• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.331-350
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• 2011

Advances in computer technology enabled us to simulate the integrated effects of various geomorphic processes on landscape evolution. This review introduces a theoretical framework for 2-dimensional numerical landscape evolution models (NLEMs) which have recently been used for various research purposes. In particular much attention is paid to the approaches deployed to model major geomorphic processes on a geological time scale in previous research. NLEMs can simulate landscape evolution by numerically solving the partial differential equation which represents the relationship among the geomorphic system components (GSCs). Simple process specifications of the relationships among GSCs on a long-term time scale in terms of quantification and attempts to combine processes represent the initial research on NLEMs. Later researchers have taken these simple NLEMs and elaborated on them. Introducing the theories of NLEMs in this review is expected to help researchers trying to utilize or develop NLEMs.

• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.51-117
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• 2019

On 15th November 2017, the coastal city of Pohang, located in the Southeastern part of South Korea was shaken by a magnitude 5.4 earthquake. The earthquake displaced more than 1,700 residents and caused more than $ 300 million dollars of economic loss. It was the second most damaging earthquake in the history of Korea. Soon after the earthquake, a group of scientists raised a possible link between the first Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) project and the earthquake. At the same time, another group of scientists put forward a different hypothesis of the causation of the earthquake claiming that it was caused by the geological movements that were initiated by the Great Tohoku Earthquake in 2011. Since then, there were scientific debates between the two different groups of scientists. The scientific debate on the causation of the earthquake has been concluded temporarily by the Research Investigatory Committee on the Pohang Earthquake in 2019. The research committee concluded that the earthquake was caused by the Pohang EGS system: this means that the earthquake can be defined not as a natural earthquake, but as an artificially triggered earthquake. This article is to examine the Pohang earthquake can be defined as an Anthropocenic event. The newly suggested concept, the Anthropocene is a relatively novel term to classify the earthly strata and their relationship to geological time. The current geological period should be defined by human activities and man-made earthly environment. Although the term is basically related to geological classification, the Anthropocene has been widely debated amongst humanist and social science scholars. The current disastrous situation of our planet also implies with the Anthropocene. This paper is to discuss how to understand anthropogenic events. In particular, the paper pays attention to two different scholarly positions on the Anthropocene: Isabelle Stenger's Gaia theory and Barbara Herrnstein Smith's relativist theory. The former focuses on the earthly inevitable catastrophe of Anthropocene while the latter suggests to situate and contextualise anthropogenic events. On the basis of the theoretical positions, the article is to analyse how the Pohang earthquake can be located and situated.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.30-58
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• 2022

The deep geological repository for high-level radioactive waste disposal is a multi barrier system comprised of engineered barriers and a natural barrier. The long-term integrity of the deep geological repository is affected by the coupled interactions between the individual barrier components. Erosion and piping phenomena in the compacted bentonite buffer due to buffer-rock interactions results in the removal of bentonite particles via groundwater flow and can negatively impact the integrity and performance of the buffer. Rapid groundwater inflow at the early stages of disposal can lead to piping in the bentonite buffer due to the buildup of pore water pressure. The physiochemical processes between the bentonite buffer and groundwater lead to bentonite swelling and gelation, resulting in bentonite erosion from the buffer surface. Hence, the evaluation of erosion and piping occurrence and its effects on the integrity of the bentonite buffer is crucial in determining the long-term integrity of the deep geological repository. Previous studies on bentonite erosion and piping failed to consider the complex coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical-chemical behavior of bentonite-groundwater interactions and lacked a comprehensive model that can consider the complex phenomena observed from the experimental tests. In this technical note, previous studies on the mechanisms, lab-scale experiments and numerical modeling of bentonite buffer erosion and piping are introduced, and the future expected challenges in the investigation of bentonite buffer erosion and piping are summarized.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.239-246
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• 2011

Groundwater in small islands is used as main water resource but the overuse of groundwater may cause seawater intrusion and temperature decrease in geothermal wells. This study aimed to characterize the hydrogeology of Maeum-ri area in Seokmo Island of Ganghwagun using long-term monitoring at groundwater wells and geothermal wells. In the monitoring period seasonal water level change, consistent drop or increase of water levels are not detected. The groundwater temperature about 10m below ground surface shows year cycle variation having two to five months difference with ambient temperature cycle. The storativity was calculated by tidal method. The storativity estimated by adapting tidal efficiency factor showed some larger values than that by using tidal time lag. The result suggested that the tidal method assuming several assumptions on aquifer condition may produce broad ranges but the calculated ranges at this application are reasonable. The similar shape of groundwater level change and tidal effects was observed at several wells clustered east-south-east direction which may implicate the distribution of vertical fracture system strongly related with groundwater flow channels. The applied methodology and study results will bc valuable to evaluate optimal pumping rate for the preservation of groundwater resources, and to manage geothermal development.

• Journal of the Geological Society of Korea
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.557-566
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• 2018

Pohang earthquake (Main shock magnitude = 5.4) occurred in Southeastern region of South Korea in November 15, 2017. Groundwater levels of 6 monitoring wells with 5 minutes interval measurements located in that region and stream water levels of 4 stations located along the Hyeongsan-gang stream are used for the analysis of earthquake induced effects. Four groundwater monitoring wells show a short-term decrease of groundwater level after a main shock and one well does an increase and the maximum change is about 42.0 cm. Especially, groundwater levels at two monitoring wells near the epicenter are consistently maintained after a decrease. There is little relationship between earthquake magnitude or a distance to epicenter and changing amount of groundwater level and it may be due to the inhomogeneity of geologic material and unconsolidated sediments distribution. The changes in permeability of fractured zone and groundwater levels occasionally cause changes in stream flow rate, and water level of the Hyeongsan-gang stream in the study area decreases just after the earthquake and increases again up to the normal level and next shows an more gentle decreasing slope. Total increasing flow rates at S1 (upstream site) and S4 (downstream site) stations are about $12,096m^3$ and $116,640m^3$, respectively, during the increasing period.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.42-56
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• 2023

In deep geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste (HLW), the natural barrier must physically support the disposal facility and delay the movement of radionuclides for at least hundreds of thousands of years. To evaluate the long-term geological evolution of the natural barriers, it is essential to analyze the long-term behavior of rock joints, including the frictional healing behavior. This study aimed to experimentally analyze the frictional healing behavior of rock joints under hydro-mechanical (H-M) conditions through the slide-hold-slide (SHS) test. The SHS tests were performed under mechanical and H-M conditions for joint specimens of different roughness. In the H-M conditions, the frictional healing rate tended to increase, which was more evident in the specimens with large roughness. In addition, it was confirmed that the effect of the hydro-mechanical conditions was more significant when the effective normal stress acting on the joint surface was small. These results are expected to be used as fundamental data to understand the frictional healing behavior of rock joints in the natural barriers.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.219-228
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• 2012

A long-term R&D program for HLW disposal technology development was launched in 1997 in Korea and Korea Reference disposal System(KRS) for spent fuels had been developed. After then, a recycling process for PWR spent fuels to get the reusable material such as uranium or TRU and to reduce the volume of radioactive waste, called Pyro-process, is being developed. This Pyro-process produces several kinds of wastes including metal waste and ceramic waste. In this study, the characteristics of the waste from Pyro-process and the concepts of a disposal container for the wastes were described. Based on these concepts, thermal analyses were carried out to determine a layout of the disposal area of the ceramic wastes which was classified as a high level waste and to develop the disposal system called A-KRS. The location of the final repository for A-KRS is not determined yet, thus to review the potential repository domains, the possible layout in the geological characteristics of KURT facility site was proposed. These results will be used in developing a repository system design and in performing the safety assessment.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.187-187
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• 2009

Opening of fractures induced by shear dilation or normal deformation can be a significant source of fracture permeability change in fractured rock, which is important for the performance assessment of geological repositories for spent nuclear fuel. As the repository generates heat and later cools the fluid-carrying ability of the rocks becomes a dynamic variable during the lifespan of the repository. Heating causes expansion of the rock close to the repository and, at the same time, contraction close to the surface. During the cooling phase of the repository, the opposite takes place. Heating and cooling together with the, virgin stress can induce shear dilation of fractures and deformation zones and change the flow field around the repository. The objectives of this work are to examine the contribution of thermal stress to the shear slip of fracture in mid- and far-field around a KBS-3 type of repository and to investigate the effect of evolution of stress on the rock mass permeability. In the first part of this study, zones of fracture shear slip were examined by conducting a three-dimensional, thermo-mechanical analysis of a spent fuel repository model in the size of 2 km $\times$ 2 km $\times$ 800 m. Stress evolutions of importance for fracture shear slip are: (1) comparatively high horizontal compressive thermal stress at the repository level, (2) generation of vertical tensile thermal stress right above the repository, (3) horizontal tensile stress near the surface, which can induce tensile failure, and generation of shear stresses at the comers of the repository. In the second part of the study, fracture data from Forsmark, Sweden is used to establish fracture network models (DFN). Stress paths obtained from the thermo-mechanical analysis were used as boundary conditions in DFN-DEM (Discrete Element Method) analysis of six DFN models at the repository level. Increases of permeability up to a factor of four were observed during thermal loading history and shear dilation of fractures was not recovered after cooling of the repository. An understanding of the stress path and potential areas of slip induced shear dilation and related permeability changes during the lifetime of a repository for spent nuclear fuel is of utmost importance for analysing long-term safety. The result of this study will assist in identifying critical areas around a repository where fracture shear slip is likely to develop. The presentation also includes a brief introduction to the ongoing site investigation on two candidate sites for geological repository in Sweden.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.51-64
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• 2011

Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage (CCS) is one of the key players in greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction portfolio for mitigating climate change. CCS makes simultaneously it possible not only to reduce a huge amount of carbon dioxide directly from the emission sources (e.g., coal power plant) but also to maintain the carbon concentrated-energy and/or industry infrastructure. Internationally, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is dealing the agenda for considering the possibility of including CCS project as one of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects. Despite its usefulness, however, there are the controversies in including CCS as the CDM project, whose issues include i) non-permanence, including long-term permanence, ii) measuring, reporting and verification (MRV), iii) environmental impacts, iv) project activity boundaries, v) international law, vi) liability, vii) the potential for perverse outcomes, viii) safety, and ix) insurance coverage and compensation for damages caused due to seepage or leakage. In this paper, those issues in considering CCS as CDM are summarized and analyzed in order to suggest some considerations to policy makers in realizing the CCS project in Korea in the future.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.149-158
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• 2012

In this paper, we measured the variations of radon concentrations in groundwater using low-level Liquid Scintillation Counter (LSC), an instrument for analyzing the alpha and beta radionuclides at its 10 sites around the Kumjung-Gu, north-western of Busan. Optimization of Pulse Shape Analyzer (PSA) to determinate the highest value of figure of merit (FM) was decided using Quantulus 1200 LSC with radium-226 source, the optimal PSA level was shown in the range of 100 to 110. The results show that the Minimum Detectable Activity (MDA) of radon concentrations is 0.61 $Bq{\cdot}L^{-1}$ for 20 minutes in PSA level. We find that the average radon concentration in groundwater is high in granitic rock area and low in volcanic rock area. (Biotite granite : 191.39 $Bq{\cdot}L^{-1}$, Micro graphic granite : 141.88 $Bq{\cdot}L^{-1}$, Adamellite : 92.94 $Bq{\cdot}L^{-1}$, Andesite (volcanic) : 35.35 $Bq{\cdot}L^{-1}$). No significant seasonal variation pattern is observed from the long-term variation analysis from 10 selected sites. We have not seen the significant correlation of radon concentration to groundwater temperature, atmospheric temperature, atmospheric pressure and rainfall. The concentration variation is probably caused by more complex factors and processes.