• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.385-390
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• 2005

The effect of the Wolsong Tritium Removal Facility on the change of tritium concentration in the soil water was assessed by introducing a dynamic compartment model. For the mathematical modeling, the tritium in the environment was thought to come from two different sources. Three global tritium cycling models were compared with the natural background concentration. The dynamic compartment model was used to model the behavior of the tritium from the nuclear power plants at the Wolsong site. The source term for the dynamic compartment model was calculated with the dry and wet deposition rates. The area around the Wolsong nuclear power plants was represented by the compartments. The mechanisms considered in deriving the transfer coefficients between the compartments were evaporation, runoff, infiltration, hydrodynamic dispersion, and groundwater flow. We predicted what the change of the tritium concentration around the Wolsong nuclear power plants would be after future operation of the tritium removal facility to show the applicability of the model. The results showed that the operation of the tritium removal facility would reduce the tritium concentration in topsoil water quickly.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.515-522
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• 2003

Tritium behavior in the solid breeder blanket is one of the key factors in determining tritium self-sufficiency, as well as safety, of fusion reactors. Recently, a model has been developed to describe the tritium behavior in solid breeder material, which can predict the tritium release and inventory in the blanket. However, the model has limitation to account for tritium solubility effects, mainly existing as LiOT, especially inside the $Li_{2}O$ solid breeder. In order to improve the capability of predicting the LiOT precipitation in $Li_{2}O$ solid breeder, a new logic is developed and integrated in the existing tritium release and inventory calculation code. With the logic developed in this work, the code can have capabilities to analyze tritium release and inventories in $Li_{2}O$ under steady and transient conditions. It can be found that tritium inventory as LiOT is an important mechanism under pulsed operation, and the amount of inventory becomes higher as the tritium generation rate increases and the temperature decreases. Also, the temperature limits for the generation of LiOT precipitation are determined. Therefore the developed logic helps understand the tritium transport mechanism in $Li_{2}O$ solid breeder.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.469-478
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• 2022

Tritium was extracted from tritium-contaminated aluminum samples by heating it in a high-temperature furnace at 200, 300, or 400 ℃ for 15 h. The extracted tritium was analyzed by using a liquid scintillation counter (LSC); the sample thicknesses were 0.4 and 2 mm. The differences in tritium extraction over time were also investigated by cutting aluminum stick samples into several pieces (1, 5, 10, and 15) with the same thickness, and subsequently heating them. The results revealed that there are most of the hydrated material based on tritium on the surface of aluminum. When the temperature was increased from 200 or 300 ℃-400 ℃, there are no large differences in the heating duration required for the radioactivity concentration to be lower than the MDA value. Additionally, at the same thickness, because the surface of aluminum is only contaminated to tritiated water, cutting the aluminum samples into several pieces (5, 10, and 15) did not have a substantial effect on the tritium extraction fraction at any of the applied heating temperatures (200, 300, or 400 ℃). The proportion of each tritium-release materials (aluminum hydrate based on tritium) were investigated via diverse analyses (LSC, XRD, and SEM-EDS).

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.239-245
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• 2003

Every nuclear power plant measured concentrations of tritium in groundwater and surface water around the plants periodically. It was not easy to predict the tritium concentration only with these measurement data in case of various release scenarios. KAERI developed a new approach to find the relationship between the tritium release rate and tritium concentration in the environment. The approach was based upon a dynamic compartment model. In this paper the dynamic compartment model was modified to predict the tritium behavior more accurately. The mechanisms considered for the transfer of tritium between the compartments were evaporation, groundwater flow, infiltration, runoff, and hydrodynamic dispersion. Time dependent source terms of the compartment model were introduced to refine the release scenarios. Also, transfer coefficients between the compartments were obtained using realistic geographical data. In order to illustrate the model various release scenarios were developed, and the change of tritium concentration in groundwater and surface water around the nuclear power plants was estimated.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.11
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• pp.3798-3807
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• 2021

Tritium extraction from radioactively contaminated cement mortar samples was performed using heating and liquid scintillation counting methods. Tritiated water molecules (HTO) can be present in contaminated water along with water molecules (H₂O). Water is one of the primary constituents of cement mortar dough. Therefore, if tritium is present in cement mortar, the buildings and structures using this cement mortar would be contaminated by tritium. The radioactivity level of the materials in the environment exposed to tritium contamination should be determined for their disposal in accordance with the criteria of low-level radioactive waste disposal facility. For our experiments, the cement mortar samples were heated at different temperature conditions using a high-temperature combustion furnace, and the extracted tritium was collected into a 0.1 M nitric acid solution, which was then mixed with a liquid scintillator to be analyzed in a liquid scintillation counter (LSC). The tritium extraction rate from the cement mortar sample was calculated to be 90.91% and 98.54% corresponding to 9 h of heating at temperatures of 200 ℃ and 400 ℃, respectively. The tritium extraction rate was close to 100% at 400 ℃, although the bulk of cement mortar sample was contaminated by tritium.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.11-39
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• 2018

Tritium and $^{14}C$ are two most important radionuclides released from nuclear facilities to the environment, and $^{14}C$ contributes dominant radiation dose to the population around nuclear power plants. This paper presents an overview of the production, pathway, species and levels of tritium and $^{14}C$ in nuclear facilities, mainly nuclear power plants. The methods for sampling and collection of different species of tritium and $^{14}C$ in the discharge gas from the stack in the nuclear facilities, atmosphere of the nuclear facilities and environment are presented, and the features of different methods are reviewed. The on-line monitoring methods of gaseous tritium and $^{14}C$ in air and laboratory measurement methods for sensitive determination of tritium and $^{14}C$ in collected samples, water and environmental solid samples are also discussed in detailed. Meanwhile, the challenges in the determination and speciation analysis of tritium and $^{14}C$ are also highlighted.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2003

The periodic safety review of operational nuclear power plants requires that the plants should keep a well organized environmental monitoring program. The past records of environment monitoring data were analyzed. and the tritium concentrations of the samples in the surface and ground water around Kori site were measured. It was shown that the tritium concentrations around the Kori site were slightly higher than that of natural background. The change of background tritium concentration was estimated through a numerical modeling. Two different versions of 7 compartments model - the world and the northern hemisphere - defined in NCRP-62 were modeled for the global tritium cycling. The numerical solution of the model was obtained using a computer program, AMBER. The four cases of tritium source-terms into the atmosphere were considered. The results showed that the tritium concentration in the surface soil water was higher than that in sea water or surface stream water. Also, it was shown that the tritium produced by the interaction between cosmic rays and the gases were the major source of tritium, and the tritium produced by nuclear weapon test decreased considerably.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.99-106
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• 2011

Tritium is the one of the most important radionuclide for workers in nuclear power plants (NPPs) and the public, from the dosimetric point of view. Humans are likely to have internal radiation exposure by tritium inhalation. Radiation exposure by tritium accounts for approximately 7% and 60~90% of the total radiation exposure of NPP workers and the public during normal operation, respectively. Thus, many researches have been conducted to estimate the internal dose by tritium precisely in the world. In terms of tritium dosimetry, this paper provides the current status of research for tritium metabolism and dosimetry.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.242-249
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• 2002

The relationship between the tritium release rate from the nuclear power plant and tritium concentration in the environment around the Kori site was modeled. The tritium concentration in the atmosphere was calculated by multiplying the release rates and $\chi$/Q values, and the d3V deposition rate at each sector according to the direction and the distance was obtained using a dry deposition velocity. The area around Kori site was divided into 6 zones according to the deposition rate. The six zones were divided into 14 compartments for the numerical simulation. Transfer coefficients between the compartments were derived using site characterization data. Source terms were calculated from the dry deposition rates. Tritium concentration in surface soil water and groundwater was calculated based upon a compartment model. The semi-analytical solution of the compartment model was obtained with a computer program, AMBER. The results showed that most of tritium deposited onto the land released into the atmosphere and the sea. Also, the estimated concentration in the top soil agreed well to that measured. Using the model, tritium concentration was predicted in the case that the tritium release rates were doubled.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.172-179
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• 2003

Various type of tritium wastes can be produced from nuclear fuel cycle process satisfying non-proliferation, CANDU reactors, and nuclear industry. Activities of tritium processing in the world were surveyed to develope the processing technologies of tritium wastes. The tritium wastes were classified into gas phase, liquid phase, and organic phase. And the treatment techniques for the tritium wastes are analyzed. Development of tritium processing technologies is essential to finding public acceptance of radioactive wastes and forming a solid foundation to foster the growth of nuclear industry in Korea.