• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권11호
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• pp.4083-4095
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• 2023

Currently, various research institutes in Korea are conducting research to develop a safety case for deep geological repository for high-level radioactive waste (HLW). In the past, low and intermediate-level waste (LILW) was approved by a regulatory body by performing a post-closure safety assessment, but HLW has different disposal characteristics and safety objectives are different. Therefore, in the case of HLW, safety assessment should be performed based on these changed conditions, and specific procedures are also under development. In this paper, the regulatory status of prior research institutes, feature, event and process (FEP) and scenario development cases were investigated for well-organized FEP and scenario development methodologies. In addition, through the results of these surveys, the requirements and procedures necessary for the FEP and scenario development stage during the safety assessment of repository for HLW were presented. These review results are expected to be used to identify the overall status of previous studies in conducting post-closure risk assessment for HLW repository, starting with identifying regulatory requirements, the most basic element.

• 한국방사성폐기물학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국방사성폐기물학회 2005년도 Proceedings of The 6th korea-china joint workshop on nuclear waste management
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• pp.236-244
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• 2005

Radioactive wastes arising from a wide range of human activities are in many different physical and chemical forms, contaminated with varying radioactivity. Their common feature is the potential hazard associated with their radioactivity and the need to manage them in such a way as to protect the human environment. The geological disposal is regarded as the most reasonable and effective way to safely disposal high-level radioactive wastes in the world. The conceptual model of geological disposal in China is based on a multi-barrier system that combines an isolating geological environment with an engineered barrier system. The buffer is one of the main engineered barriers for HLW repository. The buffer material is expected to maintain its low water permeability, self-sealing property, radio nuclides adsorption and retardation property, thermal conductivity, chemical buffering property, overpack supporting property, stress buffering property over a long period of time. Benotite is selected as the main content of buffer material that can satisfy above. GMZ deposit is selected as the candidate supplier for Chinese buffer material of High Level Radioactive waste repository. This paper presents geological features of GMZ deposit and basic property of GMZ Na bentonite. GMZ bentonite deposit is a super large scale deposits with high content of Montmorillonite (about $75\%$) and GMZ-l, which is Na-bentonite produced from GMZ deposit is selected as reference material for Chinese buffer material study.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제39권6호
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• pp.683-690
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• 2007

Because of increasing concerns regarding global warming and the longevity of oil and gas reserves, the importance of nuclear energy as a major source of sustainable energy is gaining recognition worldwide. To make nuclear energy truly sustainable, it is necessary to ensure not only the sustainability of the fuel supply but also the sustained availability of waste repositories, especially those for high-level radioactive waste (HLW). From this perspective, the effort to maximize the waste loading density in a given repository is important for easing repository capacity problems. In most cases, the loading of a repository is controlled by the decay heat of the emplaced waste. In this paper, a comparison of the decay heat characteristics of HLW is made among the various fuel cycle options. It is suggested that, for a future fast breeder reactor (FBR) cycle, the removal and burning of minor actinides (MA) would significantly reduce the heat load in waste and would allow for a reduction of repository size by half.

• 한국방사성폐기물학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국방사성폐기물학회 2004년도 Proceedings of the 4th Korea-China Joint Workshop on Nuclear Waste Management
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• pp.51-59
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• 2004

The geological research as a part of HLW disposal program in Korea is carried out to provide necessary data for the establishment of the reference repository system in term of design and safety assessment in the crystalline rock terrains. Six deep boreholes were drilled to obtain hydrogeological and hydrochemical data from Jurassic granites in the Yuseong area, Korea. The core observation, televiewer logging and hydraulic testing were carried out during and after drilling and multi-packer system were installed in the boreholes of 500m depth for hydraulic and hydrochemical monitoring including environmental isotopes. The integration of hydrogeochemical and hydrodynamic data would be built greater confidence for the understanding of groundwater system in fractured rock mass. This geoscientific program could be possible to suggest a general guideline to develop the reference disposal concept of high-level radioactive waste in Korea.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권11호
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• pp.4005-4012
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• 2022

As high-level radioactive waste (HLW) generated from nuclear power plants is harmful to the human body, it must be safely disposed of by an engineered barrier system consisting of disposal canisters and buffer and backfill materials. A gap exists between the canister and buffer material in a HLW repository and between the buffer material and natural rock-this gap may reduce the water-blocking ability and heat transfer efficiency of the engineered barrier materials. Herein, the basic characteristics and thermal properties of granular bentonite, a candidate gap-filling material, were investigated, and their effects on the temperature change of the buffer material were analyzed numerically. Heat transfer by air conduction and convection in the gap were considered simultaneously. Moreover, by applying the Korean reference disposal system, changes in the properties of the buffer material were derived, and the basic design of the engineered barrier system was presented according to the gap filling material (GFM). The findings showed that a GFM with high initial thermal conductivity must be filled in the space between the buffer material and rock. Moreover, the target dry density of the buffer material varied according to the initial wet density, specific gravity, and water content values of the GFM.

• 터널과지하공간
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• 제30권2호
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• pp.136-148
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• 2020

우리나라는 1978년부터 원자력발전소를 운영해왔으며 그에 따른 고준위방사성폐기물 발생이 누적되고 있다. 이를 안전하게 처분하기 위한 영구 처분시설이 시급한 실정이나 처분 부지를 선정하는 과정에서 광범위하고 정밀한 부지조사가 요구되기 때문에 장기간에 걸친 조사가 선행되어야한다. 이러한 부지조사는 단계별로 진행되는 것이 일반적이며 이 과정에서 다학제적 평가가 이루어진다. 본 논문에서는 부지조사 과정에서 요구되는 암반공학적 요소를 중점으로 사례조사를 수행하였다. 단계별로 고려되는 암반공학적 평가요소와 그 적용 사례를 정리하였으며 이 과정에서 수행된 해외 연구 사례를 조사하였다. 동시에 국내 연구현황을 정리하였고 부지조사와 관련된 향후 연구 계획을 간략히 보고하였다. 향후 연구를 통해 부지조사 시 참고할 수 있는 기반자료를 생산하고자 하며 본 논문에서 수집된 사례 역시 활용할 예정이다.

• 자원환경지질
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• 제55권1호
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• pp.1-17
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• 2022

암반의 역학적 및 열적 특성은 고준위방사성폐기물(high-level radioactive waste; HLW) 심지층 처분시스템 내 방사성 물질의 격리 및 이동 지연 능력과 관련된 성능에 영향을 미칠 수 있다. 이 연구는 HLW 처분시설 부지의 암반역학적 및 열적 특성과 관련된 부지설명모델에 필수적인 항목을 고찰하고 스웨덴과 핀란드의 선행 부지설명모델 사례를 통한 기술적 배경을 논의하였다. 스웨덴 SKB (Swedish Nuclear and Fuel Management Company)와 핀란드 Posiva는 암반역학적 및 열적 특성 조사·평가에 필수적인 항목을 제시하고 부지의 안전성 분석과 처분시설의 건설을 위한 암반역학 부지설명모델을 도출하였다. 암반역학 부지설명모델은 처분시설 부지 내 응력 분포와 더불어 신선암, 절리, 절리성 암반에 대한 강도 및 변형특성과 대규모 변형대의 기하학적 구조, 소규모 불연속면의 연결망 구조 및 암석의 열적 특성에 대한 조사·평가 결과를 포함한다. 또한, 암반역학 부지설명모델은 입력변수에 대한 민감도 분석결과와 입력변수의 불확실성에 대한 평가 결과를 제시하여야 한다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제45권1호
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• pp.29-40
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• 2013

Two different kinds of nuclear power plants produce a substantial amount of spent fuel annually in Korea. According to the current projection, it is expected that around 60,000 MtU of spent fuel will be produced from 36 PWR and APR reactors and 4 CANDU reactors by the end of 2089. In 2006, KAERI proposed a conceptual design of a geological disposal system (called KRS, Korean Reference disposal System for spent fuel) for PWR and CANDU spent fuel, as a product of a 4-year research project from 2003 to 2006. The major result of the research was that it was feasible to construct a direct disposal system for 20,000 MtU of PWR spent fuels and 16,000 MtU of CANDU spent fuel in the Korean peninsula. Recently, KAERI and MEST launched a project to develop an advanced fuel cycle based on the pyroprocessing of PWR spent fuel to reduce the amount of HLW and reuse the valuable fissile material in PWR spent fuel. Thus, KAERI has developed a geological disposal system for high-level waste from the pyroprocessing of PWR spent fuel since 2007. However, since no decision was made for the CANDU spent fuel, KAERI improved the disposal density of KRS by introducing several improved concepts for the disposal canister. In this paper, the geological disposal systems developed so far are briefly outlined. The amount and characteristics of spent fuel and HLW, 4 kinds of disposal canisters, the characteristics of a buffer with domestic Ca-bentonite, and the results of a thermal design of deposition holes and disposal tunnels are described. The different disposal systems are compared in terms of their disposal density.

• 한국방사성폐기물학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국방사성폐기물학회 2004년도 학술논문집
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• pp.194-198
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• 2004

The thermo-hydro-mechanical (T-H-M) process is one of major issues in the performance assessment of a high level waste (HLW) repository. An engineering-scale test was planned and its experimental set-up has being installed, to validate the T-H-M behavior in the buffer of a reference disposal system. The experimental set-up consists of 4 major components: the confining cylinder with its hydration water tank, the bentonite block, the heating system, and the sensors and instruments. The monitoring and data acquisition system is employed to control the heater to maintain the temperature of $95^{\circ}C$ at the interface of the heater and bentonite blocks and to collect signals from sensors and instruments installed in the bentonite blocks.

• 화약ㆍ발파
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• 제35권3호
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• pp.31-54
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• 2017

원자로가 운영되는 국가에서는 고준위방사성폐기물 처분을 위한 관련 기술개발은 지속적인 원자력에너지의 이용을 위해 시급한 해결해야할 중요한 사안으로 여겨지고 있다. 이미 중저준위처분장이 운영 중인 국내에서는 고준위방사성폐기물의 관리에 대한 관심이 높아지면서 현장실증 연구를 위한 지하연구시설 건설에 대한 관심도도 높아지고 있다. 지하심부 암반에 고준위방사성 폐기물 처분장을 건설, 운영하기 위해서는 암반 안정성이 보장되어야 한다. 암반손상대는 처분장 암반 안정성에 영향을 미치는 요소로써 해외 각국의 지하연구시설에서는 다양한 암반손상대 연구가 수행되었다. 처분 환경에서 암반손상대의 특성과 영향을 정확히 평가하기 위해서는 유사한 환경에서 기 수행된 연구 결과의 분석을 바탕으로 신뢰도 높은 조사 방법의 사용이 요구된다. 본 연구에서는 세계 각국에 건설된 지하연구시설의 현황과 암반손상대의 규모, 특성, 영향에 대한 연구 방법 및 주요 연구결과를 조사, 보고하였다. 이는 고준위폐기물 관리기술 개발을 위해 수행될 지하연구시설을 활용한 국내 관련 연구의 수행에 기여할 것으로 판단된다.