• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.491-505
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• 2018

As an alternative to deep geological disposal technology, which is considered as a reference concept, the domestic applicability of deep borehole disposal technology for high level radioactive waste, including spent fuel, has been preliminarily evaluated. Usually, the environment of deep borehole disposal, at a depth of 3 to 5 km, has more stable geological and geo-hydrological conditions. For this purpose, the characteristics of rock distribution in the domestic area were analyzed and drilling and investigation technologies for deep boreholes with large diameter were evaluated. Based on the results of these analyses, design criteria and requirements for the deep borehole disposal system were reviewed, and preliminary reference concept for a deep borehole disposal system, including disposal container and sealing system meeting the criteria and requirements, was developed. Subsequently, various performance assessments, including thermal stability analysis of the system and simulation of the disposal process, were performed in a 3D graphic disposal environment. With these analysis results, the preliminary evaluation of the domestic applicability of the deep borehole disposal system was performed from various points of view. In summary, due to disposal depth and simplicity, the deep borehole disposal system should bring many safety and economic benefits. However, to reduce uncertainty and to obtain the assent of the regulatory authority, an in-situ demonstration of this technology should be carried out. The current results can be used as input to establish a national high-level radioactive waste management policy. In addition, they may be provided as basic information necessary for stakeholders interested in deep borehole disposal technology.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.197-208
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• 2022

The existence of shallow bedrock and the desire to use underground space necessitate the use of blasting methods. The standard blasting method under water after drilling is associated with certain technical difficulties, including reduced detonation power, the use of a fixed charge per delay, and decoupling. However, there is no blasting method to replace the existing blasting method. In this paper, a dry hole charged with ANFO blasting is assessed while employing a dry hole pumping system to remove water from the drill borehole. Additional standard blasting is also utilized to compare the blasting performances of the two methods. The least-squares linear regression method is adopted to analyze the blasting vibration velocity quantitatively using the measured vibration velocity for each blasting method and the vibration velocity model as a function of the scaled distance. The results show that the dry hole charged with ANFO blasting will lead to greater damping of the blasting vibration, more energy dissipation to crush the surrounding rock, and closer distances for the allowable velocity of the blasting vibration. Also, standard blasting shows much longer influencing distances and a wider range of the blasting pattern. The pilot test confirms the blasting efficiency of dry hole charged with ANFO blasting.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.599-609
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• 2023

In the seismic retrofitting of harbor breakwaters in Korea, the recovery rate is often uncertain due to site conditions and site conditions, and problems continue to arise. Therefore, in this study, we analyzed the recovery rate and compressive strength of the improved material through drilling survey by grouting confirmation method after applying low-fluidity mortar injection method, and furthermore, we checked the elastic modulus by downhole test and tomography to confirm the reinforcement effect of soft ground after ground improvement. The experimental results showed that the average shear wave velocity of the ground increased from 229 m/s to 288 m/s in BH-1 and BH-3 boreholes to a depth of 28.0 m, and the average shear wave velocity of the ground to a depth of 30.0 m tended to increase from 224 m/s to 282 m/s in the downhole test. This is believed to be a result of the increased stiffness of the ground after reinforcement. The results of the tomographic survey showed that the Vs of the soft ground of the sample at Site 1 increased from 113 m/s to 214 m/s, and the Vs of the sample at Site 2 increased from 120 m/s to 224 m/s. This shows that the stiffness of the ground after seismic reinforcement is reinforced with hard soil, as the Vs value satisfies 180 m/s to 360 m/s in the classification of rock quality according to shear wave velocity.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.194-201
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• 2021

Induced polarization (IP) effect is known to be caused by electrochemical phenomena at interface between minerals and pore water. Spectral induced polarization (SIP) method is an electrical survey to localize subsurface IP anomalies while injecting alternating currents of multiple frequencies into the ground. This method was effectively applied to mineral exploration of various ore deposits. Titanomagnetite ores were being produced by a mining company located in Gonamsan area, Gwanin-myeon, Pocheon-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. Because the ores contain more than 0.4 w% vanadium, the ore deposit is called as Gwanin vanadiferous titanomagnetite (VTM) deposit. The vanadium is the most important of materials in production of vanadium redox flow batteries, which can be appropriately used for large-scale energy storage system. Systematic mineral exploration was conducted to identify presence of hidden VTM orebodies and estimate their potential resources. In geophysical exploration, laboratory geophysical measurement of rock samples is helpful to generate reliable property models from field survey data. Therefore, we performed laboratory SIP data of the rocks from the Gwanin VTM deposit to understand SIP characteristics between ores and host rocks and then demonstrate the applicability of this method for the mineral exploration. Both phase and resistivity spectra of the ores sampled from underground outcrop and drilling cores were different of those of the host rocks consisting of monzodiorite and quartz monzodiorite. Because the phase and resistivity at frequencies below 100 Hz are mainly dependent on the SIP characteristics of the rocks, we calculated mean values of the ores and the host rocks. The average phase values at 0.1 Hz were ores: -369 mrad and host rocks: -39 mrad. The average resistivity values at 0.1 Hz were ores: 16 Ωm and host rocks: 2,623 Ωm. Because the SIP characteristics of the ores were different of those of the host rocks, we considered that the SIP survey is effective for the mineral exploration in vanadiferous titanomagnetite deposits and the SIP characteristics are useful for interpreting field survey data.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.83-94
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• 2011

Extra heavy oil reservoirs are distributed over the world but most of them is deposited in the northern part of the Orinoco River in Venezuela, in the area of 5,500 $km^2$, This region, which has been commonly called "the Orinoco Oil Belt", contains estimated 1.3 trillion barrels of original oil-in-place and 250 billion barrels of established reserves. The Venezuela extra heavy oil has an API gravity of less than 10 degree and in situ viscosity of 5,000 cP at reservoir condition. Although the presence of extra heavy oil in the Orinoco Oil Belt has been initially reported in the 1930's, the commercial development using in situ cold production started in the 1990's. The Orinoco heavy oil deposits are clustered into 4 development areas, Boyaco, Junin, Ayachoco, and Carabobo respectively, and they are subdivided into totally 31 production blocks. Nowadays, PDVSA (Petr$\'{o}$leos de Venzuela, S.A.) makes a development of each production block with the international oil companies from more than 20 countries forming a international joint-venture company. The Eastern Venezuela Basin, the Orinoco Oil Belt is included in, is one of the major oil-bearing sedimentary basins in Venezuela and is first formed as a passive margin basin by the Jurassic tectonic plate motion. The major source rock of heavy oil is the late Cretaceous calcareous shale in the central Eastern Venezuela Basin. Hydrocarbon materials migrated an average of 150 km up dip to the southern margin of the basin. During the migration, lighter fractions in the hydrocarbon were removed by biodegradation and the oil changed into heavy and/or extra heavy oil. Miocene Oficina Formation, the main extra heavy oil reservoir, is the unconsolidated sand and shale alternation formed in fluvial-estuarine environment and also has irregularly a large number of the Cenozoic faults induced by basin subsidence and tectonics. Because Oficina Formation has not only complex lithology distribution but also irregular geology structure, geological evolution and characteristics of the reservoirs have to be determined for economical production well design and effective oil recovery. This study introduces geological formation and evolution of the Venezuela extra heavy oil reservoirs and suggest their significant geological characteristics which are (1) thickness and geometry of reservoir pay sands, (2) continuity and thickness of mud beds, (3) geometry of faults, (4) depth and geothermal character of reservoir, (5) in-situ stress field of reservoir, and (6) chemical composition of extra heavy oil. Newly developed exploration techniques, such as 3-D seismic survey and LWD (logging while drilling), can be expected as powerful methods to recognize the geological reservoir characteristics in the Orinoco Oil Belt.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.599-622
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• 2012

The phase I soil geochemical exploration was carried out targeting around Chau Binh area far from about 14 km with southeastern direction from Quy Chau within Nghe An province. The interval of sampling are horizontal 300 m with 14 line and longitudinal 500 m with 15 line, resulting in 194 soil samples. Based on the result of the phase I soil geochemical exploration, the phase II detailed pitting survey was carried out targeting the grid point with high TREO content, resulting in 56 soil samples within 7 pits. The geology of survey area are consisted of Ban Chieng biotite granite complex and Dai Loc gneissic granite complex intruding Bu Khang formation comprising of schist, gneiss and limestone. Main mineralization in the study area have the characteristics of occurrence with tin, ruby and REE-bearing monazite(about 300 g/t) and xenotime(about 10 g/t) to be thought as occurring at the alteration zone of granite complex. In order to elucidate the source rock of monazite and xenotime confirmed from heavy sand, soil geochemical exploration was carried out. As a analysis result with ICP-MS on the soil samples from the phase I soil geochemical exploration, total REE oxide content of background amount to about 2 times of crustal abundance, enriching the heavy rare earth(about 2 times) and light rare earth(about 1.84 times). As a analysis result with ICP-MS on the soil samples from the phase II soil detailed pit survey, we identified outcrop considering as economic ore body at the grid point 4-7 pit with N40W attitude. As a synthetic consideration on the phase I soil geochemical exploration and phase II detailed pit survey, we tentatively designated areas considering as the extension of economic ore body with REE anomaly. In the near future, we have the plan to carry out the geophysical exploration and test drilling targeting the interval anticipated to the economic ore body.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.371-380
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• 2016

This study aims to identify the mineraloical and petrographical characteristics of caprock from drilling cores of Pohang basin as a potential $CO_2$ storage site. Experiments and modeling were conducted in order to investigate the geochemical and mineralogical caprock effects of carbon dioxide. A series of autoclave experiments were conducted to simulate the interaction in the $scCO_2$-caprock-brine using a high pressure and temperature cell at $50^{\circ}C$ and 100 bar. Geochemical and mineralogical alterations after 15 days of $scCO_2$-caprock-brine sample reactions were quantitatively examined by XRD, XRF, ICP-OES investigation. Results of mineralogical studies, together with petrographic data of caprock and data on the physicochemical parameters of brine were used for geochemical modeling. Modelling was carried out using the The Geochemist's Workbench 11.0.4 geochemical simulator. Results from XRD analysis for caprock sample showed that major compositional minerals are quartz, plagioclase, and K-feldspar, and muscovite, pyrite, siderite, calcite, kaolinite and montnorillonite were included on a small scale. Results from ICP-OES analysis for brine showed that concentration of $Ca^{2+}$, $Na^+$, $K^+$ and $Mg^{2+}$ increased due to dissolution of plagioclase, K-feldspar and muscovite. Results of modeling for the period of 100 years showed that the recrystallization of kaolinite, dawsonite and beidellite, at the expense of plagioclase and K-feldspar is characteristic. Volumes of newly precipitation minerals and minerals passing into brine were balanced, so the porosity remained nearly unchanged. Experimental and modeling results indicate the interaction between caprock and $scCO_2$ during geologic carbon sequestration can exert significant impacts in brine pH and solubility/stability of minerals.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.509-523
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• 2015

This study introduces newly implemented geological well logs database for Jeju public water wells, built for a research project focusing on integrated hydrogeology database of Jeju Island. A detailed analysis of the existing 1,200 Jeju Island geological logs for the public wells developed since 1970 revealed six major indications to be improved for their use in Jeju geological logs DB construction: (1) lack of uniformity in rock name classification, (2) poor definitions of pyroclastic deposits and sand and gravel layers, (3) lack of well borehole aquifer information, (4) lack of information on well screen installation in many water wells, (5) differences by person in geological logging descriptions. A new Jeju geological logs DB enabling standardized input and output formats has been implemented to overcome the above indications by reestablishing the names of Jeju volcanic and sedimentary rocks and utilizing a commercial, database-based input structured, geological log program. The newly designed database structure in geological log program enables users to store a large number of geology, well drilling, and test data at the standardized DB input structure. Also, well borehole groundwater and aquifer test data can be easily added without modifying the existing database structure. Thus, the newly implemented geological logs DB could be a standardized DB for a large number of Jeju existing public wells and new wells to be developed in the future at Jeju Island. Also, the new geological logs DB will be a basis for ongoing project 'Developing GIS-based integrated interpretation system for Jeju Island hydrogeology'.