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

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2018.11a
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• pp.610-611
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• 2018

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2019.05a
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• pp.335-336
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• 2019

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2017.10a
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• pp.207-208
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• 2017

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.501-508
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• 2023

There are various factors that have a negative impact on safety over a long period of time after the closure of a radioactive waste disposal facility. In particular, it is important to limit substances that accelerate radionuclide migration while inhibiting adsorption between radionuclides and the subsurface medium. Through this study, a method for deriving a quantitative criteria evaluation method is proposed for cellulose among materials that accelerate the movement of these radionuclides after closure of the disposal facility. Since Sweden's SKB is representative worldwide for preparing criteria for cellulose in disposal facilities, it analyzed Sweden's acceptance criteria method and presented a method that can be applied domestically. The decomposition characteristics of cellulose and the adsorption and dissolution characteristics of ISA among degradation products were reviewed, and quantitative analysis of cement materials that create a high pH environment favorable for cellulose decomposition was also included. In addition, the total amount of the finally disposable cellulose material can be derived by using the volume information of the waste containing the cellulose material. Through this methodology for calculating the total amount of cellulose, it is expected that subsequent studies will be conducted to secure data reflecting the environmental conditions of radioactive waste disposal facilities in Korea. In addition, it is expected to be utilized as a good method to evaluate the impact of other complexing agents other than cellulose and to suggest the amount of disposal.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.454-457
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• 2011

We report the preparation of nanocrystalline cobalt ferrite, $CoFe_2O_4$, particles using recycled $Co_3O_4$ and their surface coating with silica using micro emulsion method. Firstly, the $Co_3O_4$ powders were separated from waste cemented carbide with acid-base chemical treatment. The cobalt ferrite nanoparticles with the size 10 nm are prepared by thermal decomposition method using recycled $Co_3O_4$. $SiO_2$ was coated onto the $CoFe_2O_4$ particles by the micro-emulsion method. The $SiO_2$-coated $CoFe_2O_4$ particles were studied their physical properties and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), high resolution-transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis and CIE Lab value.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2006.05b
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• pp.109-112
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• 2006

Social and environmental pressures draw greater significance on the recycling of the waste. Particularly, waste concrete is particularly crucial among the construction wastes in terms of conservation of natural construction resources as well as disposal crisis. The technology to recycle the waste concrete has been improved. This study has various replacement levels of natural fine aggregate with recycled fine aggregate while coarse aggregate is completely replaced with the recycled coarse aggregate and herein fundamental properties investigated include compressive strength, shrinkage and dynamic modulus of elasticity. As a result, it is anticipated that the recycled aggregate concrete can be successfully applied to structural concrete members provided a proper recycling process, mix design and curing method are practiced.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.81-87
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• 2020

Background: Kori unit #1 is permanently shut down after a 40-year lifetime. The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission recommends establishing initial decommissioning plans for all nuclear and radwaste treatment facilities. Therefore, the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) must establish an initial and final decommissioning plan for radwaste-treatment facilities. Radiation safety assessment, which constitutes one chapter of the decommissioning plan, is important for establishing a decommissioning schedule, a strategy, and cost. It is also a critical issue for the government and public to understand. Materials and Methods: This study provides a method for assessing external radiation dose to workers during decommissioning. An external dose is calculated following each exposure scenario, decommissioning strategy, and working schedule. In this study, exposure dose is evaluated using the deterministic method. Physical characterization of the facility is obtained by both direct measurement and analysis of the drawings, and radiological characterization is analyzed using the annual report of KAERI, which measures the ambient dose every month. Results and Discussion: External doses are calculated at each stage of a decommissioning strategy and found to increase with each successive stage. The maximum external dose was evaluated to be 397.06 man-mSv when working in liquid-waste storage. To satisfy the regulations, working period and manpower must be managed. In this study, average and cumulative exposure doses were calculated for three cases, and the average exposure dose was found to be about 17 mSv/yr in all the cases. Conclusion: For the three cases presented, the average exposure dose is well below the annual maximum effective dose restriction imposed by the international and domestic regulations. Working period and manpower greatly affect the cost and entire decommissioning plan; hence, the chosen option must take account of these factors with due consideration of worker safety.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.30-36
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• 2014

300,000 tons of waste tires are annually being produced with development of the automotive industry in Korea. Landfill and incineration treatment system are causing the economic problem through secondary environmental pollution and waste. Therefore, as one of the ways to take advantage of this, Thermo-Plastic Vulcanized (TPV) composite was prepared by the ground waste tire and plastic powders. The waste tire powder was gained by mechanical fracturing through crushers. The waste tire powder was ground by a shear crushing method and a 2-stage disk mill method instead of cutting crushing one. The waste tire powder of 50 mesh was mixed with Polypropylene(PP) in various proportions. TPVs were prepared by an extrusion, and tensile and impact tests were performed. In addition, the same experiments were repeated in 40, 80, 140 mesh conditions in order to observe size effect of waste tire powders.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.18 no.2_spc
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• pp.227-235
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• 2020

In this study, we discussed the limitations of gross alpha measurements for the characterization of radioactive wastes produced in nuclear facilities through experimental tests and Monte Carlo N-particle transport simulations. The determination of gross alpha is essential for the disposal of radioactive waste produced in nuclear facilities in Korea. The measurements of gross alpha are easy to perform and yield rapid analytical results, but it cannot be used for quantitative analysis. The error of counting efficiency for gross alpha with various masses of the deposit on planchets using KCl and ²⁴¹Am was determined. The relative deviation of the counting efficiency in samples having the same mass was 20%. Uranium was extracted from the soil through acid leaching and extraction chromatography, and the concentration of U determined by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was compared with the results for gross alpha. The gross alpha was underestimated by 50% compared to the U concentration by ICP-MS. The counting efficiency depended on the energy from the alpha emitters, which differed by up to three times in determination of the counting efficiency depending on the kinds of alpha radionuclides of interest. Therefore, the gross alpha is not compatible with the sum of radioactivity for each alpha emitter and is suitable as a screening method.