• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.149-160
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• 2018

A large number of functional living products are being produced for eco-friendly or health-promoting purposes. In the manufacturing process, such products could be adulterated with raw materials with high radioactivity, such as monazite and tourmaline. Thus, it is essential to manage raw materials and products closely related to the public living. For proper management, an accurate radioactivity data of the processed products are needed. Therefore, it is essential to develop a rapid and validated analytical method. In this study, the concentration of the radioactive $^{238}U$ and $^{232}Th$ in building materials (e.g., tile, cement, paint, wall paper, and gypsum board) and living products (e.g., health products, textiles, and minerals) were determined and compared by ED-XRF and ICP-MS. By comparing the results of both methods, we confirmed the applicability of the rapid screening and precise analysis of ED-XRF and ICP-MS. In addition, $^{238}U$ and $^{232}Th$ levels were relatively lower in building materials than in living products. Particularly, $^{232}Th$ content in 6 of 47 living products exceeded (maximum $8.2Bq{\cdot}g^{-1}$) the standard limit of $^{232}Th$ content in raw material ($1.0Bq{\cdot}g^{-1}$).

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.377-384
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• 2015

A survey of the artificial radionuclides in rivers and lakes was conducted to investigate their levels in surface water. Water samples were collected at 60 points and analyzed by gamma-ray spectrometry with a measurement time of 10,000 seconds for ¹³⁴Cs, ¹³⁷Cs, and ¹³¹I. The obained values were lower than MDA for all points, except one point for ¹³¹I that was 0.533±0.058 Bq/L. ¹³¹I is known as a radioactive material that occurs frequently in sewage treatment plants. Because it is often used for medical treatments and subject to spreading into the environment due to the excretion from the patients. For the point where ¹³¹I was detected, we conducted additional investigation on the upstream river point and the effluent points of nearby sewage treatment plant to find the source of ¹³¹I. ¹³¹I was not detected at the upstream points of one of the upstream sewage treatment plants but found at the downstream points with the level being 0.257±0.034 to 0.799±0.051 Bq/L, proving the sewage treatment plant was the ¹³¹Isource.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.39-52
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• 2007

Quantitative analysis on release behavior of the $^{85}Kr\;and\;^{14}C$ fission gases from the spent fuel material during the voloxidation and OREOX process has been performed. This thermal treatment step in a remote fabrication process to fabricate the dry-processed fuel from spent fuel has been used to obtain a fine powder The fractional release percent of fission gases from spent fuel materials with burn-up ranges from 27,000 MWd/tU to 65,000 MWd/tU have been evaluated by comparing the measured data with these initial inventories calculated by ORIGEN code. The release characteristics of $^{85}Kr\;and\;^{14}C$ fission gases during the voloxidation process at $500^{\circ}C$ seem to be closely linked to the degree of conversion efficiency of $UO_2\;to\;U_3O_8$ powder, and it is thus interpreted that the release from grain-boundary would be dominated during this step. The high release fraction of the fission gas from an oxidized powder during the OREOX process would be due to increase both in the gas diffusion at a temperature of $500^{\circ}C$ in a reduction step and in U atom mobility by the reduction. Therefore, it is believed that the fission gases release inventories in the OREOX step come from the inter-grain and inter-grain on $UO_2$ matrix. It is shown that the release fraction of $^{85}Kr\;and\;^{14}C$ fission gases during the voloxidation step would be increased as fuel burn-up increases, ranging from 6 to 12%, and a residual fission gas would completely be removed during the OREOX step. It seems that more effective treatment conditions for a removal of volatile fission gas are of powder formation by the oxidation in advance than the reduction of spent fuel at the higher temperature.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.35-44
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• 2017

A gamma-ray peak of $^{226}Ra$ (186.2 keV) overlaps with one of $^{235}U$ (185.7 keV) in a gamma-ray spectrometry system. Though reference peaks of $^{235}U$ can be used to correct the peak interference of $^{235}U$ in the analysis of $^{226}Ra$, this requires a complicated calculation process and a high limit of quantitation. On the other hand, evaluating $^{226}Ra$ using the correction constant in the overlapped peak can make a rapid measurement of $^{226}Ra$ without the complicated calculation process as well as overcome the disadvantage in the indirect measurement of $^{214}Bi$, which means the confinement of $^{222}Rn$ gas in a sample container and a time period to recover the secular equilibrium. About 93 samples with 6 species for raw-materials and by-products were prepared to evaluate the activity of $^{226}Ra$ using the correction constant. The results were compared with the activity of $^{214}Bi$, which means the indirect measurement of $^{226}Ra$, to validate the method of the direct measurement of $^{226}Ra$ using the correction constant. The difference between the direct and indirect measurement of $^{226}Ra$ was generally below about ${\pm}20%$. However, in the case of the phospho gypsum, a large error of about 50% was found in the comparison results, which indicates the disequilibrium between $^{238}U$ and $^{226}Ra$ in the materials. Application results of the contribution ratio of $^{226}Ra$ were below about ${\pm}10%$. The direct measurement of $^{226}Ra$ using the correction constant can be an effective method for its rapid measurement of raw materials and by-products because the activity of $^{226}Ra$ can be produced with a simple calculation without the consideration of the integrity of a sample container and the time period to recover the secular equilibrium.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.311-318
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• 2010

U. S. NRC Regulation Guide 1.52 regulating ESF ACS in nuclear power plants has been revised to revision 3. To apply reduction of operability test time, allowance of alternative challenge agents for in-place leak test of HEPA filters, and upgrade of Methyl Iodide penetration acceptance criterion in activated carbon performance test suggested in Reg. Guide 1.52(Rev.3) on Yonggwang units 5 and 6 ESF ACSes, technical feasibility study was carried out with on-site experiments as well as experiments with a lab-scale model. It was confirmed that the moisture in the system returned to the level before the test in 1 or 4 days even though the moisture was removed during the operability test lasting more than 10 hours. Therefore, it is appropriate to perform monthly operability test in 15 minutes just long enough to check the operability of equipment. To change challenge material for in-place HEPA filter leak test, size of aerosol, production rate, and leak detection capability were compared for DOP and PAO. It was concluded that PAO can be substituted for DOP in nuclear power plants. The upgrade of Methyl Iodide penetration acceptance criterion from 0.175 % to 0.5 % in active carbon filter bed deeper than 4 inches was to conform to the change of activated carbon performance test method to ASTM D3803(1989). It was confirmed that Methyl Iodide penetration acceptance criterion of 0.5 % under $30^{\circ}C$, relative humidity 95 % condition was conservatively good enough for testing performance of active carbon insitu. The licence change of Yonggwang units 5 and 6 has been completed based on this study.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.23-34
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• 2009

The adsorption of iodide on untreated bentonite and bentonites modified with organic cation (i.e., hexadecylpyridinium chloride monohydrate ($HDP^+$)) was investigated, and the organobentonites were characterized using uptake measurements, ${\mu}$-XRD, and electrophoretic mobilities measurement. Uptake measurements indicate that bentonite has a high affinity for $HDP^+$. Our ${\mu}$-XRD study indicates that organobentonites significantly expanded in basal spacing and organic cations were substantially intercalated into the interlayer spaces of bentonite. The electrophoretic mobility indicates that organobentonite tht is modified with organic cations in excess of the CEC of bentonite is completely different from untreated bentonite in the surface charge distribution. We found significant differences in adsorption capacities of iodide depending on the bentonite properties as follows: iodide adsorption capacities were 439 mmol/kg for the bentonite modified with $HDP^+$ at an equivalent amount corresponding to 200% of the CEC of bentonite whereas no adsorption of iodide was observed for the untreated bentonite. The molecular environments of iodine adsorbed on organobentonites were further studied using I K-edge and $L_{III}$-edge x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). The X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) of iodine spectra from organobentonites was similar to that of KI reference solution. Linear combination fitting of EXAFS data suggests the fraction of iodine reacted with the organic compound increased with increasing loading of the organic compound on organobentonites. In this study, we observed significant differences in the adsorption environments of iodide depending on the modified property of bentonite and suggest that an organobentonite has potential as reactive barrier material around a nuclear waste repository containing anionic radioactive iodide.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.67-70
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• 2013

Purpose: Surge in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, hepatic artery chemical embolization is one of the effective interventional procedures. The PET/CT examination plays an important role in determining the presence of residual cancer cells and metastasis, and prognosis after embolization. The other hand, the hepatic artery chemical embolization of embolic material used lipiodol produced artifacts in the PET/CT examination, and these artifacts results in quantitative evaluation influence. This study, the radioactivity density and the percentage error was evaluated by the extent of the impact of lipiodol in the image of PET/CT. Materials and Methods: 1994 NEMA Phantom was acquired for 2 minutes and 30 seconds per bed after the Teflon, water and lipiodol filled, and these three inserts into the enough to mix the rest behind radioactive injection with $20{\pm}10MBq$. Phantom reconfigure with the iterative reconstruction method the number of iterations for two times by law, a subset of 20 errors. We set up region of interest at each area of the Teflon, water, lipiodol, insert artifact occurs between regions, and background and it was calculated and compared by the radioactivity density(kBq/ml) and the% Difference. Results: Radioactivity density of the each region of interest area with the teflon, water, lipiodol, insert artifact occurs between regions, background activity was $0.09{\pm}0.04$, $0.40{\pm}0.17$, $1.55{\pm}0.75$, $2.5{\pm}1.09$, $2.65{\pm}1.16 kBq/ml$ (P <0.05) and it was statistically significant results. Percentage error of lipiodol in each area was 118%, compared to the water compared with the background activity 52%, compared with a teflon was 180% of the difference. Conclusion: We found that the error due to under the influence of the attenuation correction when PET/CT scans after lipiodol injection performed, and the radioactivity density is higher than compared to other implants, lower than background. Applying the nonattenuation correction images, and after hepatic artery chemical embolization who underwent PET/CT imaging so that the test should be take the consideration to the extent of the impact of lipiodol be.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.236-243
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• 1998

Objectives: Local invasion of the thyroid cancer that is invasion of the upper aerodigestive tract, neurovascular structures of the neck and superior mediastinum, is infrequent and comprises of 1-16% of well-differentiated thyroid cancer. However the proximity of the thyroid gland to these structures provides the means for an invasive cancer to gain ready access into theses structures and when invasion occurs, it is the source of significant morbidity and mortality. So locally invasive thyroid cancer should be removed as much as possible, but still much debates have been exist whether the surgical method should be radical or conservative. This study was desinged to evaluate the clinical characteristics and the surgical treatment of the locally invasive thyroid cancer. Material and Methods: At the department of otorhinolaryngology of Hallym university, 10 patients diagnosed as locally invasive thyroid cancer among the 81 patients treated for thyroid cancer between 1991 to 1997 were retrospectively evaluated. Results: Of the 10 patients, 3 patients had histories of previous surgical treatment with or without radiation or radioactive iodine therapy. The site of invasion of thyroid cancer were trachea(7 cases), recurrent laryngeal nerve(5 cases), mediastinal node(5 cases), esophagus(3cases), larynx(3cases), carotid artery(3 cases), pharynx(l case), and other sites(4 cases). The operation techniques included 1 partial laryngectomy and 1 partial cricoid resection, 2 shavings and 3 window resections of the trachea, 1 sleeve resection of the trachea with end-to-end anastomosis and 1 cricotracheoplasty for tracheal invasion, 2 shavings and 1 partial esophagectomies for esophageal invasion, and 1 wall shaving and 2 partial resections with $Gortex^{\circledR}$ tube reconstruction for carotid artery invasion, and so on. Conclusions: These data and review of literature suggest that the surgical method should be perfomed on the basis of individual condition and complete removal of all gross tumor with preservation of vital structures whenever possible will offer a good result.