• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.287-297
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• 2014

For several decades, many countries operating nuclear power plants have been studying the various disposal alternatives to dispose of the spent nuclear fuel or high-level radioactive waste safely. In this paper, as a direct disposal of spent nuclear fuels for deep geological disposal concept, the rod consolidation from spent fuel assembly for the disposal efficiency was considered and analyzed. To do this, a concept of spent fuel rod consolidation was described and the related concepts of disposal canister and disposal system were reviewed. With these concepts, several thermal analyses were carried out to determine whether the most important requirement of the temperature limit for a buffer material was satisfiedin designing an engineered barrier of a deep geological disposal system. Based on the results of thermal analyses, the deposition hole distance, disposal tunnel spacing and heat release area of a disposal canister were reviewed. And the unit disposal areas for each case were calculated and the disposal efficiencies were evaluated. This evaluation showed that the rod consolidation of spent nuclear fuel had no advantages in terms of disposal efficiency. In addition, the cooling time of spent nuclear fuels from nuclear power plant were reviewed. It showed that the disposal efficiency for the consolidated spent fuel rods could be improved in the case that cooling time was 70 years or more. But, the integrity of fuels and other conditions due to the longer term storage before disposal should be analyzed.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.339-346
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• 2018

A geological repository system consists of a disposal canister with packed spent fuel, buffer material, backfill material, and intact rock. The buffer is indispensable to assure the disposal safety of high-level radioactive waste. Since the heat generated from spent nuclear fuel in a disposal canister is released to the surrounding buffer materials, the thermal properties of the buffer material are very important in determining the entire disposal safety. Especially, since thermal expansion can cause thermal stress to the intact rock mass in the near-field, it is very important to evaluate thermal expansion characteristics of bentonite buffer materials. Therefore, this paper presents a thermal expansion coefficient prediction model of the Gyeongju bentonite buffer materials which is a Ca-bentonite produced in South Korea. The linear thermal expansion coefficient was measured considering heating rate, dry density and temperature variation using dilatometer equipment. Thermal expansion coefficient values of the Gyeongju bentonite buffer materials were $4.0{\sim}6.0{\times}10^{-6}/^{\circ}C$. Based on the experimental results, a non-linear regression model to predict the thermal expansion coefficient was suggested and fitted according to the dry density.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.307-320
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• 2003

Garnet has been considered as a possible matrix for the immobilization of radioactive actinides. It is expected that Fe­based garnet be able to have the high substitution ability of actinide elements because ionic radius of Fe in tetrahedral site is larger than that of Si of Si­based garnet. Accordingly, we synthesized Fe­garnet with the batch composition of $Ca_{2,5}$C $e_{0.5}$Z $r_2$F $e_3$ $O_{12}$ and $Ca_2$CeZrFeF $e_3$ $O_{12}$ and studied their phase relations and properties. Mixed samples were fabricated in pellet forms under the pressure of 400 kg/$\textrm{cm}^2$ and were sintered in the temperature range of 1100∼140$0^{\circ}C$ in atmospheric conditions. Phase identification and chemical composition of synthesized samples were analyzed by XRD and SEM/EDS. In results, where the compounds were sintered at 130$0^{\circ}C$, we optimally obtained Fe­garnets as the main phase, even though some minor phases like perovskite were included. The compositions of Fe­garnets synthesized from the batch compositions of $Ca_{2,5}$C $e_{0.5}$Z $r_2$F $e_3$ $O_{12}$ and $Ca_2$CeZrFeF $e_3$ $O_{12}$, are $Ca_{2.5­3.2}$C $e_{0.3­0.7}$Z $r_{1.8­2.8}$F $e_{1.9­3.2}$ $O_{12}$ and $Ca_{2.2­2.5}$C $e_{0.8­1.0}$Z $r_{1.3­1.6}$ F $e_{0.4­.07}$ F $e_{3­3.2}$ $O_{12}$, respectively. Ca contents were exceeded and Ce contents were exceeded or depleted in 8­coodinated site, comparing to the initial batch composition. These results were caused by the compensation of the difference of ionic radius between Ca and Ce.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.55-61
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• 2015

When a radiation detector is applied to the measurement of the radioactivity of high-level of radioactive materials or the rapid response to the nuclear accident, several collimators with the different inner radii should be prepared according to the level of dose rate. This makes the in-situ measurement impractical, because of the heavy weight of the collimator. In this study, an IRIS collimator was developed so as to have a function of controlling the inner radius, with the same method used in optical camera, to vary the attenuation ratio of radiation. The shutter was made to have the double tungsten layers with different phase angles to prevent the radiation from penetrating owing to the mechanical tolerance. The performance evaluation through the MCNP code was conducted by calculating the attenuation ratio according to the inner radius of the collimator. The attenuation ratio was marked on the outer scale ring of the collimator. It is expected that when a radiation detector with the IRIS collimator is used for the in-situ measurement, it can change the attenuation ratio of the incident photon to the detector without replacing the collimator.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.289-308
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• 2021

This study conducts coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical numerical modeling to investigate the maximum temperature and conditions for securing mechanical stability of the high-level radioactive waste repository when temperature criteria of bentonite buffer are 100℃ and 125℃, respectively. In case of temperature criterion of buffer as 100℃, the maximum temperatures at the interface between canister and buffer are calculated to be 99.4℃ and 99.8℃, respectively for a case with disposal tunnel spacing of 40 m and deposition hole spacing of 5.5 m and for the other case with disposal tunnel spacing of 30 m and deposition hole spacing of 6.5 m. In case of temperature criterion of buffer as 125℃, spacings of disposal tunnel and deposition hole could be decreased to 30 m and 4.5 m, respectively, which reduces the disposal area up to 55% compared to the disposal area of KRS⁺. According to analysis of mechanical stability for various disposal spacings, RMR of rock mass for KRS⁺ should be larger than 72.4 which belongs to good rock in RMR classification to prevent failure of rock mass. As disposal spacing is decreased, required RMR of rock mass is increased. In order to prevent failure of rock mass for a case with disposal tunnel spacing of 30 m and deposition hole spacing of 4.5 m, RMR larger than 87.3 is needed. However, mechanical stability of the repository is secured for all cases with RMR over 75 considering the enhancement of rock strength due to confining stress induced by swelling of the bentonite buffer and backfill.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.239-247
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• 2005

In this study, an experimental study on the sorption properties of uranium(VI) onto bentonite colloids generated from a domestic calcium bentonite (called as Gyeongju bentonite). Gyeongju bentonite has been considered as a potential candidate buffer material in the Korean disposal concept for high-level radioactive wastes. The size and concentration of the bentonite colloids used in the sorption experiment were measured by a filtration method. The result showed that the concentration of the synthesized bentonite colloid suspension was 5100ppm and the size of the most of bentonite colloids(over $98\%$) was in the range of 200-450nm in diameter. The amount of uranium lost by the sorption onto bottle walls, by precipitation, and by ultrafiltration or colloid formation was analyzed by carrying out some blank tests. The loss of uranium by the ultrafiltration was significant in the lower ionic strength(i.e., in the case of 0.001M $NaClO_4$) due to the cationic sorption effect onto the ultrafilter by a surface charge reversion. The distribution coefficient (or pseudo-colloid formation constant) for the sorption of uranium(VI) onto bentonite colloids was $10^4^{\sim}10^6$ mL/g depending upon pH and the distribution coefficient was highest in the neutral pH around 6.5.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.119-127
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• 2013

Borosilicate glass dissolution is an important chemical process that impacts the glass durability as nuclear waste form that may be used for high-level radioactive waste disposal. Experiments reported that the glass dissolution rates are strongly dependent on the bulk composition. Because some relationship exists between glass composition and molecular-structure distribution (e.g., non-bridging oxygen content of $SiO_4$ unit and averaged coordination number of B), the composition-dependent dissolution rates are attributed to the bulk structural changes corresponding to the compositional variation. We examined Na borosilicate glass structures by performing classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations for four different chemical compositions ($xNa_2O{\cdot}B_2O_3{\cdot}ySiO_2$). Our MD simulations demonstrate that glass surfaces have significantly different chemical compositions and structures from the bulk glasses. Because glass surfaces forming an interface with solution are most likely the first dissolution-reaction occurring areas, the current MD result simply that composition-dependent glass dissolution behaviors should be understood by surface structural change upon the chemical composition change.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.35 no.7
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• pp.41-50
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• 2019

Gyeongju bentonite is a buffer material primarily considered in Korea and it is highly compacted as a part of an engineered barrier system (EBS) of high-level radioactive waste repository. The compacted bentonite undergoes swelling stress by groundwater penetration and thermal stress by decay heat from a canister. Therefore, the mechanical properties of the compacted bentonite buffer material is crucial for the performance assessment of EBS. This paper aims to evaluate deformation properties of Gyeongju compacted bentonite using seismic methods. Two sets of compacted bentonite specimens were prepared having dry densities of $1.59g/cm^3$ and $1.75g/cm^3$ with water contents of 10.6% and 8.7%. Free-free resonant column tests were performed to measure constrained and unconstrained compression wave velocities. With the measured wave velocities, Young's modulus ($E_{max}$) and constrained modulus ($M_{max}$), material damping ratio ($D_{min}$), and Poisson's ratio at small strain were determined. As results, this paper evaluates the deformation properties of Gyeongju compacted bentonite and compares them with the results of previous researches.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.23-32
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• 2011

An engineering scale test, which is called KENTEX, was carried out to understand and to analyze the coupled thermal, hydrological and mechanical phenomena in the engineered barrier system(EBS) of Korean reference disposal system. Using the experimental data obtained from KENTEX, the water saturation processes in bentonite could be analyzed. From the comparison between the model calculation using ABAQUS and the experimental results, the difference of the water content between them in the unsaturating part was large because the drying phenomena due to moisture redistribution by the temperature gradient could not be included in the model. In the saturating part, the difference of the water content between them was decreased gradually and showed to be small in the full saturation. And the time of about 95% saturation could be estimated about 500 days from the model calculation and experimental results. Also it could be known that the moisture redistribution in the unsaturated part could not be affected on the saturation time of bentonite in the repository. Therefore, it is considered that this model could be used to quantitatively predict the water saturation time in bentonite as EBS for the disposal system.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.107-119
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• 2014

The worldwide Status-of-Art survey for the in-situ experiments of the engineered barrier system for HLW underground disposal was performed as a preliminary action for the design of the in-situ demonstration at KURT. Some nations, which have executed or is ongoing the in-situ experiments at their underground research facilities, were summarized in this review. The demonstration projects reviewed were TBT/Sweden-France, LOT/Sweden, HE-E/Switzerland, PRACLAY/Belgium, FEBEX/Spain, HORONOBE/Japan, and BCE/Canada. The investigated items for the projects were mainly their purposes, constitutional structures, test conditions, monitoring parameters and the measuring tools, and test results. In this review, the hardware design and the assembling of the test system were more concentrated rather than their experimental results, because the purpose of this review is to achieve the necessary information for the practical design of the in-situ experiment to be installed at KURT. A mid scale in-situ demonstration of EBS at KURT, that is called IN-DBES, will be launched right after the completion the expanding project of KURT in 2015. It is hoped that the structural design, installing methods, hardware equipments required in the establishment of IN-DEBS will be referred on this review.