• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.558-567
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• 2022

The evolution of temperature and thermal stress in a granite specimen is studied via heating experiment in the context of a high-level radioactive waste repository. A heating condition based on the decay-induced heat is applied to a cubic granite specimen to measure the temperature and stress distributions and their evolution over time. The temperature increases quickly due to heat conduction along the heated surfaces, but a significant amount of thermal energy is also lost through other surfaces due to air convection and conduction into the loading machine. A three-dimensional finite element-based model is used to numerically reproduce the experiment, and the thermo-mechanical coupling behavior and modeling conditions are validated with the comparison to the experimental results. The most crucial factors influencing the heating experiment are analyzed and summarized in this paper for future works.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.87 no.3
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• pp.221-229
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• 2023

Urbanization and industrialization have significantly increased the amount of solid waste produced in recent decades, posing considerable disposal problems and environmental burdens. The practice of waste utilization in concrete has gained popularity among construction practitioners and researchers for the efficient use of resources and the transition to the circular economy in construction. This study employed Lytag aggregate, an environmentally friendly pulverized fuel ash-based lightweight aggregate, as a substitute for natural coarse aggregate. At the same time, fly ash, an industrial by-product, was used as a partial substitute for cement. Concrete mix M20 was experimented with using fly ash and Lytag lightweight aggregate. The percentages of fly ash that make up the replacements were 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, and 25%. The Compressive Strength (CS), Split Tensile Strength (STS), and deflection were discovered at these percentages after 56 days of testing. The concrete cube, cylinder, and beam specimens were examined in the explorations, as mentioned earlier. The results indicate that a 10% substitution of cement with fly ash and a replacement of coarse aggregate with Lytag lightweight aggregate produced concrete that performed well in terms of mechanical properties and deflection. The cementitious composites have varying characteristics as the environment changes. Therefore, understanding their mechanical properties are crucial for safety reasons. CS, STS, and deflection are the essential property of concrete. Machine learning (ML) approaches have been necessary to predict the CS of concrete. The Artificial Fish Swarm Optimization (AFSO), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), and Harmony Search (HS) algorithms were investigated for the prediction of outcomes. This work deftly explains the tremendous AFSO technique, which achieves the precise ideal values of the weights in the model to crown the mathematical modeling technique. This has been proved by the minimum, maximum, and sample median, and the first and third quartiles were used as the basis for a boxplot through the standardized method of showing the dataset. It graphically displays the quantitative value distribution of a field. The correlation matrix and confidence interval were represented graphically using the corrupt method.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2023.05a
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• pp.91-92
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• 2023

With the development of technology, interest in the implementation of free-form buildings is increasing, and research on producing free-form panels is being conducted accordingly. Since free-form buildings are curved and consist of geometric shapes, there are many problems with the production technology of free-form panels that implement them. Due to the inability to reuse molds, the cost of disposal of construction waste and waste of manpower for assembly increase the construction period and construction cost. To improve these limitations, a 3D printed concrete nozzle for FCP production was developed. However, this technology is not quantitatively extruded according to the shape of the panel, and there is a problem that residues are generated. Therefore, an free-form panel extrusion experiment was conducted to analyze the limitations of existing nozzles and to analyze the requirements for the development of new concrete extrusion nozzles. Existing nozzles were unable to be quantitatively extruded, resulting in errors. Due to the weak pressure of the screw and the inability to adjust the internal pressure, detailed extrusion speed control was impossible, and residue generation in the opening and closing device seemed to be the cause. Therefore, a pump capable of quantitative concrete pressure transfer and a pressure control device for easy extrusion of concrete are required. In addition, it is judged that it is necessary to develop an opening and closing device and an extrusion device that do not generate residues. The results of this study are expected to provide information for FCP production and production and to be a basic study of technologies necessary for the production of free-form building panels.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.32 no.11
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• pp.745-756
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• 2023

Growing stringent global regulations in Korea poses a threat to corporate sustainability. Companies must respond strategically to navigate these regulations and avoid greenwashing. Objective of this research was to analyze how Korean companies are responding to the global trend of reducing plastic use and propose improved management strategies. Seven indicators were developed to assess companies' post-plastic strategies and applied to analyze the sustainability reports of Amore Pacific and LG Household & HealthCare. These indicators included, 1) disclosure of plastic raw materials used by weight or volume, 2) disclosure of recycled plastic raw materials used by weight or volume, 3) disclosure of waste recycling, reuse amounts, and disposal using waste treatment method 4) strategies to reduce environmental impact of plastics, 5) plastic packaging, reduce, recycle, reuse, and composting (in the real environment), 6) plastic management roadmap for the circular economy, and 7) education for sustainable plastic management. Based on the review of considered companies, we propose in-listed sustainable plastics management strategies: disclosing the ratio of plastic raw materials and recycled raw materials for all products, considering recycling rate throughout the product value chain, and not only for the production phase, reviewing carbon dioxide emissions based on life cycle assessment rather than reducing plastic consumption, studying the biodegradability of biodegradable plastics in natural environment such as soil, considering the consumer's perspective.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.3-8
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• 2019

Recently, plastic waste in Korea has been recognized as a critical issue due to an increase in massive production of plastics, difficulty in disposal of waste plastics, and public recognition of toxicity in micro-plastics, etc. To resolve those problems, the regulation to reduce plastics consumption may be primarily considered but, in this case, clarification should be made on the rationales and the action plans in the regulation for individual waste plastic items. Another problem is the small capital sizes of domestic recycling companies, which leads to poor R&D capacity, low recycling yields and thus lowering values of recycling items. This adversely affects consumers' perception. The R&D toward recycling technical progress should take into account the environmental friendliness and recyclability from the early product design stages. Certainly, this should be supported in governmental policy and public action plans. In addition, by referring to advanced policies of i.e. European Union, the recycling industry should be recognized as an opportunity toward new investment & employment. If necessary, the regulation of plastic consumption through a formal evaluation process such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) will also be helpful. The values of recycled plastics should be improved through the identification and elimination of harmful chemical substances potentially contained in the products.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.331-337
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• 2018

The decommissioning of nuclear power plants is generally executed in five steps, including preparation, decontamination, cutting/demolition, waste disposal and environmental restoration. So, for efficient decommissioning of nuclear power plants, worker safety, effects compared to cost, minimization of waste, possibility of reuse, etc., shall be considered. Worker safety and measurement technology shall be secured to exert optimal efficiency of nuclear power plant decommissioning work, for which accurate measurement technology for systems and devices is necessary. Typical In-Situ methods for decommissioning of nuclear plants are CZT, Gamma Camera and ISOCS. This study used ISOCS, which can be applied during the decommissioning of a nuclear power plant site without collecting representative samples, to take measurements of the S/G Water Chamber. To validate the measurement values, Microshield and the GEANT4 code was used as the actual method were used for modeling, respectively. The comparison showed a difference of $1.0{\times}10^1Bq$, which indicates that it will be possible to reduce errors due to the influence of radiation in the natural environment and the precision of modeling. Based on the research results of this paper, accuracy and reliability of measurement values will be analyzed and the applicability of the direct measurement method during the decommissioning of NPPs will be assessed.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.18 no.5 s.95
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• pp.589-594
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• 2006

The recycling of industrial wastes in the concrete manufacturing is of increasing interest worldwide, due to the high environmental impact of the cement and concrete industries and to the rising demand of infrastructures, both in industrialized and developing countries. The production of municipal wastes in the South Korea is estimated at about 49,902 ton per day and only 14.5% of these are incinerated and principally disposed of in landfill. These quantities will increase considerably with the growth of municipal waste production, the progressive closing of landfill, so the disposal of municipal solid waste incinerator(MSWI) ashes has become a continuous and significant issue facing society, both environmentally and economically. MSWI ash is the residue from waste combustion processes at temperature between $850^{\circ}C\;and\;1,000^{\circ}C$. And the main components of MSWI ash are $SiO_2,\;CaO\;and\;Al_2O_3$. The aim of this study is to find a way to useful application of MSWI ash(after treatment) as a structural material and to investigates the hydraulic activity, compressive strength development composition variation of such alkali-activated MSWI ashes concrete. And it was found that early cement hydration, followed by the breakdown and dissolving of the MSWI-ashes, enhanced the formation of calcium silicate hydrates(C-S-H). The XRD and SEM-EDS results indicate that, both the hydration degree and strength development are closely connected with a curing condition and a alkali-activator. Compressive strengths with values in the 40.5 MPa were obtained after curing the activated MSWI ashes with NaOH+water glass at $90^{\circ}C$.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.8-14
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• 2014

The amounts of radioactive wastes to be disposed in the medical institute have been increased due to development of radiation diagnosis and therapy rapidly. They are produced mostly by the very short lived radioisotopes such as $^{18}F$ used in PET/CT, $^{99m}Tc$, $^{123}I$, $^{125}I$ and $^{201}Tl$, etc. IAEA proposed a criteria for the clearance level of waste which depends on the individual ($10{\mu}Sv/y$) and collective dose (1 man-Sv/y), and concentration of each nuclide (IAEA Safety Series No 111-P-1.1, 1992 and IAEA RS-G-1.7, 2004). Radioactive wastes of $^{18}F$, $^{99m}Tc$, $^{123}I$, $^{125}I$ and $^{201}TI$ in the several types of container like Marinelli beaker, vial and plastic, were collected to measure the concentration of the waste of each nuclide in accordance with IAEA criteria. The measurement method and procedure of determining specific activity of the wastes using gamma emitters like MCA, gamma counter and beta emitters were developed. For the efficiency calibration of the detectors, CRM (certified reference material) which has the same dimension and shape was provided by Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS). Correction factor of the radioactivity decay was calculated based on the measurement results, and the consideration of mutual relation with theoretical equation. The result of this study will be proposed as ISO standard.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.73-81
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• 2020

Strontium (⁹⁰Sr) and nickel (⁵⁹Ni) have been considered as key radionuclides in the safety assessment of radioactive waste disposal. Through various efforts to impede the migration of radioactive nuclides underground, it has been established that some minerals generated from the corrosion of the waste containers have a positive chemical interaction with these radionuclides. Among these minerals we selected mackinawite (FeS), an iron and sulfur compound, and performed a sorption experiment for the Sr and Ni in FeS under anoxic and alkaline conditions by reflecting deep underground environments. The effects of pH on sorption were likewise investigated in the pH range of 8 ~ 12. As a result, it was found that strontium failed to exhibit a good sorption capacity in a weak alkaline range, while nickel showed a noticeably higher sorption affinity over the entire experimental pH range. Moreover, we determined that as the pH increased in the solution, the distribution coefficients (K_d) were increased for both nuclides, which reflects when an alkalinity increses, the surface of the mineral charges much negatively by detaching the hydrogen or cations on the mineral surface. Thus, it can be concluded that the cationic nuclides of Sr and Ni can attach easily to the mineral under strong alkalinity.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.35-43
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• 2016

Recently, the pipeline system for waste transportation has been increasingly constructed as new solution for the waste collection and disposal system by constantly increasing domestic waste which issued as social problem. The pipeline system is constructed through long distance, so proper long-term monitoring system is necessary which available to detect the damage location for the effective maintenance. In this paper, the experimental study is carried out to evaluate the applicability of optical strain gauge sensor based on FBG for the long-term monitoring system. Three test parameters such as pressure leaking, blockage and deformation are considered as typical damages for real-scale pipeline test specimen. In order to measure flexural and volumetric strain and temperature, three FBG sensors are installed at each monitoring sections. From the test results, this study suggested effective methods of sensor installation and arrangement. Also the sensor spacing for the design of monitoring system using FBG sensor is derived by the correlation of distances from deformation between sensor responses.