• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.243-253
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• 2022

Spent filters with a high radiation dose rate of 2 mSv·hr^-1 or more are not easily managed. So far, the Korean policy for spent filter disposal is to store them temporarily at nuclear power plants until the waste filters can be easily managed. Nuclear power plant decommissioning in Korea is starting with Kori unit 1. Volume reduction of waste generated during decommissioning can reduce the cost and optimize the space usage at disposal site. Therefore, efficient volume reduction is a very important factor during the decommissioning process. A conceptual method, based on the experiences of developing 200 and 800 ton compactors at Orion EnC, has been developed considering worker exposure with the followings a crusher (upgrade of compaction efficiency), an automatic dose measuring system with a NaI(Tl) detector, a shield box, an inner drum to prepare for easy handling of drums and packaging, a 30 ton compactor, and an automatic robot system. This system achieves a volume reduction ratio of up to 85.7%; hence, the system can reduce the disposal cost and waste volume. It can be applied to other types of wastes that are not easily managed due to high dose rates and remote control operation necessity.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.1100-1107
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• 2024

The nuclear waste attributes of near-term deployable SMRs were assessed using established nuclear waste metrics, which are the DU mass, SNF mass, volume, activity, decay heat, radiotoxicity, and decommissioning LLW volumes. Metrics normalized per unit electricity generation were compared to a reference large PWR. Three SMRs, VOYGR, Natrium, and Xe-100, were selected because they represent a range of reactor and fuel technologies and are active designs deployable by the decade's end. The SMR nuclear waste attributes show both some similarities to the PWR and some significant differences caused by reactor-specific design features. The DU mass is equivalent to or slightly higher than the PWR. Back-end waste attributes for SNF disposition vary, but the differences have a limited impact on long-term repository isolation. SMR designs can vary significantly in SNF volume (and thus heat generation density). However, these differences are amenable to design optimization for handling, storage, transportation, and disposal technologies. Nuclear waste attributes from decommissioning vary depending on design and decommissioning technology choices. Given the analysis results in this study and assuming appropriate waste management system and operational optimization, there appear to be no major challenges to managing SMR nuclear wastes compared to the reference PWR.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.697-702
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• 2007

Radioactive waste has been produced in the UK for many decades. Since the 1950' s much of this has been associated with civil nuclear power production and the nuclear weapons programme. There have been a number of unsuccessful attempts in the UK since the 1980s to deal with the waste and find suitable sites for its disposal. However, the UK Government has addressed this and in 2001 introduced the "Managing Radioactive Waste Safely" programme. The aim of this was to make decisions on the long-term radioactive waste management policy through stakeholder engagement. In 2006, it adopted a policy of geological disposal for higher activity wastes and following further consultations, is now at the stage of choosing how that policy should be implemented.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.75-82
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• 2013

A large quantity of radioactive waste was generated during the decommissioning of the KRR and UCF. The radioactive waste was packed into 200 liter drums and 4m3 containers and these were temporarily stored onsite until their final disposal in the national repository facility. Some of the releasable waste was freely released and utilized for non-nuclear industries. The combustible wastes were treated by the utilization of an incinerator with a capacity of on average 20 kg/hr.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.84-85
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• 2009

New approaches for detecting, preventing and remedying environmental damage are important for protection of the environment. Procedures must be developed and implemented to reduce the amount of waste produced in chemical processes, to detect the presence and/or concentration of contaminants and decontaminate fouled environments. Contamination can be classified into three general types: airborne, surface and structural. The most dangerous type is airborne contamination, because of the opportunity for inhalation and ingestion. The second most dangerous type is surface contamination. Surface contamination can be transferred to workers by casual contact and if disturbed can easily be made airborne. The decontamination of the surface in the nuclear facilities has been widely studied with particular emphasis on small and large surfaces. The amount of wastes being produced during decommissioning of nuclear facilities is much higher than the total wastes cumulated during operation. And, the process of decommissioning has a strong possibility of personal's exposure and emission to environment of the radioactive contaminants, requiring through monitoring and estimation of radiation and radioactivity. So, it is important to monitor the radioactive contamination level of the nuclear facilities for the determination of the decontamination method, the establishment of the decommissioning planning, and the worker's safety. But it is very difficult to measure the surface contamination of the floor and wall in the highly contaminated facilities. In this study, the poly(styrene-ethyl acrylate) [poly(St-EA)] core-shell composite polymer for measurement of the radioactive contamination was synthesized by the method of emulsion polymerization. The morphology of the poly(St-EA) composite emulsion particle was core-shell structure, with polystyrene (PS)as the core and poly(ethyl acrylate) (PEA) as the shell. Core-shell polymers of styrene (St)/ethyl acrylate (EA) pair were prepared by sequential emulsion polymerization in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SOS) as an emulsifier using ammonium persulfate (APS) as an initiator. The polymer was made by impregnating organic scintillators, 2,5-diphenyloxazole (PPO) and 1,4-bis[5-phenyl-2-oxazol]benzene (POPOP). Related tests and analysis confirmed the success in synthesis of composite polymer. The products are characterized by IT-IR spectroscopy, TGA that were used, respectively, to show the structure, the thermal stability of the prepared polymer. Two-phase particles with a core-shell structure were obtained in experiments where the estimated glass transition temperature and the morphologies of emulsion particles. Radiation pollution level the detection about under using examined the beta rays. The morphology of the poly(St-EA) composite polymer synthesized by the method of emulsion polymerization was a core-shell structure, as shown in Fig. 1. Core-shell materials consist of a core structural domain covered by a shell domain. Clearly, the entire surface of PS core was covered by PEA. The inner region was a PS core and the outer region was a PEA shell. The particle size distribution showed similar in the range 350-360 nm.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.115-122
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• 2018

In this paper, the feasibility of recycling concrete waste as a method to reduce final disposal amount of wastes generated through decommissioning of nuclear power plant has been analyzed based on experimental results of existing literature. When recycled concrete waste was used as recycled aggregate, it was investigated through literature that the concrete strength decreased by 30~40% depending on the mixing ratio. It was also investigated that concrete with recycled aggregate can be used as a structural material when the quality of recycled aggregate is well managed since no significant problem was found. When recycled cement produced from concrete waste was used, the strength of concrete or mortar decreased considerably as the recycled cement content increased. Therefore, it can be concluded that concrete or mortar with recycled cement can be used as a filling material for final disposal of large radioactive waste rather than for structural use. This paper is expected to be useful for reduction on disposal volume and decommissioning cost for nuclear power plants such as Kori 1.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.7
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• pp.2489-2497
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• 2023

Co and Eu impurities in the SSCs are nuclides that dominantly influence the neutron-induced radioactive inventory in metal and concrete radwastes (radioactive wastes) during NPP decommission. The impurity concentrations provided by NUREG/CR-3474 were used for the practical range of Co and Eu impurity concentrations to be applied to the code calculations. Metal structures near the core were evaluated to be ILW (intermediate-level waste) for the whole range of Co impurity concentration, so the boundary line between ILW and LLW (low-level waste) has no change for the whole concentration range provided by NUREG/CR-3474. Also, the boundary line between VLLW (very low-level waste) and CW (clearance waste) in the concrete shield could alter a little depending on the Eu impurity concentration within the range provided by NUREG/CR-3474. From this work, it is found that the concentration of material impurities of SSCs gives no critical impact on determining radwaste levels.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.377-387
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• 2018

Korea's first commercial nuclear power plant, Kori Unit 1, was permanently shut down on June 18, 2017, after 40 years of successful operation. Kori Unit 1 plans to construct a waste treatment facility in the turbine building prior to commencement of dismantling in earnest. Various radioactive wastes are decontaminated, disassembled, cut and melted in the waste treatment facility and sent to the radioactive waste repository. The proportion of metal radioactive waste in dismantled waste is about 70%, of which large metal radioactive waste is mainly generated in the primary circuit and has high radioactivity, so radiation exposure must be managed during disassembly. In this study, the steam generators are selected as large metal radioactive waste, the exposure doses of the dismantling workers are calculated using RESRAD-RECYCLE code and the methods for reducing the exposure doses are suggested.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.7
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• pp.2418-2426
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• 2022

The grouping analysis is a method guided by the Korea Radioactive Waste Agency for efficient analysis of radioactive waste for disposal. In this study, experiments to verify the adequacy of grouping analysis were conducted with radioactive soil, concrete, and dry active waste in similar environments. First, analysis results of the major radionuclide concentrations in individual waste samples were reviewed to evaluate whether wastes from similar environments correspond to a single waste stream. As a result, the soil and concrete waste were identified as a single waste stream because the distribution range of radionuclide concentrations was "within a factor of 10", the range that meet the criterion of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a single waste stream. On the other hand, the dry active waste was judged to correspond to distinct waste streams. Second, after analyzing the composite samples prepared by grouping the individual samples, the population means of the values of "composite sample analysis results/individual sample analysis results" were estimated at a 95% confidence level. The results showed that all evaluation values for soil and concrete waste were within the set reference values (0.1-10) when five-package and ten-package grouping analyses were conducted, verifying the adequacy of the grouping analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.427-434
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• 2017

The generation of construction waste can be divided into a decommissioning phase and a new construction phase, and most of the waste is generated at the decommissioning stage. However, recently, domestic new construction construction has expanded to 150 trillion yards per year, so construction work is increasing rapidly. Especially, as the size of the construction work with much waste of construction waste exceeds 100 trillion, the management of the amount of construction waste in the new construction site is required. Unlike the dismantling work site, the new construction site can separate waste generated by each property, and relatively low foreign matter content is generated. The purpose of this study was to investigate the amount of construction waste generated by new construction sites and to calculate the unit amount of construction waste based on this. In addition, since the existing unit cost is centered on concrete and mixed waste, we set the basic unit by setting synthetic resin, waste wood, and waste board as additional items. The basic unit survey was carried out to investigate the wastes according to the characteristics of each construction period. As a result of the survey, the new construction site showed that most wastes were discharged in the first 30% and after 70% of the process, and the ratio of mixed construction waste was as high as 45%. As a result of this study, it was found that about twice as much waste was produced as compared with the conventional standard product.