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To facilitate the energy transition, the conventional baseload nuclear power must be equipped with flexibility. By integrating grid-scale energy storage systems to the existing nuclear plants, they can curtail their load to avoid surplus generation. Liquid air energy storage (LAES) has been steadily investigated for their advantages, and this paper suggests an integrated layout using mechanical drive steam turbine and packed bed energy storage systems. Possible options for integration of LAES to the existing nuclear steam cycle are considered. The performance of packed bed storage systems is analyzed using transient modeling, and the results are fed into the overall cycle design using an in-house code. The results of the analysis suggests that the concept can reach up to 45.7–59.8% in round-trip efficiency, under much simplified cycle layout than the reference LAES layouts.

Air pollution sensors based on organic transistors have attracted much interest recently; however, the devices suffer from low responsivity and slow response and recovery rates for gas analytes. These shortcomings are attributed to the low charge-carrier mobility of organic semiconductors and to a structural limitation resulting from the use of a thick and continuous active layer. In the present work, we investigated the material properties of a multiscale porous zeolitic imidazolate framework, [Zn(2-methylimidazole)2]n (ZIF-8), and examined its potential as an analyte channel material inserted at an organic-transistor active layer. A series of carbonized zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) were prepared by thermal conversion of ZIF-8 and also studied for comparison. The microstructures, morphologies, and optical/electrical characteristics of polythiophene/ZIF-8 hybrid films were systematically investigated. Organic-transistor-type nitrogen dioxide sensors based on the polythiophene/ZIF-8 hybrid films showed substantially improved sensing properties, including responsivity, response rate, and recovery rate. The electrical conductivity of the carbonized ZIF-8s enhanced the field-effect mobility of the organic transistors; however, the sensing performance was not improved, because of the closed pore structures resulting from the carbonization. These results provide invaluable information and useful insights into the design of transistor-type gas sensors based on organic semiconductor/metal-organic framework hybrid films.

Objective To evaluate the distribution of multiple anterior bridging bone (ABB) patterns using a newly designed interbody cage with 4 anterior holes that enable communication between the inside and outside of the cage and to estimate its mechanical effect by finite element analysis (FEA). Methods Patients underwent single-level lumbar interbody fusion using ABB cages. Two raters evaluated the distribution patterns of ABB on computed tomography scans 1 year after surgery. We defined the term H-fusion as the presence of complete anterior extracage and intracage bone bridging, with ≥1 ABBs between them. We performed finite element analysis to investigate the effect of ABB on maximal stiffness. Results The study enrolled 98 patients. ABB was most frequently observed in the medial hole of the cages (73.7%). The mean number of ABBs was 3.65, and H-fusion was observed at 135 levels (34%). Postoperative improvement in the Oswestry Disability Index was significantly higher in patients who achieved interbody fusion and H-fusion than in patients who did not. As ABB was added, the increment in the relative maximal stiffness was most affected under flexion and extension forces. Conclusions We observed an average of 3.65 complete ABBs. Finite element analysis demonstrated that ABB could increase the stability in fused segments, especially under flexion and extension stress. Our results suggest that the ABB cage, which allows communicating cross-bridging between inside and outside of the cage, may facilitate a more stable fusion process than a conventionally designed cage.

A supercritical CO2 (S-CO2)-cooled Brayton cycle is under development for distributed power applications for remote regions. In order to successfully develop it, issues of controlling shaft levitation with bearings have to be solved. From several studies, magnetic bearings have been suggested for reliable levitation performance with reduced cost and complexity. However, several studies on magnetic bearing show that instability issues under high-pressure fluid and high-speed operating conditions may exist. The purpose of this research is to provide background for understanding the instability of magnetic bearings under S-CO2 conditions and propose functional requirements of the magnetic bearing. Thus, the rotating shaft with magnetic bearings operating under high pressure fluid was first analyzed. To test the theory, a magnetic bearing test rig was constructed. By comparing experimental data to the analysis results, the analysis results were verified. Therefore, the analysis results can be used for predicting instability in the future and can contribute to the development of better magnetic bearing controllers.

Supercritical CO2 (S-CO2) has the potential to be used as the working fluid in a power cycle since S-CO2 shows a density value high as its liquid phase while the viscosity value remains closer to its gaseous phase. Thus, it requires much less work to compress due to its low compressibility as well as relatively small flow resistance. However, the S-CO2 leakage flow from turbo-machinery via seal becomes one of the important issues since not only it influences the cycle efficiency due to parasitic loss but also it is important for evaluating the system safety under various operating conditions. In this paper, the gap effect, which is studied by changing the diameter of an orifice, cavity length effect, and the number of tooth effect in a simulated labyrinth seal geometry nozzle are presented. Experimental results under various conditions including not only single phase flow but also two phase flow conditions are presented.

Operation with reduced number of operators is considered as an important operational mode to improve economics of a nuclear power plant (NPP) in the future and it will be more important for the small modular reactors (SMRs). To control NPPs efficiently and safely with a reduced number of operators, an intelligent operation system can be very useful. However, reduced number of operators will result in larger consequence in human error due to simultaneous multi-unit failures are now more probable than the conventional operational mode. Thus, to decrease the probability of human error occurrence for the reduced number of operators, the development of an autonomous operation system with certain level of intelligence is inevitable. The prediction capability of system’s behavior as well as understanding the root cause for the current situation should be an essential function of the designed autonomous operation system. The authors propose to use the current system thermal–hydraulic (STH) analysis code platform to develop such intelligence. As a demonstration of the suggested method, the authors used the STH code to track the accident initiator of both large pressurized water reactor (PWR) and SMR. The discussions on how this method can be useful for future NPP operation and how generic differences in system design actually influence the system behavior are presented.

In this study, condensation heat transfer and multi-phase pressure drop of CO2 near the critical point are investigated occurring in a Printed Circuit Heat Exchanger (PCHE) for a supercritical CO2 power cycle application in mind. Homogeneous Equilibrium Model (HEM) approach is used to evaluate and develop appropriate heat transfer and pressure drop correlations. The experiment was performed with the CO2 test facility called SCO2PE (Supercritical CO2 Pressurizing Experiment) in KAIST. The heat transfer and pressure drop test was conducted with the PCHE in the facility. Existing correlations were compared to the test data and a new set of correlations was necessary to be developed. A new set of correlations is newly suggested in this paper which captures physical characteristics reasonably well.

In clinical islet transplantation, hepatic ischemia and insufficient neovascularization of transplanted islets are barriers to islet survival and function. However, hepatocytes have a potency to protect themselves against ischemia. We hypothesized that ischemia/reperfusion preconditioning (IRP) of hepatocytes might beneficially affect islet cells in a coculture system. Primary islets were cocultured with primary hepatocytes, and hepatocyte IRP was conducted by subjecting cells to hypoxic conditions for single 15-minute/30-minute hypoxia, or 2 tandem 15-minute/30-minute hypoxic treatments (hypoxic-normoxic-hypoxic). We show that gene expression levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), transforming growth factor-α (TGF-α), and TGF-β1 in hepatocytes were increased by IRP. IRP hepatocytes secreted hepatocyte growth factor and insulin-like growth factor-1. Coculture of islets with IRP hepatocytes enhanced islet insulin secretion in glucose challenge test and expression of the survival-related gene Bcl-2 and the regenerating gene-1α (Reg-1α). Islets cocultured with the 30-minute double-IRP hepatocytes displayed significantly higher viability in the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling stain compared with that of islets subjected to 30 minutes of hypoxia. These results suggest that islet coculture with IRP hepatocytes can improve islet survival and insulin secretion.

We investigated the optical reflectance, surface roughness, and sheet resistance of aluminum (Al)/titanium nitride (TiN), titanium (Ti), and tungsten (W) layers on Si substrates, which are available in the CMOS foundry, for organic light-emitting diode (OLED) microdisplays. The devices with different metal anode layers exhibited different hole-injection properties and OLED performances, owing to the different optical and electrical properties of metal anode layers. Based on the OLED characteristics, the Al/TiN layer was selected as an anode layer for OLED microdisplays. A green monochromatic OLED microdisplay panel was designed and implemented using the 0.11-μm CMOS process. The density of pixels was ~2 351 pixels per inch and the panel's active area was 0.7 in in diagonal. The resolution of the panel was 1 280 × 3 × 1 024, corresponding to SXGA. The panel was successfully operated, and the maximal luminance was ~460 cd/m2.

Reactive oxygen species levels in semen with low quality increased from 25% to about 40%. Resveratrol (Res) is a natural grape-derived phytoalexin, and epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is the major polyphenol in green tea (Camellia sinensis); both molecules are known to have high levels of antioxidant activity. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of this antioxidant's supplementation on cryopreservation of stallion semen with poor quality. Experiment 1: Experiment design to asses stallions semen quality (n = 3). Arabian stallions were managed for breeding with fresh, extended, or chilled semen during 2 years (in two breeding season) with a resulting per cycle pregnancy rate (103/41 estrus cycle/conception) of 39.80%. A total of 81 ejaculates were collected and evaluated in fresh condition (total and progressive motility, membrane integrity, acrosome defects, morphology, and abnormal DNA condensation). Evaluation of several ejaculates revealed that sperm production and semen quality mostly did not change during the breeding season, maintaining normal sperm production with poor quality. Experiment 2: 18 ejaculates, collected with Missouri model artificial vagina from Arabian stallion (n = 3). Extended semen was centrifuged at 600 × g for 10 minutes. To eliminate individual stallion variability, the resulting sperm pellets were pooled and divided in seven different treatments in a final concentration of 100 × 106 sperm/mL by using semiskimmed milk extender containing no supplements (control), and the following supplements with three different concentrations: Res 5, 10, and 20 μM (Res 1, Res 2, Res 3, respectively) and EGCG 25, 50, 100 μM (EGCG 1, EGCG 2, and EGCG 3, respectively). After thawing, all samples were maintained at 37°C for 10 minutes. Evaluation of motility, plasma membrane integrity, viability, mitochondria activity, DNA fragmentation, and lipid peroxidation was determined. For all semen parameters, the lower concentration of Res (5 μM) and EGCG (25 μM) did not show significant differences compared to control (P > .05). Relative to the control group, Res 2 had better (P

The enhancement of the luminance of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels with various areas (2.25–6084 mm2) using a microlens array (MLA) film was investigated. The luminance enhancement was dependent on the viewing angle, and the largest enhancement (64%) was observed in the normal direction while 60 and 18% enhancements were observed at 60 and 30°, which led to lower enhancement (38%) of the total luminous flux compared with the luminance enhancement (64%) in the normal direction. The luminance enhancement with the MLA film also depended on the panel area, and the smaller panels showed lower luminance enhancement than the larger ones. As for the small panels, the straying light beyond the panel areas significantly affected the luminance of the panels, and over 60% luminance enhancement was observed in the normal direction for the large panels (2500 and 6084 mm2) with the MLA film while only 48 and 58% luminance enhancements were observed at the small panels (2.25 and 70 mm2).

Study Design: Prospective observational study. Objectives: We aimed to analysis the distributional patterns of the intra- and extra-cage bridging bone (InCBB and ExCBB) and the significance of ExCBB using suggested lumbar interbody fusion criterion. Methods: This study included the patients with planned single-level transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion. We divided bridging bone into InCBB (in void of right or left cage) and ExCBB (outside of cages; anterior, posterior, intermediate, right, or left) and graded bridging scores from 0 to 2 on postoperative 1-year computed tomography. The fusion was defined as at least having one or more graded 2 and the evaluation were conducted twice by 2 raters. Results: Sixty-five patients were enrolled. All values of intra- and inter-rater reliability in left InCBB, anterior, and posterior ExCBB showed good agreements (≥0.75). Both InCBBs showed similar mean bridging scores (Rt:1.43 vs Lt:1.48), and in ExCBBs, the anterior was the highest (1.43), followed by the posterior (1.14); the right and left were the lowest (0.49 and 0.52 respectively). In subjects determined as fusion (85.4%), complete bridging was observed more in ExCBB (88.8%) than in InCBB (69.9%). Conclusions: Given the higher bridging scores in both InCBBs and Ant. ExCBB, bone grafting is important promoting factor to increase the interbody bridging bone regardless of outside or in void of cages. Based on our suggested criterion, ExCBB has a greater proportion compared to InCBBs for determining the fusion and extra-cage bone grafting should be considered as important procedures for interbody fusion.

Rubrene-based electrochemiluminescence (r-ECL) cells with two different solvent systems is prepared, one in a co-solvent system with a mixture of 1,2-dichlorobenzene and propylene carbonate (DCB : PC, v/v 3 : 1) and another in a single solvent system of tetrahydrofuran (THF), as the medium to form a liquid-electrolyte (L-El). By simply changing the solvent systems, from the co-solvent DCB : PC (v/v 3 : 1) to the single solvent THF, with the same amount of electrochemiluminescent rubrene (5 mM) and Li-based salt, a dramatically enhanced brightness of over 30 cd m−2 is observed for the r-ECL cell in L-ElTHF which is approximately 7-times higher than the brightness of 5 cd m−2 observed for the r-ECL in L-ElDCB:PC(v/v 3:1).

Liquid air energy storage technology is a technology that stores liquid air in case of excess power supply and evaporates the stored liquid air to start a power generation cycle when there is an electric power demand. When liquid air is stored for a long-time during operation, safety and performance degradation can be caused or mitigated by the tank stratification. To investigate the tank stratification phenomenon and associated issues, an experimental facility is constructed. The heat ingress is controlled with respect to changing vacuum level in the experiment. Furthermore, the conditions under which stratification occurs are defined in terms of temperature and concentration, and based on this, the stratification stability ratio and the stability map are defined and evaluated experimentally. The results show that the time required for destratification is 8-29% shorter for liquid air mixture cases than for liquid nitrogen. Moreover, the time required for destratification is 2.4 times longer for the high tank pressure cases, and it is 39% shorter for the case of high heat ingress. From experimental observations, an operation strategy utilizing stratification inside the liquid air storage tank is newly suggested that can minimize the boil-off gas of liquid air in the tank.

The significant increase of renewable energy source is expected to induce stability issue of electric grid due to the intermittency of renewable energy. The challenge of intermittency is making energy storage system more important. Among the grid-scale energy storage systems, a Liquid Air Energy Storage System is increasingly popular with its high energy density, long expected service lifetime, less operation and maintenance cost, and less geographical constraint. At the same time, flexibility of nuclear power plant is becoming more important with higher penetration of renewable energy sources. However, load-following operation not only causes safety issues on the fuel integrity, but also leads to economic deterioration of nuclear power plant. In this study, the new concept is suggested by mechanically integrating nuclear steam cycle and liquid air energy storage system to achieve high flexibility and economy of a nuclear power plant. At off peak hour, nuclear energy is stored by bypassing steam from nuclear steam cycle to external steam turbine which mechanically connected to air compressor in the liquid air energy storage system. Air is compressed by air compressor and liquefied by cold energy storage system. At peak hours, the stored energy is recovered by evaporating and expanding. The thermodynamic and economic analyses are conducted on standalone liquid air energy storage system and nuclear integrated liquid air energy storage system to further examine the benefits of the proposed system. The results show that the round-trip efficiency of the proposed system is around 51% and the energy density is 116 kWh/m3. The round-trip efficiency is competitive and the energy density is superior to other grid-scale energy storage system. Also, the integration improves the capacity factor of nuclear power plant by 3%p. The Levelized Cost of Electricity shows $219.8/MWh for standalone liquid air energy storage system and $182.6/MWh for nuclear integrated liquid air energy storage system, reducing 17% of the standalone systems’ cost. The results show that the proposed concept can achieve better economy than using standalone liquid air energy storage system as well as other energy storage systems. In conclusion, the proposed nuclear integrated liquid air energy storage system has very good potential to become a competitive energy storage option and can assist to stabilize the future electricity grid with high reliance on renewable energy.

A solar-nuclear hybrid system that combines Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) and nuclear power was suggested previously to meet the electricity demands for remote microgrids. The hybrid system combines CSP, Thermal Energy Storage (TES) and a Micro Modular Reactor (MMR). A Supercritical Carbon dioxide (sCO2) power system is used for power generation system. CSP, which has relatively high efficiency, no refueling, low operation and installation costs, is suitable as an energy source for the microgrid. However, since it is challenging to meet 100% electricity demand with a standalone CSP system due to excessive energy storage system and large land area requirement, a hybrid system is proposed by adding a nuclear system to resolve this issue. The hybrid system showed a higher capacity factor than the standalone CSP system while reducing the required energy storage. However, the TES capacity was still excessive to meet 100% of the electricity demand in the previous study to overcome seasonal variation. Therefore, in this study, the hybrid system is re-designed by optimizing solar to nuclear ratio while tracing change in the Levelized Cost Of Electricity (LCOE) of the system. A sensitivity analysis is performed with respect to the five variables; nuclear to solar heat ratio, direct normal irradiation, peak-to-average electricity demand ratio, nuclear island cost, discount rate affecting LCOE. As a result of economic evaluation, it is confirmed that the hybrid system is cost competitive to the standalone CSP system. This study showed that the nuclear-CSP hybrid system can be utilized as a power source with a high potential for isolated microgrid.

The new application of phase change material for passively cooling the containment building of a nuclear power plant provides many benefits such as minimized wall penetration, low maintenance cost, and the possibility of installation in currently operating power plants with a minimal design change. In this study, the applicability of PCM as a passive containment cooling system is verified through design and evaluation of the PCM condenser. In addition, the effective heat capacity method is verified for simulating the melting process of PCM in the condition of a reactor accident. The PCM condenser design is optimized with five design parameters; melting point, volume, heat transfer area, effective thermal conductivity, and total heat absorbed. The performance of the PCM condenser is evaluated by containment safety analysis and is compared to that of an active containment cooling system. Although the PCM condenser had a limitation for absorbing only a fixed amount of thermal energy due to the absence of an external heat sink, the PCM condenser shows better performance in the early stage after the accident initiation compared to the single spray system and finally maintains the integrity of the containment building.

Due to small footprint and high efficiency, a Supercritical CO2 (S-CO2) power cycle is considered to be one of the promising next-generation power cycles. Although S-CO2 is reported as a powerful cleaning agent, the performance of a power system operating with S-CO2 will also inevitably degrade over time. Previous researchers have shown that turbomachinery deterioration could be a major subject regarding the system performance degradation. Nevertheless, no quantitative evaluation has yet been made so far. In this study, the impact of the performance degradation of the S-CO2 turbomachinery on the overall performance of the system is analyzed quantitatively. The concept of Health Parameter is used to simulate turbomachinery degradation. To quantify the impact, an S-CO2 direct-cycle small modular reactor is selected as a target system. A transient analysis platform is built using a nuclear system safety analysis code and the deep neural network (DNN)-based S-CO2 turbomachinery off-design performance model. System dynamics are evaluated for primary frequency control ability and secondary load-following capability. Results show that the control problems during the transient state can occur when the output fluctuations are large and the performance degradation is severe. It has been confirmed that even control failures of the PID controllers can occur. Therefore, the performance degradation of turbomachinery must be monitored and considered, for an operation strategy for S-CO2 systems.

Gintonin, a novel ginseng-derived glycolipoprotein complex, has an exogenous ligand for lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) receptors. However, recent lipid analysis of gintonin has shown that gintonin also contains other bioactive lipids besides LPAs, including linoleic acid and lysophosphatidylinositol (LPI). Linoleic acid, a free fatty acid, and LPI are known as ligands for the G-protein coupled receptors (GPCR), GPR40, and GPR55, respectively. We, herein, investigated whether gintonin could serve as a ligand for GPR40 and GPR55, using the insulin-secreting beta cell-derived cell line INS-1 and the human prostate cancer cell line PC-3, respectively. Gintonin dose-dependently enhanced insulin secretion from INS-1 cells. Gintonin-stimulated insulin secretion was partially inhibited by a GPR40 receptor antagonist but not an LPA1/3 receptor antagonist and was down-regulated by small interfering RNA (siRNA) against GPR40. Gintonin dose-dependently induced [Ca2+]i transients and Ca2+-dependent cell migration in PC-3 cells. Gintonin actions in PC-3 cells were attenuated by pretreatment with a GPR55 antagonist and an LPA1/3 receptor antagonist or by down-regulating GPR55 with siRNA. Taken together, these results demonstrated that gintonin-mediated insulin secretion by INS-1 cells and PC-3 cell migration were regulated by the respective activation of GPR40 and GPR55 receptors. These findings indicated that gintonin could function as a ligand for both receptors. Finally, we demonstrated that gintonin contained two more GPCR ligands, in addition to that for LPA receptors. Gintonin, with its multiple GPCR ligands, might provide the molecular basis for the multiple pharmacological actions of ginseng.

The ability to image pressure distribution over complex three-dimensional surfaces would significantly augment the potential applications of electronic skin. However, existing methods show poor spatial and temporal fidelity due to their limited pixel density, low sensitivity, or low conformability. Here, we report an ultraflexible and transparent electroluminescent skin that autonomously displays super-resolution images of pressure distribution in real time. The device comprises a transparent pressure-sensing film with a solution-processable cellulose/nanowire nanohybrid network featuring ultrahigh sensor sensitivity (>5000 kPa−1) and a fast response time (1000 dpi) pressure imaging without the need for pixel structures. Our approach provides a new framework for visualizing accurate stimulus distribution with potential applications in skin prosthesis, robotics, and advanced human-machine interfaces., Electronic skin that spatially maps pressure distribution through imaging shows limited performance despite improvements to data acquisition. Here, the authors report ultraflexible, transparent electroluminescent skin capable of high-resolution imaging of pressure distribution over 3D surfaces.

Background Vertebral fragility fracture (VFF) is a common fracture related to osteoporosis. However, VFF might be asymptomatic and often occurs in patients without osteoporosis. Therefore, we investigated the characteristics of age-related VFF and their correlation with bone mineral density (BMD). Furthermore, we analyzed other factors affecting VFF Methods Medical records from a single center were retrospectively reviewed for 2,216 patients over 50 years old with vertebral fractures conservatively treated from 2005 to 2016. Patients' age, gender, body mass index (BMI), BMD, fracture level, previous vertebral fractures, and anti-osteoporosis medications were obtained. Patients were divided into fragility/non-fragility groups and age sub-groups. The odds ratio for VFF in relation to BMD was evaluated. We also identified other predictive factors for VFF by age groups. Results The fragility group had a higher women ratio, older age, lower BMI, lower BMD, and greater incidence of previous vertebral fractures than the non-fragility group. VFFs were seen in 41.18% of normal BMD patients aged 50–59 and 67.82% of those aged 60–69. The proportion of VFFs increased with age in all WHO osteoporosis classifications. Patients with osteopenia and osteoporosis were 1.57 and 2.62 fold more likely to develop VFFs than normal BMD. In the younger group (under 70), age, women, BMD, and previous vertebral fracture were significant factors affecting VFF, and in the older group (70 and over), age, women, and BMD were factors. In the fragility group, anti-osteoporosis medication rates were 25.08% before and 45.96% after fracture. Conclusion Considerable VFFs occurred in the younger age groups without osteoporosis and age itself was another important predictor of VFF especially in older age groups. The discrepancy between the incidence of VFF and BMD suggests the necessity of supplemental screening factors and anti-osteoporosis treatment guidelines using only BMD should be reconsidered., Graphical Abstract

This chapter delineates the technical issues and integration scheme related to the use of graphene as a transparent electrode in organic light–emitting diode (OLED) applications. We address fundamental issues related to the use of graphene electrode in OLED. Later, we deal with patterning of graphene films into pixels on array scale and their integration into OLED panels. In this course, we emphasize the importance of strong adhesion of graphene film to its support and geometrically correct patterning. Finally, we demonstrate a fully operational two-color OLED module and a flexible OLED module. Our results signify the technical possibility of using graphene films as actual components in commercial OLED products.

A methodology is developed for thermal-hydraulic analysis and design of a breed-and-burn molten salt reactor (BBMSR). By using separate fuel and coolant molten salts, the BBMSR is proposed to overcome key materials limitations of traditional breed-and-burn and molten salt reactor designs. The BBMSR fuel concept includes an inner wall that divides the ascending and descending flows of naturally convecting fuel salt. A finite-difference model (FDM) is developed to iteratively solve for the temperature and velocity distributions in both sections of the concentric fuel. The FDM is used to perform parametric studies of the effect of fuel geometry and heat generation rate on the heat transfer performance of the fuel. The FDM is then integrated into a design search algorithm that identifies the operational limits for a given BBMSR fuel geometry, within a set of defined constraints. A range of thermal-hydraulic fuel design options are evaluated, and trade-off studies are performed to identify the most promising fuel design space for competitive power production and neutronic efficiency in the BBMSR.

After the Fukushima accident, the importance of an emergency power supply for a nuclear power plant has been emphasized more. In order to maximize the performance of the existing emergency power source in operating nuclear power plants, adding a waste heat recovery system for the emergency power source is suggested for the first time in this study. In order to explore the possibility of the idea, a comparison of six supercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO2) power cycle layouts recovering waste heat from a 7.2 MW alternate alternating current diesel generator (AAC DG) is first presented. The diesel engine can supply two heat sources to the waste heat recovery system: one from exhaust gas and the other from scavenged air. Moreover, a sensitivity study of the cycles for different design parameters is performed, and the thermodynamic performances of the various cycles were evaluated. The main components, including turbomachinery and heat exchangers, are designed with in-house codes which have been validated with experiment data. Based on the designed cycle and components, the bottoming S-CO2 cycle performance under part load operating condition of AAC DG is analyzed by using a quasi-steady state cycle analysis method. It was found that a partial heating cycle has relatively higher net produced work while enjoying the benefit of a simple layout and smaller number of components. This study also revealed that further waste heat can be recovered by adjusting the flow split merging point of the partial heating cycle.

Objective We have reported the surgical outcomes of an anterior column support procedure, the intravertebral cage augmentation technique for the osteoporotic spine. Methods A total of 10 consecutive osteoporotic patients with severely collapsed plana-type vertebrae, causing delayed neurologic deficits, were enrolled in cohort manner. They underwent intravertebral cage augmentation using a single posterior approach. The postoperative follow-up period was >2 years. The patients were divided into 2 groups: group I, fractured index vertebra at the thoracolumbar; and group II, fractured index vertebra at the lower lumbar. The radiographic analysis included the restored ratio of anterior vertebral height, local kyphotic angle, thoracolumbar kyphosis, and lumbar lordosis. The radiographic and clinical results, ambulatory status, and Oswestry disability index were evaluated. Results Compared with preoperatively, the average restored ratio of the anterior vertebral height was 2.98 and 2.35 times greater, and the local kyphotic angle had been corrected from an average of 20.3° and 14.8° to an average of 3.0° and 0.2° at the final follow-up visit in groups I and II, respectively. The thoracolumbar kyphosis in group I had been corrected from an average of 32.9° to 19.7° and the lumbar lordosis in group II had improved from an average of −15.8° to −32.3° at the final follow-up visit. All patients who could not independently ambulate preoperatively became able to walk, except for 2 patients who required a cane. Also, all the patients showed significant improvement in the Oswestry disability index (group I: average, from 38.2 to 12.8; group II, from 37.3 to 19.3). Conclusions The introduced technique is a valuable surgical option for obtaining anterior column support in osteoporotic patients with severely collapsed Kummel disease who require decompression and stabilization procedures using only a posterior approach.

A new structure for a switchable mirror device based on reversible electrodeposition is proposed. This device does not contain Cu ions in the electrolyte and adapts a counter electrode. The feasibility of the device was evaluated with a WO3 film, which is a well-known electrochromic material, as a counter electrode. Even in the absence of Cu ions, the WO3 film facilitates a clean erase feature in the device. Furthermore, using a pre-deposited Ag film as a working electrode, Ag deposition can be driven at a substantially lower voltage than that in conventional devices. Moreover the deposition current decreases with the progress of Ag deposition, and stops after completion of the deposition process. The results clearly indicate that the tri-bromine ion, which makes the self-erasing circulation, is not generated during Ag deposition process. The new switchable mirror shows excellent bistability and size scale-up is possible because it does not consume continuous current in the mirror state. By appling the proposed technology, a switchable mirror device with a 7 cm × 9 cm active area was successfully fabricated.

Nuclear power plants should be capable of contributing safely and flexibly to the electrical grid stability. This research deliberates the feasibility of a new innovative concept of a passive and autonomous frequency control operation (PAFO) in soluble-boron-free (SBF) pressurized water reactors (PWRs). The new concept eliminates any required active control in the reactor core for attaining primary and secondary frequency control operational modes in PWRs. In particular, control rods and soluble-boron are not utilized in a PAFO. Meanwhile, the reactor power maneuvering is achieved entirely by the passive reactor feedback to the coolant temperature change. This approach is motivated by the strongly negative coolant temperature coefficient available in an SBF coolant system. In order to ascertain judiciously the practical viability of the proposed concept, numerical simulations of passive primary and secondary frequency operations are performed using a lumped PWR system model solved by an in-house FORTRAN-95 computer code. The various simulation parameters are obtained from 3D Monte Carlo simulations of an SBF 450 MWt PWR by using Serpent-2 code with ENDF/B-7.1 data library. The numerical simulations are carried out at the beginning, middle and end of the fuel cycle to emphasize the effect of fuel burnup on the proposed PAFO. Moreover, sensitivity analyses on xenon worth and nominal fuel temperature are performed to deliberate their impacts in tailoring the reactor performance. Because the reactor power matches well with the power demand with a small variation in coolant temperature during the frequency control, we conclude that there is promising potential for the proposed PAFO concept.

Supercritical CO2 (S-CO2) power cycles have received much attention due to their desired advantages in various applications. Due to the substantial difference in specific heat of S-CO2 at different pressure, unique characteristics inside heat exchangers, especially in the recuperator, are observed and affect the cycle design. In this research, the problem of inner pinch occurring inside the S-CO2 recuperator is identified and resolved by suggesting a new framework for the definition of heat exchanger effectiveness using the point of zero inner pinch. The design methodology of S-CO2 cycles is improved using this definition by developing a module to calculate the zero inner pinch using artificial neural network (ANN) to undergo a learning process. As a result, the computation time required for cycle analysis is reduced by an order of 10 3 in the case of simple recuperated Brayton cycle, under the accuracy of 10 - 7 error bound. As the readers gain the access to the developed module for calculating the zero inner pinch, the procedure for S-CO2 cycle optimization will become far more manageable for researchers, and as a result, this result can allow the conceptualization of even further complex layouts in S-CO2 cycle research.

Adjoint sensitivity based optimization methodology for a supercritical CO2 (S-CO2) cycle is developed in this paper. The adjoint sensitivity analysis method (adjoint method) is a way to analyze sensitivity very quickly. By using the developed methodology, the optimal state variation due to the change of cycle parameters is analyzed. The S-CO2 recompression Brayton cycle is used for an example case for the demonstration of the proposed method. The independence of time consumption for the developed adjoint sensitivity analysis method to the number of optimized variables is demonstrated. For the test case, the developed algorithm shows the ability to make the design parameters converge with a precision of 10−6 by more than ten times faster for calculating the sensitivity than conventional optimization methods. Validation of the obtained optimal point is also included in the paper. For the validation, a response surface analysis is performed to visualize the pathway during the iteration for optimization. It is very challenging to carry out the optimization having the same precision using a brute force algorithm or a probability-based optimization algorithm since the number of variables to be optimized is substantial for this type of a problem. The smoothness of an optimal cycle efficiency variation is observed in every case.

With increasing demand for transparent conducting electrodes, graphene has attracted considerable attention, owing to its high electrical conductivity, high transmittance, low reflectance, flexibility, and tunable work function. Two faces of single-layer graphene are indistinguishable in its nature, and this idea has not been doubted even in multilayered graphene (MLG) because it is difficult to separately characterize the front (first-born) and the rear face (last-born) of MLG by using conventional analysis tools, such as Raman and ultraviolet spectroscopy, scanning probe microscopy, and sheet resistance. In this paper, we report the striking difference of the emission pattern and performance of transparent organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) depending on the adopted face of MLG and show the resolved chemical and physical states of both faces by using depth-selected absorption spectroscopy. Our results strongly support that the interface property between two different materials rules over the bulk property in the driving performance of OLEDs.

To meet the energy requirement for a remote and isolated region, a concept of supercritical CO 2 (S-CO 2 ) cooled micro modular reactor (MMR) has been developed, which is easy to transport by fully modularizing the nuclear power system. From the previous work, only the on-design performances of MMR were presented. However, since the nuclear system needs to meet high safety standard, the design can be finalized only after the evaluation of the nuclear system response under multiple transient conditions. Such transient conditions may include part load operation and postulated accidents. The system response can be evaluated only with a high fidelity computer simulation, since it is almost impossible to construct a nuclear facility to test at such conditions. The simulation is performed to guarantee its autonomous operability and safety. Unfortunately, a system analysis computer code available for the S-CO 2 cycle analysis is yet to be developed for the MMR safety evaluation. Description of a S-CO 2 system analysis code platform is first presented in this paper. After that, the developed code is validated with experimental data. The steady state of MMR is first modeled with the code, which is followed by simulations of part load operation and postulated accidents of MMR. All simulation results show that the current design of MMR has the ability to maintain its safety and structural integrity even under extreme conditions to protect the public from radiation hazard at all times.

This paper presents the neutronics and transient studies of a supercritical CO2-cooled micro modular reactor (MMR). The suggested MMR is an extremely compact, integrated, and truck-transportable reactor with 36.2 MWth power and a 20-year lifetime without refueling. A salient feature of the MMR is that all the components including the generator are contained in a small reactor vessel. For a minimum volume and maximum lifetime of the MMR core, a fast neutron spectrum is utilized. To improve the fuel-coolant compatibility and to maximize the fuel volume fraction, UC fuel is considered. A unique replaceable fixed absorber (RFA) is also introduced in order to maintain the excess reactivity at less than 1 dollar during the whole operational period. A drum-type reactivity control system is adopted in the MMR as the primary control system to prevent a control rod ejection accident and a single absorber rod located at the core center is used as the secondary ultimate shutdown system. The neutronics analysis is performed by using the continuous energy Monte Carlo code Serpent with the ENDF/B-VII.1 library. In addition, an unprotected loss of flow (ULOF) accident is simulated by the system analysis code GAMMA+ to show the passive safety of the MMR system.

In this paper, a thermodynamic study of newly suggested supercritical carbon dioxide (s-CO2) cycle layouts using an isothermal compressor is presented. The isothermal compressor is conceptually defined using the ‘infinitesimal approach’ in attempt to resolve the ambiguity in its performance framework. As part of preliminary investigation, the isothermal compressor is demonstrated thermodynamically, and the calculations highlight that it reduces the compression work significantly under s-CO2 power cycle operating conditions over other representative working fluids. The in-house code is modified to allow the analysis of three s-CO2 cycle layouts, simple recuperated Brayton cycle, recompression Brayton cycle, and partial heating Brayton cycle, adopting the isothermal compressor. The cycle performance is evaluated through a sensitivity analysis of cycle design parameters, pressure ratio and flow split ratio. When the machinery is applied, the cycle net efficiency of the simple recuperated cycle and the recompression cycle is improved by 0.5% point and 1–3% points, respectively. Moreover, the partial heating cycle layout, known for its outstanding performance in waste heat recovery applications as a bottoming cycle, produces 15–18% more net work when using an isothermal compressor, compared to the reference cycle. Overall, the use of the isothermal compressor not only improves the general cycle performance, but also provides another degree of freedom for cycle design optimization of s-CO2 cycles.

Although the number of meshes and their distribution are important parameters that affect both computation resources and the accuracy of the numerical results, meshing of most of all computational problems still depends highly on the users’ experiences. In this paper, a deterministic adjoint-based method of optimizing mesh distribution is proposed. The developed method is applied to a nuclear power plant safety analysis. The mesh optimization was performed with 1D steady state cylindrical nuclear fuel problem first. Radial and axial mesh distributions are optimized respectively. With no surprise, the optimized mesh system performs superior than the same number of uniformly meshed system. However, it was unexpected that the optimized mesh retains generality and therefore, the optimized mesh system can be still the best mesh system for given number of meshes under different condition or even during transient analysis. The authors applied the optimized mesh distribution to nuclear system safety analysis. A large pressurized water reactor cold leg guillotine break (LBLOCA) scenario was analyzed and the consequence of different mesh systems is investigated and discussed. From this preliminary study the usefulness and implication of the adjoint based mesh optimization method for the nuclear safety analysis is uncovered.

As the share of renewable energy will be increasing, there is a growing interest in flexible power sources and energy storage systems due to the intermittent nature of renewable energy. We propose the Energy Storage System (ESS) integrated Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) as a solution. The system operates on load-following by branching the mass flow from the steam cycle to the ESS without changing the reactor thermal output. However, the merging point can be different for heat storing ESS and work storing ESS because the outlet conditions of the ESS vary depending on the type of ESS. In this study, the merging points are categorized into two types, feedwater heater and condenser. At each merging point, cycle optimization is performed while increasing the branch flow into ESS. The optimization goal is to maintain the feedwater temperature at the inlet of a steam generator. The power output and energy delivered to the ESS according to the merging point are estimated. From this study, it was found that when 25% of the inlet mass flow rate to the low-pressure turbine is diverted to ESS, the overall output of the steam cycle is decreased by 44.17% for the heat conversion ESS and 49.95% for the work conversion ESS.

Recently, oxy-combustion cycles with CO2 dilution have been of interest to eliminate NOx emission and to facilitate CO2 capture. Theoretically, they are operated in an overall stoichiometric condition. In addition, high pressure is preferred not only for better thermal efficiency but also for easier CO2 capture and storage. In this study, a triple-coaxial-tube was selected as the simplest conceptual design for an oxy-combustion burner at elevated pressure. Flame stabilization, soot emissions, and combustion efficiencies were investigated in relation to variation of the tube size, CO2 dilution ratio, and pressure. As a result, a jet Reynolds number and CO2 diffusion could explain the flame stabilization limits. Soot emission could be reduced at atmospheric pressure when the fuel-tube tip was moved into the middle oxidant tube, which also improved the combustion efficiency. Nevertheless, serious soot emissions recurred at excessive fuel flow rates and at elevated pressures. In such conditions, a lifted flame detached from the fuel-tube tip could be employed by increasing the flow rate or enhancing the CO2 dilution, and the soot emission was reduced again without losing combustion efficiency. Finally, the flame-stabilization mechanisms of the attached flame and of the lifted flame were discussed and optimized designs and operating conditions were proposed for less soot emission and better combustion efficiency at higher pressures.

The four different geometries of a reactor vessel auxiliary cooling system (RVACS) are designed to investigate how the heat removal capability changes by the geometries. Each geometry has different heat transfer characteristics regarding airflow and the presence of an air separator and an insulation material. The heat removal performance is evaluated with the reactor vessel (RV) temperature, the RV wall emissivity, and the airflow gap. For the same RVACS volume, 600 °C RV temperature, and 6-cm gap, the heat removal capability varies from 240.8 kW to 308.5 kW, depending on the geometry. The wall emissivity is less effective for Geometry 2, which has a large cavity volume and a small heat transfer area compared to the other geometries. The highest heat removal performance was obtained using Geometry 3 because cold air flows in from the bottom of the RVACS, improving both radiative and convective heat transfer. Reducing the gap size by 3 cm results in only 80.0 kW of heat removal capability for Geometry 1, and the heat removal dramatically decreases to 0.2 kW at an RV temperature of 800 °C. A sufficient RVACS gap size of at least 6 cm with a 0.6-m diameter intake pipe is required to provide adequate natural circulation and eventually enhance the heat removal capability.

A Supercritical CO2 (S-CO2) power cycle is one of the next generation power conversion cycles, which has many advantages originate from unique fluid’s characteristics near the critical point. Recently, a concept of small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) coupled with an S-CO2 power cycle is proposed to target aggressively expanding SMR market. However, many components of S-CO2 power cycle were designed with the experiences from the conventional fluids such as air and water. In this paper, in order to harness the full potential of the S-CO2 power cycle by utilizing the fluid properties further, an S-CO2 compressor with different characteristics from air compressor is evaluated in the viewpoint of system level. The analyzed compressor has a larger backswept angle in the impeller than the conventional compressor and this can be done due to the unique properties of S-CO2. A 10 MW scale SMR is selected to demonstrate the compressor’s effect on the system performance and control. As a result, S-CO2 cycle with larger backswept angle compressor can be regulated by inventory control in a wider load variation because the system has low surging mass flow rate. Thus, the system with larger backswept angle compressor has 5.6% wider part-load performance range with inventory control alone than the system with conventional compressor.

In the event of a core meltdown in a high-power reactor, the integrity of the reactor pressure vessel is presumably protected by severe accident mitigation systems such as in-vessel retention external reactor vessel cooling (IVR-ERVC). However, in the late phase of the accident, two possible locations on the RPV are prone to failure: the location of the focusing effect and location of in-core instrument penetration. These two potential points of damage in the RPV are investigated in this study. A numerical model for the prediction of the natural convection, melting, and solidification processes for IVR-ERVC is presented. The model is based on the enthalpy-porosity approach with an extension for continuous liquid fraction function. The model is implemented in open-source field operation and manipulation (OpenFOAM) computational fluid dynamic code to produce a new solver which is based on the combination of conjugate heat transfer solver and buoyant-driven natural convection solver and the new solver is validated against the melting Gallium experimental test, in-core instrumentation failure experimental test, and BALI experimental test. This numerical model is applied for the investigation of the RPV rupture at the location of the focusing effect and in-core instrumentation penetrations. Severe ablations of the cladding and the weld materials are observed at a heat load of about ~1800 K which is expected to lead to the ejection of the penetration tubes if the force holding the penetration tube in place is lower than the force exerted by the system pressure. Subsequently, a two-layer IVR configuration is assessed and the integrity of the RPV is found not to be compromised under external reactor vessel cooling. However, in the case of a boiling crisis, the temperature of the ex-vessel wall is expected to rise quickly and this is simulated by increasing the ex-vessel wall temperature. The RPV is found to fail near the beltline due to a phenomenon known as focusing effect when the ex-vessel wall temperature rises above 1200 K.

In a sodium-cooled fast reactor, a sodium-water reaction (SWR) could be occurred at pressure boundaries between the two separated systems, the steam Rankine cycle and the sodium coolant system, which results in a serious problem in the system. Since it has been a design challenge for researchers, as an alternative system, the supercritical CO 2 (S-CO 2 ) Brayton cycle was suggested. To utilize the S-CO 2 Brayton cycle to a SFR, a series of studies on the coupled system have been conducted at Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI). The studies were mainly focused on the pressure boundary failure events and their consequences including Na-CO 2 reactions. Prior to the experimental studies, the authors classified the reaction behaviors of Na-CO 2 reaction based on the possible scenarios that could take place at pressure boundaries. Through experimental studies, it was found that the reaction follows typical chemical formulas and it is essentially dependent on the reaction temperature. More importantly, the reaction rate changed drastically at the specific temperatures and the reaction became flammable exceeding a certain temperature. To specify the design conditions of the SFR system coupled with the S-CO 2 Brayton cycle, by means of a dedicated set-up the self-ignition temperature has been evaluated. Exceeding this threshold temperature a significant increase in the reaction speed is observed. We setup an experimental apparatus and a test matrix based on one of possible scenarios where the flammable Na-CO 2 reaction takes place and we installed a visualized chemical reactor to watch reaction phenomenon around the self-ignition temperature. The experimental apparatus was designed to be easy to control heaters, to regulate gas supply, and to measure reaction temperature. Through the experiment, it was found that the flammable temperature of Na-CO 2 reaction lies between 598.3˚C and 599.9˚C and how liquid sodium reacts with gaseous carbon dioxide at these temperatures. The results will be help to set design criteria for the pressure boundary and it will take long time but an appropriate safety system would be introduced.