• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.175-182
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• 2010

As part of a fundamental study on the volume reduction of contaminated concrete wastes, the separation characteristics of the aggregates and the distribution of the radioactivity in the aggregates were investigated. Radioisotope $^{60}Co$ was artificially used as a model contaminant for non-radioactive crushed concrete waste. Volume reduction for radioactively contaminated dismantled concrete wastes was carried out using activated heavy weight concrete taken from the Korea Research Reactor 2 (KRR-2) and light weight concrete from the Uranium Conversion Plant (UCP). The results showed that most of the $^{60}Co$ nuclide was easily separated from the contaminated dismantled concrete waste and was concentrated mainly in the porous fine cement paste. The heating temperature was found to be one of the effective parameters in the removal of the radionuclide from concrete waste. The volume reduction rate achieved was above 80% for the KRR-2 concrete wastes and above 75% for the UCP concrete wastes by thermal and mechanical treatment.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.529-542
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• 2019

Nowadays, drying methods for municipal solid waste quality improvement have been adopted in the developed and developing countries to valorize wastes for a renewable energy source, reduce dependency on fossil fuel and keep safer disposal at landfills. Among them, biodrying, biostabilization, thermal drying and solar drying are the most common. Drying of municipal solid waste could offer several environmental and economic benefits. Therefore, this review highlighted the drying methods for municipal solid waste quality improvement around the world and compared them based on the reduction of moisture, weight and volume of municipal solid wastes against drying temperature and time by using statistical analysis. It was observed that the drying temperature of different drying methods accounted for 115 ± 40℃ for thermal drying, 59 ± 37℃ for solar drying, 55 ± 15℃ for biodrying and 58 ± 11℃ for biostabilization. Among the drying methods, thermal drying provided the shortest drying time. The moisture reduction, weight reduction, volume reduction and heating value increase of municipal solid waste could vary with drying temperature and time. Finally, the benefits and drawbacks of different drying methods were specified, and recommendations were made for the future efficient drying.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.327-334
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• 1992

As a promising method for the volume reduction of the low-level liquid waste, the pervaporation process was studied using a cellulose acetate membrane. Experimental results showed that the pervaporation method, usually applied to separation of organic materials, has a good decontamination effect for the volume reduction of liquid waste and the evaporation rate of water in this process was markedly faster than that of natural evaporation method, a wide-used process for the volume reduction of liquid waste. Depending on the feed solution conditions, the pervaporation characteristics were evaluated by the experimental results and the optimum conditions for preparation of the cellulose acetate membrane were established to increase the pervaporation flux through the membrane.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.243-253
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• 2022

Spent filters with a high radiation dose rate of 2 mSv·hr^-1 or more are not easily managed. So far, the Korean policy for spent filter disposal is to store them temporarily at nuclear power plants until the waste filters can be easily managed. Nuclear power plant decommissioning in Korea is starting with Kori unit 1. Volume reduction of waste generated during decommissioning can reduce the cost and optimize the space usage at disposal site. Therefore, efficient volume reduction is a very important factor during the decommissioning process. A conceptual method, based on the experiences of developing 200 and 800 ton compactors at Orion EnC, has been developed considering worker exposure with the followings a crusher (upgrade of compaction efficiency), an automatic dose measuring system with a NaI(Tl) detector, a shield box, an inner drum to prepare for easy handling of drums and packaging, a 30 ton compactor, and an automatic robot system. This system achieves a volume reduction ratio of up to 85.7%; hence, the system can reduce the disposal cost and waste volume. It can be applied to other types of wastes that are not easily managed due to high dose rates and remote control operation necessity.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2019.05a
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• pp.323-324
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• 2019

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2018.11a
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• pp.440-441
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• 2018

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2018.11a
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• pp.458-459
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• 2018

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2017.10a
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• pp.225-226
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• 2017

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.220-225
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• 2022

Perlite is one of the major constituents of the radioactive thermal insulation waste (RTIW) originating from nuclear power plants and, for proper waste management, a significant reduction in its volume is required prior to disposal. In this work, the volume reduction of perlite is studied by high-temperature treatment method with using K₂CO₃ as a flux. The perlite is ground with 0-30 wt% K₂CO₃, and differential thermal analysis/thermogravimetric analysis is used to monitor the glass transition temperature (T_g) and weight loss. The Tg varied between ~772.2 and 837.1 ℃ with the minima at ~643.5 ℃ with the addition of ~10 wt% K₂CO₃. It is observed that compared to the pure perlite the volume reduction ratio (VRR) increases with the addition of K₂CO₃. The VRR of 11.20 is observed with 5 wt% K₂CO₃ at 700 ℃, as compared to VRR of 5.56 without K₂CO₃ at 700 ℃. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy are used to characterize perlite samples heat-treated without/with 5 wt% K₂CO₃ at 700 ℃. Moreover, the atomic absorption spectroscopy indicates that the proposed heat-treatment procedure is able to completely retain the radionuclides present in the perlite RTIW.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2018.11a
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• pp.337-338
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• 2018