• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.631-641
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• 2014

Characteristics of water-level changes in the Temporary Gulpocheon Discharge Channel were identified by observing and analyzing changes in the subterranean water level induced by hydrological stresses the underground aquifer. The subterranean water level refers to the level at which the pressure of subterranean water passing through the corresponding position has an equipotential value that is in equilibrium with the atmospheric pressure at that location. This water level is not fixed but changes in response to hydrological stress. It can be identified by repeatedly measuring the distance from the observation point to the surface of the subterranean water. The subterranean water-level change equation and the variance range of the hydrological curve of subterranean water over 24 hours at the Gimpo-Gimpo National Groundwater Monitoring Network (NGMN) were used as assessment factors. The variance characteristics of the subterranean water at the 18 monitoring system locations were classified into three impact, observational wish, and non-impact. The impact type accounted for 50% of the subterranean water of and accurately reflected the water-level changes due to hydrological stress, showing that distance is the major controlling factor. The observational wish type accounted for 27.8% of the subterranean water, and one of the two assessment factors did not meet the assessment factors. The nonimpact type accounted for 22.2% of the subterranean water. This type satisfied the two assessment factors and represents subterranean water-level changes response to precipitation.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.65-75
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• 2002

The objectives of this study are to analyse model-based soil moisture variations depending on model parameters m and $T_0$ and to evaluate the model performance for the simulation of soil moisture variations by the comparison of observed groundwater levels and model-driven soil moisture amounts and observed and simulated river discharges at the basin outlet. The selected study area is the Pyungchang IHP river basin with outlet at Sanganmi station and the summer flooding events during '94-'98 are used for the analysis. As a result, soil moisture holding capacity is increased according to increase the parameter m that represents effective groundwater depth. This phenomenon is especially dominant when higher m and $T_0$ values are used. The qualitative comparison of computed base flow and observed groundwater level shows that the base flow peaks are reasonably simulated and the decreasing limbs of hydrograph are mainly caused by base flows. It is concluded that TOPMODEL can be used effectively for simulating basin-averaged soil moisture variations in addition to river flow generations.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.370-376
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• 2011

To design the drainage system of a mine, it is very important to evaluate the groundwater inflow to the mine workings. In this study, continuous steady state flow through rock mass around mine openings developed in Sungok area of Gagok Mine was analyzed. Saturated only model and Saturated/unsaturated model were used as material models of rock mass. Groundwater quantities flowing into Sungok 160 level which is 1216 m long are computed as 1450 $m^3$/day in case of a saturated model and as 1071 $m^3$/day in case of a saturated/unsaturated model. An effect that hydraulic conductivity has on inflow turned out be greater than precipitation and inflow increased linearly with increase of hydraulic conductivity. It was found that change of hydraulic conductivity ratio and orientation have an impact on the variation of inflow and water table.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.113-121
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• 2021

A safety assessment of radioactive waste repositories is a mandatory requirement process because there are possible radiological hazards owing to radionuclide migration from radioactive waste to the biosphere. For a reliable safety assessment, it is important to establish a parameter database that reflects the site-specific characteristics of the disposal facility and repository site. From this perspective, solubility, a major geochemical parameter, has been chosen as an important parameter for modeling the migration behavior of radionuclides. The solubilities were derived for Am, Ni, Tc, and U, which were major radionuclides in this study, and on-site groundwater data reflecting the operational conditions of the Gyeongju low and intermediate level radioactive waste (LILW) repository were applied to reflect the site-specific characteristics. The radiation dose was derived by applying the solubility and radionuclide inventory data to the RESRAD-OFFSITE code, and sensitivity analysis of the dose according to the solubility variation was performed. As a result, owing to the low amount of radionuclide inventory, the dose variation was insignificant. The derived solubility can be used as the main input data for the safety assessment of the Gyeongju LILW repository in the future.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.469-483
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• 2020

The results of long-term groundwater level and quality monitoring can be used not only as the basic data for evaluating the impact of various disasters including climate change and establishing responses, but also as key data for predicting and managing geological disasters such as earthquakes. Some countries use groundwater level and quality monitoring for researches to predict earthquakes and to assess the impacts of the earthquake disaster. However, a few cases in Korea report on individual groundwater quality factors (i.e., dissolved ions) observed before and after the earthquakes, being different from other countries. To establish the abnormality criteria for groundwater quality in Pohang, groundwater samples were collected and analyzed five times from 14 agricultural or private wells existing in Shingwang-myeon and Heunghae-eup. As a result of the analysis, it was found that Ca2+ was the dominant cation in Shingwang-myeon, while Na+ was the dominant cation in Heunghae-eup. The elevated NO3- concentration in Shingwang-myeon is contributed to the agricultural activity in the area. A high concentration of Fe was detected in a well on Heunghae-eup; the concentration exceeded the drinking water standard by nearly 100 times. Relatively higher dissolved ions were observed in the groundwater of Heunghae-eup, and it is considered as the result of the flow velocity difference and water-rock reaction accompanying the difference in bedrock and sediment characteristics. The groundwater of Shingwang-myeon appeared to be most affected by the weathering of granite and silicates, while that of Heunghae-eup was mainly affected by the weathering of silicates and carbonate. The background concentrations (baselines) of groundwater Shingwang-myeon and Heunghae-eup was identified through the survey; however, the continuous monitoring is required to monitor the possible changes and the repeatability of seasonal variation.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.33 no.10
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• pp.25-31
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• 2017

The buffer is one of the major components of an engineered barrier system (EBS) for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste (HLW). As the buffer is located between a disposal canister and host rock, it is indispensable to assure the disposal safety of high-level radioactive waste. It can restrain the release of radionuclide and protect the canister from the inflow of groundwater. Since high quantity of heat from a disposal canister is released to the surrounding buffer, thermal properties of the buffer are very important parameters for the analysis of the entire disposal safety. Especially, temperature criteria of the compacted bentonite buffer can affect the design of HLW repository facility. Therefore, this paper investigated thermal properties for the Kyungju compacted bentonite buffer which is the only bentonite produced in South Korea. Hot wire method and dual probe method were used to measure thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity of the compacted bentonite buffer according to the temperature variation. Thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity were decreased dramatically when temperature variation was between $22^{\circ}C{\sim}110^{\circ}C$ as degree of saturation decreased according to the temperature variation. However, there was little variation under the high temperature condition at $110^{\circ}C{\sim}150^{\circ}C$.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 1999

An artificial recharge test was performed to analyze the source of seepage observed inside the Songsanri tombs Kongju during the rainy season. In order to simulate simulate the test, a two-dimensional unsaturated groundwater flow model was developed. By the measured water level variation in the observation wells and in the artificail water tank, the model was cailbrated to estimate the model parameters such as fitting parameters in the constitutive relations(n and $\alpha$), the saturated volumetric water content, the residual volumetric water content, and the saturated hydraulic conductivity. Using the calibrated parameters, the recharge test was simulated. The results of the test and simulation show that the major source of the seepage is the downward groundwater flow through cracks in the protection layer the tombs. It was also analyzed by the steady state simulation that, with a perfect protection layer, a long-term precipitation that, with a perfect protection layer, a long-term precitation could cause only 10% increase of the effective saturation around the north side of the Muryong royal tomb by infiltration of the unsaturated groundwater from the North. Therefore, it is concluded that the most urgent protection plan for the tombs with respect to seepage is to reconstruct an effective waterproof-layer rather than a trenched drainage system.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.17-24
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• 2018

A buffer in a geological disposal system minimizes groundwater inflow from the surrounding rock and protects the disposed high-level waste (HLW) against any mechanical impact. As decay heat of a spent fuel causes temperature variation in the buffer that affects the mechanical performance of the system, an accurate estimation of the temperature variation is substantial. The temperature variation is affected by thermal and material properties of the system such as thermal conductivity, density and specific heat capacity of the buffer, and thus these factors should be properly included in the design of the system. In particular, as the thermal properties are variable depending on the density and water content of the buffer, consideration of the effects should be included in the analysis. Hence, in this study, a numerical model based on finite element method (FEM) which is able to consider the change of density and water content of the buffer was established. In addition, using the numerical model, a parametric study was conducted to investigate the effect of each thermal property on the temperature variation of the buffer.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.537-547
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• 2011

Electrical resistivity tomography surveys using boreholes were applied to reveal the cause of a catastrophic land subsidence accompanied by the excessive groundwater withdrawal in urban karst area and to map the connectivity of disseminated cavities over the study area. In order to understand the hydrogeological characteristics, resistivity using exsitu core samples, groundwater level for five boreholes, and hydraulic conductivity using slug test were measured. The hydraulic conductivity variation ranging from 0.8 to $9.3{\times}10^{-4}\;cm/s$ for five boreholes and a gentle slope of groundwater level indicated that there is no significant characteristics of hydraulic heterogeneity. Core samples of the lime-silicated rock were classified as three groups including cracked, weathered, and fresh and measured the resistivity values ranged from 103 to 161, 218 to 277, and 597 to 662 ohm-m, respectively. Drilling results that showed the cavity filled with clay materials and tomogram for this region indicated resistivity value lower than 50 ohm-m. From the inverted resistivity results for each section with five boreholes, cavity and fractured layer were distributed along the depth between 10 and 20 m overall area and cavities ranging from 4 to 6 m filled with clay materials.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.39-47
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• 2003

The measurement of radium ($^{226}Ra$) in the groundwater was established using ${\gamma}$-ray spectroscopy without sample preparation. The background interference by air borne radon daughter nuclides was reduced by $N_2$ gas flow into the counting chamber. Leakage of radon gas produced in the radioactive equilibrium with radium and its daughter nuclides was prevented by use of the air-tighted aluminium container. We investigated the effect of air layer in the counting container. Radioactivity variation due to emanation of radon into the air layer was within the counting error range 5%. When the nitrogen gas was flowed around the detector, peak counts of ${\gamma}$-rays from the daughters of airborne radon was decreased and detection limit was decreased to 0.02 Bq/L. The detection limit of detector was lower than 0.74 Bq/L, the $^{226}Ra$ Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) in the groundwater proposed by US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It was confirmed that $^{226}Ra$ radioactivity in the groundwater could be determined by the ${\gamma}$-ray spectroscopy.