The post-closure safety assessment of a repository is typically conducted over an extensive timescale from ten thousand to a million years. Considering that biosphere ecosystems may undergo significant changes over such lengthy periods, it is essential to incorporate the long-term evolution of the biosphere into the safety assessment. Climate change and landscape development are identified as critical drivers with the potential to impact the hydrogeological and hydrogeochemical characteristics of the biosphere. These changes can subsequently alter the migration patterns of radionuclides through the biosphere and influence human exposure doses. Therefore, this study formulates scenarios within the context of long-term biosphere evolution. We examine biosphere assessment processes employed in other countries and conduct a comparative study on scenario conditions. For example, biosphere assessment in Finland has identified sea-level changes and land-use alterations as significant factors in the long-term evolution of the biosphere. These factors are linked to Features, Events, and Processes (FEPs) associated with climate change and human activities. Sea-level changes are related to FEPs regarding climate change, land uplift, and shoreline displacement, while land-use changes are based on human activity-related FEPs (e.g., crop type, livestock and forest management, well construction, and demographics). Based on the literature review, this study has configured long-term evolution scenarios for the safety assessment of a deep geological repository for spent fuels.

The timescale for the post-closure safety assessment of a deep geological repository ranges from ten thousand to a million year. In such a long period of time, the biosphere inevitably undergoes changes. Therefore, the long-term evolution of a biosphere is recognized as an important issue in the post-closure safety assessment of a deep geological repository for spent fuels. In this study, we reviewed the approaches to address the long-term evolution of a biosphere. The major drivers of longterm evolution of a biosphere are the climate change and the resulting landscape development. They can affect the hydrogeological and hydrogeochemical characteristics of a biosphere, and then the radionuclide migration through the biosphere followed by the exposure doses for the critical groups. In addition, human activities and the social developments can affect the climate change resulting in the long-term evolution of a biosphere. To make a biosphere assessment, the long-term evolution scenarios for the biosphere should be formulated considering these climate change, landscape development, and human activities. In addition, features, events, and processes (FEPs) that affect the long-term evolution of a biosphere should be used. According to the Safety Case reports of Finland, the major long-term evolution scenario drivers of a biosphere are local sea-level change due to climate change and land use related to crop type, irrigation procedures, livestock, forest management, construction of a well, and demographics. The climate change causing the local sea-level change can be simulated using various earth system models such as CLIMBER-2, MPI/UW, and UVic and an icesheet model such as SICOPOLIS. The review results of this study and FEPs related to the climate change, the landscape development, and human activities will be used to formulate long-term evolution scenarios for the safety assessment of a deep geological repository for spent fuels.

With respect to spent nuclear fuels, disposal containers and bentonite buffer blocks in deep geological disposal systems are the primary engineered barrier elements that are required to isolate radioactive toxicity for a long period of time and delay the leakage of radio nuclides such that they do not affect human and natural environments. Therefore, the thermal stability of the bentonite buffer and structural integrity of the disposal container are essential factors for maintaining the safety of a deep geological disposal system. The most important requirement in the design of such a system involves ensuring that the temperature of the buffer does not exceed 100℃ because of the decay heat emitted from high-level wastes loaded in the disposal container. In addition, the disposal containers should maintain structural integrity under loads, such as hydraulic pressure, at an underground depth of 500 m and swelling pressure of the bentonite buffer. In this study, we analyzed the thermal stability and structural integrity in a deep geological disposal environment of the improved deep geological disposal systems for domestic light-water and heavy-water reactor types of spent nuclear fuels, which were considered to be subject to direct disposal. The results of the thermal stability and structural integrity assessments indicated that the improved disposal systems for each type of spent nuclear fuel satisfied the temperature limit requirement (< 100℃) of the disposal system, and the disposal containers were observed to maintain their integrity with a safety ratio of 2.0 or higher in the environment of deep disposal.

Based on the current high-level radioactive waste management basic plan and the analysis results of spent nuclear fuel characteristics, such as dimensions and decay heat, an improved geological disposal concept for spent nuclear fuel from domestic nuclear power plants was proposed in this study. To this end, disposal container concepts for spent nuclear fuel from two types of reactors, pressurized water reactor (PWR) and Canada deuterium uranium (CANDU), considering the dimensions and interim storage method, were derived. In addition, considering the cooling time of the spent nuclear fuel at the time of disposal, according to the current basic plan-based scenarios, the amount of decay heat capacity for a disposal container was determined. Furthermore, improved disposal concepts for each disposal container were proposed, and analyses were conducted to determine whether the design requirements for the temperature limit were satisfied. Then, the disposal efficiencies of these disposal concepts were compared with those of the existing disposal concepts. The results indicated that the disposal area was reduced by approximately 20%, and the disposal density was increased by more than 20%.

Solder paste is widely used as a conductive adhesive in the electronics industry. In this paper, nano and microsized mixed lead-free solder powder (Sn-Ag-Cu) is used to manufacture solder paste. The purpose of this paper is to improve the storage stability using different types of solvents that are used in fabricating the solder paste. If a solvent of sole acetate is used, the nano sized solder powder and organic acid react and form a Sn-Ag-Cu malonate. These formed malonates create fatty acid soaps. The fatty acid soaps absorb the solvents and while the viscosity of the solder paste rises, the storage stability and reliability decrease. When ethylene glycol, a dihydric alcohol, is used the fatty acid soaps and ethylene glycol react, preventing the further creation of the fatty acid soaps. The prevention of gelation results in an improvement in the solder paste storage ability.

본 연구에서는 한국원자력연구원 부지 내 KURT 연구시설에 심지층 처분실증시험을 수행할 목적으로 사전 해외현황조사를 실시하였다. 고준위폐기물 심지층 처분을 목적으로 지하연구시설을 구축한 나라들을 대상으로 현재 수행되었거나, 수행이 진행 중인 공학적방벽 성능평가 시험들을 조사하였다. 주요 실증시험으로는, 스웨덴/프랑스 TBT, 스웨덴 LOT, 스위스 HEE, 벨기에 PRACLAY, 스페인 FEBEX, 일본 HORONOBE, 및 캐나다 BCE 등이었다. 각 실증시험에 대하여 시험의 목적, 시험 체의 구성, 시험조건, 세부 구성도, 측정 항목, 측정기기, 및 도출된 결과 등을 구체적으로 조사하였으며, 시험결과보다는 시 험목적 및 시험물의 구축방법 파악에 더 집중하였다. 왜냐하면, 각국의 공학적방벽 성능시험방법의 검토를 통해 향후 KURT 에서 추진하게 될 공학적방벽 실증시설의 설계에 도움을 얻고, 다양한 성능시험을 동시에 수행할 수 있도록 하기 위해서였 다. 향후 KURT 확장을 통해 공학적방벽 성능시험 터널을 확보하고, 중규모의 성능 시험시연을 추진하게 될 예정이다. 본 기 술검토를 통해 이 때 추진할 시험내역과 시험체의 구성 및 크기 등의 상세 설계에 필요한 기초적인 지식을 얻고자 하였다.