• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.49-50
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• 2017

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.267-270
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• 2021

Long-term experiments have been conducted on two important safety issues: long-term durability of a concrete barrier with the steel reinforcements and gas generation from low-and intermediate-level wastes in an underground research tunnel of a radioactive waste disposal facility. The gas generation and microbial communities were monitored from waste packages (200 L and 320 L) containing simulated dry active wastes. In the concrete experiment, corrosion sensors were installed on the steel reinforcements which were embedded 10 cm below the surface of concrete in a concrete mock-up, and groundwater was fed into the mock-up at a pressure of 2.1 bars to accelerate groundwater infiltration. No clear evidence was observed with respect to corrosion initiation of the steel reinforcement for 4 years of operation. This is attributed to the high integrity and low hydraulic conductivity of the concrete. In the gas generation experiment, significant levels of gas generation were not measured for 4 years. These experiments are expected to be conducted for a period of more than 10 years.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.127-131
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• 2022

The structural safety of prototype transport and storage containers for very low-level radioactive liquid waste was experimentally estimated for its localization development. Transport containers for radioactive liquid waste have been researched and developed, however, there are no standardized commercial containers for very low-level radioactive waste in Korea. In this study, the structural safety of the designated IP-2 type container capable of transporting and temporarily storing large amounts of very low-level liquid waste, which is generated during the operation and decommissioning of nuclear power plants, was demonstrated. The stacking and drop tests, which were conducted to determine the structural integrity of the container, verified that there was no external leakage of the contents in spite of its structural deformation due to the drop impact. This study shows the effort required for the localization of the technology used in manufacturing transport and storage containers for very low-level radioactive liquid waste, and the additional structural reinforcement of the container in which the commercial intermediate bulk container (IBC) external frame was coupled.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2013

The safe management of radioactive waste is a national task required for sustainable generation of nuclear power and for energy self-reliance in Korea. Since the initial introduction of nuclear power to Korea in 1978, rapid growth in nuclear power has been achieved. This large nuclear power generation program has produced a significant amount of radioactive waste, both low- and intermediate-level waste (LILW) and spent nuclear fuel (SNF); and the amount of waste is steadily growing. For the management of LILW, the Wolsong LILW Disposal Center, which has a final waste disposal capacity of 800,000 drums, is under construction, and is expected to be completed by June 2014. Korean policy about how to manage the SNF has not yet been decided. In 2004, the Atomic Energy Commission decided that a national policy for SNF management should be established considering both technological development and public consensus. Currently, SNF is being stored at reactor sites under the responsibility of plant operator. The at-reactor SNF storage capacity will run out starting in 2024. In this paper, the fundamental principles and steps for implementation of a Korean policy for national radioactive waste management are introduced. Korean practices and prospects regarding radioactive waste management are also summarized, with a focus on strategy for policy-making on SNF management.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.29-38
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• 2021

The article summarises the status and competence of UJV Rez, a. s. (up to 2012, the Nuclear Research Institute Rez, Czech Republic) in the field of radioactive waste (RAW) management as a company managing of 95% of institutional radioactive wastes in Czech Republic. UJV Rez a. s. has been one of the Czech Republic's key research and engineering institutions in the field of nuclear energy production since 1955. The company processes and conditions prior to storage 95% of so-called institutional RAW and is the principal partner of the state with respect to the research support of the Czech deep geological repository development project. UJV Rez a. s. boasts its own accredited radiochemical analytical test laboratory, unique of its kind in the Czech Republic. Of equal importance is UJV Rez's active participation in a range of international organisations and associations and its involvement in wide range of international projects, and so as European projects. One of them is EU funded project PREDIS: Pre-disposal management of radioactive wastes, that has started at September 2020, focused on the field of low level radioactive waste (LLW) and intermediate level radioactive waste (ILW) pre-disposal.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.345-361
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• 2014

The systematic quality assurance activities on documents of the safety assessment are required for the safety case of the low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste disposal facility. In this paper, quality assurance system focused on the input data including the site characterization, groundwater flow, system design and monitoring are prepared and discussed. Rule for the input data selection is suggested and applied for the safety assessment which is based on the in-situ/experiment observations, final facility design and waste pileup plan, engineered barrier, field monitoring, recent biosphere, and radionuclide inventory. The reduction of data uncertainty will be expected to contribute to the safety of disposal facility further.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2018.05a
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• pp.202-203
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• 2018

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.335-344
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• 2014

The safety case program has been prepared for the development of the disposal facility of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste in Korea. For the development of the radioactive waste disposal facility, this program can be applied for the safety demonstration of the facility and for the safety judgment of development step based on the international standards and domestic development environment. Systematic safety approach of this program includes the safety strategies such as optimization, robustness, demonstrability and defense-in-depth principle which are based on the safety principle and objectives. From the quality of assessment basis, safety arguments focused on the uncertainty management and the confidence building can assure the disposal safety during the step-wise safety assessment.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.113-121
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• 2021

A safety assessment of radioactive waste repositories is a mandatory requirement process because there are possible radiological hazards owing to radionuclide migration from radioactive waste to the biosphere. For a reliable safety assessment, it is important to establish a parameter database that reflects the site-specific characteristics of the disposal facility and repository site. From this perspective, solubility, a major geochemical parameter, has been chosen as an important parameter for modeling the migration behavior of radionuclides. The solubilities were derived for Am, Ni, Tc, and U, which were major radionuclides in this study, and on-site groundwater data reflecting the operational conditions of the Gyeongju low and intermediate level radioactive waste (LILW) repository were applied to reflect the site-specific characteristics. The radiation dose was derived by applying the solubility and radionuclide inventory data to the RESRAD-OFFSITE code, and sensitivity analysis of the dose according to the solubility variation was performed. As a result, owing to the low amount of radionuclide inventory, the dose variation was insignificant. The derived solubility can be used as the main input data for the safety assessment of the Gyeongju LILW repository in the future.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.385-410
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• 2016

The disposal facility in Gyeongju is planning to dispose of 800,000 packages of low- and intermediate- level radioactive waste. This facility will be developed as a complex disposal facility that has various types of disposal facilities and accompanying management. In this study, based on the comprehensive development plan of the disposal facility, a preliminary post-closure safety assessment is performed to predict the phase development of the total capacity for the 800,000 packages to be disposed of at the site. The results for each scenario meet the performance target of the disposal facility. The assessment revealed that there is a significant impact of the inventory of intermediate-level radionuclide waste on the safety evaluation. Due to this finding, we introduce a disposal limit value for intermediate-level radioactive waste. With stepwise development of safety case, this development plan will increase the safety of disposal facilities by reducing uncertainties within the future development of the underground silo disposal facilities.