• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.1355-1364
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• 2019

A recently published nuclear forensics methodology for source discrimination of separated weapons-grade plutonium utilizes intra-element isotope ratios and a maximum likelihood formulation to identify the most likely source reactor-type, fuel burnup and time since irradiation of unknown material. Sensitivity studies performed here on the effects of random measurement error and the uncertainty in intra-element isotope ratio values show that different intra-element isotope ratios have disproportionate contributions to the determination of the reactor parameters. The methodology is robust to individual errors in measured intra-element isotope ratio values and even more so for uniform systematic errors due to competing effects on the predictions from the selected intra-element isotope ratios suite. For a unique sample-model pair, simulation uncertainties of up to 28% are acceptable without impeding successful source-reactor discrimination. However, for a generic sample with multiple plausible sources within the reactor library, uncertainties of 7% or less may be required. The results confirm the critical role of accurate reactor core physics, fuel burnup simulations and experimental measurements in the proposed methodology where increased simulation uncertainty is found to significantly affect the capability to discriminate between the reactors in the library.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.1102-1112
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• 2012

The policy of the United States is a Korean Peninsula free of all nuclear weapons. The United States government was considering the possibility of military action to eliminate the North Korean nuclear threat. Talk of military action peaked from mid-1993 through mid-1994. Such an attack might have led directly to a Korean war. At that time the nuclear crisis solutioned by North Korea-United States negotiation and ROK-United States alliance. PSI's purpose is to prevent or at least inhibit the spread of weapons of mass destruction, their delivery systems, and related materials to and from states and non-state actors whose possession would be a serious threat to global or regional security. The most controversial activity of PSI is interdiction. North Korea has expressed grave concern over the initiative, stating that it has a sovereign right to develop, deploy, and export weapons, and that it would view any interdiction of its ships as a declaration of war. If South Korea is to execute interdiction North Korean ships expect tensions to increase dramatically on the peninsula with North Korea doing something quite provacative in response. South Korea cannot help approaching PSI with great caution, since it has to consider the ROK-United States alliance, and inter-Korean relations.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.78-100
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• 2009

This study is to protect peoples' life, minimize the property damage by coping with threats quickly and take more preventive measures in advance against nuclear bomb, CBR, and potential explosive. For this, CBRNE(Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosive) program research was used. Thanks to advance in technology, terrorist groups and even individuals make or keep nuclear and CBR weapons. And also it's likely that disaster and threats from a toxic gas, acute pathogens, accidents in the nuclear power plants and a high explosive could be happened a lot. Recently more organized terrorist groups maintain random attacks for unspecified individuals and also it's highly likely that a large-scale terrorist attack by WMD and CBRNEwill be done. To take strict measures against CBRNE attacks by terrorists is on the rise as an urgent national task. Moreover biological weapons are relatively easy and inexpensive to obtain or produce and cause mass casualties with a small amount. For this reason, more than 25 countries have already possessed them. In the 21 st century, the international safety environment marks the age of complicated threats : transnational threats such as comprehensive security and terror, organized crime, drug smuggling, illegal trade of weapons of mass destruction, and environmental disruption along with traditional security threats. These cause military threats, terror threats, and CBRNE threats in our daily life to grow. Therefore it needs to come up with measures in such areas as research development, policy, training program. Major industrial nations on CBRNE like USA, Canada, Switzerland, and Israel have implemented various educational programs. These researches could be utilized as basic materials for drawing up plans for civil defense, emergency services and worldwide countermeasures against CBRNE.

• Convergence Security Journal
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.159-164
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• 2017

The international community recognizes North Korea's nuclear and missile provocation as a real threat. This is due to the analysis and evaluation that has developed nuclear electro magnetic pulse of domestic and overseas North Korea experts, intelligence agencies related to electro magnetic pulse. Electro magnetic pulse experts are concerned about North Korea's nuclear electro magnetic pulse in the following aspects. First, industrial, military, medical, and living facilities in modern society are constructed with electrical and electronic systems. So, All electrical and electronic appliances will become neutralization if North Korea's nuclear electro magnetic pulse was set off over the world(i.e. Korean Peninsula, United States etc). Second, North Korea will judge that possibility of criticism by the international community is low from the point of view of an attacker. Because nuclear electro magnetic pulse aim to destroy only the electronic equipment of the opposite nation and cause damage rather than taking life. Finally, nuclear electro magnetic pulse is more threatening than weapons like mass destruction because it does not need to hit targets accurately and can strike a wide area with nuclear weapon of the low technology levels. In this respect, we will analyze and evaluate nuclear and missile development and make a prospects about nuclear electro magnetic pulse developed by North Korea.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.317-326
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• 2005

The burning-out of excess plutonium from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel and from the dismantlement of nuclear weapons is recently emphasized due to the difficulties in securing the final repository for the spent fuel and the necessity to consume the ex-weapons plutonium. An irradiation test in the Halden reactor was launched by the OECD Halden Reactor Project (HRP) to investigate the in-pile behavior of plutonium-embedded fuel as a form of mixed oxide (MOX) and of inert matrix fuel (IMF). The first cycle of irradiation was successfully accomplished with good integrity of test fuel rods and without any undesirable fault of instrumentations. The test results revealed that the MOX fuel is more stable under irradiation environments than IMF. In addition, MOX fuel shows lower thermal resistance due to its better thermal conductivity than IMF. The on-line measured in-pile performance data of attrition milled MOX fuel are used in the analysis of the in-pile performance of the fuel with the fuel performance code, COSMOS. The COSMOS code has been developed for the analysis of MOX fuel as well as $UO_2$ fuel up to high burnup and showed good capability to analyze the in-reactor behavior of MOX fuel even with different instrumentation.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.111-118
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• 2022

The denuclearization of North Korea was unpredictable and resulted in radical changes. Despite the skepticism and disappointment surrounding denuclearization, it is important for certain verification technologies to establish what is technically possible or practically impossible, and how reliable these technical means are. This article presents the technical hurdles in nuclear verification by systematically categorizing them into issues of correctness and completeness. Moreover, it addresses the safety and security risks during the denuclearization process, including the radiological impact on humans, environmental effects, and the illegal transfer of material, information, and technologies.

• Convergence Security Journal
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• v.14 no.6_1
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• pp.129-138
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• 2014

South Korea should correspond to the primary threat to North Korea's nuclear weapons. It is necessary to have countermeasures to solve the realistic problems of North Korea's nuclear weapons. We can intensify military pact between the United States and Korea and at the same time strengthening the current military power. Currently, we take note the threat North Korea's missile. We can not control the development of a nuclear weapon and there are possibilities that North Korea have successfully miniaturized nuclear enough to carry by the missile. We should overview and check the Korea's missile defenses system. While the direction of the overall missile defense system deployment with a focus on lower and upper air defense network. And discuss defense research should be to build a system that can be protected with a key strategic facilities and cities. While North Korea have nuclear weapon, the main issues related to North Korea's nuclear threat. The six party talks countries try to solve the problem by the international and diplomatic approach. At the same time we should make somewhat to defend measures such as military defenses of Kill chain system to protect our country. Kill Chain is on of the effective defense system. We know that North Korea do not abandon to develop nuclear weapons by diplomatic efforts. We should performed in fact by a variety of military suppression method.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.514-519
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• 2004

Soil samples collected from around the BOMARC Missile Site were measured for their activity concentrations and isotopic ratios of Pu and Am isotopes with particle sizes. The activity concentrations of Pu and Am in the BOMARC soil were remarkably higher than the fallout levels, and the activities decreased nearly exponentially with an increasing particle size of the soil due to a decreasing surface area. The activity ratios of Pu-238 / Pu-239, 240, Pu-241 / Pu-239, 240 and Am-241 / Pu-239, 240 observed in the BOMARC soil were much lower than those attributed to the nuclear reprocess plants and the Chernobyl fallout. Also, the atomic ratio of Pu-240 / Pu-239 in the BOMARC soil was remarkably lower than the fallout value influenced by the nuclear weapons testing and the Chernobyl accident. The atomic ratio of Pu-240 / Pu-239 was so close to the value of the weapons grade Pu released from the crash of a B52 plane in the Thule of the Greenland, such that the Pu isotopes detected in the BOMARC soil could have originated from the weapons grade plutonium.

• Convergence Security Journal
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.135-144
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• 2019

Recently, the Kim Jong Eun regime announced the completion of nuclear armed forces, and has been holding a summit meeting between the ROK and the US administration to promote the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula by the complete dismissal of the North Korean nuclear weapons toward the international community and the Republic of Korea. North Korea's Kim Jong Eun declares complete denuclearization, but in order to complete the real denuclearization of the Korean peninsula we seek, we need more practical preparation and preparation. In modern international society, the jungle law logic is applied precisely. A country that is not prepared cannot exist in history unless it believes only the good will of the other party and makes substantial preparations. Therefore, the top priority for us to prepare at this point is to obtain and manage complete information on the reality of North Korea's weapons of mass destruction. In particular, the weapons of mass destruction possessed by North Korea must be identified early on, and preparations for such weapons are essential, due to the seriousness of the damage. Therefore, this study complements the inherent limitations of modernized technology information in order to obtain accurate information on North Korea's threat of weapons of mass destruction, which is a serious issue directly linked to the survival of the Korean people and the state, And the operation plan was specified.

• Strategy21
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• s.39
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• pp.5-46
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• 2016

North Korea's 4th nuclear test on Jan. 6 and following developments once again awakened the world into seriousness of the nuclear matters on the Korean peninsula. On March 2, UNSC adopted Resolution 2270 which is complemented by Seoul government's measures such as withdrawal from the Gaesung Industrial Complex (Feb. 9) and announcement of unilateral sanction (March 8). Seoul government also strongly urged the international community to strangle North Korea's 'financial resources.' The U.S., Japan, China, and other countries have issued unilateral sanctions to complement the UNSC measure. South Korea and the U.S. conducted their annual joint military drill (Resolve-Foal Eagle) in the largest-ever scale. North Korea, however, responded with demonstration of its nuclear capabilities and announcement of de facto 'nuclear-first' politics. North Korea test-fired a variety of delivery vehicles, threatened nuclear strikes against South Korea and the U.S., and declared itself as an 'invincible nuclear power armed with hydrogen bombs' at the 7th Workers 'Party Congress held in May, 2016. Considering the circumstantial evidences, the North's 4th nuclear test may have been a successful boosted fission bomb test. North Korea, and, if allowed to go on with its nuclear programs, will become a nuclear power armed with more than 50 nuclear weapons including hydrogen bombs. The North is already conducting nuclear blackmail strategy towards South Korea, and must be developing 'nuclear use' strategies. Accordingly, the most pressing challenge for the international community is to bring the North to 'real dialogue for denuclearization through powerful and consistent sanctions. Of course, China's cooperation is the key to success. In this situation, South Korea has urgent challenges on diplomacy and security fronts. A diplomatic challenge is how to lead China, which had shown dual attitudes between 'pressure and connivance' towards the North's nuclear matters pursuant to its military relations with the U.S, to participate in the sanctions consistently. A military one is how to offset the 'nuclear shadow effects' engendered by the North's nuclear blackmail and prevent its purposeful and non-purposeful use of nuclear weapons. Though South Korea's Ministry of Defense is currently spending a large portion of defense finance on preemption (kill-chain) and missile defense, they pose 'high cost and low efficiency' problems. For a 'low cost and high efficiency' of deterrence, South Korea needs to switch to a 'retaliation-centered' deterrence strategy. Though South Korea's response to the North's nuclear threat can theoretically be boiled down into dialogue, sanction and deterrence, now is the time to concentrate on strong sanction and determined deterrence since they are an inevitable mandatory course to destroy the North' nuclear-first delusion and bring it to a 'real denuclearization dialogue.'