• Title/Summary/Keyword: Radioactive Secondary Waste

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Repurposing a Spent Nuclear Fuel Cask for Disposal of Solid Intermediate Level Radioactive Waste From Decommissioning of a Nuclear Power Plant in Korea

  • Mah, Wonjune;Kim, Chang-Lak
    • Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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    • v.20 no.3
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    • pp.365-369
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    • 2022
  • Operating and decommissioning nuclear power plants generates radioactive waste. This radioactive waste can be categorized into several different levels, for example, low, intermediate, and high, according to the regulations. Currently, low and intermediate-level waste are stored in conventional 200-liter drums to be disposed. However, in Korea, the disposal of intermediate-level radioactive waste is virtually impossible as there are no available facilities. Furthermore, large-sized intermediate-level radioactive waste, such as reactor internals from decommissioning, need to be segmented into smaller sizes so they can be adequately stored in the conventional drums. This segmentation process requires additional costs and also produces secondary waste. Therefore, this paper suggests repurposing the no-longer-used spent nuclear fuel casks. The casks are larger in size than the conventional drums, thus requiring less segmentation of waste. Furthermore, the safety requirements of the spent nuclear fuel casks are severer than those of the drums. Hence, repurposed spent nuclear fuel casks could better address potential risks such as dropping, submerging, or a fire. In addition, the spent nuclear fuel casks need to be disposed in compliance with the regulations for low level radioactive waste. This cost may be avoided by repurposing the casks.

Evaluation of Radiological Effects on the Aptamers to Remove Ionic Radionuclides in the Liquid Radioactive Waste

  • Minhye Lee;Gilyong Cha;Dongki Kim;Miyong Yun;Daehyuk Jang;Sunyoung Lee;Song Hyun Kim;Hyuncheol Kim;Soonyoung Kim
    • Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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    • v.48 no.1
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    • pp.44-51
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    • 2023
  • Background: Aptamers are currently being used in various fields including medical treatments due to their characteristics of selectively binding to specific molecules. Due to their special characteristics, the aptamers are expected to be used to remove radionuclides from a large amount of liquid radioactive waste generated during the decommissioning of nuclear power plants. The radiological effects on the aptamers should be evaluated to ensure their integrity for the application of a radionuclide removal technique. Materials and Methods: In this study, Monte Carlo N-Particle transport code version 6 (MCNP6) and Monte Carlo damage simulation (MCDS) codes were employed to evaluate the radiological effects on the aptamers. MCNP6 was used to evaluate the secondary electron spectrum and the absorbed dose in a medium. MCDS was used to calculate the DNA damage by using the secondary electron spectrum and the absorbed dose. Binding experiments were conducted to indirectly verify the results derived by MCNP6 and MCDS calculations. Results and Discussion: Damage yields of about 5.00×10-4 were calculated for 100 bp aptamer due to the radiation dose of 1 Gy. In experiments with radioactive materials, the results that the removal rate of the radioactive 60Co by the aptamer is the same with the non-radioactive 59Co prove the accuracy of the previous DNA damage calculation. Conclusion: The evaluation results suggest that only very small fraction of significant number of the aptamers will be damaged by the radioactive materials in the liquid radioactive waste.

Separation and Extraction of Hot Particulate from contaminated Perfluorocarbon solution

  • Kim Gye-Nam;Narayan Mathuresh;Wou Hui-Jun;Jung Chong-Hun;Oh Won-Zin
    • Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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    • 2005.06a
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    • pp.70-71
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    • 2005
  • It was an idea to develop a system to remove the contaminated hot particulate to make clean nuclear research facilities to the clear visibility for researcher. In order to clean micron and sub micron size particulates from used PFC solution as a decontamination tool. Since PFC solution is very expensive so it was a high recommendation to develop the some filtration equipment to purify PFC for next decontamination process, in additionally, reduce the secondary waste. However, we developed an easy and economic filter system to purify the PFC solution. The major advantage of the process operates in closed loop under near ambient conditions, thus minimizing the potential for fugitive TRU emissions and reduces the secondary waste. This has very significant safety and cost impacts. Here we proposed the two types PFC filter systems.

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Evaluation on SGBD demineralizers and Optimized Cation/Anion Resin ratio in PWR NPPs

  • Sung Ki-Bang;Nam Yong-Jae;Lee Jae-Sung
    • Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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    • 2005.11a
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    • pp.79-86
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    • 2005
  • In PSR on the Kori 3&4 NPP, The low level radioactive waste resin from SGBD demineralizer is more than $65\%$ of total waste resin in NPP So, it needs to be improved. The secondary cooling water pH control methods are used ammonia-AVT from the first. According to changing ETA which is better than ammonia, SGBD cation load is increased about 2-3 times. Waste resin product is also increased in proportion to the SGBD cation load. To reduce the waste volume, new cation resin exchange criteria is confirmed that demineralizer is almost saturated.

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Development of New Processes for the Decommissioning Decontamination and for Treatment and Disposal of the Secondary Low- and Intermediate-Level Radioactive Waste

  • John, Jan;Bartl, Pavel;Cubova, Katerina;Nemec, Mojmir;Semelova, Miroslava;Sebesta, Ferdinand;Sobova, Tereza;Sul'akova, Jana;Vetesnik, Ales;Vopalka, Dusan
    • Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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    • v.19 no.1
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    • pp.9-27
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    • 2021
  • As an example of research activities in decontamination for decommissioning, new data are presented on the options for corrosion layer dissolution during the decommissioning decontamination, or persulfate regeneration for decontamination solutions re-use. For the management of spent decontamination solutions, new method based on solvent extraction of radionuclides into ionic liquid followed by electrodeposition of the radionuclides has been developed. Fields of applications of composite inorganic-organic absorbers or solid extractants with polyacrylonitrile (PAN) binding matrix for the treatment of liquid radioactive waste are reviewed; a method for americium separation from the boric acid containing NPP evaporator concentrates based on the TODGA-PAN material is discussed in more detail. Performance of a model of radionuclide transport, developed and implemented within the GoldSim programming environment, for the safety studies of the LLW/ILW repository is demonstrated on the specific case of the Richard repository (Czech Republic). Continuation and even broadening of these activities are expected in connection with the approaching end of the lifespan of the first blocks of the Czech NPPs.

Status Analysis for the Confinement Monitoring Technology of PWR Spent Nuclear Fuel Dry Storage System (경수로 사용후핵연료 건식저장시스템의 격납감시 기술현황 분석)

  • Baeg, Chang-Yeal;Cho, Chun-Hyung
    • Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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    • v.14 no.1
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    • pp.35-44
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    • 2016
  • Leading national R&D project to design a PWR spent nuclear fuel interim dry storage system that has been under development since mid-2009, which consists of a dual purpose metal cask and concrete storage cask. To ensure the safe operation of dry storage systems in foreign countries, major confinement monitoring techniques currently consist of pressure and temperature measurement. In the case of a dual purpose metal cask, a pressure sensor is installed in the interspace of bolted double lid(primary and secondary lid) in order to measure pressure. A concrete storage cask is a canister based system made of double/redundant welded lid to ensure confinement integrity. For this reason, confinement monitoring method is real time temperature measurement by thermocouple placed in the air flow(air intake and exit) of the concrete structure(over pack and module). The use of various monitoring technologies and operating experiences for the interim dry storage system over the last decades in foreign countries were analyzed. On the basis of the analysis above, development of the confinement monitoring technology that can be used optimally in our system will be available in the near future.

Recycling of Li2ZrO3 as LiCl and ZrO2 via a Chlorination Technique

  • Jeon, Min Ku;Kim, Sung-Wook;Lee, Keun-Young;Choi, Eun-Young
    • Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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    • v.19 no.2
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    • pp.271-278
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    • 2021
  • In this study, a chlorination technique for recycling Li2ZrO3, a reaction product of ZrO2-assisted rinsing process, was investigated to minimize the generation of secondary radioactive pyroprocessing waste. It was found that the reaction temperature was a key parameter that determined the reaction rate and maximum conversion ratio. In the temperature range of 400-600℃, an increase in the reaction temperature resulted in a profound increase in the reaction rate. Hence, according to the experimental results, a reaction temperature of at least 450℃ was proposed to ensure a Li2ZrO3 conversion ratio that exceeded 80% within 8 h of the reaction time. The activation energy was found to be 102 ± 2 kJ·mol-1·K-1 between 450 and 500℃. The formation of LiCl and ZrO2 as reaction products was confirmed by X-ray diffraction analysis. The experimental results obtained at various total flow rates revealed that the overall reaction rate depends on the Cl2 mass transfer rate in the experimental condition. The results of this study prove that the chlorination technique provides a solution to minimize the amount of radioactive waste generated during the ZrO2-assisted rinsing process.