The safe management of radioactive waste is a national task required for sustainable generation of nuclear power and for energy self-reliance in Korea. Since the initial introduction of nuclear power to Korea in 1978, rapid growth in nuclear power has been achieved. This large nuclear power generation program has produced a significant amount of radioactive waste, both low- and intermediate-level waste (LILW) and spent nuclear fuel (SNF); and the amount of waste is steadily growing. For the management of LILW, the Wolsong LILW Disposal Center, which has a final waste disposal capacity of 800,000 drums, is under construction, and is expected to be completed by June 2014. Korean policy about how to manage the SNF has not yet been decided. In 2004, the Atomic Energy Commission decided that a national policy for SNF management should be established considering both technological development and public consensus. Currently, SNF is being stored at reactor sites under the responsibility of plant operator. The at-reactor SNF storage capacity will run out starting in 2024. In this paper, the fundamental principles and steps for implementation of a Korean policy for national radioactive waste management are introduced. Korean practices and prospects regarding radioactive waste management are also summarized, with a focus on strategy for policy-making on SNF management.

Nagra was established in 1972 by the Swiss nuclear power plant operators and the Federal Government to implement permanent and safe disposal of all types of radioactive waste generated in Switzerland. The Swiss Nuclear Energy Act specifies that these shall be disposed of in deep geological repositories. A number of different geological formations and sites have been investigated to date and an extended database of geological characteristics as well as data and state-of-the-art methodologies required for the evaluation of the long-term safety of repository systems have been developed. The research, development, and demonstration activities are further supported by the two underground research facilities operating in Switzerland, the Grimsel Test Site and the Mont Terri Project, along with very active collaboration of Nagra with national and international partners. A new site selection process was approved by the Federal Government in 2008 and is ongoing. This process is driven by the long-term safety and feasibility of the geological repositories and is based on a step-wise decision-making approach with a strong participatory component from the affected communities and regions. In this paper a brief history and the current status of the Swiss radioactive waste management program are presented and special characteristics that may be useful beyond the Swiss program are highlighted and discussed.

The United States Department of Energy (US DOE) is conducting research and development (R&D) activities under the Used Fuel Disposition Campaign (UFDC) to support storage, transportation, and disposal of used nuclear fuel (UNF) and wastes generated by existing and future nuclear fuel cycles. R&D activities are ongoing at nine national laboratories, and are divided into storage, transportation and disposal. Storage R&D focuses on closing technical gaps related to extended storage of UNF. Transportation R&D focuses on ensuring transportability of UNF following extended storage, and addressing data gaps regarding nuclear fuel integrity, retrievability, and demonstration of subcriticality. Disposal R&D focuses on identifying geologic disposal options and addressing technical challenges for generic disposal concepts in mined repositories in salt, clay/shale, and granitic rocks, and deep borehole disposal. UFDC R&D goals include increasing confidence in the robustness of generic disposal concepts, reducing generic sources of uncertainty that may impact the viability of disposal concepts, and developing science and engineering tools to support the selection, characterization, and licensing of a repository. The US DOE has also initiated activities in the Nuclear Fuel Storage and Transportation (NFST) Planning Project to facilitate the development of an interim storage facility and to support transportation infrastructure in the near term.

This paper describes basic plans for the development of a radioactive waste disposal facility with the introduction of Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) for Kenya. The specific objective of this study was to estimate the total projected waste volumes of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste (LILW) expected to be generated from the Kenyan nuclear power programme. The facility is expected to accommodate LILW to be generated from operation and decommissioning of nuclear power plants for a period of 50 years. An on-site storage capacity of 700 $m^3$ at nuclear power plant sites and a final disposal repository facility of more than 7,000 $m^3$ capacity were derived by considering Korean nuclear power programme radioactive waste generation data, including Kori, Hanbit, and APR 1400 nuclear reactor data. The repository program is best suited to be introduced roughly 10 years after reactor operation. This study is important as an initial implementation of a national LILW disposal program for Kenya and other newcomer countries interested in nuclear power technology.

To characterize quantitatively the transport of $^{99}Tc$ and the global fallout ($^{137}Cs$, $^{90}Sr$, and $^{239+240}Pu$) for soils in Korea, the transport parameters of a convective-dispersion model, apparent migration velocity, and apparent dispersion coefficient were estimated from the vertical depth profiles of the radionuclides in soils. The vertical profiles of $^{99}Tc$ were measured from a pot experiment for paddy soil that had been sampled from a rice-field around the Gyeongju radioactive waste repository in Korea, and the vertical depth distributions of the global fallout $^{137}Cs$, $^{90}Sr$, and $^{239+240}Pu$ were measured from the soil samples that were taken from local areas in Korea. The front edge of the $^{99}Tc$ profiles reached a depth of about 12 cm in 138 days, indicating a faster movement than the fallout radionuclides. A weak adsorption of $^{99}Tc$ on the soil particles by the formation of Tc(VII) and a high water infiltration velocity seemed to have controlled the migration of $^{99}Tc$. The apparent migration velocity and dispersion coefficient of $^{99}Tc$ for the disturbed paddy soil were 2.88 cm/y and 6.3 $cm^2/y$, respectively. The majority of the global fallout $^{137}Cs$, $^{90}Sr$, and $^{239+240}Pu$ were found in the top 20 cm of the soils even after a transport of about 30 years. The transport parameters for the global fallout radionuclides were 0.01-0.1cm/y ($^{137}Cs$), 0.09-0.13cm/y ($^{90}Sr$), and 0.09-0.18cm/y ($^{239+240}Pu$) for the apparent migration velocity: 0.21-1.09 $cm^2/y$ ($^{137}Cs$), 0.12-0.7$cm^2/y$ ($^{90}Sr$), and 0.09-0.36$cm^2/y$ ($^{239+240}Pu$) for the apparent dispersion coefficient.

Natural green rust (GR) can retard the migration of anions through geological media because it has a Layer Double Hydroxyl (LDH) structure with a positive charge. In this study, the sorption behaviors of anions such as selenite ($Se(IV)O{_3}^{2-}$), selenate ($Se(VI)O{_4}^{2-}$), and iodide ($I^-$) onto green rusts with different structures, i.e., GR($Cl^-$) and GR($CO{_3}^{2-}$), were investigated by conducting batch sorption experiments in an anoxic condition. Experimental results showed that selenite was mostly sorbed onto GR($CO{_3}^{2-}$) and then partly reduced to metal selenium, Se(0). However, little selenate and iodide was sorbed onto GR($CO{_3}^{2-}$) while some iodide was sorbed onto GR($Cl^-$). It is presumed from the experimental results that the major sorption mechanism of $SeO{_3}^{2-}$ and $I^-$ onto green rusts is the anion exchange reaction with the anions existing in the interlayer of the rusts. Green rust, therefore, can play an important role in the retardation of anions migrating through deep geological environments owing to its LDH structure with a high anion exchange capacity.

Temperature-dependent hydrolysis behaviors of aqueous U(VI) species were investigated with time-resolved laser fluorescence spectroscopy (TRLFS) in the temperature range from 15 to $75^{\circ}C$. The formation of four different U(VI) hydrolysis species was measured at pHs from 1 to 7. The predominant presence of $UO{_2}^{2+}$, $(UO_2)_2(OH){_2}^{2+}$, $(UO_2)_3(OH){_5}^+$, and $(UO_2)_3(OH){_7}^-$ species were identified based on the spectroscopic properties such as fluorescence wavelengths and fluorescence lifetimes. With an increasing temperature, a remarkable decrement in the fluorescence lifetime for all U(VI) hydrolysis species was observed, representing the dynamic quenching behavior. Furthermore, the increase in the fluorescence intensity of the further hydrolyzed U(VI) species was clearly observed at an elevated temperature, showing stronger hydrolysis reactions with increasing temperatures. The formation constants of the U(VI) hydrolysis species were calculated to be $log\;K{^0}_{2,2}=-4.0{\pm}0.6$ for $(UO_2)_2(OH){_2}^{2+}$, $log\;K{^0}_{3,5}=-15.0{\pm}0.3$ for $(UO_2)_3(OH){_5}^+$, and $log\;K{^0}_{3,7}=-27.7{\pm}0.7$ for $(UO_2)_3(OH){_7}^-$ at $25^{\circ}C$ and I = 0 M. The specific ion interaction theory (SIT) was applied for the extrapolation of the formation constants to infinitely diluted solution. The results of temperature-dependent hydrolysis behavior in terms of the U(VI) fluorescence were compared and validated with those obtained using computational methods (DQUANT and constant enthalpy equation). Both results matched well with each other. The reaction enthalpies and entropies that are vital for the computational methods were determined by a combination of the van't Hoff equation and the Gibbs free energy equation. The temperature-dependent hydrolysis reaction of the U(VI) species indicates the transition of a major U(VI) species by means of geothermal gradient and decay heat from the radioactive isotopes, representing the necessity of deeper consideration in the safety assessment of geologic repository.

A large quantity of radioactive waste was generated during the decommissioning of the KRR and UCF. The radioactive waste was packed into 200 liter drums and 4m3 containers and these were temporarily stored onsite until their final disposal in the national repository facility. Some of the releasable waste was freely released and utilized for non-nuclear industries. The combustible wastes were treated by the utilization of an incinerator with a capacity of on average 20 kg/hr.

A novel methodology to evaluate remote dismantling equipment for a reactor pressure vessel (RPV) in a decommissioning project is presented in this paper. The remote dismantling equipment, mainly composed of cutting tools and positioning equipment, is absolutely required to cut and handle highly radioactive and large components in nuclear power plants (NPPs); this equipment has a great effect on the overall success of the decommissioning project. Conventional evaluation methods have only focused on cutting technologies or positioning equipment, although remote dismantling equipment cannot achieve its goal without organic interaction between the cutting tools and the positioning equipment. In this paper, the cutting tools and the positioning equipment are evaluated by performance parameters according to their original characteristics, the relationship between the two systems, and common factors. Finally, the remote dismantling equipment used in recent decommissioning projects has been evaluated based on the proposed methodology. The results of this paper are expected to be useful for future decommissioning projects.