• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.141-160
• /
• 2021

Unit 1 of the Kori Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) and Unit 1 of the Wolsong NPP are being prepared for decommissioning; their decommissioning is expected to generate large amounts of intermediate-level, low-level, and very low level Waste. Mixed waste containing both radioactive and hazardous substances is expected to be produced. Nevertheless, laws and regulations, such as the Korean Nuclear Safety Act and Waste Management Act, do not define clear regulatory guidelines for mixed waste. However, the United States has strictly enforced regulations on mixed waste, focusing on the human health and environmental effects of its hazardous components. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Department of Energy regulate the radioactive components of mixed waste under the Atomic Energy Act. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulates the hazardous waste component of mixed waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. In this study, the laws, regulations, and authorities pertaining to mixed waste in the United States are reviewed. Through comparison and analysis with waste management laws and regulations in Korea, a treatment direction for mixed waste is suggested. Such a treatment for mixed waste will increase the efficiency of managing mixed waste when decommissioning NPPs in the near future.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
• /
• 2017.05a
• /
• pp.346-347
• /
• 2017

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.347-357
• /
• 2023

United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (U.S. NRC) specifies regulations on obtaining licenses and describes the technical position on the average waste concentration, also known as Concentration Averaging and Encapsulation Branch Technical Position (CA BTP); CA BTP helps classify blendable waste and discrete items and address concentration averaging. The technical position details are reviewed and compared in a real environment in Korea. A few cases of concentration averaging based on the application of CA BTP to domestic radioactive waste are presented, and the feasibility of the application is assessed. The radioactive waste considered herein does not satisfy the Disposal Concentration Limit (DCL) of the second-phase disposal facility while applying the preliminary classification. However, if CA BTP is applied when the radioactive waste is mixed with other radioactive waste items in a large and heavy container, it can be disposed of at the second-phase disposal facility in Gyeongju Repository. To apply the CA BTP of the U.S. NRC, it is necessary to investigate the safety assessment conditions of the US and Korea.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
• /
• 2019.05a
• /
• pp.401-402
• /
• 2019

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
• /
• 2005.11b
• /
• pp.300-315
• /
• 2005

Recently plasma surface-cleaning or surface-etching techniques have been focused in the respect of decontamination of spent or used nuclear parts and equipment. In this study decontamination rate of metallic cobalt surface was experimentally investigated via its surface etching rate with a $CF_4-O_2$ mixed gas plasma and metallic surface wastes of cobalt oxides were simulated and decontaminated with $NF_3$ - Ar mixed gas plasma. Experimental results revealed that a mixed etchant gas with about $80{\%}\;CF_4-20{\%}\;O_2$ gives the highest reaction rate of cobalt disk and the rate reaches with a negative 300 DC bias voltage up to $0.43\;{\mu}m$/min at $380^{\circ}C$ and $20{\%}\;NF_3-80\%$ Ar mixed gas gives $0.2\;{\mu}m$/min of reaction rate of cobalt oxide film.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.27-35
• /
• 2014

The existing flow regime map on mixed convection in vertical cylinders was investigated through an analysis of original literatures and its re-formation. The original literatures related to the existing map were reviewed. Using the investigated data and heat transfer correlations, the map was redrawn independently, and compared with the existing map. The redrawn map showed that mixed convection regime was not curved lines but straight lines and the transition regime was unable to be reproduced. Unlike the existing map with a little data, there are lots of data in the redrawn map. The reviews revealed that the existing map used the data selectively among the experimental and theoretical results, and a detailed description for lines forming mixed convection and transition regime was not provided. While considerable studies on mixed convection have been performed since that of Metais and Eckert, the existing map has still been used as the best method to distinguish natural, forced and mixed convection regime.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.55 no.8
• /
• pp.2889-2896
• /
• 2023

The waste acceptance criteria for heavy metals in mixed waste should be developed by reflecting the leaching behaviors that could highly depend on the repository design and environment surrounding the waste. The current standards widely used to evaluate the leaching characteristics of heavy metals would not be appropriate for the silo-type repository since they are developed for landfills, which are more common than a silo-type repository. This research aimed to explore the leaching behaviors of cementitious waste with Pb, Cd, and Sb metallic and oxide powders in an environment simulating a silo-type radioactive waste repository. The Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) and the ANS 16.1 standard were employed with standard and two modified solutions: concrete-saturated deionized and underground water. The compositions and elemental distribution of leachates and specimens were analyzed using an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy combined with scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDS). Lead and antimony demonstrated high leaching levels in the modified leaching solutions, while cadmium exhibited minimal leaching behavior and remained mainly within the cement matrix. The results emphasize the significance of understanding heavy metals' leaching behavior in the repository's geochemical environment, which could accelerate or mitigate the reaction.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Systems Engineering
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.85-96
• /
• 2021

Radioactive mixed waste (RMW) means waste mixed with radioactive substances and hazardous substances. In Korea, there are definitions and disposal restrictions on RMW in the Nuclear Safety Management Act, but it is difficult to apply because the contents are insufficient, so this paper proposed applicable management standards. The main RMW generated from nuclear power plants is waste oil, waste asbestos, PCB, and waste fluorescent liquid, and their radiation characteristics are mostly at very low levels and some are estimated at low levels. In addition to nuclear power plants, RMW also occurs in research institutes, industries, and hospitals. The acceptance criteria of all disposal facilities in the world basically prohibit disposal of RMW unless the hazardous substances of RMW are removed or mitigated below the standard value. Cases in Korea, the United States, Japan and Europe were reviewed to propose the RMW management standards in Korea. With reference to the results of the above review, this paper clearly defined RMW and proposed detailed management standards for the separation, storage, treatment and disposal of hazardous substances by applying the Waste Control Act. It also mentioned legislation of management standards, regulatory methods, and acceptance criteria of disposal facility operator.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
• /
• 2004.06a
• /
• pp.158-166
• /
• 2004

The optimal conditions are obtained for the decomposition of solid radioactive wastes, including ion exchange resin, zeolite, active charcoal, and sludge from nuclear power plant. In the process of decomposing the radioactive wastes were used the microwave acid digestion method with mixed acid. The solution after acid digestion by the following method was colorless and transparent. Each solution was analyzed with ICP-AES and AAS and the recovery yield for 5 different elements added the simulated radioactive wastes were over 94%. As an effective pre-treatment, the proposed microwave acid digestion conditions concerning the chemical trait of each radioactive waste are expected to be generally applied to above-mentioned radioactive wastes from nuclear power plant hereafter.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
• /
• 2005.11b
• /
• pp.176-181
• /
• 2005

The electrolytic reduction process and the electrorefining process, which are being developed at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), are to generate molten waste salts such as LiCI salt and LiCI-KCI eutectic salt, respectively. Our goal in waste salt management is to minimize a total waste generation and fabricate a very low­leaching waste form such as a ceramic waste form. Zeolite has been known to one of the most desirable media to immobilize waste salt, which is water soluble and easily radiolyzed. Zeolite can be also used to the removal of fission products from the spent waste salt. Molten LiCI salt is mixed with zeolite A at $650^{\circ}C$ to form a salt-loaded zeolite, and then thermally treated in above $900^{\circ}C$ to become an immobilized product with crystal phase of $Li_{8}Cl_{2}$-Sodalite. In this work, a crystal phase changes of immobilization medium, zeolite, during immobilization of molten LiCI salt using zeolite A is introduced.