There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

An object is to provide a semiconductor device of which a manufacturing process is not complicated and by which cost can be suppressed, by forming a thin film transistor using an oxide semiconductor film typified by zinc oxide, and a manufacturing method thereof. For the semiconductor device, a gate electrode is formed over a substrate; a gate insulating film is formed covering the gate electrode; an oxide semiconductor film is formed over the gate insulating film; and a first conductive film and a second conductive film are formed over the oxide semiconductor film. The oxide semiconductor film has at least a crystallized region in a channel region.

Semiconductor device, and manufacturing method thereof

Accident tolerant fuel cladding development: Promise, status, and challenges

https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1137&context=me_pubs

Boiling heat transfer on superhydrophilic, superhydrophobic, and superbiphilic surfaces

In-vessel coolability and retention of a core melt

A method for fabricating a thermocouple capable of long-term operation in high temperature, hostile environments without significant signal degradation or shortened thermocouple lifetime due to heat induced brittleness.

High temperature thermocouple design and fabrication

This document presents the results from a US Nuclear Regulatory Commission-sponsored research program to investigate the mode and timing of vessel lower head failure. Major objectives of the analysis were to identify plausible failure mechanisms and to develop a method for determining which failure mode would occur first in different light water reactor designs and accident conditions. Failure mechanisms, such as tube ejection, tube rupture, global vessel failure, and localized vessel creep rupture, were studied. Newly developed models and existing models were applied to predict which failure mechanism would occur first in various severe accident scenarios. So that a broader range of conditions could be considered simultaneously, calculations relied heavily on models with closed-form or simplified numerical solution techniques. Finite element techniques-were employed for analytical model verification and examining more detailed phenomena. High-temperature creep and tensile data were obtained for predicting vessel and penetration structural response.

/pdf/light-water-reactor-lower-head-failure-analysis-29i4oiw96u.pdf

Light water reactor lower head failure analysis

In-vessel retention (IVR) of core melt is a key severe-accident-management strategy adopted by some operating nuclear power plants and proposed for some advanced light water reactors (LWRs). If the...

In-Vessel Retention of Molten Corium: Lessons Learned and Outstanding Issues

External reactor vessel cooling (ERVC) is a new severe accident management strategy that involves flooding the reactor cavity to submerge the reactor vessel in an attempt to cool core debris that has relocated to the vessel lower head. Advanced and existing light water reactors (LWRs) are considering ERVC as an accident management strategy for in-vessel retention (IVR) of relocated debris. In the probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) for the AP600 design, Westinghouse credits ERVC for preventing vessel failure during postulated severe accidents with successful reactor coolant system (RCS) depressurization and reactor cavity flooding. To support the Westinghouse position on IVR, DOE contracted the University of California--Santa Barbara (UCSB) to produce the peer-reviewed report. To assist in the NRC`s evaluation of IVR of core melt by ex-vessel flooding of the AP6OO, the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) was tasked to perform: An in-depth critical review of the UCSB study and the model that UCSB used to assess ERVC effectiveness; An in-depth review of the UCSB study peer review comments and of UCSB`s resolution method to identify areas where technical concerns weren`t addressed; and An independent analysis effort to investigate the impact of residual concerns on the margins to failure and conclusions presented in the UCSB study. This report summarizes results from these tasks. As discussed in Sections 1.1 and 1.2, INEEL`s review of the UCSB study and peer reviewer comments suggested that additional analysis was needed to assess: (1) the integral impact of peer reviewer-suggested changes to input assumptions and uncertainties and (2) the challenge present by other credible debris configurations. Section 1.3 summarized the corresponding analysis approach developed by INEEL. The remainder of this report provides more detailed descriptions of analysis methodology, input assumptions, and results.

/pdf/potential-for-ap600-in-vessel-retention-through-ex-vessel-5a4hxce62h.pdf

Potential for AP600 in-vessel retention through ex-vessel flooding

The Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) Vessel Investigation Project (VIP) was an international effort that was sponsored by the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The primary objectives of the VIP were to extract and examine samples from the lower head and to evaluate the potential modes of failure and the margin of structural integrity that remained in the TMI-2 reactor vessel during the accident. This report presents a summary of the major findings and conclusions that were developed from research during the VIP. Results from the various elements of the project are integrated to form a cohesive understanding of the vessel`s condition after the accident.

/pdf/tmi-2-vessel-investigation-project-integration-report-1m5ah514ul.pdf

Joy L. Rempe

Papers

High temperature thermocouple design and fabrication

Light water reactor lower head failure analysis

In-Vessel Retention of Molten Corium: Lessons Learned and Outstanding Issues

Potential for AP600 in-vessel retention through ex-vessel flooding

TMI-2 Vessel Investigation Project integration report