• Journal of the Korean Society of Systems Engineering
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.11-20
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• 2021

Decontamination of systems, structures and components (SSC) during the decommissioning of a Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) can be for a variety of reasons. The main reasons for decontamination are: to reduce the contamination of SSC to a reasonably low level, to reduce the potential for the spread of contaminants into the environment and to reduce the cost of disposal due to the reduced level of contamination in a particular SSC. The decontamination technique can be aggressive or non-aggressive depending on the intent after the decontamination process. Aggressive decontamination technique is used when the intent is not to reuse the SSC while a non-aggressive decontamination technique is used with the intent of SSC reuse. For different SSCs there are different decontamination techniques that can be used, each having its own advantages and drawbacks. Metal components such as pipes in the nuclear power plant account for a large amount of nuclear wastes generated. Some of these wastes can be reused if the contaminant level is reduced to an acceptable level. Laser ablation is a non-aggressive decontamination technique that can be used to reduce the contamination in pipes to an acceptable level with no secondary waste generated during the process. The operation and control of a laser ablation device must be precise to achieve a high decontamination factor. This precision can be achieved by a well-designed motion control system. For this purpose, a motion control system was developed consisting of two parts: the first part being the precise control of the laser ablation device inside the pipe and the second part is the control of the laser ablation device outside the pipe. This paper describes the Systems Engineering approach for the development process of a motion control system for the Laser decontamination system.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.181-188
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• 2010

Metal surface decontamination characteristics were investigated by using a laser ablation method. A second harmonic generation of a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser with a wave length of 532 nm, a pulse energy of 150 mJ and a pulse width of 5 ns was employed to assess the decontamination performance for metal surfaces contaminated with $CsNO_3$, $Co(NH_4)_2(SO_4)_2$, $Eu_2O_3$ and $CeO_2$. The ablation behavior was investigated for the decontamination variables such as a number of laser shots, laser fluence and an irradiation angle. Their optimum values were found to be 8, 13.3 J/$cm^2$ and $30^{\circ}$, respectively. The decontamination efficiency was different depending on the kinds of the contaminated ions, due to their different melting and boiling points and was in the order: $CsNO_3>Co(NH_4)_2(SO_4)_2>Eu_2O_3>CeO_2$. We also evaluated a correlation between the metal ablation thickness and the number of laser shots for the different laser fluences.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.19 no.10
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• pp.105-110
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• 2020

Radioactive Oxides are formed on the surface of the primary equipment in a nuclear power plant. In order to remove the oxide film that is formed on the surfaces of the equipment, chemical and physical decontamination technologies are used. The disadvantage of traditional technologies is that they produce secondary radioactive wastes. Therefore, in this study, the short-pulsed laser eco-friendly technology was used in order to reduce production of the secondary radioactive wastes. They were also used to minimize the damages that were caused on the base material and to remove the contaminated oxide film. The study was carried out using a Stainless steel 304 specimen that was coated with nickel-ferrite particles. Further, the laser source was selected with two different wavelengths. Furthermore, the depth of the coating layer was analyzed using a 3D laser microscope by changing the laser ablation conditions. Based on the analysis, the optimal conditions of ablation were determined using a 1064nm short-pulsed laser ablation technique in order to remove the radioactively contaminated oxide film from the irradiated stainless steel surface.

• Proceedings of the Korea Air Pollution Research Association Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.199-199
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• 2003

During the cleanup of US Department of energy facilities, contaminated materials, toxic and hazardous radionuclides (e.g., Th, Cs, and U) and heavy metals (e.g., Cr, Hg, Pb, and Ni)-laden ultrafine particles are generated. The size of the particles is up to about 200 nm. Understanding of the production of these nanometer size particles is critical in determining the surface cleaning efficiently. (omitted)

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.45-46
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• 2010

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.3-12
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• 2008

Purpose: Contaminated clothes and bedclothes of patients by mouth or with excrement are produced after Radioisotope $^{131}I$ treatment. In this paper, patient's clothes and bedclothes contaminated by radioactivity measured and radioactive waste wish to calculate optimum storage period. Material and Methods: The whole area of patients' clothes and bedclothes measured 70 patients, 12 males and 58 females, who had radioisotope $^{131}I$ therapy between August 2005 and February 2006. Assuming contamination is evenly distributed, the radioscope used to measure up to social toleration level at 7 day intervals. Results: Each optimum storage period of control group of 60 case and non control group of 10 case were average $44{\pm}16$ days and $32{\pm}13$ days. Decontamination effect of surface contamination for radioactive waste was average $83.66{\pm}15.15%$. Conclusion: It is important that classify radioactive waste according to difference of surface contamination. Result of this research, handling radioactive waste in optimum storage period may be useful.