This study presents a rapid and sequential radiochemical separation method for Pu and Am isotopes in radioactive waste samples from the nuclear power plant with anion exchange resin and TRU resin. After radionuclides were leached from the radioactive waste samples with concentrated HCl and HNO3, the sample was allowed to evaporate to dryness after filtering the leaching solution with 0.45 micron filter. The Pu isotopes were separated in HNO3 medium with anion exchange resin. For leaching solution passed through anion exchange column, the Am isotopes were separated with TRU resin. The purified Pu and Am isotopes were measured by alpha spectrometer, respectively, after micro-precipitation of neodymium. The sequential radiochemical separation of Pu and Am isotopes in radioactive waste samples using anion exchange resin and TRU resin was validated with ICP-MS system.

In Korea, research on the introduction of dry storage facility is being conducted as an alternative to saturation of temporary storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel. The introduction of dry storage facilities requires a radiological impact assessment on the workers of the facility, and for this, an appropriate exposure scenario must be derived through work procedure analysis. In this study, the procedure for storing spent nuclear fuel in dry storage facilities was analyzed based on the case of evaluating the radiological impact of workers in dry storage facilities abroad. We investigated cases of radiological impact assessment on workers at on-site dry storage facilities by PNNL, Dominion, and P. F. Weck. PNNL and Dominion analyzed the storage work procedure of the VSC (Vertical Storage Cask) method using CASTOR V/21, TN-32, respectively, and conducted a radiological impact assessment. P. F. Weck analyzed the storage work procedure of various spent nuclear fuel casks for VSC and HSM (Horizontal Storage Module), conducted a radiological impact assessment. As a result of comparing the procedure for storing spent nuclear fuel by case, it was found that the storage procedure was determined by the storage method and the cask type. In the case of VSC method, canister-type casks and basket-type casks are used, and the storage procedure are partially different according to each. Canister-type cask requires repackaging from transfer overpack to storage overpack, but basket-type cask doesn’t require that procedure. In the case of the HSM method, only the canister type cask was found to be used. However, the storage procedure was different depending on the type of HSM system. Depending on the type of HSM system, the necessity of cask for on-site transport was different. In this study, we investigated and analyzed the work procedure according to the storage method of dry storage facilities abroad. It was found that the dry storage procedure of spent nuclear fuel different according to the storage method and type of cask. The results of this study can be used as basic when deriving the exposure scenario for spent nuclear fuel dry storage workers suitable for the domestic situation.

Livestock wastewater has high potential as one of energy resources because this wastewater is including high organic matter. Therefore the studies attempting to bio-gasification and bio-electricity generation using livestock wastewater is being tried. The pre-treatment system used in this study was the purpose to control the ammonia nitrogen in conjunction with the system and the microbial fuel cell. Because ammonia nitrogen is to inhibit the electricity generation efficiency of microbial fuel cell. These studies were to ascertain the effect of oxidants on the nitrogen removal in the pre-treatment system using catalyst and microbubbles to treat the ammonia nitrogen. The three kinds of oxidant such as air, oxygen (O2), and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) were used to know the ammonia and nitrate nitrogen removal. This system was operated with four kinds of conditions. First method is O2 gas with 100 mL/min with 1ml of 30% H2O2 was supplied to the wastewater. A second method, the O2, with 400 and 1,000 mL/min was supplied through the flow meter before livestock wastewater was flow in the reactor. The last method, air was supplied 800 mL/min. The nitrate removal had no significant difference all conditions except the air supply. On the other hand, the ammonia and nitrate nitrogen removal when oxygen was supplied with 1000 mL O2/min was higher than that of the other conditions. The removal rate when air was supplied 800 mL/min was similar to the value in the supplied with 400 ml O2/min. This result showed that oxidant was important factor to improve the ammonia nitrogen removal rate.

Citrus is one of the major fruits produced in Korea. There are about 20 species mainly grown in Jeju Island, Korea. Four representative species, which are quite different in the shape of leaf and the taste of fruit, were selected and were used to profile the transcriptomes. These species are ‘Miyagawa Wase’ (C. unshiu Marcov.) satsuma mandarin, ‘Kiyomi’ (C. unshiu Marcov. × C. sinensis) mandarin hybrid, ‘Dangyuja’ (C. grandis) and ‘Natsudaidai’ (C. natsudaidai). Classification of the up-regulated and down-regulated genes using the Cluster of Orthologous Groups of proteins (COG) database reveals that the number of genes included in each group differed significantly among the four species. Several genes that showed significant differences in expression on the microarray were selected and their expression patterns were examined by reverse transcription- ploymerase chain reaction. Metabolic genes such as tyrosine decarboxylase and β-glucosidase ligase were found to be highly expressed in Miyagawa Wase, relative to other species. On the other hand, the expression level of mannose phosphate isomerase was lower in Miyagawa Wase. An efflux pump gene was found to be up-regulated in Kiyomi, whereas cinnamyl-alcohol dehydrogenase was down-regulated. β-carotene 15,15’-dioxygenase, which is involved in the vitamin metabolism, was up-regulated in Natsudaidai. Interspecific differentiations of gene expression are analyzed in terms of the metabolic pathways and their possible roles in citrus species.

Purple acid phosphatase is important for phosphorus remobilization in plants, but its role in plant adaptation to low phosphorus availability is not known. The cDNA encoding O. sativa purple acid phosphatase (OsPAP1) has 1008 bp with an open reading frame of 335 amino acid residues. The amino acid sequence of OsPAP1 cDNA shows of 50-51% identity with other plant purple acid phosphatases. OsPAP1 was expressed in rice plants and in cell cultures in the absence of phosphate (Pi). The expression was organ-specific with the strongest expression in Pi-deprived roots. Functional expression of the OsPAP1 gene in the transgenic Arabidopsis line was confirmed by northern and western blot analysis. OsPAP1 overexpression lines had higher phosphatase activity than wild-type. Overexpression of OsPAP1 in Arabidopsis plants resulted in increased Pi accumulation under Pi sufficient condition. These results show that the OsPAP1 gene represents more efficient Pi uptake and can be used to develop new transgenic dicotyledonous plants.

Total phenolic content, total anthocyanin content and antioxidant activity were analyzed from rice samples collected in Korea, Japan and China. The results showed that the total phenolic content and free-radical scavenging activity differed significantly in these rice lines. The correlation between content and activity was subsequently investigated. The results showed that in black rice, anthocyanin was the major phenolic component and that both phenolic content and anthocyanin content were closely correlated with free-radical scavenging activity. Reverse Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography (RP-HPLC) data showed that cyanidin-3-O-glucoside and peonidin-3-O-glucoside composed about 90% of the total anthocyanin content in black rice and in red rice. In the red rice extract, the total phenolic content produced a high correlation coefficient with antioxidant activity but correlated very poorly with the total anthocyanin content. The OD458 and the OD500 values which represent the proanthocyanidin content of the rice extract, produced high correlation coefficients with antioxidant activity and total phenolic content. These results suggest that the OD458 and the OD500 values can be used to evaluate the quality of red rice. In addition, based on the data obtained, a competitive accumulation model of anthocyanin and proanthocyanidin in black and red rice was proposed.

Foehn damage on rice plant is one of the important abiotic stresses in eastern costal area of Korea. To know the relationship between foehn impact and morphological traits of rice, wind tunnel method was used with 106 rice cultivars. Less influencing traits on foehn were short panicle, large panicle number per hill, thin panicle neck, and the flag leaf of narrow, short and thick. Leaf pubescence reduced the impact on foehn. 'Naepungbyeo' belong-ed to foehn tolerant varietal group, while 'Ansanbyeo' belonged to the opposite group. Three levels of root cutting treatment with two rice cultivars were conducted to evaluate the foehn impact using wind tunnel. The severity of wind damages was followed the sigmoidal curve duration of wind tunnel treatment were prolonged. Different responses of root cutting to wind tunnel treatment could be used to evaluate the severity of the foehn impact. 'Naepungbyeo' was one of the less implausible cultivars on foehn. 'Nae-pungbyeo' showed tolerant response to wind under 21% root removing treat-ment (20㎝ root cutting), however 'Ansanbyeo' was wilted under the same treatment. In case of 35 % root removing treatment(10㎝ root cutting), both rice cultivars failed to alive against foehn wind.