• Journal of Korea Society of Waste Management
• /
• v.35 no.8
• /
• pp.785-798
• /
• 2018

Since the Framework Act on Resource Circulation was enacted in 2018, the government should establish a National Resource Circulation Master Plan every 10 years, which defines mid- to long-term policy goals and directions on the efficient use of resources, prevention of waste generation and recycling of waste. In addition, we must set mid- to long-term and stepwise targets for the final disposal rate, recycling rate (based on sorted recyclable materials and recycled products), and energy recovery rate of wastes, and relevant measures should be taken to achieve these targets. However, the current industrial waste (IW) statistics have limitations in setting these targets because the final disposal rate and recycling rate are calculated as the ratio of the recycling facility input to the IW generation. In this study, the material flow from the collection stage to the final disposal of industrial waste was analyzed based on the generation of 2016, and the actual recycling amount, actual incineration amount, final disposal amount and their rates were calculated. The effect on the recycling, incineration and final disposal rates was examined by changing the treatment method of nonhazardous wastes from the factory and construction and demolition wastes, which were put in landfills in 2016. In addition, the variation of the waste treatment charge was investigated according to the change of treatment methods. The results of this study are expected to be effectively used to establish the National Resource Circulation Master Plan and industrial waste management policy in the future in South Korea.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.40 no.1
• /
• pp.9-20
• /
• 2008

Since plutonium accounts for 40-50% of the power produced by uranium fuels, spent fuel contains only residual plutonium. Management of this plutonium is one of the aspects influencing the choice of a fuel cycle back-end option: reprocessing, direct disposal or wait-and-see. Different grades and qualities of plutonium exist depending from their specific generation conditions; all are valuable fissile material. Safeguard authorities watch the inventories of civil plutonium, but access to those data is restricted. Independent evaluations have led to an estimated current inventory of 220t plutonium in total (spent fuel, separated civil plutonium and military plutonium). If used as MOX fuel, it would be sufficient to feed all the PWRs and BWRs worldwide during 7 years or to deploy a FBR park corresponding to 150% of today' s installed nuclear capacity worldwide, which could then be exploited for centuries with the current stockpile of depleted and spent uranium. The energy potential of plutonium deteriorates with storage time of spent fuel and of separated plutonium, due to the decay of $^{241}Pu$, the best fissile isotope, into americium, a neutron absorber. The loss of fissile value of plutonium is more pronounced for usage in LWRs than in FBR. However, keeping the current plutonium inventory for an expected future deployment of FBRs is counterproductive. Recycling plutonium reduce the required volume for final disposal in an underground repository and the cost of final disposal. However, the benefits of utilizing an energy resource and of reducing final disposal liabilities are not the only aspects that determine the choice of a back-end policy.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.157-178
• /
• 2013

This study gives a conceptual and basic direction to develop a URL (underground research laboratory) program for establishing the performance and safety of a deep geological disposal system in Korea. The concept of deep geological disposal is one of the preferred methodologies for the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel (SNF). Advanced countries with radioactive waste disposal have developed their own disposal concepts reasonable to their social and environmental conditions and applied to their commercial projects. Deep geological disposal system is a multi-barrier system generally consisting of an engineered barrier and natural barrier. A disposal facility and its host environment can be relied on a necessary containment and isolation over timescales envisaged as several to tens of thousands of years. A disposal system is not allowed in the commercial stage of the disposal program without a validation and demonstration of the performance and safety of the system. All issues confirming performance and safety of a disposal system include investigation, analysis, assessment, design, construction, operation and closure from planning to closure of the deep geological repository. Advanced countries perform RD&D (research, development & demonstration) programs to validate the performance and safety of a disposal system using a URL facility located at the preferred rock area within their own territories. The results and processes from the URL program contribute to construct technical criteria and guidelines for site selection as well as suitability and safety assessment of the final disposal site. Furthermore, the URL program also plays a decisive role in promoting scientific understanding of the deep geological disposal system for stakeholders, such as the public, regulator, and experts.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.123-134
• /
• 2016

Decommissioning of nuclear power plants has become a big issue in South Korea as some of the nuclear power plants in operation including Kori unit 1 and Wolsung unit 1 are getting old. Recently, Wolsung unit 1 received permission to continue operation while Kori unit 1 will shut down permanently in June 2017. With the consideration of segmentation method and disposal containers, this paper evaluated final disposal amount of radioactive waste generated from decommissioning of the reactor pressure vessel in Kori unit 1 which will be decommissioned as the first in South Korea. The evaluation results indicated that the final disposal amount from the top and bottom heads of the reactor pressure vessel with hemisphere shape decreased as they were cut in smaller more effectively than the cylindrical part of the reactor pressure vessel. It was also investigated that 200 L and 320 L radioactive waste disposal containers used in Kyung-Ju disposal facility had low payload efficiency because of loading weight limitation.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.37-47
• /
• 2013

This paper describes basic plans for the development of a radioactive waste disposal facility with the introduction of Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) for Kenya. The specific objective of this study was to estimate the total projected waste volumes of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste (LILW) expected to be generated from the Kenyan nuclear power programme. The facility is expected to accommodate LILW to be generated from operation and decommissioning of nuclear power plants for a period of 50 years. An on-site storage capacity of 700 $m^3$ at nuclear power plant sites and a final disposal repository facility of more than 7,000 $m^3$ capacity were derived by considering Korean nuclear power programme radioactive waste generation data, including Kori, Hanbit, and APR 1400 nuclear reactor data. The repository program is best suited to be introduced roughly 10 years after reactor operation. This study is important as an initial implementation of a national LILW disposal program for Kenya and other newcomer countries interested in nuclear power technology.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.24-36
• /
• 2004

This study is to investigate the present condition of waste disposal establishment and to analysis problems which could be produced at location selection formalities of waste disposal establishment. It proposed building methods of waste disposal establishment to lead spontaneous participation of local resident according to case analysis of waste disposal establishment. There are research results; i) Opposition of inhabitants was the majority of reason at the business abandonment or delay of waste disposal establishment. Therefore agreement formation course with local inhabitants is most important position. ii) Many estimate have been needed for waste disposal establishment, but support estimate of government was 30-50% that is really low compare with other environmental establishment. So that it need to increase of government estimate. iii) Location collection is carried out based on law and final collected location must be executed without delay of relation business as soon as possible. iv) Standard of location collection has to divide into small, middle and large size and to apply with same rule according to divided location. v) It must be change public subscription before and location selection after and maintain continuance of information offer to local inhabitants and offered information. vi) after building of waste disposal establishment for solving distrust of waste disposal establishment. It must be planed and carried on useful support countermeasure to local inhabitants in actuality.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.35 no.4
• /
• pp.142-150
• /
• 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
• /
• v.23 no.2
• /
• pp.141-149
• /
• 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.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.107-119
• /
• 2022

Excavation-Disturbed Zone (EDZ) is an important design factor in constructing final disposal facilities for spent nuclear fuel, since EDZ affects mechanical stability including a spacing between disposal holes, and the hydraulic properties within EDZ plays a significant role in estimating in-flow rate of groundwater as well as a subsequent corrosion rate of a canister. Thus, it is highly required to characterize in-situ EDZ with precision and control the EDZ occurrence while excavating disposal facilities and constructing relevant underground research facilities. In this report, we not only reviewed EDZ-related researches carried out in the ONKALO facility of Finland but also examined appropriate methods for field inspection and quality control of EDZ occurrence. From the review, GPR can be the most efficient method for in-situ characterization of EDZ since it does not demand drilling a borehole that may disturb a surrounding environment of caverns. And the EDZ occurrence was dominant at a cavern floor and it ranged from 0 to 70 cm. These can provide useful information in developing necessary EDZ-related regulations for domestic disposal facilities.

• Nuclear industry
• /
• v.5 no.11 s.33
• /
• pp.13-17
• /
• 1985