• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.497-510
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• 2010

Considering to the geochemical behaviors and environmental changes of bottom sediments in streams, Gwangju metropolitan city, this study focuses to analyses on grain sizes, metal elements and organic carbons in sediment samples from Yeongsan and Hwangryong rivers, and Gwangju stream. In the sediments, contents of Cu, Zn, Pb, P and TOC were highly variable, in the case of Gwangju stream particularly. Yenogsan and Hwangryong rivers are influenced by grain sizes and surrounding geological settings and Gwangju stream is connected to organic matters related to life fouls and so forth, with respect to the geochemical behaviorof bottom sediments. Li, Zn, Pb and Cu were enriched in Yeongsan and Hwangryong rivers and Li, Cu, Zn, Pb and P enriched in Gwangju stream, respectively. In the heavy metal contamination of above drainages, the site mutually connected Seobang(GJ 4) with Donggye(GJ 7) streams shows the highest values, in peculiar. It is inferred that those contamination values are mainly related with urban foul waters in the city.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.11 no.9
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• pp.881-895
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• 2002

Sediments and river waters form the channel of Hwasun-cheon were studied in sedimentological size and geochemical analyses of metallic elements for the purposes of identification of depositional environments and geochemical characteristics. The sizes of sediments are assigned to pebble to coarse sand in mean size and polymodal in distribution. And the sediments are poorly to very poorly sorted and positively skewed. According to the grain size distributions of the sediments, the Hwasun-cheon belongs to gravel-bed river on the basis of the grain size distribution of the sediments. The behaviors of metallic elements in the sediments mainly depend on not grain size distribution but the geology connected with geomorphological reliefs near the stream. Contamination indices(CI) of Zn, Cu and Pb are 2.83 to 6.96 with average 4.31 in the sediments. Hwasun-cheon is assigned to general stream type in accordance with water quality of physical factors and chemical characteristics by Piper's diagram. Though meaningful values of BOD, T-N, T-P were locally depicted near Masan-ri, Hwasun-eup and Jiseok-cheon areas, artificial metal concentration do not represent in the most area of the stream. Sediments and river water are considered that the relatively more or less high metallic contents in the stream are originated from coal mine and urban area.

• 한국문화재보존과학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.04a
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• pp.10-15
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• 2006

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.53-67
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• 1995

Geochemical characteristics of iron-related Ulsan granite was studied in comparison with the Cretaceous granitoids from the metallogenic provinces of copper, lead-zinc and lead-zinc/molybdenum in the Gyeongsang Basin, and the variation of cheminal compositions at the Ulsan granite/serpentinite contact was investigated. Ulsan granite is plotted in the regions of granite and granodiorite of Streckeisen's diagram. It shows differentiation trend of calc-alkali magma, and the magmatic evolution from granodiorite to granite is consistant with the general crystallization path of the Cretaceous the granitoids in Gyeongsang Basin. Differentiation index(D.I.) of Ulsan granite is 86~95, which is higher than those of Jindong granites (D.I.=45~70) and Onjongri granites (D.I.=67~84), and there are differences in the content of some major and trace elements between Ulsan granite and other Cretaceous granitoids. At the Ulsan granite/serpentinite contact $SiO_2$, $K_2O$, $Na_2O$, $Al_2O_3$, Rb, Sr, Ba which are abundant in Ulsan granite decrease toward serpentinite, while T.Fe, MgO, Ni, Cr which are abundant in serpentinite decrease toward Ulsan granite. Therefore, the geochemical characteristics of Ulsan granite is applicable to distinguish iron province from different metallogenic provinces where other Cretaceous granitoids occur in the Gyeongsang Basin, and it is possible to find serpentinite which was intruded by granite on the basis of chemical variations.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.847-870
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• 2023

The safe disposal of high-level radioactive waste requires accurate predictions of the long-term geochemical behavior of radionuclides. To achieve this, the present study was conducted to model geochemical behaviors of uranium (U), plutonium (Pu), and palladium (Pd) under different hydrogeochemical conditions that represent deep groundwater in Korea. Geochemical modeling was performed for five types of South Korean deep groundwater environment: high-TDS saline groundwater (G1), low-pH CO₂-rich groundwater (G2), high-pH alkaline groundwater (G3), sulfate-rich groundwater (G4), and dilute (fresh) groundwater (G5). Under the pH and Eh (redox potential) ranges of 3 to 12 and ±0.2 V, respectively, the solubility and speciation of U, Pu, and Pd in deep groundwater were predicted. The result reveals that U(IV) exhibits high solubility within the neutral to alkaline pH range, even in reducing environment with Eh down to -0.2 V. Such high solubility of U is primarily attributed to the formation of Ca-U-CO₃ complexes, which is important in both G2 located along fault zones and G3 occurring in granitic bedrocks. On the other hand, the solubility of Pu is found to be highly dependent on pH, with the lowest solubility in neutral to alkaline conditions. The predominant species are Pu(IV) and Pu(III) and their removal is predicted to occur by sorption. Considering the migration by colloids, however, the role of colloid formation and migration are expected to promote the Pu mobility, especially in deep groundwater of G3 and G5 which have low ionic strengths. Palladium (Pd) exhibits the low solubility due to the precipitation as sulfides in reducing conditions. In oxidizing condition, anionic complexes such as Pd(OH)₃^-, PdCl₃(OH)₂^-, PdCl₄^2-, and Pd(CO₃)₂^2- would be removed by sorption onto metal (hydro)oxides. This study will improve the understanding of the fate and transport of radionuclides in deep groundwater conditions of South Korea and therefore contributes to develop strategies for safe high-level radioactive waste disposal.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.565-580
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• 2023

In this study, we reviewed and summarized comprehensive roles and importance of natural analogue studies for demonstrating the safety and improving the reliability of the safety for the deep geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste. We also investigated domestic and foreign status of natural analogue studies in order to study and substantiate complex and various radionuclide behaviors in subsurface disposal environments. In addition, we investigated and uranium behaviors in groundwater and rock in uranium deposits including domestic uranium deposits in Ogcheon Metamorphic Belt and biogeochemical interactions in geological environments. Although there are many limitations and uncertainties in directly using the information and data for uranium behaviors obtained from uranium deposits in the disposal safety assessment, the information and data can be utilized in the disposal safety assessment and safety case construction both in qualitative and partly quantitative ways.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.8
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• pp.2889-2896
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• 2023

The waste acceptance criteria for heavy metals in mixed waste should be developed by reflecting the leaching behaviors that could highly depend on the repository design and environment surrounding the waste. The current standards widely used to evaluate the leaching characteristics of heavy metals would not be appropriate for the silo-type repository since they are developed for landfills, which are more common than a silo-type repository. This research aimed to explore the leaching behaviors of cementitious waste with Pb, Cd, and Sb metallic and oxide powders in an environment simulating a silo-type radioactive waste repository. The Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) and the ANS 16.1 standard were employed with standard and two modified solutions: concrete-saturated deionized and underground water. The compositions and elemental distribution of leachates and specimens were analyzed using an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy combined with scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDS). Lead and antimony demonstrated high leaching levels in the modified leaching solutions, while cadmium exhibited minimal leaching behavior and remained mainly within the cement matrix. The results emphasize the significance of understanding heavy metals' leaching behavior in the repository's geochemical environment, which could accelerate or mitigate the reaction.

• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.365-371
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• 2015

The rare earth element(REE)s play an important role in understanding of rock formation and evolution because of their similar geochemical behaviors. Sm and Nd are more useful than other REEs because Sm-Nd isotopic system has important applications for geochemical interpretation like age dating and crustal evolution. These studies require a chromatographic technique for Sm and Nd separation from the geological samples. Ln-resin method using 0.25 M HCl as the eluent is widely used for Nd separation. However, this technique has a disadvantage of the poor elemental selectivity that the Nd fraction contains Ce as a tailing of the previous fraction. This technical report is a comparison study on the effect of eluent concentration between 0.25 M HCl and 0.15 M HCl on the separation of Nd with Ln-resin method for improving the technique of Nd separation. The results showed that the separation of Ce and Nd using 0.15M HCl as the eluent was not effective compared to the separation using 0.25 M HCl. In this experiment, we could confirm that the dilution of eluent might not be effective on the high purity separation of Nd with Ln-resin method.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.196-203
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• 2004

To understand the geochemical processes in the Han River Estuary, distributions and behaviors of nutrients, dissolved organic matters, and uranium were investigated and analyzed during estuarine tidal mixing in June 2000 and February 2001. The distribution of inorganic nutrients showed very dynamic distributional patterns implying an apparent nitrification process and a concave non-conservative mixing along the salinity gradient. Dissolved organic carbon was high in the upstream region and decreased sharply in the low salinity region of around 5 psu. The 3-D fluorescence characteristic of dissolved organic matter showed two distinct fluorophores in the study area. Biomacromolecules originated mainly from the indigenous biochemical processes and geomacromolecules from terrestrial humic materials. In the study area, the distribution of geomacromolecule showed a concave non-conservative property along the salinity gradient presumably due to the flocculation and removal processes in the estuary. Meanwhile, distribution of the dissolved uranium, mainly in the form of stable uranium carbonate complex, also showed a concave non-conservative property along the salinity gradient in the Han River Estuary. From this study, the removal rate of dissolved uranium in the Han River Estuary was estimated to be about 7.1 ton per year.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.183-199
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• 2008

This study is focused on characterization of the physio-chemical and mineralogical properties, investigation of their vertical changes in the tailing profile of the Guryoung mining area, classification of the profile into distinct zones, and condition conceptual model of physio-chemical conditions and phases-water relationships controlling the element behaviors in the tailings. The upper part of the groundwater is characterized by the high contents of $Fe_2O_3$ and $SO_3$ for whole rock analysis, low pH, and the occurrence of jarosite, schwertmannite and Fe-oxyhydroxide as the secondary mineral phases. The tailing profile can be divided into the covering soil, jarosite zone, Fe-sulfate zone, Fe-oxyhydroxide and gypsum-bearing pyrite zone, calcite-bearing pyrite zone, soil zone, and weathered zone on the based of the geochemical and mineralogical characteristics. The profile can be sampled into the oxidized zone and the carbonate-rich primary zone with the dramatic changes in pH and the secondary mineral phases. The conceptual model proposed for the tailing profile can be summarized that the oxidation of pyrite is the most important reaction controlling the changes in pH, the dissolution of the primary silicates and carbonates, the precipitation of secondary mineral phases, acid-neutralizing, and heavy metal behaviors through the profile.