After Fukushima nuclear power plant accident in 2011, Concerns about accident of spent fuel pool increase. In Korea, the time of saturation of spent fuel pool is coming, but regulatory measures and safety evaluation are insufficient when occurring spent fuel pool accident. Thus, it is necessary to review of spent fuel pool accident in foreign countries to establish regulatory measures and safety evaluation of spent fuel pool accident suitable for domestic spent fuel pool. Therefore, we reviewed spent fuel pool accident that occurred at Fukushima Unit 4, SONGS Unit 2 and PAKS. In Japan, spent fuel pool accident occurred at Fukushima NPP in 2011. Tsunami was cause of the accident. Station Black Out occurred at Fukushima NPP and Emergency Diesel Generator lost their functions due to Tsunami. As a result, Loss of cooling happened in spent fuel pool at Fukushima NPP. For Unit 4, wall of spent fuel pool in Unit 4 was damaged due to hydrogen explosive, so loss of coolant in spent fuel pool of Unit 4 occurred. After the accident, the temperature of spent fuel pool increases to 75°C, but there was no damage to the spent fuel. In USA, spent fuel pool accident occurred at SONGS Unit 2 in 2013. The debris of nearby ocean is cause of the accident. The debris entered the system through a damaged Salt Water Cooling pump suction strainer. The debris obstructed flow through the Component Cooling Water heat exchanger and operation of Salt Water Cooling. The maximum spent fuel pool temperature during this event was 25.6°C. It was a value that satisfied the technical specifications of the SONGS NPP. In Ukraine, spent fuel pool accident occurred at PAKS in 2003. Unintentionally opened valve of cleaning tank is cause of the accident. Loss of coolant occurred in spent fuel pool of PAKS. Due to loss of coolant, spent fuels were exposed to the vapor state atmosphere, and oxidation occurred in the cladding tube of the spent fuel that rose to 1,400°C. In this study, Review of spent fuel pool accident in major foreign countries was conducted as basic studies for establishing regulatory measures and safety evaluation of spent fuel pool in Korea. Causes of each accident were different by structure of spent fuel pools. Result of this study will be contributed to establish safety measures of spent fuel pool accident suitable for domestic spent fuel pool facility.

Graphene oxide (GO), consisting of numerous oxygen functional groups and 2-D graphene sheet, has drawn intensive attention as a promising membrane material due to its molecular-sieving nanochannel and ease of scale up. However, GO membranes have generally showed a low gas permeability stemming from the high tortuosity of laminate structure. Herein, we prepared silica/GO hybrid membranes to overcome the low gas permeability of GO membrane by tuning its surface area and interlayer spacing. The size of silica nanoparticles grown on the GO nanosheets was successfully controlled by varying the concentration of silica precursor. In particular, the relationship between gas permeability of silica/GO hybrid membranes and the size of silica nanoparticles was investigated.

Poly(imide siloxane)(Si-PI)와 polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)를 혼합한 고분자를 사용하여 실리카가 함유된 탄소 분리막을 제조하였다. 고분자 혼합물의 열분해에 의해 제조 된 다공성 탄소 구조의 특성은 두 고분자의 미세 상 분리 거동과 관련이 있다. Si-PI와 PVP의 고분자 혼합물의 유리 전이 온도(Tg)는 시차 주사 열량계를 사용하여 단일 Tg로 관찰되었다. 또 한 C-SiO2 막의 질소 흡착 등온선을 조사하여 다공성 탄소 구조의 특성을 규명했다. Si-PI/PVP로부터 유도 된 C-SiO2 막은 IV형 등온선을 나타내었고 중간기공의 탄소 구조와 관련된 히스테리시스 루프를 가지고 있었다. 분자 여과 확인을 위해서, Si-PI/PVP의 비율과 열분해 온도 및 등온 시간과 같은 열분해 조건을 다르게 하여 C-SiO2 막을 제조하였다. 결과적으로, 120 분 간의 등온 시간 동안 550°C에서 Si-PI/PVP의 열분해에 의해 제조된 C-SiO2 막의 투과도는 820 Barrer (1 × 10-10 cm3 (STP) cm/cm2⋅s⋅cmHg)이었으며, O2/N2 선택도는 14이었다.

Recently, Graphene Oxide (GO) has extensively studied as a membrane material due to its 2D structure and high CO2 sorption property, however, GO membrane still has challenging issues; low gas permeability to apply to practical system and low stability under dry condition. In this study, we introduced GO as a nanofiller in CO2-philic polymer matrix because GO has molecular sieving property and 2D structure. First, we mixed two kinds of PEO-containing polymers by controlling the ratio of free volume in polymer networks to increase the permeability, and then, we added GO in the mixed polymer matrix for improving the CO2/N2 selectivity. Finally, we fabricated GO-incorporated mixed matrix membranes with high CO2/N2 separation performance beyond the upper bound. High long-term stability and high CO2/N2 selectivity were also achieved in mixed gas system.

For possibility of specific gas sieve and adsorption, metal organic framework has attracted expectation in the gas separation field. But, this enhances gas transport performance only at high loading. So we designed effective composite growing MOF on porous 2D template to improve membrane at low concentration. The mixed matrix membranes showed improved CO2 permeability drastically by improved CO2/N2 diffusion selectivity and showed anti-plasticization effect.

‘Upper bound’ is very well known notion in membrane field, which explains the trade-off relationship between permeability and selectivity in gas pairs. Many researches have worked on overcoming the current limitation in order to develop cost-effective and energy-efficient membrane system. Thus, understanding the intrinsic material properties (permeation, diffusivity and solubility) are prerequisite to set the strategy how to get over the upper bound. In this study, we introduced Quartz crystal microbalance to measure diffusion coefficient and compare the results to apparent diffusivity value obtained from the high-vauum time lag method. We consider the quartz type, temperature and pressure effect on diffusion coefficient and also characterize defect density of deposited film.

Recently, a few-layered graphene oxide (GO), which high CO2/N2 selective characters in the humidified feed, has been extensively investigated as a membrane material for gas and liquid separation. Although GO membrane is considered as one of promising membranes, it has a limitation to apply for practical application because of low CO2 permeance and low stability under dry condition. As such, in this study, we fabricated CO2-philic polymers and GO composite membranes by using GO as a filler for high CO2/N2 selectivity. We used two kinds of PEO-containing polymers to increase CO2 permeability by controlling the ratio of free volume in polymer networks. High CO2 permeability (~850barrer) and high CO2/N2 selectivity (~55) were achieved in CO2-philic composite membranes.

Graphene oxide (GO) has received a lot of attention in membrane science for its CO2-philic nature, which can facilitate CO2 separation performance. In addition, GO has attractive properties for gas separation membrane material due to thin-film membrane formation and tunable transport channel. GO membrane can be generally prepared by coating GO nanosheets on microporous polymer supports for mechanical stability. However, the substrates for in thin GO layer should be carefully chosen for good adhesion between GO layer and support surface with maintaining good separation performance. In this study, we tried to modify the surface properties of high permeable support membranes by using gutter layer as an intermediate layer, and measured the gas transport properties of these GO thin-film composite membranes.

Recently, graphene oxide (GO) has been extensively investigated for gas and liquid separation because thin-film GO membranes show quite interesting separation performance. However, even GO membranes exhibit relatively low gas permeability due to high tortuosity caused by high aspect ratio of GO. Normally, the size of GO is in the range from a few hundred nanometers to a few micrometers, so inherent gas permeability would be very varied. For practical applications of GO membranes, the gas permeability should be improved. As such, in this study, we have modified the pristine GO sheets to reduce the gas permeation pathway, with maintaining GO’s excellent gas separation properties. This study will provide a further insight on how such two-dimensional nanosheets can be used for membrane applications, competing with existing membrane materials.

Graphene oxide (GO) is an intriguing two-dimensional nanosheet, a highly oxidized graphene sheet. Due to its various oxygen-containing polar functional groups, graphene oxide shows high CO2 sorption properties, and also thin-film GO membranes exhibit good CO2 separation properties, particularly in the presence of water molecules. Recently, GO nanosheets have been incorporated into polymer membranes, in the form of mixed-matrix membranes, to expect the synergistic effect of GO and polymer matrix. Here, we prepared novel GO/polymer membranes via crosslinking reactions between polar groups on basal plane of GO and bi-functional crosslinking agents, and then conducted the gas permeation measurements to see the possible enhancement for permeability/selectivity performance.

Graphene oxide (GO) can be used as a membrane material itself or a nanofiller to enhance gas separation performance of polymer membranes. Since GO has high CO2 affinity due to some polar groups, particularly GO membranes or GO/polymer membranes have been extensively studied for CO2 separation. Although ultrathin GO membranes show outstanding CO2 separation properties, the gas permeance through GO membranes is still low owing to high tortuosity caused by high aspect ratio of GO sheets. In this study, mixed-matrix membranes consisting of modified GO (as a dispersed phase) and high permeable polymer were prepared by combining each advantage of GO and high permeable polymer for improving gas separation performance. Both single-gas and mixed-gas permeation experiments were conducted with or without humidified feeds for post-combustion CO2 capture.

Carbon nanomaterials such as graphene and its derivatives can be used for membrane applications due to its scalable area and one-atom-thickness, if pores or channels can be well-engineered. Particularly, graphene oxide (GO), a highly oxidized graphene sheet, shows promising membrane building block for gas separation as well as liquid separation. Due to its various polar groups, GO-based membranes also show good candidate for CO2 separation. In this regard, we tried to prepare large-scale GO-based, thin-film composite membrane for post-combustion CO2 capture, and also fabricated membrane modules (e.g., spiral wound membrane or plate-and-frame modules) to apply for real flue gas separation. In this study, the separation performance of two kinds of membrane modules will be compared in terms of gas permeance, selectivity, and pressure drop.

Membrane application for CO2 capture is competing with other methods such as amine absorption or absorbent, by reasons of low energy and cost effect. Though membrane separation is promising technology, there exists critical challenge: ‘the upper bound.’ Most of researches have focused on improving gas transport properties of selective layer, but we recognized the importance of membrane support layer shich highly affects affinity with coating layer. Here we adjusted several fabrication conditions for highly porous PAN membrane by NIPS method; concentration, temperature, and additive. In this study, experimental results regarding porosity and pore size, are compared to theoretical dusty-gas model. Moreover, we prepared composite membrane and compared fabricated membrane with commercial one in terms of gas permeance and selectivity.

Usually olefin/paraffin separations (e.g., ethane/ethylene and propane/ propylene) by distillation process are energy-intensive because such molecules have very similar molecular size and boiling point. Membrane process has been considered as an alternative method to achieve energy- efficient olefin/paraffin separation. However, based on solution-diffusion mechanism, it is hard to design good membrane materials to separate them efficiently. Here we report fundamental separation properties of olefin/paraffin through graphene oxide (GO) membranes having slit-like channels. Analogue to carbon molecular sieve membranes, GO membranes showed ability to separate these molecules. To improve the separation properties, GO membranes have been modified by various methods.

Graphene oxide (GO), a highly oxidized graphene sheet, is a distinguished 2-D nanosheet. GO membranes exhibit good CO2 separation properties due to its various polar functional groups with oxygen resulting in high CO2 sorption properties. Recently, GO nanosheets have been incorporated into polymer membranes expecting the synergistic effect. There is, however, little research on GO as a crosslinker even though it has high potential due to available functional groups for further reaction. Here, we prepared GO/polymer membranes by crosslinking reactions between polar groups of GO and bi-functional polymer matrix at different temperatures. Optimum crosslinking condition was found by analyzing gas transport, chemical properties of samples. Degree of crosslinking in GO/polymer nanocomposites affected gas transport behavior.

Graphene oxide (GO) has been extensively studied for membrane material for gas and liquid separation due to its outstanding features such as selective CO2 or water vapor transport properties. Although GO membranes can be easily fabricated in the form of thin-film composite membranes by using high-flux polymeric support membranes, it shows relatively low gas permeability due to high tortuosity. Here we report the way to improve gas permeation rate through porous graphene oxide by reducing the gas permeation pathway, with maintaining GO’s two-dimensional structure. We also used polymer, which has high CO2/N2 selectivity, and prepared GO/polymer composite membranes as a function of GO concentration. This study will provide a further insight on how such two-dimensional nanosheets can be harmonized with polymer and improved membrane properties.

Background : Ginseng widely cultivated as a major medicinal herb in Korea, is economically important crop for farmer. Ginseng root disease caused by soil borne pathogens is main factors restricting the quantity and quality of ginseng. The disease can result in harvest loss of up to 20~70% and limits the replanting of ginseng under same field for long time. The traditional control method of agrochemical use is not recommend to control soil borne disease because of difficulty in use and unstable effect. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of several antagonistic microbes for developing biological control method of ginseng root rot. Methods and Results : To select biocontrol agents against ginseng soil borne disease, several bacteria were isolated from ginseng root and rhizosphere soil evaluated in vitro screening of antifungal bacterial against ginseng root pathogens. Two antagonistic bacteria, ES17 and CJ4, showed the strongest inhibition effect against ginseng root pathogen. In the pot experiment under greenhouse conditions, ginseng seedling dipped in bacterial suspension at inoculum density of 106 cfu/ml for 1 hour were planted in pot containing inoculum. Control effect was examined depend on disease severity index at 30 days after inoculation. Ginseng root treated with CJ4 and ES17 isolate reduced root rot disease development on the ginseng root with degrees of control efficacy of 85% and 70%, respectively. Conclusion : Two biocontrol agent, Burkholderia ambifaria CJ4 and Paenibacillus strain ES17, had strong antifungal efficacy against ginseng soil borne pathogens. These results obtained from in vitro test and pot experiment suggest the potential applicability of the biocontrol agent to control ginseng root rot caused by various soil borne pathogens.