• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.141-149
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• 2013

The thermal analysis is carried out for a geological disposal system developed for the final disposal of a ceramic high-level waste from pyroprocessing of PWR spent fuel. The horizontal disposal tunnel type is considered with the distance of 2 m between the disposal canisters and the tunnel spacing of 25 m. The temperature distributions around the disposal canisters are calculated for the horizontal tunnel based on the conceptual design. The thermal performance analysis is carried out using a FEM program, ABAQUS. The performance analysis shows that the peak temperature in a disposal system outside the disposal canister is lower than $100^{\circ}$, which meets the thermal criterion of the disposal system. According the analysis, the peak temperature for the disposal canister located boundary of the disposal system is lower by $3^{\circ}$ than that for the canister at the central area. This implies the disposal density can be improved by locating more disposal canisters along the boundary.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.405-418
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• 2019

Based on spent fuels characteristics from domestic nuclear power plants and a disposal scenario from the current basic plan for high-level radioactive waste management, an improved disposal system has been proposed that enhances disposal efficiency and economic effectiveness compared to the existing disposal system. For this purpose, two disposal canisters concepts were derived from the length of the spent fuel generated from the nuclear power plants. In the disposal scenario, the acceptable amount of decay heat for each disposal container was determined, taking into account the discharge and disposal times of spent fuels in accordance with the current basic plan. Based on the determined decay heat of the two types of disposal canisters and the associated disposal system, thermal stability analyses were performed to confirm their suitability to the proposed disposal system design requirement and disposal efficiency assessment. The results of this study confirm 20% reduction in the disposal area and 20% increase in disposal density for the proposed disposal system compared to the existing system. These results can be used to establish a spent fuel management policy and to design a viable commercial disposal system.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.142-150
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• 2010

The purpose of this article is to evaluate the radiation safety of CANDU spent fuel disposal system by using MCNPX which was revised in order to improve disposal efficiency. This research analyzed every system components's configuration, dimension and material. Geometric modeling and dose assessment for each system components showed that dose results for inner components had high values, but final disposal system had enough margin for radiation safety.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.221-242
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• 2021

A numerical study of the performance assesment of coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) processes in improved Korean reference disposal system (KRS⁺) for high-level radioactive waste is conducted using TOUGH2-MP/FLAC3D simulator. Decay heat from high-level radioactive waste increases the temperature of the repository, and it decreases as decay heat is reduced. The maximum temperature of the repository is below a maximum temperature criterion of 100℃. Saturation of bentonite buffer adjacent to the canister is initially reduced due to pore water evaporation induced by temperature increase. Bentonite buffer is saturated 250 years after the disposal of high-level radioactive waste by inflow of groundwater from the surrounding rock mass. Initial saturation of rock mass decreases as groundwater in rock mass is moved to bentnonite buffer by suction, but rock mass is saturated after inflow of groundwater from the far-field area. Stress changes at rock mass are compared to the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion and the spalling strength in order to investigate the potential rock failure by thermal stress and swelling pressure. Additional simulations are conducted with the reduced spacing of deposition holes. The maximum temperature of bentonite buffer exceeds 100℃ as deposition hole spacing is smaller than 5.5 m. However, temperature of about 56.1% volume of bentonite buffer is below 90℃. The methodology of numerical modeling used in this study can be applied to the performance assessment of coupled THM processes for high-level radioactive waste repositories with various input parameters and geological conditions such as site-specific stress models and geothermal gradients.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2015

In the safety assessment of the geological disposal system of the radioactive wastes, the abnormal scenarios, in which the system is impacted by the abnormal events, need to be considered in addition to the reference scenario. In this study, characterization and prediction of well intrusion as one of the abnormal events which will impact the disposal system were conducted probabilistically and statistically for the safety assessment. The domestic well development data were analyzed, and the prediction methodologies of the well intrusion were suggested with a computation example. From the results, the annual well development rate per unit area in Korea was about 0.8 well/yr/km² in the conservative point of view. Considering the area of the overall disposal system which is about 1.5 km², the annual well development rate within the disposal system could be 1.2 well/yr. That is, it could be expected that more than one well would be installed within the disposal system every year after the institutional management period. From the statistical analysis, the probabilistic distribution of the well depth followed the log-normal distribution with 3.0363 m of mean value and 1.1467 m of standard deviation. This study will be followed by the study about the impacts of the well intrusion on the geological disposal system, and the both studies will contribute to the increased reliability of safety assessment.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.135-148
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• 2005

In the stage of conceptual design for the construction and operation of the geologic repository for radioactive wastes, it is important to consider a repository ventilation system which serves the repository working environment, hygiene & safety of the public at large, and will allow safe maintenance like moisture content elimination in repository for the duration of the repositories life, construction/operation/closure, also allowing safe waste transportation and emplacement. This paper describes the possible ventilation system design criteria and requirements for the prospective Korean radioactive waste repositories with emphasis on the underground rock cavity disposal method in the both cases of low & medium-level and high-level wastes. It was found that the most important concept is separate ventilation systems for the construction (development) and waste emplacement (storage) activities. In addition, ventilation network system modeling, natural ventilation, ventilation monitoring systems & real time ventilation simulation, and fire simulation & emergency system in the repository are briefly discussed.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.87-98
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• 2015

Safety assessments of geological radioactive waste disposal systems, need to consider the abnormal scenario in which a system is impacted by external events in addition to a reference scenario. In this study, the characterization and prediction of an earthquake as an external event which will impact disposal systems were conducted probabilistically and statistically for the safety assessment. The domestic earthquake data were analyzed, and the prediction methodologies of the earthquake were suggested with a computational example. From the results, the earthquake occurrence rates in Korea ranged from 0.4 /yr to 36.2 /yr depending on the data set and the completeness magnitude. From a conservative point of view, the earthquake occurrence rate in the disposal system was suggested as 5.4×10^-4 /yr considering the area of the disposal system. At that time, the completeness magnitude of an earthquake was 2.3. This study will be followed by an appraisal of impacts associated with external events on the geological disposal system, and it will contribute to improvements in reliability of the safety assessment.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.201-209
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• 2015

Currently, 23 nuclear power plants are in operation at Kori, Uljin, Younggwang and Wolsong site and a reference deep geological disposal system has been developed for the spent fuels generated by them. The reference spent fuel for this disposal system has 4.5wt% of initial enrichment, 55 GWd/MtU of burn-up, and 40 years of cooling time. In this paper, to improve disposal efficiency and economic feasibility, the characteristics of spent fuels from nuclear power plants, such as type and burn-up, were reviewed. A disposal canister concept for shorter length and relatively lower burn-up spent fuels than the reference spent fuels was developed. Based on this canister concept, thermal analyses were carried out and a deep geological disposal concept was proposed. Measures of disposal efficiency such as unit disposal area and disposal density were compared between this disposal system and the reference disposal system. Also, economic feasibility, such as the volume reduction of copper, cast iron, and bentonite, was analyzed and the results of these analyses showed that the disposal system proposed in this paper has an efficiency of at least 20%. These results could be used for establishing spent fuel management policy and designing practical disposal systems for spent fuels.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.229-236
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• 2009

There are two types of spent fuels generated from nuclear power plants, CANDU type and PWR type. PWR spent fuels which include a lot of reusable material can be considered to be recycled. CANDU spent fuels are considered to directly disposed in deep geological formation, since they have little reusable material. In this study, based on the Korean Reference spent fuel disposal System(KRS) which is to dispose both PWR and CANDU spent fuels, the more effective CANDU spent fuel disposal systems have been developed. To do this, the disposal canister has been modified to hold the storage basket which can load 60 spent fuel bundles. From these modified disposal canisters, the disposal systems to meet the thermal requirement for which the temperature of the buffer materials should not be over $100^{\circ}C$ have been proposed. These new disposals have made it possible to introduce the concept of long tenn storage and retrievabililty and that of the two-layered disposal canister emplacement in one disposal hole. These disposal concepts have been compared and analyzed with the KRS CANDU spent fuel disposal system in terms of disposal effectiveness. New CANDU spent fuel disposal concepts obtained in this study seem to improve thermal effectiveness, U-density, disposal area, excavation volume, and closure material volume up to 30 - 40 %.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.183-202
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• 2019

For design and performance assessment of a high-level radioactive waste (HLW) disposal system, it is necessary to understand the characteristics of coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) behavior. However, in previous studies for the Korean Reference HLW Disposal System (KRS), thermal analysis was performed to determine the spacing of disposal tunnels and interval of disposition holes without consideration of the coupled THM behavior. Therefore, in this study, TOUGH2-MP/FLAC3D is used to conduct THM modeling for performance assessment of the Korean Reference HLW Disposal System (KRS). The peak temperature remains below the temperature limit of $100^{\circ}C$ for the whole period. A rapid rise of temperature caused by decay heat occurs in the early years, and then temperature begins to decrease as decay heat from the waste decreases. The peak temperature at the bentonite buffer is around $96.2^{\circ}C$ after about 3 years, and peak temperature at the rockmass is $68.2^{\circ}C$ after about 17 years. Saturation of the bentonite block near the canister decreases in the early stage, because water evaporation occurs owing to temperature increase. Then, saturation of the bentonite buffer and backfill increases because of water intake from the rockmass, and bentonite buffer and backfill are fully saturated after about 266 years. The stress is calculated to investigate the effect of thermal stress and swelling pressure on the mechanical behavior of the rockmass. The calculated stress is compared to a spalling criterion and the Mohr-Coulumb criterion for investigation of potential failure. The stress at the rockmass remains below the spalling strength and Mohr-Coulumb criterion for the whole period. The methodology of using the TOUGH2-MP/FLAC3D simulator can be applied to predict the long-term behavior of the KRS under various conditions; these methods will be useful for the design and performance assessment of alternative concepts such as multi-layer and multi-canister concepts for geological spent fuel repositories.