• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.10-16
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• 2001

Recently plasma etching research has been focused on the metal surfaces in the nuclear industry. In this study, surface etching reaction of metallic Co and Mo, principal contaminants in the spent nuclear components, in CF$_4$/O$_2$, gas plasma has been experimentally investigated to look into the applicability and the effectiveness of the technique for the surface decontamination. Experimental variables are $CF_4$/$O_2$ ratio and substrate temperature between 29$0^{\circ}C$ and 38$0^{\circ}C$. Experimental results Show that the optimum gas composition is 80%CF$_4$-20%$O_2$ and the metallic Co and Mo are etched out well enough in the temperatures range. Cobalt starts to be etched above $350^{\circ}C$ and the etching rate increases with increasing substrate temperature. Maximum rate achieved at 38$0^{\circ}C$ under 220 W r.f. plasma power is 0.06 $\mu\textrm{m}$/min. On the other hand, the metallic Mo is etched easily even at low temperature and the reaction rate drastically increases as the substrate temperature goes up. Highest rate obtained under the same conditions is $1.9\mu\textrm{m}$/min. OES (Optical Emission Spectroscopy) analysis reveals that the intensities of F atom and CO molecule reach maximum at the optimum gas composition, which demonstrates that the principal reaction mechanism is fluorination and/or carbonyl reaction. It is confirmed, therefore, that dry processing technique using reactive plasma is quite feasible and applicable for the decontamination of surface-contaminated parts or equipments.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.849-854
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• 2003

The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute has developed a teleoperated cleaning robot for use in the radioactive zone of the isolation room of the Irradiated Material Examination Facility where direct human access to the interior is strictly limited. The teleoperated cleaning robot that was designed to completely eliminate human interaction with the hazardous radioactive contaminants has five remotely replaceable submodules - a mobile module for navigation, a cleaning module for dislodging and sucking contaminated waste, a sensing module for obstacle avoidance, a collection module for storing the acquired waste, and a cover module for protecting the collection module. This cleaning robot is capable of cleaning the contaminated floor surface of the isolation room and collecting loose dry spent nuclear fuel debris and other radioactive waste fixed or scattered on the floor surface. The developed cleaning robot is operated either by a manual control or by autonomous control in conjunction with a graphical simulator, by which the human operator can monitor and intervene the robot performing cleanup tasks in the isolation room. In this paper, we present the mechanical and environmental design considerations and development of the teleoperated cleaning robot for radioactive isolation room use. We also demonstrate its mock-up performance test results from the viewpoint of a remote cleanup operation and remote maintenance.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.455-461
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• 2002

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons(PAHs) are ubiquitous contaminants in coastal marine environment. PAHs enter estuarine and nearshore marine environment via several routes such as combustion of fossil fuels, domestic and industrial effluents and oil spills. In August of 1997, mussels(Mytilus edulis) were collected at 6 sites near Kori nuclear power plant in order to analyze the PAH content by HPLC with uv/vis detection. Unfortunately, I could not find any living oysters in which I firstly intended to measure the PAH content in the study area. NPTHL and ANCPL were the major dominant PAH compounds in mussels living in the intertidal zone of Kori, Korea, and DahA, BbF, BaP were the next dominant PAH group in mussels in the study area. The mean concentrations of 15 PAH in mussels ranged from 3.2 to 1,680 ppb(mean 105$\pm$60.5 ppb). Compared with other studies world over, the concentrations of carcinogenic PAHs were relatively low in mussels in the study area, even though total PAH content was rather high. According to N/P(Naphthalene/Phenanthrene) ratio(147) and the ratio of 2∼3 ring to 3∼5 ring PAHs(58∼90 %) in mussels in the study area, I expect that the major source of PAHs in this study area is rather fresh petroleum-derived. This study presents preliminary data for the PAH levels in mussels from the intertidal zone of Kori, and the data will hopefully be utilized for the assessment of oil pollution in the East Sea, Korea.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.167-173
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• 2004

Fouling of heat exchangers is generated by water-borne deposits, commonly known as foulants including particulate matter from the air, migrated corrosion produces; silt, clays, and sand suspended in water; organic contaminants; and boron based deposits in plants. The fouling is known to interfere with normal flow characteristics and reduce thermal efficiencies of heat exchangers. This paper describes the fouling analysis technique developed in this study which can analyze the thermal performance for heat exchangers and estimate the future fouling variations. To develop the fouling analysis technique fur heat exchangers, fouling factor was introduced based on the ASME O&M codes and TEMA standards. For the purpose or verifying the fouling analysis technique, the routing analyses were performed for four heat exchangers in several nuclear power plants; two residual heat removal heat exchangers of the residual heat removal system and two component cooling water heat exchangers of the component cooling water system.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.46-57
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• 2011

In this study, analytical solution of multip-species transport equations coupled with a first-order reaction network under constant concentration boundary condition or total flux boundary condition is obtained using similarity transformation approach of Clement et al. (2000). The study shows the schematic process about how multi-species transport equations with first-order sequential reaction network is transformed through the similarity transformation approach into independent and uncoupled single species transport equations with first-order reaction. The analytical solution was verified through the comparison with popular commercial programs such as 2DFATMIC and RT3D. The analytical solution can be utilized in nuclear waste sites where radioactive contaminants and their daughter products occur and in industrial complex cities where chlorinated solvent such as PCE, TCE, and its biodegradation products produces. In addition, it can help the verification of the developed numerical code.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.438-446
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• 2003

This paper presents the development of the remotely operated decontamination systems for use in a highly radioactive zone of the DUPIC Fuel Development facility of the Irradiated Material Examination Facility at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. The remotely operated decontamination systems were designed to completely eliminate human interaction with hazardous radioactive contaminants. These decontamination systems are mainly classified into three systems depending on the task environment - a fabrication equipment decontamination system, a hot-cell floor decontamination system, and an isolation room floor decontamination system. A decontamination system for contaminated fabrication equipment utilizes dry ice pellet blasting method to decontaminate contaminated surface of the equipment. The decontamination systems for the hot-cell floor and isolation room floor employ a vacuum cleaning method to decontaminate the contaminated floor and collect loose dry spent nuclear fuel debris and other radioactive waste placed on the floor. The human operator from the out-of-cell performs a series of decontamination tasks remotely by manipulating decontamination systems located in-cell via a handcontroller with the aid of vision feedback information. The environmental, functional and mechanical design considerations, control system and capabilities of the remotely operated decontamination systems at a high radioactive environment are also described.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.27 no.12
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• pp.672-678
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• 2017

In the production of zirconium cladding tube, a pickling acid solution is used to remove surface contaminants, which generates tons of pickling acid waste. The waste pickling solution is a valuable resource of Hf-free Zr. Many studies have investigated separating the Hf-free Zr source from the waste pickling acid. The results showed that $Ba_2ZrF_8$ precipitates prepared from the waste pickling acid were useful as an electrolyte for the electrorefining of Zr in molten salt. In the present work, electrorefining was performed in a $Ba_2ZrF_8-LiF$ binary electrolyte to recover Zr from a Hf-free CuZr ingot anode prepared by electroreduction. Before electrorefining, two pretreatments are performed. First, electrolyte melting was carried out to determine the eutectic temperature, and second, the electrolyte was treated to eliminate impurities, mainly hydride. After electrorefining, the cathode deposits were analyzed by $O_2$ gas analyzer and SEM-EDX to explore the possibility of recovering nuclear-grade Zr metal. Moreover, the anode was analyzed by SEM-EDX to determine the Zr dissolution depth.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.227-233
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• 2022

The objective of the study, to develop adsorbent based purifier for removal of radiological and nuclear contaminants from contaminated water. In this regard, 3-aminopropyl silica functionalized with ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (APS-EDTA) adsorbent prepared and characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD). Prepared APS-EDTA used for adsorptive studies of Cs(I), Co(II), Sr(II), Ni(II) and Cd(II) from contaminated water. The effect on adsorption of various parameters viz. contact time, initial concentration of metal ions and pH were also analyzed. The batch method has been employed using metal ions in solution from 1000-10000 ㎍/L, contact time 5-60 min., pH 4-10 and material quantities 50-200 mg at room temperature. The obtained adsorption data were used for drawing Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms model and both models were found suitable for explaining the metal ions adsorption on APS-EDTA. The adsorption data were followed pseudo second order reaction kinetics. The maximum adsorption capacity obtained 1.3037-1.4974 mg/g for above said metal ions. The results show that APS-EDTA have great potential to remove Cd(II), Co(II), Cs(I), Ni(II) and Sr(II) from aqueous solutions through chemisorption and physio-sorption.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.113-122
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• 2016

In this study, the dispersion process of pollutant substances in a port under wave and current environments was evaluated by a hydraulic experiment. Once the contaminants washed ashore into the port of Wolseong nuclear power plant, transport processes of pollutants were investigated by tracking the tracer according to the variations of experimental condition through a hydraulic experiment. Several hydraulic experiments were performed to analyze the pollutant discharge rate of the surface coming from the different coastal environments. From the hydraulic experiment results, the tracer concentration decreased exponentially. These results suggested that, after the tracer was transported to the open sea, a different gradient was shown under different conditions. For the case of a diluted condition, the half-life of flow rate was 2.70, 10.40, and 26.39 days for 30, 20 and 10 rpm in the left-side, respectively. The decrease of the tracer concentration under conditions of 30 rpm was much faster than that under conditions of 10 rpm. For the wave condition, the half-life of flow rate was 4.59 and 15.35 days for the right and left side of the port in a hydraulic scale prototype, respectively.

• 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.