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Title: Korean experience in CANDU-PHWR operation

Conference · · Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc.; (United States)
OSTI ID:6263825

Among KEPCO's 9 nuclear power units, Korea Nuclear Unit No. 3, the Wolsung Nuclear Power Plant is the only CANDU-PHWR Unit, while the rest of 8 others are PWR units. The unit was designed by Atomic Energy of Canada, Ltd. of Canada, who also performed overall project management for the plant construction under the provisions and arrangement of the relevant contracts. The gross electrical output of the plant is 678.7 MWe and thermal output of the reactor is 2061 MWth. While these figures lead to lower plant efficiency than LWR counterparts, unit energy cost for fuel is more favorable than LWRs because natural uranium is utilized for the fuel bundles, some of which are already being fabricated domestically. Annual capacity factors for 1983 and 1984 could have been improved, if two major planned outages for the modification works on steam generator internals and one major forced outage from the heavy water spill incident could be eliminated. The heavy water spill incident in November, 1984 brought plant staffs many lessons to learn and many things to contemplate. Unique design concepts and features such as on-power refuelling, poison prevent mode, versatile plant control system built around digital computers and power step back/set back logics may be credited for these relatively good plant performances. Human related factors such as staff's technical capabilities and strong will toward good performance were other elements which could not be overlooked.

Research Organization:
Korea Electric Power Corporation, Seoul
OSTI ID:
6263825
Report Number(s):
CONF-870905-
Journal Information:
Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc.; (United States), Vol. 56:1; Conference: 6. Pacific Basin nuclear conference, Beijing, China, 7 Sep 1987
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English