• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.349-356
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• 2022

Nuclear power plant decommissioning generates significant concrete waste, which is slightly contaminated, and expected to be classified as clearance concrete waste. Clearance concrete waste is generally crushed into rubble at the site or a satellite treatment facility for practical disposal purposes. During the process, workers are exposed to radiation from the nuclides in concrete waste. The treatment processes consist of concrete cutting/crushing, transportation, and loading/unloading. Workers' radiation exposure during the process was systematically studied. A shielding package comprising a cylindrical and hexahedron structure was considered to reduce workers' radiation exposure, and improved the treatment process's efficiency. The shielding package's effect on workers' radiation exposure during the cutting and crushing process was also studied. The calculated annual radiation exposure of concrete treatment workers was below 1 mSv, which is the annual radiation exposure limit for members of the public. It was also found that workers involved in cutting and crushing were exposed the most.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.92-99
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• 2024

To minimize the cumulative radiation dose, various path-finding approaches for single agent have been proposed. However, for emergence situations such as nuclear power plant accident, these methods cannot be effectively utilized for evacuating a large number of workers because no multi-agent method is valid to conduct the mission. In this study, a novel algorithm for solving the multi-agent path-finding problem is proposed using the conflict-based search approach and the objective function redefined in terms of the cumulative radiation dose. The proposed method can find multi paths that all agents arrive at the destinations with reducing the overall radiation dose. To verify the proposed method, three problems were defined. In the single-agent problem, the objective function proposed in this study reduces the cumulative dose by 82% compared with that of the shortest distance algorithm in experiment environment of this study. It was also verified in the two multi-agent problems that multi paths with minimized the overall radiation dose, in which all agents can reach the destination without collision, can be found. The method proposed in this study will contribute to establishing evacuation plans for improving the safety of workers in radiation-related facilities.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.311-318
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• 2006

Ionizing radiation is a both a natural and man-made phenomena that plays a major role in contemporary applications. The detection of this radiation has evolved over the past several decades from simple observations to precise measurements in space, time, and energy, even in harsh environmental conditions. Tn this paper, we present a snapshot of the current state-of-the-art in radiation measurement technology, highlighting the major applications and detector developments.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.1626-1632
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• 2019

Monitoring of environmental radioactivity is essential for ensuring the radiological safety of residents who live near nuclear power plants. Ulsan, South Korea, is surrounded by 16 nuclear power plants, the highest density in the country. In addition, the city contains facilities for conducting radiological nondestructive testing and using radioisotopes for medical purposes. It makes the confirmation of radiological safety particularly necessary. In this study, sampling points were selected based on regional characteristics, and surface water samples were pretreated and analyzed for gross beta and gamma radiation levels. In addition, the distribution of the city's gamma dose rate was determined using a mobile monitoring system and distribution visualization program. The results showed that there is no effect on the gross beta and gamma nuclides of artificial radionuclides, and the gamma dose rate of the entire region did not exceed the environmental radiation level in South Korea overall, confirming the radiological safety of the city.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.377-385
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• 2024

The concrete silo dry storage system, which has been in operation at the Wolsong NPP site since 1992, consists of a concrete structure, a steel liner plate in the inner space, and a fuel basket. The silo system's concrete structure must maintain structural integrity as well as adequate radiation shielding performance against the high radioactivity of spent nuclear fuel stored inside the storage system. The concrete structure is directly exposed to the external climatic environment in the storage facility and can be expected to deteriorate over time owing to the heat of spent nuclear fuel, as well as particularly cracks in the concrete structure. These cracks may reduce the radiation shielding performance of the concrete structure, potentially exceeding the silo system's allowable radiation dose rate limits. For specimens with the same composition and physical properties as silo's concrete structures, cracks were forcibly generated and then irradiated to measure the change in radiation dose rate to examine the effect of cracks in concrete structures on radiation shielding performance, and in the current state, the silo system maintains radiation shielding performance.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.209-216
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• 2015

It has been about 5 years since the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, which contaminated large area with radioactive materials. It is necessary to assess radiation dose to establish evacuation areas and to set decontamination goal for the large contaminated area. In this study, we assessed temporal trend of radiation dose to the public living in the large area contaminated with radioactive materials after the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident. The dose assessment was performed based on Chernobyl model and RESRAD model for two evacuation lift areas, Kawauchi and Naraha. It was reported that deposition densities in the areas were $4.3{\sim}96kBq\;m^{-2}$ for $^{134}Cs$, $1.4{\sim}300kBq\;m^{-2}$ for $^{137}Cs$, respectively. Radiation dose to the residents depended on radioactive cesium concentrations in the soil, ranging $0.11{\sim}2.4mSv\;y^{-1}$ at Kawauchi area and $0.69{\sim}1.1mSv\;y^{-1}$ at Naraha area in July 2014. The difference was less than 5% in radiation doses estimated by two different models. Radiation dose decreased with calendar time and the decreasing slope varied depending on dose assessment models. Based on the Chernobyl dosimetry model, radiation doses decreased with calendar time to about 65% level of the radiation dose in 2014 after 1 year, 11% level after 10 years, and 5.6% level after 30 years. RESRAD dosimetry model more slowly decreased radiation dose with time to about 85% level after 1 year, 40% level after 10 years, and 15% level after 30 years. The decrease of radiation dose can be mainly attributed into radioactive decays and environmental transport of the radioactive cesium. Only environmental transports of radioactive cesium without consideration of radioactive decays decreased radiation dose additionally 43% after 1 year, 72% after 3 years, 80% after 10 years, and 83% after 30 years. Radiation doses estimated with cesium concentration in the soil based on Chernobyl dosimetry model were compared with directly measured radiation doses. The estimated doses well agreed with the measurement data. This study results can be applied to radiation dose assessments at the contaminated area for radiation safety assurance or emergency preparedness.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.117-126
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• 2024

This study aims to identify high exposure tasks among the tasks performed in domestic nuclear power plants as a basis for developing training programs to improve the efficiency of workers' work. To this end, we first analyzed the exposure status of radiation work in domestic nuclear power plants. Radiation tasks in nuclear power plants were categorized, collective doses were investigated, and the collective doses were calculated based on the collective doses, and representative high exposure tasks were identified. We found that the collective and individual doses in domestic nuclear power plants are continuously decreasing, but there is an imbalance of exposure among workers. In terms of work classification, nuclear power plants are managed in 236 work codes based on light water reactors and 181 work codes based on heavy water reactors, depending on the work equipment and location. Among the total work codes, 23 codes have an annual average dose exceeding 10 μSv, and based on this, 10 representative high exposure tasks were derived. The representative high exposure tasks were selected as S/G nozzle dam work, S/G debris removal work, nuclear instrumentation system, S/G eddy current detection work, and insulation work. The results of this study are expected to serve as an important basis for reducing the exposure of workers in nuclear power plants and improving work efficiency.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.249-253
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• 2001

Neutron dose assessment in criticality accidents using Whole Body Counter (WBC) was proved to be an effective method as rapid neutron dose estimation at the JCO criticality accident in Tokai-mura. The 1.36MeV gamma-ray of $^{24}Na$ in a body can be detected easily by a germanium detector. The Minimum Detectable Activity (MDA) of $^{24}Na$ is approximately 50Bq for 10miniute measurement by the germanium-type whole body counter at JNC Tokai Works. Neutron energy spectra at the typical shielding conditions in criticality accidents were calculated and the conversion factor, whole body activity-to-organ mass weighted neutron absorbed dose, corresponding to each condition were determined. The conversion factor for uncollied fission spectrum is 7.7 $[(Bq^{24}Na/g^{23}Na)/mGy]$.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.2198-2203
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• 2022

As robotics become more sophisticated, there are a growing number of generic systems being used for routine tasks in nuclear environments to reduce risk to radiation workers. The nuclear sector has called for more commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) devices and components to be used in preference to nuclear specific hardware, enabling robotic operations to become more affordable, reliable, and abundant. To ensure reliable operation in nuclear environments, particularly in high-gamma facilities, it is important to quantify the tolerance of electronic systems to ionizing radiation. To deliver their full potential to end-users, mobile robots require sophisticated autonomous behaviors and sensing, which requires significant computational power. A popular choice of computing system, used in low-cost mobile robots for nuclear environments, is the UP Core single board computer. This work presents estimates of the total ionizing dose that the UP Core running the Robot Operating System (ROS) can withstand, through gamma irradiation testing using a Co-60 source. The units were found to fail on average after 111.1 ± 5.5 Gy, due to faults in the on-board power management circuitry. Its small size and reasonable radiation tolerance make it a suitable candidate for robots in nuclear environments, with scope to use shielding to enhance operational lifetime.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.201-215
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• 1996

Radiation and radioactive materials serve man in many beneficial ways. Diagnostic X-ray, radiation therapy, and other nuclear medicine uses of radioactivity save thousands of lives each year. Industrial application of radiation, such as radiography, make many manufactured products more reliable and less expensive. Nuclear power plants are producing more electrical power each year and reducing our dependence on imported oil. However, radiation can and dose produce harmful effects particularly as the reault of a radiation accident in which a victim receives as the result of a radiation accident in which a victim receives a large dose. Fortunately such accidents are very rare and recently we need more electric power produced by nuclear power plants. Considering increase of use of radiation or radioactive materials, we have to establish the radiological emergency response system prepared for radiation accidents.