• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.20-32
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• 2003

To understand the behavior of migration of contaminants in a fractured porous medium is a key to assure the overall safety of a potential radwaste repository. The feasible retention mechanism of contaminant transport in a tinctured medium are sorption of contaminants on solid surface and matrix diffusion of contaminants from a fracture into an adjacent porous medium. The acceleration mechanisms are the migration of contaminants in the form of pseudo-colloids and the limit of a volume f3r matrix diffusion. In this paper, the effects of these two acceleration mechanisms are studied mathematically, then semi-analytically computed by the application of the Talbot theorem and verified. Results indicate that the acceleration processes cannot be neglected in the modeling of contaminant transport in a fractured porous medium.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.295-303
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• 2012

Based on the data observed and analyzed on a groundwater flow system in the KURT (KAERI Underground Research Tunnel) site, the transport of radionuclides, which were assumed to be released at the supposed position, was calculated on the time-domain. A groundwater pathway from the release position to the surface was identified by simulating the groundwater flow model with the hydrogeological characteristics measured from the field tests in the KURT site. The elapsed time when the radionuclides moved through the pathway is evaluated using TDRW (Time Domain Random Walk) method for simulating the transport on the time-domain. Some retention mechanisms, such as radioactive decay, equilibrium sorption, and matrix diffusion, as well as the advection-dispersion were selected as the factors to influence on the elapsed time. From the simulation results, the effects of the sorption and matrix diffusion, determined by the properties of the radionuclides and underground media, on the transport of the radionuclides were analyzed and a decay chain of the radionuclides was also examined. The radionuclide ratio of the mass discharge into the surface environment to the mass released from the supposed repository did not exceed $10^{-3}$, and it decreased when the matrix diffusion were considered. The method used in this study could be used in preparing the data on radionuclide transport for a safety assessment of a geological disposal facility because the method could evaluate the travel time of the radionuclides considering the transport retention mechanism.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.281-291
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• 2013

A hypothetical repository was assumed to be located at the KURT (KAERI Underground Research Tunnel) site, and the travel times of radionuclides released from three source positions were calculated. The groundwater flow around the KURT site was simulated and the groundwater pathways from the hypothetical source positions to the shallow groundwater were identified. Of the pathways, three pathways were selected because they had highly water-conductive features. The transport travel times of the radionuclides were calculated by a TDRW (Time-Domain Random Walk) method. Diffusion and sorption mechanisms in a host rock matrix as well as advection-dispersion mechanisms under the KURT field condition were considered. To reflect the radioactive decay, four decay chains with the radionuclides included in the high-level radioactive wastes were selected. From the simulation results, the half-life and distribution coefficient in the rock matrix, as well as multiple pathways, had an influence on the mass flux of the radionuclides. For enhancing the reliability of safety assessment, this reveals that identifying the history of the radionuclides contained in the high-level wastes and investigating the sorption processes between the radionuclides and the rock matrix in the field condition are preferentially necessary.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.18 no.2_spc
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• pp.305-315
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• 2020

For geological disposal of radioactive wastes, a method was proposed to evaluate the radionuclide transport in the biosphere by calculating the elapsed time of nuclide migration. The radionuclides were supposed to be introduced from a natural barrier and reached a large surface water body following a groundwater flow in a shallow subsurface. The biosphere was defined as a shallow subsurface environment that included aquifers on a host rock. Using the proposed method, a calculation algorithm was established, and a computer code that implemented the algorithm was developed. The developed code was verified by comparing the simulation results of the simple cases with the results of the analytical solution and a public program, which has been widely used to evaluate the radiation dose using the radionuclide transport near the surface. A case study was constructed using the previous research for radionuclide transport from the hypothetical geological disposal repository. In the case study, the code calculated the mass discharge rate of radionuclide to a stream in the biosphere. Because the previous research only demonstrated the transport of radionuclides from the hypothetical repository to the host rock, the developed code in the present study could help identify the total transport of radionuclide along the complete pathway.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1995.05b
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• pp.845-852
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• 1995

방사성폐기물의 처분시에는 원자력발전소와 유사한 안전개념들 도입하여 다중방벽을 구성하는 것이 일반적이다. 다중방벽중에서 뒷채움재는 처분안전성 망상의 주도적 역할을 하는 요소로서 지하수 침투방지, 방사성핵종 이동저지능의 기능을 가져야 한다 석탄회를 뒷채움재의 부재료로서 사용하기 위해서는 방사성폐기물처분장 설계에 적용할 때 안전성과 경제성을 만족시킬 수 있어야 한다. 본 인구에서는 석탄회의 핵종에 대한 흡착능의 관점에서 석탄회의 이용가능성들 평가하였다. 또한 Column 실험을 통하여 표면확산과 공극확산을 비교, 분석함으로써 석탄회를 통과하는 방사성핵종의 이동기구를 검토하였다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.290-299
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• 2003

고준위 방사성 폐기물 처분장으로부터 유출된 핵종이 인간 생태계에 도달하여 어느 정도의 선량률로서 피폭을 일으키는가를 보이기 위한 생태계 피폭 모델링 및 평가 연구는 처분안전성 평가의 최종 단계로서 핵종 유출의 결과가 인간에게 어느 정도의 방사선 피폭을 주는가를 보이는 것이 그 주요한 내용이 된다. 이 연구를 통하여 도출된 시나리오 중에서 가장 기본이 될 수 있는 생태계에 대하여 AMBER를 사용하여 피폭 계산을 수행하여 선량 환산 인자 평가를 계산해 보았다. AMBER 코드는 핵종 이동 계산을 위해 여러 개의 구획을 설정하고 구획간의 핵종 이동은 핵종 전이 계수(mass transfer coefficient)를 이용하여 계산한다.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.49-59
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• 1992

A new model was developed in order to investigate the effects of chelating agents on the migration of a radionuclide in the form of ion or chelate. The migration behavior of the chelated radionuclide was analyzed by formulating a convective-dispersion transport equation which included a degradation of chelating agent and chelated radionuclide. The mathematical model was analytically solved and checked with the existing retardation factor. The results show that the migration velocity of the chelated radionuclide was much faster than the ionic one due to the decreased retardation. Therefore, it was concluded that a new remedial action should be developed to reduce the generation and release of chelating agents from the nuclear power plant into the environment.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.532-543
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• 1995

In this study, a transport model was developed in order to analyze and predict the transport behaviors of radionuclides mediated by pseudo-colloid in the fractured rock media. The effect of pseudo-colloid formation on the transport of a radionuclide was shown to be tory significant when an ap-parent pseudo-colloid formation constant, $A_{ap}$ (㎥/kg), os greater than 100. It was resulted from example calculations that the transport of Pu-239 was faster than Ni-63 because pseudo-colloid formation constant of Pu-239 was venter than that of Ni-63. Thus, it can be concluded that acceleration of radionuclide migration may be occurred because the pseudo-colloid formation of radionuclides increases the amount of mobile components in the solution and consequently decreases the amount of radionuclides adsorbed on the stationary solid medium.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1996.05c
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• pp.571-576
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• 1996

지하암반층에 처분한 방사성핵종들의 이동방식을 이해하기 위한 방법의 일환으로 다차원 불균일장에대한 모사기법에 대해 다루었다. 이차원 암반균열평면을 설정하고 균열틈 값이 공간적으로 다양한 형태를 가질 때 지하수가 흐르는 유형과 핵종들이 이동하는 특성을 이해하기 위해, 공간적으로 다양하게 변해 가는 균열틈을 가진 암반층을 모사한 다음, 여기서 지하수와 방사성핵종들의 흐름특성을 파악하고 물질이동에 영향을 미치는 중요한 수리학적 매개변수들에 대해 논의하였다. 암반 균열폭 값은 추계적 방식으로 설정한 확률밀도분포와 공간상호간섭길이를 함수로하여 통계적방식으로 계산하였다. 각 매개변수들의 값의 차이에 따라 달라지는 분포상태변화를 그림으로 표현하여 설명하였다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.176-188
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• 1995

A particle tracking scheme was developed in order to model radionuclide transport through a tortuous flow Held in a rock fracture. The particle tacking method may be used effectively in a heterogeneous flow field such as rock fracture. The parallel plate representation of the single fracture fails to recognize the spatial heterogeneity in the fracture aperture and thus seems inadequate in describing fluid movement through a real fracture. The heterogeneous flow field une modeled by a variable aperture channel model after characterizing aperture distribution by a hydraulic test. To support the validation of radionuclide transport models, a radionuclide migration experiment was performed in a natural fracture of granite. $^3$$H_2O$ and $^{131}$ I are used as tracers. Simulated results were in agreement with experimental result and therefore support the validity of the transport model. Residence time distributions display multipeak curves caused by the fast arrival of solutes traveling along preferential fracture channels and by the much slower arrival of solutes following tortous routes through the fracture. Results from the modelling of the transport of nonsorbing tracer through the fracture show that diffusion into the interconnected pore space in the rock mass has a significant effect on retardation.