• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.257-264
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• 2017

For the safe disposal of intermediate level radioactive waste according to the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission's notice and KORAD's management plan for low and intermediate level radioactive waste, the disposal concentration limit was derived based on the IAEA methodology. The evaluation of the derived disposal concentration limit revealed that it is not suitable as a practical limit for intermediate level radioactive waste. This is because the disposal concentration limit according to the IAEA methodology is derived using a single value of radioactive waste density and the disposal facility's volume. The IAEA methodology is suitable for setting the concentration limit for vault type disposal, which consists of a single type of waste, whereas an underground silo type disposal facility is composed of several types of radioactive waste, and thus the IAEA methodology has limitations in determining the disposal concentration limit. It is necessary to develop and apply an improved method to derive the disposal concentration limit for intermediate level radioactive waste by considering the radioactivity of various types of radioactive waste, the corresponding scenario evaluation results, and the regulatory limit.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.265-279
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• 2017

The Gyeongju underground silo type disposal facility, approved for use in December 2014, is in operation for the disposal of low and very low-level radioactive wastes, excluding intermediate-level waste. That is why the existing low-level radioactive waste level has been subdivided and the concentration limit value for intermediate-level waste has been changed in accordance with Nuclear Safety Commission Notice 2014-003. For the safe disposal of intermediate-level wastes, new optimization methodology for calculating the concentration limit of intermediate radioactive level wastes at an underground silo type disposal facility was developed. According to the developed optimization methodology, concentration limits of intermediate-level wastes were derived and the inventory of radioactive nuclides was evaluated. The operation and post closure scenarios were evaluated for the derived radioactive nuclide inventory and the results of all scenarios were confirmed to meet the regulatory limit. However, in case of $^{14}C$, it was confirmed that additional radioactivity limitation through a well scenario was needed in addition to the limit of disposal concentration. It was confirmed that the derived intermediate concentration limit of radioactive waste can be used as the intermediate-level waste concentration limit for the underground disposal facility. For the safe disposal of intermediate-level wastes, KORAD plans to acquire additional data from the radioactive waste generator and manage the cumulative radioactivity of $^{14}C$.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.347-357
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• 2023

United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (U.S. NRC) specifies regulations on obtaining licenses and describes the technical position on the average waste concentration, also known as Concentration Averaging and Encapsulation Branch Technical Position (CA BTP); CA BTP helps classify blendable waste and discrete items and address concentration averaging. The technical position details are reviewed and compared in a real environment in Korea. A few cases of concentration averaging based on the application of CA BTP to domestic radioactive waste are presented, and the feasibility of the application is assessed. The radioactive waste considered herein does not satisfy the Disposal Concentration Limit (DCL) of the second-phase disposal facility while applying the preliminary classification. However, if CA BTP is applied when the radioactive waste is mixed with other radioactive waste items in a large and heavy container, it can be disposed of at the second-phase disposal facility in Gyeongju Repository. To apply the CA BTP of the U.S. NRC, it is necessary to investigate the safety assessment conditions of the US and Korea.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.65-82
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• 2017

The result of a preliminary safety assessment that was completed by applying the radionuclide inventory calculated on the basis of available data from radioactive waste generation agencies suggested that many difficulties are to be expected with regard to disposal safety and operation. Based on the results of the preliminary safety assessment of the entire disposal system, in this paper, a unit package exceeding the safety goal is selected that occupies a large proportion of radionuclides in intermediate-level radioactive waste. We introduce restrictions on the amount of radioactivity in a way that excludes the high surface dose rate of the package. The radioactivity limit for disposal will be used as the baseline data for establishing the acceptance criteria and the disposal criteria for each disposal facility to meet the safety standards. It is necessary to draw up a comprehensive safety development plan for the Gyeongju waste disposal facility that will contribute to the construction of a Safety Case for the safety optimization of radioactive waste disposal facilities.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.387-398
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• 2003

For reference human intrusion scenarios constructed in previous study, a probabilistic safety assessment to derive the radionuclide concentration limits for the low- and intermediate- level radioactive waste disposal facility is conducted. Statistical approach by the Latin Hypercube Sampling method is introduced and new assumptions about the disposal facility system are examined and discussed. In our previous study of deterministic approach, the post construction scenarios appeared as most limiting scenario to derive the radionuclide concentration limits. Whereas, in this statistical approach, the post drilling and the post construction scenarios are mutually competing for the scenario selection according to which radionuclides are more important in safety assessment context. Introduction of new assumption shows that the post drilling scenario can play an important role as the limiting scenario instead of the post-construction scenario. When we compare the concentration limits between the previous and this study, concentrations of radionuclides such as Nb-94, Cs-137 and alpha-emitting radionuclides show elevated values than the case of the previous study. Remaining radionuclides such as Sr-90, Tc-99 I-129, Ni-59 and Ni-63 show lower values than the case of the previous study.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.24-29
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• 1992

The exhausted gases were analyzed and the countermeasures were studied to solve the environmental pollution caused by waste gases in Chung-Ju Industral Complex. The eleven working places were selected to analysis the compositions and concentrations of the exhausted gases by gas chromatograph and membrane method. The five companies which have used organic solvents were shown lower content than TLV and the environmental limits. But the concentration of lead in a electric product company was revealed higher than TLV. The waste gases of the four companies which have used asbestos were shown lower values than TLV and the environmental limit. The exhausted gases, SO$_2$and NO$_2$of two companies which have used fossile fuels were also analyzed. The NO$_2$concentration of one company which haven't disposal system was shown higher than the environmental limit.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Systems Engineering
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.76-84
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• 2021

Radioactive waste generated from nuclear power plant decommissioning shall be strictly managed so that radioactive materials above the allowable limit are not leaked into the environment. Radioactive wastes shall be classified and treated for management based on characteristics such as the type of waste, physicochemical properties, nuclide concentration and radioactivity. Waste characterization report shall be prepared and submitted to the disposal facility operator to ensure that the treated waste is suitable for disposal. The disposal facility operator shall review the waste Characterization report and visit the nuclear power plant decommissioning site to ensure that the wastes are processed step by step according to the plan. The waste Characterization report may be used as input data to evaluate disposal facility safety. Domestic and foreign data are collected and reviewed to confirm the entire processes from waste generation to delivery. This paper proposes the method to prepare the waste Characterization report which contains data and information on waste characteristics, treatment facilities & method and packaging method & container.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.347-356
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• 2008

The purpose of Radioactive Waste Acceptance Criteria(WAC) is to verify a radioactive waste compliance with radioactive disposal facility requirements in order to maintain a disposal facility's performance objectives and to ensure its safety. To develop WAC which is conformable with domestic disposal site conditions, we furthermore analysed the WAC of foreign disposal sites similar to the Kyung-Ju disposal site and the characteristics of various wastes which are being generated from Korea nuclear facilities. Radioactive WAC was developed in the technical cooperation with the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute in consideration of characteristics of the wastes which are being generated from various facilities, waste generators' opinions and other conditions. The established criteria was also discussed and verified at an advisory committee which was comprised of some experts from universities, institutes and the industry. So radioactive WAC was developed to accept all wastes which are being generated from various nuclear facilities as much as possible, ensuring the safety of a disposal facility. But this developed waste acceptance criteria is not a criteria to accept all the present wastes generated from various nuclear facilities, so waste generators must seek an alternative treatment method for wastes which were not worth disposing of, and then they must treat the wastes more to be acceptable at a disposal site. The radioactive disposal facility WAC will continuously complement certain criteria related to a disposal concentration limit for individual radionuclide in order to ensure a long-term safety.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2005.11b
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• pp.165-175
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• 2005

Measurement of spent resin activity was initiated in 2004 in order to develop the C-14 removal technology for safe disposal. As part of this program, spent resins were sampled and measured in the in-station resin storage tank 2 at Wolsong Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1. At the time of sampling, the resins had been in storage tank from 3 to 23 years. Total 72 resin samples were sampled, which were collected from both man-hole (68 samples) and test-hole (4 samples) in the in-station resin storage tank 2. They were separated into liquid, activated carbon, zeolite, and spent resin. The spent resins were oxidized with sample oxidizer and analyzed for C-14. Ten of collected mixed resin samples were separated by density into cation and anion resins using a sugar solution. The C-14 concentration in anion exchange resin was approximately 2 times higher than in the mixed resin. The average concentration of C-14 in the cation/anion mixed exchange resin was $460\;GBq/m^3$ from test-hole and $53.1\;GBq/m^3$ from man-hole. We have found that concentration of C-14 in the spent resin is about from 0.4 to $1,321\;GBq/m^3$. So it could be a problem, when dispose of at a repository, since there is a disposal limit of $222\;GBq/m^3$. This means we should develop the C-14 removal technology.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.489-500
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• 2022

The decommissioning of nuclear facilities produces various types of radiologically contaminated waste. In addition, dismantlement activities, including cutting, packing, and clean-up at the facility site, result in secondary radioactive waste such as filters, resin, plastic, and clothing. Determining of the radionuclide content of this waste is an important step for the determination of a suitable management strategy including classification and disposal. In this work, we radiochemically characterized the radionuclide activities of filters used during the decommissioning of Korea Research Reactors (KRRs) 1 and 2. The results indicate that the filter samples contained mainly ³H (500-3,600 Bq·g^-1), ¹⁴C (7.5-29 Bq·g^-1), ⁵⁵Fe (1.1- 7.1 Bq·g^-1), ⁵⁹Ni (0.60-1.0 Bq·g^-1), ⁶⁰Co (0.74-70 Bq·g^-1), ⁶³Ni (0.60-94 Bq·g^-1), ⁹⁰Sr (0.25-5.0 Bq·g^-1), ¹³⁷Cs (0.64-8.7 Bq·g^-1), and ¹⁵²Eu (0.19-2.9) Bq·g^-1. In addition, the gross alpha radioactivity of the samples was measured to be between 0.32-1.1 Bq·g^-1. The radionuclide concentrations were below the concentration limit stated in the low- and intermediatelevel waste acceptance criteria of the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, and used for the disposal of the KRRs waste drums to a repository site.