• Journal of the Korean Society of Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.4 no.4
• /
• pp.199-211
• /
• 1997

As a part of study on geological disposal of radioactive waste, hydrogeochemical characteristics of deep granitic groundwater in Korea were investigated through the construction of a large geochemical dataset of natural water, the examination on the behaviour of dissolved constituents, and the consideration of phase stability based on thermodynamic approach. In granitic region, the contents of total dissolved solids increase progressively from surface waters to deep groundwaters, which indicates the presence of more concentrated waters at depth due to water-rock interaction. The chemical composition of groundwater evolves from initial $Ca^{2＋}$－(C $l^{－}$＋S $O_4$$^{2-}$) or $Ca^{2＋}$-HC $O_3$$^{－}$ type to final N $a^{＋}$-HC $O_3$$^{－}$ or N $a^{＋}$－(C $l^{－}$＋S $O_4$$^{2-}$) type, via $Ca^{2＋}$-HC $O_3$$^{－}$ type. Three main mechanisms seem to control the chemical composition of groundwater in the granitic region; 1) congruent dissolution of calcite at shallower depth, 2) calcite precipitation and incongruent dissolution of plagioclase at deeper depth, and 3) kaolinite-smectite or/and kaolinite-illite reaction at equilibrium at deeper depth. The behaviour of dissolved major cations (C $a^{2＋}$, $K^{＋}$, $Mg^{2＋}$, M $a^{＋}$) and silica is likely to be controlled by these reactions.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.42 no.4
• /
• pp.335-342
• /
• 2009

The effects of bacterial lysis on the rate of quartz dissolution were investigated under pH 7 condition using Bacillus subtilis cells which were either irradiated or non-irradiated with gamma ray. The amount of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) which resulted from bacterial lysis increased in slurries of quartz and bacteria mixture over experimental period. Lysis of non-irradiated bacteria led to the elevated concentration of dissolved silicon when compared with abiotic control. Concomitant increase in the amounts of DOC and dissolved silicon over time indicated that lixiviation of silicon from quartz was due to bacterial lysis. Higher amounts of DOC and dissolved silicon were present in the irradiated bacterial slurries than those of non-irradiated bacteria. The enhancement of quartz dissolution in the irradiated bacterial slurries was likely attributed to disruption of organic molecules in the bacterial cells by gamma ray and formation of effective ligands for quartz dissolution. The results suggest that the effects of bacterial lysis on mineral weathering rate should be considered for prediction of time for released radionuclides to migrate to surface biosphere in high level radioactive waste disposal site.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.48-54
• /
• 1986

Because of the drastic development of nuclear industries, the contamination of natural environments by the disposal of radioactive materials which are released from nuclear facilities have aroused a considerable concern in relation to agricultural practices. Therefore the present investigation, through pot experiment, was performed to find out the aspect of the uptake of $Sr^{90}$ by rice plants and its distribution in them in five different types(physicochemical and minerallogical properties) of paddy soils. The results obtained were as follows; 1) Visual toxic symptoms on the growth of rice plant due to treatment of $Sr^{90}$ up to $40{\mu}Ci/10㎏$ in a pot were not observed even though uptake of $Sr^{90}$ by rice plant was proportionally increased with the $Sr^{90}$ treatment. 2) Distribution of $Sr^{90}$ in the rice plant was the highest in the leaves (84.5%) followed in the order by stems (13.5%) and rough grain (2.0%). The ratio of $Sr^{90}$ to Ca was higher in the leaves (872) and stems (667) than in the rice grain (89). 3) $Sr^{90}$ absorption in the rice plant ranged $0.15{\sim}0.30%$ at harvesting time. Uptake of $Sr^{90}$ by rice plants decreased by the increase of soil pH and exchangeable canons in the soils, but $Sr^{90}$ uptake increased when nitrogen, organic matter and clay content in soil was high, and uptake of this nuclide in the rice plant was higher with low Illite and Vermiculite content in the soils.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.28 no.6
• /
• pp.670-691
• /
• 2018

This study presents the research results of the BMT(Benchmark Model Test) simulations of the DECOVALEX-2019 project Task B. Task B named 'Fault slip modelling' is aiming at developing a numerical method to predict fault reactivation and the coupled hydro-mechanical behavior of fault. BMT scenario simulations of Task B were conducted to improve each numerical model of participating group by demonstrating the feasibility of reproducing the fault behavior induced by water injection. The BMT simulations consist of seven different conditions depending on injection pressure, fault properties and the hydro-mechanical coupling relations. TOUGH-FLAC simulator was used to reproduce the coupled hydro-mechanical process of fault slip. A coupling module to update the changes in hydrological properties and geometric features of the numerical mesh in the present study. We made modifications to the numerical model developed in Task B Step 1 to consider the changes in compressibility, Permeability and geometric features with hydraulic aperture of fault due to mechanical deformation. The effects of the storativity and transmissivity of the fault on the hydro-mechanical behavior such as the pressure distribution, injection rate, displacement and stress of the fault were examined, and the results of the previous step 1 simulation were updated using the modified numerical model. The simulation results indicate that the developed model can provide a reasonable prediction of the hydro-mechanical behavior related to fault reactivation. The numerical model will be enhanced by continuing interaction and collaboration with other research teams of DECOVALEX-2019 Task B and validated using the field experiment data in a further study.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
• /
• v.7 no.1
• /
• pp.49-61
• /
• 1994

As the groundwater flows along the fractures of crystalline rocks, it will be in contact with the fracture walls mostly coated by secondary minerals which are quite different form those of host rocks. The presence of fracture-filling minerals in crystalline rocks is important on the view point of radioactive waste disposal because of their great surface reactivity. The Surichi drill hole of 200 m in depth in the Yugu area composed mainly of Precambrian gneiss was selected to study the formation process of clay minerals on the fracture wall of gneiss, and their relation with present groundwater. The water-rock interaction in fractures resulted in the formation of gibbsite and clay minerals. They are formed by two different processes : (1) Incongruent dissolution of feldspar by groundwater diffused from a fracture path into rock matrix produced smectite and illite in situ, (2) on the wall of fracture, gibbsite, kaolinite, smectite and illite are formed by precipitation of dissolved species in groundwater. They show the paragenetic sequence such as gibbsite${\leftrightarrow}$kaolinite${\leftrightarrow}$smectite or illite. The paragenetic sequence of fracture-filling minerals was controlled by increase of pH of groundwater, decrease of fracture permeability by precipitation of fillings, and immobility of alkali or alkaline earths in groundwater. The groundwater from the Surichi borehole is a $Na-HCO_{3}$ type with pH range of 8.6-9.2. The sodium and bicarbonate in groundwater would be supplied by the dissolution of albite and calcite, respectively. The saturation index of groundwater and surface water calculated by WATEQ4F indicates that gibbsite and kaolinite are under precipitation to equilibrium state, and that smectite and illite are under equilibrium to redissolution environment. The stability relation of clay minerals in the $Na_{2}O-Al_{2}O_{3}-SiO_{2}-H_{2}O$ system shows that kaolinite is stable for all waters.