• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.11
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• pp.4005-4012
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• 2022

As high-level radioactive waste (HLW) generated from nuclear power plants is harmful to the human body, it must be safely disposed of by an engineered barrier system consisting of disposal canisters and buffer and backfill materials. A gap exists between the canister and buffer material in a HLW repository and between the buffer material and natural rock-this gap may reduce the water-blocking ability and heat transfer efficiency of the engineered barrier materials. Herein, the basic characteristics and thermal properties of granular bentonite, a candidate gap-filling material, were investigated, and their effects on the temperature change of the buffer material were analyzed numerically. Heat transfer by air conduction and convection in the gap were considered simultaneously. Moreover, by applying the Korean reference disposal system, changes in the properties of the buffer material were derived, and the basic design of the engineered barrier system was presented according to the gap filling material (GFM). The findings showed that a GFM with high initial thermal conductivity must be filled in the space between the buffer material and rock. Moreover, the target dry density of the buffer material varied according to the initial wet density, specific gravity, and water content values of the GFM.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2005.11b
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• pp.236-244
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• 2005

Radioactive wastes arising from a wide range of human activities are in many different physical and chemical forms, contaminated with varying radioactivity. Their common feature is the potential hazard associated with their radioactivity and the need to manage them in such a way as to protect the human environment. The geological disposal is regarded as the most reasonable and effective way to safely disposal high-level radioactive wastes in the world. The conceptual model of geological disposal in China is based on a multi-barrier system that combines an isolating geological environment with an engineered barrier system. The buffer is one of the main engineered barriers for HLW repository. The buffer material is expected to maintain its low water permeability, self-sealing property, radio nuclides adsorption and retardation property, thermal conductivity, chemical buffering property, overpack supporting property, stress buffering property over a long period of time. Benotite is selected as the main content of buffer material that can satisfy above. GMZ deposit is selected as the candidate supplier for Chinese buffer material of High Level Radioactive waste repository. This paper presents geological features of GMZ deposit and basic property of GMZ Na bentonite. GMZ bentonite deposit is a super large scale deposits with high content of Montmorillonite (about $75\%$) and GMZ-l, which is Na-bentonite produced from GMZ deposit is selected as reference material for Chinese buffer material study.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.1191-1198
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• 2023

Bentonite buffer material is a critical component in an engineered barrier system (EBS) for disposing high-level radioactive waste (HLW). The bentonite buffer material protects the disposal canister from groundwater penetration and releases decay heat to the surrounding rock mass; thus, it should possess high thermal conductivity, low hydraulic conductivity, and moderate swelling pressure to safely dispose the HLWs. Bentonite clay is a suitable buffer material because it satisfies the safety criteria. Several additives have been suggested as mixtures with bentonite to increase the thermal-hydraulic-mechanical-chemical (THMC) properties of bentonite buffer materials. Therefore, this study investigated the geotechnical, mineralogical, and THMC properties of several candidate additives such as sand, graphite, granite, and SiC powders. Datasets obtained in this study can be used to select adequate additives to improve the THMC properties of the buffer material.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.116-132
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• 1999

This study is intended to analyze the requirements of a buffer material that is one of the major components of the engineered barriers in a high-level radioactive waste repository. The characteristics of potential materials for the buffer in the repository were analyzed and a candidate material was selected. And, based on the current knowledge and the information from various sources, the requirements of a buffer material were evaluated. Finally its quantitative functional criteria on the generic viewpoint has been recommended to be supplied as a guideline for the development of the reference disposal concept and the related buffer material in Korea. The criteria are composed of seven major items, such as hydraulic conductivity, retardation capacity, swelling potential and swelling pressure, thermal conductivity, longevity, organic matter content, and mechanical properties.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.445-448
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• 2006

Highly c-axis oriented ZnO thin films were grown on Si(100)substrates with Zn buffer layers. Effects of the Zn buffer layer thickness on the structural and optical qualities of ZnO thin films were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence (PL) and Atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis techniques. It was confirmed that the quality of a ZnO thin film deposited by rf magnetron sputtering was substantially improved by using a Zn buffer layer. The highest ZnO film quality was obtained with a Zn buffer layer 110 nm thick. The surface roughness of the ZnO thin film increases as the Zn buffer layer thickness increases.

• 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.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2004.07a
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• pp.158-161
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• 2004

We have studied a lifetime in organic light-emitting diodes depending on buffer layer. A transparent electrode of indium-tin-oxide(ITO) was used as an anode. And the cathode for electron injection was LiAl. Phthalocyanine Copper(CuPc), Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly (PEDOT:PSS), or poly (9-vinylcarbazole)(PVK) material was used as a buffer layer. A thermal evaporation was performed to make a thickness of 40nm of TPD layer at a rate of $0.5{\sim}1\;{\AA}/s$ at a base pressure of $5{\times}10^{-6}\;torr$. A material of tris(8-hydroxyquinolinate) Aluminum($Alq_3$) was used as an electron transport and emissive layer. A thermal evaporation of $Alq_3$ was done at a deposition rate of $0.7{\sim}0.8[{\AA}/s]$ at a base pressure of $5{\times}10^{-6}\;torr$. By varying the buffer material, hole injection at the interface could be controlled because of the change in work function. Devices with CuPc and PEDOT:PSS buffer layer are superior to the other PVK buffer layer.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2002.05b
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• pp.82-85
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• 2002

In recent years, the tantalum nitride(TaN) thin-film has been developed for the electronic resistor and capacitor. In this papers, this study presents the surface profile and sheet-resistance property relationship of reactive-sputtered TaN thin film resistor processed by buffer of Ti and Cr on alumina substrate. The TCR properties of the TaN films were discussed in terms of reactive gas ratio, ratio of nitrogen, crystallization and thin films surface morphology due to annealing temperature. It is clear that the TaN thin-films resistor electrical properties are low TCR related with it's buffer layer condition. Ti buffer layer thin film resistor having a good thermal stability and lower TCR properties then Cr buffer expected for the application to the dielectric material of passive component.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.24-28
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• 2010

We have proposed an Buffer layer to improve the transmittance of ITO. Here, $SiO_2$ and $TiO_2$ were selected as the Buffer layer coating material. The structures of Buffer layer were designed in ITO/$SiO_2/TiO_2$/Glass and ITO/Glass/$TiO_2/SiO_2$. Then, these materials were deposited by ion-assisted deposition system. Transmittances of deposited ITO were 86.14 and 85.07%, respectively. These results show that the proposed structure has higher transmittance than the conventional ITO device.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2002.04a
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• pp.19-26
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• 2002

In this paper, the nonlinear structural analysis for the composite structure of the spent nuclear fuel disposal container and the 50cm thick bentonite buffer is carried out to predict the collapse of the container while the sudden rock movement of 10cm is applied on the composite structure. This sudden rock movement is anticipated by the earthquake etc. at a deep underground. Horizontal symmetric rock movement is assumed in this structural analysis. Elastoplastic material model is adopted. Drucker-Prager yield criterion is used for the material yield prediction of the bentonite buffer and von-Mises yield criterion is used for the material yield prediction of the container(cast iron insert, copper outer shell and lid and bottom). Analysis results show that even though very large deformations occur beyond the yield point in the bentonite buffer, the container structure still endures elastic small strains and stresses below the yield strength. Hence, the 50cm thick bentonite buffer can protect the container safely against the 10cm sudden rock movement by earthquake etc.. Analysis results also show that bending deformations occur in the container structure due to the shear deformation of the bentonite buffer. The elastoplastic nonlinear structural analysis for the composite structure of the container and the bentonite buffer is performed using the finite element analysis code, NISA.