Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference (한국방사성폐기물학회:학술대회논문집)
Korean Radioactive Waste Society
- Semi Annual
Domain
- Nuclear Power > Nuclear Fuel Cycle/Radioactive Waste Management
2004.02a
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PAN-4A composite ion exchanger was more selective for Sr ion than other cations and PAN-KCoFC composite ion exchanger has much higher ion exchange capacity for Cs ion than other cations. The ion exchange capacities obtained from Dubinin-Polanyi equation were 3.93 meq/g for Sr ion and 1.50 meq/g for Cs ion using PAN-4A and PAN-KCoFC ion exchangers, respectively. The modified Dubinin-Polanyi model fit the experimental data accurately in multi-component system. The effective surface diffusivities
$(D_{s, cff})$ for Sr and Cs ions of PAN-4A and PAN-KCoFC ion exchangers were slightly increased with the different particle sizes. -
Pretreatment process consisted of submerged hollow-fiber microfiltration(HMF) membrane and spiral-wound nanofiltration(SNF) membrane has been developed by NETEC, KHNP for the purpose of improving the impurities of liquid radioactive waste before entering Selective Ion Exchange System(SIES). The lab-scale combined system was installed at Kori NPP #2 nuclear power plant and demonstration tests using actual liquid radioactive waste were carried out to verify the performance of the combined system. The submerged HMF membrane was adopted for removal of suspended solid in liquid radioactive waste and the SNF membrane was used for removal of particulate radioisotope such as, Ag-l10m and oily waste because ion exchange resin can not remove particulate radioisotopes. The liquid waste in Waste Holdup Tank (WHT) was processed with HMF and SNF membrane, and SIES. The initial SS concentration and total activity of actual waste were 38,000ppb and
$1.534{\times}10_{-3}{\mu}Ci/cc$ , respectively. The SS concentration and total activity of permeate were 30ppb and lower than LLD(Lower Limit of Detection), respectively. -
The study is aimed to assess the usefulness of the mixture design for spent resin immobilization in cement. Although a considerable amount of research has been carried out to determine the limits for the composition of an acceptable resin-cement mixture, no efficient experimental strategy exists that explores the full properties of waste form against composition relationship. In order to gain an overall view, this report introduces the method of mixture design and mixture analysis, and describes the design of experiment of the 5-component mixture with the constraint conditions. The mathematic models of 28-day compressive strength varying with the ingredients are fitted, and the main effect and interaction effect of two ingredients are identified quantitatively along with the graphical interpretation using the response trace plot and contour plots.
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The pool
$(3m{\times}6m{\times}10m{\times}$ in Irradiated Materials Examination Facility is generally used to transport irradiated materials between a moving cask and hot-cell. During the operation in the pool such as loading/unloading the cask, holding specimen and bucket elevation, water maybe contaminated by radioactive or contaminated impurities from irradiated materials. Then, it must be purified and filtered continuously to keep lower radioactivity than that of regulation prescribed by RCA Korea Activity in a part of radioactive contamination control. This paper described radioactive contamination distribution of water as transported materials, which is related to effective operation of purification and filtration system. -
The geological research as a part of HLW disposal program in Korea is carried out to provide necessary data for the establishment of the reference repository system in term of design and safety assessment in the crystalline rock terrains. Six deep boreholes were drilled to obtain hydrogeological and hydrochemical data from Jurassic granites in the Yuseong area, Korea. The core observation, televiewer logging and hydraulic testing were carried out during and after drilling and multi-packer system were installed in the boreholes of 500m depth for hydraulic and hydrochemical monitoring including environmental isotopes. The integration of hydrogeochemical and hydrodynamic data would be built greater confidence for the understanding of groundwater system in fractured rock mass. This geoscientific program could be possible to suggest a general guideline to develop the reference disposal concept of high-level radioactive waste in Korea.
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Sulfurization of rare-earth oxides R203 (R=Nd, Eu) using sulfurizing reagents, such as
$H_2S$ and$SC_2$ was examined for the sulfide magnetic separation of spent fuel.$EU_2O_3$ was found to react with H$_3$ S gas forming the mixture of$EU_2O_2S$ and EuS at 500 oC, while EuS was formed by$SC_2$ at 800 oC. In the case of the mixture of$R_2O_3$ and$UO_2$ , EuS and$ND_3S_4$ were formed as well as$EU_2O_2S$ and$Nd_2O_2S$ at 500oC in$H_2S$ , though$UO_2$ remained unreacted. -
The dryer (ten per unit) are operating to remove tritium in PHWR(Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor). There are coming out heavy water adsorbent from operating the dryer (95 drums for ten year per unit) The amount of radioactivity of heavy water adsorbent almost exceed ninety times more than disposal limit-in-itself showed by The Ministry of Science and Technology. It has to be disposed whole radioactive waste products, however there are problems of increase at the expense of their permanent disposal. In this research, We have studied how to remove kinds of nuclear materials and amount of tritium with in heavy water adsorbent. As the result we could develop disposal equipment and apply it. D20 adsorbent have to contain below Gamma nuclide O.3Bq/g and tritium 100Bq/g "The Regulation for disposal of the radioactivity wastes" showed by The Ministry of Science and Technology. There fore. So as to remove amount of tritium and kinds of nuclear materials (DTO) we needed a equipment. Also we have studied how to remove effectively radioactivity with in Adsorbent. As cleaning heavy water adsorbent and drying on each condition (temperature for drying and hours for cleaning). Because there is something to return heavy water adsorbent by removing impurities within adsorbent when it is dried o high temperature. After operating, we have been applying this research to the way to dispose heavy water adsorbent. Through this we could reduce solid waste products and the expense of permanent disposal of radioactive waste products and also we could contribute nuclear power plant run safely. According to the result we could keep the best condition of radiation safety super vision and we could help people believe in safety with Radioactivity wastes control for harmony with Environment.
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This paper studies the leaching behaviors of pyrochlore-rich synroc incorporated 46.8wt% simulated actinides waste under the five simulated geological disposal media, which included the bentonite, granite, granite + ferroferric oxide, granite + cement, bentonite + ferroferric oxide, respectively. The mass loss rates reached to equilibrium after 182 day and was 10-7 g/
$\textrm{mm}^2{\cdot}d$ . That suggests the mass loss rate of pyrochlore-rich synroc, loaded 46.8wt% actinides waste, was very low. The surfaces of the leached specimens were analyzed by XRD, SEM/EDS. The experimental results show that the pyrochlore-rich synroc samples in the systems, which contained bentonite and cement, have two new phases formed on the leached specimens surface at$90^{\circ}C$ for 728d; The bentonite and cement can retard the elements leaching;$Fe_3O_4$ can speed the elements leaching; Expect for Ti ion depleted on the sample surface, other ion, such as U, Zr, AI, Ca, were in equable states and Ba ion was enriched during test time, which indicated the simulated disposal media have good ability to retard the leaching behavior of the pyrochlore-rich synroc. -
The removal efficiency of several washing agents on the
$Cs^+$ ion was investigated. Leaching of$Cs^+$ ion from the soil surface by washing agents is affected by the exchange capability of the washing solution. Reuse tests of the effective soil washing agents such as$BaCl_2$ , NaOH, citric acid+$HNO_3$ and oxalic acid were performed. NaOH, citric acid +$HNO_3$ and oxalic acid solutions can be reused after passing through the ion exchange column. Among the tested solutions, both of citric acid+$HNO_3$ and oxalic acid were effective for the decontamination of TRIGA research reactor soil. The radioactivity of soils can be reduced to a release level by the successive application. -
The decommissioning project of the KRR 1 & 2 was started in January 1997. The actual decommissioning activity was started at the RI production facility and was finished at the end of 2002. The dismantling works of all components including the reactor structure of the KRR-2 was started in January, 2003 and will be carried out for 2 years till the end of 2004. The project schedule is estimated to delay for 4∼5 months beyond the original plan because of delaying on the cutting of thermal column nose and removal of the graphite bricks, but it may be caught up during the removal working of concrete from biological shielding structure. This paper summarizes the general status of the KRR 1 & 2 and decommissioning activities.
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A major problem of nuclear energy is the production of radioactive wastes. Needs for more environmentally favorable method to decontaminate radioactive contaminants make the use of liquid/Supercritical
$CO_2$ as a solvent medium. In removing radioactive metallic contaminants under$CO_2$ solvent, two methods - use of chelating ligands and that of water in$CO_2$ emulsion - are possible. In the chelating ligand method, a combination of ligands that can make synergistic effects seems important. We discuss about the properties of microemulsion formed by F-AOT. By adding acid in water core, decontamination of metallic parts, soils were possible. -
The 3D simulations for the Rotary Specimen Rack (RSR), the shielding concret, and the reactor core dismantling processes in the Korea Research Reactor-1&2(KRR-1&2) were carried out in the present work. The four main dismantling items, which are the RSR, reactor core, beam tube, and the thermal column and the shield concrete, were selected among the many components in the KRR-2 by consideration of the activation, worker training, difficulty of the work and so on. On the basis of these, we built 3D CAD models, selected the proper dismantling technologies, and reviewed their dismantling processes. In this study, the 3D simulation results of the shielding concrete, and the reactor core dismantling processes are also presented and discussed.
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The cladding materials remaining after reprocessing process of the nuclear fuel, generally called as hulls, are classified as a high-level radioactive waste. They are usually packaged in the container for disposal after being compacted, melted, or solidified into the matrix. The efforts to fabricate a better ingot for a more favorable disposal to the environment have failed due to the technical difficulties encountered in the chemical decontamination method. In the early 1990s, the accumulation of radio-chemical data on hulls and the advent of new technology such as a laser or plasma have made the pre-treatment of the hulls more efficient. This paper summarizes the information regarding the radio-chemical analysis of the hull through a literature survey and determines the characteristics of the hull and depth profile of the radio-nuclides within the hull thickness. The feasibility study was carried out to evaluate the reduction of the radioactivity by peeling off the surface of the hull with the application of laser technology.
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Since the April of 1978, Korea has strongly relied on the nuclear energy for electricity generation. As of today, eighteen nuclear power plants are in operation and ten are to be inaugurated by 2015. The installed nuclear capacity is 15, 716 MW as of the end of 2002, representing 29.3% of the nation's total installed capacity. The nuclear share in electricity remains around 38.9 at the end of 2002, reaching at the level of 119 billion kWh's. New power reactors, KSNP's (Korea Standard Nuclear Power Plant) are fully based on the domestic technologies. More advanced reactors such as KNGR (Korea Next Generation Reactor) will be commercialized soon. Even though the front end nuclear cycle enjoys one of the best positions in the world, there have been some chronical problems in the back end fuel cycle. That's the one of the reason why we need more active R&D programs in Korea and active international and regional cooperation in this area. The everlasting NIMBY problem hinders the implementation of the nation's radioactive waste management program. We expect that the storage capacity for the LILW(Low and Intermediate Level radioactive Waste) will be dried out soon. The situation for the spent fuel storage is also not so favorable too. The storage pools for spent fuel are being filled rapidly so that in 2008, some AR pools cannot accommodate any more new spent nuclear fuels. The Korean Government in strong association with utilities and national academic and R&D institutes have tried its best effort to secure the site for a LILW repository and a AFR site. Finally, one local community, Buan in Jeonbook Province, submitted the petition for the site. At the end of the last July, the Government announced that the Wido, a small island in Buan, is suitable for the national complex site. The special force team headed by Dr IS Chang, president of KAERI teamed with Government officials and many prominent scholars and journalists agreed that by the evidences from the preliminary site investigation, they could not find any reason for rejecting the local community's offer.
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China is facing the challenging problems in both the potential energy resource shortage and the serious environmental pollutions. The author suggests that nuclear energy could play an important role for ensuring the long term energy security in China. The technical problems to be solved for the sustainable development of nuclear energy in China are also discussed and the R&D work in next 20 years are briefly suggested to meet the requirements of nuclear energy development in China.
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According to the Korean long-term plan for nuclear technology development, KAERI is conducting a few R&D projects related to the proliferation-resistant back-end fuel cycle. The R&D activities for the back-end fuel cycle are reviewed in this work, especially focusing on the study of the partitioning and transmutation(P&T) of long-lived radionuclides. The P&T study is currently being carried out in order to develop key technologies in the areas of partitioning and transmutation. The partitioning study is based on the development of pyroprocessing such as electrorefining and electrowinning because they can be adopted as proliferation-resistant technologies in the fuel cycle. In this study, various behaviors of the electrodeposition of uranium and rare earth elements in the LiCl-KCl electrorefining system have been examined through fundamental experimental work. As for the transmutation system, KAERI is studying the HYPER (HYbrid Power Extraction Reactor), a kind of subcritical reactor which will be connected with a proton accelerator. Up to now, a conceptual study has been carried out for the major elemental systems of the subcritical reactor such as core, transuranic fuel, long-lived fission product target, and the Pb-Bi cooling system, etc. In order to enhance the transmutation efficiency of the transuranic elements as well as to strengthen the reactor safety, the reactor core was optimized by determining its most suitable subcriticality, the ratio of height/diameter, and by introducing the concepts of optimum core configuration with a transuranic enrichment as well as a scattered reloading of the fuel assemblies.
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It was studied on the reductive extraction between the eutectic salt and Bi metal phases. The solutes were zirconium and the rare earth elements, where zirconium was used as the surrogate for the transuranic(TRU) elements. All the experiments were performed in a glove box filled with argon gas. Two types of experimental conditions were used -high and low initial solute concentrations in salt. Li-Bi alloy was used as a reducing agent to reduce the high chemical activity of Li. The reductive extraction characteristics were examined using ICP, XRD and EPMA analysis. Zirconium was successfully separated from the rare earth elements by the reductive extraction method. The LiF-NaF-KF system was favorable among the fluoride salt systems, whereas the LiCl-KCl system was favorable among the chloride salt systems. When the solute concentrations were high, intermetallic compounds were found near the salt-metal interface.
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DUPIC powder and pellets were successfully fabricated in accordance with the quality assurance program described in the Quality Assurance Manual for DUPIC fuel fabrication, which was developed on the basis of the CAN3-Z299.2-85 standard. This manual describes the quality management system applicable to the activities performed for DUPIC fuel fabrication. It covers the work processes, policies and procedures used for planning, executing, and verifying the work carried out for DUPIC fuel fabrication. It is important that a Quality Program is in place before the fabrication of the fuel for irradiation testing. In order to qualify the DUPIC pellet manufacturing processes, 3 series of experiments for the pre-qualification and 3 series for the qualification were performed. In these experiments, the optimum process conditions were established. Then, under the control of the QA program, 8 series of production runs were performed to make the qualified DUPIC pellets in a batch size of 1 kg. In these production runs, DUPIC fuel pellets satisfying the standard CANDU fuel pellet specifications could be successfully produced.
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An unique extraction chromatographic column (TOA: Tri-n-octylamine on Teflon powder) with a two-stage sample loading was prepared to separate Np and Pu from the environmental matrix. Np and Pu were efficiently retained in 4 M
$HNO_3$ medium on the column and easily eluted with 0.02 M oxalic acid in 0.16 M HNO$_3$ at$95^{\circ}C$ . The separated solutions were free from most of the matrix elements and were aspirated into the ICP-MS directly. The decontamination factor for 238U is more than 104. The instrumental detection limit for 237Np was 0.46 pg mL-l ($1.2{\times}10_{-5}$ Bq mL-l), and for 239Pu was 0.48 pg mL-l ($1.1{\times}10_{-3}$ Bq mL-l). The feasibility for the determination of both elements was proved by analysing IAEA-135 reference samples, the measured values agreed with the recommended reference value. -
The research and development of effective management technologies of the spent fuels discharged from power reactors are an important and essential task of KAERI. In resent several years KAERI has focused on a project named "development and demonstration of the Advanced spent fuel Conditioning Process (ACP) in a laboratory scale." The Facility for ACP demonstration consists of two Hot Cells and auxiliary facilities. It is now in the final design stage and will be constructed in 2004. After construction of the facility the ACP equipments will be installed in Hot Cells. The ACP will be demonstrated by some simulated spent fuels first and then by spent fuels.
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The remote operation of the Advanced Spent Fuel Conditioning Process (ACP) is analyzed by using the 3D graphic simulation tools. The ACP equipment operates in intense radiation fields as well as in a high temperature. Thus, the equipment should be designed in consideration of the remote handling and maintenance. As well as suitable remote handling and maintenance technology needs to be developed along with the design of the process concepts. To develop such remote operation technology, we developed the graphic simulator which provides the capability of verifying the remote operability of the ACP without fabrication of the process equipment. In other words, by applying virtual reality to the remote maintenance operation, a remote operation task can be simulated in the graphic simulator, not in the real environment. The graphic simulator will substantially reduce the cost of the development of the remote handling and maintenance procedure as well as the process equipment, while at the same time developing a remote maintenance concept that is more reliable, easier to implement, and easier to understand.
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China, as a developing country with a great number of population and relatively less energy resources, reasonably emphasizes the nuclear energy utilization development. For the long term sustainable energy supply, as for nuclear application the basic strategy of PWR-FBR-Fusion has been settled and envisaged. Due to the economy and experience reasons the nuclear power and technology development with a moderate style are kept in China up to now. In China mainland apart from two NPPs with the total capacity of 2.1 GWe in operation, four NPPs are under construction and two NPPs are planned for the Tenth Five Year Plan(2001-2005). Also another one or two NPPs are still in discussion. It could be foreseen that the total nuclear power capacity will reach 8.5GWe before the year 2005 and 14-15 GWe before 2010 respectively. As the first step for the Chinese fast reactor engineering development the 65MWt China Experimental Fast Reactor(CEFR) is under construction. The main components of primary, secondary and tertiary circuits and of fuel handling system have been ordered. The reactor building under construction has reached the top namely 57m above the ground. More than one hundred components and shielding doors have been installed. It is planned that the construction of reactor building with about 40,000
$m^2$ floor surface will be completed in the end of the year 2002 and envisaged that the first criticality of the CEFR will be in the end of 2005. The second step of the Chinese fast reactor engineering development is a 300MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor which is only under consideration up to now. Some important technical selections have been settled, but its design has not yet started. -
The relationship between the leaching and gap inventory of spent fuel has been studied. When a specimen of J44H08 spent PWR fuel with 38 GWD/MTU has been leached in the synthetic granitic groundwater in Ar atmosphere, the released fraction of cesium was increased rapidly up to 0.7% at around 500 days and stayed below 0.8% until 3 years. This 0.7% of cesium might be released from the gap in this fuel. The measurement of gap inventory with C15I08 spent PWR fuel, having 35 GWD/MTU and 0.22% of fission gas release, was also determined near 0.6% for the cesium, which is a similar fraction of cesium released from the leaching experiment with J44H08 fuel. Its gap inventories of strontium and iodine were about 0.03 and less than 0.2% respectively. Respective fractions of cesium and strontium in grain boundary of C15I08 were 0.78, 0.09%.
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The extraction of three kinds of amido podands, N,N,N'N'-tetrabutyl-3-oxa-pentanedi- amide (TBDGA), N,N,N'N'-tetra-isobutyl-3-oxa-pentanediamide(TiBDGA) and N,N,N'N'-tetra- butyl-3,6-dioxa-oct-anediam- ide(TBDOODA) on U(VI),Pu(IV), Am(III), Eu(III) and other metal ions is studied in nitric acid solutions. 40%octanol-kerosene is chosen as diluents to eliminate third phase and emulsion. TBDGA and TiBDGA show extraction selectivity to An(III) and Ln(III) much higher than to U(VI) and Pu(IV). Fe, Ru and Mo is poorly extracted by the three kinds of amid podands in 2~3mol/L
$HNO_3$ solutions. Aiming to eliminate interface crude when using simulated HLLW solution in the system of 0.2mol/L TBDGA/Octanol+kerosene, acetohydroxyamic acid was adapted. Distribution ratio of zirconium was decreased when adding acetohydroxyamic acid in aqueous solution, and interface crude disappeared as mixing extractant with HLLW. The counter-current extraction test is carried out in a set of miniature mixer-settler, with 0.2mol/L TBDGA/ 40% octanol-kerosene as extractant to separate U(VI), Pu(IV), Am(III) and Eu(III) from simulated high level liquid waste(HLLW) solution. In battery A, lanthanides and actinides are coextracted into organic phase with the recovery of 99.98% for U(Ⅵ), >99.99% for Pu(IV), and >99.99% for Am(III) and Eu(III) respectively. In battery R1, 99.99% U, 86.2% Pu and a part of Am or Eu are stripped into aqueous phase by 0.2mol/L acetohydroxyamic acid (AHA) in 0.01mol/L$HNO_3$ solution. In battery$R_2$ , Am, Eu and remained Pu are completely back-extracted by 0.2mol/L AHA. This separation process contains no salt reagent, and it is not necessary to dilute HLLW feed. -
In this paper measurement method of uranium isotope ratio of uranium-bearing particles in swipe samples was introduced; Swipe sample screening program was proposed on the basis of studying various destructive assay and non-destructive assays. Scanning electron microscope(SEM) equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence(XRF) system was applied to locate the deposited uranium-containing particles on the graphite support, particle's composition and size can be identified. Some isotope ratio results were compared with those of other bulk analytical methods; By measuring the same prepared sample, we got the U-particle isotopic ratio data similar to those from IAEA NWAL, indicating that our operation parameters and experimental conditions are viable and can be used for measurement of U-particle isotopic ratio from swipe samples.