• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.285-299
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• 2006

At the end of 2005, 443 nuclear reactors were operating in 32 countries worldwide. They had provided about 3,000 TWh, which was just over 16 percent of global electricity supply. With the generating capacity of 368 GWe in 2004, the spent fuel generation rate worldwide, now becomes at about 11,000 tHM/y. Projections indicate that cumulative amounts to be generated by the year 2020, the time when most of the existing NPP will be closed to the end of their licensed lifetime, may be close to 445,000 tHM. In this regard, spent fuel management is a common issue in all countries with nuclear reactors. Whatever their national policy and/or strategy is selected for the backend of the nuclear fuel cycle, the management of spent fuel will contribute an impending and imminent issues to be resolved in the foreseeable future. The 2nd Review Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Joint Convention was held in Vienna from 15 to 24 May 2006. The meeting gave an opportunity to exchange information on the national policy and strategy of spent fuel management of the Contracting Parties, to discuss their situations, prospects and the major factors influencing the national policies in this field and to identify the most important directions that national efforts and international co-operation in this area should be taken. In this paper, an overview of national and global trends of spent fuel management is discussed. In addition, some directions are identified and recent activities of each Member States in the subject area are summarized.

• Journal of the military operations research society of Korea
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.14-28
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• 1990

The objective of this study is to propose how to acquire through international cooperation the sensitive nuclear technology, so called reprocessing technology. In spite of the need to reuse spent fuel, the transfer of the sensitive technology has been tightly controlled by the nuclear advanced countries due to the fear of nuclear proliferation and, in fact, it would be impossible to secure it by the economic means. In this regard, as a means of acquiring the sensitive nuclear technology, this study proposes the following; 1) President's declaration concerning the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, 2) the establishment and maintenance of national basis through inter-ministerial cooperation, 3) as a confidence building measure, the efforts to strengthen our role in the international nuclear community, and 4) the establishment of the synthetic feedback system to efficiently coordinate. In line with those stated above, this study suggests that it be necessary to invest consistently for developing new technologies and cultivating human resources. Furthermore, this study proposes the necessity to resolve the problems lying ahead by the national consensus achieved through the discussions among the public concerning the sensitive nuclear technology.

• Nuclear industry
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• v.19 no.6 s.196
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• pp.56-60
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• 1999

원자력 정책에서 안전성과 운영 실적 환경$\cdot$보전$\cdot$경제성 등은 매우 중요한 인자이다. 핵주기의 선택은 에너지 정책, 연료의 다양성, 공급의 안정과 관련된 모든 사회적$\cdot$환경적 영향에 있어 매우 중요하다. 특히 원전의 고준위 방사성 폐기물인 사용후 핵연료 관리는 높은 방사선 준위뿐만 아니라 장기적인 관리 기간이 소요되는 어려운 사업이다. 본 연구는 사용후 핵연료 관리 방안인 재처리와 직접 처분의 비용 분석, 안전성, 대국민용인 측면을 살펴보았다. 직접 처분이 재처리에 비해 약 $7{\%}$ 정도의 경제성이 있고, 직접 처분의 사용후 핵연료는 재처리 폐기물보다 높은 위험도를 갖는다. 대국민 용인 측면서는 두가지 처리 방법 모두 받아들여지지 않는다. 결론적으로, 사용후 핵연료 관리는 모든 사회 $\cdot$환경적 영향과 경제성을 고려한 핵주기 정책과 병행하여 지속적인 기술 개발을 통한 안전성 확보가 필요하다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.900-906
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• 2024

The Passively-Cooled Molten Salt Fast Reactor (PMFR) is one of the advanced design concepts of the Molten Salt Fast Reactor (MSFR) which utilizes a natural circulation for the primary loop and aims to attain a long-life operation without any means of fuel reprocessing. For an extended operation period, it is necessary to have enough fissile material, i.e., high excess reactivity, at the onset of operation. Since the PMFR is based on a fast neutron spectrum, direct implementation of a burnable absorber concept for the control of excess reactivity would be ineffective. Therefore, a localized moderator concept that encircles the active core has been envisioned for the PMFR which enables the effective utilization of a burnable absorber to achieve low reactivity swing and long-life operation. The modified PMFR design that incorporates a moderator and burnable absorber is presented, where depletion calculation is performed to estimate the reactor lifetime and reactivity swing to assess the feasibility of the proposed design. All the presented neutronic analysis has been conducted based on the Monte Carlo Serpent2 code with ENDF/B-VII.1 library.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.87-93
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• 2006

Inventories, and characteristics such as dimension, fuel rod array, weight, $^{235}U$ enrichment, and discharge burnup of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) generated from existing and planed nuclear power plants based on National 2nd Basic Plan for Electric Power Demand and Supply were investigated and projected to support geological disposal system design. The historical and projected inventory by the end 2057 is expected to be 20,500 and 14,800MTU for PWR and CANDU spent nuclear fuel, respectively. The quantity of SNF with initial $^{235}U$ enrichment of 4.5 wt.% and below was shown to be 96.5% in total. Average burnup of SNF revealed $\sim36$ GWD/MTU and $\sim40$ GWD/MTU for the period of 1994-1999 and 2000-2003, respectively. It is expected that the average burnup of SNF will be $\sim45$ GWD/MTU at the end of 2000's. From the comprehensive study, it was concluded that the imaginary SNF with $16\times16$ Korean Standard Fuel Assembly, cross section of $21.4cm\times21.4cm$, length of 453cm, mass of 672 kg, initial $^{235}U$ enrichment of 4.5 wt.%, discharge burnup of 55 GWD/MTU could cover almost all SNFs to be produced by 2057.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.69-76
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• 1976

This experiment has been carried out for the removal of long-lived radioactive-nuclides (Sr-90, Ru-106, Cs-137 and Ce-144) contained in the low-level radioactive effluents from the spent fuel reprocessing plant and nuclear power plant, in order to determine the decontaminability of various chemical coagulants and domestic clay mineral (montmorillonite). Phosphate process showed prominent efficiency for the removal of Ce-144, and lime-soda process did good removal efficiency for Sr-90. About Cs-137 copper-ferrocyanide process is much desirable. In phosphate or lime-soda process, most favorable removal efficiency was obtained at more than pH 11. The montmorillonite treated with sodium chloride showed a considerable improvement in the removal of the radioactive-nuclides. By a combined chemicals-montmorillionite process, the radioactive-nuclides could be more effectively removed than by the only chemicals process.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.188-198
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• 2021

A modern approach to nuclear energy involves reprocessing like transmutations of spent nuclear fuel products to reduce their radiotoxicity and time needed for their storage. For this purpose, they are immobilized in inert matrices made of zirconia and can be "burned" in fast neutron reactor or Accelerator Driven System. These matrices in spherical form can be obtained by sol-gel process. The paper presents a method of microspheres fabrication based on the combined Complex Sol-Gel Process and double extraction process consisting in the preparation of zirconium-ascorbate sol and simultaneous extraction of water and nitrates. The procedure allows obtaining gel microspheres with a diameter of 50 ㎛, which after heat treatment are processed into the final product. The synthesis of zirconia microspheres with Yttrium by internal gelation process is well known for over a decade now. However, the explanation and characterization of synthesis of such material by extraction of water process is rarely found. Parameters such as: pH, viscosity, shape, sphericity and crystal structure have been determined for synthesized products and semi-products. In addition, preliminary research consisting in irradiation of the obtained materials in fast and thermal neutron flux was carried out. The obtained results are presented and described in this work.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2009.07a
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• pp.2263_2264
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• 2009

원자력은 나라의 기저전력을 책임지는 대표적인 발전소다. 시간이 지남에 따라 에너지 수요는 증가하지만 원자력 에너지의 연료인 우라늄은 고갈이 되어가고 있다. 그 해결책으로 고속로 기술에는 소듐 냉각 고속로, 건식처리 방법으로는 파이로프로세싱이 있다. 이 기술로 사용 후 원전연료를 재처리하여 불가 수 십년에 불가한 원전문제를 수 천년으로 늘릴 수 있다. 하지만 우리나라는 사용 후 원전연료에 대해 정책방향이 결정되지 않았으며, 지역단체, 환경단체 등의 단체에서의 반대도 만만치 않을 것이다. 원전연료 관리 정책이 결정되어 국가 에너지안보의 기틀을 마련해야 할 것이다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.1644-1650
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• 2023

In spent fuel reprocessing, UO₂(DBP)₂ (U-DBP) can be deposited in stainless steel equipment. U-DBP must be removed by dissolution and the process must not cause corrosion to stainless steel. This study was conducted to find the best scheme for dissolution. U-DBP was manufactured by the titrimetric sedimentation method. The effects of different factors on the dissolution of U-DBP were investigated. For example, solid-liquid ratio, hydrazine carbonate solutions with different mass components, mixed solutions containing different concentrations of H₂O₂, and different carbonates. The results indicated that U-DBP does not have a regular crystal morphology. With the increase of the solid-liquid ratio and the mass fraction of hydrazine carbonate, the concentration of U(VI) at the dissolution equilibrium increases gradually. The addition of H₂O₂ has a great promotion effect on the dissolution. However, when the concentration of H₂O₂ is greater than 0.5 M, the dissolution solution may have an erosive effect on the stainless steel. (NH₄)₂CO₃ can increase the dissolution capacity of dissolved U-DBP, but it may also accelerate the corrosion of stainless steel.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.67-76
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• 2008

As the first comprehensive attempt at a national implementation, this study aims at assessing the external costs of major electricity generation technologies in Korea, particularly an evaluation of the impacts on human health resulting from exposures to atmospheric radiological emissions from nuclear power plants, and a monetary quantification of their damages. The methodology used for the assessment of the externalities of the selected fuel cycles has been developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), namely the SimPacts Model Package. The model is internationally recognized as a tool which can be applied to a wide range of fuels, different technologies and locations, for an externalities study. In this study, the relevant emissions are quantified first and then their impacts on human health are evaluated and compared. The study focused on all the nuclear power plants for the last 6 years ($2001{\sim}2006$) in Korea. With respect to nuclear power, the impact analysis only focuses on a power generation, however the front- and back-end nuclear fuel cycles are not included, namely uranium mining, conversion, enrichment, reprocessing, conditioning, etc., because these facilities are not present in Korea. The analysis results show that nuclear power in general, generates low external costs. The highest damage costs from the nuclear power plants among the 4 sites in Korea were estimated to be 3.9 mills/MWh, which is about 1/20th of the result for a similar case study conducted in the U.K., implemented through the ExternE project. This difference is largely due to the number of radionuclides included in the study and the amount of released radioactive emissions based on up-to-date information in Korea. In this study, the sensitivities of the major factors for nuclear power plants were also calculated. The analysis indicates that there was around a ${\pm}3%$ damage costs variation to a ${\pm}15%$ change of the reference population density and a ${\pm}1%$ damage cost variation to a $1{\sim}30$ meters change of the effective release height, respectively. These sensitive calculations show that there is only a minor difference when the reference costs are compared.