• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.519-532
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• 2023

Spent nuclear fuel(SNF) is stored in nuclear power plants for a certain period of time and then transported to an interim storage facility. After that, SNF is finally repackaged in a disposal canister at an encapsulation plant for final disposal. Finland and Sweden, leading countries in SNF disposal technology, have already completed designing of spent fuel encapsulation plant. In particular, the encapsulation plant construction in Finland is near completion. When it comes to South Korea, as the amount of SNF production and disposal plan is different from those in Finland and Sweden, it is difficult to apply the concepts of these contries as is. Therefore, it is necessary to establish the spent fuel repackaging concept and to derive each operating and repackaging procedures by considering annual disposal plan of South Korea. The results of this study is expected to be used to establish the concept of optimized encapsulation plant through further research.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.136-148
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• 2020

Nuclear power plants have been operated in Korea since 1978, thus the high-level radioactive waste (HLW) produced from the plants has been accumulated accordingly. Hence, it is urgent to secure a final repository for HLW disposal, however, siting process should be preceded, which usually takes long time, as it requires broad and precise investigation. The investigation is generally carried out in stages, which consists of multidisciplinary approaches. In this study, the case studies mainly pertaining to rock mechanics were conducted. Rock mechanical aspects required in each stage and their applications were investigated and corresponding R&D researches were presented as well. At the same time, current research status in Korea was presented, followed by a brief future research plan with regard to the site investigation. The future research aims to produce fundamental information for siting process, and the compiled cases in this study will be utilized as references in the research.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.529-539
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• 2024

A high-level nuclear waste (HLW) repository is designed for the long-term disposal of high-level waste. Positioned at depths of 500-1000 meters, it offers an alternative to the insufficient storage space for spent fuels, providing a long-term solution. High-level waste emits heat and radiation, causing structural deterioration, including strength reduction and cracks. Therefore, the use of piezoelectric sensors for structural health monitoring is essential for evaluating the safety of the structure over time. Unlike other structures, the HLW repository restricts human access after the disposal of HLW, rendering sensor replacement impossible. Therefore, it is necessary to assess both the lifespan and suitability of sensors under the disposal conditions in the HLW repository. This study employed an accelerated life test (ALT) to assess the sensor's lifespan under disposal conditions. Failure modes, failure mechanisms, and operational limits were analyzed through accelerated stress test (AST). Additionally, the parameters of the Weibull life probability distribution and the Arrhenius accelerated life model were estimated through statistical methods, including the likelihood ratio test, maximum likelihood estimation, and hypothesis testing. Results confirmed that the sensor's lifespan decreases significantly with the increase in the temperature limit of the HLW repository. The findings of this study can be used for improving sensor lifespan through shielding, development of alternative sensors, or lifespan evaluation of alternative monitoring sensors.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.1636-1639
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• 2005

The process equipment and remote handling for the deep geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste(HLW) should be checked prior to the operation in view of reliability and operability. In this study, the concept of virtual environment workcell is implemented to analyze and define the feasible disposal process instead of real mock-up, which is very expensive and time consuming. To do this, the parts of process equipment for the disposal and maintenance will be modeled in 3-D graphics, assembled, and kinematics will be assigned. Also, the virtual workcell for the encapsulation and disposal process of spent fuel will be implemented in the graphical environment, which is the same as the real environment. This virtual workcell will have the several functions for verification such as analyses for the equipment's work space, the collision detection, the path planning and graphic simulation of the processes etc. This graphic virtual workcell of the HLW disposal process can be effectively used in designing of the processes for the hot cell equipment and enhance the reliability of the spent fuel management.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2004.06a
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• pp.199-207
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• 2004

In order to develop a safe geological disposal concept for the HLW from the nuclear power plants in Korea, it is necessary to evaluate the safety of the disposal concept in an underground research tunnel in the same geological formation as the host rock mass. The design concept of a research tunnel depends on the actual disposal concept, repository geometry, experiments to be carried at the tunnel, and geological conditions. In this study, geological investigation had been carried out to develop the basic design of the small scale underground disposal research tunnel in KAERI.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.791-792
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• 2004

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.119-132
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• 2001

This paper provides the basic technical and safety criteria to guide establishing the reference HLW geological repository system that has been developing based on the recommendations from the international organizations such as IAEA and ICRP as well as the comparison of the regulations of several leading countries in HLW disposal. The proposed criteria and guidelines were categorized by the basic principles and general criteria for the radiological safety and the functional criteria of the repository system components. They would be useful for the development of the national regulations and criteria for HLW disposal in the future. They, of course, will be revised based on the deep geological investigation in Korean Peninsular which will be implemented in the future.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.227-228
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• 2005

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.133-141
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• 2012

The impacts influenced on the performance and safety of a repository are classified as units of Features, Events, and Processes (FEP), for the total system performance assessment (TSPA) related to the permanent disposal of HLW. The importance is evaluated in consideration of the frequency, consequence, regulation, suitability of a specific site, etc. and then these are grouped as a similar FEP. A scenario describing the migration of radionuclide from the repository to the biosphere is derived from understanding the interaction among these groups. KAERI has developed the KAERI FEP lists by review and collation of the foreign studies. The KAERI FEP list has been reviewed by several Korean experts. The five major scenarios describing possible future evolutions of the geological disposal system have been developed by RES and PID methods. Also the CYPRUS which is a KAERI integrated database management system for the total system performance assessment (TSPA) related to the permanent disposal of HLW has been developed and the results of the FEP and scenario development have been uploaded in this system.

• 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.