Radionuclides in low- and intermediate-level radioactive wastes from the decommissioning process of nuclear power plants were generally immobilized by cementation methods. Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), which is extensively used as a decontamination agent, can affect the behaviors of radionuclides immobilized in cement waste forms. In this study, the effects of EDTA contained in simulated radioactive decommissioning wastes on the leaching characteristics of immobilized Co and Cs and the microstructure evolution of cement waste form. Co leaching was accelerated by the formation of Co–EDTA complexes with high mobility and solubility. Cs leaching was hindered by the ion competition with other metal–EDTA complexes for releasing from the cement waste form. Cs leaching was also retarded by carbonated layer at edge of the cement waste form, which process is facilitated by the presence of EDTA. Finally, the effects of EDTA on the leaching characteristics of immobilized Cs and Co and the microstructure evolution of the cement waste form should be considered to ensure the safety of disposal for lowand intermediate-level radioactive wastes.

Identifying plausible scenarios is necessary to evaluate the performance of the repository reliably over a very long period. All features, events, and processes (FEPs) expected in the repository should be comprehensively well-defined and structured into scenarios based on the relation analysis. A platform for the FEP DB management and relation analysis is needed to facilitate the efficient composition of the scenarios. For this purpose, the CYPRUS program was developed, but abandoned due to suspended FEPs and scenario research. Thus, it became necessary to build a new easy-tomaintain platform that inherits the legacy of CYPRUS and reflects the latest research. The data structure and user interface configuration were derived to develop a new platform. The new platform provides extensive data such as the assessment context, the FEP DB, the interaction between FEP contents, the relevance to other project FEPs, the influence on performance, the scenarios for the TSPA, the AMF, and the PA Data. The platform displays the long-term evolution FEPs developed by KAERI, the international and major project FEPs in table format. The correlation between FEP items is composed of a detailed interaction matrix and visualized as the chord diagram or arc diagram. The relevance and linkages between the project FEP items are mapped and presented in the form of network diagrams and network tables. The platform designed in this study will be used to manage the FEP DB, analyze and visualize the relationship between the FEP and scenarios, and finally construct the performance assessment scenarios. It is expected that the platform itself will be used as a part of the knowledge management system and facilitate efficient collaboration and knowledge exchange among experts.

Disposal methods of radioactive waste can be mainly divided into near-surface disposal and deep geological disposal. If the radioactive waste is exposed to groundwater for a long time in the disposal environment, no matter how the decommissioning waste generated from the nuclear power plant is disposed of, the radionuclides may be released from the disposal site. Decommissioning waste from nuclear power plant contains radionuclides that are harmful to ecosystem including humans. Radionuclides released from disposal site behave in a complex and sensitive manner affected by geochemical conditions such as soil, geological media and groundwater. Sorption is one of the important mechanisms to retard the migration of radionuclides in a subsurface environment. In this study, geochemical properties of groundwater were collected and analyzed in the disposal environment considering disposal method in order to evaluate the geochemical behavior of radionuclides. The formation of aqueous and precipitated species of cesium and cobalt in a disposal condition were calculated and estimated. The sorption properties were also evaluated and predicted by considering the changes in the geochemical conditions such as pH, redox potential and geological media for the safety assessment.

Since it takes hundreds of thousands of years for the radiotoxicity of spent nuclear fuel to decrease to natural levels, interactions between each repository barrier, climate change, and geological evolutions are inevitable. These processes should be defined as the long-term evolution FEPs and considered in the performance assessment to ensure the long-term safety of the disposal system. The literature survey on geological characteristics and history of the Korean peninsula was conducted, and the list of A-KRS-FEPs which are directly or indirectly related to long-term evolutions was identified in this study. The ice age and geological change are the capital phenomena considered in the exceedingly long-term evolution before/after climate change. The historical data on ice sheets and permafrost were analyzed to investigate the effects of the ice ages on the Korean peninsula. The sealevel changes were investigated based on the research on the coastal terrace to identify the impact on uplift and shoreline change accompanying the ice age. Also, the survey on the geological history data was conducted from the perspective of tectonic activity, metamorphism, igneous activity, and seismic activities to consider the geodynamic evolution of the Korean peninsula. As results, it was suggested that 14 FEPs were directly related to climate change, 18 FEPs were directly related to geological evolution, and 47 FEPs were indirectly relevant to long-term geodynamics. The consent-based FEPs and scenarios for the long-term evolution will be developed shortly, including most of the critical long-term evolution phenomena defined in this study and which are highly probable in domestic disposal conditions. The evaluation and verification of the APro system for long-term safety will accomplish using these FEPs and scenarios.

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.

Numerous low-and intermediate level radioactive wastes were generated from the decommissioning processes of nuclear power plants. Radionuclides such as Co and Cs contained in decommissioning wastes should be immobilized to prevent the release of radionuclides from the wastes due to its harmful impacts on ecosystem by high radioactivity and long half-life. Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) used as decontamination agent can be contained in cement waste during decommissioning process of nuclear power plants. In addition, EDTA can be stably and strongly bound with radionuclides, resulting in the acceleration of the nuclide release from solidified cement matrix. Here, we investigated the effects of EDTA on leaching behaviors of Co and Cs immobilized in the cement specimen. The leaching tests were performed according to the ANS 16.1 “Measurement of the leachability of solidified low-level radioactive wastes by a short-term test procedure”. From the results, an increase in the EDTA content in the cement specimen led to an increase in Co leaching, whereas a decrease in Cs leaching. Leaching of Cs was dominantly controlled by diffusion from the pore space of the cement specimen to the solution. The effective diffusion coefficient and leachability index of nuclide were determined using the diffusion-release models of ANS 16.1. The results of present study can be used in the safety assessment for disposal of the radioactive waste generated by decommissioning of nuclear power plants.

The decommissioning of a nuclear power plant generates large amounts of radioactive waste, which is of several types. Radioactive concrete powder is classified as low-level waste, which can be disposed of in a landfill. However, its safe disposal in a landfill requires that it be immobilized by solidification using cement. Herein, a safety assessment on the disposal of solidified radioactive concrete powder waste in a conceptual landfill site is performed using RESRAD. Furthermore, sensitivity analyses of certain selected input parameters are conducted to investigate their impact on exposure doses. The exposure doses are estimated, and the relative impact of each pathway on them during the disposal of this waste is assessed. The results of this study can be used to obtain information for designing a landfill site for the safe disposal of low-level radioactive waste generated from the decommissioning of a nuclear power plant.

The operational safety assessment is an important part of a safety case for the deep geological repository of spent fuels. It consists of different stages such as the identification of initiating events, event tree analysis, fault tree analysis, and evaluation of exposure doses to the public and radiation workers. This study develops a probabilistic safety assessment method for the operational safety assessment and establishes an assessment framework. For the event and fault tree analyses, we propose the advanced information management system for probabilistic safety assessment (AIMS-PSA Manager). In addition, we propose the Radiological Safety Analysis Computer (RSAC) program to evaluate exposure doses to the public and radiation workers. Furthermore, we check the applicability of the assessment framework with respect to drop accidents of a spent fuel assembly arising out of crane failure, at the surface facility of the KRS+ (KAERI Reference disposal System for SNFs). The methods and tools established through this study can be used for the development of a safety case for the KRS+ system as well as for the design modification and the operational safety assessment of the KRS+ system.