• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.51 no.6
• /
• pp.589-593
• /
• 2018

Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea (DPRK) conducted the $6^{th}$ underground nuclear test at the Punggye-ri underground nuclear test site on September 27, 2017 12 hours 30 minutes of Korean local time. Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) under U.N. announced the body wave magnitude of the event was mb 6.1 while U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)'s calculation was mb 6.3. In this study, the differences of the magnitude estimates were investigated and verified. For this purpose, a source scaling between the $5^{th}$ and $6^{th}$ event, which's epicenters are 200 meters apart, was performed using seismic data sets from 30 broadband stations. The relative amplitude variations of the $6^{th}$ event compared to the $5^{th}$ event in the frequency domain was analyzed through the scaling. The increased amount of the bodywave magnitude $m_b$ for the $6^{th}$ event was calculated at 1 Hz, which was compared to those from USGS and CTBTO's calculations.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.37 no.9
• /
• pp.5-12
• /
• 2021

Pseudo-static slope stability analysis method is widely used in engineering practice to calculate the seismic factor of safety of slope subjected to earthquake ground motions. Although the dynamic analysis method is well recognized to have the primary advantage of simulating the stress-strain response of soils, it is not often used in practice because of the difficult in estimating the factor of safety. In this study, a procedure which utilizes the dynamic analysis method to extract the transient dynamic factor of safety is devleoped. This method overcomes the major limitation of the pseudo-static method, which uses an empirically determined seismic coefficient to derive the factor of safety. The proposed method is applied to a slope model and the result is compared with that of the pseudo-static method. It is shown that minimum dynamic factor of safety calculated by the dynamic analysis is slightly larger than that determined from the pseudo-static method. It is also demonstrated that the dynamic factor of safety becomes minimum when the horizontal seismic coefficient and horizontal average acceleration are maximum.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
• /
• v.37 no.3
• /
• pp.531-542
• /
• 2021

Open-pit mines require constant monitoring as they can cause surface changes and environmental disturbances. In open-pit mines, there is little vegetation at the mining site and can be monitored using InSAR (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar) coherence imageries. In this study, activities occurring in mine were analyzed by applying the recently developed InSAR coherence-based NDAI (Normalized Difference Activity Index). The March 5 Youth Mine is a North Korean mine whose development has been expanded since 2008. NDAI analysis was performed with InSAR coherence imageries obtained using Sentinel-1 SAR images taken at 12-day intervals in the March 5 Youth Mine. First, the area where the elevation decreased by about 75.24 m and increased by about 9.85 m over the 14 years from 2000 was defined as the mining site and the tailings piles. Then, the NDAI images were used for time series analysis at various time intervals. Over the entire period (2017-2019), average mining activity was relatively active at the center of the mining area. In order to find out more detailed changes in the surface activity of the mine, the time interval was reduced and the activity was observed over a 1-year period. In 2017, we analyzed changes in mining operations before and after artificial earthquakes based on seismic data and NDAI images. After the large-scale blasting that occurred on 30 April 2017, activity was detected west of the mining area. It is estimated that the size of the mining area was enlarged by two blasts on 30 September 2017. The time-averaged NDAI images used to perform detailed time-series analysis were generated over a period of 1 year and 4 months, and then composited into RGB images. Annual analysis of activity confirmed an active region in the northeast of the mining area in 2018 and found the characteristic activity of the expansion of tailings piles in 2019. Time series analysis using NDAI was able to detect random surface changes in open-pit mines that are difficult to identify with optical images. Especially in areas where in situ data is not available, remote sensing can effectively perform mining activity analysis.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.215-225
• /
• 1996

All the radionuclides in high-level nuclear waste will decay to harmless levels eventually but for some radionuclides decay is so slow that their radiation remains dangerous for times on the order of tens or hundreds of thousands of years. At the present time, the most favorite disposal plan for high-level radioactive waste is a mined geological disposal in which canister enclosing stable solid form of radioactive waste is placed in mined cavities locating hundred meters below the surface. The chief hazard in such disposal is dissolution of radionuclides from the waste in the groundwater that will eventually carry the dissolved radionuclides to surface environments. The hazard from possible escape of the radionuclides through groundwater can be delayed by engineered and geologic barriers. The engineered barriers can become useless by unexpected geologic catastrophe such as volcanism, earthquake, and tectonic movement and by fraudulent work such as careless construction, improperly welded canisters within the first few decades or centuries. As a result, dangerously radioactive waste which is still intensively radioactive is directly exposed to attack by moving groundwater. All the more, it is almost impossible to control repositories for times more than 10,000 years. Therefore, naturally controlled geologic, barriers whose properties will not be changed within 10,000 years are important to guarantee the safety of repositories of high-level radioactive waste. In Sweden and France, the suitability of granite for the mined geological disposal of high-level waste has been studied intensively. According to the research in Sweden and France, granites has the following physio-chemical characteristics which can delay the transportation of radionuclide by groundwater. First, the permeabilities of granites decreases as the depth increases and is $10^{-8}{\sim}10^{-12}m/s$ at depth below 300 m. Second, groundwater at depth below 300 m has pH=7-9 and reducing condition (Eh=-0.1~0.4). This geochemical condition is desirable to prevent both canister and solid waste from corrosion. Third most radionuclides are not transported by low solubilities and some radionuclide with high solubility such as Cs and Sr are retarded by absorption of geologic media through which ground water flows. Therefore, if high-level waste is disposed at depth below 300 m in the granite body which has a low permeability and is geologically stable more than 10,000 years, the safety of repositories from the hazard due to radionuclide escape can guaranteed for more than 10,000 years.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
• /
• v.20 no.7
• /
• pp.5-10
• /
• 2019

In recent Gyeongju and Pohang earthquakes, motions that exceed the design ground motion were recorded. This has led to adjustments to the design earthquake intensity in selected design guidelines. An increment in the design intensity requires reevaluation of all associated facilities, requiring extensive time and cost. Firstly, the seismic factor of safety of built concrete retaining walls are calculated. Secondly, the seismic margin of concrete retaining walls is evaluated. The design sections of concrete walls built at power plants and available site investigation reports are utilized. Widely used pseudo-static analysis method is used to evaluate the seismic performance. It is shown that all concrete walls are safe against the adjusted design ground motion. To determine the seismic margin of concrete walls, the critical accelerations, which is defined as the acceleration that causes the seismic factor of safety to exceed the allowable value, are calculated. The critical acceleration is calculated as 0.36g~0.8g. The limit accelerations are significantly higher than the design intensity and are demonstrated to have sufficient seismic margin. Therefore, it is concluded that the concrete retaining walls do not need to be reevaluated even if the design demand is increased up to 0.3g.