As the decommissioning of domestic nuclear power plants (Gori Unit 1 and Wolseong Unit 1) becomes more visible, many research projects are being conducted to safely and economically decommissioning of domestic nuclear power plants (NPPs). After permanent shutdown, decommissioning of NNPs proceeds through decontamination, cutting of main equipment, waste disposal and site restoration stages. And various technologies are applied at each stage. In particular, remote cutting of neutron induced structures (RV, RVI, etc.) is a technology used in developed countries in the cutting stage, and remote cutting has been evaluated as a core technology for minimizing workers’ radiation exposure. Generally, remote cutting technologies are divided into mechanical/thermal/electrical cutting. Among various thermal cutting technologies, plasma arc cutting (PAC) is more economical and easily to remote control than other cutting technologies, and is also effective in cutting STS304 plates. PAC is a thermal cutting technology that melts the base material at the cutting area with a plasma arc heat source and removes melted material by blowing it out with cutting gas. The cutting quality depends on the stand-off distance and power (current), material thickness, cutting speed, etc., while double arcing will occur if the cutting conditions are not suitable. A monitoring system that can confirm double arcing during remote cutting is necessary because double arcing can reduce cutting quality, increase secondary waste (increase kerf and aerosol), and cause non-cutting. In this study, we used an ultrahigh-speed camera equipped with a band-pass filter to capture clear arc shapes, and measured voltage waveforms with a data acquisition system. We studied a monitoring method that can confirm the occurrence of double arcing by synchronizing the obtained arc shape and voltage waveform, and the effects of double arcing on the STS304 plates. The results of this study are expected to be helpful in the development of the remote cutting process using plasma arc cutting when decommissioning of domestic NPPs.

Metals such as stainless steel and alloy 600 are used as structures and materials in nuclear power plants due to their excellent mechanical properties and heat resistance. And recently thermal and mechanical cutting technologies are being actively researched and developed for dismantling NPP. Among them, the mechanical cutting method has the advantage of less secondary waste generation such as fume and fine dust, but according to the wider the cutting range, the reaction force and the cutting device size are increased. In this paper, plasma assisted milling has been proposed to reduce the reaction force and device size, and the plasma efficiency was measured for SUS 316L. The plasma torch was operated at the level of 3 to 4 kW so that it was heated only without cutting. And the feedrate was set at 150 to 250 mm/min. The test confirmed that the plasma efficiency was 35% about SUS 316L, and it is expected that the numerical analysis using these test results can be used as basic data for plasma assisted milling.

During the decommissioning of a nuclear power plant, the structures must be dismantled to a disposal size. Thermal cutting methods are used to reduce metal structures to a disposal size. When metal is cut using thermal cutting methods, aerosols of 1 μm or less are generated. To protect workers from aerosols in the work environment during cutting, it is necessary to understand the characteristics of the aerosols generated during the cutting process. In this study, changes in aerosol characteristics in the working environment were observed during metal thermal cutting. The cutting was done using the plasma arc cutting method. To simulate the aerosols generated during metal cutting in the decommissioning of a nuclear power plant, a non-radioactive stainless steel plate with a thickness of 20 mm was cut. The cutting condition was set to plasma current: 80 A cutting speed: 100 mm/min. The aerosols generated during cutting were measured using a highresolution aerosol measurement device called HR-ELPI+ (Dekati®). The HR-ELPI+ is an instrument that can measure the range of aerodynamic diameter from 0.006 μm to 10 μm divided into 500 channels. Using the HR-ELPI+, the number concentration of aerosols generated during the cutting process was measured in real-time. We measured the aerosols generated during cutting at regular intervals from the beginning of cutting. The analyzed aerosol concentration increased almost 10 times, from 5.22×106 [1/cm3] at the start of cutting to 6.03×107 [1/cm3] at the end. To investigate the characteristics of the distribution, we calculated the Count Median Aerodynamic Diameter (CMAD), which showed that the overall diameter of the aerosol increased from 0.0848 μm at the start of cutting to 0.1247 μm at the end of the cutting. The calculation results were compared with the concentration by diameter over time. During the cutting process, particles with a diameter of 0.06 μm or smaller were continuously measured. In comparison, particles with a diameter of 0.2 μm or larger were found to increase in concentration after a certain time following the start of cutting. In addition, when the aerosol was measured after the cutting process had ended, particles with a diameter of 0.06 μm or less, which were measured during cutting, were hardly detected. These results show that the nucleation-sized aerosols are generated during the cutting process, which can explain the measurement of small particles at the beginning of cutting. In addition, it can be speculated that the generated aerosols undergo a process of growth by contact with the atmosphere. This study presents the results of real-time aerosol analysis during the plasma arc cutting of stainless steel. This study shows the generation of nucleation-sized particles at the beginning of the cutting process and the subsequent increase in the aerosol particle size over time at the worksite. The analysis results can characterize the size of aerosol particles that workers may inhale during the dismantling of nuclear power plants.

Nowadays, transferred type arc plasma torches have been widely present in industrial applications, in particular, using melting pool of electrically conducting materials such as arc furnace, welding and volume reduction of radioactive wastes. In these applications, the melting pools are normally employed as an anode, thus, heat flux distributions on anode melting pool need to be characterized for optimum design of melting pool system. For this purpose, we revisited the one-dimensional model of the anode boundary layer of arcs and solved governing equations numerically by using Runge-Kutta method. In addition, the direct melting process of non-combustible wastes in the crucibles were discussed with the calculation results.

Plasma Arc Melter (MSO) system has been developed for the treatment and the stabilization of various kinds of hazardous and radioactive waste into the readily disposable solidification products. Molten salt oxidation system has been developed for the for the treatment of halogen- and sulfurbearing hazardous and radioactive waste without emissions of PCDD/Fs and acid gases. However, PAM system has showed some difficulty in the off-gas treatment system due to the volatilization of radionuclides and toxic metals at extremely high-temperature plasma arc melter and the emissions of acid gases. MSO system has also showed the difficulty in the treatment of spent molten salt into the disposable waste form. Present study discussed the results of organics destruction performance tests for the PAM-MSO combination system, which is proposed and developed to compensate the drawbacks of each system. The worst-case condition tests for the organics destruction were conducted at lowest temperatures and the worst-case condition tests for the retention of metals and radionuclides were conducted at highested temperatures under the range of normal operating condition. For the worst-case organic destruction test, C6H5Cl was selected as a POHCs (Principal Organic Hazardous Constituents) because of its high incinerability ranking and the property of generation of chlorine gases and PCDD/Fs when incompletely destroyed. Simulated concrete waste spiked with 1 L of C6H5Cl was treated and the emissions of 17 kinds of PCDD/Fs and other hazardous gases such as CO, THCs, NOx, SO2 and HCl/Cl2 were measured. For the worst-case condition tests for the retention of metals and radionuclides, Pb and Cs were selected because of its high volatility characteristics. The emissions of PCDD/Fs was extremely lowered than the emission limit and those of other hazardous constituents were below their emission limit. The results of performance tests on the organics destruction suggested that tested PAM-MSO combination system could readily treat PCBs-bearing spent insulation liquid, spent ion-exchange resins used for the treatment of spent decontamination liquid in the decommission process and the concreted debris bearing hazardous organic coating materials. The decontamination factor of Cs and Co were 1.4×105, 1.4×105, respectively. The emisison of Pb was 0.562 ppm. These results suggested that tested PAM-MSO system treated low-level radioactive and pb-bearing mixed waste.

Present study investigated the waste form integrity of melted products generated from PAM-MSO system, which is proposed and developed to compensate the drawbacks of each system. The disposal suitability of the melting solidification products generated from the plasma arc melting treatment of pulverized cement debris spiked by Pb, Cd and Cs, as indicators of typical hazardous metals and radionuclides existed in the low-level mixed waste in the KHNPPs. The final waste form obtained by the test was evaluated for suitability for disposal. The compressive strength was 261.10 MPa, showing much higher values when compared to other waste form products. The compressive strength of both the sample after irradiation with 107 Gy radiation and that after long-term submersion test (90 days) satisfied the disposal criteria. As a result of the leaching test conducted according to the ANS 16.1 test method, it was confirmed that the leaching index satisfies the disposal criteria.

This facility was developed to investigate the characteristics of metal oxide and to secure operational technology through hydrogen supply to 100 kW capacity transferred arc plasma torch and melting furnace under anoxic conditions. Besides, the emission of pollutants generated during operation was minimized by burning the exhaust gases in the next combustion chamber and by applying a SNCR, a scrubber, etc. The main target object was determined as a metal oxides generated as radioactive wastes when dismantling the nuclear power plant. The metal alloy was produced by supplying hydrogen during the melting process of the metal oxide. The reaction equation is as follows: Fe + M(Metal)On + H2(Gas) → FeM + Slag + H2O In this paper, operating conditions according to the melting temperature and hydrogen supply with iron and metal oxides were investigated, and the chemical characteristics of the alloyed metal and Slag were analyzed. The result of this study can be used as fundamental data for the treatment and disposal of metal wastes.

In the present work, a three-phase AC arc plasma torch system is proposed to separate inorganic radioactive materials from the organic liquid waste. For this purpose, first, assuming the resistance of arc plasma ranges between 0.1 and 0.2 ohm, we designed a three-phase AC arc plasma power supply with the power level of 20 kW. Then, a three phase arc plasma torch consisting of three carbon rods with the diameter of 20 mm was designed and mounted on a cylindrical combustion chamber with the inner diameter of 150 mm. Detail design and basic performance of the plasma system were presented and discussed for application to the treatment of radioactive slurry wastes.

VOCs는 인체에 치명적인 질환을 유발하는 물질로써 도장공정중 발생되는 양이 가장 큰 비 중을 차지하고 있다. 일반적으로 소형 도장시설에서 발생되는 VOCs를 처리하는 방법으로 활성탄 흡착 또는 흡착 후 연소 및 촉매 산화법 등을 사용하고 있다. 하지만 활성탄 교체주기, 재생시설 및 재생주기 등을 예측하기 어려워 새로운 처리방법이 필요하다. 비이송식 플라즈마 시스템을 이용한 VOCs 제거방 법은 일반 연소과정이 아닌 고전압 아크 방전에 의한 고온 플라즈마 유동 발생 기술을 이용한 제거방법 으로 화학반응이나 오염이 없는 고순도의 고온 열처리 및 열분해가 가능하다. 본 연구에서는 고온 아크 플라즈마 시스템을 이용하여 특수 환경오염물 및 VOCs 가스 열처리 공정의 핵심기술로 활용하여 작동 가스 유량 변화에 따른 VOCs 처리 효율 및 플라즈마 전력량에 따른 처리 효율을 측정하였다. 또한 유 해가스 처리효율성 증대를 위해 플라즈마 반응기를 최적화하여 제작하였으며 성능을 파악하였다.

In this study, the synthesis of nickel nanoparticles and copper nanospheres for the potential applications of MLCC electrode materials has been studied by plasma arc evaporation method. The change in the broad distribution of the size of nickel and copper nanopowders is successfully controlled by manifesting proper mixture of gas ambiance for plasma generation in the size range of 20 to 200 nm in diameter. The factors affecting the mean diameter of the nanopowder was studied by changing the composition of reactive gases, indicating that nitrogen enhances the formation of larger particles compared to hydrogen gas. The morphologies and particle sizes of the metal nanoparticles were observed by SEM, and ultrathin oxide layers on the powder surface generated during passivation step have been confirmed using TEM. The metallic FCC structure of the nanoparticles was confirmed using powder X-ray diffraction method.

Electricity is generated by the combined reactions of hydrogen oxidation and oxygen reduction which occur on the Pt/C catalyst surface. There have been lots of researches to make high performance catalysts which can reduce Pt utilization. However, most of catalysts are synthesized by wet-processes and a significant amount of chemicals are emitted during Pt/C synthesis. In this study, Pt/C catalyst was produced by arc plasma deposition process in which Pt nano-particles are directly deposited on carbon black surfaces. During the process, islands of Pt nano-particles were produced and they were very fine and well-distributed on carbon black surface. Compared with a commercialized Pt/C catalyst (Johnson & Matthey), finer particle size, narrower size distribution, and uniform distribution of APD Pt/C resulted in higher electrochemical active surface area even at the less Pt content.

In this study, SAP (Sliding Arc Plasma) was applied to remove ammonia, an odor causing substance under various conditions. From the study, it was found that the SAP angle is related with the plasma radius. As the angle became narrower, the radius became shorter while the plasma became stronger. Results within 30° angle of the electrode and the electrode length of 10 cm or more and the electrode spacing shows high efficiency at 2mm. In short, it was empirically proved that the ammonia removal efficiency increased at the limited plasma range.

The present study focused on the synthesis of a bismuth-antimony-tellurium-based thermoelectric nanopowders using plasma arc discharge process. The chemical composition, phase structure, particle size of the synthesized powders under various synthesis conditions were analyzed using XRF, XRD and SEM. The powders as synthesized were sintered by the plasma activated sintering. The thermoelectric properties of sintered body were analyzed by measuring Seebeck coefficient, specific electric resistivity and thermal conductivity. The chemical composition of the synthesized Bi-Sb-Te-based powders approached that of the raw material with an increasing DC current of the are plasma. The synthesized Bi-Sb-Te-based powder consist of a mixed phase structure of the , and phases. This powder has homogeneous mixing state of two different particles in an average particle size; about 100nm and about 500nm. The figure of merit of the sintered body of the synthesized 18.75 wt.%Bi-24.68 wt.%Sb-56.57 wt.%Te nanopowder showed higher value than one of the sintered body of the mechanically milled 12.64 wt.%Bi-29.47 wt.%Sb-57.89 wt.%Te powder.

The present study was focused on the synthesis of a zirconium-based alloyed nanopowder by the plasma arc discharge process. The chemical composition, phase structure, particle size and hydrogen sorption property of the synthesized powders under various synthesis conditions were analyzed using XRF, XRD, SEM, XPS and the ASTM-F798 method. The chemical composition of the synthesized Zr-V-Fe-based powders approached that of the raw material with an increasing hydrogen fraction in the powder synthesis atmosphere. The synthesized powder consist of a mixed phase structure of the phases. This powder has an average particle size of about 20 nm. The synthesized nanopowder showed getter characteristics, even though it had a lower hydrogen sorption speed than the getter powder. However, the synthesized Zr nanopowder with an average particle size of 20 nm showed higher hydrogen sorption speed than the getter powder.