• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.245-255
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• 2008

Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Company(KHNP) conducted site investigations for a low and intermediate-level nuclear waste repository in the Gyeong Ju site. The site characterization work constitutes a description of the site, its regional setting and the current state of the geosphere and biosphere. The main objectives of hydogeological investigation aimed to understand the hydrogeological setting and conditions of the site, and to provide the input parameters for safety evaluation. The hydogeological characterization of the site was performed from the results of surface based investigations, i.e geological mapping and analysis, drilling works and hydraulic testing, and geophysical survey and interpretation. The hydro-structural model based on the hydrogeological characterization consists of one-Hydraulic Soil Domain, three-Hydraulic Rock Domains and five-Hydraulic Conductor Domains. The hydrogeological framework and the hydraulic values provided for each hydraulic unit over a relevant scale were used as the baseline for the conceptualization and interpretation of flow modeling. The current hydrogeological characteristics based on the surface based investigation include some uncertainties resulted from the basic assumption of investigation methods and field data. Therefore, the reassessment of hydrostructure model and hydraulic properties based on the field data obtained during the construction is necessitated for a final hydrogeological characterization.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.301-314
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• 2016

Disused Sealed Radioactive Sources (DSRSs) are stored temporally in the centralized storage facility of Korea Radioactive Waste Agency (KORAD) and planned to be disposed in the low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste (LILW) disposal facility in Gyeongju city. In this study, preliminary post-closure safety assessment was performed for DSRSs in order to draw up an optimum disposal plan. Two types of disposal options were considered, i.e. engineered vault type disposal and rock cavern type disposal which were planned to be constructed and operated respectively in LILW disposal facility in Gyeongju city. Assessment end-point was individual effective dose of critical group and calculated by using GoldSim code. In normal scenario, the maximum dose was estimated to be approximately $1{\times}10^{-7}mSv/yr$ for both disposal options. It meant that both options had sufficient safety margin when compared with regulatory limit (0.1 mSv/yr). Otherwise, in well scenario, the maximum dose exceeded regulatory limit of 1 mSv/yr in engineered vault type disposal and the exposure dose was mainly contributed by $^{226}Ra$, $^{210}Pb$ (daughter nuclide of $^{226}Ra$) and $^{237}Np$ (daughter nuclide of $^{241}Am$). For rock cavern type disposal, even though the peak dose satisfied regulatory limit, the exposure doses by $^{14}C$ and $^{237}Np$ were relatively high above 10% of regulatory limit. Therefore, it is necessary to exclude $^{14}C$, $^{226}Ra$ and $^{241}Am$ for two type of disposal options and additional management such as long-term storage and development of disposal container for those radionuclides should be performed before permanent disposal for conservative safety and security.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.38 no.9
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• pp.839-845
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• 2001

In order to vitrify the Ion-Exchange Resin(IER), Dry Active Waste(DAW), and borate concentrate generated from the commercial nuclear facilities, the glass formulation study based on the their compositions was performed. Two glasses named as RG-1 and DG-1 were formulated as the candidate glasses for the vitrification of hte IER and DAW, respectively. A glass named as MG-1 was also formulated as a candidate glass for the vitrification of the mixed wastes containing the IER, DAW, and borate concentrate. The process parameters, product qualities, and economics were evaluated for the candidate glasses and confirmed experimentally for the some properties. The glass viscosity and electrical conductivity as the process parameters were in the desired ranges. the product qualities such as glass density, chemical durability, phase stability, etc. were satisfactory. In case of vitrifying the wastes using our developed glass formulation study, the volume reduction factors for the IER, DAW and mixed wastes were evaluated as 21, 89 and 75, respectively.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.54-62
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• 1994

The hydraulic properties of domestic natural clay/crushed rock mixture suggested as a candidate backfill material for the low and intermediate level waste repository were investigated. The dry density-water content relationship was studied to define an optimum water content that gives a maximum attainable dry density at constant compaction pressure. The hydraulic conductivities of clay/crushed rock mixture as a function of clay content were also measured. As the clay content decreased, the maximum attainable dry density increased and the optimum water content became more distinct. However the attainable density is not significantly sensitive to water content. The hydraulic conductivities of the mixture increased from 5 $\times$ 10$^{-12}$ m/s to 7 $\times$ 10$^{-10}$ m/s with clay content decreasing from 100 wt.% to 25 wt.% at dry density of 1.2 Mg/㎥. In case of dry density of 1.5 Mg/㎥, they maintain the lower values of 5 $\times$ 10$^{-12}$ m/s even at 25 wt.% clay content. The concept of effective clay dry density was suggested to estimate the hydraulic conductivity of the mixture. It was shown that the effective clay dry density concept can explain welt the hydraulic conductivities of the mixtures with various dry density and crushed rock content.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.171-178
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• 2008

Metal filter elements were newly introduced to the high temperature filter(HTF) system in the low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste vitrification plant. In order to evaluate the performance of various metal materials as filter media, elements made of AISI 316L, AISI 904L, and Inconel 600 were included to the test set of filter elements. At the visual inspection to the elements performed after completion of each test, a few dark spots were observed on the surface of some elements. Especially they were found much more at the AISI 316L elements than others. To check the dark spots are the corrosion phenomena or not, two kinds of analyses were performed to the tested filter elements. Firstly, the surfaces or the cross sections of filter specimens cut out from both normal area and dark spot area of elements were analyzed by SEM/EDS. The results showed that the dark spots were not evidences of corrosion but the deposition of sodium, sulfur and silica compounds volatilized from waste or molten glass. Secondly, the ring tensile strength were analyzed for the ring-shape filter specimens cut out from each kind of element. The result obtained from the strength tested showed no evidence of corrosion as well. Conclusionally, depending on the two kinds of analysis, no evidences of corrosion were found at the tested metal filter elements. But the dark spots formed on the surface could reduce the effective filtering area and increase the overall pressure drop of HTF system. Thus, continuous heating inside filter housing up to dew point will be required normally. And a few long-period test should be followed for the exact evaluation of corrosion of the metal filter elements.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.307-327
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• 2008

Geochemical study on the rocks and minerals of the Gyeongju low and intermediate level waste repository was carried out in order to provide geochemical data for the safety assessment and geochemical modeling. Polarized microscopy, X-ray diffraction method, chemical analysis for the major and trace elements, scanning electron microscopy(SEM), and stable isotope analysis were applied. Fracture zones are locally developed with various degrees of alteration in the study area. The study area is mainly composed of granodiorite and diorite and their relation is gradational in the field. However, they could be easily distinguished by their chemical property. The granodiorite showed higher $SiO_2$ content and lower MgO and $Fe_2O_3$ contents than the diorite. Variation trends of the major elements of the granodiorite and diorite were plotted on the same line according to the increase of $SiO_2$ content suggesting that they were differentiated from the same magma. Spatial distribution of the various elements showed that the diorite region had lower $SiO_2,\;Al_2O_3,\;Na_2O\;and\;K_2O$ contents, and higher CaO, $Fe_2O_3$ contents than the granodiorite region. Especially, because the differences in the CaO and $Na_2O$ distribution were most distinct and their trends were reciprocal, the chemical variation of the plagioclase of the granitic rocks was the main parameter of the chemical variation of the host rocks in the study area. Identified fracture-filling minerals from the drill core were montmorillonite, zeolite minerals, chlorite, illite, calcite and pyrite. Especially pyrite and laumontite, which are known as indicating minerals of hydrothermal alteration, were widely distributed in the study area indicating that the study area was affected by mineralization and/or hydrothermal alteration. Sulfur isotope analysis for the pyrite and oxygen-hydrogen stable isotope analysis for the clay minerals indicated that they were originated from the magma. Therefore, it is considered that the fracture-filling minerals from the study area were affected by the hydrothermal solution as well as the simply water-rock interaction.