• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
• /
• 2008.11a
• /
• pp.183-184
• /
• 2008

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
• /
• 2003.05a
• /
• pp.56.1-56.1
• /
• 2003

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
• /
• 2003.10a
• /
• pp.69.2-69.2
• /
• 2003

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.22 no.3
• /
• pp.277-283
• /
• 1989

For the study of attenuation phenomena of the radioactive elements in solution, the adsorption experiment of thorium, uranium, barium and strontium on kaolinite, gibbsite, quartz, granite and shale as a function of time, pH and the surface area was conducted under the competition condition each other. There are two steps of adsorption kinetics. The first step is faster and completes in hours or a day, and the second step is slower eqiulibrium reaction. The adsorption rate which is considered to be related to CEC differs with adsorbent and decreases in the order of shale, kaolinite, granite, gibbsite and quartz. On the other hand, the adsorption rate for the same adsorbent differs with elements in the order of thorium,uranium, barium and strontium in decreasing rate. It is also affected by pH of the solution and the surface area of adsorbent. In conclusion, we didn't find any different between noncompetition condition and competition condition, and this means that we only have to consider the pH of ground water, the characteristics of the geological materials and the kinds of radioactive element in the case of selection of the places for the radioactive waste disposal.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.47 no.1
• /
• pp.85-93
• /
• 2015

Background: $^{241}Am$, $^{243}Am$, and $^{237}Np$ isotopes are among the most radiotoxic components of spent nuclear fuel. Recently, researchers have planned different incineration scenarios for the highly radiotoxic elements of nuclear waste in critical reactors. Computational methods are widely used to predict burnup rates of such nuclear wastes that are used under fuel matrixes in critical reactors. Methods: In this work, the Monte Carlo N-particle transport code was used to calculate the neutronic behavior of a transuranic (TRU)-bearing CANada Deuterium Uranium 6 reactor. Results: The computational data showed that the 1.0% TRU-containing thorium-based fuel matrix presents higher proliferation resistance and TRU depletion rate than the other investigated fuel Matrixes. The fuel matrix includes higher negative temperature reactivity coefficients as well. Conclusion: The investigated thorium-based fuel matrix can be successfully used to decrease the production of highly radiotoxic isotopes.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.51 no.2
• /
• pp.377-383
• /
• 2019

Targeting at simulating the application of thorium-uranium (TU) fuel in the CANDU-6 reactor, this paper analyzes the process using the code DRAGON/DONJON where the discrete TU fuel pins are applied in the CANDU-6 reactor under the time-average equilibrium refueling. The results show that the coolant void reactivity of the assembly analyzed in this paper is lower than that of 37-element bundle cell with natural uranium and 37-element bundle cell with mixed TU fuel pins; that the max time-average channel/bundle power of the core meets the limits - less than 6700kW/860 kW; that the fuel conversion ratio is higher than that of the CANDU-6 reactor with natural uranium; and that the exit burnup increases to 13400 MWd/tU. Thus, the simulation in this paper with the fuel in the 37-element bundle cell using discrete TU fuel pins can be considered to be applied in CANDU-6 reactor with adequate modifications of the core structure and operating modes.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.55 no.7
• /
• pp.2678-2686
• /
• 2023

This work demonstrates the results of full-scale numerical experiments of a hybrid thorium-containing fuel plant operating in a state close to critical due to a controlled source of D-T neutrons. The proposed facility represented a level of generated power (~10-100 MW_t) in a small pilot. In this work, the simulation of the D-T neutron plasma source operation in conjunction with the facility blanket was performed. The fission of fuel nuclei and the formation of spatial-energy release were studied in this simulation, in pulsed and stationary modes of the facility operation. The optimization results of neutronic and fluid dynamics studies to level the emerging offsets of the radial energy formed in the volume of the facility multiplying part due to the pulsed operation of the D-T neutron plasma source were presented. The results will be useful in improving the power control-based subcriticality monitoring method in coupled systems of the "pulsed neutron source-subcritical fuel assembly" type.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.56 no.6
• /
• pp.2239-2246
• /
• 2024

The present study aimed to assess the radioactive hazards associated with the application of granitoid rocks in building materials. An HPGe spectrometer was used to detect the levels of the radioactive elements uranium-238, thorium-232, and potassium-40 in the granitoid rocks. The results showed that the levels of these elements were lower (38.32 < 33 Bq kg^-1), comparable (47.19-45 Bq kg^-1) and higher (992.26 ≫> 412 Bq kg^-1) than the worldwide limits for ²³⁸U, ²³²Th, and ⁴⁰K concentration, respectively. The exposure to gamma radiation of granitoid rocks was studied by various radiological hazard variables like the absorbed dose rate (D_air), the outdoor and indoor annual effective dose (AED_out and AED_in), and excess lifetime cancer risk (ELCR). A variety of statistical methods, including Pearson correlation, principal component analysis (PCA), and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) was used, to study the relationship between the radioactive elements and the radiological hazards. According to statistical analysis, the main radioactive risk of granitoid rocks is contributed to by the elements uranium-238, thorium-232, and potassium-40. Granitoid rocks can be applied in building materials, but under control to prevent risk to the public.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
• /
• 2001.10a
• /
• pp.264-269
• /
• 2001

Large amounts of orange juice are produced in Japan every yea.. Accompanied by the production of orange juice, large amount of juice residues are also generated in nearly the same amounts with juice. Although, at present, some of these residues are marketed as a feed for cattle after drying and mixing with lime, the marketing price is lower than its production cost and the difference is paid by the consumers as a part of the price of orange juice. In the present work, we developed new innovative use of orange juice residue, a biomass waste, as adsorption gel for removing toxic heavy metals such as lead. arsenic, selenium and so on as well as radioactive elements such as uranium and thorium from environments. The major components of orange juice residue are cellulose. hemicellulose and pectin, which are converted into pectic. acid, an acidic polysaccharide, by means of saponification with concentrated sodium hydroxide solution. In the previous work, we found that crosslinked pectic acid gel strongly an selectively adsorbs lead over other metals such as zinc an copper. On the other hand. it is well known that polysaccharides such as cellulose can be easily phosphorylated and that phosphorylated polysaccharides have high affinity to uranium and thorium as well as some trivalent metals such as ferric iron and aluminum. Taking account of the noticeable characteristics of these polysaccharides, 2 types of adsorption gels were prepared from orange juice residue: one is the gel which was prepared by saponificating the residue followed by crosslinking with epichlorohydrin and another is that prepared by crosslinking the residue followed by phosphorylation. The former gel exhibited excellent adsorptive separation behavior for lead away from zinc owing to high content of pectic acid while the latter gel exhibited that for uranium and thorium. Both types of adsorption gels exhibited high affinity to ferric iron, which enables selective and strong adsorption for some toxic oxo-anions of arsenic (V and III), . selenium and so on via iron loaded on these gels. These results demonstrate that biomass wastes such as orange juice residue can be effectively utilized fer the purpose of removing toxic heavy or radioactive metals existing in trace or small amounts in environments.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.23 no.5
• /
• pp.705-707
• /
• 2002

Stability constants of complexes of aluminium(III) and thorium(IV) with methionine and cysteine have been determined by modified paper electrophoretic technique at $\mu$ = 0.1 M. The proportion of ionic species of methionine and cysteine were varied by changing pH of background electrolyte. The stability constants of the complexes metal-methionine-cysteine have been found to be 4.31 ± 0.12 and 5.40 ± 0.19 (log K values) for $Al^{3+}\;and\;Th^{4+} $ complexes, at temperature 35 ${^{\circ}C}$, respectively.