• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.153-168
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• 2022

Petrological and mineralogical analyses were conducted to identify minerals containing radioactive elements (uranium) in the Chiaksan gneiss complex and to confirm their association with the surrounding groundwater. Fourteen minerals were identified through the microscopic and electron microscopy (SEMEDS) investigation. The principal minerals included plagioclase, biotite, quartz, alkali feldspar, chlorite, and calcite. Minor minerals were sphene, allanite, apatite, zircon, thorite, titanite, pyrite, and galena. A small amount of thorite was observed in the size of ~1 mm within macrocrystalline allanite. Allanite, which includes a large amount of rare earth elements, appeared in three distinctive patterns. The results of the EPMA analyses indicated that macrocrystalline allanite had higher elemental contents of TiO₂~1.70 wt.%, Ce₂O₃~11.86 wt.%, FeO ~13.31 wt.%, MgO ~0.90 wt.% and ThO₂ ~1.06 wt.% with the lowest average content of Al₂O₃ 17.35 ± 2.15 wt.% (n = 7), CaO 12.13 ± 1.81 wt.% (n = 7). An allanite existing at the edge of the sphenes encompassing titanites had a higher element content of Al₂O₃ ~24.00 wt.%, Nd₂O₃ ~5.10 wt.%, Sm₂O₃~0.66 wt.%, Dy₂O₃~0.86 wt.% and Y₂O₃~1.38 wt.% with the lowest average content of TiO₂ 0.35 ± 0.21 wt.% (n = 11), Ce₂O₃ 5.25 ± 1.03 wt.% (n = 11), FeO 9.84 ± 0.26 wt.% (n = 11), MgO 0.12 ± 0.05 wt.% (n = 11), and La₂O₃ 1.49 ± 0.29 wt.% (n = 11). Allanites in a matrix of parental rocks exhibited intermediate values between the two elemental compositions mentioned above. None of the uranium-rich minerals were observed in the migmatitic gneiss within the study area. Consequently, the origin of uranium in the groundwater was not associated with the geology of the surrounding environment, but our investigation proved the existence of abundant allanites containing significant amounts of radioactive thorium and rare earth elements.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.25-31
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• 2009

An analytical method of $^{99}Tc$ concentration in soil was set up and discussed considering the $^{99}Tc$ concentration in Korean soil measured with its analytical method. A selective TEVA resin was used to separate and purify the $^{99}Tc$ in the soil sample. $^{99m}Tc$ from a commercial $^{99}Mo/^{99m}Tc$ generator was used as a yield tracer for the chemical separation of $^{99}Tc$ and its problem when using $^{99m}Tc$ as a tracer was discussed. The chemical recovery yield of $^{99}Tc$ was above 70%. The optimum conditions of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry system(ICP-MS) were set up to determine the $^{99}Tc$ after the separation process. The minimum detectable activity(MDA) was 15 mBq/kg-dry in this analytical procedure. The $^{99}Tc$ concentration in soils of Jeju and Kori were measured in the rage of 33.73-89.16 mBq/kg-dry. Those values were less than those reported in other countries and seemed to be originated from atmospheric fallout.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.15-22
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• 2019

Coal combustion products are generated during coal combustion and can be grouped into fly ash and bottom ash depending on collection methods. Fly ash and bottom ash can be recycled for various purposes based on their characteristics. Australia is the fourth largest coal production country in the world and reuses coal ash as cement, concrete, mine filler, and agricultural soil amendment. When fly ash is used as a supplement for cement and concrete, strength of the cement and the durability of the concrete can be improved. Use of coal combustion product for mine backfill stabilizes underground mine voids and stores a large amount of coal ash in the voids. Because of alkalinity of coal combustion products, it can neutralize acid mine drainage when used for mine backfill. In addition, it can be used as an agricultural soil amendment to improve acidity and physical properties of the soil and to supply plant nutrients. Recycling of fly ash in Australia will be further expanded because of its low trace element contents that can be toxic to plants and low radioactive element contents existing within soil background concentrations. The characteristics of coal combustion products are related to the characteristics of the coal used for combustion, and since Korea imports coal from Australia, Korean coal combustion products also can be recycled for various purposes.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.41-47
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• 2005

Preparation of ferrocyanide-anion exchange resin and adsorption test of the prepared resin on the Cs$^{+}$$ion were performed. Adsorption capability of the prepared resin on the Cs$^{+}$ion in the simulated citric acid based soil decontamination waste solution was 4 times greater than that of the commercial cation exchange resin. Adsorption equilibrium of the prepared resin on the Cs$^{+}$ion reached within 360 minutes. Adsorption capability on the Cs$^{+}$ion became to decrease above the necessary Co$^{2+}$ion concentration in the experimental range. Recycling test of the spent ion exchange resin by the successive application of hydrogen peroxide and hydrazine was also performed. It was found that desorption of Cs$^{+}$ion from the resin occurred to satisfy the electroneutrality condition without any degradation of the resin.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.52-57
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• 2013

Radon, which is one of the radioactive elements in the natural world, exists in the atmosphere and water. When this element inflows into the human body, it carries the risks of developing lung cancer and stomach cancer. Therefore, in this study, an effective 10 L scaled reactor was produced to mitigate radon in water and the radon mitigation efficiency in water following the changes in water temperature and amount of aeration were evaluated. Based on this, the radon mitigation efficiency (SRRR; Specific radon removal rate) was derived per unit air volume. According to the study result, when water temperature increased from $10^{\circ}C$ to $16^{\circ}C$, the SRRR value increased from 95 $nCi/m^3{\cdot}L$ to 134.4 $nCi/m^3{\cdot}L$, and when the amount of aeration increased from 0.2 L/min to 1 L/min, the SRRR value decreased from 198.1 $nCi/m^3{\cdot}L$ to 72.2 $nCi/m^3{\cdot}L$. Therefore, based on the experimental results, it is considered that it can be applied as a examination factor and objective indicator during the design of future radon-in-water mitigation systems.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.67-79
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• 2016

Gaussian process regression (GPR) is proposed as a tool of long-term groundwater quality predictions. The major advantage of GPR is that both prediction and the prediction related uncertainty are provided simultaneously. To demonstrate the applicability of the proposed tool, GPR and a conventional non-parametric trend analysis tool are comparatively applied to synthetic examples. From the application, it has been found that GPR shows better performance compared to the conventional method, especially when the groundwater quality data shows typical non-linear trend. The GPR model is further employed to the long-term groundwater quality predictions based on the data from two domestically operated groundwater monitoring stations. From the applications, it has been shown that the model can make reasonable predictions for the majority of the linear trend cases with a few exceptions of severely non-Gaussian data. Furthermore, for the data shows non-linear trend, GPR with mean of second order equation is successfully applied.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.37-48
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• 2014

Lab scale rhizofiltration by using four plants was performed to investigate the uranium removal efficiency from groundwater. Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.), Chinese cabbage (Brassica campestris L.), radish sprouts (Raphanus sativus L.) and buttercup (Oenanthe javanica) were cultivated during 3 weeks in the phytotron. Glass jar ($12cm{\times}12cm{\times}8cm$ for each), containing 350 ml of the artificially uranium contaminated solution was used for 72 hours of the rhizofiltration. In experiments with different initial uranium concentration ($18.00{\mu}g/L$, $31.00{\mu}g/L$, $84.00{\mu}g/L$ and $116.00{\mu}g/L$) in solution, more than 70% of the initial uranium were removed by using lettuce, Chinese cabbage and radish sprouts and the residual uranium concentration in solution maintained lower than USEPA water tolerance limit ($30{\mu}g/L$). From the rhizofiltration experiments at various pH conditions, the highest uranium removal for all four plants was acquired at pH 3 in solution. Rhizofiltration experiments testing two field samples of groundwaters having high uranium concentrations ($86.00{\mu}g/L$ and $173.00{\mu}g/L$) were duplicated and more than 83% of the initial uranium were removed from the groundwater within 72 hours of rhizofiltration by using radish sprouts, which, suggests that the rhizofiltration can be a useful process to remediate uranium contaminated groundwater in the field. After the rhizofiltration experiment, the SEM and EDS analyses for the root surface of the radish sprouts were conducted, suggesting that the main mechanism of the rhizofiltration for the removal of uranium from groundwater would be surface precipitation on the root surface of the plant.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.565-583
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• 2020

In recent years, various social issues related to the natural radioactive elements detected in household goods and building materials are addressed, and should be solved promptly. In Korea, for more than 20 years, the Ministry of Environment has investigated the natural radioactive materials such as heavy metals, uranium, and radon in soil or groundwater. The origins of natural radioactive materials in them may have a close correlation with the geological factors including classification of rocks, petrogenetic origins, and deformation characteristics, but the exact geological correlations are not clarified because of the absence of the government policy preserved in the basement rocks, soils as well as groundwater in fault-related reservoirs. This study aims to perform a research on the correlation between the petrogeneses of the Phanerozoic plutonic rocks and natural radioactive concentrations in rocks (radon, uranium, thorium, potassium etc.) in Korea. Among the Phanerozoic plutonic rocks, alkaline plutonic rocks (syenite, monzonite and monzodiorite and alkali granite) show high U and Th concentrations by high solubilities of U, Th, Zr, REE, and Nb until the most extreme stages of magmatic fractionation (viz. crystal fractionation) due to high magma temperature and high alkalinity tendency. The highly fractionated high-K calalkaline and peraluminous granitic rocks (leucogranite, two-mica granite and leucocratic pegmatite are also U and Th concentrations compared with other less or medium fractionated granitic rocks (diorite, granodiorite and granite). The alkaline plutonic rocks are associated with intracontinental rifting and extensional environment after crustal thickening by collisional and subductional processes. In contrast, the dominant calc-alkaline granitic rocks in Korea are related to the arc environment of the subduction zone. In summary, the trends of the U, Th and K concentration from the Phanerozoic plutonic rocks in Korea are closely linked to the petrogenesis of the rocks in tectonic environment. The preliminary data for gamma-spectrometric mesurments of natural radionuclide contents (²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K) in the Phanerozoic plutonic rocks show high values in the alkaline and highly fractionated granitic rocks.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.341-352
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• 2017

Along with Cs-137 (half-life: 30.17 years), Sr-90 (half-life: 28.8 years) is one of the most important environmental monitoring radioactive elements. Rapid and easy monitoring method for Sr-90 using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) has been studied. Strontium belongs to a bivalent alkaline earth metal such as calcium and has similar electron arrangement and size. Due to these similar chemical properties, it can easily enter into the human body through the food chain via water, soil, and crops when leaked into the environment. In addition, it is immersed into the bone at the case of human influx and causes the toxicity for a long time (biological half-life: about 50 years). It is a very reductive and related with the specific reaction that makes wet analysis difficult. In particular, radioactive strontium should be monitored by nuclear power plants but it is very difficult to be analysed from high-cost problems as well as low accuracy of analysis due to complicated analysis procedures, expensive analysis equipment, and a pretreatment process of using massive chemicals. Therefore, we introduce the Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) analysis method that analyzes the elements in the sample using the inherent spectrum by generating plasma on the sample using pulse energy, and it can be analyzed in a few seconds without preprocessing. A variety of analytical plates for samples were developed to improve the analytical sensitivity by optimizing the laser, wavelength, and time resolution. This can be effectively applied to real-time monitoring of radioactive wastewater discharged from a nuclear power plant, and furthermore, it can be applied as an emergency monitoring means such as possible future accidents at a nuclear power plants.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.24 no.12
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• pp.1691-1703
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• 2015

When constructing tunnels, it is important to understand structural, geological and hydrogeological conditions. Geumgeong tunnel that has been constructed in Mt. Geumjeong for the Gyeongbu express railway induced rapid drawdown of groundwater in the tunnel construction area and surroundings. This study aimed to analyze groundwater flow system and baseflow using long-term monitoring and groundwater flow modeling around Geumgeong tunnel. Field hydraulic tests were carried out in order to estimate hydraulic conductivity, transmissivity, and storativity in the study area. Following the formula of Turc and groundwater flow modeling, the annual evapotranspiration and recharge rate including baseflow were estimated as 48% and 23% compared to annual precipitation, respectively. According to the transient modeling for 12 years after tunnel excavation, baseflow was estimated as $9,796-9,402m^3/day$ with a decreasing tendency.