• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.32-37
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• 2005

The characteristics of the metal melting and radionuclide distribution of the radioactive has been investigated in a lab-scale arc furnace. The slag former based on the constituents of silica, calcium oxide, aluminum oxide, borate and calcium fluoride additions was used for melting of the stainless and carbon steel. In the melting of the stainless steel, the amount of slag formation increased with an increase of the concentration of the slag former. But the effects of the slag basicity on the amount of stag formation showed a local maximum value of the slag formation with an increase of the basicity index in the melting of the stainless steel as well as in the melting of the carbon steel. With an increase of the amount of slag former addition, the trends of the cobalt distribution into the ingot and the stag depended on the kind of slag former used in the melting of the stainless steel while the effect of the slag basicity on the distribution of the cobalt was not clarified in the melting of carbon steel. Tn the melting of the carbon steel, the strontium was captured at up to $50\%$ into the slag phase. Cesium was completely eliminated from the melt of the stainless steel as well as the carbon steel and distributed to the dust phase.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.435-443
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• 2016

This paper describes the development of a dry operation process for PWR spent nuclear fuel, which is currently stored in the domestic NPP's storage pool, using a dual purpose metal cask. Domestic NNPs have had experience with wet type transportation of PWR spent nuclear fuel between neighboring NPPs since the early 1990s, but no experience with dry type operation. For this reason, we developed a specific operation process and also confirmed the safety of the major cask components and its spent nuclear fuel during the dual purpose metal cask operation process. We also describe the short term operation process that was established to be completed within 21 hours and propose the allowable working time for each step (15 hours for wet process, 3 hours for drain process and 3 hours for vacuum drying process).

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.45-57
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• 2014

Academic interests in ionic liquid (IL) technologies have been extended to the nuclear industry and the applicability of ionic liquids for processing radioactive materials have been investigated by many researchers. A number of studies have reported interesting results with respect to the spectroscopic and electrochemical behaviors of metal elements included in spent nuclear fuels. The measured and observed properties of metal ions in TBP(tri-butyl phosphate) dissolved ILs have led the development of alternative technologies to traditional aqueous processes. On the other hand, the electrochemical deposition of metal ions in ILs have been investigated for the application of the solvents to aqueous as well as to non-aqueous processes. In this work, a review on the application of ILs in nuclear fuel cycle is presented for the purpose of categorizing and summarizing the notable researches on ILs.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.1206-1212
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• 2022

Cold-crucible induction melting (CCIM) technology has been intensively studied as an advanced vitrification process for the immobilization of highly radioactive waste. This technology uses high-frequency induction to melt a glass matrix and waste, while the outer surface of the crucible is water-cooled, resulting in the formation of a frozen glass layer (skull). In this study, for the fabrication of borosilicate glass waste form, CCIM operation test with 60 kg of glass per batch was conducted using surrogate wastes composed of Cs, Sr, and Nd as a representative of highly radioactive nuclides generated during spent nuclear fuel management. A 60 kg-scale glass waste form was successfully fabricated through melting and draining processes using a CCIM system, and its physicochemical properties were analyzed. In particular, to enhance the controllability and reliability of the draining process, an air-cooling drain control method that can control draining through air-cooling near drain holes was developed, and its validity for draining control was verified. The method can offer controllability on various draining processes, such as molten salt or molten metal draining processes, and can be applied to a process requiring high throughput draining.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.650-654
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• 2003

A major problem of nuclear energy is the production of radioactive wastes. Needs for more environmentally favorable method to decontaminate radioactive contaminants make the use of liqui $d^ercritical $CO_2$ as a solvent medium. In removing radioactive metallic contaminants under $CO_2$ solvent, two methods - use of chelating ligands and that of water in $CO_2$ emulsion-are possible. In the chelating ligand method, a combination of ligands that can make synergistic effects seems important. We discuss about the properties of microemulsion formed by F-AOT and that by non-ionic surfactant. By adding acid in water core, decontamination of metallic parts, soils were possible. The rate of metal surface dissolution to the microemulsion solution was measured by QCM. The possibility of recovering the surfactants after use is also mentioned.ed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.1830-1837
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• 2023

The thermal cutting of contaminated or activated metals during decommissioning nuclear power plants inevitably results in the release of radioactive aerosol. Since radioactive aerosols are pernicious particles that contribute to the internal dose of workers, air conditioning units with a HEPA filter are used to remove radioactive aerosols. However, a HEPA filter cannot be used permanently. This study evaluates the efficiency and lifetime of filters in actual metal cutting condition using a plasma arc cutter and a high-resolution aerosol detector. The number concentration and size distribution of aerosols from 6 nm to 10 ㎛ were measured on both the upstream and downstream sides of the filter. The total aerosol removal efficiency of HEPA filter satisfies the standard of removing at least 99.97% of 0.3 ㎛ airborne particles, even if the pressure drop increases due to dust feeding load. The pressure drop and particle size removal efficiency at 0.3 ㎛ of the HEPA filter were found to increase with repeated cutting experiments. By contrast, the efficiency of used HEPA filter reduced in removing nano-sized aerosols by up to 79.26%. Altogether, these results can be used to determine the performance guidance and replacement frequency of HEPA filters used in nuclear power plants.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.233-241
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• 2021

A series of three bench-scale experiments was performed to investigate the conversion of sodium metal to sodium chloride via reactions with non-metal and metal chlorides. Specifically, batches of molten sodium metal were separately contacted with ammonium chloride and ferrous chloride to form sodium chloride in both cases along with iron in the latter case. Additional ferrous chloride was added to two of the three batches to form low melting point consolidated mixtures of sodium chloride and ferrous chloride, whereas consolidation of a sodium-chloride product was performed in a separate batch. Samples of the products were characterized via X-ray diffraction to identify attendant compounds. The reaction of sodium metal with metered ammonium chloride particulate feeds proceeded without reaction excursions and produced pure colorless sodium chloride. The reaction of sodium metal with ferrous chloride yielded occasional reaction excursions as evidenced by temperature spikes and fuming ferrous chloride, producing a dark salt-metal mixture. This investigation into a method for controlled conversion of sodium metal to sodium chloride is particularly applicable to sodium containing elevated levels of radioactivity-including bond sodium from nuclear fuels-in remote-handled inert-atmosphere environments.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.199-203
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• 1971

The adsorption method for the determination of the formation constants of the metal complexes with organic acids was developed by using membrane filters. The adsorption method involved the measurements of radioactivities of the adsorbed metal on membrane filters and the filtrate solution after the radioactive metal ion were filtered through membrane filters in the presence of organic ions of varying concentration. Comparing the adsorption method with the ion exchange method, it was seen that the adsorption method was simpler and faster than the ion exchange method. As an example of the metal complex with organic acid yttrium citrate complex was chosen, and the formation constant of the complex obtained by the adsorption method showed $K_f=2.0{\times}10^{-4}(l. mole^{-1})$ at a pH of 7. Also the present study revealed that the carrierfree state of yttrium in aqueous solution was present in the completely ionized state.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2018.05a
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• pp.183-183
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• 2018

In this study, 5-bromo-2,9-bis(5,6-diphenyl-1,2,4-triazin-3-yl)-1,10-phenanthroline (5-bromo-Ph4-BTPhen) was synthesized and evaluated for its ability to remove major radionuclides ($Cs^+$, $Sr^{2+}$, and $Co^{2+}$). The synthesized ligand removed both $Sr^{2+}$ and $Co^{2+}$ from $1mg\;L^{-1}$ aqueous solutions with extraction efficiencies of up to 99% at neutral and alkaline pH. The $Sr^{2+}$ and $Co^{2+}$ removal efficiencies decreased as a consequence of the higher bonding strengths of competing metal ions to the N-donor atoms in the cavity of the ligand; competing divalent ions affected the $Sr^{2+}$ and $Co^{2+}$ removal efficiencies more than monovalent ions.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.1878-1886
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• 2021

For industrial package (IP)-type transport containers for radioactive materials, a free drop test should be conducted under regulatory conditions. Owing to various uncertainties observed during the drop test, errors in drop angles inevitably occur. In IP-type metal transport containers in which the container directly impacts onto a rigid target without any shock absorbing materials, the error in the drop angle due to a slight misalignment makes a significant difference from the ideal drop. In particular, in a vertical drop, the error in the drop angle causes a strong secondary impact. In this paper, a numerical method is proposed to estimate the error in the drop angle occurring during the test. To determine this error, an optimization method accompanying a computational drop analysis is proposed, and a surrogate model is introduced to ensure calculation efficiency. Effectiveness of the proposed method is validated by performing the verification and comparison between the test and the analysis applied with the drop angle error.