• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.107-115
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• 2023

Cobalt can be released into the natural environment as industrial waste from the alloying industry and as acid mine drainage, and it is also a radionuclide (⁶⁰Co) that constitutes high-level radioactive waste. Smectite is a mineral that can be useful for adsorption and isolation of this element. In this study, Cheto-type montmorillonite (Cheto-MM), which is the source clays of The Clay Mineral Society (CMS) and already well-characterized, was used. The effect of the adsorption site affected by the presence of interlayer water on the adsorption of cobalt before and after dehydration by heating was evaluated and the adsorption mechanism of cobalt on Cheto-MM was studied by applying adsorption kinetics and adsorption isotherm models. The results showed that the adsorption characteristics changed with dehydration and subsequent shrinkage, and cobalt was found to be adsorbed at the edge of Cheto-MM for about 38% and adsorbed at the interlayer site for about 62%, suggesting that the cobalt adsorption of Cheto-MM is significantly influenced by the interlayer. By applying the adsorption kinetic models, the cobalt adsorption kinetics of Cheto-MM is explained by a pseudo-second-order model, and the concentration-dependent adsorption was best described by the Langmuir isotherm adsorption model. This study provides basic knowledge on the adsorption characteristic of cobalt on montmorillonite with different adsorption sites and is expected to be useful in predicting the adsorption behavior of smectite in high-level radioactive waste disposal sites in the future.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2004.06a
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• pp.250-251
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• 2004

하나로(HANARO) 수조고온층 정화 계통은 수조고온층에 유입되는 원자로 수조수의 방사성 이온을 거르는 장치이다. 주기적인 수조고온층 계통의 이온교환수지 교체 및 폐기물 처리 작업은 원자로실에서 행하는 작업 중 방사선 피폭이 큰 작업 중의 하나이다. 지금까지 교환되어 일정기간 붕괴된 수조고온층 이온교환수지의 시료를 채취하고 HPGe MCA를 이용하여 수지에 흡착된 방사성 핵종의 종류 및 농도를 측정하고 이를 토대로 붕괴 추세선을 작성하였다.(중략)

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Sciences Society Conference
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• 2020.10a
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• pp.151-151
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• 2020

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.171-180
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• 2015

This study was performed on the removal of Cs, one of the main high- radioactive nuclides contained in the high-radioactive seawater waste (HSW), by adsorption with IE911 (crystalline silicotitanate type). For the effective removal of Cs and the minimization of secondary solid waste generation, adsorption of Cs by IE911 (hereafter denoted as IE911-Cs) was effective to carry out in the m/V (ratio of absorbent weight to solution volume) ratio of 2.5 g/L, and the adsorption time of 1 hour. In these conditions, Cs and Sr were adsorbed about 99% and less than 5%, respectively. IE911-Cs could be also expressed as a Langmuir isotherm and a pseudo-second order rate equation. The adsorption rate constants (k₂) were decreased with increasing initial Cs concentrations and particle sizes, and increased with increasing ratios of m/V, solution temperatures and agitation speeds. The activation energy of IE911-Cs was about 79.9 kJ/mol. It was suggested that IE911-Cs was dominated by a chemical adsorption having a strong bonding form. From the negative values of Gibbs free energy and enthalpy, it was indicated that the reaction of IE911-Cs was a forward, exothermic and relatively active at lower temperatures. Additionally, the negative entropy values were seen that the adsorbed Cs was evenly distributed on the IE911.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2004

Diphosil, a new version of the organic-inorganic composite resin developed by ANL has a structure of the chelating diphosphonic acid groups grafted to a silica support. To apply Diphosil for the treatment of liquid radioactive waste from nuclear power plants, the adsorption equilibrium and column experiments were carried out for the main radionuclides, $^{137}Cs\;and\;^{60}Co$, in the liquid radwaste stream. Through the adsorption equilibrium experiments, the removal efficiencies of $^{137}Cs\;and\;^{60}Co$, and the effects of non-radioactive ions on the removal efficiency have been measured in various conditions using radiotracers. The breakthrough curves for the tested tracers were obtained from the laboratory scale column tests using the simulated liquid radioactive waste. In addition, the removal capacity of Diphosil is compared with that of Amberlite IRN 77 resin, generally used in nuclear power plants.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.311-320
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• 2006

Removal characteristics of $H^{14}CO_3$ ion from IRN-150 mixed resin contaminated with $^{14}C$ radionuclide and a gasification behavior of $^{14}C$ radionuclide to $^{14}CO_2$ were investigated. The stripping solutions used for the removal of $^{14}C$ from spent resin were $NaNO_3,\;Na_3PO_4,\;NH_4H_2PO_4,\;H_3PO_4$. The influence of stripping solution concentration on the desorption characteristics of inactive $HCO_3$ ion into stripping solution from IRN-150 mixed resin and the gasification of this ion to $CO_2$ was analyzed. The gasification behavior to $CO_2$ by using NaOH, $HNO_3$, HCl was also compared to that of phosphate solution. Real spent resin stored in Wolsung nuclear power plant was used to evaluate the gasification characteristics of $^{14}C$ radionuclide to $^{14}CO_2$. Gamma radionuclides such as $^{137}Cs,\;^{60}Co$ in residual striping solutions after desorption experiment were analyzed.

• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.3-12
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• 1997

Phytoremediation, using plants to remediate toxic organic and inorganic pollutants in contaminated soils, is an emerging technology for environmental cleanup. Three strategies of this technology are applicable to the remediation of toxic heavy metals, radionuclides, and toxic organic pollutants: They are (1) phytoextraction, in which plants anumulate the contaminants and are harvested for the downstream processing; (2) phytodegradation, in which plant-released enzymes or plant-associated microorganisms convert toxic pollutants into non-toxic materials; and (3) phytostabilization, in which toxic pollutants are precipitated from solution or absorbed in either the plant tissue or the soil matrix. Phytoremediation is more effective and less expensive than other current treatment technologies.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 1978

Investigation is carried out that low-level liquid radioactive wastes which is consisted of long half-life nuclides such as cesium can be treated by Korean clinoptillolite as a kind of zeolites. Column operation using a activated clinoptillolite shows good results in terms of break-through curves and comparing to clinoptillolite classified at WARD in U.S, Korean clinoptillolite shows a tailing phenomena longer than that of WARD. The fixation quantity of radioactivity in Korea clinoptillolite is to be about $75{\mu}Ci/100g$ using a $2.5{\times}10^{-3}{\mu}Ci/ml$ solution.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.743-750
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• 2000

For the ${\gamma}$-ray spectrometry analysis of radium and radon in environmental samples, plastic Marinelli beakers have been usually used. But, there are two problems; one is the increment of background by adsorption of airborne radon daughters on the plastic beaker, and other is the incompleteness of radioactive equilibrium by the loss of gaseous radon produced during the radioactive equilibrium process. In order to solve these problems, we made aluminium counting container, and investigated its characteristics. We investigated radioactive equilibrium process using the aluminium container. We found that both solid and liquid samples reached at radioactive equilibrium state in the aluminium container without loss of gaseous radon. By the use of the aluminium container, we established radon and radium analysis method of solid and liquid samples using gamma-ray spectrometry.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.847-870
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• 2023

The safe disposal of high-level radioactive waste requires accurate predictions of the long-term geochemical behavior of radionuclides. To achieve this, the present study was conducted to model geochemical behaviors of uranium (U), plutonium (Pu), and palladium (Pd) under different hydrogeochemical conditions that represent deep groundwater in Korea. Geochemical modeling was performed for five types of South Korean deep groundwater environment: high-TDS saline groundwater (G1), low-pH CO₂-rich groundwater (G2), high-pH alkaline groundwater (G3), sulfate-rich groundwater (G4), and dilute (fresh) groundwater (G5). Under the pH and Eh (redox potential) ranges of 3 to 12 and ±0.2 V, respectively, the solubility and speciation of U, Pu, and Pd in deep groundwater were predicted. The result reveals that U(IV) exhibits high solubility within the neutral to alkaline pH range, even in reducing environment with Eh down to -0.2 V. Such high solubility of U is primarily attributed to the formation of Ca-U-CO₃ complexes, which is important in both G2 located along fault zones and G3 occurring in granitic bedrocks. On the other hand, the solubility of Pu is found to be highly dependent on pH, with the lowest solubility in neutral to alkaline conditions. The predominant species are Pu(IV) and Pu(III) and their removal is predicted to occur by sorption. Considering the migration by colloids, however, the role of colloid formation and migration are expected to promote the Pu mobility, especially in deep groundwater of G3 and G5 which have low ionic strengths. Palladium (Pd) exhibits the low solubility due to the precipitation as sulfides in reducing conditions. In oxidizing condition, anionic complexes such as Pd(OH)₃^-, PdCl₃(OH)₂^-, PdCl₄^2-, and Pd(CO₃)₂^2- would be removed by sorption onto metal (hydro)oxides. This study will improve the understanding of the fate and transport of radionuclides in deep groundwater conditions of South Korea and therefore contributes to develop strategies for safe high-level radioactive waste disposal.