• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.189-200
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• 2016

The Republic of Tajikistan has ten former uranium mining sites. The total volume of all tailings is approximately 55 million tonnes, and the covered area is more than 200 hectares. The safe management of legacy uranium mining and tailing sites has become an issue of concern. Depending on the performance requirements and site-specific conditions (location in an arid, semiarid or humid region), a cover system for uranium tailings sites could be constructed using several material layers using both natural and man-made materials. The purpose of this study is to find a feasible cost-effective cover system design for the Degmay uranium tailings site which could provide a long period (100 years) of protection. The HELP computer code was used in the evaluation of potential Degmay cover system designs. As a result of this study, a cover system with 70 cm thick percolation layer, 30 cm thick drainage layer, geomembrane liner and 60 cm thick barrier soil layer is recommended because it minimizes cover thickness and would be the most cost-effective design.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.16 no.1 s.60
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• pp.11-25
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• 2006

The world's largest nucleon decay experiment facility is constructed at a depth of approximately 1,000 meters, in the Kamio Mine, Japan. The excavated cavern is consisted of a cylinder of 42.4 m high and a semi elliptical dome of 15.2 m high, with a bottom diameter of 40 m. The total excavation volume is approximately $69,000\;m^3$. Because of the character as a large cavern excavation in deep underground, there is many unknown factors in rock mechanics. Based on the results of rock test and numerical analysis, the monitoring of rock mass behavior accompanying progress of construction was performed by various instruments installed in the rock mass surrounding the cavern. The monitoring data was used in the study of measures for cavern stability.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2019

This study investigated use cases of machine learning technology in domestic medical, manufacturing, finance, automobile, urban sectors and those in overseas mining industry. Through a literature survey, it was found that the machine learning technology has been widely utilized for developing medical image information system, real-time monitoring and fault diagnosis system, security level of information system, autonomous vehicle and integrated city management system. Until now, the use cases have not found in the domestic mining industry, however, several overseas projects have found that introduce the machine learning technology to the mining industry for improving the productivity and safety of mineral exploration or mine development. In the future, the introduction of the machine learning technology to the mining industry is expected to spread gradually.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.63-71
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• 2020

Various types of amendments have been studied for heavy metal stabilization in soil. However, researches on the effect of amendments on alkali soil and their effects on the plants at various edible parts are insufficient. The aim of this study was to evaluate the stabilization efficiency of heavy metals and their transfer into edible parts of food crops. Abandoned mine area was selected and 3 types of amendments (lime stone, LS; steel slag, SS; acid mine drainage sludge, AMDS) was applied with 3% (w/w). in field. After 6 month aging, Chinese cabbage (leafy), bok choy (leafy), garlic (root) and red pepper (fruit) were transplanted and cultivated. For chemical assessment, total concentration and bioavailability using Mehlich-3 solution were determined. For biological assessment, fresh weight and heavy metal uptakes were analyzed. It was revealed that AMDS reduced bioavailability most effectively, resulting in the decrease in heavy metal concentration in edible parts of all crops. When explaining the heavy metal uptake of plants, the bioavailability was more appropriate than the total contents of soil heavy metals. Therefore, bioavailability-based further research and management practices should be carried out continuously for the sustainable environment management, safe crop production, and human health risk reduction.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.282-288
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• 2014

Stoping method has been acknowledged as one of the typical metalliferous underground mining methods. Notwithstanding with the popularity of the method, the majority of stoping mines are suffering from excessive unplanned dilution which often becomes as the main cause of mine closure. Thus a reliable unplanned dilution management system is imperatively needed. In this study, reliable unplanned dilution prediction system is introduced by adopting artificial neural network (ANN) based on data investigated from one underground stoping mine in Western Australia. In addition, contributions of input parameters were analysed by connection weight algorithm (CWA). To validate the reliability of the proposed ANN, correlation coefficient (R) was calculated in the training and test stage which shown relatively high correlation of 0.9641 in training and 0.7933 in test stage. As results of CWA application, BHL (Length of blast hole) and SFJ (Safety factor of Joint orientation) show comparatively high contribution of 18.78% and 19.77% which imply that these are somewhat critical influential parameter of unplanned dilution.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Mineral and Energy Resources Engineers
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.576-587
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• 2018

This study has focused on analysis factors affecting safety monitoring system at tailings sites, and the evaluation equipment to monitor the factors. Twenty sites at eighteen mines with unsafe conditions were selected to examine the equipment. There were three main factors influenced safety in the sites including surface erosion, piping, and slope instability. In detail, the surface erosion was divided into three sub-factors (planting, soil-topping layer, and tailings), piping into three sub-factors (liner, rain protection facility and leachate), and slop instability was also divided into three sub-factors (slop, concrete wall, and reinforcing wall). As results of in-field measurement, a CCTV was the most effective facility, and electrical resistivity survey, acoustic sensing, thermal liner sensor, structure inclinometer, rainfall meter, and flowmeter were also highly effective. According to applications of the facilities in the unstable tailings, structural defects were mainly found in the piping, which was the most important monitoring factor for safety management of tailings sites.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2020

Microseismic monitoring is utilized for the performance verification and safety management of the structure by detecting fine levels of damage. In order to construct a highly reliable microseismic monitoring system, the role of signal conditioner is critical. The signal conditioner helps with accurate data collection and precision control of the device, and performs additional functions such as signal conversion, linearization, and amplification. In this technical report, noise reduction signal conditioner suitable for mining sites was developed and reviewed for the purpose of implementing more precise monitoring by supplementing the previously developed microseismic monitoring system.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.243-261
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• 2019

Microseismic monitoring technologies have been recognized for its superiority over traditional methods and are used in domestic and overseas underground mines. However, the complex gangway layout of underground mines in Korea and the mixed structure of excavated space and rock masses make it difficult to estimate the microseismic propagation and to determine the arrival time of microseismic wave. In this paper, experimental studies were carried out to determine the source location according to various arrival picking methods and dimensional conditions. The arrival picking methods used were FTC (First Threshold Cross), Picking window, AIC (Akaike Information Criterion), and 2-D and 3-D source generation experiments were performed, respectively, under the 2-D sensor array. In each experiment, source location algorithm used iterative method and genetic algorithm. The iterative method was effective when the sensor array and source generation were the same dimension, but it was not suitable to apply when the source generation was higher dimension. On the other hand, in case of source location using RCGA, the higher dimensional source location could be determined, but it took longer time to calculate. The accuracy of the arrival picking methods differed according to the source location algorithms, but picking window method showed high accuracy in overall.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.345-350
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• 2012

To investigate the exposure and health risk assessment for the residents near the D-asbestos mine in Chungbuk, Korea. We analyzed asbestos in the 20 ambient air and 23 activity based samples near the mine. The airborne sample results are showed that 8 of 20 samples ranged between 0.0025 to 0.0029 f/cc (fiber per cubic centimeter) and the others were below the detection limit by phase contrast microscopy (PCM). In addition, asbestos fibers were under the detection limit or not being by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Based on interview and survey targeting the local residents, we made the activity based sampling (ABS) scenarios fit to the conditions of field. At the same time, we calculated the excess lifetime cancer risk (ELCR) of these ABS scenarios according to the ELCR average value and 95% upper confidence limit (UCL). At the case of weed whacking, soil digging and sweeping yard scenario, 95% UCL of ELCR exceeded the $1{\times}10^{-4}$, acceptable risk range for exposure. Based on our study results, it is necessary safety measures such as risk communication, abatement or management of naturally occurring asbestos (NOA).

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.457-473
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• 2023

Asbestos has been produced, imported and used in various industries in Korea over the past decades. Since asbestos causes fatal diseases such as malignant mesothelioma and lung cancer, the use of asbestos has been generally banned in Korea since 2009. However, there are still many asbestos-containing materials around us, and safe management is urgently needed. This study aims to examine asbestos-related trend changes using major asbestos-related keywords based on the asbestos trend analysis using big data for the past 32 years (1991 to 2022) in Korea. In addition, we reviewed both domestic trends related to the production, import, and use of asbestos before 1990 and asbestos-related policies from 2023 to 2027. From 1991 to 2000, main keywords related to asbestos were research, workers, carcinogens, and the environment because the carcinogenicity of asbestos was highlighted due to domestic production, import, and use of asbestos. From 2001 to 2010, the main keywords related to asbestos were lung cancer, litigation, carcinogens, exposure, and companies because lawsuits were initiated in the US and Japan in relation to carcinogenicity due to asbestos. From 2011 to 2020, the high ranking keywords related to asbestos were carcinogen, baseball field, school, slate, building, and abandoned asbestos mine due to the seriousness of the asbestos problem in Korea. From 2021 to present (2023), the main search keywords related to asbestos such as school, slate (asbestos cement), buildings, landscape stone, environmental impact assessment, apartment, and cement appeared.