• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2019

High-level radioactive waste (HLW) such as spent fuel is inevitably produced when nuclear power plants are operated. A geological repository has been considered as one of the most adequate options for the disposal of HLW, and it will be constructed in host rock at a depth of 500~1,000 meters below ground level with the concept of an engineered barrier system (EBS) and a natural barrier system. The compacted bentonite buffer is one of the most important components of the EBS. As the compacted bentonite buffer is located between disposal canisters with spent fuel and the host rock, it can restrain the release of radionuclides and protect canisters from the inflow of groundwater. Because of inflow of groundwater into the compacted bentonite buffer, it is essential to investigate soil-water characteristic curves (SWCC) of the compacted bentonite buffer in order to evaluate the entire safety performance of the EBS. Therefore, this paper conducted laboratory experiments to analyze the SWCC for a Korean Ca-type compacted bentonite buffer considering dry density, confined or unconfined condition, and drying or wetting path. There was no significant difference of SWCC considering dry density under unconfined condition. Furthermore, it was found that there was higher water suction in unconfined condition that in confined condition, and higher water suction during drying path than during wetting path.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.333-359
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• 2021

Gases such as hydrogen and radon can be generated around the canister in high-level radioactive waste disposal systems due to several reasons including the corrosion of metal materials. When the gas generation rate exceeds the gas diffusion rate in the low-permeability bentonite buffer, the gas phase will form and accumulate in the engineered barrier system. If the gas pressure exceeds the gas entry pressure, gas can migrate into the bentonite buffer, resulting in pathway dilation flow and advective flow. Because a sudden occurrence of dilation flow can cause radionuclide leakage out of the engineered barrier of the radioactive waste disposal system, it is necessary to understand the gas migration behavior in the bentonite buffer to quantitatively evaluate the long-term safety of the engineered barrier. Experimental research investigating the characteristics of gas migration in saturated bentonite and research developing numerical models capable of simulating such behaviors are being actively conducted worldwide. In this technical note, previous gas injection experiments and the numerical models proposed to verify such behaviors are introduced, and the future challenges necessary for the investigation of gas migration are summarized.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.39 no.5_1
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• pp.495-505
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• 2023

The Musan mine, situated in Musan County, Hamgyong Province, North Korea, stands as a prominent open-pit iron mine on the Korean Peninsula. This study focuses on estimating the mining and dumping activities within the Musan mine area by analyzing digital elevation model (DEM) changes. To calculate the long-term volume changes in the Musan mine, we digitized and converted the 1:200,000-scale third topographic map of the Joseon published in 1918 and compared with interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) DEMs, including Shuttle Radar Topography Mission DEM (2000) and Copernicus DEM (2011-2015). The findings reveal that over a century, Musan mine yielded around 1.37 billion tons of iron ore, while approximately 1.06 billion tons of waste rock were dumped. This study is particularly significant as it utilizes a historical topographic map predating the full-scale development of Musan mine to estimate a century's mining production and waste rock deposition. It is expected that this research provides valuable insights for future investigation of surface change of North Korea where the acquisition of in situ data remains challenging.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.435-444
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• 2023

In the licensing application for the deep geological disposal system of high-level radioactive waste in Finland, the disposal tunnel backfilling has been changed from the block/pellet (for the construction) to the granular type (for the operation). Accordingly, for establishing the design concept for backfilling, it is necessary to examine applicability to the domestic facility through analyzing problems of the existing method and improvements in the alternative design. In this paper, we first reviewed the principal studies conducted for changing the backfill method in the licensing process of the Finnish facility, and identified the expected problems in applying the block/pellet backfill method. In addition, we derived the evaluation factors to be considered in terms of technical and operational aspects for the backfilling solution, and then conducted a comparative analysis for two types of backfill methods. This analysis confirmed the overall superiority of the design change. It is expected that these results could be utilized as the technical basis for deriving the optimum design plan in development process of the Korean-specific deep disposal facility. However, applicability should be reviewed in advance based on the latest technical data for the detailed evaluation factors that must be considered for selecting the backfilling method.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.113-119
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• 2004

Mineral wastes are generated by the minerals, mining, and metal industries. These are generally inorganic waste streams of mainly waste rock or residues from refining during extraction of metals or minerals from the ore. There are many plants where minerals are recovered in secondany circuits, treating tailings, where the feed grades are much lower than would be economic on a mined ore. The world is now becoming aware of the finite nature of its resources at a price, and of the ever-increasing development costs of large new mines. Reprocessing of old tailings on a large scale must be worth examining very seriously by those with access to sufficient material of this type. In the present paper, mineral separation techniques to recover valuable metals and resources from the old tailings are reviewed, and new trends for future developments are also discussed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2004.06a
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• pp.199-207
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• 2004

In order to develop a safe geological disposal concept for the HLW from the nuclear power plants in Korea, it is necessary to evaluate the safety of the disposal concept in an underground research tunnel in the same geological formation as the host rock mass. The design concept of a research tunnel depends on the actual disposal concept, repository geometry, experiments to be carried at the tunnel, and geological conditions. In this study, geological investigation had been carried out to develop the basic design of the small scale underground disposal research tunnel in KAERI.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.46-51
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• 2007

The file sharing method from P2P environments with client/server method to be different price does not use an expensive server from radio environment not to be, uses only the client computers and dispersed the joint ownership and a management of data. Human occurs from the client/server method which uses the server of large dosage with like this reason, will be able to minimize the waste of the waste of the material resources. Also valence increasing number of days rock operation of the user provides their benefit of etc. their result comes to be high. Like this is caused by with reason and the many people have an interest in P2P, also currently footlights the researches whice use P2P even in the mobile relation field which is receiving actively, is advanced.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.186-186
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• 2009

The characterization strategy of fracture networks are classified into a deterministic or statistical characterization according to the type of required information. A deterministic characterization is most efficient for a sparsely fractured system, while the statistics are sufficient for densely fractured rock. In this study, the ensemble mean and variability of the effective connectivity is systematically analyzed with various density values for different network structures of a power law size distribution. The results of high resolution Monte Carlo analyses show that statistical characteristics can be a necessary information to determine the transport properties of a fracture system when fracture density is greater than a percolation threshold. When the percolation probability (II) approaches unity with increasing fracture density, the effective connectivity of the network can be safely estimated using statistics only (sufficient condition). It is inferred from conditional simulations that deterministic information for main pathways can reduce the uncertainty in estimation of system properties when the network becomes denser. Overall results imply that most pathways need to be identified when II < 0.5 statistics are sufficient when II $\rightarrow$ 1 and statistics are necessary and the identification of main pathways can significantly reduce the uncertainty in estimation of transport properties when 0.5$\ll$1. It is suggested that the proper estimation of the percolation probability of a fracture network is a prerequisite for an appropriate conceptualization and further characterization.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.63-70
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• 1993

A simplified safety assessment is carried out on rock-cavern type disposal of LLW using the analytical repository source term (REPS) model. For reliable prediction of the leach rates for various radionuclides, degradation of concrete structures, corrosion rate of waste container, degree of corrosion on the container surface, and the characteristics of radionuclides are considered in the REPS model. The results of preliminary assessment show that Cs-137, Ni-63, and Sr-90 are dominant. For the parametric uncertainty and sensitivity analysis, Latin hypercube sampling technique and rank correlation technique are applied. The results of the potential public health impacts show that radiological dose to intruder in the worst case scenario will be negligible and that more attention should be given to near-field performance.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.517-532
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• 2021

Safe geological disposal of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) requires knowledge of the deep hydrochemical characteristics of the repository site. Here, we conducted a set of deep hydrochemical investigations using a 750-m borehole drilled in a model granite system in Wonju, South Korea. A closed investigation system consisting of a double-packer, Waterra pump, flow cell, and water-quality measurement unit was used for in situ water quality measurements and subsequent groundwater sampling. We managed the drilling water labeled with a fluorescein dye using a recycling system that reuses the water discharged from the borehole. We selected the test depths based on the dye concentrations, outflow water quality parameters, borehole logging, and visual inspection of the rock cores. The groundwater pumped up to the surface flowed into the flow cell, where the in situ water quality parameters were measured, and it was then collected for further laboratory measurements. Atmospheric contact was minimized during the entire process. Before hydrochemical measurements and sample collection, pumping was performed to purge the remnant drilling water. This study on a model borehole can serve as a reference for the future development of deep hydrochemical investigation procedures and techniques for siting processes of SNF repositories.