• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.105-113
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• 2006

The oxidizing species are generated from the radiolysis of groundwater in the pore of buffer material around the canister used for the disposal of spent fuels. A mathematical model was introduced to calculate the cathodic current density induced by the oxidant around the canister, which determined the corrosion of carbon steel. An analytical solution was derived to get the cathodic current density in the cylindrical coordinate. The cathodic current densities from both the rectangular coordinate and cylindrical coordinate were compared with each other. The source terms and absorbed dose rate for the calculation of the radiolysis were calculated using the ORIGEN2 and MCNP computer code, respectively. The radius of the canister was determined with the new model in order to prevent the local corrosion. The results showed that the new solution made the cathodic current density around 25 % lower than the Marsh model.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.35 no.11
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• pp.7-14
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• 2019

The compacted bentonite buffer is one of the major components of an engineered barrier system (EBS) for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste (HLW), and it is considered the best candidate for the buffer material. The buffer is located between disposal canisters and near-field rock mass, and it interrupts the release of radionuclide from disposal canisters and protect them from the penetration of groundwater. At initial disposal condition, degree of saturation of the compacted bentonite buffer decreases because of high thermal quantities released from the disposal canisters. However, the degree of saturation of the compacted bentonite buffer gradually increases caused by inflow of groundwater. The saturated and unsaturated behavior of the buffer is a very important input data since it can determine the safety performance of EBS. Therefore, this paper investigated water retention capacity (WRC) for the Korean compacted bentonite buffer. The WRC of the compacted bentonite buffer was derived by measuring volumetric water content and water suction when temperature variation was between 24℃~125℃ considering decrease of degree of saturation with respect to temperature increase. The WRC was also derived with the same volumetric water content under the room temperature condition, and it showed 1~15% larger water suction than high temperature condition.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.204-209
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• 2002

In this study, $UO_4{\cdot}2NH_4F$, the precipitates which has low solubility, was obtained by chemical precipitation method to recover and reuse the trace uranium from the liquid waste producing in AUC process and for this compound it was characterized by means of chemical analysis, TG-DTA, XRD and FT-IR analyses. This compound was analyzed as $UO_4{\cdot}2NH_4F$ and shape of this precipitate was hexagonal type, having the size of 2∼3 ${\mu}m$. Also, the intermediates were obtained as $UO_4F,\;UO_4,\;UO_3,\;and\;U_3O_8$ by the thermal decomposition over the temperature of 220, 310, 515 and 640$^{\circ}C$, respectively. It is concluded that under the condition of a constant heating rate of 5$^{\circ}C$/min in air atmosphere range of between room temperature and 800$^{\circ}C$, thermal decomposition reaction mechanism of $UO_4{\cdot}2NH_4F$ is as follow; $UO_4{\cdot}2NH_4F{\rightarrow}UO_4F{\rightarrow}UO_4{\rightarrow}UO_3{\rightarrow}U_3O_8$.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.700-708
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• 2013

Pyroprocessing has been developed for the purpose of resolving the current spent nuclear fuel management issue and enhancing the recycle of valuable resources. Pyroprocessing has been developed with the dry technologies which are performed under high temperature conditions excluding any aqueous processes. Pyro-processes which are based on the electrochemical principles require pretreatment processes and a voloxidation process is considered as a pretreatment step for an electrolytic reduction process. Various kinds of gas conditions are applicable to the voloxidation process and the understanding of Cs behavior during the process is of importance for the analyses of waste characteristics and heat load on the overall pyroprocessing. In this study, the changes of chemical compounds with the gas conditions were calculated by analyzing gas-solid reaction behavior based on the chemical equilibria on a Cs-Te-O system. $Cs_2TeO_3$ and $Cs_2TeO_4$ were selected after a Tpp diagram analysis and it was confirmed that they are relatively stable under oxidizing atmospheres while it was shown that Cs and Te would be removed by volatilization under reducing atmosphere at a high temperature. This work provided basic data for predicting Cs behavior during the voloxidation process at which compounds are chemically distributed as the first stage in the pyroprocessing and it is expected that the results would be used for setting up material balances and related purposes.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.75-82
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• 1997

건설기술과 산업의 발전에 따라 구조물은 대형화되어 가고, 건설공사의 급격한 팽창으로 골재 수용량이 급증함에 따라 천연골재자원은 점차 부족현상을 면치 못할 처지에 있다. 또한, 무리한 천연골재의 채취는 자연환경을 훼손시킬 뿐만 아니라 자연보호 측면에서도 심각한 공해문제로 대두되고 있어 공급량 부족현상은 날로 심화되고 있다. 이에 세계 몇몇 나라에세는 산업부산물을 이용한 골재 생산으로 공해예방과 폐기물 활용방법을 연구하고 있다. 산업부산물중 플라이 애쉬 생산량은 전 세계적으로 매년 약 2억여톤에 달하고 있으나 이중 일부만 활용되고 있는 실정이다. 이와같은 부산물을 활용하기 위한 일환으로 산업부산물인 PFA(Pulverized Fuel Ash)로 만든 인공경량골재의 년생산량이 영국은 600,000$m^3$, 미국은 300,000$m^3$이며, 매년 증가주세에 있다. 고성능 경량골재 콘크리트는 단위중량의 증가없이 내구성과 강도를 향상시켜 실용화 측면에서 경제적인 효과가 있으며, 플라이 애쉬로 만든 경량골재는 시멘트와의 친화력이나 접착면에서 우수한 것으로 알려져 있다. 본 시험에 사용한 골재는 플라이 애쉬로 만든 인공경량 조골재와 강모래이고, 결합제로서 프틀랜드 시멘트를 사용하였다. 부수적인 결합재로서는 플라이 애쉬, 슬래그, 실리카 흄을 사용하였으며, 고성능 경량골재 콘크리트를 개발코자 재령 28일과 180일의 압축강도가 각각 50MPa와 60MPa가 되도록 배합설계를 하였다. 본 연구에서는 플라이 애쉬, 슬래그, 시리카 흄과 같은 산업부산물을 혼입했을때 경량골재 콘크리트의 압축강도, 휨강도, 동탄성계수, 공극체적, 공극률, 단위중량, 공극 크기별 분포등의 변화를 실험적으로 구명하여 재반 구조용 콘크리트에 활용하기 위한 기초자료를 마련코저 한다.있어 특정한 발육단계의 난포 사망기전을 연구하기 어렵다. 또한 난포는 생체 내에서 다양한 호르몬을 동시에 분비하기 때문에 특정한 난소국부호르몬이 사망기전에 미치는 영향을 조사하기 힘든 점이 있다. 최근 들어 난포체외배양이 다양하게 개발되면서, 이러한 어려운 점을 극복할 수 있게 되었다. 본 논문은 각 발육단계의 난포를 절단해 체외배양하면서, apoptosis DNA 절단 현상을 이용하여 각종 난소국부 호르몬들이 난포발육단계별로 사망기전에 미치는 영향을 요약해 보였다. 난포는 발육하면서 점차 복잡한 호르몬 경로를 생존을 위해 필요로 한다. Prevulatory난포생존에 필요한 난소국부호르몬들은 early antral 단계의 난포에서는 그 미치는 영향이 감소되다가 preantral단계의 난포에서는 영향을 전혀 미치지 못했다. 단지 예외는 cGMP처리로써, 세포내 cGMP수준을 일정하게 유지시켜주는 것이 난포발육단계에 무관하게 생존에 중요한 인자로, 장래 연구는 난포 세포내의 cGMP수준을 조절하는 기작을 규명하는데 있을 것이다.인정되지 않았다. 7. 농지보전 처리구인 배수구와 초생수로구는 비처리구에 비해 낮은 침두 유출량과 낮은 토양유실량을 나타내었다.구보다 14% 절감되는 것으로 나타났다.작용하는 것으로 사료된다.된다.정량 분석한 결과이다. 시편의 조성은 33.6 at% U, 66.4 at% O의 결과를 얻었다. 산화물 핵연료의 표면 관찰 및 정량 분석 시험시 시편 표면을 전도성 물질로 증착시키지 않고, Silver Paint 에 시편을 접착하는 방법으로도 만족한 시험 결과를 얻을 수 있었다.째, 회복기 중에 일어나는 입자들의 유입은 자기폭풍의 지속시간을 연장시키는 경향을 보이며 큰 자기폭풍일수록 현저했다. 주상에서 관측된 이러한 특성은 서브스톰 확장기 활동이 자기폭풍의 발달과 밀접한 관계가

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.33-44
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• 2023

The deep geological repository of high-level radioactive waste shall be designed to meet the safety objective set in the form of radiation dose or corresponding risk to protect human and the environment from radiation exposure. Engineering feasibility and conformity with the safety objective of the facility conceptual design can be demonstrated by comparing the assessment result using the computational model for scenario(s) describing the radionuclide release and transport from repository to biosphere system. In this study, as the preliminary study for developing the high-level radioactive waste disposal facility in Korea, we reviewed and analyzed the entire list of FEPs and how to handle each FEP from a general point of view, which are selected for the geosphere region in the radiological safety assessment performed for the license application of the KBS-3 type deep geological repository in Finland and Sweden. In Finland, five FEPs (i.e., stress redistribution, creep, stress redistribution, erosion and sedimentation in fractures, methane hydrate formation, and salt exclusion) were excluded or ignored in the radionuclide release and transport assessment. And, in Sweden, six FEPs (i.e., creep, surface weathering and erosion, erosion/sedimentation in fractures, methane hydrate formation, radiation effects (rock and grout), and earth current) were not considered for all time frames and earthquake out of a total of 25 FEPs for the geosphere. Based on these results, an FEP list (draft) for the geosphere was derived, and the relative importance of each item was evaluated for conducting the radiological safety assessment of the domestic deep geological disposal facility. Since most of information on the disposal facility in Korea has not been determined as of now, it is judged that all FEP items presented in Table 3 should be considered for the radiological safety assessment, and the relative importance derived from this study can be used in determining whether to apply each item in the future.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.171-177
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• 2007

This study suggested a new method to stabilize molten salt wastes generated from the pyre-process for the spent fuel treatment. Using conventional sol-gel process, $SiO_2-Al_2O_3-P_2O_5$ (SAP) inorganic material that is reactive to metal chlorides were prepared. In this paper, the reactivity of SAP with the metal chlorides at $650{\sim}850$, the thermal stability of reaction products and their leach-resistance under the PCT-A test method were investigated. Alkali metal chlorides were converted into metal aluminosilicate($LixAlxSi1-_xO_{2-x}$) and metal phosphate($Li_3PO_4\;and\;Cs_2AlP_3O_{10}$) While alkali earth and rare earth chlorides were changed into only metal phosphates ($Sr_5(PO_4)_3Cl\;and\;CePO_4$). The conversion rate was about $96{\sim}99%$ at a salt waste/SAP weight ratio of 0.5 and a weight loss up to $1100^{\circ}C$ measured by thermogravimetric analysis were below 1wt%. The leach rates of Cs and Sr under the PCT-A test condition were about $10^{-2}g/m^2\;day\;and\;10^{-4}g/m^2\;day$. From these results, it could be concluded that SAP can be considered as an effective stabilizer for metal chlorides and the method using SAP will give a chance to reduce the volume of salt wasteform for the final disposal through further researches.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.30-58
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• 2022

The deep geological repository for high-level radioactive waste disposal is a multi barrier system comprised of engineered barriers and a natural barrier. The long-term integrity of the deep geological repository is affected by the coupled interactions between the individual barrier components. Erosion and piping phenomena in the compacted bentonite buffer due to buffer-rock interactions results in the removal of bentonite particles via groundwater flow and can negatively impact the integrity and performance of the buffer. Rapid groundwater inflow at the early stages of disposal can lead to piping in the bentonite buffer due to the buildup of pore water pressure. The physiochemical processes between the bentonite buffer and groundwater lead to bentonite swelling and gelation, resulting in bentonite erosion from the buffer surface. Hence, the evaluation of erosion and piping occurrence and its effects on the integrity of the bentonite buffer is crucial in determining the long-term integrity of the deep geological repository. Previous studies on bentonite erosion and piping failed to consider the complex coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical-chemical behavior of bentonite-groundwater interactions and lacked a comprehensive model that can consider the complex phenomena observed from the experimental tests. In this technical note, previous studies on the mechanisms, lab-scale experiments and numerical modeling of bentonite buffer erosion and piping are introduced, and the future expected challenges in the investigation of bentonite buffer erosion and piping are summarized.