The treatment process for Spent Filter(SF) of Kori-1 was developed that includes the following : 1) Taking out by robot system 2) Screening by ISOCS 3) Collection of representative samples using a sampling machine 4) Compression 5) Immobilization 6) Packaging and nuclide analysis and 7) Delivery/disposal. Although the robot system, ISOCS, sampling machine and immobilization facility are essentially required for building the above processing but decision to build the compression system and nuclide analysis system must be made after reviewing the need and cost benefit for their construction. In addition, for effcient SF treatment, it is necessary to determine the nuclide concentration range of the SF to which immobilization will be applied. In this study, a cost benefit analysis was performed on existing and alternative methods for processes related to compression treatment, nuclide analysis and immobilization methods, which are greatly affected by economics and efficiency according to the design. First, although the disposal cost is reduced with reducing the number of packaging drums by compressed and packaged but the expected benefits not be equal to or greater than the cost invested in building a compression system. As a result, non-compressed treatment of SF is expected to be economical because the construction cost of compression system is more expensive than the benefits of reducing disposal costs by compression. Second, a cost benefit analysis of direct and indirect nuclide analysis methods was performed. For indirect analysis, scaling factors should be developed and the drum scanner suitable for the analysis for DAW should be improved. As a result, direct analysis applied grouping options is expected to be more economical than indirect analysis requiring the cost for developing scaling factors and improving the scanner. Third, it is timeconsuming and inefficient to distinguish and collect filters that are subject to be immobilized according to the waste acceptance criteria among the disorderly stored SFs in the filter rooms. If the benefits of immobilization of the SFs selectively are not greater than the benefits of immobilization of all SFs, it can be economical to immobilize all SFs regardless of the nuclide concentration of them. As a result, it is more economical to immobilize all SFs with various nuclide concentrations than to selectively immobilize them. The conclusion of this study is that it is not only cost-effective but also disposal-effective to design the treatment process of SF to adopt non-compressed processing, direct analysis and immobilization of all SFs.

Since 1996, spent filters from the Kori unit 1 have been stored in enclosed areas such as the auxiliary building filter room. To dispose of these spent filters at a disposal facility, it is necessary to retrieve and package them according to the disposal criteria. The Kori unit 1 filter room is a 2.5- meter deep hole with 227 spent filters stored indiscriminately by type and radiation level. Furthermore, the exposure dose rate measurements revealed exceed 10 mSv/h, making it a challenging environment for workers. Therefore, in this study, we have developed a ‘Remote Processing System for Spent Filter Handling’ to minimize worker exposure and ensure safety throughout the entire process, from filter retrieval to radiation measurement, sample collection, compression, and packaging. We have completed performance testing through laboratory validation. The ‘Remote Processing System for Spent Filter Handling’ consists of four main components: a robot system for retrieving spent filters from the filter room, a transfer mechanism for moving spent filters to the lower area, a core ring device for sample collection, and finally, a compression/ packaging unit. The laboratory validation performance testing was conducted by installing these devices in a structure simulating the Gori-1 reactor filter room. The results confirmed that all processes, from spent filter retrieval to packaging, can be remotely operated without the need for filter drops or worker intervention. Through the laboratory validation, some areas for improvement were identified. These improvements should be taken into consideration when producing the system for future on-site applications.

In nuclear power plant environments, the analysis of gamma-emitting waste materials with complex shapes can be challenging. ISOCS (In-Situ Objective Counting System) is employed to measure the gamma-emitting radionuclide concentrations. However, it is crucial to validate the accuracy of ISOCS measurements. This study aims to validate the accuracy of ISOCS measurement results for spent filters. The ISOCS measurement process begins with modeling and efficiency calculations of the target spent filters using ISOCS software. ISOCS offers the advantage of direct measurement assessment by incorporating shielding materials and collimators into the detector efficiency calculation during the modeling process, without the need for separate efficiency correction sources. To validate the accuracy of ISOCS measurement results, the measured radioactivity values were used as input data for the MicroShield computer code to derive dose rates. These dose rates were then compared to the dose rates measured on-site, confirming the reliability of ISOCS measurements. In the field, ISOCS gamma measurements and surface dose rates were measured for three Cavity filters and four RCP Seal Injection filters. The measured dose rate for the Cavity filters was around 270 Svhr, and the computed values using MicroShield showed an error of approximately 12%. Despite modeling and calculation errors in computer analysis and potential uncertainties in the measurement environment and instrument, the computed values closely matched the measured values. However, the measured dose rate for the RCP Seal Injection filters ranged 2.9~8 Svhr, which is very low and close to background levels. When compared to the results of computer analysis, an error ranging from 27% to 97% was observed. It is concluded that validating the accuracy in the low dose rate range close to background levels is challenging through a comparison of calculated and measured dose rates.