• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.251-257
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• 1995

Three PEA (Pulverised Fuel Ash) samples, which were fresh, 17 and some 40 years weathered, were collected from two major British power plants. Batch leaching tests with these samples using distilled water and simulated industrial leachate showed higher amounts of element liberation from fresh ash, including Ca, Na, K, S (as $SO^{2-}_4$, $Cr_{total}$, Cu, Li Ni, Mo and CI and this seems to indicate their surface association and easier dissolution when contact with water. On the contrary Mg, Al, Ba, Si, V, As and Se do not show such readily leachable concentrations and these elements might be more associated with glass fraction in PFA particle rather than surface. Although element concentrations in the weathered ash are much lower than those in the initial leachate from the fresh ash, elements are still detected as resonable concentrations, with rather constant levels and this seems to demonstrate the element release from unstable glass phase of PFA particle. Fe, Ca, $Cr_{total}$, Cu, Ni, Zn and Hg were removed from the synthetic leachate by PFA and this is also confirmed by gain in solid PFA. The order of element retention is Meaford weathered ash > Drax weathered ash > Drax fresh ash in decreasing order and this conforms with the degree of weathering. Namely, the more wethered, the more wethered, the more effective in metal retention from the synthetic leachate.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.77-85
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• 2018

There would be a possibility of uranium contamination around the nuclear power plants and the underground waste disposal sites, where the uranium could further migrate and diffuse to some distant places by groundwater. It is necessary to understand the biogeochemical behaviors of uranium in underground environments to effectively control the migration and diffusion of uranium. In general, various kinds of microbes are living in soils and geological media where the activity of microbes may be closely connected with the redox reaction of nuclides resulting in the changes of their solubility. We investigated the adsorption and precipitation behaviors of dissolved uranium on some solid materials using hydrogen gas as an electron donor instead of organic matters. Although the effect of hydrogen gas did not appear in a batch experiment that used granite as a solid material, there occurred a reduction of uranium concentration by 5~8% due to hydrogen in an experiment using bentonite. This result indicates that some indigenous bacteria in the bentonite that have utilized hydrogen as the electron donor affected the behavior (reduction) of uranium. In addition, the bentonite bacteria have showed their strong tolerance against a given high temperature and radioactivity of a specific waste environment, suggesting that the nuclear-biogeochemical reaction may be one of main mechanisms if the natural bentonite is used as a buffer material for the disposal site in the future.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.25-32
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• 2006

This study examined the possibility of using dark-striped field mice as a biological indicator for the environmental radio-surveillance. For this study, dark-striped field mice were caught from five areas of Kyonggi, Kyongsang, Chungchong and Cholla provinces. The external morphological characteristics and isoenzymic types of dark-striped field mice were studied after they were captured. Among the external morphological characteristics, the dark-brown coat, dark back stripe, head-to-tail length, tail length, and ear length matched the taxonomical characteristics of dark-striped field mice. The analyses on L-lactate dehydrogenase, aspartate aminotransferase, and malate dehydrogenese revealed that one species of dark-striped field mice, called Apodemus agrarius, was inhabitated throughout a wide range of Korea. On the other hand, the frequency of micronuclei in peripheral polychromatic erythrocytes to survived mice after irradiation also analyzed. The LD50/30 of A. cgrarius and ICR mice were approximately 5 Gy and 7.9Gy, respectively. The results of the study reveal that wild A. asrarius have a high potential as a biological monitoring system to determine the impact of radiation in areas such as those within the vicinity of nuclear power plants.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.191-198
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• 2011

In general, conventional criticality analyses for spent fuel transport/dry storage systems have been performed based on assumption of fresh fuel concerning the potential uncertainties from number density calculation of Transuranic and Fission Products in spent fuel. However, because of economic loss due to the excessive criticality margin, recently the design of transport/dry storage systems with Burnup Credit(BUC) application has been actively developed. The uncertainties in criticality analyses on transport/storage systems with BUC technique show strong dependance upon initial enrichment and burnup rate, whereas those in the conventional criticality evaluation based on fresh fuel assumption do not show such a dependance. In this study, regulatory-required uncertainties of the criticality analyses for BK 26 Cask, which is conceptually designed spent fuel transport cask with BUC corresponding to the limiting circumstances on nuclear power plants in Korea, are evaluated as a function of initial enrichment and burnup rate. Results of this study will be used as basic data for spent fuel loading curve of BK 26 Cask.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.45-54
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• 2008

A new proposed repository has a final capacity of 800,000 drums radioactive waste. Most of foreign repositories have a general practice of segregating control zones which mainly contributes to classification of degree of control, whether it is called buffer zone or not. Domestic regulatory requirements of establishment of buffer zone in a repository are not much different from those of nuclear power plants for operation period, in which satisfactory design objective or performance objective is the most important factor in determination of the buffer zone. The meaning of buffer zone after closure is a minimum requested area which can prevent inadvertant intruders from leading to non-allowable exposure during institutional control period. Safety assessment with drinking well scenario giving rise to the highest probability of exposure among the intruder's actions can verify fulfillment of the buffer zone which is determined by operational safety of the repository. At present. for the repository to be constructed in a few years, the same procedure and concept as described in this paper are applied that can satisfy regulatory requirements and radiological safety as well. However, the capacity of the repository will be stepwise extended upto 800,000 drums, consequently its layout will be varied too. Timely considerations will be necessary for current boundary of the buffer zone which has been established on the basis of 100,000 drums disposal.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.401-418
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• 2000

1. Production of the artificial zeolite from coal ash Coal fly ash is mainly composed of several oxides including $SiO_2$ and $Al_2O_3$ derived from inorganic compounds remained after burning. As minor components, $Fe_2O_3$ and oxides of Mg, Ca, P, Ti (trace) are also contained in the ash. These components are presented as glass form resulting from fusion in the process of the combustion of coal. In other word, coal ash may refer to a kind of aluminosilicate glass that is known to easily change to zeolite-like materials by hydrothermal reaction. Lots of hot seawater is disposing near thermal power plants after cooling turbine generator periodically. Using seawater in the hydrothermal reaction caused to produce low price artificial zeolite by reduction of sodium hydroxide consumption, heating energy and water cost. As coal ash were reacted hydrothermally, peaks of quartz and mullite in the ash were weakened and disappeared, and new Na-Pl peaks were appeared strengthily. Si-O-Si bonding of the bituminous coal ash was changed to Si-O-Al (and $Fe^{3+}$) bonding by the reaction. Therefore the produced Na-Pl type zeolite had high CEC of 276.7 $cmol^+{\cdot}kg^{-1}$ and well developed molecular sieve structure with low concentration of heavy metals. 2. Utilization of the artificial zeolite in agro-environment The artificial zeolite(1g) could remove 123.5 mg of zinc, 164.7 mg copper, 184.4 mg cadmium and 350.6 mg lead in the synthetic wastewater. The removability is higher 2.8 times in zinc, 3.3 times in copper, 4.7 times in cadmium and 4.8 times in lead than natural zeolite and charcoal powder. When the heavy metals were treated at the ratio of 150 $kg{\cdot}ha^{-1}$ to the rice plant, various growth inhibition were observed; brownish discoloration and death of leaf sheath, growth inhibition in culm length, number of panicles and grains, grain ripening and rice yield. But these growth inhibition was greatly alleviated by the application of artificial zeolite, therefore, rice yield increased $1.1{\sim}3.2$ times according to the metal kind. In addition, the concentration of heavy metals in the brown rice also lowered by $27{\sim}75%$. Artificial Granular Zeolites (AGZ) was developed for the purification of wastewater. Canon exchange capacity was 126.8 $cmol^+{\cdot}kg^{-1}$. AGZ had Na-Pl peaks mainly with some minor $C_3S$ peaks in X-ray diffractogram. In addition, AGZs had various pore structure that may be adhere the suspended solid and offer microbiological niche to decompose organic pollutants. AGZ could remove ammonium, orthophosphate and heavy metals simultaneously. Mixing ratio of artificial zeolite in AGZs was related positively with removal efficiency of $NH_4\;^+$ and negatively with that of $PO_4\;^{3-}$. Root growth of rice seedling was inhibited severely in the mine wastewater because of strong acidity and high concentration of heavy metals. As AGZ(1 kg) stayed in the wastewater(100L) for 4days, water quality turned into safely for agricultural usage and rice seedlings grew normally.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.245-253
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• 2017

Vietnam CFBC fly ash has high CaO content and can be used as a solidification agent for soft ground improvement. However, most fly ash is treated as landfill or waste. In order to utilize fly ash as a solidification agent for soil improvement, the characteristics of fly ash must be accurately determined. In this study, laboratory tests were conducted on fly ash from four CFBC power plants to evaluate the utility of Vietnam fly ash as a solidification agent. As a result of analyzing the physical properties, it was analyzed that all four samples were suitable as material for solidification agent and have suitable particle size for the improvement of soft ground. As a result of analysis of chemical characteristics, it was analyzed that the fly ash of one place could be used as a solidification agent because of the high content of free-CaO. The remaining three fly ash was not suitable for use as a solidification agent due to low Free-CaO content. However, it has a chemical composition similar to that of general fly ash in Korea, so it can be recycled in various ways.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.577-582
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• 2020

Electricity produced at power plants is distributed to consumers through several stages of substations. At this time, an ultra-high voltage transformer is needed in the initial transmission stage to transmit a voltage suitable for each consumer. A high voltage, non-uniform electric field is formed at the end of the winding of the ultra-high voltage transformer, which carries a risk of dielectric breakdown. The winding of the ultra-high voltage transformer is an electrode, which is the key to converting the magnitude of the voltage. A non-uniform electric field is formed along the shape of the winding end, resulting in high electrical stress. The static ring installed at the upper and lower ends of the winding is used to disperse the stress at the winding end. Several variables should be considered when designing a static ring. Among them, this study examined how the curvature of the static ring, the thickness of the insulating paper, the number of barriers, and barrier thickness affect the electrical stress of the static ring using the Finite Element Method. Suggestions to be considered when designing the static ring are proposed through the FEM results.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.77-84
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• 2006

The objective of this research is to evaluate various reclamation methods of sewage sludge cake after treating with microwave under optimum conditions. In this study the sewage sludge cakes used from S and N wastewater treatment plants in the P city. Microwave with an induced electricity heating way was employed for dehydration of sewage sludge cake. Microwave operation conditions is 2,450 MHz of frequency and the power with 1 to 4 kW. This sewage sludge cake had a moisture content of 70%. The moisture content of the sludge decreased notable up to 2%(wt) resulted in breaking of cell wall. When the treated sewage sludge cake mixed with soils could be applied to use midterm and last cover material soils. Moreover, the adsorption ability of heavy metals such as copper, lead, chromium and cadmium was greatly enhanced by treated sewage sludge cake. Within 30 minutes, 1ppm of copper, chromium and cadmium and 10ppm of lead with 1g of the treated sewage sludge cake in $100m{\ell}$ were below detection. It was possible to use the treated sewage sludge cake as an absorbent for absorption of toxic heavy metals. Results from this research indicated that using of microwave radiation was an effective method for treating sewage sludge cake economically and environmental. A point of view of reclamation, the treated sewage sludge cake appeared to be feasible with an adsorption of heavy metals in steady of using expensive yellow earth.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.259-269
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• 2013

Applicability of ammonium molybdophosphate/iron oxides-polyacrylonitrile (AMP/IO-PAN) composites on the removal of radionuclides in the radioactive wastewater generated from nuclear power plants was investigated. The composites were characterized using the following analytical techniques: X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourior transform-infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), particle size analyzer (PSA), nitrogen adsorption-desorption and magnetic property measurement system (MPMS). 10wt% of AMP/IO-PAN composite has a saturation magnetization of 2.038 emu/g. Single-solute sorptions of Co, Sr and Cs onto 10wt% of AMP/IO-PAN composite were investigated. The maximum sorption capacities ($Q^0$) predicted by the Langmuir model on 10wt% of AMP/IO-PAN composite were 0.097, 0.086 and 0.66 mmol/g for Co, Sr and Cs, respectively. The maximum sorption capacities ($Q^0$) of Cs predicted by Langmuir model on 0, 10, 20 and 30wt% of AMP/IO-PAN composites were 0.702, 0.655, 0.602 and 0.559 mmol/g, respectively. The maximum sorption capacities ($Q^0$) of Cs decreased with increasing the iron oxide content in the AMP/IO-PAN composites.