• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제37권4호
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• pp.385-390
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• 2005

The effect of the Wolsong Tritium Removal Facility on the change of tritium concentration in the soil water was assessed by introducing a dynamic compartment model. For the mathematical modeling, the tritium in the environment was thought to come from two different sources. Three global tritium cycling models were compared with the natural background concentration. The dynamic compartment model was used to model the behavior of the tritium from the nuclear power plants at the Wolsong site. The source term for the dynamic compartment model was calculated with the dry and wet deposition rates. The area around the Wolsong nuclear power plants was represented by the compartments. The mechanisms considered in deriving the transfer coefficients between the compartments were evaporation, runoff, infiltration, hydrodynamic dispersion, and groundwater flow. We predicted what the change of the tritium concentration around the Wolsong nuclear power plants would be after future operation of the tritium removal facility to show the applicability of the model. The results showed that the operation of the tritium removal facility would reduce the tritium concentration in topsoil water quickly.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제35권6호
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• pp.515-522
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• 2003

Tritium behavior in the solid breeder blanket is one of the key factors in determining tritium self-sufficiency, as well as safety, of fusion reactors. Recently, a model has been developed to describe the tritium behavior in solid breeder material, which can predict the tritium release and inventory in the blanket. However, the model has limitation to account for tritium solubility effects, mainly existing as LiOT, especially inside the $Li_{2}O$ solid breeder. In order to improve the capability of predicting the LiOT precipitation in $Li_{2}O$ solid breeder, a new logic is developed and integrated in the existing tritium release and inventory calculation code. With the logic developed in this work, the code can have capabilities to analyze tritium release and inventories in $Li_{2}O$ under steady and transient conditions. It can be found that tritium inventory as LiOT is an important mechanism under pulsed operation, and the amount of inventory becomes higher as the tritium generation rate increases and the temperature decreases. Also, the temperature limits for the generation of LiOT precipitation are determined. Therefore the developed logic helps understand the tritium transport mechanism in $Li_{2}O$ solid breeder.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권2호
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• pp.469-478
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• 2022

Tritium was extracted from tritium-contaminated aluminum samples by heating it in a high-temperature furnace at 200, 300, or 400 ℃ for 15 h. The extracted tritium was analyzed by using a liquid scintillation counter (LSC); the sample thicknesses were 0.4 and 2 mm. The differences in tritium extraction over time were also investigated by cutting aluminum stick samples into several pieces (1, 5, 10, and 15) with the same thickness, and subsequently heating them. The results revealed that there are most of the hydrated material based on tritium on the surface of aluminum. When the temperature was increased from 200 or 300 ℃-400 ℃, there are no large differences in the heating duration required for the radioactivity concentration to be lower than the MDA value. Additionally, at the same thickness, because the surface of aluminum is only contaminated to tritiated water, cutting the aluminum samples into several pieces (5, 10, and 15) did not have a substantial effect on the tritium extraction fraction at any of the applied heating temperatures (200, 300, or 400 ℃). The proportion of each tritium-release materials (aluminum hydrate based on tritium) were investigated via diverse analyses (LSC, XRD, and SEM-EDS).

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제28권3호
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• pp.239-245
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• 2003

Every nuclear power plant measured concentrations of tritium in groundwater and surface water around the plants periodically. It was not easy to predict the tritium concentration only with these measurement data in case of various release scenarios. KAERI developed a new approach to find the relationship between the tritium release rate and tritium concentration in the environment. The approach was based upon a dynamic compartment model. In this paper the dynamic compartment model was modified to predict the tritium behavior more accurately. The mechanisms considered for the transfer of tritium between the compartments were evaporation, groundwater flow, infiltration, runoff, and hydrodynamic dispersion. Time dependent source terms of the compartment model were introduced to refine the release scenarios. Also, transfer coefficients between the compartments were obtained using realistic geographical data. In order to illustrate the model various release scenarios were developed, and the change of tritium concentration in groundwater and surface water around the nuclear power plants was estimated.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권11호
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• pp.3798-3807
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• 2021

Tritium extraction from radioactively contaminated cement mortar samples was performed using heating and liquid scintillation counting methods. Tritiated water molecules (HTO) can be present in contaminated water along with water molecules (H₂O). Water is one of the primary constituents of cement mortar dough. Therefore, if tritium is present in cement mortar, the buildings and structures using this cement mortar would be contaminated by tritium. The radioactivity level of the materials in the environment exposed to tritium contamination should be determined for their disposal in accordance with the criteria of low-level radioactive waste disposal facility. For our experiments, the cement mortar samples were heated at different temperature conditions using a high-temperature combustion furnace, and the extracted tritium was collected into a 0.1 M nitric acid solution, which was then mixed with a liquid scintillator to be analyzed in a liquid scintillation counter (LSC). The tritium extraction rate from the cement mortar sample was calculated to be 90.91% and 98.54% corresponding to 9 h of heating at temperatures of 200 ℃ and 400 ℃, respectively. The tritium extraction rate was close to 100% at 400 ℃, although the bulk of cement mortar sample was contaminated by tritium.

• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제16권1호
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• pp.11-39
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• 2018

Tritium and $^{14}C$ are two most important radionuclides released from nuclear facilities to the environment, and $^{14}C$ contributes dominant radiation dose to the population around nuclear power plants. This paper presents an overview of the production, pathway, species and levels of tritium and $^{14}C$ in nuclear facilities, mainly nuclear power plants. The methods for sampling and collection of different species of tritium and $^{14}C$ in the discharge gas from the stack in the nuclear facilities, atmosphere of the nuclear facilities and environment are presented, and the features of different methods are reviewed. The on-line monitoring methods of gaseous tritium and $^{14}C$ in air and laboratory measurement methods for sensitive determination of tritium and $^{14}C$ in collected samples, water and environmental solid samples are also discussed in detailed. Meanwhile, the challenges in the determination and speciation analysis of tritium and $^{14}C$ are also highlighted.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제28권1호
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• pp.1-8
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• 2003

원자력 발전소에 대한 주기적 안전성 평가에서는 발전소 주변 환경감시 프로그램 적절성의 확보를 요구한다. 이를 위하여 고리 원자력발전소 주변에 대하여 과거에 측정된 삼중수소의 환경방사능 자료를 분석하고, 새로이 시료를 채취하여 농도를 측정하였다. 분석결과 고리 원자력 발전소 주변에서의 삼중수소 농도가 국내 자연 환경 방사능 농도와 유사하였다 국내 삼중수소 환경방사능 변화를 모델링을 통하여 추정하였다. 이 모델링에서는 NCRP 62에서 권고한 7격실 글로벌 삼중수소 순환 모델 중 지구 전체에 대한 것과 북반구에 대한 것을 비교하였다. 이들 모델식에 대한 수치해는 AMBER 프로그램을 이용하여 구하였으며, 대기 중으로 방출되는 삼중수소의 선원항으로 4가지 경우를 고려하였다. 계산결과, 지표수의 삼중수소 농도가 해수나 지하수의 농도보다 놀게 나타났고, 우주선에 의한 삼중수소 발생이 가장 중요한 삼중수소 발생원 이었으며, 핵실험에 의해 발생된 삼중수소는 많이 감소하였다.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제36권2호
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• pp.99-106
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• 2011

원전에서 발생하는 방사성핵종 중에서 방사선작업종사자와 원전주변에 거주하는 일반인에 대한 피폭방사선량평가 측면에서 중요한 핵종 중에 하나가 삼중수소이다. 삼중수소는 인간의 체내로 섭취되어 내부피폭을 일으킨다. 원전 종사자 전체 피폭방사선량의 약 7%, 원전주변 일반인 피폭방사선량의 약 60-90%가 삼중수소에 의한 피폭으로 발생하고 있다. 이에 따라 국내외 연구소에서는 삼중수소에 대한 정확한 피폭방사선량 평가를 위해 많은 연구를 진행하고 있다. 본 논문은 삼중수소의 인체대사모델과 피폭방사선량 평가와 관련한 국내외 연구개발 동향을 정리하였고, 현안사항을 정리하였다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제34권3호
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• pp.242-249
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• 2002

The relationship between the tritium release rate from the nuclear power plant and tritium concentration in the environment around the Kori site was modeled. The tritium concentration in the atmosphere was calculated by multiplying the release rates and $\chi$/Q values, and the d3V deposition rate at each sector according to the direction and the distance was obtained using a dry deposition velocity. The area around Kori site was divided into 6 zones according to the deposition rate. The six zones were divided into 14 compartments for the numerical simulation. Transfer coefficients between the compartments were derived using site characterization data. Source terms were calculated from the dry deposition rates. Tritium concentration in surface soil water and groundwater was calculated based upon a compartment model. The semi-analytical solution of the compartment model was obtained with a computer program, AMBER. The results showed that most of tritium deposited onto the land released into the atmosphere and the sea. Also, the estimated concentration in the top soil agreed well to that measured. Using the model, tritium concentration was predicted in the case that the tritium release rates were doubled.

• 한국방사성폐기물학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국방사성폐기물학회 2003년도 가을 학술논문집
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• pp.172-179
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• 2003

핵확산 저항성 핵연료주기공정, 트리튬을 활용하는 첨단산업 시설과 중수로형 원전 등의 국내 원자력 산업에서 다양한 화합물 형태로 발생하는 트리튬 폐기물을 처리하는 기술을 개발하기 위하여 국내외 트리튬 처리기술의 현황을 조사하였음. 트리튬 폐기물을 크게 기체상, 유기상, 수용액상으로 분류하였고, 이들을 각각 처리할 수 있는 기술을 분석하였음. 이러한 트리튬 폐기물의 처리기술 개발은 원자력 산업의 지속적인 발전을 위한 기술력 기반조성 및 국민의 방사성 폐기물에 대한 긍정적 이미지를 심어 주는데 필수적임.