• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2004.02a
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• pp.130-139
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• 2004

The cladding materials remaining after reprocessing process of the nuclear fuel, generally called as hulls, are classified as a high-level radioactive waste. They are usually packaged in the container for disposal after being compacted, melted, or solidified into the matrix. The efforts to fabricate a better ingot for a more favorable disposal to the environment have failed due to the technical difficulties encountered in the chemical decontamination method. In the early 1990s, the accumulation of radio-chemical data on hulls and the advent of new technology such as a laser or plasma have made the pre-treatment of the hulls more efficient. This paper summarizes the information regarding the radio-chemical analysis of the hull through a literature survey and determines the characteristics of the hull and depth profile of the radio-nuclides within the hull thickness. The feasibility study was carried out to evaluate the reduction of the radioactivity by peeling off the surface of the hull with the application of laser technology.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.59-67
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• 2014

In 1995 Kimchi refrigerator was developed at first, and has used HFC-134a as refrigerant. Kimchi refrigerator has been made 1,044,694 on the basis of 2010, disposed about 160,000 per year. Although mobile air conditioning, commercial refrigerator, general refrigerator is regarded as a major source of HFC-134a, little information is available for its emission characteristics of HFC-134a. This paper addresses the fugitive emission factors of Kimchi refrigerator at use-phase and disposal-phase. The residual quantities of Korean-made fifty three waste Kimchi refrigerators were weighed using a commercial recover of refrigerants to determine the emission factors at the disposal-phase. On the other hand, the emission factors at use-phase were estimated from the residual quantities and operating times. The average residual rate of forty three scarp Kimchi refrigerators is determined to be $74.6{\pm}5.2%$. The emission factor at the use-phase is estimated to be $3.5{\pm}0.8%/yr$ as a result of using average age of 11.7 years and the average residual rate determined here. The emission factor at the disposal-phase is determined to be 31.3% after adopting 58% of the recycling rate of refrigerant reported by Recycling Center. We estimate 3.1 g/yr for the average emission quantity of HFC-134a per operating refrigerator, while 22.5 g for that per waste Kimchi refrigerator. Since the chemical compositions of refrigerant of waste Kimchi refrigerator were the same as those of new refrigerant, it is expected that the HFC-134a recovered from waste Kimchi refrigerator can be reused for refrigerant.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.34-41
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• 2003

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of stabilization disposal and recycling on incinerated paper mill sludge ash as cement additives. It was investigated chemical(pH, ICP, TGA XRD) and physical(PDA, SEM) characteristics of the incineration ash. And the pozzolanic characteristics of incineration ash was applied to cement as additive to increase the compressive strength. The results were that the pH characteristic of incineration ash was strong alkalinity, the content of silica and alumina as a pozzolanic material was 50.97%, and the average particle size was $5.03{\mu}m$ respectively. When the ash contents as cement additive were varied in 0~15%(wt) of cement weight to explore the effect of the compressive strength on the solidified cement mortar, the proper amount of the incineration ash substituted was about 5~l0%(wt). Therefore we found that using the incineration ash as cement additive obtains the recycling of waste material, the stabilization disposal, the reduction of waste disposal expense, and the protection of environmental problem, too.

• Advances in environmental research
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.131-141
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• 2013

Agricultural practice and improper waste disposal in developing regions have resulted in environmental degradation in land and waters, for which low-cost, proven solutions are needed. We demonstrate in the laboratory the applications of composting and trickling filter techniques to treat olive mill wastes that can be implemented in the West Bank and other regions of the world. To a pomace waste sample from a California mill, we amended with saw dust (wood carbon source) and baking soda ($NaHCO_3$ alkalinity) at weight ratios of waste/wood/$NaHCO_3$ at 70:27:1 and composted it for periods of 11 and 48 days; the compost was used as an additive to potting soil for transplanting. The pomace sample was also blended into slurry and introduced to a water-circulating pond and trickling filter system (P/TF) to examine any inhibitive effect of the pomace on biological removal of the organic waste. The results showed the compost-amended potting soil supported plant growth without noticeable stress over 34 days and the P/TF system removed BOD and COD by >90% from the waste liquid within 2 days, with a first-order rate constant of 1.9 $d^{-1}$ in the pond. An onsite treatment design is proposed that promises implementation for agricultural waste disposal in developing regions.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.271-281
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• 2023

A study was conducted on the vitrification of the rare earth oxide waste generated from the PyroGreen process. The target rare earth waste consisted of eight elements: Nd, Ce, La, Pr, Sm, Y, Gd, and Eu. The waste loading of the rare earth waste in the developed borosilicate glass system was 20wt%. The fabricated glass, processed at 1,200℃, exhibited uniform and homogeneous surface without any crystallization and precipitation. The viscosity and electrical conductivity of the melted glass at 1,200℃ were 7.2 poise and 1.1 S·cm^-1, respectively, that were suitable for the operation of the vitrification facility. The calculated leaching index of Cs, Co, and Sr were 10.4, 10.6, and 9.8, respectively. The evaluated Product Consistency Test (PCT) normalized release of the glass indicated that the glass satisfied the requirements for the disposal acceptance criteria. Furthermore, the pristine, 90 days water immersed, 30 thermal cycled, and 10 MGy gamma ray irradiated glasses exhibited good compressive strength. The results indicated that the fabricated glass containing rare earth waste from the PyroGreen process was acceptable for the disposal in the repository, in terms of chemical durability and mechanical strength.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 1994.10a
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• pp.8-11
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• 1994

Disposal of hazardous ions in the aqueous streams is a significant industrial waste problem.. Waste streams from electronics, electroplating, and photographic industries contain metal ions such as copper, nickel, zinc, chromium(IV), cadmium, aluminum, silver, and gold, amongst others in various aqueous solutions such as sulfates, chlorides, fluorocarbons, and cyanides. Typical plating solutions having similar compositions are listed in Table 1. Spent process streams in catalyst manufacturing facilities also contain precious metals such as Ag, Pt, and Pd. Developing an effective recovery process of these metal ions for reuse is important.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.215-225
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• 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 Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.161-166
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• 2020

In accordance with the amendment of the Industrial Safety and Health Act of 2007, Korea completely prohibited the import, distribution and manufacture of asbestos like Europe and Japan. Accordingly, the current problem of asbestos is the safe maintenance and disposal of asbestos construction material, the disposal of asbestos, and the final disposal of asbestos building materials. If the asbestos building material is made harmless, it may be classified as general waste or as recyclable waste. Therefore, this study evaluated the physical and chemical characterization of detoxified asbestos powder and the applicability of secondary products. In this study, it was found that applying the appropriate temperature and pressure for catalysis during asbestos desalination through low temperature chemical treatment was the most important factor.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.83-100
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• 1999

As disposal packaging concepts of spent fuels generated from the domestic NPP, two types, one is to package PWR and CANDU spent fuels in different containers and the other is to package them together, were proposed. The configuration of the containers and the layout of underground repository, such as the container spacing and the deposition tunnel spacing, were developed. The layout of underground repository satisfies the thermal constraint of the bentonite buffer surrounding disposal container, which should be lower than $100^{\circ}C$ in order to keep the physical and chemical properties of bentonite From the spent fuel packaging concepts and container emplacement methods, seven options were developed. With a typical pair-wise comparison methods, AHP, the most promising disposal concept was selected based on the technology Point of view.

• 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.