• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.217-221
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• 2015

When reactor coolant leaks occur due to cracks of a steam generator's tube, radioactive materials contained in the primary cooling water in nuclear power plant are forced out toward the secondary systems. At this time the secondary water purification resin in the ion exchange resin tower of the steam generator blowdown system is contaminated by the radioactivity of the leaked radioactive materials, so we pack this in special containers and store temporarily because we could not dispose it by ourselves. If steam generator tube leakage occurs, it produces contaminated spent resins annually about 5,000~7,000 liters. This may increase the amount of nuclear waste productions, a disposal working cost and a unit price of generating electricity in the plant. For this reasons, it is required to develop a decontamination process technique for reducing the radioactive level of these resins enough to handle by the self-disposal method. In this research, First, Investigated the structure and properties of the ion exchange resin used in a steam generator blowdown system. Second, Checked for a occurrence status of contaminated spent resin and a disposal technology. Third, identified the chemical characteristics of the waste radionuclides of the spent resin, and examined ionic bonding and separation mechanism of radioactive nuclear species and a spent resin. Finally, we carried out the decontamination experiment using chemicals, ultrasound, microbubbles, supercritical carbon dioxide to process these spent resin. In the case of the spent resin decontamination method using chemicals, the higher the concentration of the drug decontamination efficiency was higher. In the ultrasound method, foreign matter of the spent resin was removed and was found that the level of radioactivity is below of the MDA. In the microbubbles method, we found that the concentration of the radioactivity decreased after the experiment, so it can be used to the decontamination process of the spent resin. In supercritical carbon dioxide method, we found that it also had a high decontamination efficiency. According to the results of these experiments, almost all decontamination method had a high efficiency, but considering the amounts of the secondary waste productions and work environment of the nuclear power plant, we judged the ultrasound and supercritical carbon dioxide method are suitable for application to the plant and we established the plant applicable decontamination process system on the basis of these two methods.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.23 no.12
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• pp.25-32
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• 2007

This study is to evaluate the effect of chemical attack on durability and deterioration of lining concrete in tunnel. Surface examination, nondestructive inspection, uniaxial compressive strength test, carbonation test, chloride diffusion test, micro-structural analysis were performed to analyze the deterioration of lining concrete in tunnel constructed 70 years ago. From surface examination results, the tunnel had been repaired and reinforced in several times. It has many cracks, water-leakage, efflorescence and exploitation. Compressive strengths obtained from nondestructive inspection and uniaxial compressive strength test have measured $17.5{\sim}34.7MPa$, and $12.8{\sim}40.3MPa$, respectively. Carbonation depth specimen cored from concrete lining has ranged from 3mm to 27mm. From chloride diffusion test, most specimens have low permeability. And the XRD analysis was able to detect ettringite and thaumasite, which were confirmed by SEM and EDS results to be the causes for the deterioration of lining concrete.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.321-329
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• 2013

Recently, the medium-low level radioactive waste from nuclear power plant must be transported from temporary storage to the final repository. Medium-low level radioactive waste, which is composed mainly of the liquid ion exchange resin, has been consolidated with cementitious material in the plastic or iron container. Since cementitious material is brittle, it would generate cracks by impact load during transportation, signifying leakage of radioactive ray. In order to design the safety transporting equipment, there is a need to check the compressive strength of the current waste. However, because it is impossible to measure strength by direct method due to leakage of radioactive ray, we will estimate the strength indirectly by the dynamic modulus of elasticity. Therefore, it must be identified the relationship between of strength and dynamic modulus of elasticity. According to the waste acceptance criteria, the compressive strength of cement based solid is defined as more than 3.44 MPa (500 psi). Compressive strength of the present solid is likely to be significantly higher than this baseline because of continuous hydration of cement during long period. On this background, we have tried to produce the specimens of the 28 day's compressive strength of 3 to 30 MPa having the same material composition as the solid product for the medium-low level radioactive waste, and analyze the relationship between the strength and the dynamic modulus of elasticity. By controling the addition rates of AE agent, we made the mixture containing the ion exchange resin and showing the target compressive strength (3~30 MPa). The dynamic modulus of elasticity of this mixtures is 4.1~10.2 GPa, about 20 GPa lower in the equivalent compressive strength level than that of ordinary concrete, and increasing the discrepancy according to increase strength. The compressive strength and the dynamic modulus of elasticity show the liner relationship.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.40 no.2 s.183
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• pp.209-221
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• 2007

Numerical analysis was performed to investigate the effect of heavy metal contamination on neighboring environment in case a dam is constructed by using rockfill materials contaminated by heavy metals. The numerical simulation carried out in this research includes both subsurface flow and contaminant transport in the inside of the CFRD(Concrete Faced Rockfill Dam), using two commercial programs, SEEP2D and FEMWATER. The three representative cases of scenarios were chosen to consider a variety of cases occurring in a dam site; (1) Scenario 1 : no crack in the concrete face slab, (2) Scenario 2 : a crack In the upper part of face slab, and (3) Scenario 3 : a crack between plinth and face slab in the lower part of face slab. As a result of seepage analysis, the amount of seepage in scenario 2 was calculated as $14.31\sim14.924m^3/day$ per unit width, corresponding to the 1,000 times higher value than that in other scenarios. Also, in the simulation of contaminant transport by using FEMWATER, specified contaminant concentration of 13 ppb in main rockfill zone was set to consider continuous leakage from the rock materials. Through the analysis of contaminant transport, we found that elapsed times to take for the contaminant concentration of about 2 ppb to arrive at the end of a dam are as follows. Scenario 1 has the elapsed time of 55,000 years. In Scenario 2. it is 50 years. Finally, scenario 3 has 27,000 years. The rapid transport of the contaminant in scenario 2 was attributed to greater seepage flow by 500 times than other scenarios. Although, in case of upper crack in the face slab, it was identified that the contaminant might transport to the end of a dam within 100 years with about 2 ppb concentration, however, it happened that the contaminant was hardly transported out of the dam in other scenarios, which correspond to either no crack or a crack between plinth and face slab. In conclusion, the numerical analysis showed that the alternative usage of the contaminated sand and gravel as the dam embankment material can be one of the feasible methods with the assumption that the cracks in a face slab could be controlled adequately.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.382-393
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• 2020

The engineered barrier system of high-level radioactive waste disposal must maintain its performance in the long term, because it must play a role in slowing the rate of leakage to the surrounding rock mass even if a radionuclide leak occurs from the canister. In particular, it is very important to clarify gas dilation flow phenomenon clearly, that occurs only in a medium containing a large amount of clay material such as a bentonite buffer, which can affect the long-term performance of the bentonite buffer. Accordingly, DECOVALEX-2019 Task A was conducted to identify the hydraulic-mechanical mechanism for the dilation flow, and to develop and verify a new numerical analysis technique for quantitative evaluation of gas migration phenomena. In this study, based on the conventional two-phase flow and mechanical behavior with effective stresses in the porous medium, the hydraulic-mechanical model was developed considering the concept of damage to simulate the formation of micro-cracks and expansion of the medium and the corresponding change in the hydraulic properties. Model verification and validation were conducted through comparison with the results of 1D and 3D gas injection tests. As a result of the numerical analysis, it was possible to model the sudden increase in pore water pressure, stress, gas inflow and outflow rate due to the dilation flow induced by gas pressure, however, the influence of the hydraulic-mechanical interaction was underestimated. Nevertheless, this study can provide a preliminary model for the dilation flow and a basis for developing an advanced model. It is believed that it can be used not only for analyzing data from laboratory and field tests, but also for long-term performance evaluation of the high-level radioactive waste disposal system.