• 한국방사선학회논문지
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• 제17권6호
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• pp.947-955
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• 2023

본 연구는 원전 지역 주민들을 대상으로 사용후핵연료에 대한 인식을 조사하여 고준위방사성폐기물 처분시설 마련을 위한 기초자료로 활용하고자 수행하였다. 온라인으로 수집한 204부의 설문을 SPSS Window Ver 28.0을 이용하여 분석하였다. 집단 간 차이 검증을 위해 t-test, 일원배치분산분석(one way ANOVA)을 실시하였다. 그리고 변수 간의 연관성을 확인하기 위하여 상관분석을 실시하였다. 그 결과 첫째, 원자력 관련 사고에 대한 위험 인식은 성별과 학력에 따라 통계적으로 유의미한 차이를 보였다. 사용후핵연료 영구처분시설 건설에 대한 입장은 성별, 학력, 연령에 따라 통계적으로 유의미한 차이를 보였고, 사용후핵연료 관리 방안 마련 평가 기준별 중요성 인식은 학력, 연령에 따라 통계적으로 유의미한 차이를 나타냈다. 정보 제공 기관 신뢰도에서는 국회에 대한 신뢰도가 가장 낮은 것으로 조사되었다. 둘째, 변수 간 상관관계 분석 결과 지역 주민들이 현재 사용후핵연료 처리에 대한 대안이 필요하다는 것을 인식하고 있고, 영구처분시설 건설에 따른 재정지원이 필요한 것으로 나타났다. 따라서 고준위방사성폐기물 처분장 건립을 위해서는 정부에 대한 신뢰도를 높이고, 지역 주민 의견 수렴과 경제적 지원이 필요한 것으로 사료된다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제40권6호
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• pp.517-526
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• 2008

The widespread concern regarding the management of spent fuel that mainly contributes to nuclear waste has led to the development of the sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) as one of the most promising future types of reactors at both national and international levels. Various reactor deployment scenarios with SFR introductions with different conversion ratios in the existing PWR-dominant nuclear fleet have been assessed to optimize the SFR deployment strategy to replace PWRs with the view toward a reduction in the level of spent fuel as well as efficient uranium utilization through its reuse in a closed fuel cycle. An efficient reactor deployment strategy with the SFR introduction starting in 2040 has been drawn based on an SFR deployment strategy in which burners are deployed prior to breakeven reactors to reduce the amount of PWR spent fuel substantially at the early deployment stage. The PWR spent fuel disposal is reduced in this way by 98% and the cumulative uranium demand for PWRs to 2100 is projected to be 445 ktU, implying a uranium savings of 115 ktU. The SFR mix ratio in the nuclear fleet near the year 2100 is estimated to be approximately 35-40%. PWRs will remain as a main power reactor type until 2100 and SFRs will support waste minimization and fuel utilization.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제42권3호
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• pp.231-236
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• 2010

The growth in global energy demand and the increased recognition of the impacts of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel plants have aroused a renewed interest on nuclear energy. Many countries are looking afresh at building more nuclear power stations to deal with the twin problems of global warming and the need for more generating capacity. Many in the nuclear community are also anticipating a significant growth of new nuclear generation in the coming decades. If there is a nuclear renaissance, will the expansion of nuclear power be compatible with global non-proliferation and security? or will it add to the environmental burden from the large inventory of spent nuclear fuel already produced in existing nuclear power reactors? We learn from past peaceful nuclear activities that significant concerns associated with nuclear proliferation and spent-fuel management have resulted in a decrease in public acceptance for nuclear power in many countries. The terrorist attack in the United States (US) on September 11, 2001 also raised concern for security and worry that nuclear materials may fall into the wrong hands. As we increase the use of nuclear power, we must simultaneously reduce the proliferation, security and environmental risks in managing spent-fuel below where they are today.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제40권3호
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• pp.175-182
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• 2008

The results of process development for the blending of waste salt from the electrorefining of spent fuel with zeolite-A are presented. This blending is a key step in the ceramic waste process being used for treatment of EBR-II spent fuel and is accomplished using a high-temperature v-blender. A labscale system was used with non-radioactive surrogate salts to determine optimal particle size distributions and time at temperature. An engineering-scale system was then installed in the Hot Fuel Examination Facility hot cell and used to demonstrate blending of actual electrorefiner salt with zeolite. In those tests, it was shown that the results are still favorable with actinide-loaded salt and that batch size of this v-blender could be increased to a level consistent with efficient production operations for EBR-II spent fuel treatment. One technical challenge that remains for this technology is to mitigate the problem of material retention in the v-blender due to formation of caked patches of salt/zeolite on the inner v-blender walls.

• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제17권3호
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• pp.355-362
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• 2019

본 논문에서는 최근 새롭게 제안된 심부수평시추공처분 개념을 소개하고, 우리나라 여건에서는 어떻게 적용될 수 있을지에 대하여 고려해 보았다. 이 개념은 방향제어시추기술로 심부수평시추공을 설치하고 고준위방사성폐기물을 처분하는 개념으로, 경제성과 안전성에서 기존의 동굴식 처분개념에 비해 큰 장점을 가지고 있는 것으로 평가된다. 그러나, 아직까지 아이디어 수준이므로 국제사회에서 처분 안전성과 성능을 실증하기까지 시간이 꽤 걸릴 것이고, 규제기관의 지침 개발도 뒷받침되어야 하는 문제가 있다. 우리나라는 국토가 좁고 인구밀도가 높아 NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) 현상이 강할 수 밖에 없고, 더불어 사용후핵연료 발생량도 적지 않아 매우 어려운 입지여건을 가지고 있다. 이러한 여건에서 연안 육지부보다는 대륙붕의 안정된 환경의 장점을 살려 연안 해저암반을 심부수평시추공처분 개념의 처분영역으로 활용한다면 해당 지역사회의 심리적인 불안감을 획기적으로 완화시킬 수 있고 처분 안전성도 향상시킬 수 있을 것으로 기대한다. 더불어, 중앙집중식 심부동굴처분시설을 건설하는 경우에도 대륙붕을 활용하여 동일한 장점을 살리는 것을 고려해볼 필요가 있다.

• 한국구조물진단유지관리공학회 논문집
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• 제9권2호
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• pp.95-102
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• 2005

방사성폐기물을 저장하는 시설은 부지선정에 상당한 어려움과 많은 시간이 소요되고 있으며, 이러한 문제로 인하여 발전소내의 부지에 방사성폐기물의 수용용량을 증가시키는 방법이 단기적인 해결방안으로 고려되고 있다. 캐나다에서 개발한 사용후 핵연료 건식저장시스템을 국내에 도입하려는 노력이 진행중이다. 본 연구에서는 유한요소해석을 통하여 사용후 핵연료 건식저장시스템의 비정상운영 조건인 사용후 핵연료 이송차량의 충돌사고와 핵연료를 운반하는 플라스크 낙하사고에 대한 구조적 안전성을 검토하였다.

• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제16권1호
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• pp.65-82
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• 2018

With the significant increase in spent ion-exchange resin generation, to meet the requirements of Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC) of the Wolsong disposal facility in Korea, blending is considered as a method for enhancing disposal options for intermediate level waste from nuclear reactors. A mass balance formula approach was used to enable blending process with an appropriate mixing ratio. As a result, it is estimated around 44.3% of high activity spent resins can be blended with the overall volume of low activity spent resins at a 1:7.18 conservative blending ratio. In contrast, the reduction of high activity spent resins is considered a positive solution in reducing the amount of spent resins stored. In an economic study, the blending process has been proven to lower the disposal cost by 10% compared to current APR1400 treatment. Prior to commencing use of this blending method in Korea, coordinated discussion, and safety and health assessment should be undertaken to investigate the feasibility of fitting this blending method to national policy as a means of waste predisposal processing and management in the future.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제40권5호
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• pp.429-438
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• 2008

The objective of the present study is the depth and layout optimizations of a single layer, high level radioactive waste repository in a discontinuous rock mass with special joint set arrangements. A single layer repository model, considering variations in the repository depths, pitches, and tunnel spacings, is used to analyze the thermomechanical interaction behavior. It is assumed that the repository is constructed in saturated granite with joints; the PWR spent fuel in a disposal canister is installed in a deposition drift which is then sealed with compacted bentonite; and the backfill material is filled in the repository tunnel. The decay heat generated by the high level radioactive wastes governs the thermomechanical behavior of the near field rock mass of the repository. The temperature and displacement behavior of the repository is influenced more by the pitch variations than the tunnel spacing and repository depth. However, the stress behavior is influenced more by the repository depth variations than the pitch and tunnel spacing. For the final selection of the tunnel spacing, pitch, and repository depth, other aspects such as the nuclide migration through a groundwater flow path, construction costs, operation costs, and so on should be considered.

• 한국압력기기공학회 논문집
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• 제16권1호
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• pp.110-116
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• 2020

As the management plan for domestic spent nuclear fuel is delayed, the storage of the operating nuclear power plant is approaching saturation, and the Kori 1 Unit that has reached its end of operation life is preparing for the dismantling plan. The first stage of dismantling is the transfer of spent nuclear fuel stored in storage at plants. The spent fuel management process leads to temporary storage, interim storage, reprocessing and permanent disposal. In this paper, the technical issues to be considered when transporting spent fuel in this process are summarized. The spent fuels are treated as high-level radioactive waste and strictly managed according to international regulations. A series of integrity tests are performed to demonstrate that spent fuel can be safely stored for decades in a dry environment before being transferred to an intermediate storage facility. The safety of spent fuel transport container must be demonstrated under normal transport conditions and virtual accident conditions. IAEA international standards are commonly applied to the design of transport containers, licensing regulations and transport regulations worldwide. In addition, each country operates a physical protection system to reduce and respond to the threat of radioactive terrorism.

• 한국원자력학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국원자력학회 1999년도 춘계학술발표회요약집
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• pp.329-329
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• 1999