• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.35-43
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• 2015

A large amount of radioactively-contaminated gravel can be produced on the demolition/restoration of facilities related the back end of fuel cycle. However, because of the lacking in basic knowledge for decontamination of radioactive-contami-nated gravel, this study has performed the basic tests using for soil-washing. To find effective decontamination condition, several experiments were carried out for the selection of optimal decontamination agents. Washing by 0.1 M nitric acid was proved to be more effective than that by distilled water or surfactant for decontamination of uranium-contaminated gravel. In addition, crushing/grinding of uranium-contaminated gravel prior to washing was contributed to increase in of removal efficiency of uranium and reduction of decontamination time. The smaller the sizes of crushed gravel was, the more the removal efficiency increased. Also, small the sized particles improved chances for meeting the clearance requirement of the treated gravel.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.235-242
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• 2014

Uranium can be released into the water environment from natural sources and human activities. The natural source of uranium is dominant in the Korean soil and groundwater environments. Uranium has both of radioactive and chemical toxic properties. Therefore, a drinking water contaminated with uranium has a high health risk. This study was conducted to determine the uranium concentration of water systems including small village drinking water system, groundwater for drinking water purpose, spring water, groundwater monitoring well, and emergency water suppling system. The uranium concentration was compared with domestic and other countries' standard. The contamination level was also evaluated on the basis of geological characteristics of the area. Among total 803 samples, 6 exceeded the Korean standard, $30{\mu}g/{\ell}$ and this was about 0.7% of the total sample. On the basis of geology, uranium concentration appeared to be increased in order of biotite granodiorite > biotite granite > gneissoid granite. The highest level of uranium was 12.4 in average.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.119-123
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• 2013

A simple laboratory-made radioactive source to check the integrity of a gamma spectrometry system with HPGe detector was developed. The check source consists of radium-riched soil which was ground in size of less than 0.154mm and contained in air tight cylinderical vial, and provides photons with 12 distinct energies. The spectra of the check source were measured once a month during one year, analyzed the charactreictics of their peaks. When the gamma spectrometry system was in normal state, the areas and FWHMs of the gamma rays with more than 3% gamma emission rate in radium and its decay products was constant within standard deviation 2% and 3%, respectively, except 77 keV peak. And it was found that this check source can play a sufficient role to check the integrity of a gamma spectrometry system using 10 peaks in the range of 77 to 2202 keV.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Groundwater Environment
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.80-87
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• 1998

Since groundwater flow paths have one of the major roles to transport the radioactive nuclides from the radioactive waste repository to the biosphere, the discrete fracture network model is used for the rock block scale flow instead of the porous continuum model. This study aims to construct a three dimensional discrete fracture network to interpret the groundwater flow system in the study site. The modeling work includes the determination of the probabilistic distribution function from the fracture geometric and hydraulic parameters, three dimensional fracture modeling and model calibration. The results of the constant pressure tests performed in a fixed interval length at boreholes indicate that the flow dimension around boreholes shows mainly radial to spherical flow pattern. The fracture transmissivity value calculated by Cubic law is 6.12${\times}$10$\^$-7/ ㎡/sec with lognormal distribution. The conductive fracture intensity estimated by FracMan code is 1.73. Based on this intensity, the total number of conductive fractures are obtained as 3,080 in the rock block of 100 m${\times}$100 m${\times}$100 m.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.676-680
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• 2003

Dissolution of magnetite powders by 0.05 M citric acid was investigated at $50^{\circ}C$. All the tests were performed in the pH range between 2.0 to 5.0, which was adjusted using nitric acid or sodium hydroxide. Concentration of each of the dissociated chemical species of citric acid under various solution pHs was calculated using the ionization constants. Variation of zeta potential of magnetite with pH changes was also investigated. The dissolution reaction was explained by comparing the concentration of the dissociated chemical species of citric acid with the zeta potential. Longer than 3 h of induction time was required to dissolve the magnetite. The dissolution behaviour of magnetite was well described by the equation. The physical meaning of each parameter was explained successfully from the model equation.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.245-254
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• 2001

The experimental study on disposal cover through the performance test facility offers reliability in the safety of near surface disposal of low and intermediate level radioactive waste. To ensure the long-term safety of the repository, the impermeability, integrity, resistance to degradation and ease of maintenance might be considered as the basic performance requirement of the disposal cover. considering the difficulties to meet these performance requirement by using single layer, the disposal cover design which is composed of top layer, middle drainage layer and bottom low permeability layer is schemed for the test facility. The water balance of the cover was evaluated by using HELP code. For the long-term monitoring of the soil moisture content and matric potential, TDR probes and tensiometers will be installed in 6 test cells. Each test cell is dimensioned 3$\times$3$\times$3.3m.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.531-549
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship of hydrochemistry, geology, fault with occurrence of uranium and radon-222 from the groundwater in the Yeongdong area. In this study, 49 groundwater and 4 surface water samples collected in the study area were collected on two separate occasions. The surface radioactivities were measured at 40 points to know the relationship between the occurrence of uranium in groundwater and surface geology. The chemical composition of groundwater showed three types : $Ca-HCO_3$, $Na-HCO_3$ and $Ca-HCO_3(SO_4,\;NO_3)$. Two groundwater of 49 samples exceeded the maximum contaminant levels of uranium, $30{\mu}g/L$, proposed by the Ministry of Environment of Korea and 11 groundwater of 40 samples for Rn-222 concentrations exceeded the 148 Bq/L maximum contaminant level of US EPA. Most of unsuitable groundwater are located in the geological boundary related with the biotite gneiss and the surface radioactivities of rock samples showed no relationship with groundwater geochemical constituents. The strike-slip fault, Youngdong fault, is $N45^{\circ}E$ direction and the high concentrations of uranium in upper part of fault, consisted of granite and granitic gneiss are detected but in lower part, consisted of metamorphic sedimentary rock are not detected. It suggests that the natural radioactive concentrations are related with the geologic characteristics and the migration and diffusion of natural radioactive materials are affected by the fault.

• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.289-302
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• 2023

The study area was Gangnim-myeon, Hoengseong-gun, Gangwon-do, composed of the Chiaksan gneiss complex, and it was revealed that the concentrations of uranium (U) and thorium (Th) within the groundwater of the study area exceeded their water quality standards. Hence, artificial weathering experiments were conducted to elucidate mineralogically the mechanisms of their leaching using drilling cores obtained from the corresponding groundwater aquifers. First of all, the mineralogical compositions of core samples were observed, and the results indicated that the content of clinochlore, a member of the chlorite group of minerals that can form through low- and intermediate-temperature metamorphisms, was relatively higher. In addition, the Th concentration was measured ten times higher than that of U. The results of artificial weathering experiments suggested that the Th concentrations gradually increased through the dissolution of radioactive-element-bearing minerals up to the first day, and then they tended to decrease. It could be attributed to the fact that Th was leached with the dissolution of thorite, which might be a secondary mineral, and then dissolved Th was re-precipitated as the various forms of salt, such as sulfate. Even though the U content was lower than that of Th in the core samples, the U concentration was one hundred times higher than that of Th after the weathering experiments. It is likely caused by the gradual dissolution and desorption of U included in intensively weathered thorite or adsorbed as a form of UO₂²⁺ on the mineral surface. In addition, the leaching tendency of U and Th was positively correlated with the bicarbonate concentration. However, the concentrations between U and Th in groundwater exhibited a relatively lower correlation, which might result from the fact that they occurred from different sources, as aforementioned. Among various kinetic models, the parabolic diffusion and pseudo-second-order kinetic models were confirmed to best fit the dissolution kinetics of both elements. The period that would be taken for the U concentration to exceed its drinking-water standard was inferred using the regressed parameters of the best-fitted models, and the duration of 29.4 years was predicted in the neutral-pH aquifers with relatively higher concentrations of HCO₃, indicating that U could be relatively quickly leached out into groundwater.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.359-367
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• 2016

Background: As new legislation has come into force implementing radiation safety management for the use of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM), it is necessary to establish a rapid and accurate measurement technique. Measurement of $^{238}U$ and $^{232}Th$ using conventional methods encounter the most significant difficulties for pretreatment (e.g., purification, speciation, and dilution/enrichment) or require time-consuming processes. Therefore, in this study, the applicability of ED-XRF as a non-destructive and rapid screening method was validated for raw materials and by-product samples. Materials and Methods: A series of experiments was conducted to test the applicability for rapid screening of XRF measurement to determine activity of $^{238}U$ and $^{232}Th$ based on certified reference materials (e.g., soil, rock, phosphorus rock, bauxite, zircon, and coal ash) and NORM samples commercially used in Korea. Statistical methods were used to compare the analytical results of ED-XRF to those of certified values of certified reference materials (CRM) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Results and Discussion: Results of the XRF measurement for $^{238}U$ and $^{232}Th$ showed under 20% relative error and standard deviation. The results of the U-test were statistically significant except for the case of U in coal fly ash samples. In addition, analytical results of $^{238}U$ and $^{232}Th$ in the raw material and by-product samples using XRF and the analytical results of those using ICP-MS ($R^2{\geq}0.95$) were consistent with each other. Thus, the analytical results rapidly derived using ED-XRF were fairly reliable. Conclusion: Based on the validation results, it can be concluded that the ED-XRF analysis may be applied to rapid screening of radioactivities ($^{238}U$ and $^{232}Th$) in NORM samples.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Groundwater Environment
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.111-119
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• 1999

The purpose of this study is the simulation of discontinuous rockmass and identification of characteristics of discontinuity network as a branch of the study on characteristics of groundwater system in discontinuous rockmass for evaluation of safety on disposal site of radioactive waste. In this study the site for LPG underground storage was selected for the similarities of the conditions which were required for disposal site of radioactive waste. Through the identification of hydraulic properties. characteristics of discontinuities and selection of discontinuity model around LPG underground storage facility. the applications of discrete fracture network model were evaluated for the analysis of pathway. The orientation and spatial density of discontinuities are primarily important elements for the simulation of groundwater and solute transportation in discrete fracture network model. In this study three fracture sets identified and the spatial intensity (P$_{32}$) of discontinuities is revealed as 0.85 $m^2$/㎥. The conductive fracture intensity (P$_{32c}$) estimated for the simulation area around propane cavern (200${\times}$200${\times}$200) is 0.536 $m^2$/㎥. Truncated conductive fracture intensity (T-P$_{32c}$) is calculated as 0.26 $m^2$/㎥ by eliminating the fracture with the iowest transmissivity and based on this value the pathway from the water curtain to PC 2. PC 3 analyzed.