• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2019

The accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) resulted in the deposition of large quantities of radionuclides over parts of eastern Japan. Radioactive contaminants have been observed over a large area including forests, cities, rivers and lakes. Due to the strong adsorption of radioactive cesium by soil particles, radioactive cesium migrates with the eroded soil, follows the surface flow paths, and is delivered downstream of population-rich regions and eventually to coastal areas. In this study, we developed a model to simulate the transport of contaminated sediment in a watershed hydrological system and this model was compared with observation data from eroded soil observation instruments located at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. Two methods were applied to analyze the soil particle size distribution of the collected soil samples, including standardized sieve analysis and image analysis methods. Numerical models were developed to simulate the movement of soil along with actual rainfall considering initial saturation, rainfall infiltration, multilayer and rain splash. In the 2019 study, a numerical model will be used to add rainfall shield effect by trees, evaporation effect and shield effects of surface water. An eroded soil observation instrument has been installed near the Wolsong nuclear power plant since 2018 and observation data are being continuously collected. Based on these observations data, we will develop the numerical model to analyze long-term behavior of radionuclides on land as they move from land to rivers, lakes and coastal areas.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.43-49
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• 2023

This study described the test results to evaluate the effect of fines content on the wettability of sandy soil composed of hydrophobic soil particles. Wettability was evaluated using the contact angle obtained from the water drop test results for Jumunjin standard sand and sandy soil containing fines content. The test results showed that the wettability of sandy soil composed of sand and fine-grained soil changed depending on the hydrophobic level and fines content. The influence of fines content on the wettability of sandy soil was analyzed. It was found that 1% and 3% hydrophobic sandy soil with 5% fines content decreased by 94.4% and 32.4%, respectively, compared to the contact angle of standard sand. In addition, the contact angle reduction ratio for sandy soil with a 5% hydrophobic level and a fines content of 5% and 10% were 24.4% and 37.3%, respectively. In other words, the wettability of the soils should be evaluated considering the fines content to predict the behavior of contaminants, because the fines content has a significant impact on the value and increase/decrease ratio of the contact angle of sandy soil

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.239-246
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• 2017

There are various transversal structures (small dams or drop structures) in median and small streams in Korea. Most of them are concrete structures and it is so hard to exclude low-level water. Unless drainage valves and/or gates would not be installed near bottom of bed, sediment from upstream should be deposited and also contaminants attached to the sediments would devastatingly threaten the water quality and ecosystem. One of countermeasures for such problem is the bypass pipe installed underneath the transversal structure. However, there is still issued whether it would be workable if the gravels and/or stones would roll into and be not excluded. Therefore, in this study, the conditions to exclude the rip stone which enter into the bypass pipe was reviewed. Based on sediment transport phenomenon, the behavior of stones was investigated with the concepts from the critical shear stress of sediment and d'Alembert principle. As final results, the basis condition (${\tau}_c{^*}$) was derived using the Lagrangian description since the stones are in the moving state, not in the stationary state. From hydraulic experiments the relative velocity could be obtained. In order to minimize the scale effect, the extra wide channel of 5.0 m wide and 1.0 m high was constructed and the experimental stones were fully spherical ones. Experimental results showed that the ratio of flow velocity to spherical particle velocity was measured between 0.5 and 0.7, and this result was substituted into the suggested equation to identify the critical condition wether the stones were excluded. Regimes about the exclusion of stone in bypass pipe were divided into three types according to particle Reynolds number ($Re_p$) and dimensionless critical shear force (${\tau}_c{^*}$) - exclusion section, probabilistic exclusion section, no exclusion section. Results from this study would be useful and essential information for bypass pipe design in transveral structures.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.157-181
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• 2020

Sediments from rivers, lakes and marine ports serve as end points for pollutants discharged into the water, and at the same time serve as sources of pollutants that are continuously released into the water. Until now, the contaminated sediments have been landfilled or dumped at sea. Landfilling, however, was expensive and dumping at sea was completely banned due to the London Convention. Therefore, this study applied contaminated sedimentation soil of 'Royal Palace Livestock Complex' as soil purification method. Soil remediation methods were applied to pretreatment, composting, soil washing, electrokinetics, and thermal desorption by selecting overseas application cases and domestically applicable application technologies. As a result of surveying the site for pollutant characteristics, Disolved Oxigen (DO), Suspended Solid (SS), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Total Nitrogen (TN), and Total Phosphorus (TP) exceeded the discharged water quality standard, and especially SS, COD, TN, and TP exceeded the standard several tens to several hundred times. Soil showed high concentrations of copper and zinc, which promote the growth of pig feed, and cadmium exceeded 1 standard of Soil Environment Conservation Act. In the pretreatment technology, hydrocyclone was used for particle size separation, and the fine soil was separated by more than 80%. Composting was performed on organic and Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon (TPH) contaminated soils. TPH was treated within the standard of concern, and E. coli was analyzed to be high in organic matter, and the fertilizer specification was satisfied by applying the optimum composting conditions at 70℃, but the organic matter content was lower than the fertilizer specification. As a result of continuous washing test, Cd has 5 levels of residual material in fine soil. Cu and Zn were mostly composed of ion exchange properties (stage 1), carbonates (stage 2), and iron / manganese oxides (stage 3), which facilitate easy separation of contamination. As a result of applying acid dissolution and multi-stage washing step by step, hydrochloric acid, 1.0M, 1: 3, 200rpm, 60min was analyzed as the optimal washing factor. Most of the contaminated sediments were found to satisfy the Soil Environmental Conservation Act's standards. Therefore, as a result of the applicability test of this study, soil with high heavy metal contamination was used as aggregate by applying soil cleaning after pre-treatment. It was possible to verify that it was efficient to use organic and oil-contaminated soil as compost Maturity after exterminating contaminants and E. coli by applying composting.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.101-110
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• 2013

Due to the large specific surface area and great reactivity toward environmental contaminants, nanocrystalline mackinawite (FeS) has been widely applied for the remediation of contaminated groundwater and soil. Furthermore, nanocrystalline FeS is rather thermodynamically stable against anoxic corrosion, and its reactivity can be regenerated continuously by the activity of sulfate-reducing bacteria. However, nanocrystalline mackinawite is prone to either spread out along the groundwater flow or cause pore clogging in aquifers by particle aggregation. Accordingly, this mineral should be modified for the application of permeable reactive barriers (PRBs). In this study, coating methods were investigated by which mackinawite nanoparticles were deposited on the surface of alumina or activated alumina. The amount of FeS coating was found to significantly vary with pH, with the highest amount occurring at pH ~6.9 for both minerals. At this pH, the surfaces of mackinawite and alumina (or activated alumina) were oppositely charged, with the resultant electrostatic attraction making the coating highly effective. At this pH, the coating amounts by alumina and activated alumina were 0.038 and 0.114 $mmol{\cdot}FeS/g$, respectively. Under anoxic conditions, arsenite sorption experiments were conducted with uncoated alumina, uncoated activated alumina, and both minerals coated with FeS at the optimal pH for comparison of their reactivity. Uncoated activated alumina showed the higher arsenite removal compared to uncoated alumina. Notably, the arsenite sorption capacity of activated alumina was little changed by the coating with FeS. This might be attributed to the abundance of highly reactive hydroxyl functional groups (${\equiv}$AlOH) on the surface of activated alumina, making the arsenite sorption by the coated FeS unnoticeable. In contrast, the arsenite sorption capacity of alumina was found to increase substantially by the FeS coating. This was due to the consumption of the surface hydroxyl functional groups on the alumina surface and the subsequent occurrence of As(III) sorption by the coated FeS. Alumina, on the surface area basis, has about 8 times higher FeS coating amount and higher As(III) sorption capacity than silica. This study indicates that alumina is a better candidate than silica for the coating of nanocrystalline mackinawite.