https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-025-06786-z
Regular Article
Evaluation of radiation dose rates in the work area for open and closed states of steam generator primary side manway during the overhaul period
Department of Nuclear Engineering, Kyung Hee University, Yongin-si, Republic of Korea
Received:
9
June
2025
Accepted:
22
August
2025
Published online:
7
September
2025
To perform the steam generator (SG) primary side maintenance work during the overhaul period of nuclear power plant, the opening of the primary side manway must be conducted first. Depending on whether the manway is open or closed, significant variations in radiation dose among workers can occur due to differences in work location and posture. In this study, the dose rates in the work area were evaluated for the open and closed states of the SG primary side manway during the overhaul period of Korean nuclear power plant. For this purpose, the SG was simulated using the MCNP code. Then, using the computationally simulated SG, the dose rates were evaluated according to the open and closed states of the primary side manway. The dose rates in the work area corresponding to the open and closed states of the primary manway were evaluated using the MeshTally function. Furthermore, the changes in the dose rates were analyzed near the primary manway. Analysis showed that opening the SG primary side manway increased the dose rates by up to approximately 50 times at certain locations compared to when primary manway was closed. Furthermore, the areas showing high dose rates when the manway was open were found to change significantly according to the evaluation heights. The results of this study can be utilized as a data for optimizing the radiation dose for SG maintenance workers during future overhaul periods.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2025
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
