• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.10-21
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• 2015

The present study introduces a novel numerical approach for solving dispersion dominated problems with Cauchy boundary condition in an Eulerian-Lagrangian scheme. The study reveals the incapability of traditional Neuman approach to address the dispersion dominated problems with Cauchy boundary condition, even though it can produce reliable solution in the advection dominated regime. Also, the proposed numerical approach is applied to a real field problem of radioactive contaminant migration from radioactive waste repository which is a major current waste management issue. The performance of the proposed numerical approach is evaluated by comparing the results with numerical solutions of traditional FDM (Finite Difference Method), Neuman approach, and the analytical solution. The results show that the proposed numerical approach yields better and reliable solution for dispersion dominated regime, specifically for Peclet Numbers of less than 0.1. The proposed numerical approach is validated by applying to a real field problem of radioactive contaminant migration from radioactive waste repository of varying Peclet Number from 0.003 to 34.5. The numerical results of Neuman approach overestimates the concentration value with an order of 100 than the proposed approach during the assessment of radioactive contaminant transport from nuclear waste repository. The overestimation of concentration value could be due to the assumption that dispersion is negligible. Also our application problem confirms the existence of real field situation with advection dominated condition and dispersion dominated condition simultaneously as well as the significance or advantage of the proposed approach in the real field problem.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.245-261
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• 2019

Radioactive contaminant from a nuclear facility moves to the ecosystem by run-off or groundwater flow. Among the two mechanisms, contaminant plume through a river can be easily detected through a surface water monitoring system, but radioactive contaminant transport in groundwater is difficult to monitor because of lack of information on flow path. To understand the contaminant flow in groundwater, understanding of the geo-environment is needed. We suggest a method to decide on monitoring location and points around an imaginary nuclear facility by using the results of site characterization in the study area. To decide the location of a monitoring well, groundwater flow modeling around the study area was conducted. The results show that, taking account of groundwater flow direction, the monitoring well should be located at the downstream area. Also, monitoring sections in the monitoring well were selected, points at which groundwater moves fast through the flow path. The method suggested in the study will be widely used to detect potential groundwater contamination in the field of oil storage caverns, pollution by agricultural use, as well as nuclear use facilities including nuclear power plants.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.87-99
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• 2016

We present the results of two-dimensional numerical simulations predicting the flow of groundwater in a fractured unsaturated zone. We applied the k-field distribution of permeability derived from discrete fracture network (DFN) modeling as the hydraulic properties of a model domain. To model an unsaturated zone, we set the depth from the ground surface to the underground aquifer. The rate of water infiltration into the unsaturated zone was divided into two parts, an artificial structure surface and unsaturated soil zone. The movement of groundwater through the unsaturated zone was simulated with particular emphasis on contaminant transport. It was clearly observed that the contaminants dissolved in groundwater transported vertically from the ground surface to the saturated zone.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.29-37
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• 2007

A conventional single compartment model cannot simulate reasonably the migration phenomenon of contaminants through unsaturated zone, due to the intrinsic unrealistic assumption of the compartment model that contaminants entering a compartment are immediately and uniformly mixed. Although, a multi-compartments model, in which even physically identical layer is divided into multiple compartments, may be used for explaining the retardation of contaminant mass flux along with increasing number of compartments, its numerical modeling is usually time-consuming and appropriate analytical solutions have not been reported yet. In order to improve the conventional compartment models on contaminant migration through unsaturated zone, a series of analytical solutions for multi-compartments model were derived and a generalized constraint under which the results from multi-compartments model can be simply approximated by single compartment model was proposed. The simplified approximation method was verified by a simple numerical analysis on the constraint under hypothetical conditions. It was also proved that the influent contaminant transfer rate from the bulk unsaturated zone can be generally represented into a time-dependent nominal transfer rate rather than a constant. In addition, the nominal transfer rate turned out to be very sensitive to the contaminant transfer rate between compartments in unsaturated zone, but to be almost insensitive to the transfer rate from contaminated zone. It is expected that the simplified approximation method developed in this study can be used for rapid and reasonable estimation of the migration phenomenon of contaminant through unsaturated zone, instead of time-consuming multi-compartments modeling.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.24 no.11
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• pp.1519-1527
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• 2020

AGeneral radiation measuring devices have been developed in the form of spatial dose rate detection devices that measure dose rates to radioactive contaminant and 2D or 3D imaging devices for radioactive contamination information. Each of these radiation detection techniques has advantages. The advantages of both detection devices are necessary to minimize personal injury and rapid decontamination in the area of a radioactive accident. In this paper, we proposed a technique that can measure the dose rate and direction information about the radioactive pollutant source in real time using a detection sensor, a rotating body, and a directional shield for radioactive pollutant detection. The rotational-based detection device is configured to check the dose rate and direction using the location information of the rotator and measurement value. We proposed a measurement technique for vertical and horizontal directions through multiple holes. It was confirmed that the measurement error for direction information was less than 1% when detected in the horizontal direction.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.155-163
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• 2003

The groundwater flow and contaminant transport numerical models have been established for analyzing the movements of pollutants in subsurface soil at Daeduk site. The groundwater flow and concentration of U-234 using the numerical models were simulated around Daeduk nuclear facilities. The computed groundwater flow was mainly advected toward the direction of east and southeast around HANARO in the site. The radioactive material entered into the subsurface soil was transported along the same direction with groundwater flow. The radioactive material deposited on the surface from the calculated concentration distributions was not affected by surrounding environment of the site.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.177-183
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• 2018

This study assessed an application of electrocoagulation (EC) for the removal of cobalt (Co) in radioactive liquid waste from nuclear power plant. The EC process is an electrochemical means to remove a contaminant in wastewater and a novel process to complement the disadvantage of chemical treatment and membrane process. Radioactive liquid waste has been produced from washing process of radio nuclide power plant cooling system. The EC process eliminates Co from the electrolyte within 10 min; in addition, the dewatered sludge produced in EC process is only 0.2 g. Therefore, the EC process is a promising technique for the removal of Co in radioactive liquid waste and volume reduction of wastes.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.63-72
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• 2015

The low and intermediate-level radioactive waste generated in Korea is disposed of at Wolsong Disposal Facility. For the safety of a disposal facility, it must be assessed by considering some abnormal scenarios including human intrusion as well as those by natural phenomena. The human intrusion scenario is a scenario that an incognizant man of the disposal facility will be occurred by the drilling. In this paper, the well usage scenario was classified into the human intrusion event as the probability of the well drilling is very low during the man's lifecycle and then was assessed by using conservative assumptions. This scenario was assessed using the dilution factor of contaminants released from a disposal facility and then it was introduced the applied methodology in this study. The assessed scenario using this methodology is satisfied the regulatory limits.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.17 no.1 s.66
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• pp.17-25
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• 2007

Research and development for disposal of contaminants including radioactive wastes in deep underground have been carried out from laboratory works. However, validation and reliability of the data from the laboratory are arguing issues because they are not obtained from real disposal situations. Underground research laboratory (URL) is not only a solution to overcome such limitations, but also a valuable facility for performance assessment as an engineering scale. However, it requires much budget, and environmental issues can give rise to social conflicts easily. Such considering points related to URL are discussed as well as current status of worldwide URLs are introduced. Furthermore study plans for solute transport in a small-scale underground research tunnel (KURT), which was authorized recently as an non-radioactive facility in Korea, also described.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.175-182
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• 2010

As part of a fundamental study on the volume reduction of contaminated concrete wastes, the separation characteristics of the aggregates and the distribution of the radioactivity in the aggregates were investigated. Radioisotope $^{60}Co$ was artificially used as a model contaminant for non-radioactive crushed concrete waste. Volume reduction for radioactively contaminated dismantled concrete wastes was carried out using activated heavy weight concrete taken from the Korea Research Reactor 2 (KRR-2) and light weight concrete from the Uranium Conversion Plant (UCP). The results showed that most of the $^{60}Co$ nuclide was easily separated from the contaminated dismantled concrete waste and was concentrated mainly in the porous fine cement paste. The heating temperature was found to be one of the effective parameters in the removal of the radionuclide from concrete waste. The volume reduction rate achieved was above 80% for the KRR-2 concrete wastes and above 75% for the UCP concrete wastes by thermal and mechanical treatment.