Export of Nuclear Software
Korea’s nuclear reactor evaluation technology will be exported to France, an advanced nation in the nuclear power sector. This means that the excellence of Korean nuclear technology was recognized in terms of software as well as hardware.
"The CEA, a French government-funded research organization in the areas of energy, defense and security, information technologies and health technologies, will introduce an advanced design soundness high-temperature evaluation program for nuclear reactors developed by Korea," the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) said on December 6. The CEA will pay 40,000 euros to the KAERI for the program. The contract will run for two years.
This program was developed by a team led by Dr. Lee Hyung-yun of the KAERI jointly with Seoul National University of Science and Technology. The program is used to evaluate whether or not a pressure vessel or heat exchanger loaded into fourth generation reactors such as sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs) and very high temperature reactors (VHTRs) was properly designed. The fourth-generation reactors are the next version of third-generation APR1400 developed by Korea for export.
Current pressurized water reactors operate at 300 to 320 degrees Celsius, but fourth-generation reactors at temperature well above 500 degrees Celsius. The high temperature evaluation program assesses whether or not the core components of a reactor were designed to operate reliably at such high temperature.
"The high temperature evaluation program can be used not only for 4th generation reactors but for an international thermonuclear experimental reactor (ITER) being internationally jointly built in Cadarache, southern France," Dr. Lee Hyung-yun said.