• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.179-190
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• 2008

The distribution characteristics of some major environmental radionuclides ($^{40}K$, $^{228}Ac$, $^{226}Ra$, $^{222}Rn$) and U in rocks, soils and soil gas were studied at Geumjeong-Gu, Busan, Korea. The activities of radionuclides in granitic rocks are decreased in the odor of $^{40}K$>thorium decay series>uranium decay series. This reveals that Th was relatively more enriched in granitic rocks than U. The U content and activity of $^{226}Ra$ and $^{228}Ac$, however, don't reflect the fractionation sequence of granitic rocks in the study area. The activities of all these radionuclides and U content in soils are generally higher than in rocks, and their distribution in rocks, soils and soil gas show very low co-relationship. These facts indicate that the activities of radionuclides in soil and soil gas were greatly affected by leaching and adsorption properties of the radionuclides and their parents during weathering and pedogenetic process rather than their concentrations in parent rocks.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.965-974
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• 2016

The article describes the results of experiments conducted on pigs to determine the effect of plutonium, which is the most radiotoxic and highly active element in the range of mixed fuel $(U_{0.8}Pu_{0.2})O_2$ fission products, on living organisms. The results will allow empirical prediction of the emergency plutonium radiation dose for various organs and tissues of humans in case of an accident in a reactor running on mixed fuel $(U_{0.8}Pu_{0.2})O_2$.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.288-301
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• 1995

Rates of the sedimentation and particle mixing have been estimated by applying uranium-series disequilibrium techniques to three sediment cores collected from the korea Deep Ocean Study (KODOS) site between the clarion and Clipperton Fracture Zones (CCFZ) of the Equatorial Pacific. Sedimentation rates based on the profiles of excess /SUP 230/Th activity and /SUP 230/ Th/SUB xs//SUP 232/ Th activity ratios at the southeastern part of the study area were estimated to be in the order of a few millimeters per thousand year, while at the northwestern part a factor of ten lower. Excess activities of /SUP 230/Th and /SUP 230/Th ratios showed intervals of constant values in the upper part of the sediment cores, probably generated by biological particle mixing. A "two-box" advection-diffusion steady state mixing model was employed in order to estimate particle mixing rates in the upper and the lower layers, based on the distribution profiles of excess /SUP 210/Pb activities. Particle mixing coefficients were estimated to be in the order of 10$^1$ cm$^2$/y in the upper layer and 10/SUP -1/-10/SUP 0/ cm$^2$/y in the lower layer.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.187-193
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• 1999

The specific radioactivity concentrations in the coal fly ash obtained from heat producing stations in Korea were analyzed and its radiological hazard for reuse in construction purpose was evaluated. The concentrations of uranium isotopes in the real fly ash measured by TBP solvent extraction method and $\alpha$-spectrometer were found to be about 116.1 Bq $kg^{-1}$ for $^{238}U$, 5.01 Bq $kg^{-1}$ for $^{235}U$, and 121.2 Bq $kg^{-1}$ for $^{234}U$, respectively. The activity ratio of $^{234}U/^{238}U$, in the coal fly ash was in $1.04\;{\pm}\;0.03$, which is similar to that of uncontaminated Korean soil in natural conditions (1.14). The specific radioactivities of $^{226}Ra,\;^{232}Th,\;and\;^{40}K$ in the coal fly ash were also determined using $\gamma$-spectrometer with a HPGe detector The results showed that $^{226}Ra,\;^{232}Th,\;and\;^{40}K$ in the coal fly ash were in concentrations of $101.7{\sim}113.9$, $39.5{\sim}54.2\;and\;315.0{\sim}990.6$ Bq $kg^{-1}$, respectively. With the specific radioactivities obtained from $\gamma$-spectrometric measurements of the coal fly ash, its radiological hazard for reuse was evaluated. The result showed that the radioactivity of the coal fly ash was in permissible level.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.52-64
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• 2016

The production of nuclear energy from thorium which is non-fissile material was a main issue until the middle of 1970's, because of the thorium's abundance as energy resources, its capability of breeding fissile material U233, and the reduction of long-lived actinides. However, to use thorium as nuclear fuel, some obstacles such as the necessities of external neutron source and long-term neutron irradiation for effective breeding, and the production of high radioactive isotopes in the course of thorium breeding cycle should be overcome. The difficulties to resolve these cons of thorium cycle became the reason of interruption of the related researches in the middle of 1970's. But in the 21st century, the change of societal perspective regarding nuclear energy and the appearance of accelerator-driven nuclear reactor shift those cons into pros and rehabilitate the study of thorium. The high activity of thorium cycle turned out to be a good option as higher resistance and easier detectibility of nuclear proliferation and the employment of subcritical accelerator-driven reactor as external neutron sources is considered to enhance the nuclear safety. In this study we compare the thorium cycle with the currently-used uranium cycle and analyze the technical status and perspective of thorium researches which use accelerator-driven reactors.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.577-588
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• 2020

We evaluated the distributions of primordial radionuclides and effective dose rate of the Ogcheon Group, which includes rocks with high uranium content. Terrestrial gamma radiation was measured at 421 points using a portable gamma ray spectrometer. Dividing the study area into five geological units (og1, og2, og3, og4, and igneous rocks) revealed no significant difference in the concentration of surface radioactivity among the types. The concentrations of 40K, eU, and eTh for all samples ranged from 0.7% to 10.3% (average 5.2%), 0.6 to 287.0 ppm (average 8.5 ppm), and 4.0 to 102.4 ppm (average 31.3 ppm), respectively. The absorbed dose rate in the study area (calculated from the activity concentrations of 40K, eU, and eTh) was in the range of 28.84 to 1,714.5 nGy/h (average 195.4 nGy/h). Among the five geological units, the lowest average was 166.3 nGy/h (for og1) and the highest average was 233.3 nGy/h (for og2; median 198.1 nGy/h). The outdoor effective dose rate for the area obtained from the absorbed dose rate was in the range of 0.04 to 2.10 mSv/y (average 0.24 mSv/y). Except for the four sites located in the uranium-bearing coal bed of og2, none of the studied sites exceeded 1 mSv/y.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.175-180
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• 2003

Microbial Fe(III) reduction is an important factor for biogeochemical cycle in anaerobic environments, especially sediment of freshwater such as lakes, ponds and rivers. In addition, the Fe(III) reduction serves as a model for potential mechanisms for the oxidation of organic compounds and the reduction of toxic heavy metals, such as chrome or uranium. Shewanella putrefaciens DK-1 was a gram-negative, facultative anaerobic Fe(III) reducer and used ferric ion as a terminal electron acceptor for the oxidation of organic compounds to $CO_{2}$ or other oxidized metabolites. The ability of reducing activity and utilization of various electron acceptors and donors for S. putrefaciens DK-1 were investigated. S. putrefaciens DK-1 was capable of using a wide variety of electron acceptor, including $NO_{3}^{-}$, Fe(III), AQDS, and Mn(IV). However, its ability to utilize electron donors was limited. Lactate and formate were used as electron donors but acetate and toluene were not used. Fe(III) reduction of S. putrefaciens DK-l was inhibited by the presence of either $NO_{3}^{-}$ or $NO_{2}^{-}$. Further S. putrefaciens DK-1 used humic acid as an electron acceptor and humic acid was re-oxidized by nitrate. Environmental samples showing the Fe(III)-reducing activity were used to investigate effects of the limiting factors such as carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus on the Fe(III) reducing bacteria. The highest Fe (III) reducing activity was measured, when lactate as a carbon source and S. putrefaciens DK-1 as an Fe(III) reducer added in untreated sediment samples of Cheon-ho and Dae-ho reservoirs.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.121-126
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• 2008

Radioactivities of the stack air effluents from the Advance Fuel Science Building (AFSB) at KAERI have been investigated and evaluated. In this AFSB, nuclear fuels for the HANARO research reactor have been fabricated and the advanced nuclear fuels have been studied. A stack air monitoring system has been continuously operating to monitor the stack air effluents from the facility to protect the environment. As the results of the periodical radioactivity measurement and both the gamma and alpha spectrometry for the millipore filters taken from the stack air monitor from January until March 2008, a trace amount of primordial $^{40}K$ and the short-lived decay products of natural borne $^{222}Rn$ and $^{220}Rn$ have been detected. However, the radioactivities have rapidly decayed to the level below the Minimum Detectable Activity (MDA) of the counting system. Therefore, it was evaluated that no uranium isotopes have been released to the atmosphere from the stack of the AFSB at KAERI.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.167-174
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• 2009

A comprehensive analysis has been conducted on the purity of the uranium product generated from a pyroprocessing of EBR-II spent fuel. The analysis results were compared to the low-level waste criteria for both ROK and USA under a collaborative program between INL and KAERI. It is found that the US LLW definition does not include the activity from any U isotopes, but the Korean one does. The analysis results show that Pu-239 is the only alpha emitting isotope other than U isotopes that exceed the limit in the EBR-II U product. Pu contamination of the product seems to be drastically reduced in a preliminary test of the modified cathode process, and the further development of the proposed technology may be possible to meet the US LLW criteria.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.302-307
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• 2004

Determination of actinides in the environmental sample requires separation of each element. This procedure is tedious and time consuming. And also, the detection limits of some nuclides using alpha spectrometry are rather higher. To overcome the lower detection limit and complicated separation procedure, a simple analytical technique for the determination of actinide isotopes in the environmental samples was developed and applied to IAEA and NIST reference sediment samples. For the separation of actinides from matrix, anion exchange resin and TRU-spec extraction chromatography resin were used and chemical yields were obtained using natural uranium, thorium, $^{242}Pu$ and $^{243}Am$ tracers. For overcoming the higher detection limits of U and Th in alpha spectrometry, neutron activation analysis was applied. Using combined method, the detection limit was increased about 10 times. The activity values of each isotope were consistent with the reference values reported by IAEA and NIST.