• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1995.05b
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• pp.775-780
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• 1995

방사성폐기물 처분장 폐쇄후 처분시설의 성능평가를 수행하기 위해 해안에 위치한 임의의 지역을 가정하여 평가하여 보았다. 성능평가를 위해 영국 AEA Technology가 개발한 확률론적 종합 성능평가 코드인 MASCOT을 이용하였다. 임해지역에 위치한 가상 처분장에 대해 MASCOT을 이용하여 계산하여 본 결과 생태계에서 개인이 받게되는 예상 최대 위험확률은 폐쇄후 4,000년에 9.45$\times$$10^{-7}$yr$^{-1}$로서 이는 성능목표치를 만족할 수 있음을 알 수 있었다. 가상 처분장에 대해 성능평가를 수행함으로써 향후 방사성폐기물 처분부지가 결정되었을 경우, 결정된 처분부지의 특성에 따른 성능평가 및 환경영향평가를 원활히 수행할 수 있을 것이다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.938-943
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• 1995

지하 암반내에 방사성 폐기물 영구 처분을 위한 동굴이 건설될 경우 정상 상태에서 처분동굴 주변 암반이 균질 다공성 매질이라는 가정 아래 동굴내로 유입되는 지하수량을 NAMMU 컴퓨터 프로그램을 이용하여 계산하였다. 계산 결과는 산정상 밑과 해저밑이 약간 유입량이 많았으나 위치에 크게 영향 받지는 않았다. 계산값의 검증을 위해서 비교적 단순 지형에 대한 해석해를 유도하여 비교하였다. 처분시설 페쇄후 성능 평가를 위해 지하수 유동 거리가 가장 길 것으로 예상되는 산정상 밑 동굴에 대해 유동경로 분석을 수행하여, 처분 동굴로부터 지표수로의 지하수 유동 거리 및 유동 시간 등을 구하였다. 또한, 산정상 밑 처분동굴을 실제와 같이 5개로 모델링하여 유입량의 변화를 살펴보았으며, 동굴 주변 암반 특성의 값에 대한 지하수 유입량 변화를 알아보았다.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.169-179
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• 2011

There are two types of nuclear reactors in Korea and they are PWR type and CANDU type. The safe management of the spent fuels from these reactors is very important factor to maintain the sustainable energy supply with nuclear power plant. In Korea, a reference disposal system for the spent fuels has been developed through a study on the direct disposal of the PWR and CANDU spent fuel. Recently, the research on the demonstration and the efficiency analyses of the disposal system has been performed to make the disposal system safer and more economic. PWR spent fuels which include a lot of reusable material can be considered being recycled and a study on the disposal of HLW from this recycling process is being performed. CANDU spent fuels are considered being disposed of directly in deep geological formation, since they have little reusable material. In this study, based on the Korean Reference spent fuel disposal System (KRS) which was to dispose of both PWR type and CANDU type, the more effective CANDU spent fuel disposal systems were developed. To do this, the disposal canister for CANDU spent fuels was modified to hold the storage basket for 60 bundles which is used in nuclear power plant. With these modified disposal canister concepts, the disposal concepts to meet the thermal requirement that the temperature of the buffer materials should not be over $100^{\circ}C$ were developed. These disposal concepts were reviewed and analyzed in terms of disposal effective factors which were thermal effectiveness, U-density, disposal area, excavation volume, material volume etc. and the most effective concept was proposed. The results of this study will be used in the development of various wastes disposal system together with the HLW wastes from the PWR spent fuel recycling process.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.65-72
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• 2008

The purpose of the HLW deep geological disposal is to isolate and to delay the radioactive material release to human beings and the environment for a long time so that the toxicity does not affect to the environment. The main requirements for the HLW repository design is to keep the buffer temperature below $100\;^{\circ}C$ in order to maintain its integrity. So the cooling time of spent fuels discharged from the nuclear power plant is the key consideration factors for efficiency and economic feasibility of the repository. The disposal tunnel/disposal hole spacing, the disposal area and thermal capacity required for the deep geological repository layout which satisfies the temperature requirement of the disposal system is analyzed to set the optimized spent fuels cooling time. To do this, based on the reference disposal concept, thermal stability analyses of the disposal system have been performed and the derived results have been compared by setting the spent fuels cooling time and the disposal tunnel/disposal hole spacing in various ways. From these results, desirable spent fuels cooling time in view of disposal area is derived. The results shows that the time reaching the maximum temperature within the design limit of the temperature in the disposal site is likely shortened as the cooling time of spent fuels becomes short. Also it seems that the temperature-rising and-dropping patterns in the disposal site are of smoothly varying form as the cooling time of spent fuels becomes long. In addition, it is revealed that a desirable cooling time of spent fuels is approximately 40-50 years when spent fuels are supposedly disposed in the deep geological disposal site with its structural scale under consideration in this study.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.421-433
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• 2023

The final disposal of spent nuclear fuel(SNF) from nuclear power plants takes place in a deep geological repository. The metal canister encasing the SNF is made of cast iron and copper, and is engineered to effectively isolate radioactive isotopes for a long period of time. The SNF is further shielded by a multi-barrier disposal system comprising both engineering and natural barriers. The deep disposal environment gradually changes to an anaerobic reducing environment. In this environment, sulfide is one of the most probable substances to induce corrosion of copper canister. Stress-corrosion cracking(SCC) triggered by sulfide can carry substantial implications for the integrity of the copper canister, potentially posing a significant threat to the long-term safety of the deep disposal repository. Sulfate can exist in various forms within the deep disposal environment or be introduced from the geosphere. Sulfate has the potential to be transformed into sulfide by sulfate-reducing bacteria(SRB), and this converted sulfide can contribute to the corrosion of the copper canister. Bentonite, which is considered as a potential material for buffering and backfilling, contains oxidized sulfate minerals such as gypsum(CaSO4). If there is sufficient space for microorganisms to thrive in the deep disposal environment and if electron donors such as organic carbon are adequately supplied, sulfate can be converted to sulfide through microbial activity. However, the majority of the sulfides generated in the deep disposal system or introduced from the geosphere will be intercepted by the buffer, with only a small amount reaching the metal canister. Pyrite, one of the potential sulfide minerals present in the deep disposal environment, can generate sulfates during the dissolution process, thereby contributing to the corrosion of the copper canister. However, the quantity of oxidation byproducts from pyrite is anticipated to be minimal due to its extremely low solubility. Moreover, the migration of these oxidized byproducts to the metal canister will be restricted by the low hydraulic conductivity of saturated bentonite. We have comprehensively analyzed and summarized key research cases related to the presence of sulfates, reduction processes, and the formation and behavior characteristics of sulfides and pyrite in the deep disposal environment. Our objective was to gain an understanding of the impact of sulfates and sulfides on the long-term safety of high-level radioactive waste disposal repository.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1995.05b
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• pp.813-818
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• 1995

방사성 폐기물 처분장의 확률론적 안전성 분석은 방사성 폐기물 처분장의 운영에 앞서 수행되어야 할 과제이다. 따라서, 본 연구에서는 폐기물 처분장의 확률론적 안전성 분석을 체계적으로 수행하기 위한 방법론을 개발하여 제시하였다.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.289-301
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• 2010

A structural model of the SNF(spent nuclear fuel) disposal canister for the PWR(pressurized water reactor) for about 10,000 years long term deposition at a 500m deep granitic bedrock repository has been developed through various structural safety evaluations. The SNF disposal baskets of this canister model have the array type of which four square cross section baskets stand parallel to each other and symmetrically with respect to the center of the canister section. However whether this developed structural model of the SNF disposal canister is best is not determinable yet, because the SNF disposal canister with this parallel array has a limitation in shortening the diameter for the weight reduction due to the shortest distance between the outer corner of the square section and the outer shell. Therefore, the structural safety evaluation of the SNF disposal canister with the rotated basket array which is also symmetric with respect to the canister center planes is very necessary. Even though such a canister model has not been found as yet in the literature, the structural analysis of the canister with the rotated basket array for the PWR is required for the comparative study of the structural safety of canister models. Hence, the structural analysis of the canister with the rotated basket array in which each basket is rotated with a certain amount of degrees around the center of the basket itself and arrayed symmetrically with respect to the center planes is carried out in this paper. The structural analysis result shows that the SNF disposal canister with the rotated basket array in which the SNF disposal basket is rotated as 30~35 degrees around the center of the basket itself is structurally more stable than the previously developed SNF disposal canister with the parallel basket array.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2016.05a
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• pp.183-184
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• 2016

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.191-198
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• 2014

Using results of groundwater flow system modeling for a hypothetical deep geological repository site, a distribution of groundwater flow rates at the disposal depth was analyzed and a method of applying this distribution to a safety assessment for a disposal of radioactive wastes was suggested. The distribution of groundwater flow rates was produced by hydraulic heads simulated from regional and local scale groundwater flow models for the hypothetical disposal site. The flow rates at the locations where deposition holes would be located were estimated. These rates were normalized by the maximum of the flow rates in order to probabilistically illustrate a possibility of canister failures at the deposition holes. From the normalized distribution, probabilistic expectations for mass discharges of radionuclides released from the canisters assumed to be failed were calculated and compared with those deterministically estimated under the assumption that the canisters at the same deposition holes were definitely failed. The suggested method can be contributed to constructing a methodology for safety assessment of a geological repository by reflecting natural conditions of a disposal site in more detail.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.385-410
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• 2016

The disposal facility in Gyeongju is planning to dispose of 800,000 packages of low- and intermediate- level radioactive waste. This facility will be developed as a complex disposal facility that has various types of disposal facilities and accompanying management. In this study, based on the comprehensive development plan of the disposal facility, a preliminary post-closure safety assessment is performed to predict the phase development of the total capacity for the 800,000 packages to be disposed of at the site. The results for each scenario meet the performance target of the disposal facility. The assessment revealed that there is a significant impact of the inventory of intermediate-level radionuclide waste on the safety evaluation. Due to this finding, we introduce a disposal limit value for intermediate-level radioactive waste. With stepwise development of safety case, this development plan will increase the safety of disposal facilities by reducing uncertainties within the future development of the underground silo disposal facilities.