• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.8
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• pp.1079-1086
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• 2009

A great volume of radioactive concrete is generated during the operation and the decommissioning of nuclear facilities. The washing-electrokinetic technology in this study, which combined an electrokinetic method and a washing method, was developed to decontaminate the concrete generated in nuclear facilities. The results of only an electrokinetic decontamination for the concrete showed that cobalt was removed to below 1% from the concrete due to its high pH. Therefore, the washing-electrokinetic technology was applied to lower the pH of the concrete. Namely, when the concrete was washed with 3 M of hydrochloric acid for 4 hours (0.17 day), the $CaCO_3$ in the concrete was decomposed into $CO_2$ and the pH of the concrete was reduced to 3.7, and the cobalt and cesium in the concrete were removed by up to 85.0% and 76.3% respectively. Next, when the washed concrete was decontaminated by the electrokinetic method with 0.01M of acetic acid in the 1L electrokinetic equipment for 14.83 days, the cobalt and the cesium in the concrete were both removed by up to 99.7% and 99.6% respectively. The removal efficiencies of the cobalt and cesium by 0.01M of acetic acid were increased more than those by 0.05M of acetic acid due to the increase of the concrete zeta potential. The total effluent volume generated from the washing-electrokinetic decontamination was 11.55L (7.2ml/g).

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2008

This study examined the effect of an electrokinetic-flushing remediation for a soil of a high permeability. The soil was sampled from the site around a research atomic reactor which had high hydro-conductivities due to a high content of sand in the soil. The flow rate of the washing reagent was fast at the beginning but it was reduced as time lapsed. In the case of using citric acid as a washing reagent, the flow rate was fastest, 78.7 ml/day. The removal efficiencies of $Co^{2+}$ and $Cs^+$ from a soil cell with acetic acid were the highest, which were 95.2% and 84.2% respectively. The soil waste-solution volume generated from the electrokinetic remediation was reduced to about 1/20 of that from the soil washing remediation. Meanwhile, the electrokinetic-flushing method enhanced the removal efficiencies of $Co^{2+}$ and $Cs^+$ from the soil by about 6% and 2% respectively, compared to those by the electrokinetic method. Consequently, it was found that the electrokinetic-flushing method was more effective for the remediation of a soil with a high permeability.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2003

Three different surfactants, APG, Brij30, and SDS, were tested to study the characteristics of sorption on soil surfaces, washing ability, biodegradability, and electrokinetic removal. Kaolinite and phenanthrene were selected as a model soil and a representative HOC, respectively. Phenanthrene was sorbed on kaolinite up to 2,200 mg/kg dry soil. The APG, Brij30, and SDS were sorbed on soil to 40, 7, and 4g/kg soil, respectively. The washing ability of phenanthrene was in order of Brij30＆gt;SDS＆gt;APG. The biodegradability tested with sludge was in order of APG＆gt;Brij30＆gt;SDS. In the electrokinetic test, the highest removal efficiency was obtained with APG that exhibited the highest electroosmotic flow. To increase the removal efficiency of HOC in the electrokinetic remediation, the most important factor was the selection of surfactant which maximized the electroosmotic flow.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.6-15
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• 2013

The influence of processing fluids and electrode spacing on the electrokinetic process was evaluated to remediate As-, Cu-, Pb-contaminated soil. Single and mixture of sodium citrate, EDTA and NaOH was used to investigate the metal extraction. EDTA for washing reagent showed the highest removal efficiency. Based on the extraction result, the electrode spacing (20, 40, 60 cm) on the electrokinetic process was investigated to remove the multi-metals from soil. The highest removal was observed at the experiment with 60 cm of electrode spacing, however, the correlation between electrode spacing and removal of metals was not clear. The electrode spacing influenced the amount of accumulated electro-osmotic flow. BCR sequential extraction showed that electrokinetic process removed the fractionation of metals bound to Fe-Mn oxyhydroxide.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.17-22
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• 2008

The feasibility of acid-enhanced electrokinetic remediation on zinc and nickel-contaminated soil was investigated in the laboratory. Simple extraction efficiency using 1M HCl was 24% for Zn and 9% for Ni, as a result, the acid washing is not effective to remove Zn and Ni from the soil. The effiencey of normal electrokinetic treatment during 28 days was less than simple soil washing. Catholyte circulation with a strong acid enhanced dramatically the removal of Zn and Ni and pretreatment of soil with acid increased more the removal. Based on the result, acid-enhanced electrokinetic remediation is effective to remove Zn and Ni from the contaminated soil.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.304-315
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• 2004

The ageing effects of radionuclides in radioactive soil on remediation using the electrokinetic method were analyzed. Comparative experiments were conducted for the reactive soil around a TRIGA research? reactor contaminated with $^{137}Cs\;and\;^{60}Co$ for 15 years and the non-reactive soil that was intentionally contaminated with $Cs^+\;and\;Co^{2+}$ for 3 days. It was observed that because of an aging effect on $^{137}Cs$, the efficiency of removing it decreased. $H_{2}SO_4$ used as an additive to increase the removal efficiency showed a higher removal capability than other chemicals for both $^{137}Cs\;and\;^{60}Co$. The efficiency of removing radionuclides from the radioactive soil in the column was proportional to the capability of the added chemical to extract radionuclides. It took 10 days to achieve a $54\%$ removal of $^{137}Cs$ and a $97\%$ removal of $^{60}Co$ from the soil. The volume of the soil wastewater discharged from the soil column by the electrokinetic method was $20\%$ below that for soil washing.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.47-53
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• 2004

Feasibility of electrokinetic process combined with Fenton-like reaction was investigated for the removal of phenanthrene from contaminated soil. Transport of hydrogen peroxide by electroosmosis and decomposition of phenanthrene by Fenton-like reaction were observed in a model system. Electrical potential gradient and electroosmotic flow (EOF) at 10 mA were higher than those at 5 mA. High accumulated EOF resulted in high removal efficiency of phenanthrene because the large amount of hydrogen peroxide was transfered through the soil. Removal efficiency of phenanthrene by water washing was 8.5% for 7 days. The highest removal efficiency including phenanthrene decomposition was 95.6% for 14 days. After the operation, soil samples with removal efficiency of 95.6% showed low concentrations of phenanthrene and its intermediates. From this result, it was presumed that phenanthrene was decomposed to small molecules or mineralized to water and carbon dioxide due to continuous supply of hydrogen peroxide by electroosmotic flow.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.28-39
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• 2011

This review investigated theoretical principals and practical application examples on recirculation system of soil washing-wastewater treatment-treated water recycling. As for technologies which have attempted to remediating metals-contaminated soil in and around country, there are reactive barriers, encapsulation, solidification/stabilization, soil washing, and phytoremediation. Among those, in particular, this review covers soil washing technology which physicochemically removes contaminants from soils. The major drawbacks of this technology are to generate a large amount of wastewater which contains contaminants complexed with ligands of washing solution and needs additional treatment process. To solve these problems, many chemical treatment methods have been developed as follows: precipitation/coprecipitation, membrane filtration, adsorption treatment, ion exchange, and electrokinetic treatment. In the last part of the review, recent research and field application cases on soil washing wastewater treatment and recycling were introduced. Based on these integrated technologies, it could be achieved to solve the problem of soil washing wastewater and to enhance cost effective process by reducing total water resources use in soil washing process.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.245-251
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• 2016

Soil can be contaminated by radioactive materials due to nuclide leakage following unexpected situations during the decommissioning of a nuclear power plant. Soil decontamination is necessary if contaminated land is to be reused for housing or industry. The present study classifies various soil remediation technologies into biological, physics/chemical and thermal treatment and analyzes their principles and treatment materials. Among these methods, this study selects technologies and categorizes the economics, applicability and technical characteristics of each technology into three levels of high, medium and low by weighting the various factors. Based on this analysis, the most applicable soil decontamination technology was identified.