• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.54 no.3
• /
• pp.1145-1151
• /
• 2022

A hybrid cutting using both plasma and end mill was developed for safe and efficient dismantling of nuclear facilities. In this cutting method, a moving arc plasma heats up the workpiece before milling. Thermally softened part of the workpiece is then removed quickly and deeply with an end mill. For the cutting experiments, a three-axis numerical control (NC) milling machine was combined with a commercialized arc plasma torch and used to cut 25 mm thick stainless steel plates. Experimental results revealed that pre-heating by arc plasmas can improve the cutting volume per unit time higher than 40% by reducing the cutting load and increasing the cuttable depth when using an end mill without cutting fluids. These advantages of a hybrid cutting process are expected to contribute to quick and safe segmentations of metal structures with radioactively contaminated inner surfaces.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.53 no.6
• /
• pp.2011-2018
• /
• 2021

Nowadays, evaluation of amounts and distributions of radioactive waste is an important preparatory step in the process of nuclear reactor decommissioning. For tentative estimation of radioactive waste, a cell-based rigorous 2 step (R2S) method usually is used; however, a poor resolution caused by the averaged flux and spectrum in a cell is still a great challenge because of leading to underestimated or overestimated results. To overcome the poor resolution, several systems were introduced. Neither system, however, provides any function for evaluation of radioactive waste amount and distribution. Thus, it is additionally required to classify radioactive waste based on the results of activation calculation. In this study, the advanced R2S (AR2S) system was developed. To verify the performance of the system, its results for a verification problem were compared with those of the cell-based R2S method. The results showed good agreement, which is to say, within 2.0% relative error. Also, several characteristics of fine/coarse mesh were analyzed. To demonstrate the performance of the AR2S system, the radioactive waste from the Japan Power Demonstration Reactor (JPDR) was estimated, and the result indicated a high-resolution distribution. Therefore, it is expected that the AR2S system will prove useful for precise evaluation of radioactive waste.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.517-536
• /
• 2020

The radionuclide inventory in radioactive waste from nuclear power plants should be determined to secure the safety of final repositories. As an alternative to time-consuming, labor-intensive, and destructive radiochemical analysis, the indirect scaling factor (SF) method has been used to determine the concentrations of difficult-to-measure radionuclides. Despite its long history, the original SF methodology remains almost unchanged and now needs to be improved for advanced SF implementation. Intense public attention and interest have been strongly directed to the reliability of the procedures and data regarding repository safety since the first operation of the low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste disposal facility in Gyeongju, Korea. In this review, statistical methodologies for SF implementation are described and evaluated to achieve reasonable and advanced decision-making. The first part of this review begins with an overview of the current status of the scaling factor method and global experiences, including some specific statistical issues associated with SF implementation. In addition, this review aims to extend the applicability of SF to the characterization of large quantities of waste from the decommissioning of nuclear facilities.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.123-132
• /
• 2021

Radiological impact analyses were carried out for a near-surface radioactive waste repository at Gyeongju in South Korea. The RESRAD-ONSITE code was applied for the estimation of maximum exposure doses by considering various exposure pathways based on a land area of 2,500 ㎡ with a 0.15 m thick contamination zone. Typical influencing input parameters such as shield depth, shield materials' density, and shield erosion rate were examined for a sensitivity analysis. Then both residential farmer and industrial worker scenarios were used for the estimation of maximum exposure doses depending on exposure duration. The radiation dose evaluation results showed that 60Co, 137Cs, and 63Ni were major contributors to the total exposure dose compared with other radionuclides. Furthermore, the total exposure dose from ingestion (plant, meat, and milk) of the contaminated plants was more significant than those assessed for inhalation, with maximum values of 5.5×10-4 mSv·yr-1 for the plant ingestion. Thus the results of this study can be applied for determining near-surface radioactive waste repository conditions and providing quantitative analysis methods using RESRAD-ONSITE code for the safety assessment of disposing radioactive materials including decommissioning wastes to protect human health and the environment.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.54 no.2
• /
• pp.285-297
• /
• 2021

Globally, nuclear-decommissioning facilities have been increased in number, and thereby hundreds of thousands of wastes, such as concrete, soil, and metal, have been generated. For this reason, there have been numerous efforts and researches on the development of technology for volume reduction and recycling of solid radioactive wastes, and this study reviewed and examined thoroughly such previous studies. The waste concrete powder is rehydrated by other processes such as grinding and sintering, and the processes rendered aluminate (C3A), C4AF, C3S, and ��-C2S, which are the significant compounds controlling the hydration reaction of concrete and the compressive strength of the solidified matrix. The review of the previous studies confirmed that waste concretes could be used as recycling cement, but there remain problems with the decreasing strength of solidified matrix due to mingling with aggregates. There have been further efforts to improve the performance of recycling concrete via mixing with reactive agents using industrial by-products, such as blast furnace slag and fly ash. As a result, the compressive strength of the solidified matrix was proved to be enhanced. On the contrary, there have been few kinds of researches on manufacturing recycled concretes using soil wastes. Illite and zeolite in soil waste show the high adsorption capacity on radioactive nuclides, and they can be recycled as solidification agents. If the soil wastes are recycled as much as possible, the volume of wastes generated from the decommissioning of nuclear power plants (NPPs) is not only significantly reduced, but collateral benefits also are received because radioactive wastes are safely disposed of by solidification agents made from such soil wastes. Thus, it is required to study the production of non-sintered cement using clay minerals in soil wastes. This paper reviewed related domestic and foreign researches to consider the sustainable recycling of concrete waste from NPPs as recycling cement and utilizing clay minerals in soil waste to produce unsintered cement.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
• /
• 2007.05a
• /
• pp.190-191
• /
• 2007

Cleanout of the F Reactor Fuel Storage Basin (FSB) is an element of the FSB decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) and is required to complete interim safe storage (ISS) of the F Reactor. Following reactor shutdown and in preparation for a deactivation layaway action in 1970, the water level in the FReactor FSB was reduced to approximately 0.6 m (2 ft) over t]to floor. Basin components and other miscellaneous items were left or placed in the FSB. The item placement was performed with a sense of finality, and no attempt was made to place the items in an orderly manner. The F Reactor FSB was then filled to grade level with 6(20of local surface material (essentially a fine sand). The reactor FSB backfill cleanout has the potential of having to remove spent nuclear fuel (SNF) that may have been left unintentionally. Based on previous cleanout of six water-filled FSBs with similar designs (i.e., the B, C, D, and DR FSBs in the 1980's), it was estimated that up to five SNF elements could be discovered in the F FSB (I). In reality about 17 full SNF elements were found in the excavation. This paper covers the technical and programmatic challenges of performing this decommissioning effort with some of the controls used for SNF management. The paper also will highlight how many various technologies were married into a complete package to address the issue at hand and show how no one tools could complete the job, but combined, good progress is being made.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
• /
• 2003.11a
• /
• pp.671-675
• /
• 2003

In accordance with the KRR-1 & 2 decommissioning project, the decontamination and dismantling activities of the KRR-2 auxiliary facilities, radioisotope production facilities, were completed from Aug 2001 to Dec 2002. The auxiliary facilities were composed of the concrete hot-cell, lead hot-cells and several laboratories for the radioisotope production. The dismantling objects are home hoods, experimental desks, sinks, and contaminated inner facilities. For the purpose of the safe decommissioning activity, the method statements and working procedures were set up. The manpower of the total 20,933 man-hour was required and several dismantling equipments were also. The maximum surface contamination is: 9.24 Bq/$\textrm{cm}^2$ in removable contamination and 350,000 cpm in fixed contamination. The total amount of 62.146 Ton was raised as dismantled waste with kinds of the concretes, wood, steels, etc. The collective dose was evaluated as 0.33 mam-mSv during this period.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.48 no.2
• /
• pp.77-83
• /
• 2023

Background: The purpose of this study is to purify uranium (U[VI])-contaminated soil-flushing effluent using the precipitation-distillation process for clearance. Precipitation and distillation are commonly used techniques for water treatment. We propose using a combination of these methods for the simple and effective removal of U(VI) ions from soil-flushing effluents. In addition, the U concentration (Bq/g) of solid waste generated in the proposed treatment process was analyzed to confirm whether it satisfies the clearance level. Materials and Methods: Uranium-contaminated soil was decontaminated by soil-flushing using 0.5 M sulfuric acid. The soil-flushing effluent was treated with sodium hydroxide powder to precipitate U(VI) ions, and the remaining U(VI) ions were removed by phosphate addition. The effluent from which U(VI) ions were removed was distilled for reuse as a soil-flushing eluent. Results and Discussion: The purification method using the precipitation-distillation process proposed in this study effectively removes U(VI) ions from U-contaminated soil-flushing effluent. In addition, most of the solid waste generated in the purification process satisfied the clearance level. Conclusion: The proposed purification process is considered to have potential as a soil-flushing effluent treatment method to reduce the amount of radioactive waste generated.

• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.25-39
• /
• 2022

This study was conducted to evaluate the manufacturing process of non-sintered cement for the safe containment of radioactive waste using low level or ultra-low level radioactive waste soil generated from nuclear-decommissioning facilities, clay minerals, and blast furnace slag (BFS) as an industrial by-product recycling and to characterize the products using mineralogical and morphological analyses. A stepwise approach was used: (1) measuring properties of source materials (reactants), such as waste soil, clay minerals, and BFS, (2) manufacturing the non-sintered cement for the containment of radioactive waste using source materials and deducing the optimal mixing ratio of solidifying and adjusting agents, and (3) conducting mineralogical and morphological analyses of products from the hydration reactions of manufactured non-sintered cement solidifier (NSCS) containing waste concrete generated from nuclear-decommissioning facilities. The analytical results of NSCS using waste soil and clay minerals confirmed none of the hydration products, but calcium silicate (CSH) and ettringite were examined as hydration products in the case of using BFS. The compressive strength of NSCS manufactured with the optimum mixing ratio and using waste soil and clay minerals was 3 MPa after the 28-day curing period, and it was not satisfied with the acceptance criteria (3.44 MPa) for being brought in disposal sites. However, the compressive strength of NSCS using BFS was estimated to be satisfied with the acceptance criteria, despite manufacturing conditions, and it was maximized to 27 MPa at the optimal mixing ratio. The results indicate that the most relevant NSCS for the safe containment of radioactive waste can be manufactured using BFS as solidifying agent and using waste soil and clay minerals as adsorbents for radioactive nuclides.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.473-478
• /
• 2018

Radioactive aerosol generated in cutting and melting work during the NPP decommissioning process can cause internal exposure to body through workers' breath. Thus, it is necessary to assess worker internal exposure due to the radioactive aerosol during decommissioning. The actually measured value of the working environment is needed for accurate assessment of internal exposure, but if it is difficult to actually measure that value, the internal exposure dose can be estimated through recommended values such as the fraction of amount of intake and the size of particles suggested by the International Committee on Radiological Protection (ICRP). As for the selection of particle size, this study applied a value of $5{\mu}m$, which is the size of particles considering the worker recommended by the ICRP. As for the amount of generation, the amount of intake was estimated using data on the mass of aerosol generated in a melting facility at a site in Kozloduy, Bulgaria. In addition, using these data, this study calculated the level of radioactivity in the worker's body and stool and conducted an assessment of internal exposure using the BiDAS computer code. The internal exposure dose of Type M was 0.0341 mSv, that of Type S was 0.0909 mSv. The two types of absorption showed levels that were 0.17% and 0.45% of the domestic annual dose limit, respectively.