• Title/Summary/Keyword: Low dose ${\gamma}$-radiation

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Activation Analysis of Dual-purpose Metal Cask After the End of Design Lifetime for Decommission (설계수명 이후 해체를 위한 금속 겸용용기의 방사화 특성 평가)

  • Kim, Tae-Man;Ku, Ji-Young;Dho, Ho-Seog;Cho, Chun-Hyung;Ko, Jae-Hun
    • Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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    • v.14 no.4
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    • pp.343-356
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    • 2016
  • The Korea Radioactive Waste Agency (KORAD) has developed a dual-purpose metal cask for the dry storage of spent nuclear fuel that has been generated by domestic light-water reactors. The metal cask was designed in compliance with international and domestic technology standards, and safety was the most important consideration in developing the design. It was designed to maintain its integrity for 50 years in terms of major safety factors. The metal cask ensures the minimization of waste generated by maintenance activities during the storage period as well as the safe management of the waste. An activation evaluation of the main body, which includes internal and external components of metal casks whose design lifetime has expired, provides quantitative data on their radioactive inventory. The radioactive inventory of the main body and the components of the metal cask were calculated by applying the MCNP5 ORIGEN-2 evaluation system and by considering each component's chemical composition, neutron flux distribution, and reaction rate, as well as the duration of neutron irradiation during the storage period. The evaluation results revealed that 10 years after the end of the cask's design life, $^{60}Co$ had greater radioactivity than other nuclides among the metal materials. In the case of the neutron shield, nuclides that emit high-energy gamma rays such as $^{28}Al$ and $^{24}Na$ had greater radioactivity immediately after the design lifetime. However, their radioactivity level became negligible after six months due to their short half-life. The surface exposure dose rates of the canister and the main body of the metal cask from which the spent nuclear fuel had been removed with expiration of the design lifetime were determined to be at very low levels, and the radiation exposure doses to which radiation workers were subjected during the decommissioning process appeared to be at insignificant levels. The evaluations of this study strongly suggest that the nuclide inventory of a spent nuclear fuel metal cask can be utilized as basic data when decommissioning of a metal cask is planned, for example, for the development of a decommissioning plan, the determination of a decommissioning method, the estimation of radiation exposure to workers engaged in decommissioning operations, the management/reuse of radioactive wastes, etc.

Radurization Effect of Korean Mackerel (한국산 고등어의 방사선 조사효과)

  • CHO S. J.;CHOE Y. K.;LEE S. Y.;BYUN S. M.;CHUNG J. R.
    • Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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    • v.18 no.3
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    • pp.219-226
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    • 1985
  • To investigate potential application of radurization technique as an effective tool for controlling histamine accumulation, histamine contents were determined in fresh Korean mackerel meat samples irradiated at six dose levels of gamma radiation up to 1 Mrad during 35 day-storage at $0^{\circ},\;5^{\circ}\;and\;10^{\circ}C$. Total bacterial counts, total volatile bases and trimethylamine contents were also estimated. The minimum and maximum doses for Korean mackerel were determined to be 0.2 and 0.5 Mrad, respectively. Irradiation induced redening of fish muscle tissue and redening appeared to be dose dependent. At low doses, this redening contributed positively to the overall sensory qualities. At 0.5 and 1.0 Mrad, on the other hand, meat samples were excessively redened to the extent that red and white muscle layers were not readily distinguishable. No appreciable histamine accumulation occured during entire 35 day-storage in fresh mackerel meats, whether irradiated or not, when they were kept at ice temperature. At $5^{\circ}C$, histamine started to accumulate slightly during late storage in the samples irradiated at low doses. Even in the unirradiated samples, the histamine accumulation did not exceed the level of 10.0 mg per 100g meat until the 28th day at $5^{\circ}C$. At $10^{\circ}C$, however, histamine accumulation in the unirradiated was phenomenal from very early storage and the values reached 827.5 mg per 100g meat by the 35th day, while histamine accumulation in the irradiated was severely suppressed. Irradiation invariably brought about a significant reduction of initial microflora, disrupting normal spoilage pattern. This was reflected in the suppression of not only histamine but also total volatile bases and trimethylamine accumulation during post-irradiation storage at refrigerated temperatures.

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Utility of Wide Beam Reconstruction in Whole Body Bone Scan (전신 뼈 검사에서 Wide Beam Reconstruction 기법의 유용성)

  • Kim, Jung-Yul;Kang, Chung-Koo;Park, Min-Soo;Park, Hoon-Hee;Lim, Han-Sang;Kim, Jae-Sam;Lee, Chang-Ho
    • The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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    • v.14 no.1
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    • pp.83-89
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    • 2010
  • Purpose: The Wide Beam Reconstruction (WBR) algorithms that UltraSPECT, Ltd. (U.S) has provides solutions which improved image resolution by eliminating the effect of the line spread function by collimator and suppression of the noise. It controls the resolution and noise level automatically and yields unsurpassed image quality. The aim of this study is WBR of whole body bone scan in usefulness of clinical application. Materials and Methods: The standard line source and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) reconstructed spatial resolution measurements were performed on an INFINA (GE, Milwaukee, WI) gamma camera, equipped with low energy high resolution (LEHR) collimators. The total counts of line source measurements with 200 kcps and 300 kcps. The SPECT phantoms analyzed spatial resolution by the changing matrix size. Also a clinical evaluation study was performed with forty three patients, referred for bone scans. First group altered scan speed with 20 and 30 cm/min and dosage of 740 MBq (20 mCi) of $^{99m}Tc$-HDP administered but second group altered dosage of $^{99m}Tc$-HDP with 740 and 1,110 MBq (20 mCi and 30 mCi) in same scan speed. The acquired data was reconstructed using the typical clinical protocol in use and the WBR protocol. The patient's information was removed and a blind reading was done on each reconstruction method. For each reading, a questionnaire was completed in which the reader was asked to evaluate, on a scale of 1-5 point. Results: The result of planar WBR data improved resolution more than 10%. The Full-Width at Half-Maximum (FWHM) of WBR data improved about 16% (Standard: 8.45, WBR: 7.09). SPECT WBR data improved resolution more than about 50% and evaluate FWHM of WBR data (Standard: 3.52, WBR: 1.65). A clinical evaluation study, there was no statistically significant difference between the two method, which includes improvement of the bone to soft tissue ratio and the image resolution (first group p=0.07, second group p=0.458). Conclusion: The WBR method allows to shorten the acquisition time of bone scans while simultaneously providing improved image quality and to reduce the dosage of radiopharmaceuticals reducing radiation dose. Therefore, the WBR method can be applied to a wide range of clinical applications to provide clinical values as well as image quality.

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