used for the design of this experiment. Moreover, we propose a calibration procedure decreasing the influence of uncertainty measurements and an interpretation method of the experimental results and evaluation of associated uncertainties. (author)

Electron heating caused by the ion-acoustic decay instability in a finite-length system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rambo, P.W.; Woo, W.; DeGroot, J.S.; Mizuno, K.

1984-01-01

The ion-acoustic decay instability is investigated for a finite-length plasma with density somewhat below the cutoff density of the electromagnetic driver (napprox.0.7n/sub c/). For this regime, the heating in a very long system can overpopulate the electron tail and cause linear saturation of the low phase velocity electron plasma waves. For a short system, the instability is nonlinearly saturated at larger amplitude by ion trapping. Absorption can be significantly increased by the large-amplitude ion waves. These results compare favorably with microwave experiments

Modelling of decay heat removal using large water pools

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Munther, R.; Raussi, P.; Kalli, H.

1992-01-01

The main task for investigating of passive safety systems typical for ALWRs (Advanced Light Water Reactors) has been reviewing decay heat removal systems. The reference system for calculations has been represented in Hitachi's SBWR-concept. The calculations for energy transfer to the suppression pool were made using two different fluid mechanics codes, namely FIDAP and PHOENICS. FIDAP is based on finite element methodology and PHOENICS uses finite differences. The reason choosing these codes has been to compare their modelling and calculating abilities. The thermal stratification behaviour and the natural circulation was modelled with several turbulent flow models. Also, energy transport to the suppression pool was calculated for laminar flow conditions. These calculations required a large amount of computer resources and so the CRAY-supercomputer of the state computing centre was used. The results of the calculations indicated that the capabilities of these codes for modelling the turbulent flow regime are limited. Output from these codes should be considered carefully, and whenever possible, experimentally determined parameters should be used as input to enhance the code reliability. (orig.). (31 refs., 21 figs., 3 tabs.)

Variational principles in terms of entransy for heat transfer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu, Mingtian

2012-01-01

A variational principle for heat conduction is formulated which results in the steady state heat conduction equation established from the Fourier law. Furthermore based on the thermodynamics in terms of entransy a more general functional is defined for incompressible fluids. We show that extremizing this functional gives rise to the state described by the Navier-Stokes-Fourier equations with vanishing substantive derivatives of the temperature and velocity field. In this sense one may conclude that this variational principle is consistent with the Navier-Stokes-Fourier equations. Therefore the variational principle developed in the present work demonstrates a great advantage over the minimum entropy production principle. -- Highlights: ► A variational principle for heat transfer of incompressible fluid is established in terms of entransy. ► For pure heat conduction the variational principle leads to the classical steady state heat conduction equation. ► For heat convection the variational principle is consistent with the Navier-Stokes-Fourier equations.

Memory behaviors of entropy production rates in heat conduction

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Shu-Nan; Cao, Bing-Yang

2018-02-01

Based on the relaxation time approximation and first-order expansion, memory behaviors in heat conduction are found between the macroscopic and Boltzmann-Gibbs-Shannon (BGS) entropy production rates with exponentially decaying memory kernels. In the frameworks of classical irreversible thermodynamics (CIT) and BGS statistical mechanics, the memory dependency on the integrated history is unidirectional, while for the extended irreversible thermodynamics (EIT) and BGS entropy production rates, the memory dependences are bidirectional and coexist with the linear terms. When macroscopic and microscopic relaxation times satisfy a specific relationship, the entropic memory dependences will be eliminated. There also exist initial effects in entropic memory behaviors, which decay exponentially. The second-order term are also discussed, which can be understood as the global non-equilibrium degree. The effects of the second-order term are consisted of three parts: memory dependency, initial value and linear term. The corresponding memory kernels are still exponential and the initial effects of the global non-equilibrium degree also decay exponentially.

Dynamic simulation of the air-cooled decay heat removal system of the German KNK-II experimental breeder reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schubert, B.K.

1984-07-01

A Dump Heat Exchanger and associated feedback control system models for decay heat removal in the German KNK-II experimental fast breeder reactor are presented. The purpose of the controller is to minimize temperature variations in the circuits and, hence, to prevent thermal shocks in the structures. The basic models for the DHX include the sodium-air thermodynamics and hydraulics, as well as a control system. Valve control models for the primary and intermediate sodium flow regulation during post shutdown conditions are also presented. These models have been interfaced with the SSC-L code. Typical results of sample transients are discussed

Weak decays of doubly heavy baryons. Multi-body decay channels

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shi, Yu-Ji; Wang, Wei; Xing, Ye; Xu, Ji [Shanghai Jiao Tong University, INPAC, Shanghai Key Laboratory for Particle Physics and Cosmology, MOE Key Laboratory for Particle Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology, School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai (China)

2018-01-15

The newly-discovered Ξ{sub cc}{sup ++} decays into the Λ{sub c}{sup +}K{sup -}π{sup +}π{sup +}, but the experimental data has indicated that this decay is not saturated by any two-body intermediate state. In this work, we analyze the multi-body weak decays of doubly heavy baryons Ξ{sub cc}, Ω{sub cc}, Ξ{sub bc}, Ω{sub bc}, Ξ{sub bb} and Ω{sub bb}, in particular the three-body nonleptonic decays and four-body semileptonic decays. We classify various decay modes according to the quark-level transitions and present an estimate of the typical branching fractions for a few golden decay channels. Decay amplitudes are then parametrized in terms of a few SU(3) irreducible amplitudes. With these amplitudes, we find a number of relations for decay widths, which can be examined in future. (orig.)

Sensitivity Analysis of Depletion Parameters for Heat Load Evaluation of PWR Spent Fuel Storage Pool

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, In Young; Lee, Un Chul

2011-01-01

As necessity of safety re-evaluation for spent fuel storage facility has emphasized after the Fukushima accident, accuracy improvement of heat load evaluation has become more important to acquire reliable thermal-hydraulic evaluation results. As groundwork, parametric and sensitivity analyses of various storage conditions for Kori Unit 4 spent fuel storage pool and spent fuel depletion parameters such as axial burnup effect, operation history, and specific heat are conducted using ORIGEN2 code. According to heat load evaluation and parametric sensitivity analyses, decay heat of last discharged fuel comprises maximum 80.42% of total heat load of storage facility and there is a negative correlation between effect of depletion parameters and cooling period. It is determined that specific heat is most influential parameter and operation history is secondly influential parameter. And decay heat of just discharged fuel is varied from 0.34 to 1.66 times of average value and decay heat of 1 year cooled fuel is varied from 0.55 to 1.37 times of average value in accordance with change of specific power. Namely depletion parameters can cause large variation in decay heat calculation of short-term cooled fuel. Therefore application of real operation data instead of user selection value is needed to improve evaluation accuracy. It is expected that these results could be used to improve accuracy of heat load assessment and evaluate uncertainty of calculated heat load.

β-decay properties in the Cs decay chain

Science.gov (United States)

Benzoni, G.; Lică, R.; Borge, M. J. G.; Fraile, L. M.; IDS Collaboration

2018-02-01

The study of the decay of neutron-rich Cs isotopes has two main objectives: on one side β decay is a perfect tool to access the low-spin structures in the daughter Ba nuclei, where the evolution of octupole deformed shapes can be followed, while, on the other hand, the study of the gross properties of these decays, in terms of decay rates and branching to delayed-neutron emission, are fundamental inputs for the modelling of the r-process in the Rare-Earth Elements peak. Results obtained at CERN-ISOLDE are discussed within this framework and compared to existing data and predictions from state-of-the-art nuclear models.

Experimental investigation on Heat Transfer Performance of Annular Flow Path Heat Pipe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, In Guk; Kim, Kyung Mo; Jeong, Yeong Shin; Bang, In Cheol

2015-01-01

Mochizuki et al. was suggested the passive cooling system to spent nuclear fuel pool. Detail analysis of various heat pipe design cases was studied to determine the heat pipes cooling performance. Wang et al. suggested the concept PRHRS of MSR using sodium heat pipes, and the transient performance of high temperature sodium heat pipe was numerically simulated in the case of MSR accident. The meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants alarmed to the dangers of station blackout (SBO) accident. After the SBO accident, passive decay heat removal systems have been investigated to prevent the severe accidents. Mochizuki et al. suggested the heat pipes cooling system using loop heat pipes for decay heat removal cooling and analysis of heat pipe thermal resistance for boiling water reactor (BWR). The decay heat removal systems for pressurized water reactor (PWR) were suggested using natural convection mechanisms and modification of PWR design. Our group suggested the concept of a hybrid heat pipe with control rod as Passive IN-core Cooling System (PINCs) for decay heat removal for advanced nuclear power plant. Hybrid heat pipe is the combination of the heat pipe and control rod. In the present research, the main objective is to investigate the effect of the inner structure to the heat transfer performance of heat pipe containing neutron absorber material, B 4 C. The main objective is to investigate the effect of the inner structure in heat pipe to the heat transfer performance with annular flow path. ABS pellet was used instead of B 4 C pellet as cylindrical structures. The thermal performances of each heat pipes were measured experimentally. Among them, concentric heat pipe showed the best performance compared with others. 1. Annular evaporation section heat pipe and annular flow path heat pipe showed heat transfer degradation. 2. AHP also had annular vapor space and contact cooling surface per unit volume of vapor was increased. Heat transfer coefficient of

Global, decaying solutions of a focusing energy-critical heat equation in R4

Science.gov (United States)

Gustafson, Stephen; Roxanas, Dimitrios

2018-05-01

We study solutions of the focusing energy-critical nonlinear heat equation ut = Δu - | u|2 u in R4. We show that solutions emanating from initial data with energy and H˙1-norm below those of the stationary solution W are global and decay to zero, via the "concentration-compactness plus rigidity" strategy of Kenig-Merle [33,34]. First, global such solutions are shown to dissipate to zero, using a refinement of the small data theory and the L2-dissipation relation. Finite-time blow-up is then ruled out using the backwards-uniqueness of Escauriaza-Seregin-Sverak [17,18] in an argument similar to that of Kenig-Koch [32] for the Navier-Stokes equations.

Near-term prospects for information on b decay

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thorndike, E.H.

1981-01-01

The weak decay of the b quark is one of the more hopeful ways of learning about the relations among the three families. Most of the experimental information on B decay in the next few years will come from the large magnetic detector CLEO at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring. Before I give you my estimate of what we will (and will not) learn, let me remind you of what we already know. As Tony Loomis told you yesterday, the b quark decays (it could have been stable). The results are consistent with the standard model. Some specific other models can be ruled out, but at present a wide range of non-standard models are allowed

Prediction of mass excess, β-decay energy and neutron separation energy from the atomic mass formula with empirical shell terms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ando, Yoshihira; Uno, Masahiro; Yamada, Masami

1983-02-01

Recently we proposed two types of atomic mass formula (constant-shell-term formula, linear-shell-term formula). With use of these formulas, we calculate and tabulate mass excesses, neutron separation energies, and β-decay energies (β-decay and/or electron capture) for about 5000 nuclides. The mass excess values and their errors in the 1977 atomic mass evaluation by A.H. Wapstra and K. Bos which we used in constructing our formulas, are also tabulated for reference. The constant-shell-term formula is fitted to 1468 input mass data with the standard deviation of 626 keV and the linear-shell-term formula with 394 keV

Prediction of mass excess, #betta#-decay energy and neutron separation energy from the atomic mass formula with empirical shell terms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ando, Yoshihira; Uno, Masahiro; Yamada, Masami.

1983-02-01

Recently we proposed two types of atomic mass formula (constant-shell-term formula, linear-shell-term formula). With use of these formulas, we calculate and tabulate mass excesses, neutron separation energies, and #betta#-decay energies (#betta# - -decay and/or electron capture) for about 5000 nuclides. The mass excess values and their errors in the 1977 atomic mass evaluation by A.H. Wapstra and K. Bos which we used in constructing our formulas, are also tabulated for reference. The constant-shell-term formula is fitted to 1468 input mass data with the standard deviation of 626 keV and the linear-shell-term formula with 394 keV. (author)

Safety and licensing of nuclear heating plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Snell, V.G.; Hilborn, J.W.; Lynch, G.F.; McAuley, S.J.

1989-09-01

World attention continues to focus on nuclear district heating, a low-cost energy from a non-polluting fuel. It offers long-term security for countries currently dependent on fossil fuels, and can reduce the burden of fossil fuel transportation on railways and roads. Current initiatives encompass large, centralized heating plants and small plants supplying individual institutions. The former are variants of their power reactor cousins but with enhanced safety features. The latter face the safety and licensing challenges of urban siting and remotely monitored operation, through use of intrinsic safety features such as passive decay heat removal, low stored energy and limited reactivity speed and depth in the control systems. Small heating reactor designs are compared, and the features of the SLOWPOKE Energy System, in the forefront of these designs, are summarized. The challenge of public perception must be met by clearly presenting the characteristics of small heating reactors in terms of scale and transparent safety in design and operation, and by explaining the local benefits

Fuel cycle related parametric study considering long lived actinide production, decay heat and fuel cycle performances

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Raepsaet, X.; Damian, F.; Lenain, R.; Lecomte, M.

2001-01-01

One of the very attractive HTGR reactor characteristics is its highly versatile and flexible core that can fulfil a wide range of diverse fuel cycles. Based on a GTMHR-600 MWth reactor, analyses of several fuel cycles were carried out without taking into account common fuel particle performance limits (burnup, fast fluence, temperature). These values are, however, indicated in each case. Fuel derived from uranium, thorium and a wide variety of plutonium grades has been considered. Long-lived actinide production and total residual decay heat were evaluated for the various types of fuel. The results presented in this papers provide a comparison of the potential and limits of each fuel cycle and allow to define specific cycles offering lowest actinide production and residual heat associated with a long life cycle. (author)

GluA2-dependent AMPA receptor endocytosis and the decay of early and late long-term potentiation: possible mechanisms for forgetting of short- and long-term memories.

Science.gov (United States)

Hardt, Oliver; Nader, Karim; Wang, Yu-Tian

2014-01-05

The molecular processes involved in establishing long-term potentiation (LTP) have been characterized well, but the decay of early and late LTP (E-LTP and L-LTP) is poorly understood. We review recent advances in describing the mechanisms involved in maintaining LTP and homeostatic plasticity. We discuss how these phenomena could relate to processes that might underpin the loss of synaptic potentiation over time, and how they might contribute to the forgetting of short-term and long-term memories. We propose that homeostatic downscaling mediates the loss of E-LTP, and that metaplastic parameters determine the decay rate of L-LTP, while both processes require the activity-dependent removal of postsynaptic GluA2-containing AMPA receptors.

Analytical approximations for the long-term decay behavior of spent fuel and high-level waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Malbrain, C.M.; Deutch, J.M.; Lester, R.K.

1982-01-01

Simple analytical approximations are presented that describe the radioactivity and radiogenic decay heat behavior of high-level wastes (HLWs) from various nuclear fuel cycles during the first 100,000 years of waste life. The correlations are based on detailed computations of HLW properties carried out with the isotope generation and depletion code ORIGEN 2. The ambiguities encountered in using simple comparisons of the hazards posed by HLWs and naturally occurring mineral deposits to establish the longevity requirements for geologic waste disposal schemes are discussed

Studies on the characteristics of the separated type heat pipe system with non-condensible gas for the use of the passive decay heat removal in reactor systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hayashi, Takao; Iigaki, Kazuhiko; Ohashi, Kazutaka; Hayakawa, Hitoshi; Yamada, Masao.

1995-01-01

This study is the fundamental research by experiments to aim at the development of the complete passive decay heat removal system on the modular reactor systems by the form of the separated type of heat pipe system utilizing the features of both the big latent heat for vaporization from water to steam and easy transportation characteristics. Special intention in our study on the fundamental experiments is to look for the effects in such a separated type of heat pipe system to introduce non-condensible gas such as nitrogen gas together with the working fluid of water. Many interesting findings have been obtained so far on the experiments for the variable conductance heat pipe characteristics from viewpoint of the actual application on the aim said above. This study has been carried out by the joint study between Tokai University and Fuji Electric Co., Ltd. and this paper is made up from the several papers presented so far at both the national and international symposiums under the name of joint study of the both bodies. (author)

Heat-equilibrium low-temperature plasma decay in synthesis of ammonia via transient components N2H6

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cao Guobin; Song Youqun; Chen Qing; Zhou Qiulan; Cao Yun; Wang Chunhe

2001-01-01

The author introduced a new method of heat-equilibrium low-temperature plasma in ammonia synthesis and a technique of continuous real-time inlet sampling mass-spectrometry to detect the reaction channel and step of the decay of transient component N 2 H 6 into ammonia. The experimental results indicated that in the process of ammonia synthesis by discharge of N 2 and H 2 mixture, the transient component N 2 H 6 is a necessary step

One-Loop Operation of Primary Heat Transport System in MONJU During Heat Transport System Modifications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goto, T.; Tsushima, H.; Sakurai, N.; Jo, T.

2006-01-01

MONJU is a prototype fast breeder reactor (FBR). Modification work commenced in March 2005. Since June 2004, MONJU has changed to one-loop operation of the primary heat transport system (PHTS) with all of the secondary heat transport systems (SHTS) drained of sodium. The purposes of this change are to shorten the modification period and to reduce the cost incurred for circuit trace heating electrical consumption. Before changing condition, the following issues were investigated to show that this mode of operation was possible. The heat loss from the reactor vessel and the single primary loop must exceed the decay heat by an acceptable margin but the capacity of pre-heaters to keep the sodium within the primary vessel at about 200 deg. C must be maintained. With regard to the heat loss and the decay heat, the estimated heat loss in the primary system was in the range of 90-170 kW in one-loop operation, and the calculated decay heat was 21.2 kW. Although the heat input of the primary pump was considered, it was clear that circuit heat loss greatly exceeded the decay heat. As for pre-heaters, effective capacity was less than the heat loss. Therefore, the temperature of the reactor vessel room was raised to reduce the heat loss. One-loop operation of the PHTS was able to be executed by means of these measures. The cost of electrical consumption in the power plant has been reduced by one-loop operation of the PHTS and the modification period was shortened. (authors)

Novel measurement method of heat and light detection for neutrinoless double beta decay

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, G. B.; Choi, J. H.; Jo, H. S.; Kang, C. S.; Kim, H. L.; Kim, I.; Kim, S. R.; Kim, Y. H.; Lee, C.; Lee, H. J.; Lee, M. K.; Li, J.; Oh, S. Y.; So, J. H.

2017-05-01

We developed a cryogenic phonon-scintillation detector to search for 0νββ decay of 100Mo. The detector module, a proto-type setup of the AMoRE experiment, has a scintillating 40Ca100MoO4 absorber composed of 100Mo-enriched and 48Ca-depleted elements. This new detection method employs metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs) as the sensor technology for simultaneous detection of heat and light signals. It is designed to have high energy and timing resolutions to increase sensitivity to probe the rare event. The detector, which is composed of a 200 g 40Ca100MoO4 crystal and phonon/photon sensors, showed an energy resolution of 8.7 keV FWHM at 2.6 MeV, with a weak temperature dependence in the range of 10-40 mK. Using rise-time and mean-time parameters and light/heat ratios, the proposed method showed a strong capability of rejecting alpha-induced events from electron events with as good as 20σ separation. Moreover, we discussed how the signal rise-time improves the rejection efficiency for random coincidence signals.

Decay heat measurement of U-235

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baumung, K.

1976-01-01

The calorimeter and the transport mechanism for the fuel samples was designed and is under construction now. Calculations of the heat-source distributions for different 235U-contents led to an optimal enrichment of the UO 2 -samples which minimizes the effects of the bad heat conductivity of the oxide on temperature measurement. Monte-Carlo-calculations of the γ-leakage-spectra yielded data which allow, from the γ-energy-flow measurements, to calculate the total γ-energy loss as well as the portions of the β- and γ-heating. (orig.) [de

Radioactive decay and labeled compounds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1991-01-01

This chapter on radioactive decay and labeled compounds has numerous intext equations and worked, sample problems. Topics covered include the following: terms and mathematics of radioactive decay; examples of calculations; graphs of decay equations; radioactivity or activity; activity measurements; activity decay; half-life determinations; labeled compounds. A 20 problem set is also included. 1 ref., 4 figs., 1 tab

Comparison of decay and yield data between JNDC2 and ENDF/B-VI

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oyamatsu, K.; Sagosaka, M.; Miyazono, T. [Nagoya Univ. (Japan)

1997-03-01

This work is intended to be our first step to solve disagreements of the decay heat powers between measurements and summation calculations. We examine differences between nuclear data libraries to complement our uncertainty evaluation of the decay heat summation calculations only with ENDF/B-VI. The comparison is made mainly between JNDC2 and ENDF/B-VI while JEF2.2 decay data is also discussed. In this study, we propose and use a simple method which is an analogue of the overlap integral of two wave functions in quantum mechanics. As the first step, we compare the whole input nuclear data for the summation calculations as a whole. We find a slight difference of the fission yields especially for high-energy neutron induced fissions between JNDC2 and ENDF/B-VI. As for the decay energies, JNDC2, ENDF/B-VI are quite similar while JEF2.2 is found significantly different from these two libraries. We find substantial differences in the decay constant values among the three libraries. As the second step, we calculate the decay heat powers with FPGS90 using JNDC2 and ENDF/B-VI. The total decay heat powers with the two libraries differ by more than 10% at short cooling times while they agree well on the average at cooling times longer that 100 (s). We also point out nuclides whose contributions are significantly different between the two libraries even though the total decay heats agree well. These nuclides may cause some problems in predicting aggregate spectra of {beta} and {gamma} rays as well as delayed neutrons, and are to be reviewed in the future revision of decay and yield data. (author)

Bubble chamber: Omega production and decay

CERN Multimedia

1973-01-01

This image is of real particle tracks taken from the CERN 2 m liquid hydrogen bubble chamber and shows the production and decay of a negative omega particle. A negative kaon enters the chamber which decays into many particles, including a negative omega that travels a short distance before decaying into more particles. The invention of bubble chambers in 1952 revolutionized the field of particle physics, allowing real tracks left by particles to be seen and photographed by expanding liquid that had been heated to boiling point.

Effects of proliferation on the decay of thermotolerance in Chinese hamster cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Armour, E P; Li, G C; Hahn, G M

1985-09-01

Development and decay of thermotolerance were observed in Chinese hamster HA-1 cells. The thermotolerance kinetics of exponentially growing and fed plateau-phase cells were compared. Following a 10-min heat exposure at 45 degrees C, cells in both growth states had similar rates of development of tolerance to a subsequent 45-min exposure at 45 degrees C. This thermotolerant state started to decay between 12 and 24 hr after the initial heat exposure. The decay appeared to initiate slightly sooner in the exponentially growing cells when compared to the fed plateau-phase cells. During the decay phase, the rate of thermotolerance decay was similar in the two growth conditions. In other experiments, cells were induced to divide at a slower rate by chronic growth (3 months) in a low concentration of fetal calf serum. Under these low serum conditions cells became more sensitive to heat and the rate of decay of thermotolerance remained the same for exponentially growing cells. Plateau-phase cells were also more sensitive, but thermotolerance decayed more rapidly in these cells. Although dramatic cell cycle perturbations were seen in the exponentially growing cells, these changes appeared not to be related to thermotolerance kinetics.

Technical support for a proposed decay heat guide using SAS2H/ORIGEN-S data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hermann, O.W.; Parks, C.V.; Renier, J.P.

1994-09-01

Major revisions are proposed to the current US Nuclear Regulatory Commission decay heat rate guide entitled ''Regulatory Guide 3.54, Spent Fuel Heat Generation in an Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation,'' using a new data base produced by the SAS2H analysis sequence of the SCALE-4 system. The data base for the proposed guide revision has been significantly improved by increasing the number and range of parameters that generally characterize pressurized-water-reactor (PWR) and boiling-water-reactor (BWR) spent fuel assemblies. Using generic PWR and BWR assembly models, calculations were performed with each model for six different burnups at each of three separate specific powers to produce heat rates at 20 cooling times in the range of 1 to 110 y. The proposed procedure specifies proper interpolation formulae for the tabulated heat generation rates. Adjustment formulae for the interpolated values are provided to account for differences in initial 235 U enrichment and changes in the specific power of a cycle from the average value. Finally, safety factor formulae were derived as a function of burnup, cooling time, and type of reactor. The proposed guide revision was designed to be easier to use. Also, the complete data base and guide procedure is incorporated into an interactive code called LWRARC which can be executed on a personal computer. The report shows adequate comparisons of heat rates computed by SAS2H/ORIGEN-S and measurements for 10 BWR and 10 PWR fuel assemblies. The average differences of the computed minus the measured heat rates of fuel assemblies were -07 ± 2.6% for the BWR and 1.5 ± 1.3% for the PWR. In addition, a detailed analysis of the proposed procedure indicated the method and equations to be valid

On the Muon Decay Parameters

CERN Document Server

Chizhov, M V

1996-01-01

Predictions for the muon decay spectrum are usually derived from the derivative-free Hamiltonian. However, it is not the most general form of the possible interactions. Additional simple terms with derivatives can be introduced. In this work the distortion of the standard energy and angular distribution of the electrons in polarized muon decay caused by these terms is presented.

Monopole heat

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Turner, M.S.

1983-01-01

Upper bounds on the flux of monopoles incident on the Earth with velocity -5 c(10 16 GeV m -1 ) and on the flux of monopoles incident on Jupiter with velocity -3 c(10 16 GeV m -1 ), are derived. Monopoles moving this slowly lose sufficient energy to be stopped, and then catalyse nucleon decay, releasing heat. The limits are obtained by requiring the rate of energy release from nucleon decay to be less than the measured amount of heat flowing out from the surface of the planet. (U.K.)

Scale analysis of decay heat removal system between HTR-10 and HTR-PM reactors under accidental conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roberto, Thiago D.; Alvim, Antonio C.M.

2017-01-01

The 10 MW high-temperature gas-cooled test module (HTR-10) is a graphite-moderated and helium-cooled pebble bed reactor prototype that was designed to demonstrate the technical and safety feasibility of this type of reactor project under normal and accidental conditions. In addition, one of the systems responsible for ensuring the safe operation of this type of reactor is the passive decay heat removal system (DHRS), which operates using passive heat removal processes. A demonstration of the heat removal capacity of the DHRS under accidental conditions was analyzed based on a benchmark problem for design-based accidents on an HTR-10, i.e., the pressurized loss of forced cooling (PLOFC) described in technical reports produced by the International Atomic Energy Agency. In fact, the HTR-10 is also a proof-of-concept reactor for the high-temperature gas-cooled reactor pebble-bed module (HTR-PM), which generates approximately 25 times more heat than the HTR-10, with a thermal power of 250 MW, thereby requiring a DHRS with a higher system capacity. Thus, because an HTR-10 is a prototype reactor for an HTR-PM, a scaling analysis of the heat transfer process from the reactor to the DHRS was carried out between the HTR-10 and HTR-PM systems to verify the distortions of scale and the differences between the main dimensionless numbers from the two projects. (author)

Scale analysis of decay heat removal system between HTR-10 and HTR-PM reactors under accidental conditions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roberto, Thiago D.; Alvim, Antonio C.M. [Coordenacao de Pos-Graduacao e Pesquisa de Engenharia (PEN/COPPE/UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Programa de Engenharia Nuclear; Lapa, Celso M.F., E-mail: thiagodbtr@gmail.com, E-mail: lapa@ien.gov.br, E-mail: alvim@nuclear.ufrj.br [Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear (IEN/CNEN-RJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

2017-07-01

The 10 MW high-temperature gas-cooled test module (HTR-10) is a graphite-moderated and helium-cooled pebble bed reactor prototype that was designed to demonstrate the technical and safety feasibility of this type of reactor project under normal and accidental conditions. In addition, one of the systems responsible for ensuring the safe operation of this type of reactor is the passive decay heat removal system (DHRS), which operates using passive heat removal processes. A demonstration of the heat removal capacity of the DHRS under accidental conditions was analyzed based on a benchmark problem for design-based accidents on an HTR-10, i.e., the pressurized loss of forced cooling (PLOFC) described in technical reports produced by the International Atomic Energy Agency. In fact, the HTR-10 is also a proof-of-concept reactor for the high-temperature gas-cooled reactor pebble-bed module (HTR-PM), which generates approximately 25 times more heat than the HTR-10, with a thermal power of 250 MW, thereby requiring a DHRS with a higher system capacity. Thus, because an HTR-10 is a prototype reactor for an HTR-PM, a scaling analysis of the heat transfer process from the reactor to the DHRS was carried out between the HTR-10 and HTR-PM systems to verify the distortions of scale and the differences between the main dimensionless numbers from the two projects. (author)

Diffusion of heat from a finite, rectangular, plane heat source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ferreri, J.C.; Caballero, C.H.

1985-01-01

Non-dimensional results for the temperature field originating in a rectangular, finite, plane heat source with infinitesimal thickness are introduced. The source decays in time, zero decay being a particular case. Results are useful for obtaining an aproximation of the maximum temperature of a system holding an internal heat source. The range selected for the parameters is specially useful in the case of a nuclear waste repository. The application to the case of mass diffussion arises from analogy. (Author) [es

Application of the PSA method to decay heat removal systems in a large scale FBR design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kotake, S.; Satoh, K.; Matsumoto, H.; Sugawara, M.; Sakata, K.; Okabe, A.

1993-01-01

The Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) method is applied to a large scale loop-type FBR in its conceptual design stage in order to establish a well-balanced safety. Both the reactor shut down and decay heat removal systems are designed to be highly reliable, e.g. 10 -7 /d. In this paper the results of several reliability analyses concerning the DHRS have been discussed, where the effects of the analytical assumptions, design options, accident managements on the reliability are examined. The reliability is evaluated small enough, since DRACSs consists of four independent loops with sufficient heat removal capacity and both forced and natural circulation capabilities are designed. It is found that the common mode failures for the active components in the DRACS dominate the reliability. The design diversity concerning these components can be effective for the improvements and the accident managements on BOP are also possible by making use of the long grace period in FBR. (author)

Application of the PSA method to decay heat removal systems in a large scale FBR design

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kotake, S; Satoh, K [Japan Atomic Power Company, Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo (Japan); Matsumoto, H; Sugawara, M [Toshiba Corporation (Japan); Sakata, K [Mitsubishi Atomic Power Industries Inc. (Japan); Okabe, A [Hitachi Engineering Co., Ltd. (Japan)

1993-02-01

The Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) method is applied to a large scale loop-type FBR in its conceptual design stage in order to establish a well-balanced safety. Both the reactor shut down and decay heat removal systems are designed to be highly reliable, e.g. 10{sup -7}/d. In this paper the results of several reliability analyses concerning the DHRS have been discussed, where the effects of the analytical assumptions, design options, accident managements on the reliability are examined. The reliability is evaluated small enough, since DRACSs consists of four independent loops with sufficient heat removal capacity and both forced and natural circulation capabilities are designed. It is found that the common mode failures for the active components in the DRACS dominate the reliability. The design diversity concerning these components can be effective for the improvements and the accident managements on BOP are also possible by making use of the long grace period in FBR. (author)

Changes in the properties of superalloys by long term heating

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Susukida, H.; Tsuji, I.; Kawai, H.

1976-01-01

A laboratory study was conducted in order to determine the effect of long term heating (max. 10000h at 850 0 and 950 0 C) on the microstructure, tensile properties, hardness and stress rupture properties of four kinds of superalloys. These superalloys are two kinds of solid solution hardened Ni-base superalloys Hastelloy X and Inconel 617 and two kinds of dispersion strengthened Ni-base superalloys TD-Ni and TD-NiCr. The result of the study can be summarized as follows: (1) Solid solution hardened superalloys: Many precipitates were observed in the grains and on the grain boundaries after 100 hours of heating, and the precipitates became coarse-grained by over 1000 hours of heating. This tendency was remarkable when they were heated at 950 0 C. With the change of their microstructure, their mechanical properties also changed, particularly their tensile ductility decreased remarkably. (2) Dispersion strengthened superalloys: Their microstructure and mechanical properties were almost unchanged by long term heating. (3) The authors proposed ''solid solution hardening value'' in order to grasp quantitatively the solid solution hardening which has been discussed by the content of each element hitherto. (auth.)

Utilising heat from nuclear waste for space heating

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deacon, D.

1982-01-01

A heating unit utilising the decay heat from irradiated material comprises a storage envelope for the material associated with a heat exchange system, means for producing a flow of air over the heat exchange system to extract heat from the material, an exhaust duct capable of discharging the heated air to the atmosphere, and means for selectively diverting at least some of the heated air to effect the required heating. With the flow of air over the heat exchange system taking place by a natural thermosyphon process the arrangement is self regulating and inherently reliable. (author)

Thermal decay of Lennard-Jones clusters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garzon, I.L.; Avalos-Borja, M.

1989-01-01

The decay mechanisms of argon clusters have been studied using molecular dynamics simulations and Lennard-Jones potentials. Heating up processes were applied to Ar 13 up to temperatures in the melting region. In this range of temperatures large fluctuations in the mean kinetic energy of the system are present and a sequential evaporation is observed. The thermal decay of these aggregates occurs in a time scale of nanoseconds. (orig.)

Bubble chamber: Omega production and decay

CERN Document Server

1973-01-01

This image is taken from one of CERN's bubble chambers and shows the decay of a positive kaon in flight. The decay products of this kaon can be seen spiraling in the magnetic field of the chamber. The invention of bubble chambers in 1952 revolutionized the field of particle physics, allowing real tracks left by particles to be seen and photographed by expanding liquid that has been heated to boiling point.

Droplet condensation in rapidly decaying pressure fields

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peterson, P.F.; Bai, R.Y.; Schrock, V.E.; Hijikata, K.

1992-01-01

Certain promising schemes for cooling inertial confinement fusion reactors call for highly transient condensation in a rapidly decaying pressure field. After an initial period of condensation on a subcooled droplet, undesirable evaporation begins to occur. Recirculation within the droplet strongly impacts the character of this condensation-evaporation cycle, particularly when the recirculation time constant is of the order of the pressure decay time constant. Recirculation can augment the heat transfer, delay the onset of evaporation, and increase the maximum superheat inside the drop by as much as an order of magnitude. This numerical investigation identifies the most important parameters and physics characterizing transient, high heat flux droplet condensation. The results can be applied to conceptual designs of inertial confinement fusion reactors, where initial temperature differences on the order of 1,500 K decay to zero over time spans the order of tens of milliseconds

Implications of alpha-decay for long term storage of advanced heavy water reactor fuels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pencer, J.; McDonald, M.H.; Roubtsov, D.; Edwards, G.W.R.

2017-01-01

Highlights: •Alpha decays versus storage time are calculated for examples of advanced heavy water reactor fuels. •Estimates are made for fuel swelling and helium bubble formation as a function of time. •These predictions are compared to predictions for natural uranium fuel. •Higher rates of damage are predicted for advanced heavy water reactor fuels than natural uranium. -- Abstract: The decay of actinides such as 238 Pu, results in recoil damage and helium production in spent nuclear fuels. The extent of the damage depends on storage time and spent fuel composition and has implications for the integrity of the fuels. Some advanced nuclear fuels intended for use in pressurized heavy water pressure tube reactors have high initial plutonium content and are anticipated to exhibit swelling and embrittlement, and to accumulate helium bubbles over storage times as short as hundreds of years. Calculations are performed to provide estimates of helium production and fuel swelling associated with alpha decay as a function of storage time. Significant differences are observed between predicted aging characteristics of natural uranium and the advanced fuels, including increased helium concentrations and accelerated fuel swelling in the latter. Implications of these observations for long term storage of advanced fuels are discussed.

Excitation of half-integer up-shifted decay channel and quasi-mode in plasma edge for high power electron Bernstein wave heating scenario

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Ali Asgarian

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Electron Bernstein waves (EBW consist of promising tools in driving localized off-axis current needed for sustained operation as well as effective selective heating scenarios in advanced over dense fusion plasmas like spherical tori and stellarators by applying high power radio frequency waves within the range of Megawatts. Here some serious non-linear effects like parametric decay modes are highly expect-able which have been extensively studied theoretically and experimentally. In general, the decay of an EBW depends on the ratio of the incident frequency and electron cyclotron frequency. At ratios less than two, parametric decay leads to a lower hybrid wave (or an ion Bernstein wave and EBWs at a lower frequency. For ratios more than two, the daughter waves constitute either an electron cyclotron quasi-mode and another EBW or an ion wave and EBW. However, in contrast with these decay patterns, the excitation of an unusual up-shifted frequency decay channel for the ratio less than two is demonstrated in this study which is totally different as to its generation and persistence. It is shown that this mode varies from the conventional parametric decay channels which necessarily satisfy the matching conditions in frequency and wave-vector. Moreover, the excitation of some less-known local non-propagating quasi-modes (virtual modes through weak-turbulence theory and their contributions to energy leakage from conversion process leading the reduction in conversion efficiency is assessed.

Excitation of half-integer up-shifted decay channel and quasi-mode in plasma edge for high power electron Bernstein wave heating scenario

Science.gov (United States)

Ali Asgarian, M.; Abbasi, M.

2018-04-01

Electron Bernstein waves (EBW) consist of promising tools in driving localized off-axis current needed for sustained operation as well as effective selective heating scenarios in advanced over dense fusion plasmas like spherical tori and stellarators by applying high power radio frequency waves within the range of Megawatts. Here some serious non-linear effects like parametric decay modes are highly expect-able which have been extensively studied theoretically and experimentally. In general, the decay of an EBW depends on the ratio of the incident frequency and electron cyclotron frequency. At ratios less than two, parametric decay leads to a lower hybrid wave (or an ion Bernstein wave) and EBWs at a lower frequency. For ratios more than two, the daughter waves constitute either an electron cyclotron quasi-mode and another EBW or an ion wave and EBW. However, in contrast with these decay patterns, the excitation of an unusual up-shifted frequency decay channel for the ratio less than two is demonstrated in this study which is totally different as to its generation and persistence. It is shown that this mode varies from the conventional parametric decay channels which necessarily satisfy the matching conditions in frequency and wave-vector. Moreover, the excitation of some less-known local non-propagating quasi-modes (virtual modes) through weak-turbulence theory and their contributions to energy leakage from conversion process leading the reduction in conversion efficiency is assessed.

A standalone decay heat removal device for the Gas-cooled Fast Reactor for intermediate to atmospheric pressure conditions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Epiney, A., E-mail: aaron@epiney.ch [Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, Villigen (Switzerland); Ecole Polytechnique Federale EPFL, Lausanne (Switzerland); Alpy, N., E-mail: nicolas.alpy@cea.fr [CEA, DEN, Service d' Etudes des Systemes Innovants, F-13108 Saint Paul Lez Durance (France); Mikityuk, K., E-mail: konstantin.mikityuk@psi.ch [Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, Villigen (Switzerland); Chawla, R., E-mail: rakesh.chawla@psi.ch [Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, Villigen (Switzerland); Ecole Polytechnique Federale EPFL, Lausanne (Switzerland)

2012-01-15

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer An analytical model predicting Brayton cycle off-design steady states, is developed. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The model is used to design an autonomous decay heat removal system for the GFR. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Predictions of the analytical model are verified using CATHARE. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer CATHARE code is used to simulate a set of GFR safety depressurization transients using this device. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Convenient turbo-machine designs exist for the targeted autonomous decay heat removal for a wide pressure range. - Abstract: This paper reports a design study for a Brayton cycle machine, which would constitute a dedicated, standalone decay heat removal (DHR) device for the Generation IV Gas-cooled Fast Reactor (GFR). In comparison to the DHR reference strategy developed by the French Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique during the GFR pre-conceptual design phase (which was completed at the end of 2007), the salient feature of this alternative device would be to combine the energetic autonomy of the natural convection process - which is foreseen for operation at high and medium pressures - with the efficiency of the forced convection process which is foreseen for operation down to very low pressures. An analytical model, the so-called 'Brayton scoping model', is described first. This is based on simplified thermodynamic and aerodynamic equations, and was developed to highlight design choices. Two different machine designs are analyzed: a Brayton loop turbo-machine working with helium, and a second one working with nitrogen, since nitrogen is the heavy gas foreseen to be injected into the primary system to enhance the natural convection under loss-of-coolant-accident (LOCA) conditions. Simulations of the steady-state and transient behavior of the proposed device have then been carried out using the CATHARE code. These serve to confirm the insights obtained from usage of the

ORIGEN2.1 Cycle Specific Calculation of Krsko Nuclear Power Plant Decay Heat and Core Inventory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vukovic, J.; Grgic, D.; Konjarek, D.

2010-01-01

This paper presents ORIGEN2.1 computer code calculation of Krsko Nuclear Power Plant core for Cycle 24. The isotopic inventory, core activity and decay heat are calculated in one run for the entire core using explicit depletion and decay of each fuel assembly. Separate pre-ori application which was developed is utilized to prepare corresponding ORIGEN2.1 inputs. This application uses information on core loading pattern to determine fuel assembly specific depletion history using 3D burnup which is obtained from related PARCS computer code calculation. That way both detailed single assembly calculations as well as whole core inventory calculations are possible. Because of the immense output of the ORIGEN2.1, another application called post-ori is used to retrieve and plot any calculated property on the basis of nuclide, element, summary isotope or group of elements for activation products, actinides and fission products segments. As one additional possibility, with the post-ori application it is able to calculate radiotoxicity from calculated ORIGEN2.1 inventory. The results which are obtained using the calculation model of ORIGEN2.1 computer code are successfully compared against corresponding ORIGEN-S computer code results.(author).

Decay and Transmutation of Nuclides

CERN Document Server

Aarnio, Pertti A

1999-01-01

We present a computer code DeTra which solves analytically the Bateman equations governing the decay, build-up and transmutation of radionuclides. The complexity of the chains and the number of nuclides are not limited. The nuclide production terms considered include transmutation of the nuclides inside the chain, external production, and fission. Time dependent calculations are possible since all the production terms can be re-defined for each irradiation step. The number of irradiation steps and output times is unlimited. DeTra is thus able to solve any decay and transmutation problem as long as the nuclear data i.e. decay data and production rates, or cross sections, are known.

Preliminary decay heat calculations for the fuel loaded irradiation loop device of the RMB multipurpose Brazilian reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Campolina, Daniel; Costa, Antonio Carlos L. da; Andrade, Edison P., E-mail: campolina@cdtn.br, E-mail: aclp@cdtn.br, E-mail: epa@cdtn.br [Centro de Desenvolvimento da Tecnologia Nuclear (SETRE/CDTN/CNEN-MG), Belo Horizonte, MG (Brazil). Servico de Tecnologia de Reatores

2017-07-01

The structuring project of the Brazilian Multipurpose Reactor (RMB) is responsible for meeting the capacity to develop and test materials and nuclear fuel for the Brazilian Nuclear Program. An irradiation test device (Loop) capable of performing fuel test for power reactor rods is being conceived for RMB reflector. In this work preliminary neutronic calculations have been carried out in order to determine parameters to the cooling system of the Loop basic design. The heat released as a result of radioactive decay of fuel samples was calculated using ORIGEN-ARP and it resulted less than 200 W after 1 hour of irradiation interruption. (author)

A study on shear behavior of R/C beams subjected to long-term heating

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maruta, M.; Yamazaki, M.

1993-01-01

In nuclear power plants, many structural members are subjected to long term heating. There are few experimental data available on the behavior especially in shear of reinforced concrete (R/C) members subjected to long term heating. This paper describes a study aimed at experimentally determining the shear behavior of R/C members in nuclear power plant facilities following sustained heating at high temperatures

Comparison of the effect of gamma irradiation, heat-radiation combination, and sulphur dioxide generating pads on decay and quality of grapes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thomas, Paul; Brij Bhushan; Joshi, M.R.

1995-01-01

Effect of gamma irradiation, heat-radiation combination and in-package sulphur dioxide fumigation on fungal decay, and quality of seedless grape cultivars, Thompson, Sonaka and Tas-A-Ganesh was evaluated under different storage regimes. Irradiation at 2 kGy or a combination of hot water dip (50 degC, 5 min), plus irradiation (1 kGy) showed less spoilage due to Rhizopus spp. and Botrytis spp. in grapes packaged in tissue paper lined boxes and stored at 4 deg, 15 deg and 25 degC. Storage in polyethylene lined boxes increased the fungal rot. In-package sulphur dioxide generating pad was most effective for control of decay in polyethylene lined boxes stored at 10 deg and 20 degC, but caused berry bleaching. Irradiation at 2.5 or 3.5 kGy controlled decay at 10 degC, but not so effectively at 20 degC. Organoleptic quality, berry firmness, and soluble solids were not affected by irradiation, but decreases in titratable acids and ascorbic acid were recorded. Packaging in polyethylene lined boxes retained berry turgidity, while slight shrivelling occurred in tissue paper lined boxes. The results indicate that gamma irradiation has potential as an alternative to sulphur dioxide fumigation for decay control during shipping and storage. (author). 20 refs., 4 tabs

Near-term viability of solar heat applications for the federal sector

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, T. A.

1991-12-01

Solar thermal technologies are capable of providing heat across a wide range of temperatures, making them potentially attractive for meeting energy requirements for industrial process heat applications and institutional heating. The energy savings that could be realized by solar thermal heat are quite large, potentially several quads annually. Although technologies for delivering heat at temperatures above 100 C currently exist within industry, only a fairly small number of commercial systems have been installed to date. The objective of this paper is to investigate and discuss the prospects for near term solar heat sales to federal facilities as a mechanism for providing an early market niche to the aid the widespread development and implementation of the technology. The specific technical focus is on mid-temperature (100 to 350 C) heat demands that could be met with parabolic trough systems. Federal facilities have several features relative to private industry that may make them attractive for solar heat applications relative to other sectors. Key features are specific policy mandates for conserving energy, a long term planning horizon with well defined decision criteria, and prescribed economic return criteria for conservation and solar investments that are generally less stringent than the investment criteria used by private industry. Federal facilities also have specific difficulties in the sale of solar heat technologies that are different from those of other sectors, and strategies to mitigate these difficulties will be important. For the baseline scenario developed in this paper, the solar heat application was economically competitive with heat provided by natural gas. The system levelized energy cost was $5.9/MBtu for the solar heat case, compared to $6.8/MBtu for the life cycle fuel cost of a natural gas case. A third-party ownership would also be attractive to federal users, since it would guarantee energy savings and would not need initial federal funds.

Scattering of lattice solitons and decay of heat-current correlation in the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-α -β model

Science.gov (United States)

Jin, Tao; Yu, Jian; Zhang, Nan; Zhao, Hong

2017-08-01

As is well known, solitons can be excited in nonlinear lattice systems; however, whether, and if so, how, this kind of nonlinear excitation can affect the energy transport behavior is not yet fully understood. Here we study both the scattering dynamics of solitons and heat transport properties in the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-α -β model with an asymmetric interparticle interaction. By varying the asymmetry degree of the interaction (characterized by α ), we find that (i) for each α there exists a momentum threshold for exciting solitons from which one may infer an α -dependent feature of probability of presentation of solitons at a finite-temperature equilibrium state and (ii) the scattering rate of solitons is sensitively dependent on α . Based on these findings, we conjecture that the scattering between solitons will cause the nonmonotonic α -dependent feature of heat conduction. Fortunately, such a conjecture is indeed verified by our detailed examination of the time decay behavior of the heat current correlation function, but it is only valid for an early time stage. Thus, this result may suggest that solitons can have only a relatively short survival time when exposed in a thermal environment, eventually affecting the heat transport in a short time.

Signal mediators at induction of heat resistance of wheat plantlets by short-term heating

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu. V. Karpets

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The effects of functional interplay of calcium ions, reactive oxygen species (ROS and nitric oxide (NO in the cells of wheat plantlets roots (Triticum aestivum L. at the induction of their heat resistance by a short-term influence of hyperthermia (heating at the temperature of 42 °С during 1 minute have been investigated. The transitional increase of NO and H2O2 content, invoked by heating, was suppressed by the treatment of plantlets with the antagonists of calcium EGTA (chelator of exocellular calcium, lanthanum chloride (blocker of calcium channels of various types and neomycin (inhibitor of phosphatidylinositol-dependent phospholipase C. The rise of hydrogen peroxide content, caused by hardening, was partially suppressed by the action of inhibitors of nitrate reductase (sodium wolframate and NO-synthase (NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester – L-NAME, and the increasing of nitric oxide content was suppressed by the treatment of plants with the antioxidant ionol and with the scavenger of hydrogen peroxide (dimethylthiourea. These compounds and antagonists of calcium also partially removed the effect of the rise of plantlets’ heat resistance, invoked by hardening heating. The conclusion on calcium’s role in the activation of enzymatic systems, generating reactive oxygen species and nitric oxide, and on the functional interplay of these signal mediators at the induction of heat resistance of plantlets by hardening heating is made.

Decayed, missing and filled teeth and dental anomalies in long term survived leukemic children: a prospective controlled study

OpenAIRE

Lauritano, D; Petruzzi, M; Baldoni, M

2012-01-01

Objective: The aim of this prospective controlled study is the comparison between long-term children survived leukaemia and a control group in terms of the decayed, missing or filled permanent teeth (DMFT) and dental anomalies. Study design: Fifty-two long term children survived leukaemia, aged from 8 to 15 years (27 females, 25 males; mean age 11.5 years) were evaluated for the possible effects of the anti-leukaemic therapy on dental development and compared to a control group of 52 healthy ...

Studies on the characteristics of the separated heat pipe system with non-condensible gas for the use of the passive decay heat removal in reactor systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hayashi, Takao; Ishi, Takayuki; Hayakawa, Hitoshi; Ohashi, Kazutaka

1997-01-01

Experiments on the separated heat pipe system of variable conductance type, which enclose non-condensible gas, have been carried out with intention of applying such system to passive decay heat removal of the modular reactors such as HTR plant. Basic experiments have been carried out on the experimental apparatus consisting of evaporator, vapor transfer tube, condenser tube and return tube which returns the condensed liquid back to the evaporator. Water and methanol were examined as the working fluids and nitrogen gas was enclosed as the non-condensible gas. The behaviors of the system were examined for the parametric changes of the heat input under the various pressures of nitrogen gas initially enclosed, including the case without enclosing N 2 gas for the comparison. The results of the experiments shows very clear features of self control characteristics. The self control mechanism was made clear, that is, in such system in which the condensing area in the condenser expands automatically in accordance with the increase of the heat input to keep the system temperature nearly constant. The working temperature of the system are clearly dependent on the pressure of the non-condensable gas initially enclosed, with higher system working temperature with higher initial gas pressure enclosed. The analyses were done on water and methanol as the working fluids, which show very good agreement with the experimental results. A lot of attractive applications are expected including the self switching feature with minimum heat loss during normal operation with maintaining the sufficient heat removal at accidents. (author)

Development of a steady-state calculation model for the KALIMER PDRC(Passive Decay Heat Removal Circuit)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chang, Won Pyo; Ha, Kwi Seok; Jeong, Hae Yong; Kwon, Young Min; Eoh, Jae Hyuk; Lee, Yong Bum

2003-06-01

A sodium circuit has usually featured for a Liquid Metal Reactor(LMR) using sodium as coolant to remove the decay heat ultimately under accidental conditions because of its high reliability. Most of the system codes used for a Light Water Reactor(LWR) analysis is capable of calculating natural circulation within such circuit, but the code currently used for the LMR analysis does not feature stand alone capability to simulate the natural circulation flow inside the circuit due to its application limitation. To this end, the present study has been carried out because the natural circulation analysis for such the circuit is realistically raised for the design with a new concept. The steady state modeling is presented in this paper, development of a transient model is also followed to close the study. The incompressibility assumption of sodium which allow the circuit to be modeled with a single flow, makes the model greatly simplified. Models such as a heat exchanger developed in the study can be effectively applied to other system analysis codes which require such component models

Beta and gamma decay heat measurements between 0.1s--50,000s for neutron fission of 235U, 238U and 239Pu. Final report, June 1, 1992--December 31, 1996

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schier, W.A.; Couchell, G.P.

1996-01-01

This is a final reporting on the composition of separate beta and gamma decay heat measurements following neutron fission of 235 U and 238 U and 239 Pu and on cumulative and independent yield measurements of fission products of 235 U and 238 U. What made these studies unique was the very short time of 0.1 s after fission that could be achieved by incorporating the helium jet and tape transport system as the technique for transporting fission fragments from the neutron environment of the fission chamber to the low-background environment of the counting area. This capability allowed for the first time decay heat measurements to extend nearly two decades lower on the logarithmic delay time scale, a region where no comprehensive aggregate decay heat measurements had extended to. This short delay time capability also allowed the measurement of individual fission products with half lives as short as 0.2s. The purpose of such studies was to provide tests both at the aggregate level and at the individual nuclide level of the nation's evaluated nuclear data file associated with fission, ENDF/B-VI. The results of these tests are in general quite encouraging indicating this data base generally predicts correctly the aggregate beta and aggregate gamma decay heat as a function of delay time for 235 U, 238 U and 239 Pu. Agreement with the measured individual nuclide cumulative and independent yields for fission products of 235 U and 238 U was also quite good although the present measurements suggest needed improvements in several individual cases

Exclusive semileptonic B-meson decays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hagiwara, K.; Martin, A.D.; Wade, M.F.

1989-01-01

We study the semileptonic processes anti B → D * lanti ν and anti B → Dlanti ν and show that the invariant hadronic form factors describing the decays can be measured directly by observing the angular correlations of the decay products. We emphasize that this allows an almost model-independent determination of the V cb quark mixing-matrix element. We examine the theoretical models for the form factors in terms of the spectator quark approach. We present a general formalism for semileptonic decays which includes lepton mass effects, since the decay into τ-leptons may be important as background events in the search for rare decay modes involving missing particles. (orig.)

3D CFD simulations to study the effect of inclination of condenser tube on natural convection and thermal stratification in a passive decay heat removal system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Minocha, Nitin [Homi Bhabha National Institute, Anushaktinagar, Mumbai 400 094 (India); Joshi, Jyeshtharaj B., E-mail: jbjoshi@gmail.com [Homi Bhabha National Institute, Anushaktinagar, Mumbai 400 094 (India); Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Chemical Technology, Matunga, Mumbai 400 019 (India); Nayak, Arun K. [Reactor Engineering Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Center, Trombay, Mumbai 400 085 (India); Vijayan, Pallippattu K., E-mail: vijayanp@barc.gov.in [Reactor Engineering Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Center, Trombay, Mumbai 400 085 (India)

2016-08-15

Highlights: • Investigation of three-dimensional natural convection and thermal stratification inside large water pool. • Effect of inclination (α) of condenser tube on fluid flow and heat transfer. • The heat transfer was found to be maximum for α = 90° and minimum for α = 15°. • Laminar-turbulent natural convection and heat transfer in the presence of longitudinal vortices. - Abstract: Many advanced nuclear reactors adopt methodologies of passive safety systems based on natural forces such as gravity. In one of such system, the decay heat generated from a reactor is removed by isolation condenser (ICs) submerged in a large water pool called the Gravity Driven Water Pool (GDWP). The objective of the present study was to design an IC for the passive decay heat removal system (PDHRS) for advanced nuclear reactor. First, the effect of inclination of IC tube on three dimensional temperature and flow fields was investigated inside a pilot scale (10 L) GDWP. Further, the knowledge of these fields has been used for the quantification of heat transfer and thermal stratification phenomenon. In a next step, the knowledge gained from the pilot scale GDWP has been extended to design an IC for real size GDWP (∼10,000 m{sup 3}). Single phase CFD simulation using open source CFD code [OpenFOAM-2.2] was performed for different tube inclination angles (α) (w.r.t. to vertical direction) in the range 0° ⩽ α ⩽ 90°. The results indicate that the heat transfer coefficient increases with increase in tube inclination angle. The heat transfer was found to be maximum for α = 90° and minimum for α = 15°. This behavior is due to the interaction between the primary flow (due to pressure gradient) and secondary flow (due to buoyancy force). The primary flow enhanced the fluid sliding motion at the tube top whereas the secondary flow resulted in enhancement in fluid motion along the circumference of tube. As the angle of inclination (α) of the tube was increased, the

Update and evaluation of decay data for spent nuclear fuel analyses

Science.gov (United States)

Simeonov, Teodosi; Wemple, Charles

2017-09-01

Studsvik's approach to spent nuclear fuel analyses combines isotopic concentrations and multi-group cross-sections, calculated by the CASMO5 or HELIOS2 lattice transport codes, with core irradiation history data from the SIMULATE5 reactor core simulator and tabulated isotopic decay data. These data sources are used and processed by the code SNF to predict spent nuclear fuel characteristics. Recent advances in the generation procedure for the SNF decay data are presented. The SNF decay data includes basic data, such as decay constants, atomic masses and nuclide transmutation chains; radiation emission spectra for photons from radioactive decay, alpha-n reactions, bremsstrahlung, and spontaneous fission, electrons and alpha particles from radioactive decay, and neutrons from radioactive decay, spontaneous fission, and alpha-n reactions; decay heat production; and electro-atomic interaction data for bremsstrahlung production. These data are compiled from fundamental (ENDF, ENSDF, TENDL) and processed (ESTAR) sources for nearly 3700 nuclides. A rigorous evaluation procedure of internal consistency checks and comparisons to measurements and benchmarks, and code-to-code verifications is performed at the individual isotope level and using integral characteristics on a fuel assembly level (e.g., decay heat, radioactivity, neutron and gamma sources). Significant challenges are presented by the scope and complexity of the data processing, a dearth of relevant detailed measurements, and reliance on theoretical models for some data.

Update and evaluation of decay data for spent nuclear fuel analyses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Simeonov Teodosi

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Studsvik’s approach to spent nuclear fuel analyses combines isotopic concentrations and multi-group cross-sections, calculated by the CASMO5 or HELIOS2 lattice transport codes, with core irradiation history data from the SIMULATE5 reactor core simulator and tabulated isotopic decay data. These data sources are used and processed by the code SNF to predict spent nuclear fuel characteristics. Recent advances in the generation procedure for the SNF decay data are presented. The SNF decay data includes basic data, such as decay constants, atomic masses and nuclide transmutation chains; radiation emission spectra for photons from radioactive decay, alpha-n reactions, bremsstrahlung, and spontaneous fission, electrons and alpha particles from radioactive decay, and neutrons from radioactive decay, spontaneous fission, and alpha-n reactions; decay heat production; and electro-atomic interaction data for bremsstrahlung production. These data are compiled from fundamental (ENDF, ENSDF, TENDL and processed (ESTAR sources for nearly 3700 nuclides. A rigorous evaluation procedure of internal consistency checks and comparisons to measurements and benchmarks, and code-to-code verifications is performed at the individual isotope level and using integral characteristics on a fuel assembly level (e.g., decay heat, radioactivity, neutron and gamma sources. Significant challenges are presented by the scope and complexity of the data processing, a dearth of relevant detailed measurements, and reliance on theoretical models for some data.

Black hole decay as geodesic motion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gupta, Kumar S.; Sen, Siddhartha

2003-01-01

We show that a formalism for analyzing the near-horizon conformal symmetry of Schwarzschild black holes using a scalar field probe is capable of describing black hole decay. The equation governing black hole decay can be identified as the geodesic equation in the space of black hole masses. This provides a novel geometric interpretation for the decay of black holes. Moreover, this approach predicts a precise correction term to the usual expression for the decay rate of black holes

A brief description of ENDF/B-IV format data for inventory and decay heating calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tobias, A.

1976-07-01

In recent years there has been considerable effort directed towards establishing an international standard format for computerised nuclear data files. At the recent conference on Fission Product Nuclear Data (Bologna, 1973) it was agreed that the ENDF/B format, with certain modifications, be adopted as the standard format for the exchange of such data. A brief description of the basic ENDF/B-IV format of nuclear data files for inventory and decay heat calculations is presented. Although data exchange and inter-comparison will be simple for all files using this format, the data is not generally in a form which can be used directly by inventory codes. One solution to this problem may be for each code to possess a 'translating' routine for rearranging the data into its own format. (author)

Experimental investigations on scaled models for the SNR-2 decay heat removal by natural convection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoffmann, H.; Weinberg, D.; Tschoeke, H.; Frey, H.H.; Pertmer, G.

1986-01-01

Scaled water models are used to prove the mode of function of the decay heat removal by natural convection for the SNR-2. The 2D and 3D models were designed to reach the characteristic numbers (Richardson, Peclet) of the reactor. In the experiments on 2D models the position of the immersed cooler (IC) and the power were varied. Temperature fields and velocities were measured. The IC installed as a separate component in the hot plenum resulted in a very complex flow behavior and low temperatures. Integrating the IC in the IHX showed a very simple circulating flow and high temperatures within the hot plenum. With increasing power only slightly rising temperature differences within the core and IC were detected. Recalculations using the COMMIX 1B code gave qualitatively satisfying results. (author)

Sequential decay of Reggeons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoshida, Toshihiro

1981-01-01

Probabilities of meson production in the sequential decay of Reggeons, which are formed from the projectile and the target in the hadron-hadron to Reggeon-Reggeon processes, are investigated. It is assumed that pair creation of heavy quarks and simultaneous creation of two antiquark-quark pairs are negligible. The leading-order terms with respect to ratio of creation probabilities of anti s s to anti u u (anti d d) are calculated. The production cross sections in the target fragmentation region are given in terms of probabilities in the initial decay of the Reggeons and an effect of manyparticle production. (author)

Source Term Characteristics Analysis for Structural Components in PWR spent fuel assembly

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kook, Dong Hak; Choi, Heui Joo; Cho, Dong Keun [KAERI, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2010-12-15

Source terms of metal waste comprising a spent fuel assembly are relatively important when the spent fuel is pyroprocessed, because cesium, strontium, and transuranics are not a concern any more in the aspect of source term of permanent disposal. In this study, characteristics of radiation source terms for each structural component in spent fuel assembly was analyzed by using ORIGEN-S with a assumption that 10 metric tons of uranium is pyroprocessed. At first, mass and volume for each structural component of the fuel assembly were calculated in detail. Activation cross section library was generated by using KENO-VI/ORIGEN-S module for top-end piece and bottom-end piece, because those are located at outer core under different neutron spectrum compared to that of inner core. As a result, values of radioactivity, decay heat, and hazard index were reveled to be 1.32x1015 Bequerels, 238 Watts, 4.32x109 m3 water, respectively, at 10 years after discharge. Those values correspond to 0.6 %, 1.1 %, 0.1 %, respectively, compared to that of spent fuel. Inconel 718 grid plate was shown to be the most important component in the all aspects of radioactivity, decay heat, and hazard index although the mass occupies only 1 % of the total. It was also shown that if the Inconel 718 grid plate is managed separately, the radioactivity and hazard index of metal waste could be decreased to 25{approx}50 % and 35{approx}40 %, respectively. As a whole, decay heat of metal waste was shown to be negligible in the aspect of disposal system design, while the radioactivity and hazard index are important

Heat transfer characteristics and operation limit of pressurized hybrid heat pipe for small modular reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Kyung Mo; Bang, In Cheol

2017-01-01

Highlights: • Thermal performances and operation limits of hybrid heat pipe were experimentally studied. • Models for predicting the operation limit of the hybrid heat pipe was developed. • Non-condensable gas affected heat transfer characteristics of the hybrid heat pipe. - Abstract: In this paper, a hybrid heat pipe is proposed for use in advanced nuclear power plants as a passive heat transfer device. The hybrid heat pipe combines the functions of a heat pipe and a control rod to simultaneously remove the decay heat generated from the core and shutdown the reactor under accident conditions. Thus, the hybrid heat pipe contains a neutron absorber in the evaporator section, which corresponds to the core of the reactor pressure vessel. The presence of the neutron absorber material leads to differences in the heated diameter and hydraulic diameter of the heat pipe. The cross-sectional areas of the vapor paths through the evaporator, adiabatic, and condenser sections are also different. The hybrid heat pipe must operate in a high-temperature, high-pressure environment to remove the decay heat. In other words, the operating pressure must be higher than those of the commercially available thermosyphons. Hence, the thermal performances, including operation limit of the hybrid heat pipe, were experimentally studied in the operating pressure range of 0.2–20 bar. The operating pressure of the hybrid heat pipe was controlled by charging the non-condensable gas which is unused method to achieve the high saturation pressure in conventional thermosyphons. The effect of operating pressure on evaporation heat transfer was negligible, while condensation heat transfer was affected by the amount of non-condensable gas in the test section. The operation limit of the hybrid heat pipe increased with the operating pressure. Maximum heat removal capacity of the hybrid heat pipe was up to 6 kW which is meaningful value as a passive decay heat removal device in the nuclear power

Development of nuclear decay data library JDDL, and nuclear generation and decay calculation code COMRAD

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naito, Yoshitaka; Ihara, Hitoshi; Katakura, Jun-ichi; Hara, Toshiharu.

1986-08-01

For safety evaluation of nuclear fuel facilities, a nuclear decay data library named JDDL and a computer code COMRAD have been developed to calculate isotopic composition of each nuclide, radiation source intensity, energy spectrum of γ-ray and neutron, and decay heat of spent fuel. JDDL has been produced mainly from the evaluated nuclear data file ENSDF to use new nuclear data. To supplement the data file for short life nuclides, the JNDC data set were also used which had been evaluated by Japan Nuclear Data Committee. Using these data, calculations became possible from short period to long period after irradiation. (author)

Long-term heat stress induces the inflammatory response in dairy cows revealed by plasma proteome analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Min, Li; Zheng, Nan; Zhao, Shengguo; Cheng, Jianbo; Yang, Yongxin; Zhang, Yangdong; Yang, Hongjian; Wang, Jiaqi

2016-03-04

In this work we employed a comparative proteomic approach to evaluate seasonal heat stress and investigate proteomic alterations in plasma of dairy cows. Twelve lactating Holstein dairy cows were used and the treatments were: heat stress (n = 6) in hot summer (at the beginning of the moderate heat stress) and no heat stress (n = 6) in spring natural ambient environment, respectively. Subsequently, heat stress treatment lasted 23 days (at the end of the moderate heat stress) to investigate the alterations of plasma proteins, which might be employed as long-term moderate heat stress response in dairy cows. Changes in plasma proteins were analyzed by two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) combined with mass spectrometry. Analysis of the properties of the identified proteins revealed that the alterations of plasma proteins were related to inflammation in long-term moderate heat stress. Furthermore, the increase in plasma tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) directly demonstrated that long-term moderate heat stress caused an inflammatory response in dairy cows. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Heat transfer performance test of PDHRS heat exchangers of PGSFR using STELLA-1 facility

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hong, Jonggan, E-mail: hong@kaeri.re.kr; Yeom, Sujin; Eoh, Jae-Hyuk; Lee, Tae-Ho; Jeong, Ji-Young

2017-03-15

Highlights: • Heat transfer performance test of heat exchangers of PGSFR PDHRS is conducted using STELLA-1 facility. • Steady-state test results of DHX and AHX show good agreement with theoretical results of design codes. • Design codes for DHX and AHX are validated by STELLA-1 experimental results. • Heat transport capability of DHX and AHX is turned out to be satisfactory for reliable plant operation. - Abstract: The STELLA-1 facility was designed and constructed to carry out separate effect tests of the decay heat exchanger (DHX) and natural draft sodium-to-air heat exchanger (AHX), which are key components of the safety-grade decay heat removal system in PGSFR. The DHX is a sodium-to-sodium heat exchanger with a straight tube arrangement, and the AHX is a sodium-to-air heat exchanger with a helically coiled tube arrangement. The model heat exchangers in STELLA-1 have been designed to meet their own similitude conditions from the prototype ones, of which scale ratios were set to be unity in height (or length) and 1/2.5 in heat transfer rate. Consequently, the overall heat transfer coefficients and log-mean temperature differences of the prototypes have been preserved as well. The steady-state test results for each model heat exchanger obtained from STELLA-1 showed good agreement with the theoretical results of the computer design codes for thermal-sizing and a performance analysis of the DHX and AHX. In the DHX result comparison, the discrepancies in the heat transfer rate ranged from −4.4% to 2.0%, and in the AHX result comparison, they ranged from −11.1% to 12.6%. Therefore, the first step in thermal design codes validation for sodium heat exchangers, e.g., DHX and AHX, has been successfully completed with the experimental database obtained from STELLA-1. In addition, the heat transfer performance of the DHX and AHX was found to be satisfactory enough to secure a reliable decay heat removal performance.

[Dynamics of tooth decay prevalence in children receiving long-term preventive program in school dental facilities].

Science.gov (United States)

Avraamova, O G; Kulazhenko, T V; Gabitova, K F

2016-01-01

The paper presents the assessment of tooth decay prevalence in clinically homogenous groups of children receiving long-term preventive program (PP) in school dental facilities. Five-years PP were introduced in clinical practice in 2 Moscow schools. Preventive treatment was performed by dental hygienist. The results show that systematic preventive treatment in school dental offices starting from elementary school allows reducing dental caries incidence 46-53% and stabilize the incidence of caries complications. It should be mentioned though that analysis of individualized outcomes proves heterogeneity of study results despite of equal conditions of PP. Potentially significant hence is early diagnostics and treatment of initial caries forms as demineralization foci, especially in children with intensive tooth decay. Optimization of pediatric dentist and dental hygienist activity in school dental facilities is the main factor of caries prevention efficiency.

Decay property of Timoshenko system in thermoelasticity

KAUST Repository

Said-Houari, Belkacem

2011-12-30

We investigate the decay property of a Timoshenko system of thermoelasticity in the whole space for both Fourier and Cattaneo laws of heat conduction. We point out that although the paradox of infinite propagation speed inherent in the Fourier law is removed by changing to the Cattaneo law, the latter always leads to a solution with the decay property of the regularity-loss type. The main tool used to prove our results is the energy method in the Fourier space together with some integral estimates. We derive L 2 decay estimates of solutions and observe that for the Fourier law the decay structure of solutions is of the regularity-loss type if the wave speeds of the first and the second equations in the system are different. For the Cattaneo law, decay property of the regularity-loss type occurs no matter what the wave speeds are. In addition, by restricting the initial data to U 0∈H s(R)∩L 1,γ(R) with a suitably large s and γ ∈ [0,1], we can derive faster decay estimates with the decay rate improvement by a factor of t -γ/2. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Effect of short-term exercise-heat acclimation on ventilatory and cerebral blood flow responses to passive heating at rest in humans.

Science.gov (United States)

Fujii, Naoto; Tsuji, Bun; Honda, Yasushi; Kondo, Narihiko; Nishiyasu, Takeshi

2015-09-01

Hyperthermia induces hyperventilation and cerebral hypoperfusion in resting humans. We tested the hypothesis that short-term exercise-heat acclimation would alleviate those effects. Twenty healthy male subjects were divided into two groups that performed exercise training in the heat (TR-HEAT, n = 10) or cold (TR-COLD, n = 10). Before and after the training, the subjects in both groups participated in passive-heat tests at rest. Training was performed at 37°C (TR-HEAT) or 10°C (TR-COLD) and entailed four 20-min bouts of cycling at 50% peak oxygen uptake separated by 10-min recoveries daily for 6 consecutive days. After TR-HEAT, esophageal temperature was lowered when measured before and during passive heating, as was the esophageal temperature threshold for cutaneous active vasodilation, whereas plasma volume was increased (all P heat acclimation were not all induced by TR-COLD (all P > 0.05). TR-HEAT had no significant effect on passive heating-induced increases in minute ventilation, even when evaluated as the esophageal temperature threshold for increases in minute ventilation and the slope relating minute ventilation to esophageal temperature (all P > 0.05). By contrast, TR-HEAT attenuated the passive heating-induced reduction in the cerebral vascular conductance index (middle cerebral artery mean blood velocity/mean arterial pressure) (all P heating (all P > 0.05). These data suggest that in resting heated humans, short-term heat acclimation achieved through moderate-intensity exercise training (i.e., 50% peak oxygen uptake) in the heat does not influence hyperthermia-induced hyperventilation, but it does potentially attenuate cerebral hypoperfusion. Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.

Flavor mixing and charm decay

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chau Wang, L.C.

1980-01-01

The results of mixing matrix determination and their implications on heavy quark decays are given. The decays of charm mesons D 0 , D + , F + into two pseudoscalar mesons are discussed in the framework of SU(3) symmetry. The charm decays are also discussed in terms of quark diagrams. It is demonstrated that the differences observed in the lifetimes of D 0 and D + , and in the branching ratios B(D 0 → K - K + ) and B(D 0 → π - π + ) can be easily incorporated. 3 figures

Ultra-Rare B Decays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grinstein, Benjamin

2004-01-01

A good place to look for deviations from the Standard Model is in decay modes of B mesons, like purely leptonic decays B → lv, for which a very long Standard Model lifetime is due to an accidental suppression of the decay amplitude. For other rare decay modes involving no hadrons in the final state (e.g., B → γl+l-, B → γlvl and B → vv-barγ) new results on QCD factorization in exclusive processes show that all the decay rates are given in terms of a single universal form factor. Hence, trustworthy relations between different processes can be used to test the Standard Model of electroweak interactions. Sometimes, surprisingly, a large energy expansion may allow computation when a hadron is in the final state. An example is B → πl+l- which can be used to settle the ambiguity in α from a measurement of sin2α from CP asymmetries

Enhanced short-term sensitization of facial compared with limb heat pain.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmidt, Katharina; Schunke, Odette; Forkmann, Katarina; Bingel, Ulrike

2015-08-01

Habituation and sensitization are important features of individual sensitivity to repetitive noxious stimulation and have been investigated in numerous studies. However, it is unclear whether these phenomena vary depending on the site of stimulation. Here we compared short-term and long-term effects of painful heat stimulation on the forehead and limb using an established longitudinal heat pain paradigm performed over 8 consecutive days in 36 healthy volunteers. Participants were randomized into 2 groups; participants received repetitive heat pain stimulation either on the left volar forearm or on the left side of the forehead. Our data show a comparable degree of habituation over the course of 8 days in both groups. However, participants in the trigeminal stimulation group exhibited stronger within-session sensitization (indexed by a higher within-session increase in pain intensity ratings) than those who received the forearm stimulation. Furthermore, over the course of the experiment we found a correlation between habituation and anxiety, showing less habituation in participants with higher trait anxiety scores. Our findings are in line with somatotopic differences in response to painful stimulation and a higher proneness of trigeminal pain to sensitization processes, which might be explained by the biological relevance of the head and facial area for vital functions. The contribution of this sensitivity to the development and maintenance of clinical facial pain and headache disorders warrants further investigation. This study uses psychophysical methods to evaluate the differences in long-term habituation and short-term sensitization to heat pain between the trigeminal and spinal systems. We found stronger sensitization for trigeminal compared with nociceptive stimuli on the forearm. The contribution of this sensitivity to clinical pain states warrants further investigation. Copyright © 2015 American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Numerical scalings of the decay lengths in the scrape-off layer

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Militello, F.; Naulin, V; Nielsen, Anders Henry

2013-01-01

Numerical simulations of L-mode turbulence in the scrape-off layer (SOL) are used to construct power scaling laws for the characteristic decay lengths of the temperature, density and heat flux at the outer mid-plane. Most of the results obtained are in qualitative agreement with the experimental...... observations despite the known limitation of the model. Quantitative agreement is also obtained for some exponents. In particular, an almost linear inverse dependence of the heat flux decay length with the plasma current is recovered. The relative simplicity of the theoretical model used allows one to gain...

Analysis of removal of residual decay heat from interim storage facilities by means of the CFD program FLUENT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stratmann, W.; Hages, P.

2004-01-01

Within the scope of nuclear licensing procedures of on-site interim storage facilities for dual purpose casks it is necessary, among other things, to provide proof of sufficient removal of the residual decay heat emitted by the casks. The results of the analyses performed for this purpose define e.g. the boundary conditions for further thermal analyses regarding the permissible cask component temperatures or the maximum permissible temperatures of the fuel cladding tubes of the fuel elements stored in the casks. Up to now, for the centralized interim storage facilities in Germany such analyses were performed on the basis of experimental investigations using scaled-down storage geometries. In the engineering phase of the Lingen on-site interim storage facility, proof was furnished for the first time using the CFD (computational fluid dynamics) program FLUENT. The program FLUENT is an internationally recognized and comprehensively verified program for the calculation of flow and heat transport processes. Starting from a brief discussion of modeling and the different boundary conditions of the computation, this contribution presents various results regarding the temperatures of air, cask surfaces and storage facility components, the mass flows through the storage facility and the heat transfer at the cask surface. The interface point to the cask-specific analyses is defined to be the cask surface

CFD modeling and thermal-hydraulic analysis for the passive decay heat removal of a sodium-cooled fast reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hung, T.C.; Dhir, V.K.; Chang, J.C.; Wang, S.K.

2011-01-01

Research highlights: → The COOLOD/N2 and PARET/ANL codes were used for a steady-state thermal-hydraulic and safety analysis of the 2 MW TRIGA MARK II reactor located at the Nuclear Studies Center of Maamora (CENM), Morocco. → The main objective of this study is to ensure the safety margins of different safety related parameters by steady-state calculations at full power level (2 MW). → The most important conclusion is that all obtained values of DNBR, fuel center and surface temperature, cladding surface temperature and coolant temperature across the hottest channel are largely far to compromise safety of the reactor. - Abstract: In this study, a pool-typed design similar to sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) of the fourth generation reactors has been modeled using CFD simulations to investigate the characteristics of a passive mechanism of Shutdown Heat Removal System (SHRS). The main aim is to refine the reactor pool design in terms of temperature safety margin of the sodium pool. Thus, an appropriate protection mechanism is maintained in order to ensure the safety and integrity of the reactor system during a shutdown mode without using any active heat removal system. The impacts on the pool temperature are evaluated based on the following considerations: (1) the aspect ratio of pool diameter to depth, (2) the values of thermal emissivity of the surface materials of reactor and guard vessels, and (3) innerpool liner and core periphery structures. The computational results show that an optimal pool design in geometry can reduce the maximum pool temperature down to ∼551 o C which is substantially lower than ∼627 o C as calculated for the reference case. It is also concluded that the passive Reactor Air Cooling System (RACS) is effective in removing decay heat after shutdown. Furthermore, thermal radiation from the surface of the reactor vessel is found to be important; and thus, the selection of the vessel surface materials with a high emissivity would be a

Natural convection heat transfer in a rectangular pool with volumetric heat sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Seung Dong; Lee, Kang Hee; Suh, Kune Y.

2003-01-01

Natural convection plays an important role in determining the thermal load from debris accumulated in the reactor vessel lower head during a severe accident. The heat transfer within the molten core material can be characterized by buoyancy-induced flows resulting from internal heating due to decay of fission products. The thermo-fluid dynamic characteristics of the molten pool depend strongly on the thermal boundary conditions. The spatial and temporal variation of heat flux on the pool wall boundaries and the pool superheat are mainly characterized by the natural convection flow inside the molten pool. In general, natural convection involving internal heat generation is delineated in terms of the modified Rayleigh number, Ra', which quantifies the internal heat source and hence the strength of buoyancy. The test section is of rectangular cavity whose length, width, and height are 500 mm, 80 mm, and 250 mm, respectively. A total of twenty-four T-type thermocouples were installed in the test loop to measure temperature distribution. Four T-type thermocouples were utilized to measure temperatures on the boundary. A direct heating method was adopted in this test to simulate the uniform heat generation. The experiments covered a range of Rayleigh number, Ra, between 4.87x10 7 and 2.32x10 14 and Prandtl number, Pr, between 0.7 and 3.98. Tests were conducted with water and air as simulant. The upper and lower boundary conditions were maintained at a uniform temperature of 10degC. (author)

The Collection of Event Data and its Relevance to the Optimisation of Decay Heat Rejection Systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roughley, R.; Jones, N.

1975-01-01

The precision with which the reliability of DHR (Decay Heat Rejection) systems for nuclear reactors can be predicted depends not only upon model representation but also on the accuracy of the data used. In the preliminary design stages when models are being used to arrive at major engineering decisions in relation to plant configuration, the best the designer can do is use the data available at the time. With the present state of the art it is acknowledged that some degree of judgement will have to be exercised particularly for plant involving sodium technology where a large amount of operational experience has not yet been generated. This paper reviews the current efforts being deployed in the acquisition of field data relevant to DHR systems so that improvements in reliability predictions may be realised

The effects of moderately high temperature on zeaxanthin accumulation and decay.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Ru; Kramer, David M; Cruz, Jeffrey A; Struck, Kimberly R; Sharkey, Thomas D

2011-09-01

Moderately high temperature reduces photosynthetic capacities of leaves with large effects on thylakoid reactions of photosynthesis, including xanthophyll conversion in the lipid phase of the thylakoid membrane. In previous studies, we have found that leaf temperature of 40°C increased zeaxanthin accumulation in dark-adapted, intact tobacco leaves following a brief illumination, but did not change the amount of zeaxanthin in light-adatped leaves. To investigate heat effects on zeaxanthin accumulation and decay, zeaxanthin level was monitored optically in dark-adapted, intact tobacco and Arabidopsis thaliana leaves at either 23 or 40°C under 45-min illumination. Heated leaves had more zeaxanthin following 3-min light but had less or comparable amounts of zeaxanthin by the end of 45 min of illumination. Zeaxanthin accumulated faster at light initiation and decayed faster upon darkening in leaves at 40°C than leaves at 23°C, indicating that heat increased the activities of both violaxanthin de-epoxidase (VDE) and zeaxanthin epoxidase (ZE). In addition, our optical measurement demonstrated in vivo that weak light enhances zeaxanthin decay relative to darkness in intact leaves of tobacco and Arabidopsis, confirming previous observations in isolated spinach chloroplasts. However, the maximum rate of decay is similar for weak light and darkness, and we used the maximum rate of decay following darkness as a measure of the rate of ZE during steady-state light. A simulation indicated that high temperature should cause a large shift in the pH dependence of the amount of zeaxanthin in leaves because of differential effects on VDE and ZE. This allows for the reduction in ΔpH caused by heat to be offset by increased VDE activity relative to ZE.

Source Term Characterization for Structural Components in 17 x 17 KOFA Spent Fuel Assembly

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cho, Dong Keun; Kook, Dong Hak; Choi, Heui Joo; Choi, Jong Won [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2010-12-15

Source terms of metal waste comprising a spent fuel assembly are relatively important when the spent fuel is pyroprocessed, because cesium, strontium, and transuranics are not a concern any more in the aspect of source term of permanent disposal. In this study, characteristics of radiation source terms for each structural component in spent fuel assembly was analyzed by using ORIGEN-S with a assumption that 10 metric tons of uranium is pyroprocessed. At first, mass and volume for each structural component of the fuel assembly were calculated in detail. Activation cross section library was generated by using KENO-VI/ORIGEN-S module for top-end piece and bottom-end piece, because those are located at outer core with different neutron spectrum compared to that of inner core. As a result, values of radioactivity, decay heat, and hazard index were reveled to be 1.40 x 10{sup 15} Bequerels, 236 Watts, 4.34 x 10{sup 9} m{sup 3}-water, respectively, at 10 years after discharge. Those values correspond to 0.7 %, 1.1 %, 0.1 %, respectively, compared to that of spent fuel. Inconel 718 grid plate was shown to be the most important component in the all aspects of radioactivity, decay heat, and hazard index although the mass occupies only 1 % of the total. It was also shown that if the Inconel 718 grid plate is managed separately, the radioactivity and hazard index of metal waste could be decreased to 20 {approx} 45 % and 30 {approx} 45 %, respectively. As a whole, decay heat of metal waste was shown to be negligible in the aspect of disposal system design, while the radioactivity and hazard index are important.

Possible biphasic sweating response during short-term heat acclimation protocol for tropical natives.

Science.gov (United States)

Magalhães, Flávio de Castro; Machado-Moreira, Christiano Antônio; Vimieiro-Gomes, Ana Carolina; Silami-Garcia, Emerson; Lima, Nilo Resende Viana; Rodrigues, Luiz Oswaldo Carneiro

2006-05-01

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the sweat loss response during short-term heat acclimation in tropical natives. Six healthy young male subjects, inhabitants of a tropical region, were heat acclimated by means of nine days of one-hour heat-exercise treatments (40+/-0 degrees C and 32+/-1% relative humidity; 50% (.)VO(2peak) on a cycle ergometer). On days 1 to 9 of heat acclimation whole-body sweat loss was calculated by body weight variation corrected for body surface area. On days 1 and 9 rectal temperature (T(re)) and heart rate (HR) were measured continuously, and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) every 4 minutes. Heat acclimation was confirmed by reduced HR (day 1 rest: 77+/-5 b.min(-1); day 9 rest: 68+/-3 b.min(-1); day 1 final exercise: 161+/-15 b.min(-1); day 9 final exercise: 145+/-11 b.min(-1), p0.05) of the protocol. These findings are consistent with the heat acclimation induced adaptations and suggest a biphasic sweat response (an increase in the sweat rate in the middle of the protocol followed by return to initial values by the end of it) during short-term heat acclimation in tropical natives.

Analytical studies on the impact of using repeated-rib roughness in LMR [Liquid Metal Reactor] decay heat removal systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Obot, N.T.; Tessier, J.H.; Pedersen, D.R.

1988-01-01

A numerical study was carried out to determine the effects of roughness on the thermal performance of Liquid Metal Reactor (LMR) decay heat removal systems for a range of possible design configurations and operating conditions. The ranges covered for relative rib height (e/D/sub h/), relative pitch (p/e) and flow attack angle were 0.026--0.103, 5--20 and 0--90 degrees, successively. The heat flux was varied between 1.1 and 21.5 kW/m 2 (0.1 and 2.0 kW/ft 2 ). Calculations were made for three cases: smooth duct with no ribs, ribs on both the guard vessel and collector wall, and ribs on the collector wall only. The results indicate that significant benefits, amounting to nearly two-fold reductions in guard vessel and collector wall temperatures, can be realized by placing repeated ribs on both the guard vessel and the collector wall. The magnitudes of the reduction in the reactor vessel temperature are considerably smaller. In general, the level of improvement, be it with respect to temperature or heat flux, is only mildly affected by changes in rib height or pitch but exhibits greater sensitivity to the assumed value for the system form loss. When the ribs are placed only on the collector wall, the heat removal capability is substantially reduced

Experimental evaluation of sodium to air heat exchanger performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vinod, V.; Pathak, S.P.; Paunikar, V.D.; Suresh Kumar, V.A.; Noushad, I.B.; Rajan, K.K.

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► Sodium to air heat exchangers are used to remove the decay heat produced in fast breeder reactor after shutdown. ► Finned tube sodium to air heat exchanger with sodium on tube side was tested for its heat transfer performance. ► A one dimensional computer code was validated by the experimental data obtained. ► Non uniform sodium and air flow distribution was present in the heat exchanger. - Abstract: Sodium to air heat exchangers (AHXs) is used in Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) circuits to reject the decay heat produced by the radioactive decay of the fission products after reactor shutdown, to the atmospheric air. The heat removal through sodium to air heat exchanger maintains the temperature of reactor components in the pool within safe limits in case of non availability of normal heat transport path. The performance of sodium to air heat exchanger is very critical to ensure high reliability of the decay heat removal systems in sodium cooled fast breeder reactors. Hence experimental evaluation of the adequacy of the heat transfer capability gives confidence to the designers. A finned tube cross flow sodium to air heat exchanger of 2 MW heat transfer capacity with sodium on tube side and air on shell side was tested in the Steam Generator Test Facility at Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research, India. Heat transfer experiments were carried out with forced circulation of sodium and air, which confirmed the adequacy of heat removal capacity of the heat exchanger. The testing showed that 2.34 MW of heat power is transferred from sodium to air at nominal flow and temperature conditions. A one dimensional computer code developed for design and analysis of the sodium to air heat exchanger was validated by the experimental data obtained. An equivalent Nusselt number, Nu eq is derived by approximating that the resistance of heat transfer from sodium to air is contributed only by the film resistance of air. The variation of Nu eq with respect

Laboratory Testing of Solar Combi System with Compact Long Term PCM Heat Storage

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Johansen, Jakob Berg; Englmair, Gerald; Dannemand, Mark

2016-01-01

To enable the transition from fossil fuels as a primary heat source for domestic hot water preparation and space heating solar thermal energy has great potential. The heat from the sun has the disadvantage that it is not always available when there is a demand. To solve this mismatch a thermal...... seasonal storage can be used to store excess heat from the summer to the winter when the demand is higher than the supply. Installing a long term thermal storage in a one family house it needs to be compact and sensible heat storages are not suitable. A latent heat storage with a phase change material (PCM...

Radiation characteristics of spent nuclear fuel at accumulation in long-term storage

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bergelson, Boris R.; Gerasimov, Aleksander S.

1999-01-01

Time dependence of a decay heat power and radiotoxicity of a single spent nuclear fuel unloading of VVER-1000 reactors at its storage or the same characteristics in accumulation mode with annual addition of spent nuclear fuel in long-term storage are investigated. At calculations of decay heat power, the contributions of alpha-, beta-, and gamma- irradiations were taken into account, at calculations of a radiotoxicity - maximum permissible activity of nuclides in air and in water were taken into account. It is determined that at accumulation less than 100 years, the main contribution to decay heat power is given by fission products, at further storage the power is determined in greater degree by actinides. The radiotoxicity of actinides by air is rich greater than that of fission products - more than 50 times in beginning of a storage and by 2-3 orders of magnitude after 100 and more years. A radiotoxicity of fission products by water at accumulation less than 20 years is a little bit more than actinides, at further accumulation the contribution of fission products decreases. At time of accumulation 100 years, the fission products give the contribution in total radiotoxicity about 40%, at time 1000 years - about 7%. (author)

Aspects of radiative K+e3 decays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kubis, B.; Mueller, E.H.; Gasser, J.; Schmid, M.

2007-01-01

We re-investigate the radiative charged kaon decay K ± →π 0 e ± ν e γ [K e3γ ± ] in chiral perturbation theory, merging the chiral expansion with Low's theorem. We thoroughly analyze the precision of the predicted branching ratio relative to the non-radiative decay channel. Structure dependent terms and their impact on differential decay distributions are investigated in detail, and the possibility to see effects of the chiral anomaly in this decay channel is emphasized. (orig.)

Decay property of Timoshenko system in thermoelasticity

KAUST Repository

Said-Houari, Belkacem; Kasimov, Aslan R.

2011-01-01

We investigate the decay property of a Timoshenko system of thermoelasticity in the whole space for both Fourier and Cattaneo laws of heat conduction. We point out that although the paradox of infinite propagation speed inherent in the Fourier law

Safety studies on heat transport and afterheat removal for GCR accident conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hishida, Makoto

1996-01-01

The IAEA coordinated an international research program on 'Heat Transport and Afterheat Removal for GCRs under Accident Conditions (CRP-3)'. America, China, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands and Russia participate the program. Final goal of the program is to show clearly to the world one of the most important salient features of the HTGR, that is the HTGR reactor can be cooled down by passive measures without causing any damage to the nuclear reactor system even in accidental conditions, and to make clear the boundaries (or restrictions) for the passive cooling regime. The first 5 year term of the coordinate program started in 1993 and established a goal to improve common knowledge for decay heat removal and to improve our tools, like computer codes and analytical models for the prediction of the performance of decay heat removal system. We are now performing benchmark problems for these purposes. The present efforts are concentrated on the benchmark for the passive heat removal performance outside the reactor vessel, partly because we have two different type of the HTGR in the world, the pebble bed type and the block type reactor. They have quite different heat dissipation behavior inside the reactor vessel. However, they have quite similar residual heat removal process outside the reactor vessel. For the first step of the international cooperation, we selected the common problem. After finishing the present benchmark we are planning to proceed to tackle the inside heat removal problem. (J.P.N.)

Estimation of heat transfer and heat source in a molten pool

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yun, J.I.; Suh, K.Y.; Kang, C.S. [Seoul National Univ., Dept. of Nuclear Engineering (Korea, Republic of)

2001-07-01

Heat transfer and fluid flow in a molten pool are influenced by internal volumetric heat generated from the radioactive decay of fission product species retained in the pool. The pool superheat is determined based on the overall energy balance that equates the heat production rate to the heat loss rate. Decay heat of fission products in the pool was estimated by product of the mass concentration and energy conversion factor of each fission product. For the calculation of heat generation rate in the pool, twenty-nine (29) elements were chosen and classified by their chemical properties. The mass concentration of a fission product is obtained from released fraction and the tabular output of the ORIGEN 2 code. The initial core and pool inventories at each time can also be estimated using ORIGEN 2. The released fraction of each fission product is calculated based on the bubble dynamics and mass transport. Numerical analysis was performed for the TMI-2 accident. The pool is assumed to be a partially filled hemispherical geometry, 1.45 m in radius and 32,700 kg in mass. The change of pool geometry during the numerical calculation was neglected. The peak temperature sizably decreased by about 60 K as the fission products were released from the pool. (author)

Estimation of heat transfer and heat source in a molten pool

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yun, J.I.; Suh, K.Y.; Kang, C.S.

2001-01-01

Heat transfer and fluid flow in a molten pool are influenced by internal volumetric heat generated from the radioactive decay of fission product species retained in the pool. The pool superheat is determined based on the overall energy balance that equates the heat production rate to the heat loss rate. Decay heat of fission products in the pool was estimated by product of the mass concentration and energy conversion factor of each fission product. For the calculation of heat generation rate in the pool, twenty-nine (29) elements were chosen and classified by their chemical properties. The mass concentration of a fission product is obtained from released fraction and the tabular output of the ORIGEN 2 code. The initial core and pool inventories at each time can also be estimated using ORIGEN 2. The released fraction of each fission product is calculated based on the bubble dynamics and mass transport. Numerical analysis was performed for the TMI-2 accident. The pool is assumed to be a partially filled hemispherical geometry, 1.45 m in radius and 32,700 kg in mass. The change of pool geometry during the numerical calculation was neglected. The peak temperature sizably decreased by about 60 K as the fission products were released from the pool. (author)

Iconic Decay in Schizophrenia

OpenAIRE

Hahn, Britta; Kappenman, Emily S.; Robinson, Benjamin M.; Fuller, Rebecca L.; Luck, Steven J.; Gold, James M.

2010-01-01

Working memory impairment is considered a core deficit in schizophrenia, but the precise nature of this deficit has not been determined. Multiple lines of evidence implicate deficits at the encoding stage. During encoding, information is held in a precategorical sensory store termed iconic memory, a literal image of the stimulus with high capacity but rapid decay. Pathologically increased iconic decay could reduce the number of items that can be transferred into working memory before the info...

Decay rates of quarkonia and potential models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rai, Ajay Kumar; Pandya, J N; Vinodkumar, P C

2005-01-01

The decay rates of cc-bar and b-barb mesons have been studied with contributions from different correction terms. The corrections based on hard processes involved in the decays are quantitatively studied in the framework of different phenomenological potential models

Thermal decay in underfloor air distribution (UFAD) systems: Fundamentals and influence on system performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Kwang Ho; Schiavon, Stefano; Bauman, Fred; Webster, Tom

2012-01-01

Graphical abstract: Surface heat transfer breakdown for an underfloor air distribution (UFAD) system supply plenum. Highlights: ► Thermal decay of a UFAD system is considerable (annual median = 3.7 K). ► Thermal decay is driven by heat transfer through both the concrete slab and the raised floor. ► Thermal decay may lead to higher airflow rates and increased fan and chiller energy consumption. -- Abstract: Underfloor air distribution (UFAD) is a mechanical ventilation strategy in which the conditioned air is primarily delivered to the zone from a pressurized plenum through floor mounted diffusers. Compared to conventional overhead (OH) mixing systems, UFAD has several potential advantages, such as improved thermal comfort and indoor air quality (IAQ), layout flexibility, reduced life cycle costs and improved energy efficiency in suitable climates. In ducted OH systems designers have reasonably accurate control of the diffuser supply temperature, while in UFAD this temperature is difficult to predict due to the heat gain of the conditioned air in the supply plenum. The increase in temperature between the air entering the plenum and air leaving through a diffuser is known as thermal decay. In this study, the detailed whole-building energy simulation program, EnergyPlus, was used to explain the fundamentals of thermal decay, to investigate its influence on energy consumption and to study the parameters that affect thermal decay. It turns out that the temperature rise is considerable (annual median = 3.7 K, with 50% of the values between 2.4 and 4.7 K based on annual simulations). Compared to an idealized simulated UFAD case with no thermal decay, elevated diffuser air temperatures can lead to higher supply airflow rate and increased fan and chiller energy consumption. The thermal decay in summer is higher than in winter and it also depends on the climate. The ground floor with a slab on grade has less temperature rise compared to middle and top floors. An

PBMR spent fuel bulk dry storage heat removal - HTR2008-58170

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

De Wet, G. J.; Dent, C.

2008-01-01

A low decay heat (implying Spent Fuel (SF) pebbles older than 8-9 years) bulk dry storage section is proposed to supplement a 12-tank wet storage section. Decay heat removal by passive means must be guaranteed, taking into account the fact that dry storage vessels are under ground and inside the building footprint. Cooling takes place when ambient air (drawn downwards from ground level) passes on the outside of the 6 tanks' vessel containment (and gamma shielding), which is in a separate room inside the building, but outside PBMR building confinement and open to atmosphere. Access for loading/unloading of SF pebbles is only from the top of a tank, which is inside PBMR building confinement. No radioactive substances can therefore leak into atmosphere, as vessel design will take into account corrosion allowance. In this paper, it is shown (using CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) modelling and analytical analyses) that natural convection and draught induced flow combine to remove decay heat in a self-sustaining process. Decay heat is the energy source, which powers the draught inducing capability of the dry storage modular cell system: the more decay heat, the bigger the drive to expel heated air through a higher outlet and entrain cool ambient air from ground level to the bottom of the modular cell. (authors)

Discretization of the Joule heating term for plasma discharge fluid models in unstructured meshes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deconinck, T.; Mahadevan, S.; Raja, L.L.

2009-01-01

The fluid (continuum) approach is commonly used for simulation of plasma phenomena in electrical discharges at moderate to high pressures (>10's mTorr). The description comprises governing equations for charged and neutral species transport and energy equations for electrons and the heavy species, coupled to equations for the electromagnetic fields. The coupling of energy from the electrostatic field to the plasma species is modeled by the Joule heating term which appears in the electron and heavy species (ion) energy equations. Proper numerical discretization of this term is necessary for accurate description of discharge energetics; however, discretization of this term poses a special problem in the case of unstructured meshes owing to the arbitrary orientation of the faces enclosing each cell. We propose a method for the numerical discretization of the Joule heating term using a cell-centered finite volume approach on unstructured meshes with closed convex cells. The Joule heating term is computed by evaluating both the electric field and the species flux at the cell center. The dot product of these two vector quantities is computed to obtain the Joule heating source term. We compare two methods to evaluate the species flux at the cell center. One is based on reconstructing the fluxes at the cell centers from the fluxes at the face centers. The other recomputes the flux at the cell center using the common drift-diffusion approximation. The reconstructed flux scheme is the most stable method and yields reasonably accurate results on coarse meshes.

On the development of a grid-enhanced single-phase convective heat transfer correlation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miller, D.J.; Cheung, F.B.; Bajorek, S.M.

2011-01-01

A new single-phase convective heat transfer augmentation correlation has been developed using single phase steam cooling experimental data obtained from the Penn State/NRC Rod Bundle Heat Transfer (RBHT) facility. Experimental data obtained from the RBHT single phase steam cooling tests have been evaluated and new findings identified. Previous rod bundle tests showed the importance of spacer grid on the local heat transfer, and that the augmentation in heat transfer downstream of a grid decays exponentially. The RBHT data also shows that the Reynolds number affects the rate at which this augmentation decays. The new correlation includes the strong dependence of heat transfer on both the Reynolds number and the grid blockage ratio. While the effects of both parameters were clearly evident in the RBHT experimental data, existing correlations do not account for the Reynolds number effect. The developed correlation incorporates Reynolds number in the decay curve of heat transfer. The newly developed correlation adequately accounts for the dependence of the heat transfer augmentation decay rate on the local flow Reynolds number. (author)

Why measure radon decay products?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rolle, R.; Lettner, H.

1997-01-01

Combined development in spectrometry, instrumentation and ventilation modelling with its dependence on short- and long-term weather fluctuations renders possible a new, economical metrology for radon decay products. Short-term measurements can, with few restrictions, be converted to annual exposures of an accuracy superior to that from conventional medium-term Rn gas measurements. (orig.) [de

Theory of ionospheric heating experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cragin, B.L.

1975-01-01

A brief description of the F region ionospheric heating experiments is given including some historical notes and a brief summary of the observations. A theory for the phenomenon of ''artificial spread F'' is presented. The explanation is in terms of scattering by approximately field-aligned, large scale ionization density irregularities, which are produced by a thermal version of the stimulated Brillouin scattering instability in which the heating wave decays into another electromagnetic wave and an electrostatic wave of very low frequency. This thermal instability differs from conventional stimulated Brillouin scattering in that the low frequency wave is driven by differential heating in the interference pattern of the two electromagnetic waves, rather than by the usual ponderomotive force. Some aspects of the theory of the phenomenon of ''wide-band attenuation'' or ''anomalous absorption'' of a probing electromagnetic wave. Some general results from the theory of wave propagation in a random medium are used to derive equations describing the absorption of a probing electromagnetic wave due to scattering (by large scale irregularities) into new electromagnetic waves or (by small scale irregularities) into electron plasma oscillations

Tau decays into kaons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Finkemeier, M.; Mirkes, E.

1995-04-01

Predictions for semi-leptonic decay rates of the τ lepton into two meson final states and three meson final states are derived. The hadronic matrix elements are expressed in terms of form factors, which can be predicted by chiral Lagrangians supplemented by informations about all possible low-lying resonances in the different channels. Isospin symmetry relations among the different final states are carefully taken into account. The calculated brancing ratios are compared with measured decay rates where data are available

Reliability analysis of emergency decay heat removal system of nuclear ship under various accident conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matsuoka, Takeshi

1984-01-01

A reliability analysis is given for the emergency decay heat removal system of the Nuclear Ship ''Mutsu'' and the emergency sea water cooling system of the Nuclear Ship ''Savannah'', under ten typical nuclear ship accident conditions. Basic event probabilities under these accident conditions are estimated from literature survey. These systems of Mutsu and Savannah have almost the same reliability under the normal condition. The dispersive arrangement of a system is useful to prevent the reduction of the system reliability under the condition of an accident restricted in one room. As for the reliability of these two systems under various accident conditions, it is seen that the configuration and the environmental condition of a system are two main factors which determine the reliability of the system. Furthermore, it was found that, for the evaluation of the effectiveness of safety system of a nuclear ship, it is necessary to evaluate its reliability under various accident conditions. (author)

ELECTRON ENERGY DECAY IN HELIUM AFTERGLOW PLASMAS AT CRYOGENIC TEMPERATURES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Goldan, P. D.; Cahn, J. H.; Goldstein, L.

1963-10-15

Studies of decaying afterglow plasmas in helium were ined near 4 deg K by immersion in a liquid helium bath. By means of a Maser Radiometer System, the electron temperature was followed below 200 deg K. Guided microwave propagation and wave interaction techniques premit determination of election number density and collision frequencies for momentum transfer. Electron temperature decay rates of the order of 150 mu sec/p(mm Hg alpha 4.2 deg K) were found. Since thermal relaxation by elastic collisions should be some two orders of magnitude faster than this, the electrons appear to be in quasiequilibrium with a slowly decaying internal heating source. Correlation of the expected decay rates of singlet metastable helium atoms with the electron temperature decay gives good agreement with the present experiment. (auth)

How specialized volatiles respond to chronic and short-term physiological and shock heat stress in Brassica nigra.

Science.gov (United States)

Kask, Kaia; Kännaste, Astrid; Talts, Eero; Copolovici, Lucian; Niinemets, Ülo

2016-09-01

Brassicales release volatile glucosinolate breakdown products upon tissue mechanical damage, but it is unclear how the release of glucosinolate volatiles responds to abiotic stresses such as heat stress. We used three different heat treatments, simulating different dynamic temperature conditions in the field to gain insight into stress-dependent changes in volatile blends and photosynthetic characteristics in the annual herb Brassica nigra (L.) Koch. Heat stress was applied by either heating leaves through temperature response curve measurements from 20 to 40 °C (mild stress), exposing plants for 4 h to temperatures 25-44 °C (long-term stress) or shock-heating leaves to 45-50 °C. Photosynthetic reduction through temperature response curves was associated with decreased stomatal conductance, while the reduction due to long-term stress and collapse of photosynthetic activity after heat shock stress were associated with non-stomatal processes. Mild stress decreased constitutive monoterpene emissions, while long-term stress and shock stress resulted in emissions of the lipoxygenase pathway and glucosinolate volatiles. Glucosinolate volatile release was more strongly elicited by long-term stress and lipoxygenase product released by heat shock. These results demonstrate that glucosinolate volatiles constitute a major part of emission blend in heat-stressed B. nigra plants, especially upon chronic stress that leads to induction responses. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

NEANDC specialists meeting on yields and decay data of fission product nuclides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chrien, R.E.; Burrows, T.W.

1983-01-01

Separate abstracts were prepared for the 29 papers presented. Workshop reports on decay heat, fission yields, beta- and gamma-ray spectroscopy, and delayed neutrons are included. An appendix contains a survey of the most recent compilations and evaluations containing fission product yield, fission product decay data, and delayed neutron yield information

Multiple-level defect species evaluation from average carrier decay

Science.gov (United States)

Debuf, Didier

2003-10-01

An expression for the average decay is determined by solving the the carrier continuity equations, which include terms for multiple defect recombination. This expression is the decay measured by techniques such as the contactless photoconductance decay method, which determines the average or volume integrated decay. Implicit in the above is the requirement for good surface passivation such that only bulk properties are observed. A proposed experimental configuration is given to achieve the intended goal of an assessment of the type of defect in an n-type Czochralski-grown silicon semiconductor with an unusually high relative lifetime. The high lifetime is explained in terms of a ground excited state multiple-level defect system. Also, minority carrier trapping is investigated.

Passive decay heat removal by natural circulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vijayan, P.K.; Venkat Raj, V.; Kakodkar, A.; Mehta, S.K.

1990-01-01

The standardised 235 MWe PHWRs being built in India are the pressure tube type, heavy water moderated, heavy water cooled and natural uranium fuelled reactors. Several passive safety features are incorporated in these reactors. These include: (1) Containment pressure reduction and fission product trapping with the help of suppression pool following LOCA. (2) Emergency coolant injection by means of accumulators. (3) Large heat sink provided by the low temperature moderator under accident conditions. (4) Low excess reactivity, through the use of natural uranium fuel and on power fuelling. (5) Residual heat removal by means of natural circulation, etc. of which the last item is the subject matter of this report. (author). 8 refs, 10 figs

A passive decay heat removal strategy of the integrated passive safety system (IPSS) for SBO combined with LOCA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Sang Ho; Chang, Soon Heung; Choi, Yu Jung; Jeong, Yong Hoon

2015-01-01

Highlights: • A new PDHR strategy is proposed to cope with SBO-combined accidents. • The concept of integrated passive safety system (IPSS) is used in this strategy. • This strategy performs the functions of passive safety injection and SG gravity injection. • LOCAs in SBO are classified by the pressures in reactor coolant system for passive functions. • The strategy can be integrated with EOP and SAMG as a complementary strategy for ensuring safety. - Abstract: An integrated passive safety system (IPSS), to be achieved by the use of a large water tank placed at high elevation outside the containment, was proposed to achieve various passive functions. These include decay heat removal, safety injection, containment cooling, in-vessel retention through external reactor vessel cooling, and containment filtered venting. The purpose of the passive decay heat removal (PDHR) strategy using the IPSS is to cope with SBO and SBO-combined accidents under the assumption that existing engineered safety features have failed. In this paper, a PDHR strategy was developed based on the design and accident management strategy of Korean representative PWR, the OPR1000. The functions of a steam generator gravity injection and a passive safety injection system in the IPSS with safety depressurization systems were included in the PDHR strategy. Because the inadvertent opening of pressurizer valves and seal water leakage from RCPs could cause a loss of coolant in an SBO, LOCAs during a SBO were simulated to verify the performance of the strategy. The failure of active safety injection in LOCAs could also be covered by this strategy. Although LOCAs have generally been categorized according to their equivalent break diameters, the RCS pressure is used to classify the LOCAs during SBOs. The criteria values for categorization were determined from the proposed systems, which could maintain a reactor in a safe state by removing the decay heat for the SBO coping time of 8 h. The

A passive decay heat removal strategy of the integrated passive safety system (IPSS) for SBO combined with LOCA

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Sang Ho [Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 291, Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34141 (Korea, Republic of); Chang, Soon Heung [Handong Global University, 558, Handong-ro, Buk-gu, Pohang Gyeongbuk 37554 (Korea, Republic of); Choi, Yu Jung [Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co.—Central Research Institute, 70, 1312-gil, Yuseong-daero, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34101 (Korea, Republic of); Jeong, Yong Hoon, E-mail: jeongyh@kaist.ac.kr [Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 291, Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34141 (Korea, Republic of)

2015-12-15

Highlights: • A new PDHR strategy is proposed to cope with SBO-combined accidents. • The concept of integrated passive safety system (IPSS) is used in this strategy. • This strategy performs the functions of passive safety injection and SG gravity injection. • LOCAs in SBO are classified by the pressures in reactor coolant system for passive functions. • The strategy can be integrated with EOP and SAMG as a complementary strategy for ensuring safety. - Abstract: An integrated passive safety system (IPSS), to be achieved by the use of a large water tank placed at high elevation outside the containment, was proposed to achieve various passive functions. These include decay heat removal, safety injection, containment cooling, in-vessel retention through external reactor vessel cooling, and containment filtered venting. The purpose of the passive decay heat removal (PDHR) strategy using the IPSS is to cope with SBO and SBO-combined accidents under the assumption that existing engineered safety features have failed. In this paper, a PDHR strategy was developed based on the design and accident management strategy of Korean representative PWR, the OPR1000. The functions of a steam generator gravity injection and a passive safety injection system in the IPSS with safety depressurization systems were included in the PDHR strategy. Because the inadvertent opening of pressurizer valves and seal water leakage from RCPs could cause a loss of coolant in an SBO, LOCAs during a SBO were simulated to verify the performance of the strategy. The failure of active safety injection in LOCAs could also be covered by this strategy. Although LOCAs have generally been categorized according to their equivalent break diameters, the RCS pressure is used to classify the LOCAs during SBOs. The criteria values for categorization were determined from the proposed systems, which could maintain a reactor in a safe state by removing the decay heat for the SBO coping time of 8 h. The

The non-resonant decay of the fast magnetosonic wave during ICRH of a tokamak plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Avinash, K.; Core, W.G.; Hellsten, T.; Farrell, C.M.

1988-01-01

The non-resonant decay of the fast magnetosonic wave into an Ion Bernstein wave and a quasi-mode is investigated from the point of view of assessing the importance of this process for the observed direct heating of the edge plasma during ion-cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH). Starting from the Maxwell-Vlasov equations, expressions for the threshold electric field and the growth rates of the decay process are obtained. For JET like parameters, the thresholds for the decay are easily exceeded and the growth time for typical fast wave electric field strengths is of the order of a microsecond. The parametric dependence of the threshold on magnetic field, temperature, the density of the various ion species, and electron-ion collisions is studied. Finally the relevance of this process to the heating of plasma edge during ICRH is discussed. (author)

Autonomous distributed temperature sensing for long-term heated applications in remote areas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A.-M. Kurth

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Distributed temperature sensing (DTS is a fiber-optical method enabling simultaneous temperature measurements over long distances. Electrical resistance heating of the metallic components of the fiber-optic cable provides information on the thermal characteristics of the cable's environment, providing valuable insight into processes occurring in the surrounding medium, such as groundwater–surface water interactions, dam stability or soil moisture. Until now, heated applications required direct handling of the DTS instrument by a researcher, rendering long-term investigations in remote areas impractical due to the often difficult and time-consuming access to the field site. Remote control and automation of the DTS instrument and heating processes, however, resolve the issue with difficult access. The data can also be remotely accessed and stored on a central database. The power supply can be grid independent, although significant infrastructure investment is required here due to high power consumption during heated applications. Solar energy must be sufficient even in worst case scenarios, e.g. during long periods of intense cloud cover, to prevent system failure due to energy shortage. In combination with storage batteries and a low heating frequency, e.g. once per day or once per week (depending on the season and the solar radiation on site, issues of high power consumption may be resolved. Safety regulations dictate adequate shielding and ground-fault protection, to safeguard animals and humans from electricity and laser sources. In this paper the autonomous DTS system is presented to allow research with heated applications of DTS in remote areas for long-term investigations of temperature distributions in the environment.

An assessment of RELAP5 MOD3.1.1 condensation heat transfer modeling with GIRAFFE heat transfer tests

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boyer, B.D.; Parlatan, Y.; Slovik, G.C.; Rohatgi, U.S.

1995-01-01

RELAP5 MOD3.1.1 is being used to simulate Loss of Coolant Accidents (LOCA) for the Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (SBWR) being proposed by General Electric (GE). One of the major components associated with the SBWR is the Passive Containment Cooling System (PCCS) which provides the long-term heat sink to reject decay heat. The RELAP5 MOD3.1.1 code is being assessed for its ability to represent accurately the PCCS. Data from the Phase 1, Step 1 Heat Transfer Tests performed at Toshiba's Gravity-Driven Integral Full-Height Test for Passive Heat Removal (GIRAFFE) facility will be used for assessing the ability of RELAP5 to model condensation in the presence of noncondensables. The RELAP5 MOD3.1.1 condensation model uses the University of California at Berkeley (UCB) correlation developed by Vierow and Schrock. The RELAP5 code uses this heat transfer coefficient with the gas velocity effect multiplier being limited to 2. This heat transfer option was used to analyze the condensation heat transfer in the GIRAFFE PCCS heat exchanger tubes in the Phase 1, Step 1 Heat Transfer Tests which were at a pressure of 3 bar and had a range of nitrogen partial pressure fractions from 0.0 to 0.10. The results of a set of RELAP5 calculations al these conditions were compared with the GIRAFFE data. The effects of PCCS cell nodings on the heat transfer process were also studied. The UCB correlation, as implemented in RELAP5, predicted the heat transfer to ±5% of the data with a three-node model. The three-node model has a large cell in the entrance region which smeared out the entrance effects on the heat transfer, which tend to overpredict the condensation. Hence, the UCB correlation predicts condensation heat transfer in the presence of noncondensable gases with only a coarse mesh. The cell length term in the condensation heat transfer correlation implemented in the code must be removed to allow for accurate calculations with smaller cell sizes

NEANDC specialists meeting on yields and decay data of fission product nuclides

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chrien, R.E.; Burrows, T.W. (eds.)

1983-01-01

Separate abstracts were prepared for the 29 papers presented. Workshop reports on decay heat, fission yields, beta- and gamma-ray spectroscopy, and delayed neutrons are included. An appendix contains a survey of the most recent compilations and evaluations containing fission product yield, fission product decay data, and delayed neutron yield information. (WHK)

Estimation of shutdown heat generation rates in GHARR-1 due to ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Fission products decay power and residual fission power generated after shutdown of Ghana Research Reactor-1 (GHARR-1) by reactivity insertion accident were estimated by solution of the decay and residual heat equations. A Matlab program code was developed to simulate the heat generation rates by fission product ...

Limits on Tensor Coupling from Neutron $\\beta$-Decay

OpenAIRE

Pattie Jr, Robert W.; Hickerson, Kevin P.; Young, Albert R.

2013-01-01

Limits on the tensor couplings generating a Fierz interference term, b, in mixed Gamow-Teller Fermi decays can be derived by combining data from measurements of angular correlation parameters in neutron decay, the neutron lifetime, and $G_{\\text{V}}=G_{\\text{F}} V_{ud}$ as extracted from measurements of the $\\mathcal{F}t$ values from the $0^{+} \\to 0^{+}$ superallowed decays dataset. These limits are derived by comparing the neutron $\\beta$-decay rate as predicted in the standard model with t...

Sigma beta decay

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Newman, D.E.

1975-01-01

Describes an experiment to measure beta decays of the sigma particle. Sigmas produced by stopping a K - beam in a liquid hydrogen target decayed in the following reactions: Kp → Σπ; Σ → Neν. The electron and pion were detected by wire spark chambers in a magnetic spectrometer and by plastic scintillators, and were differentiated by a threshold gas Cherenkov counter. The neutron was detected by liquid scintillation counters. The data (n = 3) shell electrons or the highly excited electrons decay first. Instead, it is suggested that when there are two to five electrons in highly excited states immediately after a heavy ion--atom collision the first transitions to occur will be among highly excited Rydberg states in a cascade down to the 4s, 4p, and 3d-subshells. If one of the long lived states becomes occupied by electrons promoted during the collision or by electrons falling from higher levels, it will not decay until after the valence shell decays. LMM rates calculated to test the methods used are compared to previous works. The mixing coefficients are given in terms of the states 4s4p, 45sp+-, and 5s5p. The applicability of Cooper, Fano, and Prats' discussion of the energies and transition rates of doubly excited states is considered

Long-term heat storage in calcium sulfoaluminate cement (CSA) based concrete

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kaufmann, Josef P.; Winnefeld, Frank [Empa Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Duebendorf (Switzerland). Lab. for Concrete and Construction Chemistry

2011-07-01

in (long-term) storage of process heat. Any temperature source above about 80 C may be used.

The use of dielectric heating in particulate bed dryout experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stevens, G.F.; Willshire, S.J.

1984-09-01

Decay-heated, liquid-saturated debris beds arise in hypothetical severe accidents with LMFBR and PWR, and a large international effort is currently engaged in experimental studies of the cooling limitations of such beds. Dryout is one of the important cooling limitations. Dielectric heating offers a means of closely simulating decay heating in beds of irregular particles, and is under development at AEE Winfrith for application to experimental studies of dryout. This report describes progress to date. (author)

Particle decay in inflationary cosmology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boyanovsky, D.; Vega, H.J. de

2004-01-01

We investigate the relaxation and decay of a particle during inflation by implementing the dynamical renormalization group. This investigation allows us to give a meaningful definition for the decay rate in an expanding universe. As a prelude to a more general scenario, the method is applied here to study the decay of a particle in de Sitter inflation via a trilinear coupling to massless conformally coupled particles, both for wavelengths much larger and much smaller than the Hubble radius. For superhorizon modes we find that the decay is of the form η Γ 1 with η being conformal time and we give an explicit expression for Γ 1 to leading order in the coupling which has a noteworthy interpretation in terms of the Hawking temperature of de Sitter space-time. We show that if the mass M of the decaying field is << H then the decay rate during inflation is enhanced over the Minkowski space-time result by a factor 2H/πM. For wavelengths much smaller than the Hubble radius we find that the decay law is e with C(η) the scale factor and α determined by the strength of the trilinear coupling. In all cases we find a substantial enhancement in the decay law as compared to Minkowski space-time. These results suggest potential implications for the spectrum of scalar density fluctuations as well as non-Gaussianities

Decay Process in an Active Medium. An Example

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Atamanuk, B.; Volokitin, A.S.

1999-01-01

In the background of many plasma phenomena are wave-wave interactions, wave-particle interactions, energy transfers, and so on. In natural and laboratory plasma, very often there are situations when a plasma is weakly unstable, that is not far above a threshold of instability. In these cases, we can describe a perturbed state in terms of a small finite number of plasma waves. In the present work, we will consider non-linear stabilization of the current instability in isothermal magnetized plasma by a three-wave decay process. This problem was studied in the many works, but some questions remain unclear, e.g. the existence and properties of chaotic regimes for certain parameters. We will consider an interesting, realistic plasma system with current instability in isothermal plasmas. To assume that only three waves are involved in the process of stabilization we have to consider instability in the conditions very close to the threshold, when only one low hybrid mode is unstable. This wave decays on two other strongly damped low hybrids waves. The dynamic stabilization of instability and swapping of energy from a radiant in area of damping (heat of plasma) thus happens. This example shows a common situation and that represents practical interest at the analysis of natural processes in ionosphere. (author)

Mathematical and information-geometrical entropy for phenomenological Fourier and non-Fourier heat conduction

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Shu-Nan; Cao, Bing-Yang

2017-09-01

The second law of thermodynamics governs the direction of heat transport, which provides the foundational definition of thermodynamic Clausius entropy. The definitions of entropy are further generalized for the phenomenological heat transport models in the frameworks of classical irreversible thermodynamics and extended irreversible thermodynamics (EIT). In this work, entropic functions from mathematics are combined with phenomenological heat conduction models and connected to several information-geometrical conceptions. The long-time behaviors of these mathematical entropies exhibit a wide diversity and physical pictures in phenomenological heat conductions, including the tendency to thermal equilibrium, and exponential decay of nonequilibrium and asymptotics, which build a bridge between the macroscopic and microscopic modelings. In contrast with the EIT entropies, the mathematical entropies expressed in terms of the internal energy function can avoid singularity paired with nonpositive local absolute temperature caused by non-Fourier heat conduction models.

Decay Power Calculation for Safety Analysis of Innovative Reactor Systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shwageraus, E.; Fridman, E.

2008-01-01

In this work, we verified the decay heat calculation capabilities of BGCore computer code system developed recently at Ben-Gurion University. Decay power was calculated for a typical UO 2 fuel in Pressurized Water Reactor environment using BGCore code and using procedure prescribed by the ANS/ANSI-2005 standard. Very good agreement between the two methods was obtained. Once BGCore calculation capabilities were verified, we calculated decay power as a function of time after shutdown for various reactors with innovative fuels, for which no standard procedure is currently available. Notable differences were observed for decay power of the advanced reactors as compared with conventional UO 2 LWR. The observed differences suggest that the design of new reactors safety systems must be based on corresponding decay power curves for each individual case in order to assure the desired performance of such systems. (authors)

Thermographic studies of outer target heat fluxes on KSTAR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H.H. Lee

2017-08-01

Full Text Available A new infra-red (IR thermography system with high spatial resolution has been installed on KSTAR and is now mainly applied to measure the outer divertor heat load profile. The first measurement results of the outer divertor heat load profiles between ELMs have been applied to characterize the inter-ELMs outer divertor heat loads in KSTAR H-mode plasmas. In particular, the power decay length (λq of the divertor heat load profile has been determined by fitting the profile to a convolution of an exponential decay and a Gaussian function. The analysis on the power decay length shows a good agreement with the recent multi-machine λq scaling, which predicts λq of the inter-ELMs divertor heat load to be ∼1 mm under the standard H-mode scenario in ITER. The divertor IR thermography system has also successfully measured the strike point splitting of the outer divertor heat flux during the application of resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP fields. In addition, it has provided a clear evidence that the strike point splitting pattern depends on the RMP fields configuration.

Safety Aspects of Long Term Spent Fuel Dry Storage

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Botsch, Wolfgang; Smalian, S.; Hinterding, P.; Drotleff, H.; Voelzke, H.; Wolff, D.; Kasparek, E.

2014-01-01

As a consequence of the lack of a final repository for spent nuclear fuel (SF) and high level waste (HLW), long term interim storage of SF and HLW will be necessary. As with the storage of all radioactive materials, the long term storage of SF and HLW must conform to safety requirements. Safety aspects such as safe enclosure of radioactive materials, safe removal of decay heat, sub-criticality and avoidance of unnecessary radiation exposure must be achieved throughout the complete storage period. The implementation of these safety requirements can be achieved by dry storage of SF and HLW in casks as well as in other systems such as dry vault storage systems or spent fuel pools, where the latter is neither a dry nor a passive system. After the events of Fukushima, the advantages of passively and inherently safe dry storage systems have become more obvious. In Germany, dry storage of SF in casks fulfils both transport and storage requirements. Mostly, storage facilities are designed as concrete buildings above the ground; one storage facility has also been built as a rock tunnel. In all these facilities the safe enclosure of radioactive materials in dry storage casks is achieved by a double-lid sealing system with surveillance of the sealing system. The safe removal of decay heat is ensured by the design of the storage containers and the storage facility, which also secures to reduce the radiation exposure to acceptable levels. TUV and BAM, who work as independent experts for the competent authorities, inform about spent fuel management and issues concerning dry storage of spent nuclear fuel, based on their long experience in these fields. All relevant safety issues such as safe enclosure, shielding, removal of decay heat and sub-criticality are checked and validated with state-of-the-art methods and computer codes before the license approval. In our presentation we discuss which of these aspects need to be examined closer for a long term interim storage. It is shown

Solar heat storages in district heating networks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ellehauge, K. (Ellehauge og Kildemoes, AArhus (DK)); Engberg Pedersen, T. (COWI A/S, Kgs. Lyngby (DK))

2007-07-15

This report gives information on the work carried out and the results obtained in Denmark on storages for large solar heating plants in district heating networks. Especially in Denmark the share of district heating has increased to a large percentage. In 1981 around 33% of all dwellings in DK were connected to a district heating network, while the percentage in 2006 was about 60% (in total 1.5 mio. dwellings). In the report storage types for short term storage and long term storages are described. Short term storages are done as steel tanks and is well established technology widely used in district heating networks. Long term storages are experimental and used in connection with solar heating. A number of solar heating plants have been established with either short term or long term storages showing economy competitive with normal energy sources. Since, in the majority of the Danish district heating networks the heat is produced in co-generation plants, i.e. plants producing both electricity and heat for the network, special attention has been put on the use of solar energy in combination with co-generation. Part of this report describes that in the liberalized electricity market central solar heating plants can also be advantageous in combination with co-generation plants. (au)

Method for utilizing decay heat from radioactive nuclear wastes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Busey, H.M.

1974-01-01

Management of radioactive heat-producing waste material while safely utilizing the heat thereof is accomplished by encapsulating the wastes after a cooling period, transporting the capsules to a facility including a plurality of vertically disposed storage tubes, lowering the capsules as they arrive at the facility into the storage tubes, cooling the storage tubes by circulating a gas thereover, employing the so heated gas to obtain an economically beneficial result, and continually adding waste capsules to the facility as they arrive thereat over a substantial period of time

The 49K beta decay

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hansen, P.G.; Huck, A.; Klotz, G.; Knipper, A.; Miehe, C.; Walter, G.; Jonson, B.; Mattsson, S.; Ravn, H.L.; Kratz, K.L.

1981-01-01

The decay of 49 K has been studied through neutron and gamma spectroscopy techniques. The 49 K activity was formed by 600 MeV proton fragmentation reactions in a uranium carbide target. The observed β-strength, in addition to the general behaviour expected from the gross theory of β-decay, displays two resonances centered at about 6.5 MeV and 9.5 MeV in 49 Ca. This structure is discussed in simple shell-model terms. (orig.)

ORIGEN-S Decay Data Library and Half-Life Uncertainties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hermann, O.W.

1998-01-01

The results of an extensive update of the decay data of the ORIGEN-S library are presented in this report. The updated decay data were provided for both the ORIGEN-S and ORIGEN2 libraries in the same project. A complete edit of the decay data plus the available half-life uncertainties are included in Appendix A. A detailed description of the types of data contained in the library, the format of the library, and the data sources are also presented. Approximately 24% of the library nuclides are stable, 66% were updated from ENDF/B-VI, about 8% were updated from ENSDF, and the remaining 2% were not updated. Appendix B presents a listing of percentage changes in decay heat from the old to the updated library for all nuclides containing a difference exceeding 1% in any parameter

Factorization in B→Vγ decays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Becher, T.; Hill, R. J.; Neubert, M.

2005-01-01

The factorization properties of the radiative decays B→Vγ are analyzed at leading order in 1/m b using the soft-collinear effective theory. It is shown that the decay amplitudes can be expressed in terms of a B→V form factor evaluated at q 2 =0, light-cone distribution amplitudes of the B and V mesons, and calculable hard-scattering kernels. The renormalization-group equations in the effective theory are solved to resum perturbative logarithms of the different scales in the decay process. Phenomenological implications for the B→K*γ branching ratio, isospin asymmetry, and CP asymmetries are discussed, with particular emphasis on possible effects from physics beyond the standard model

Decay of organic free radicals in γ-ray irradiated pepper during thermal treatment as detected by electron spin resonance spectroscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ukai, Mitsuko; Shimoyama, Yuhei

2004-01-01

Using electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy we analysed the thermal decay process of radicals in γ-Irradiated pepper Upon irradiation, the satellite signals were newly induced and appeared at the symmetric positions of the organic free radical, i.e., the g=2.0 signal. Heat treatment decreased the satellite signals exponentially. The ESR signal of the pepper heated for more than 10 min was essentially the same as that before irradiation. To evaluate the radical decay by heat-treatment, we formulated a time-dependent master equation. We could evaluate the time constant of the radical decay based upon the general solution of the equation together with the nonlinear least-squares method

MHTGR inherent heat transfer capability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berkoe, J.M.

1992-01-01

This paper reports on the Commercial Modular High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (MHTGR) which achieves improved reactor safety performance and reliability by utilizing a completely passive natural convection cooling system called the RCCS to remove decay heat in the event that all active cooling systems fail to operate. For the highly improbable condition that the RCCS were to become non-functional following a reactor depressurization event, the plant would be forced to rely upon its inherent thermo-physical characteristics to reject decay heat to the surrounding earth and ambient environment. A computational heat transfer model was created to simulate such a scenario. Plant component temperature histories were computed over a period of 20 days into the event. The results clearly demonstrate the capability of the MHTGR to maintain core integrity and provide substantial lead time for taking corrective measures

Iconic decay in schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Hahn, Britta; Kappenman, Emily S; Robinson, Benjamin M; Fuller, Rebecca L; Luck, Steven J; Gold, James M

2011-09-01

Working memory impairment is considered a core deficit in schizophrenia, but the precise nature of this deficit has not been determined. Multiple lines of evidence implicate deficits at the encoding stage. During encoding, information is held in a precategorical sensory store termed iconic memory, a literal image of the stimulus with high capacity but rapid decay. Pathologically increased iconic decay could reduce the number of items that can be transferred into working memory before the information is lost and could thus contribute to the working memory deficit seen in the illness. The current study used a partial report procedure to test the hypothesis that patients with schizophrenia (n = 37) display faster iconic memory decay than matched healthy control participants (n = 28). Six letters, arranged in a circle, were presented for 50 ms. Following a variable delay of 0-1000 ms, a central arrow cue indicated the item to be reported. In both patients and control subjects, recall accuracy decreased with increasing cue delay, reflecting decay of the iconic representation of the stimulus array. Patients displayed impaired memory performance across all cue delays, consistent with an impairment in working memory, but the rate of iconic memory decay did not differ between patients and controls. This provides clear evidence against faster loss of iconic memory representations in schizophrenia, ruling out iconic decay as an underlying source of the working memory impairment in this population. Thus, iconic decay rate can be added to a growing list of unimpaired cognitive building blocks in schizophrenia.

Decay Power Calculation for Safety Analysis of Innovative Reactor Systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shwageraus, E.; Fridman, E. [Department of Nuclear Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Beer-Sheva 84105 (Israel)

2008-07-01

In this work, we verified the decay heat calculation capabilities of BGCore computer code system developed recently at Ben-Gurion University. Decay power was calculated for a typical UO{sub 2} fuel in Pressurized Water Reactor environment using BGCore code and using procedure prescribed by the ANS/ANSI-2005 standard. Very good agreement between the two methods was obtained. Once BGCore calculation capabilities were verified, we calculated decay power as a function of time after shutdown for various reactors with innovative fuels, for which no standard procedure is currently available. Notable differences were observed for decay power of the advanced reactors as compared with conventional UO{sub 2} LWR. The observed differences suggest that the design of new reactors safety systems must be based on corresponding decay power curves for each individual case in order to assure the desired performance of such systems. (authors)

Experimental and numerical simulation of passive decay heat removal by sump cooling after core melt down

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Knebel, J.U.; Mueller, U.

1997-01-01

This article presents the basic physical phenomena and scaling criteria of passive decay heat removal from a large coolant pool by single-phase natural circulation. The physical significance of the dimensionless similarity groups derived is evaluated. The results are applied to the SUCO program that experimentally and numerically investigates the possibility of a sump cooling concept for future light water reactors. The sump cooling concept is based on passive safety features within the containment. The work is supported by the German utilities and the Siemens AG. The article gives results of temperature and velocity measurements in the 1:20 linearly scaled SUCOS-2D test facility. The experiments are backed up by numerical calculations using the commercial software Fluent. Finally, using the similarity analysis from above, the experimental results of the model geometry are scaled-up to the conditions in the prototype, allowing a statement with regard to the feasibility of the sump cooling concept. (author)

Experimental and numerical simulation of passive decay heat removal by sump cooling after core melt down

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Knebel, J.U.; Mueller, U. [Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe - Technik und Umwelt Inst. fuer Angewandte Thermo- und Fluiddynamik (IATF), Karlsruhe (Germany)

1997-12-31

This article presents the basic physical phenomena and scaling criteria of passive decay heat removal from a large coolant pool by single-phase natural circulation. The physical significance of the dimensionless similarity groups derived is evaluated. The results are applied to the SUCO program that experimentally and numerically investigates the possibility of a sump cooling concept for future light water reactors. The sump cooling concept is based on passive safety features within the containment. The work is supported by the German utilities and the Siemens AG. The article gives results of temperature and velocity measurements in the 1:20 linearly scaled SUCOS-2D test facility. The experiments are backed up by numerical calculations using the commercial software Fluent. Finally, using the similarity analysis from above, the experimental results of the model geometry are scaled-up to the conditions in the prototype, allowing a statement with regard to the feasibility of the sump cooling concept. (author)

Thermal-hydraulic simulation of natural convection decay heat removal in the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) using RELAP5 and TEMPEST: Part 2, Interpretation and validation of results

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ruggles, A.E.; Morris, D.G.

1989-01-01

The RELAP5/MOD2 code was used to predict the thermal-hydraulic behavior of the HFIR core during decay heat removal through boiling natural circulation. The low system pressure and low mass flux values associated with boiling natural circulation are far from conditions for which RELAP5 is well exercised. Therefore, some simple hand calculations are used herein to establish the physics of the results. The interpretation and validation effort is divided between the time average flow conditions and the time varying flow conditions. The time average flow conditions are evaluated using a lumped parameter model and heat balance. The Martinelli-Nelson correlations are used to model the two-phase pressure drop and void fraction vs flow quality relationship within the core region. Systems of parallel channels are susceptible to both density wave oscillations and pressure drop oscillations. Periodic variations in the mass flux and exit flow quality of individual core channels are predicted by RELAP5. These oscillations are consistent with those observed experimentally and are of the density wave type. The impact of the time varying flow properties on local wall superheat is bounded herein. The conditions necessary for Ledinegg flow excursions are identified. These conditions do not fall within the envelope of decay heat levels relevant to HFIR in boiling natural circulation. 14 refs., 5 figs., 1 tab

The role of large‐scale heat pumps for short term integration of renewable energy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mathiesen, Brian Vad; Blarke, Morten; Hansen, Kenneth

2011-01-01

technologies is focusing on natural working fluid hydrocarbons, ammonia, and carbon dioxide. Large-scale heat pumps are crucial for integrating 50% wind power as anticipated to be installed in Denmark in 2020, along with other measures. Also in the longer term heat pumps can contribute to the minimization...... savings with increased wind power and may additionally lead to economic savings in the range of 1,500-1,700 MDKK in total in the period until 2020. Furthermore, the energy system efficiency may be increased due to large heat pumps replacing boiler production. Finally data sheets for large-scale ammonium......In this report the role of large-scale heat pumps in a future energy system with increased renewable energy is presented. The main concepts for large heat pumps in district heating systems are outlined along with the development for heat pump refrigerants. The development of future heat pump...

Experimental investigations of long-term interactions of molten UO2 with MgO and concrete at Argonne National Laboratory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stein, R.P.; Farhadieh, R.; Pedersen, D.R.; Gunther, W.H.; Purviance, R.T.

1982-01-01

Experimental work at Argonne is being performed to investigate the long-term molten-core-debris retention capability of the ex-vessel cavity following a postulated meltdown accident. The eventual objective of the work is to determine if normal structural material (concrete) or a specifically selected sacrificial material (MgO) located in the ex-vessel cavity region can effectively contain molten core debris. The materials under investigation at ANL are various types of concrete (limestone, basalt and magnetite) and commercially-available MgO brick. Results are presented of the status of real material experimental investigation at ANL into (1) molten UO 2 pool heat transfer, (2) long-term molten UO 2 penetration into concrete and (3) long-term molten UO 2 penetration into refractory substrates. The decay heating in the fuel has been simulated by direct electrical heating permitting the study of the long-term interaction

Experimental investigations of long-term interactions of molten UO2 with MgO and concrete at Argonne National Laboratory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stein, R.P.; Farhadieh, R.; Pedersen, D.R.; Gunther, W.H.; Purviance, R.T.

1982-01-01

Experimental work at Argonne is being performed to investigate the long-term molten core debris retention capability of the ex-vessel cavity following a postulated meltdown accident. The eventual objective of the work is to determine if normal structural material (concrete) or a specifically selected sacrificial material (MgO) located in the ex-vessel cavity region can effectively contain molten core debris. The materials under investigation at ANL are various types of concrete (limestone, basalt and magnetite) and commercially-available MgO brick. Results are presented of the status of real material experimental investigation at ANL into 1) molten UO 2 pool heat transfer, 2) long-term molten UO 2 penetration into concrete and 3) long-term molten UO 2 penetration into refractory substrates. The decay heating in the fuel has been simulated by direct electrical heating permitting the study of the long-term interaction

Scaling and the inclusive semileptonic decays of charmed particles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pham, X.Y.; Nabavi, R.P.

1977-01-01

A general formula describing the semileptonic decay of charmed particles is written in terms of structure functions. A procedure is proposed to estimate semileptonic decay widths by supposing that these structure functions may be averaged by their scaling limits

A novel TRNSYS type for short-term borehole heat exchanger simulation: B2G model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

De Rosa, Mattia; Ruiz-Calvo, Félix; Corberán, José M.; Montagud, Carla; Tagliafico, Luca A.

2015-01-01

Highlights: • A novel dynamic borehole heat exchanger model is presented. • Theoretical approach for model parameters calculation is described. • The short-term model is validated against experimental data of a real GSHP. • Strong dynamic conditions due to the ON–OFF regulation are investigated. - Abstract: Models of ground source heat pump (GSHP) systems are used as an aid for the correct design and optimization of the system. For this purpose, it is necessary to develop models which correctly reproduce the dynamic thermal behavior of each component in a short-term basis. Since the borehole heat exchanger (BHE) is one of the main components, special attention should be paid to ensuring a good accuracy on the prediction of the short-term response of the boreholes. The BHE models found in literature which are suitable for short-term simulations usually present high computational costs. In this work, a novel TRNSYS type implementing a borehole-to-ground (B2G) model, developed for modeling the short-term dynamic performance of a BHE with low computational cost, is presented. The model has been validated against experimental data from a GSHP system located at Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain. Validation results show the ability of the model to reproduce the short-term behavior of the borehole, both for a step-test and under normal operating conditions

The π+-emission puzzle in 4ΛHe decay

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gibson, B.F.; Timmermans, R.G.E.

1998-01-01

We re-examine the puzzling π + emission from the weak decay of 4 Λ He and propose an explanation in terms of a three-body decay of the virtual Σ + . Such a resolution of the π + decay puzzle is consistent with the calculated Σ + probability in light Λ hypernuclei as well as the experimentally observed π + energy spectrum and s-wave angular distribution. (orig.)

Photoproduction data for heating calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van der Marck, Steven C.; Koning, Arjan J.; Rochman, Dimitri

2008-01-01

For irradiations in a materials test reactor, the prediction of the amount of gamma heating in the reactor is important. Only a good predictive calculation will lead to an irradiation in which the specified temperatures are reached. The photons produced by fission product decay are often missing in spectrum calculations for a reactor, but the contribution of the photons can be computed effectively using engineering correlations for the amount of fission product decay and the ensuing photon spectrum. The prompt photons are usually calculated by a spectrum code based on the underlying nuclear data libraries. For most of the important nuclides, the nuclear data libraries contain data for the photon productions rates. However, there are still many nuclides for which the photon production data are missing, and some of these nuclides contribute to gamma heating. In this paper it is estimated what the contributions to heating are from photon production on nuclides such as 236 U, 238 Pu, 135 I, 135 Xe, 147 Pm, 148 Pm, 148m Pm, and 149 Sm. Also, simple arguments are given to judge the effect from photon production on all other (lumped) fission products, and from 28 Al decay. For all these calculations the High Flux Reactor is used as an example. (authors)

Investigation of characteristics of passive heat removal system based on the assembled heat transfer tube

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wu, Xiang Cheng; Yan, Changqi; Meng, Zhao Ming; Chen, Kailun; Song, Shao Chuang; Yang, Zong Hao; Yu, Jie [Fundamental Science on Nuclear Safety and Simulation Technology Laboratory, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin (China)

2016-12-15

To get an insight into the operating characteristics of the passive residual heat removal system of molten salt reactors, a two-phase natural circulation test facility was constructed. The system consists of a boiling loop absorbing the heat from the drain tank, a condensing loop consuming the heat, and a steam drum. A steady-state experiment was carried out, in which the thimble temperature ranged from 450 .deg. C to 700 .deg. C and the system pressure was controlled at levels below 150 kPa. When reaching a steady state, the system was operated under saturated conditions. Some important parameters, including heat power, system resistance, and water level in the steam drum and water tank were investigated. The experimental results showed that the natural circulation system is feasible in removing the decay heat, even though some fluctuations may occur in the operation. The uneven temperature distribution in the water tank may be inevitable because convection occurs on the outside of the condensing tube besides boiling with decreasing the decay power. The instabilities in the natural circulation loop are sensitive to heat flux and system resistance rather than the water level in the steam drum and water tank. RELAP5 code shows reasonable results compared with experimental data.

Investigation of Characteristics of Passive Heat Removal System Based on the Assembled Heat Transfer Tube

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiangcheng Wu

2016-12-01

Full Text Available To get an insight into the operating characteristics of the passive residual heat removal system of molten salt reactors, a two-phase natural circulation test facility was constructed. The system consists of a boiling loop absorbing the heat from the drain tank, a condensing loop consuming the heat, and a steam drum. A steady-state experiment was carried out, in which the thimble temperature ranged from 450°C to 700°C and the system pressure was controlled at levels below 150 kPa. When reaching a steady state, the system was operated under saturated conditions. Some important parameters, including heat power, system resistance, and water level in the steam drum and water tank were investigated. The experimental results showed that the natural circulation system is feasible in removing the decay heat, even though some fluctuations may occur in the operation. The uneven temperature distribution in the water tank may be inevitable because convection occurs on the outside of the condensing tube besides boiling with decreasing the decay power. The instabilities in the natural circulation loop are sensitive to heat flux and system resistance rather than the water level in the steam drum and water tank. RELAP5 code shows reasonable results compared with experimental data.

Aspects of radiative K{sup +}{sub e3} decays

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kubis, B. [Universitaet Bonn, Helmholtz-Institut fuer Strahlen- und Kernphysik, Bonn (Germany); Mueller, E.H. [Universitaet Bonn, Helmholtz-Institut fuer Strahlen- und Kernphysik, Bonn (Germany); University of Edinburgh, School of Physics, Edinburgh (United Kingdom); Gasser, J.; Schmid, M. [Universitaet Bern, Institut fuer theoretische Physik, Bern (Switzerland)

2007-04-15

We re-investigate the radiative charged kaon decay K{sup {+-}}{yields}{pi}{sup 0}e{sup {+-}}{nu}{sub e}{gamma} [K{sub e3{gamma}}{sup {+-}}] in chiral perturbation theory, merging the chiral expansion with Low's theorem. We thoroughly analyze the precision of the predicted branching ratio relative to the non-radiative decay channel. Structure dependent terms and their impact on differential decay distributions are investigated in detail, and the possibility to see effects of the chiral anomaly in this decay channel is emphasized. (orig.)

Beta and muon decays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Galindo, A.; Pascual, P.

1967-01-01

These notes represent a series of lectures delivered by the authors in the Junta de Energia Nuclear, during the Spring term of 1965. They were devoted to graduate students interested in the Theory of Elementary Particles. Special emphasis was focussed into the computational problems. Chapter I is a review of basic principles (Dirac equation, transition probabilities, final state interactions.) which will be needed later. In Chapter II the four-fermion punctual Interaction is discussed, Chapter III is devoted to the study of beta-decay; the main emphasis is given to the deduction of the formulae corresponding to electron-antineutrino correlation, electron energy spectrum, lifetimes, asymmetry of electrons emitted from polarized nuclei, electron and neutrino polarization and time reversal invariance in beta decay. In Chapter IV we deal with the decay of polarized muons with radiative corrections. Chapter V is devoted to an introduction to C.V.C. theory. (Author)

Beta and muon decays

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Galindo, A; Pascual, P

1967-07-01

These notes represent a series of lectures delivered by the authors in the Junta de Energia Nuclear, during the Spring term of 1965. They were devoted to graduate students interested in the Theory of Elementary Particles. Special emphasis was focussed into the computational problems. Chapter I is a review of basic principles (Dirac equation, transition probabilities, final state interactions.) which will be needed later. In Chapter II the four-fermion punctual Interaction is discussed, Chapter III is devoted to the study of beta-decay; the main emphasis is given to the deduction of the formulae corresponding to electron-antineutrino correlation, electron energy spectrum, lifetimes, asymmetry of electrons emitted from polarized nuclei, electron and neutrino polarization and time reversal invariance in beta decay. In Chapter IV we deal with the decay of polarized muons with radiative corrections. Chapter V is devoted to an introduction to C.V.C. theory. (Author)

Analysis of non simultaneous common mode failures. Application to the reliability assessment of the decay heat removal of the RNR 1500 project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Natta, M.; Bloch, M.

1991-01-01

The experience with the LMFBR PHENIX has shown many cases of failures on identical and redundant components, which were close in time but not simultaneous and due to the same causes such as a design error, an unappropriate material, corrosion, ... Since the decay heat removal (DHR) must be assured for a long period after shutdown of the reactor, the overall reliability of the DHR system depends much on this type of successive failures by common mode causes, for which the usual β factor methods are not appropriate since they imply that the several failures are simultaneous. In this communication, two methods will be presented. The first one was used to assess the reliability of the DHR system of the RNR 1500 project. In this method, one modelize the occurrence of successive failures on n identical files by a sudden jump of the failure rate from the value λ attributed to the first failure to the value λ' attributed to the (n-1) still available files. This method leads to a quite natural quantification of the interest of diversity for highly redundant systems. For the RNR 1500 project where, in case of the loss of normal DHR path through the steam generators, the decay heat is removed by four separated sodium loops of 26 MW unit capacity in forced convection, the probabilistic assessment shows that it is necessary to diversify the sodium-sodium heat exchanger in order to fullfil the upper limit of 10 -7 /year for the probability of failure of DHR. A separate assessment for the main sequence leading to DHR loss was performed using a different method in which the successive failures are interpreted as a premature end of life, the lifetimes being directly used as random variables. This Monte-Carlo type method, which can be applied to any type of lifetime distribution, leads to results consistent to those obtained with the first one

An experimental study on natural draft-dry cooling tower as part of the passive system for the residual decay heat removal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Caruso, G.; Fatone, M.; Naviglio, A.

2007-01-01

An experimental apparatus has been built in order to perform sensitivity analysis on the performance of a natural draft-dry cooling tower. This component plays an important role in the passive system for the residual heat decay removal foreseen in the MARS reactor and in the GCFR of the Generation IV reactors. The sensitivity analysis has investigated: 1) the heat exchanger arrangement; two different arrangements have been considered: a horizontal arrangement, in which a system of electrical heaters are placed at the inlet cross section of the tower, and a vertical arrangement, with the heaters distributed vertically around the circumference of the tower. 2) The shape of the cooling tower; by varying the angle of the shell inclination it is possible to obtain a different shape for the tower itself. An upper and a lower angle inclination were modified and by a calculation procedure eleven different configuration were selected. 3) The effect of cross wind on the tower performance. An equation-based procedure to design the dry-cooling tower is presented. In order to evaluate the influence of the shape and the heat exchanger arrangement on the performance of the cooling tower, a geometrical factor (FG) and a thermal factor (FT) are introduced. By analyzing the experimental results, engineering design relations are obtained to model the cooling tower performance. The comparison between the experimental heat transfer coefficient and the heat transfer coefficient obtained by the mathematical procedure shows that there is a good agreement. The obtained results show that it is possible to evaluate the shape and the heat exchanger arrangement to optimize the performance of the cooling tower either in wind-less condition either in presence of cross wind. (authors)

SOURCE TERMS FOR HLW GLASS CANISTERS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

J.S. Tang

2000-01-01

This calculation is prepared by the Monitored Geologic Repository (MGR) Waste Package Design Section. The objective of this calculation is to determine the source terms that include radionuclide inventory, decay heat, and radiation sources due to gamma rays and neutrons for the high-level radioactive waste (HLW) from the, West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP), Savannah River Site (SRS), Hanford Site (HS), and Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL). This calculation also determines the source terms of the canister containing the SRS HLW glass and immobilized plutonium. The scope of this calculation is limited to source terms for a time period out to one million years. The results of this calculation may be used to carry out performance assessment of the potential repository and to evaluate radiation environments surrounding the waste packages (WPs). This calculation was performed in accordance with the Development Plan ''Source Terms for HLW Glass Canisters'' (Ref. 7.24)

SU(6), baryonic decays of B-mesons and CP

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, D.

1990-01-01

In this paper the four fermion weak decay Hamiltonian is expressed in terms of quark-antiquark creation operators with specific spin orientations. Then the SU(6) symmetry of the strong interactions among light quarks is imposed to find 8 invariant decay amplitudes for two body charmful baryonic decays of the B-mesons, 3 S-waves, 4 P- waves and 1 D-wave. Λ c branching ratio and some exclusive branching ratios are calculated based on the assumption of two body dominance in baryonic decay modes. Results on two body mesonic decays are also given. Relation between the SU(6) scheme and the quark diagram scheme is discussed

Methodology used to calculate moderator-system heat load at full power and during reactor transients in CANDU reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aydogdu, K.

1998-01-01

Nine components determine the moderator-system heat load during full-power operation and during a reactor power transient in a CANDU reactor. The components that contribute to the total moderator-system heat load at any time consist of the heat generated in the calandria tubes, guide tubes and reactivity mechanisms, moderator and reflector; the heat transferred from calandria shell, the inner tubesheets and the fuel channels; and the heat gained from moderator pumps and heat lost from piping. The contributions from each of these components will vary with time during a reactor transient. The sources of heat that arise from the deposition of nuclear energy can be divided into two categories, viz., a) the neutronic component (which is directly proportional to neutronic power), which includes neutron energy absorption, prompt-fission gamma absorption and capture gamma absorption; and b) the fission-product decay-gamma component, which also varies with time after initiation of the transient. An equation was derived to calculate transient heat loads to the moderator. The equation includes two independent variables that are the neutronic power and fission-product decay-gamma power fractions during the transient and a constant term that represents the heat gained from moderator pumps and heat lost from piping. The calculated heat load in the moderator during steady-state full-power operation for a CANDU 6 reactor was compared with available measurements from the Point Lepreau, Wolsong 1 and Gentilly-2 nuclear generating stations. The calculated and measured values were in reasonably good agreement. (author)

The file of evaluated decay data in ENDF/B

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reich, C.W.

1991-01-01

One important application of nuclear decay data is the Evaluated Nuclear Data File/B (ENDF/B), the base of evaluated nuclear data used in reactor research and technology activities within the United States. The decay data in the Activation File (158 nuclides) and the Actinide File (108 nuclides) excellently represent the current status of this information. In particular, the half-lives and gamma and alpha emission probabilities, quantities that are so important for many applications, of the actinide nuclides represent a significant improvement over those in ENDF/B-V because of the inclusion of data produced by an International Atomic Energy Agency Coordinated Research Program. The Fission Product File contains experimental decay data on ∼510 nuclides, which is essentially all for which a meaningful number of data are available. For the first time, delayed-neutron spectra for the precursor nuclides are included. Some hint of problems in the fission product data base is provided by the gamma decay heat following a burst irradiation of 239 Pu

Baryon decay: Flipped SU(5) surmounts another challenge

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ellis, J. (European Organization for Nuclear Research, Geneva (Switzerland). Theory Div.); Lopez, J.L.; Nanopoulos, D.V. (Texas A and M Univ., College Station, TX (USA). Center for Theoretical Physics Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC), Woodlands, TX (USA). Astroparticle Physics Group)

1990-12-06

Effective four-dimensional field theories derived from string theories may contain superpotential terms that violate baryon number. Terms that are cubic in the standard model particles are well known to lead to excessively rapid proton decay, and the same is true for terms that are quartic in these light fields. This holds even if the terms contain many powers of fields with large intermediate vacuum expectation values, corresponding to asymmetric manifolds of compactification. We show that no such B-violating superpotential interaction arises in flipped SU(5), thanks to an extra symmetry of the effective cubic d=4 and quartic d=5 superpotentials terms, induced at short distances. We conclude that in this model baryon decay proceeds predominantly through conventional d=6 gauge boson exchange, and we recalculate its rate using the latest LEP data to estimate the heavy gauge boson masses. (orig.).

Prediction of long-term precipitate evolution in austenitic heat-resistant steels

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shim, Jae-Hyeok; Jung, Woo-Sang; Cho, Young Whan [Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul (Korea, Republic of). Materials/Devices Div.; Kozeschnik, Ernst [Vienna Univ. of Technology (Austria). Inst. of Materials Science and Technology

2010-07-01

Numerical prediction of the long-term precipitate evolution in five different austenitic heat-resistant stainless steels, NF709, Super304H, Sanicro25, CF8C-PLUS and HTUPS has been carried out. MX and M{sub 23}C{sub 6} are predicted to remain as major precipitates during long-term aging in these steels. The addition of 3 wt% Cu produces very fine Cu-rich precipitates during aging in Super304H and Sanicro25. It is found that the amount of Z phase start to increase remarkably between 1,000 and 10,000 hours of aging at the expense of MX precipitates in the steels containing a high nitrogen content. However, the growth rate of Z phase is relatively slow and its average size reaches at most a few tens of nanometers after 100,000 hours of aging at 700 C, compared with 9-12% Cr ferritic/martensitic heat-resistant steels. The predicted precipitation sequence and precipitate size during aging are in general agreement with experimental observations. (orig.)

Decay properties of linear thermoelastic plates: Cattaneo versus Fourier law

KAUST Repository

Said-Houari, Belkacem

2013-01-01

In this article, we investigate the decay properties of the linear thermoelastic plate equations in the whole space for both Fourier and Cattaneo's laws of heat conduction. We point out that while the paradox of infinite propagation speed inherent

PyDecay/GraphPhys: A Unified Language and Storage System for Particle Decay Process Descriptions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dunietz, Jesse N.; /MIT /SLAC

2011-06-22

To ease the tasks of Monte Carlo (MC) simulation and event reconstruction (i.e. inferring particle-decay events from experimental data) for long-term BaBar data preservation and analysis, the following software components have been designed: a language ('GraphPhys') for specifying decay processes, common to both simulation and data analysis, allowing arbitrary parameters on particles, decays, and entire processes; an automated visualization tool to show graphically what decays have been specified; and a searchable database storage mechanism for decay specifications. Unlike HepML, a proposed XML standard for HEP metadata, the specification language is designed not for data interchange between computer systems, but rather for direct manipulation by human beings as well as computers. The components are interoperable: the information parsed from files in the specification language can easily be rendered as an image by the visualization package, and conversion between decay representations was implemented. Several proof-of-concept command-line tools were built based on this framework. Applications include building easier and more efficient interfaces to existing analysis tools for current projects (e.g. BaBar/BESII), providing a framework for analyses in future experimental settings (e.g. LHC/SuperB), and outreach programs that involve giving students access to BaBar data and analysis tools to give them a hands-on feel for scientific analysis.

A portable backup power supply to assure extended decay heat removal during natural phenomena-induced station blackout

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Proctor, L.D.; Merryman, L.D.; Sallee, W.E.

1989-01-01

The High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) is a light water cooled and moderated flux-trap type research reactor located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Coolant circulation following reactor shutdown is provided by the primary coolant pumps. DC-powered pony motors drive these pumps at a reduced flow rate following shutdown of the normal ac-powered motors. Forced circulation decay heat removal is required for several hours to preclude core damage following shutdown. Recent analyses identified a potential vulnerability due to a natural phenomena-induced station blackout. Neither the offsire power supply nor the onsite emergency diesel generators are designed to withstand the effects of seismic events or tornadoes. It could not be assured that the capacity of the dedicated batteries provided as a backup power supply for the primary coolant pump pony motors is adequate to provide forced circulation cooling for the required time following such events. A portable backup power supply added to the plant to address this potential vulnerability is described

Influence of hot water dip and gamma irradiation on postharvest fungal decay of Galia melons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barkai-Golan, R.; Padova, R.; Ross, I.; Lapidot, M.; Copel, A.; Davidson, H.

1993-01-01

Dipping Galia melons in hot water at 52 deg C for 5 min or at 55 deg for 2 min resulted in 12-15% decay (caused by Alternaria alternata, Fusarium spp. and Trichothecium roseum) during prolonged storage (12 d at 6 deg plus 3 d at 18 deg ) compared with 75% decay in untreated fruit or 60% decay in cold-water-dipped fruit. Irradiation at 0.5 or 1 kGy had no significant effect on decay development. However, combination of heat treatment with a 0.5 kGy dose prevented fungal growth, resulting in 5% decay during storage. Combinations of heating with 1 kGy irradiation gave no improvement in anti-fungal effect over treatment with 0.5 kGy and sometimes resulted in a decreased suppressive effect. Reducing the duration of dipping at 55 deg from 2 to 0.5 min, applied alone or in combination with irradiation, considerably reduced the anti-fungal effect of the treatment. The effective combined treatment resulted in 12-15% of slight peel damage, but all the fruits were regarded as marketable. No differences in fruit firmness were recorded among the treatments

Decay property of regularity-loss type of solutions in elastic solids with voids

KAUST Repository

Said-Houari, Belkacem; Messaoudi, Salim A.

2013-01-01

In this article, we consider two porous systems of nonclassical thermoelasticity in the whole real line. We discuss the long-time behaviour of the solutions in the presence of a strong damping acting, together with the heat effect, on the elastic equation and establish several decay results. Those decay results are shown to be very slow and of regularity-loss type. Some improvements of the decay rates have also been given, provided that the initial data belong to some weighted spaces. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Decay property of regularity-loss type of solutions in elastic solids with voids

KAUST Repository

Said-Houari, Belkacem

2013-12-01

In this article, we consider two porous systems of nonclassical thermoelasticity in the whole real line. We discuss the long-time behaviour of the solutions in the presence of a strong damping acting, together with the heat effect, on the elastic equation and establish several decay results. Those decay results are shown to be very slow and of regularity-loss type. Some improvements of the decay rates have also been given, provided that the initial data belong to some weighted spaces. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Decay heat removal and heat transfer under normal and accident conditions in gas cooled reactors. Proceedings of a specialists meeting held in Juelich, Germany, 6-8 July 1992

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1994-08-15

The meeting was convened by the International Atomic Energy Agency on the recommendation of the IAEA`s International Working Group on Gas Cooled Reactors. It was attended by participants from China, France, Germany, Japan, Poland, the Russian Federation, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The meeting was chaired by Prof. Dr. K. Kugeler and Prof. Dr. E. Hicken, Directors of the Institute for Safety Research Technology of the KFA Research Center, and covered the following: Design and licensing requirements for gas cooled reactors; concepts for decay heat removal in modern gas cooled reactors; analytical methods for predictions of thermal response, accuracy of predictions; experimental data for validation of predictive methods - operational experience from gas cooled reactors and experimental data from test facilities. Refs, figs and tabs.

General method of calculation of any hadronic decay in the 3P0 model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roberts, W.

1992-01-01

The 3 P 0 pair creation model of hadron decays is generalized to be applicable to the decay of any hadron. The wave function of the decaying hadron is expanded in terms of two clusters. The transition amplitudes is derived for any combination of angular momenta, and for general wave functions in momentum space, expanded in terms of Gaussians times polynomials. (authors)

Experimental and numerical simulation of passive decay heat removal by sump cooling after cool melt down

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Knebel, J.U.; Kuhn, D.; Mueller, U.

1997-01-01

This article presents the basic physical phenomena and scaling criteria of passive decay heat removal from a large coolant pool by single-phase and two-phase natural circulation. The physical significance of the dimensionless similarity groups derived is evaluated. The above results are applied to the SUCO program that is performed at the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe. The SUCO program is a three-step series of scaled model experiments investigating the possibility of a sump cooling concept for future light water reactors. The sump cooling concept is based on passive safety features within the containment. The work is supported by the German utilities and the Siemens AG. The article gives results of temperature and velocity measurements in the 1:20 linearly scaled SUCOS-2D test facility. The experiments are backed up by numerical calculations using the commercial software package Fluent. Finally, using the similarity analysis from above, the experimental results of the model geometry are scaled-up to the conditions in the prototype, allowing a first statement with regard to the feasibility of the sump cooling concept. 11 refs., 9 figs., 3 tabs

Decay properties of linear thermoelastic plates: Cattaneo versus Fourier law

KAUST Repository

Said-Houari, Belkacem

2013-02-01

In this article, we investigate the decay properties of the linear thermoelastic plate equations in the whole space for both Fourier and Cattaneo\\'s laws of heat conduction. We point out that while the paradox of infinite propagation speed inherent in Fourier\\'s law is removed by changing to the Cattaneo law, the latter always leads to a loss of regularity of the solution. The main tool used to prove our results is the energy method in the Fourier space together with some integral estimates. We prove the decay estimates for initial data U0 ∈ Hs(ℝ) ∩ L1(ℝ). In addition, by restricting the initial data to U0 ∈ Hs(ℝ) ∩ L1,γ(ℝ) and γ ∈ [0, 1], we can derive faster decay estimates with the decay rate improvement by a factor of t-γ/2. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Preliminary Analysis on Decay Heat Removal Capability of Helium Cooled Solid Breeder Test Blanket Module

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahn, Mu Young; Cho, Seung Yon; Kim, Duck Hoi; Lee, Eun Seok; Kim, Hyung Seok; Suh, Jae Seung; Yun, Sung Hwan; Cho, Nam Zin

2007-01-01

One of the main ITER goals is to test and validate design concepts of tritium breeding blankets relevant to DEMO or fusion power plants. Korea Helium-Cooled Solid Breeder (HCSB) Test Blanket Module (TBM) has been developed with overall objectives of achieving this goal. The TBM employs high pressure helium to cool down the First Wall (FW), Side Wall (SW) and Breeding Zone (BZ). Therefore, safety consideration is a part of the design process. Each ITER Party performing the TBM program is requested to reach a similar level of confidence in the TBM safety analysis. To meet ITER's request, Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) studies have been performed on the TBM to identify the Postulated Initial Event (PIE). Although FMEA on the KO TBM has not been completed, in-vessel, in-box and ex-vessel Loss Of Coolant Accident (LOCA) are considered as enveloping cases of PIE in general. In this paper, accidental analyses for the three selected LOCA were performed to investigate the decay heat removal capability of the TBM. To simulate transient thermo-hydraulic behavior of the TBM for the selected scenarios, RELAP5/MOD3.2 code was used

Shutdown decay heat removal analysis of a Babcock and Wilcox pressurized water reactor: Case study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cramond, W.R.; Ericson, D.M. Jr.; Sanders, G.A.

1987-03-01

This is one of six case studies for USI A-45 Decay Heat Removal (DHR) Requirements. The purpose of this study is to identify any potential vulnerabilities in the DHR systems of a typical Babcock and Wilcox PWR, to suggest possible modifications to improve the DHR capability, and to assess the value and impact of the most promising alternatives to the existing DHR systems. The systems analysis considered small LOCAs and transient internal initiating events, and seismic, fire, extreme wind, internal and external flood, and lightning external events. A full-scale systems analysis was performed with detailed fault trees and event trees including support system dependencies. The system analysis results were extrapolated into release categories using applicable past PRA phenomenological results and improved containment failure mode probabilities. Public consequences were estimated using site specific CRAC2 calculations. The Value-Impact (VI) analysis of possible alternatives considered both onsite and offsite impacts arriving at several risk measures such as averted population dose out to a 50-mile radius and dollars per person rem averted. Uncertainties in the VI analysis are discussed and the issues of feed and bleed and secondary blowdown are analyzed

2.5 MWT Heat Exchanger Designs for Passive DHRS in PGSFR

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Dehee; Eoh, Jaehyuk; Lee, Tae-Ho [KAERI, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-05-15

Decay Heat Removal System (DHRS) of PGSFR consists of two passive DHRS (PDHRS) trains and two active DHRS (ADHRS) trains. Recently, total heat removal capacity of the DHRS in the PGSFR has increased to 10 MWT from 4 MWT reflecting safety analysis results. Consequently, DHRS components including heat exchangers, dampers, electro-magnetic pump, fan, piping, expansion tank and stack have been newly designed. In this work, physical models and correlations to design two main components of the PDHRS, decay heat exchanger (DHX) and natural-draft sodium-to-air heat exchanger (AHX), are introduced and designed data are presented. Physical models and correlations applied for heat exchangers in the PDHRS design were introduced and design works using the SHXSA and AHXSA codes has been completed for 2.5 MWT decay heat removal capability. DHX and AHX are designed utilizing SHXSA and AHXSA codes, respectively. Those design codes have capability of thermal sizing and performance analysis for the shell-and-tube type and counter-current flow heat exchanger unit. Since both SHXSA and AHXSA codes are similar, following description is focused on the SHXSA code. A single flow channel associated with an individual heat transfer tube is basically considered for thermal sizing and then the calculation results and design variables regarding heat transfer and pressure drop, etc. are extended to whole tubes. Various correlations of heat transfer and pressure loss for the shell- and tubeside flows were implemented in the computer codes. The analysis domain is discretized into several control volumes and heat transfer and pressure losses are calculated in each control volume.

Heat transfer in a one-dimensional mixed convection loop

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Min Joon; Lee, Yong Bum; Kim, Yong Kyun; Kim, Jong Man; Nam, Ho Yun

1999-01-01

Effects of non-uniform heating in the core and additional forced circulation during decay heat removal operation are studied with a simplified mixed convection loop. The heat transfer coefficient is calculated analytically and measured experimentally. The analytic solution obtained from a one-dimensional heat equation is found to agree well with the experimental results. The effects of the non-uniform heating and the forced circulation are discussed

New Heating Mechanism of Asteroids in Protoplanetary Disks

Science.gov (United States)

Menzel, Raymond L.; Roberge, W. G.

2013-10-01

Heating of asteroids in the early solar system has been mainly attributed to two mechanisms: the decay of short-lived radionuclides and the unipolar induction mechanism originally proposed in a classic series of papers by Sonett and collaborators. As originally conceived, unipolar induction heating is the result of the dissipation of current inside the body driven by a “motional electric field”, which appears in the asteroid’s reference frame when it is immersed in a fully-ionized, magnetized T-Tauri solar wind. However we point out a subtle conceptual error in the way that the electric field is calculated. Strictly speaking, the motional electric field used by Sonett et al. is the electric field in the free-streaming plasma far from the asteroid. For realistic assumptions about the plasma density in protoplanetary disks, the interaction between the plasma and asteroid cause the formation of a shear layer, in which the motional electric field decreases and even vanishes at the asteroid surface. We reexamine and improve the induction heating mechanism by: (1) correcting this conceptual error by using non-ideal multifluid MHD to self consistently calculate the velocity, magnetic, and electric fields in and around the shear layer; and (2) considering more realistic environments and scenarios that are consistent with current theories about protoplanetary disks. We present solutions for two highly idealized flows, which demonstrate that the electric field inside the asteroid is actually produced by magnetic field gradients in the shear layer, and can either vanish or be comparable to the fields predicted by Sonett et al. depending on the flow geometry. We term this new mechanism “electrodynamic heating”, calculate its possible upper limits, and compare them to heating generated by the decay of short-lived radionuclides.

152Eu decay

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Artamonova, K.P.; Vinogradov, V.M.; Grigor'ev, E.P.; Zolotavin, A.V.; Makarov, V.M.; Sergeev, V.O.; Usynko, T.M.

1978-01-01

The purpose of this paper is the measurement of the relative intensities of the most intensive conversion lines of 152 Eu, the determination of as reliable as possible magnitudes of the intensities of γ-quanta using all the available data on γ-radiation of 152 Eu, the measurement of the interval conversion coefficients (ICC) for the most intensive γ-transitions, the determination of the probabilities of the 152 Eu β-decays to the 152 Sm and 152 Gd levels. The conversion lines of the most intensive γ-transitions in the 152 Eu decay are studied and the corresponding ICC are measured on the beta-spectrometers of π√2 and UMB type. The balance for the γ-transitions in the 152 Sm and 152 Gd daughter nuclei are presented. This balance is used to determine the absolute intensities of γ-rays (in terms of the percentage of the 152 Eu decays) and the probabilities of β-transitions to the levels of daughter nuclei. More accurate data on γ-rays and conversion electrons obtained can be used for the calibration of gamma and beta spectrometers

Gamma ray constraints on decaying dark matter

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cirelli, M.; Moulin, E.; Panci, P.

2012-01-01

We derive new bounds on decaying dark matter from the gamma ray measurements of (i) the isotropic residual (extragalactic) background by Fermi and (ii) the Fornax galaxy cluster by H.E.S.S. We find that those from (i) are among the most stringent constraints currently available, for a large range...... of dark matter masses and a variety of decay modes, excluding half-lives up to similar to 10(26) to few 10(27) seconds. In particular, they rule out the interpretation in terms of decaying dark matter of the e(+/-) spectral features in PAMELA, Fermi and H.E.S.S., unless very conservative choices...

Colder freeze-in axinos decaying into photons

Science.gov (United States)

Bae, Kyu Jung; Kamada, Ayuki; Liew, Seng Pei; Yanagi, Keisuke

2018-03-01

We point out that 7 keV axino dark matter (DM) in the R-parity violating (RPV) supersymmetric (SUSY) Dine-Fischler-Srednicki-Zhitnitsky axion model can simultaneously reproduce the 3.5 keV x-ray line excess and evade stringent constraints from the Ly -α forest data. Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking naturally generates both the TeV-scale μ term and the MeV-scale RPV term. The RPV term introduces a tiny axino-neutrino mixing and provides axino DM as a variant of the sterile neutrino DM explaining the 3.5 keV x-ray line excess. Axinos are produced by freeze-in processes via the μ term. The resultant phase space distribution tends to be colder than the Fermi-Dirac distribution. The inherent entropy production from late-time saxion decay makes axinos even colder than those without saxion decay. The resultant axino DM takes the correct relic density and is compatible even with the latest and strongest constraint from the Ly-α forest data.

Existence of a time-dependent heat flux-related ponderomotive effect

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schamel, H.; Sack, C.

1980-01-01

The existence of a new ponderomotive effect associated with high-frequency waves is pointed out. It originates when time-dependency, mean velocities, or divergent heat fluxes are involved and it supplements the two effects known previously, namely, the ponderomotive force and fake heating. Two proofs are presented; the first is obtained by establishing the momentum equations generalized by including radiation effects and the second by solving the quasi-linear-type diffusion equation explicitly. For a time-dependent wave packet the solution exhibits a new contribution in terms of an integral over previous states. Owing to this term, the plasma has a memory which leads to a breaking of the time symmetry of the plasma response. The range, influenced by the localized wave packet, expands during the course of time due to streamers emanating from the wave active region. Perturbations, among which is the heat flux, are carried to remote positions and, consequently, the region accessible to wave heating is increased. The density dip appears to be less pronounced at the center, and its generation and decay are delayed. The analysis includes a self-consistent action of high-frequency waves as well as the case of traveling wave packets. In order to establish the existence of this new effect, the analytical results are compared with recent microwave experiments. The possibility of generating fast particles by this new ponderomotive effect is emphasized

Decay of Sabin inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV-boosted poliovirus antibodies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sonia Resik

2015-01-01

Conclusion: The decay of poliovirus antibodies over a 21–22-month period was similar regardless of the type of booster vaccine used, suggesting the scientific data of Salk IPV long-term persistence and decay may be broadly applicable to Sabin IPV.

Evaluation of the Safety Issue Concerning the Potential for Loss of Decay Heat Removal Function due to Crude Oil Spill in the Ultimate Heat Sink of Nuclear Reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jo, Jong Chull; Roh, Kyung Wan; Yune, Young Gill; Kang, Dong Gu; Kim, Hho Jhung

2008-01-01

A barge crashed into a moored oil tanker at about 7:15 a.m., Dec. 12, 2007, dumping around 10,500 tons of crude oil into the sea in Korea. The incident took place about 15 kilometers northwest of Manripo beach in South Chungcheong where is Korea's west coast in the Yellow Sea. In a few days, the oil slicks spread to the northern and southern tips of the Taean Peninsula by strong winds and tides. As time went the spilled oil floating on the surface of sea water was volatilized to become tar-balls and lumps and drifted far away in the southern direction. 13 days after the incident, some of oil slicks and tar lumps were observed to flow in the service water intake at the Younggwang nuclear power plants (NPPs) operating 6 reactors, which are over 150 km away from the incident spot in the southeastern direction. According to the report by the Younggwang NPPs, a total weight 83 kg of tar lumps was removed for about 3 days. Oil spills in the sea can happen in any country or anytime due to human errors or mistakes, wars, terrors, intentional dumping of waste oils, and natural disasters like typhoon and tsunami. In fact, there have been 7 major oil spills over 10,000 tons that have occurred around the world since 1983. As such serious oil spill incidents may happen near the operating power plants using the sea water as ultimate heat sink. To ensure the safe operation of nuclear reactors it is required to evaluate the potential for loss of decay heat removal function of nuclear reactors due to the spilled oils flowing in the service water intake, from which the service water is pumped. Thus, Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety identified this problem as one of the important safety. When an incident of crude oil spill from an oil carrier occurs in the sea near the nuclear power plants, the spilled oil can be transported to the intake pit, where all service water pumps locate, by sea current and wind drift (induced) current. The essential service water pumps take the service

Evaluation of the Safety Issue Concerning the Potential for Loss of Decay Heat Removal Function due to Crude Oil Spill in the Ultimate Heat Sink of Nuclear Reactors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jo, Jong Chull; Roh, Kyung Wan; Yune, Young Gill; Kang, Dong Gu; Kim, Hho Jhung [Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2008-05-15

A barge crashed into a moored oil tanker at about 7:15 a.m., Dec. 12, 2007, dumping around 10,500 tons of crude oil into the sea in Korea. The incident took place about 15 kilometers northwest of Manripo beach in South Chungcheong where is Korea's west coast in the Yellow Sea. In a few days, the oil slicks spread to the northern and southern tips of the Taean Peninsula by strong winds and tides. As time went the spilled oil floating on the surface of sea water was volatilized to become tar-balls and lumps and drifted far away in the southern direction. 13 days after the incident, some of oil slicks and tar lumps were observed to flow in the service water intake at the Younggwang nuclear power plants (NPPs) operating 6 reactors, which are over 150 km away from the incident spot in the southeastern direction. According to the report by the Younggwang NPPs, a total weight 83 kg of tar lumps was removed for about 3 days. Oil spills in the sea can happen in any country or anytime due to human errors or mistakes, wars, terrors, intentional dumping of waste oils, and natural disasters like typhoon and tsunami. In fact, there have been 7 major oil spills over 10,000 tons that have occurred around the world since 1983. As such serious oil spill incidents may happen near the operating power plants using the sea water as ultimate heat sink. To ensure the safe operation of nuclear reactors it is required to evaluate the potential for loss of decay heat removal function of nuclear reactors due to the spilled oils flowing in the service water intake, from which the service water is pumped. Thus, Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety identified this problem as one of the important safety. When an incident of crude oil spill from an oil carrier occurs in the sea near the nuclear power plants, the spilled oil can be transported to the intake pit, where all service water pumps locate, by sea current and wind drift (induced) current. The essential service water pumps take the

Weak decays of doubly heavy baryons. SU(3) analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Wei; Xing, Zhi-Peng; Xu, Ji [Shanghai Jiao Tong University, INPAC, Shanghai Key Laboratory for Particle Physics and Cosmology, School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai (China)

2017-11-15

Motivated by the recent LHCb observation of doubly charmed baryon Ξ{sub cc}{sup ++} in the Λ{sub c}{sup +}K{sup -}π{sup +}π{sup +} final state, we analyze the weak decays of doubly heavy baryons Ξ{sub cc}, Ω{sub cc}, Ξ{sub bc}, Ω{sub bc}, Ξ{sub bb} and Ω{sub bb} under the flavor SU(3) symmetry. The decay amplitudes for various semileptonic and nonleptonic decays are parametrized in terms of a few SU(3) irreducible amplitudes. We find a number of relations or sum rules between decay widths and CP asymmetries, which can be examined in future measurements at experimental facilities like LHC, Belle II and CEPC. Moreover, once a few decay branching fractions have been measured in the future, some of these relations may provide hints for exploration of new decay modes. (orig.)

MULTIFLUID MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC TURBULENT DECAY

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Downes, T. P.; O'Sullivan, S.

2011-01-01

It is generally believed that turbulence has a significant impact on the dynamics and evolution of molecular clouds and the star formation that occurs within them. Non-ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) effects are known to influence the nature of this turbulence. We present the results of a suite of 512 3 resolution simulations of the decay of initially super-Alfvenic and supersonic fully multifluid MHD turbulence. We find that ambipolar diffusion increases the rate of decay of the turbulence while the Hall effect has virtually no impact. The decay of the kinetic energy can be fitted as a power law in time and the exponent is found to be -1.34 for fully multifluid MHD turbulence. The power spectra of density, velocity, and magnetic field are all steepened significantly by the inclusion of non-ideal terms. The dominant reason for this steepening is ambipolar diffusion with the Hall effect again playing a minimal role except at short length scales where it creates extra structure in the magnetic field. Interestingly we find that, at least at these resolutions, the majority of the physics of multifluid turbulence can be captured by simply introducing fixed (in time and space) resistive terms into the induction equation without the need for a full multifluid MHD treatment. The velocity dispersion is also examined and, in common with previously published results, it is found not to be power law in nature.

Hybrid heat pipe based passive cooling device for spent nuclear fuel dry storage cask

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jeong, Yeong Shin; Bang, In Cheol

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Hybrid heat pipe was presented as a passive cooling device for dry storage cask of SNF. • A method to utilize waste heat from spent fuel was suggested using hybrid heat pipe. • CFD analysis was performed to evaluate the thermal performance of hybrid heat pipe. • Hybrid heat pipe can increase safety margin and storage capacity of the dry storage cask. - Abstract: Conventional dry storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel (SNF) were designed to remove decay heat through the natural convection of air, but this method has limited cooling capacity and a possible re-criticality accident in case of flooding. To enhance the safety and capacity of dry storage cask of SNF, hybrid heat pipe-based passive cooling device was suggested. Heat pipe is an excellent passive heat transfer device using the principles of both conduction and phase change of the working fluid. The heat pipe containing neutron absorber material, the so-called hybrid heat pipe, is expected to prevent the re-criticality accidents of SNF and to increase the safety margin during interim and long term storage period. Moreover, a hybrid heat pipe with thermoelectric module, a Stirling engine and a phase change material tank can be used for utilization of the waste heat as heat-transfer medium. Located at the guide tube or instrumentation tube, hybrid heat pipe can remove decay heat from inside the sealed metal cask to outside, decreasing fuel rod temperature. In this paper, a 2-step analysis was performed using computational fluid dynamics code to evaluate the heat and fluid flow inside a cask, which consisted of a single spent fuel assembly simulation and a full-scope dry cask simulation. For a normal dry storage cask, the maximum fuel temperature is 290.0 °C. With hybrid heat pipe cooling, the temperature decreased to 261.6 °C with application of one hybrid heat pipe per assembly, and to 195.1 °C with the application of five hybrid heat pipes per assembly. Therefore, a dry

Wear, creep, and frictional heating of femoral implant articulating surfaces and the effect on long-term performance--Part II, Friction, heating, and torque.

Science.gov (United States)

Davidson, J A; Schwartz, G; Lynch, G; Gir, S

1988-04-01

In Part I, (J.A. Davidson and G. Schwartz, "Wear, creep, and frictional heating of femoral implant articulating surfaces and the effect on long-term performance--Part I, A review," J. Biomed. Mater. Res., 21, 000-000 (1987) it was shown that lubrication of the artificial hip joint was complex and that long-term performance is governed by the combined wear, creep, and to a lesser extent, oxidation degradation of the articulating materials. Importantly, it was shown that a tendency for heating exists during articulation in the hip joint and that elevated temperatures can increase the wear, creep, and oxidation degradation rate of UHMWPE. The present study was performed to examine closely the propensity to generate heat during articulation in a hip joint simulator. The systems investigated were polished Co-Cr-Mo alloy articulating against UHMWPE, polished alumina ceramic against UHMWPE, and polished alumina against itself. Frictional torque was also evaluated for each system at various levels of applied loads. A walking load history was used in both the frictional heating and torque tests. The majority of tests were performed with 5 mL of water lubricant. However, the effect of various concentrations of hyaluronic acid was also evaluated. Results showed frictional heating to occur in all three systems, reaching an equilibrium after roughly 30 min articulation time. Ceramic systems showed reduced levels of heating compared to the cobalt alloy-UHMWPE system. The level of frictional torque for each system ranked similar to their respective tendencies to generate heat. Hyaluronic acid had little effect, while dry conditions and the presence of small quantities of bone cement powder in water lubricant significantly increased frictional torque.

General classification and analysis of neutron β-decay experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gudkov, V.; Greene, G.L.; Calarco, J.R.

2006-01-01

A general analysis of the sensitivities of neutron β-decay experiments to manifestations of possible interaction beyond the standard model is carried out. In a consistent fashion, we take into account all known radiative and recoil corrections arising in the standard model. This provides a description of angular correlations in neutron decay in terms of one parameter, which is accurate to the level of ∼10 -5 . Based on this general expression, we present an analysis of the sensitivities to new physics for selected neutron decay experiments. We emphasize that the usual parametrization of experiments in terms of the tree-level coefficients a,A, and B is inadequate when the experimental sensitivities are at the same or higher level relative to the size of the corrections to the tree-level description

Modeling Loss-of-Flow Accidents and Their Impact on Radiation Heat Transfer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jivan Khatry

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Long-term high payload missions necessitate the need for nuclear space propulsion. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA investigated several reactor designs from 1959 to 1973 in order to develop the Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application (NERVA. Study of planned/unplanned transients on nuclear thermal rockets is important due to the need for long-term missions. In this work, a system model based on RELAP5 is developed to simulate loss-of-flow accidents on the Pewee I test reactor. This paper investigates the radiation heat transfer between the fuel elements and the structures around it. In addition, the impact on the core fuel element temperature and average core pressure was also investigated. The following expected results were achieved: (i greater than normal fuel element temperatures, (ii fuel element temperatures exceeding the uranium carbide melting point, and (iii average core pressure less than normal. Results show that the radiation heat transfer rate between fuel elements and cold surfaces increases with decreasing flow rate through the reactor system. However, radiation heat transfer decreases when there is a complete LOFA. When there is a complete LOFA, the peripheral coolant channels of the fuel elements handle most of the radiation heat transfer. A safety system needs to be designed to counteract the decay heat resulting from a post-LOFA reactor scram.

Heat-flow properties of systems with alternate masses or alternate on-site potentials

Science.gov (United States)

Pereira, Emmanuel; Santana, Leonardo M.; Ávila, Ricardo

2011-07-01

We address a central issue of phononics: the search of properties or mechanisms to manage the heat flow in reliable materials. We analytically study standard and simple systems modeling the heat flow in solids, namely, the harmonic, self-consistent harmonic and also anharmonic chains of oscillators, and we show an interesting insulating effect: While in the homogeneous models the heat flow decays as the inverse of the particle mass, in the chain with alternate masses it decays as the inverse of the square of the mass difference, that is, it decays essentially as the mass ratio (between the smaller and the larger one) for a large mass difference. A similar effect holds if we alternate on-site potentials instead of particle masses. The existence of such behavior in these different systems, including anharmonic models, indicates that it is a ubiquitous phenomenon with applications in the heat flow control.

Formation and decay of nuclei heated with high-energy antiprotons

CERN Document Server

Lott, B; Eades, J.; Egidy, T.v.; Figuera, P.; Fuchs, H.; Galin, J.; Gulda, K.; Goldenbaum, F.; Hilscher, D.; Jahnke, U.; Jastrzebski, J.; Kurcewicz, W.; Morjean, M.; Pausch, G.; Péghaire, A.; Pienkowski, L.; Polster, D.; Proschitzki, S.; Quednau, B.; Rossner, H.; Schmid, S.; Schmid, W.; Ziem, P.

1999-01-01

The decay of nuclei excited via the annihilation of 1.2 GeV antiprotons has been investigated. Thanks to the ability to determine the excitation energy, E sup * , for all events, largely irrespective of their mass partitions, the probabilities of the different channels at play could be estimated as a function of E sup *. The data show the prevalence of fission and evaporation up to E sup * = 4 MeV/nucleon, with no hint of a transition towards multifragmentation.

Techniques for the treatment of IR divergences in decay processes at NLO and application to the top-quark decay.

Science.gov (United States)

Basso, Lorenzo; Dittmaier, Stefan; Huss, Alexander; Oggero, Luisa

We present the extension of two general algorithms for the treatment of infrared singularities arising in electroweak corrections to decay processes at next-to-leading order: the dipole subtraction formalism and the one-cutoff slicing method. The former is extended to the case of decay kinematics which has not been considered in the literature so far. The latter is generalised to production and decay processes with more than two charged particles, where new "surface" terms arise. Arbitrary patterns of massive and massless external particles are considered, including the treatment of infrared singularities in dimensional or mass regularisation. As an application of the two techniques we present the calculation of the next-to-leading order QCD and electroweak corrections to the top-quark decay width including all off-shell and decay effects of intermediate [Formula: see text] bosons. The result, e.g., represents a building block of a future calculation of NLO electroweak effects to off-shell top-quark pair ([Formula: see text]) production. Moreover, this calculation can serve as the first step towards an event generator for top-quark decays at next-to-leading order accuracy, which can be used to attach top-quark decays to complicated many-particle top-quark processes, such as for [Formula: see text] or [Formula: see text].

Key role of asymmetric interactions in low-dimensional heat transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Shunda; Zhang, Yong; Wang, Jiao; Zhao, Hong

2016-01-01

We study the heat current autocorrelation function (HCAF) in one-dimensional, momentum-conserving lattices. In particular, we explore if there is any link between the decaying characteristics of the HCAF and asymmetric interparticle interactions. The Lennard-Jones model is investigated intensively in view of its significance to applications. It is found that, in the time range accessible to numerical simulations, the HCAF decays faster than power-law manners, and in some cases it decays even exponentially. Following the Green–Kubo formula, fast decay of the HCAF implies convergence of the heat conductivity, which is also corroborated by simulations. In addition, with a comparison to the Fermi–Pasta–Ulam-β model of symmetric interactions, the HCAF of the Fermi–Pasta–Ulam-α–β model of asymmetric interactions is also investigated. The results of all these studies lead to that, in certain ranges of parameters, fast decaying of the HCAF can be observed and correlated to the asymmetry degree of interactions. (paper: classical statistical mechanics, equilibrium and non-equilibrium)

Effect of short- and long-term heat stress on the conception risk of dairy cows under natural service and artificial insemination breeding programs.

Science.gov (United States)

Schüller, L-K; Burfeind, O; Heuwieser, W

2016-04-01

The objectives of this retrospective study were to examine the effect of heat stress on natural service and artificial insemination (AI) breeding methods. We investigated the influence of short- and long-term heat stress on the conception risk (CR) of dairy cows bred by natural service or by AI with frozen-thawed or fresh semen. In addition, the relationship between breeding method and parity was determined. Cows bred by AI with frozen-thawed semen exposed to long-term heat stress (mean temperature-humidity index ≥73 in the period 21d before breeding) were 63% less likely to get pregnant compared with cows not exposed to heat stress. Cows bred by AI with fresh semen were 80% less likely to get pregnant during periods of short-term heat stress than during periods without heat stress. Furthermore, multiparous cows bred by AI with frozen-thawed or fresh semen were 22 and 67% less likely to get pregnant, respectively, than primiparous cows. No influence of heat stress or parity was noted on the CR of cows bred by natural service. The present study indicates that the likelihood of dairy cows becoming pregnant is reduced by short- and long-term heat stress depending on the type of semen employed. In particular, CR of cows inseminated with fresh semen is negatively affected by short-term heat stress and CR of cows inseminated with frozen-thawed semen is negatively affected by long-term heat stress. Copyright © 2016 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Impact of dark matter decays and annihilations on structure formation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mapelli, M.; Ripamonti, E.

2007-01-01

Abstract: We derived the evolution of the energy deposition in the intergalactic medium (IGM) by different decaying (or annihilating) dark matter (DM) candidates. Heavy annihilating DM particles (with mass larger than a few GeV) have no influence on reionization and heating, even if we assume that

Global analysis of muon decay measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gagliardi, C.A.; Tribble, R.E.; Williams, N.J.

2005-01-01

We have performed a global analysis of muon decay measurements to establish model-independent limits on the space-time structure of the muon decay matrix element. We find limits on the scalar, vector, and tensor coupling of right- and left-handed muons to right- and left-handed electrons. The limits on those terms that involve the decay of right-handed muons to left-handed electrons are more restrictive than in previous global analyses, while the limits on the other nonstandard model interactions are comparable. The value of the Michel parameter η found in the global analysis is -0.0036±0.0069, slightly more precise than the value found in a more restrictive analysis of a recent measurement. This has implications for the Fermi coupling constant G F

A megawatt-level 28 GHz heating system for the National Spherical Torus Experiment Upgrade

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Taylor G.

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The National Spherical Torus Experiment Upgrade (NSTX-U will operate at axial toroidal fields of ≤ 1 T and plasma currents, Ip ≤ 2 MA. The development of non-inductive (NI plasmas is a major long-term research goal for NSTX-U. Time dependent numerical simulations of 28 GHz electron cyclotron (EC heating of low density NI start-up plasmas generated by Coaxial Helicity Injection (CHI in NSTX-U predict a significant and rapid increase of the central electron temperature (Te(0 before the plasma becomes overdense. The increased Te(0 will significantly reduce the Ip decay rate of CHI plasmas, allowing the coupling of fast wave heating and neutral beam injection. A megawatt-level, 28 GHz electron heating system is planned for heating NI start-up plasmas in NSTX-U. In addition to EC heating of CHI start-up discharges, this system will be used for electron Bernstein wave (EBW plasma start-up, and eventually for EBW heating and current drive during the Ip flattop.

In situ heating experiments in hard rock: their objectives and design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cook, N.G.W.; Witherspoon, P.A.; California Univ., Berkeley

1978-01-01

Of the many alternatives that are being considered for the disposal of nuclear wastes, deep underground burial is favored. The wealth of experience concerning the design and construction of underground excavations does not include the unique effects of heating excavations by radioactive decay, nor the issue of long-term isolation. The effects of heating are important in establishing the feasibility of this method of disposal and are essential for the design of an underground repository. Near-field phenomena around individual canisters can be studied by full-scale experiments, using electrical heaters. The thermal diffusivity of rock is so low that information concerning the interaction between full-scale heaters and of the effects of heating a large volume of rock cannot be measured in full-scale experiments lasting less than a few decades. To overcome this difficulty, a time-scaled heating experiment has been developed in which a reduction in linear scale is accompanied by an acceleration of the time scale to the second power. In this experiment, the linear scale is about a third, so that the time scale is about ten fold

In situ heating experiments in hard rock: their objectives and design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cook, N.G.W.; Witherspoon, P.A.

1978-01-01

Of the many alternatives that are being considered for the disposal of nuclear wastes, deep underground burial is favored. The wealth of experience concerning the design and construction of underground excavations does not include the unique effects of heating excavations by radioactive decay, nor the issue of long-term isolation. The effects of heating are important in establishing the feasibility of this method of disposal, and are essential for the design of an underground repository. Near-field phenomena around individual canisters can be studied by full-scale experiments, using electrical heaters. The thermal diffusivity of rock is so low that information concerning the interaction between full-scale heaters and of the effects of heating a large volume of rock cannot be measured in full-scale experiments lasting less than a few decades. To overcome this difficulty, a time-scaled heating experiment has been developed in which a reduction in linear scale is accompanied by an acceleration of the time scale to the second power. In this experiment, the linear scale is about a third, so that the time scale is about ten fold

Heat balance structure of canopies at extreme precipitation in view of long-term records

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bubnowska, J.; Gąsiorek, E.; Łabędzki, L.; Musiał, E.

2005-01-01

Increasing frequency of extreme weather conditions is attributed to the global variations in climate. Heat balance of substrate is one of the processes affecting the climate. Variations of heat balance in spring wheat during the growing seasons (April-August) and in potatoes during the growing seasons (May-September) with maximal and minimal precipitation are confronted here with long term changes of the balance. Two regions Wroclaw-Swojec (1964-2000) and Bydgoszcz (1945-2003) were involved in the study [pl

HAGRID/ VANDLE spectroscopy of Rb decays

Science.gov (United States)

King, Thomas; Grzywacz, Robert; Taylor, Steven; Paulauskas, Stanley; Smith, Karl; Vandle Collaboration

2017-09-01

Many neutron-rich isotopes that contribute in both decay heat production and r-process nucleosynthesis have substantial beta-delayed neutron branching ratios. Beta-delayed neutron emission is a relatively complicated mechanism which can leave the daughter in an gamma-emitting excited state. A comprehensive understanding of their energy output and decay strength, S_beta, therefore requires the detection of both neutrons and gamma rays in coincidence. A series of measurements of delayed neutron precursors were performed at the On-Line Test Facility (OLTF) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratories using chemically selective ion sources and an enhanced VANDLE array. The main goal of this experiment was to revisit the decays of IAEA-marked priority precursors, including bromine, rubidium, cesium, and iodine, that are required to model the global properties in the fission of 238U.The unique data set, with neutron and gamma ray coincidences, benefited from the addition of a high-efficiency gamma-ray array, consisting of 16 LaBr3 crystals (HAGRiD), and a set of large volume NaI detectors to the VANDLE array. Characterization of and preliminary results from the new gamma-ray array for the decays of 94Rb and 97Rb will be presented. National Nuclear Security Administration under the Stewardship Science Academic Alliances program through DOE Award No. DE-NA0002132 and the Office of Nuclear Physics, U.S. Department of Energy under Award No. DE-FG02-96ER40983.

TMI-2 decay power: LASL fission-product and actinide decay power calculations for the President's Commission at Three Mile Island

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

England, T.R.; Wilson, W.B.

1979-10-01

Fission-product and actinide decay heating, gas content, curies, and detailed contributions of the most important nuclide contributors were supplied in a series of letters following requests from the Presidential Commission on the Accident at Three Mile Island. In addition, similar data assuming different irradiation (power) histories were requested for purposes of comparison. This report consolidates the tabular and graphical data supplied and explains its basis

Long-term trends of heat stress and energy use implications in subtropical climates

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lam, Joseph C.; Wan, Kevin K.W.; Wong, S.L.; Lam, Tony N.T. [Building Energy Research Group, Department of Building and Construction, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR (China)

2010-02-15

Past and future trends of human comfort in terms of heat and cold stresses under the local subtropical climates using measured meteorological data as well as predictions from general climate models were investigated. Summer discomfort showed an increasing trend (and winter discomfort a decreasing trend) over the past 41 years from 1968 to 2008. Monthly mean minimum and maximum temperatures and moisture content predictions from a general climate model (MIROC3.2-H) were used to determine summer and winter discomfort for future years (2009-2100) based on two emissions scenarios B1 and A1B (low and medium forcing). The 92-year (2009-2100) mean cold stress would be reduced from the 41-year (1968-2008) mean value of 8.7 to about three for both emissions scenarios. The 92-year mean heat stress would be 115.9 and 120.6 for B1 and A1B, respectively, representing 31.6% and 36.9% increase over the 1968-2008 long-term average of 88.1. These suggest that the already small winter heating requirement in subtropical Hong Kong would become even more insignificant in future years, whereas the increasing trend of summer discomfort would result in more cooling demand in the built environment. (author)

Experimental validation of the decay power calculation code and nuclear databases - FISPACT-97 and EAF-97 and FENDL/A-2.0

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sublet, J.

1998-01-01

the request of ITER JCT, a validation exercise was launched. Overall the results of this particular validation exercise indicate that the calculational methods and nuclear data bases, with some notable exceptions, generally allow predictions, with acceptable margins, of the decay power of the tested materials. This statement is only valid within the framework defined by the conditions of the experimental set-up in terms of materials, cooling times and neutron spectrum. The spectrum is very different from the spectra expected in next generation fusion devices, being very low in lower-energy neutrons: as a result, the reactions dominating the decay heat production in the FNS assembly, and validated in the experiment-calculational comparisons presented in this report, are often not the reactions predicted to dominate in the fusion power plant conditions. (author)

Effects of long-term heat stress and dietary restriction on the expression of genes of steroidogenic pathway and small heat-shock proteins in rat testicular tissue.

Science.gov (United States)

Bozkaya, F; Atli, M O; Guzeloglu, A; Kayis, S A; Yildirim, M E; Kurar, E; Yilmaz, R; Aydilek, N

2017-08-01

The aim was to investigate the effects of long-term heat stress and dietary restriction on the expression of certain genes involving in steroidogenic pathway and small heat-shock proteins (sHSPs) in rat testis. Sprague Dawley rats (n = 24) were equally divided into four groups. Group I and II were kept at an ambient temperature of 22°C, while Groups III and IV were reared at 38°C for 9 weeks. Feed was freely available for Group I and Group III, while Group II and Group IV were fed 60% of the diet consumed by their ad libitum counterparts. At the end of 9 weeks, testicles were collected under euthanasia. Total RNA was isolated from testis tissue samples. Expression profiles of the genes encoding androgen-binding protein, follicle-stimulating hormone receptor, androgen receptor, luteinising hormone receptor, steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR), cyclooxygenase-2 and sHSP genes were assessed at mRNA levels using qPCR. Long-term heat stress decreased the expression of StAR and HspB10 genes while dietary restriction upregulated StAR gene expression. The results suggested that long-term heat stress negatively affected the expression of StAR and HspB10 genes and the dietary restriction was able to reverse negative effect of heat stress on the expression of StAR gene in rat testis. © 2016 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Uncertainty correlation in stochastic safety analysis of natural circulation decay heat removal of liquid metal reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takata, Takashi; Yamaguchi, Akira

2009-01-01

Since various uncertainties of input variables are involved and nonlinearly-correlated in the Best Estimate (BE) plant dynamics code, it is of importance to evaluate the importance of input uncertainty to the computational results and to estimate the accuracy of the confidence level of the results. In order to estimate the importance and the accuracy, the authors have applied the stochastic safety analysis procedure using the Latin Hypercube sampling method to Liquid Metal Reactor (LMR) natural circulation Decay Heat Removal (DHR) phenomenon in the present paper. 17 input variables are chosen for the analyses and 5 influential variables, which affect the maximum coolant temperature at the core in a short period of time (several tens seconds), are selected to investigate the importance by comparing with the full-scope parametric analysis. As a result, it has been demonstrated that a comparative small number of samples is sufficient enough to estimate the dominant input variable and the confidence level. Furthermore, the influence of the sampling method on the accuracy of the upper tolerance limit (confidence level of 95%) has been examined based on the Wilks' formula. (author)

DP-THOT - a calculational tool for bundle-specific decay power based on actual irradiation history

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Johnston, S.; Morrison, C.A.; Albasha, H.; Arguner, D.

2005-01-01

A tool has been created for calculating the decay power of an individual fuel bundle to take account of its actual irradiation history, as tracked by the fuel management code SORO. The DP-THOT tool was developed in two phases: first as a standalone executable code for decay power calculation, which could accept as input an entirely arbitrary irradiation history; then as a module integrated with SORO auxiliary codes, which directly accesses SORO history files to retrieve the operating power history of the bundle since it first entered the core. The methodology implemented in the standalone code is based on the ANSI/ANS-5.1-1994 formulation, which has been specifically adapted for calculating decay power in irradiated CANDU reactor fuel, by making use of fuel type specific parameters derived from WIMS lattice cell simulations for both 37 element and 28 element CANDU fuel bundle types. The approach also yields estimates of uncertainty in the calculated decay power quantities, based on the evaluated error in the decay heat correlations built-in for each fissile isotope, in combination with the estimated uncertainty in user-supplied inputs. The method was first implemented in the form of a spreadsheet, and following successful testing against decay powers estimated using the code ORIGEN-S, the algorithm was coded in FORTRAN to create an executable program. The resulting standalone code, DP-THOT, accepts an arbitrary irradiation history and provides the calculated decay power and estimated uncertainty over any user-specified range of cooling times, for either 37 element or 28 element fuel bundles. The overall objective was to produce an integrated tool which could be used to find the decay power associated with any identified fuel bundle or channel in the core, taking into account the actual operating history of the bundles involved. The benefit is that the tool would allow a more realistic calculation of bundle and channel decay powers for outage heat sink planning

The lambda mechanism of the 0nbb-decay

Science.gov (United States)

Šimkovic, Fedor; Štefánik, Dušan; Dvornický, Rastislav

2017-11-01

The lambda mechanism (WL-WR exchange) of the neutrinoless double beta decay (0nbb-decay), which has origin in left-right symmetric model with right-handed gauge boson at TeV scale, is investigated. The revisited formalism of the 0nbb-decay, which includes higher order terms of nucleon current, is exploited. The corresponding nuclear matrix elements are calculated within quasiparticle random phase approximation with partial restoration of the isospin symmetry for nuclei of experimental interest. A possibility to distinguish between the conventional light neutrino mass (WL-WL exchange) and lambda mechanisms by observation of the 0nbb-decay in several nuclei is discussed. A qualitative comparison of effective lepton number violating couplings associated with these two mechanisms is performed. By making viable assumption about the seesaw type mixing of light and heavy neutrinos it is concluded that there is a dominance of the conventional light neutrino mass mechanism in the decay rate.

Suppressed Charmed B Decay

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Snoek, Hella Leonie [Vrije Univ., Amsterdam (Netherlands)

2009-06-02

This thesis describes the measurement of the branching fractions of the suppressed charmed B⁰ → D^*- a₀⁺ decays and the non-resonant B⁰ → D^*- ηπ⁺ decays in approximately 230 million Υ(4S) → B$\\bar{B}$ events. The data have been collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II B factory at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in California. Theoretical predictions of the branching fraction of the B⁰ → D^*- a{sub 0}⁺ decays show large QCD model dependent uncertainties. Non-factorizing terms, in the naive factorization model, that can be calculated by QCD factorizing models have a large impact on the branching fraction of these decay modes. The predictions of the branching fractions are of the order of 10^-6. The measurement of the branching fraction gives more insight into the theoretical models. In general a better understanding of QCD models will be necessary to conduct weak interaction physics at the next level. The presence of CP violation in electroweak interactions allows the differentiation between matter and antimatter in the laws of physics. In the Standard Model, CP violation is incorporated in the CKM matrix that describes the weak interaction between quarks. Relations amongst the CKM matrix elements are used to present the two relevant parameters as the apex of a triangle (Unitarity Triangle) in a complex plane. The over-constraining of the CKM triangle by experimental measurements is an important test of the Standard Model. At this moment no stringent direct measurements of the CKM angle γ, one of the interior angles of the Unitarity Triangle, are available. The measurement of the angle γ can be performed using the decays of neutral B mesons. The B⁰ → D^*- a₀⁺ decay is sensitive to the angle γ and, in comparison to the current decays that are being employed, could significantly

Neutron decay, semileptonic hyperon decay and the Cabibbo model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Siebert, H.W.

1989-01-01

The decay rates and formfactor ratios of neutron decay and semileptonic hyperon decays are compared in the framework of the Cabibbo model. The results indicate SU(3) symmetry breaking. The Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element V us determined from these decays is in good agreement with the value determined from K→πeν decays, and with unitarity of the KM-matrix. (orig.)