• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2016

In this study, thermal-hydrological-chemical modeling for the alteration of a bentonite buffer is carried out using a simulation code TOUGHREACT. The modeling results show that the water saturation of bentonite steadily increases and finally the bentonite is fully saturated after 10 years. In addition, the temperature rapidly increases and stabilizes after 0.5 year, exhibiting a constant thermal gradient as a function of distance from the copper tube. The change of thermal-hydrological conditions mainly results in the alteration of anhydrite and calcite. Anhydrite and calcite are dissolved along with the inflow of groundwater. They then tend to precipitate in the vicinity of the copper tube due to its high temperature. This behavior induces a slight decrease in porosity and permeability of bentonite near the copper tube. Furthermore, this study finds that the diffusion coefficient can significantly affect the alteration of anhydrite and calcite, which causes changes in the hydrological properties of bentonite such as porosity and permeability. This study may facilitate the safety assessment of high-level radioactive waste repositories.

• Advances in environmental research
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.161-175
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• 2018

Krishna River is significantly affected due to Srisailam dam from past 30 years. The impact of this hydraulic structure drastically reduced the minimum flow regime on the downstream, which made the river nearing to decaying stage. In the present paper, Environmental Flow called minimum flow values released for the dam are estimated with the help of three hydrological methods viz., Range of variability Approach (RVA), Desktop Reserve Model (DRM), and Global Environmental Flow Calculator (GEFC). DRM method suggested considering the intermediate values obtained from among the three methods to preserve the ecosystem on the downstream of the river, which amounts to an average annual allocation of 9378 Million Cubic Meter (MCM) which is equal to 23.11% of mean annual flow (MAF). In this regard GEFC and RVA methods accounted for 22% and 31.04% of MAF respectively. The results indicate that current reservoir operation policy is causing a severe hydrological alteration in the high flow season especially in the month of July. The study concluded that in the case of non-availability of environmental information, hydrological indicators can be used to provide the basic assessment of environmental flow requirements. It is inferred from the results obtained from the study, that the new reservoir operations can fulfil human water needs without disturbing Environmental Flow Requirements.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.21 no.spc
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• pp.16-27
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• 2019

Alteration in the flow regime of rivers are caused by natural climate change and the changes in anthropogenic hydrological environment due to dam construction. These changes in flow regime cause serious changes not only in the fresh water ecosystems of the rivers but also in the physical structures and fish habitats of the streams. In this study, the alteration in the hydrological characteristics of the Gam river basin due to Buhang dam construction and the changes in ecological health condition, water quality, and river cross-section were analyzed. As a result of analysis by indicators of hydrologic alteration (IHA) to quantitatively change the flow regime of Gam river, HA (Hydrologic Alteration) is more than ±1 and various changes have occurred in the river ecosystem after Buhang dam construction. In addition, ecological health condition and water quality showed different response for each element, and in the case of riverbeds and channel cross-sections, the degradation of channel bed was obviously monitored after dam construction. The results of this study are expected to be used as an efficient method for evaluating changes in stream ecosystems caused by stream regime changes.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2019.05a
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• pp.142-142
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• 2019

하천 생태환경은 토지이용, 댐건설 및 기후변화 등 외부의 압력에 따른 변화로 인해 오염물 유입, 녹조 발생, 어패류 떼죽음 등 생태계 교란 및 환경변화가 발생한다. 이러한 생태환경 문제를 해결하기 위해 전 세계적으로 하천생태환경시스템 복원이 논의되고 있으며 환경적 측면을 강조한 자연친화적 하천을 목표로 개발 방향이 바뀌고 있다. 이처럼 하천생태환경의 중요성이 커지고 있지만 보다 객관적이고 정량적인 평가를 위한 연구는 부족한 실정이다. 본 연구에서는 낙동강 감천유역을 대상으로 하였으며, 김천부항댐 건설로 인한 생태환경시스템의 변화를 정량적으로 평가하고자 수문변화지표법(Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration, IHA)을 활용하여 33개의 수문변화지표군(IHA Parameters)과 34개 환경유량지표군(Environmental Flow Components Parameters)을 산정하였다. 분석을 위하여 감천유역 선산관측소의 2007년 ~ 2018년까지의 일 유량 자료를 활용하였으며, 댐이 건설된 2014년 1월 1일을 기점으로 댐 건설 전(2007 ~ 2013)과 댐 건설 후(2014 ~ 2018)가 하천생태환경 및 환경유량에 미치는 영향을 평가하였다. 본 연구를 토대로 지속가능한 하천생태계 보전을 위한 명확한 목표와 효율적인 평가과정을 수립하는 데 도움이 될 것으로 보인다.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.33-44
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• 2019

Due to the recent climate change realization (timing, rainfall pattern changes), the flow regime is changing according to the watershed. The long-term change of flow regime is causing a significant change in structure and function of aquatic ecosystems. However, there is no analysis from the viewpoint of the aquatic ecosystem including flow rate alteration and ecological characteristics as well as the climate change connection in Korea yet. Therefore, We quantitatively assessed the impact of present-future flow regime alteration due to climate change on the Pseudopungtungia nigra habitat in the Mankyung river and floodplain area. As a result, it was confirmed that extreme hydrological conditions such as flood and drought are intensified in the future than the present. Especially, the changes of flow regime characteristics were clarified by comparing and analyzing the magnitude, frequency, duration, rate of change, and by linking flow regime characteristics with physical habitat analysis, it could be suggested that climate change would significantly increase the risk of future ecological changes.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.407-414
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• 2009

A quantitative analysis was conducted to study the impacts of artificial flow alteration on fish habitate condition change in the Geum River downstream the Daechung Multi-purpose Dam (DMD). River Analysis Package (RAP) was employed for the analysis and three fish species of black shiner, long nose barbel and Korean shinner were selected as icon species. The results of the analysis showed enhaced fish habitat conditions during low flow seasons in spring and fall after DMD construction, while the impact of the Youngdam Multipurpose Dam located upstream the DMD was insignificant. This result could be attributed to the fact that the increased flow during dry seasons helped create preferable habitat conditions for the fish species tested in this study.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.329-343
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• 2013

According to previous studies, the increased air temperature can lead to change of thermal stratification structure of lakes and reservoirs. The changed thermal stratification may result in alteration of materials and energy flow. The objective of this study was to predict the effect of climate change on the water temperature and stratification structure of Daecheong Reservoir, located in Geum River basin of Korea, using a three-dimensional(3D) hydrodynamic model(ELCOM). A long-term(100 years) weather data set provided by the National Institute of Meteorological Research(NIMR) was used for forcing the 3D model. The model was applied to two different hydrological conditions, dry year(2001) and normal year(2004). It means that the effect of air temperature increase was only considered. Simulation results showed that the surface water temperature of the reservoir tend to increase in the future, and the establishment of thermal stratification can occur earlier and prolonged longer. As a result of heat flux analysis, the evaporative heat loss can increase in the future than now and before. However, the convective heat loss and net long wave radiation from water surface decreased due to increased air temperature.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.638-646
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to investigate the long-term habitat morphological alteration resulting from a large dam and weirs in the Tamjin River. To achieve this, we carried out a hydrograph analysis and a substrate size distribution analysis. We also estimated the channel width, bar area and vegetation encroachment using aerial photographs taken before and after the construction of the dam and weirs. The result of the hydrological analysis showed that flooding downstream was greatly reduced with small peaks occurrence after the dam construction. Interestingly, normal hydrographs in the main channel appeared just after tributary conjunction. There was a similar pattern in the substrate size analysis. Despite coarsened substrate just downstream of the dam site, more sand appeared again after introduction of the tributary. However, there was an increase in the bar area downstream of the dam's channels with most bars covered with vegetation. The channel width increased at the upper area of weirs through impoundment, but decreased downstream because of vegetation encroachment. This study indicate that unregulated tributary plays an important role in restoring hydro-physical habitat conditions in mainstream channels below a large dam. However, numerous weirs could be a causal factor to accelerate habitat deterioration in the dam downstream channels.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.24-33
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• 2016

Background: Previous numerous studies on watershed scale demonstrated that the constructions of upper dams may influence the below dams due to modifications of flow regime and nutrient inputs. Little is known about how the dam constructions influence the downstream lakes or reservoirs in the regional scale. This study demonstrates how the construction of upper dam (i.e., Yongdam Dam) influences nutrient regime, trophic relations, and empirical models in Daechung Reservoir (DR). Yongdam Dam was constructed at the upstream region of DR in year 2000. Results: The analysis of hydrological variables showed that inflow and discharge in the DR were largely reduced after the year 2000. The construction of upper dam construction also resulted in increases of water temperature, pH and conductivity (as an indicator of ionic content) in the DR. Empirical models of TP-CHL and N:P ratio-CHL suggested that stronger responses of CHL to the phosphorus were evident after the upper dam construction, indicating that algal production at a unit phosphorus increased after the upper dam construction. Mann-Kendall tests on the relations of N:P ratios to TN showed weak or no relations ($t_{au}=-0.143$, z = -0.371, p = 0.7105) before the dam construction, while the relation of N:P ratios to TP showed strong in the periods of before- ($t_{au}=-0714$, z = -2.351, p = 0.0187) and after the construction ($t_{au}=-0.868$, z = -4.270, p = 0.0000). This outcome indicates that TP is key determinant on N:P ratios in the reservoir. Scatter Plots on Trophic State Index Deviations (TSIDs) of "TSI(SD) - TSI(CHL)" against "TSI(TP) - TSI(CHL)" showed that the dominance of clay turbidity or light limitation was evident before the upper dam construction [TSI(TP) - TSI(CHL) > 0 and TSI(SD) - TSI(CHL) > 0] and phosphorus limitation became stronger after the dam construction [(TSI(TP) - TSI(CHL) < 0 and TSI(SD) - TSI(CHL) > 0]. Conclusions: Overall, our analysis suggests that the upper dam construction modified the response of trophic components (phytoplankton) to the nutrients or nutrient ratios through the alteration of flow regime, resulting in modifications of ecological functions and trophic relations in the low trophic levels.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.322-326
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• 2016

The distribution of floodplain vegetation is mainly affected by hydrological and hydraulic processes. In this study, we investigated changes in the vegetation distribution due to flood discharge alteration, and the relationship between the vegetation types and the flood frequency during the last ten-year period in the Cheongmi-cheon Stream. Flood discharge of the Cheongmi-cheon Stream tended to decrease from 2006 to 2016. It has greatly decreased to less than $160m^3/s$ since 2013. This resulted in the settlement of Phragmites japonica to the wide sand bar at the Cheongmi-cheon Stream, even though it had sparse vegetation before 2013. The sand bar was fully covered with P. japonica in 2016. Vegetation communities in the floodplain were classified by dominant species, i.e. the annual-hygrophytic, the perennial hygrophytic and the mesophytic communities. Analysis of the relationship between the vegetation communities and the flood frequency shows the annual hygrophytes, perennial hygrophytes and the mesophytes communities distributed in the range of under 1 year, 1-10 year and over 7 year flood inundation area, respectively. In conclusion, distribution of the floodplain vegetation is closely related with the flood discharge and frequency in the Cheongmi-cheon Stream.