• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2017.10a
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• pp.245-246
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• 2017

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2017.10a
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• pp.247-248
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• 2017

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.1-15
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• 2018

Despite of safety issues related to radiological hazards, 31 countries around the world are operating more than 450 nuclear power plants (NPPs). To operate NPPs safely, safety regulations from radiation protection organizations were developed and adopted in many countries. However, many cases of radionuclide releases at foreign NPPs have been reported. Almost all commercial NPPs routinely release radioactive materials to the surrounding environments as liquid and gas phases under control. These releases are called 'planned releases' which are planned, regularly monitored, and well documented. Meanwhile, the releases focused in this review, called 'unplanned releases', are neither planned nor monitored by regulatory and/or protection organizations. NPPs are generally composed of various structures, systems and components (SSCs) for safety. Among them, the SSCs near reactors are closely related to safety of NPPs, and typically fabricated to comply with stringent requirements. However, some non-safety related SSCs such as underground pipes may be constructed only according to commercial standards, causing the leakage of radioactive fluids usually containing tritium ($^3H$). This paper discusses SSCs of NPPs and introduces several cases of unplanned releases at foreign NPPs. The current regulation on the environmental radiological surveillance and assessment around the NPPs in South Korea are also examined.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.696-700
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• 2003

$H_2SO_4$ and citric acid had higher extraction efficiency of $^{137}Cs$ from soil than the other chemicals. Thus, $H_2SO_4$and citric acid were used as additives on remediation experiment by electrokinetic method to increase removal efficiency of $^{137}Cs$ from the radioactive soil being stored during a long time. An average velocity of effluent discharged from experimental column $2.0{\times}10^{-2}$/cm/min and a volume of the discharged soil wastewater for 10 days is 3.6 Pore Volume. The 54% of a total of $^{137}Cs$ in the column was decontaminated for 10 days. Furthermore, the predicted values of residual concentration by the developed model were quite similar to those obtained from experiments.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2004.02a
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• pp.83-95
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• 2004

The removal efficiency of several washing agents on the $Cs^+$ ion was investigated. Leaching of $Cs^+$ ion from the soil surface by washing agents is affected by the exchange capability of the washing solution. Reuse tests of the effective soil washing agents such as $BaCl_2$, NaOH, citric acid＋ $HNO_3$ and oxalic acid were performed. NaOH, citric acid ＋ $HNO_3$ and oxalic acid solutions can be reused after passing through the ion exchange column. Among the tested solutions, both of citric acid＋ $HNO_3$ and oxalic acid were effective for the decontamination of TRIGA research reactor soil. The radioactivity of soils can be reduced to a release level by the successive application.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.245-251
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• 2016

Soil can be contaminated by radioactive materials due to nuclide leakage following unexpected situations during the decommissioning of a nuclear power plant. Soil decontamination is necessary if contaminated land is to be reused for housing or industry. The present study classifies various soil remediation technologies into biological, physics/chemical and thermal treatment and analyzes their principles and treatment materials. Among these methods, this study selects technologies and categorizes the economics, applicability and technical characteristics of each technology into three levels of high, medium and low by weighting the various factors. Based on this analysis, the most applicable soil decontamination technology was identified.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2019

The accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) resulted in the deposition of large quantities of radionuclides over parts of eastern Japan. Radioactive contaminants have been observed over a large area including forests, cities, rivers and lakes. Due to the strong adsorption of radioactive cesium by soil particles, radioactive cesium migrates with the eroded soil, follows the surface flow paths, and is delivered downstream of population-rich regions and eventually to coastal areas. In this study, we developed a model to simulate the transport of contaminated sediment in a watershed hydrological system and this model was compared with observation data from eroded soil observation instruments located at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. Two methods were applied to analyze the soil particle size distribution of the collected soil samples, including standardized sieve analysis and image analysis methods. Numerical models were developed to simulate the movement of soil along with actual rainfall considering initial saturation, rainfall infiltration, multilayer and rain splash. In the 2019 study, a numerical model will be used to add rainfall shield effect by trees, evaporation effect and shield effects of surface water. An eroded soil observation instrument has been installed near the Wolsong nuclear power plant since 2018 and observation data are being continuously collected. Based on these observations data, we will develop the numerical model to analyze long-term behavior of radionuclides on land as they move from land to rivers, lakes and coastal areas.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.153-160
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• 2009

Vertical electrokintic-flushing remediation equipment was developed for the remediation of a radioactive soil near nuclear facilities. An optimum reagent was selected to decontaminate the radioactive soil near nuclear facilities with the developed vertical electrokintic-flushing remediation equipment, and the optimum remediation conditions were established to obtain a higher remediation efficiency. Namely, acetic acid was selected as an optimum reagent due to its higher remediation efficiency. When the electrokinetic remediation and the electrokinetic-flushing remediation results were compared, the removal efficiency of 4.6% and the soil waste solution volume of 1.5 times were increased in the electrokinetic remediation. When the potential gradient within an electrokinetic soil cell was increased by two times (4.0 V/cm), the removal efficiencies of $Co^{2+}$ and $Cs^+$ were increased by about 4.3%($Co^{2+}$ : 98.9%, $Cs^+$ : 96.7%). Also, when the reagent concentration was increased from 0.01M to 0.05M, the removal efficiency of $Co^{2+}$ was increased but that of $Cs^+$ was decreased. Therefore, the optimum remediation conditions were that the acetic concentration was $0.01M{\sim}0.05M$, the potential gredient was 4 V/cm, the injection of reagent 2.4ml/g, and the remediation period was 20days.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.151-157
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• 2005

For the treatment of regulatory clearance of the soils, a procedure for the radionuclides and radioactivity concentration analysis is under development. A strategy for soil sampling including random sampling after homogenization and standardization was set up. Statistical representativeness is considered for not only sampling strategy but also sample size. In this study, designed sample size was designed with confidence interval and error bound of soil using the pilot samples which were taken following the sampling strategy.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.247-248
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• 2011