About 4,800 soil drums were generated in the process of maintenance on KRR site (Korea Research Reactor) in Seoul. Most of the drums are processed by regulatory clearance in 2007-2008 and the remaining 1800 drums are currently stored in KAERI (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute). To decide a treatment method of radioactive soil for final disposal, the soil is classified according to a particle size. Based on the results of the radioactivity concentration for the classified soil, methods such as regulatory clearance, decommissioning, and solidification were decided. Many papers show that radioactive soil is disposed of using a decontamination agent or other method. But it is difficult to decontaminate radioactive particles from fine soil particles because the adsorptive power of fine soil particles is too strong. This study was focused on finding a particle size distribution of radioactive soil that can be used as an operating range for cement solidification produced by a suitable ratio of radioactive soil for final disposal. Workability, free-standing water, compressive strength, immersion, and leaching tests were carried out to evaluate characteristics of the cement solidification. Cement solidification is the only method for final disposal because radioactive soil particle sizes below 500 μm exceed the regulatory clearance criteria (< 0.1 Bq/g). According to the test results for cement solidification, 0.4 water/cement and 0.5 soil/cement ratios are the most appropriate operating ranges.

• 장원혁(한국원자력연구원) | Won-Hyuk Jang (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute)
• 현재혁(충남대학교 환경공학과) | Jae-Hyuk Hyun (Department of Environmental Engineering, Chungnam National University) Corresponding author