• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.464-474
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• 2007

An enhancement in the performance and safety of a high-level waste repository requires a validation of its engineered barrier. An engineering-scale test (named "KENTEX") has been conducted to investigate the thermal-hydro-mechanical behaviors in the engineered barrier of the Korean reference disposal system The validation test started on May 31, 2005 and is still under operation. The experimental data obtained allowed a preliminary and qualitative interpretation of the thermal-hydro-mechanical behaviors in the bentonite blocks. The temperature was higher as it became closer to the heater, while it became lower as it was farther away from the heater. The water content had a higher value in the part close to the hydration surface than that in the heater part. The relative humidity data suggested that a hydration of the bentonite blocks might occur by different drying-wetting processes, depending on their position. The total pressure was continuously increased by the evolution of the saturation front in the bentonite blocks and thereby the swelling pressure. Near the heater region, there was also a significant contribution of the thermal expansion of bentonite and the vapor pressure in the pores of the bentonite blocks.

• Korean System Dynamics Review
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.29-52
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• 2009

This paper reveals the conceptual relation between High Level Radioactive Waste Repository Site(HLRWR) and Policy Acceptance of Local Residents thorough the Causal Loop Diagram. The Resident's policy acceptance depends on the perceived risk of that facility. To reduce the risks, government has to prepare the schemes of the total supporting program including cash and the local development programs.

• Korean System Dynamics Review
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.39-57
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• 2011

This paper is the result of simulation modeling concerning high-level radioactive waste repository(HLRWR) and people's mind for the facility. We describe a procedure of simulation modeling for resident's policy acceptance and perceived risk of HLRWR facility by using System Dynamics approach. To Complete some complicated works, we made the 20 pieces of stock-flow diagrams based on the causal loop diagram that is a blue print of whole variables and relations. The simulation outputs clearly show that cental government efforts to siting the HLRWR will be failed if nothing to give for the region's residents. On the contrary, a monetary incentive and a regional development program help to turn this gloomy situation into a desirable and acceptable condition dramatically. Government has to prepare the schemes considering the HLRWR acceptance and total supporting program including the cash and local development programs.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.173-179
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• 2010

In a HLW repository, the buffer is exposed to an elevated temperature due to a radioactive decay and geochemical conditions for a long time and such a hydrothermal condition may cause a significant loss of its barrier function. This study carried out hydrothermal tests with a domestic smectite clay to investigate the changes in the expandibility, layer charge, and cation exchange capacity of the smectite. When the temperature and potassium concentration in solution was increased for the hydrothermal treatments, the expandibility decreased, the layer charge negatively increased, and the CEC also decreased.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.405-417
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• 2014

In a high-level waste repository, the gap fill of the engineered barrier is an important component that influences the performance of the buffer and backfill. This paper reviewed the overseas status of R&D on the gap fill used engineered barriers, through which the concept of the gap fill, manufacturing techniques, pellet-molding characteristics, and emplacement techniques were summarized. The concept of a gap fill differs for each country depending on its disposal type and concept. Bentonite has been considered a major material of a gap fill, and clay as an inert filler. Gap fill was used in the form of pellets, granules, or a pellet-granule blend. Pellets are manufactured through one of the following techniques: static compaction, roller compression, or extrusion-cutting. Among these techniques, countries have focused on developing advanced technologies of roller compression and extrusion-cutting techniques for industrial pellet production. The dry density and integrity of the pellet are sensitive to water content, constituent material, manufacturing technique, and pellet size, and are less sensitive to the pressure applied during the manufacturing. For the emplacement of the gap fill, pouring, pouring and tamping, and pouring with vibration techniques were used in the buffer gap of the vertical deposition hole; blowing through the use of shotcrete technology and auger placement and compaction techniques have been used in the gap of horizontal deposition hole and tunnel. However, these emplacement techniques are still technically at the beginning stage, and thus additional research and development are expected to be needed.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.19-26
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• 2021

The high-level radioactive waste (HLW) produced from nuclear power plants is disposed in a rock-mass at a depth of hundreds meters below the ground level. Since HLW is very dangerous to human being, it must be disposed of safely by the engineered barrier system (EBS). The EBS consists of a disposal canister, backfill material, buffer material, and so on. When the components of EBS are installed, gaps inevitably exist not only between the rock-mass and buffer material but also between the canister and buffer material. The gap can reduce water-retarding capacity and heat release efficiency of the buffer material, so it is necessary to investigate properties of gap-filling materials and to analyze gap spacing effect. Furthermore, there has been few researches considering domestic disposal system compared to overseas researches. In this reason, this research derived the peak temperature of the bentonite buffer material considering domestic disposal system based on the numerical analysis. The gap between the canister and buffer material had a minor effect on the peak temperature of the bentonite buffer material, but there was 40% difference of the peak temperature of the bentonite buffer material because of the gap existence between the buffer material and rock mass.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.281-294
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• 2012

The current status of the computer codes for the analysis of coupled thermal-hydrological-mechanical behavior occurred in a high-level waste repository was investigated. Based on the reported results on the comparison between the predictions using the computer codes and the experimental data from the in-situ tests, the reliability of the existing computer codes was analyzed. The presented codes simulated considerably well the coupled thermal-hydrological-mechanical behavior in the near-field rock of the repository without buffer, but the predictions for the engineered barrier system of the repository located at saturated hard rock were not satisfactory. To apply the current thermal-hydrological-mechanical models to the assessment of the performance of engineered barrier system, a major improvement on the mathematical models which analyze the distribution of water content and total pressure in the buffer is required.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.197-207
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• 2006

The engineering performance of a high level waste repository is significantly dependent upon the T-H-M behavior in the engineered barrier system. An engineering-scale test facility (KENTEX) was set up to validate the T-H-M behaviors in the buffer of a reference disposal system developed in the 2002. The validation tests started on May 31, 2005 and is now in progress. The KENTEX facility and validation test programme are introduced, and pre-operation calculations are also presented to give information on the sensitive location of sensors and operational conditions. This test will provide information (e.g., large-scale apparatus, sensors, monitoring system etc.) needed for 'in-situ' tests, make the validation of a T-H-M model for the T-H-M performance assessment of the reference disposal system, and demonstrate the engineering feasibility of fabricating and emplacing the buffer of a repository.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.284-291
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• 2010

In the present design concept of a high-level waste repository, the bentonite and bentonite-sand mixture are considered as the buffer and backfill material. For the Kyungju bentonite which is a candidate material, the thermal conductivities of compacted bentonite and bentonite-sand mixture were measured. A correlation has been proposed to predict the thermal conductivity of the Kyungju bentonite and the bentonite-sand mixture as a function of the dry density, the water content and the sand fraction. The proposed correlation can predict the thermal conductivity with a difference less than 10% under the experimental conditions.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.73-100
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• 2008

For the purpose of evaluating dose rate to individual due to long-term release of nuclides from the HLW repository, a biosphere assessment model and the implemented code, ACBIO, based on BIOMASS methodology have been developed by utilizing AMBER, a general compartment modeling tool. To show its practicability and usability as well as to see the sensitivity of compartment scheme or parametric variation to concentration and activity in compartments as well as annual flux between compartments at their peak values, some calculations are made and investigated: For each case when changing the structure of compartments and GBIs as well as varying selected input Kd values, all of which seem very important among others, dose rate per nuclide release rate is separately calculated and analyzed. From the maximum dose rates (Bq/y), flux-to-dose conversion factors (Sv/Bq) for each nuclide were derived, which are to be used for converting the nuclide release rate appearing from the geosphere through various GBIs to dose rate (Sv/y) for individual in critical group. It has been also observed that compartment scheme, identification of possible exposure group and GBIs could be all highly sensitive to the final consequences in biosphere modeling.