The bentonite buffer material is a crucial component for disposing of high-level radioactive waste (HLW). Several additives have been proposed to enhance the performance of bentonite buffer materials. In this study, unconfined compression tests were conducted on bentonite mixtures as well as pure bentonite buffer material. Joomunjin and silica sands were added at a 30% ratio, and graphite was added at 3% along with bentonite. The unconfined compression strength (UCS) and elastic modulus of pure bentonite were found to be 20% to 50% higher than those of bentonite mixtures under similar dry density and water content conditions. This decrease in strength can be attributed to the reduced cross-sectional area available for bearing the applied load in the bentonitemixture. Furthermore, the 3% graphite-bentonite mixture exhibited a 10% to 30% higher UCS and elastic modulus compared to the 30% sand-bentonite mixtures. However, since the strength properties of additive-bentonite mixtures are lower than those of pure bentonite, it is essential to evaluate thermohydraulic-mechanical functional criteria when considering the use of bentonite mixtures as buffer materials.

Mass production of high-quality carbon nanotubes (CNTs) remains a challenge, requiring the development of new wetimpregnated catalyst suitable for the catalytic chemical vapor deposition (CCVD) of CNTs in a fluidized bed reactor. For the successful development of a new catalyst, a highly robust system to synthesize CNTs must be established. Here, we systematically investigated the robustness of CNT synthesis by CCVD using a wet-impregnated catalyst. We statistically tested four factors that could potentially affect the robustness of CNT synthesis system, focusing on carbon yield and IG/ID. First, we tested the effect of vacuum baking before CNT growth. F test and CV equality test concluded that vacuum baking recipe did not significantly reduce the variability of the CNT synthesis. Second, we tested the batch-to-batch variation of catalysts. The results of t test and one-way analysis of variance indicate that there is significant difference in carbon yield and IG/ID among catalysts from different batches. Third, we confirmed that there is spatial non-uniformity of wet-impregnated catalysts within a batch when they are produced in large scale. Finally, we developed a multi-step heating recipe to mitigate the temperature overshooting during the CNT synthesis. The multi-step recipe increased the mean of carbon yield, but did not influence the variability of CNT synthesis. We believe that our research can contribute to the establishment of a robust CNT synthesis system and development of new wet-impregnated catalysts.

According to the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC) Notice No. 2021-26 “Delivery Regulations for the Low- and Intermediate Level Radioactive Waste (LILW)”, the activity of 3H, 14C, 55Fe, 58Co, 60Co, 59Ni, 63Ni, 90Sr, 94Nb, 99Tc, 129I, 137Cs, 144Ce, and gross alpha must be identified. Currently, the scaling factor of the dry active waste (DAW) for LILW is applied as an indirect evaluation method in Korea. The analyses are used the destructive methods and 55Fe, 60Co, 59Ni, 63Ni, 90Sr, 94Nb, 99Tc, and 137Cs, which are classified as nonvolatile nuclides, are separated through sequential separation and then measured by gamma detector, liquid scintillation counter (LSC), alpha/beta total counter (Gas Proportional Counter, GPC), and ICP-MS. We will introduce how to apply the existing nuclide separation method and improve the measurement method to supplement it.

The decommissioning of nuclear power plant (NPP) generates large amount of waste. Since the most of the concretes are slightly surface contaminated, the accurate characterization and regionspecific surface decontamination are important for the efficient waste management. After the effective surface decontamination and separation, most of the concrete waste from decommissioning of NPP can be classified as a clearance waste. Various surface characterization and decontamination technologies are suggested. The mechanical technologies are simple and offers direct application. The laser-based technologies offer efficient separation and surface contamination. The high price, however, hesitates the application of the process. The nitro-jet technology, which is based on the evaporation of liquid nitrogen, allows the effective decontamination. However, the high price and uncertainty of large are application hinders the practical application in NPP decommissioning. In this paper, various technologies for characterization, handling, treatment, etc., will be discussed. The advantages and disadvantages of the technologies will be discussed, in terms of practical applications.

Molten salt immersion technique has been tested with several Sr oxides, SrZrO3, SrMoO4 and U2SrOy, and MgCl2 based molten salts for the Sr nuclide separation. Reaction time, temperature, and salt composition were varied to effectively separate Sr in chloride forms. ICP-OES, XRD, and SEM analysis were conducted for the conversion efficiency and structure and morphology analysis. It is confirmed that all experiments of SrZrO3 with MgCl2 at 800°C for reaction time 5, 10, 20 hours showed higher conversion efficiency than 99% and in LiCl-KCl-MgCl2 and NaCl-MgCl2 molten salts at 500°C or 600°C, conversion efficiency higher than 97% was obtained. SrMoO4 in MgCl2 immersion experiments for 10 hours showed higher conversion efficiency than 99% when the molar ratio of salt/oxide powder is 7. U2SrOy was also tested with MgCl2 molten salt at 800°C and higher efficiency than 99% and mainly MgUO4 were produced as a reaction product.

Using UV nanoimprint lithography(UV-NIL), 1-dimensional(1-D) pattern structures were fabricated on a hybrid mixture thin film of lanthanum oxide and a UV-curable resin. 1-D pattern on a wafer fabricated by the laser interference lithography was transferred to polydimethylsiloxane and this is used as a mold of UV-NIL process. Conducting an X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, C 1s and La 3d spectra were analyzed, and it was confirmed that hybrid thin film was successfully deposited on glass substrate. Also, transferred pattern structure was observed by using an atomic force microscopy. Through this, it was revealed that agglomerations between 1-D pattern were increased as UV irradiation time increased and this phenomenon disrupted the quality of NIL process. Additionally, liquid crystal(LC) cells with patterned hybrid thin films were fabricated and LC alignment performances were investigated. Using the polarizing optical microscopy and the crystal rotation method, LC alignment state and pretilt angles were observed. Consequently, the uniform homogeneous LC alignment was achieved at UV irradiation time of 1min and 3min where high resolution pattern transfer was observed.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of LED and QD-LED (Quantum Dot) irradiation on seed germination, antioxidant ability, and microbial growth, during red radish (Raphanus sativus L.) sprouts cultivation. Irradiated light was blue, red, blue + red and blue + red + far red (QD-LED) lights, and the controls were a fluorescent lamp (FL), and dark condition. Germination rate of red radish was highest in the dark condition. The plant height and fresh weight of red radish sprouts that irradiated each light for 24 hrs after 7 days growing in dark condition, did not shown significantly difference among treatments. After 24 hrs of light irradiation, cotyledon green was best in blue + red light, and the red hypocotyl was excellent in blue light and QD-LED light. DPPH and phenol contents were high in dark and blue + red light treatment, and anthocyanin content was high in blue light and QDLED light. Total aerobic counts were similar in all treatments and did not show bactericidal effect, whereas E. coli count was lowest in QD-LED light treatment, and yeast and mold counts were lowest in FL only treatment. Results suggest that when red radish seeds were germinated in dark condition and cultivated for 7 days as sprouts, and then treated with blue light or QD-LED light for 24 hrs, the seeds produced good quality red radish sprouts with greenish cotyledon, reddish hypocotyl, high anthocyanin content, and lower level of E coli contamination.

국내에서 재배하는 주요 핵과류(복숭아, 자두, 매실, 체리)에 발생하는 깍지벌레는 뽕나무깍지벌레(Pseudaulacaspis pentagona), 말채나무공깍지벌레(Lecanium corni), 무화과깍지벌레(Coccus hesperidum), 가루깍지벌레류(Pseudococcus sp.) 4종이 발견되었으나, 뽕나무깍지 벌레는 2017년에 총 113과원 중 103과원(발생과원율 91.2%), 2018년에는 77과원 중 64과원(발생과원율 83.1%) 모든 핵과류에서 가장 많이 발생하여 우점종으로 확인되었다. 2017년도에는 5월 상순부터 부화를 시작하여 암컷성충 1마리가 평균 75.5개(47∼159개)의 알을 낳으며 모든 알이 부화하는데 약 19일이 소요되었으며 5월 20일경에 월동성충의 모든 알이 부화하였다. 그러나, 2018년에는 4월 하순부터 부화를 시작하여 (부화율 72%) 부화유충(1령)으로 이동 후 5월 중순부터 고착유충(2~3령), 6월 중순부터 2세대 성충이 활동하기 시작하였다. 부화유충기(1령)에 약제 살포를 하면 살충율이 100.0%이었으나, 고착유충기(2~3령)에는 살충율은 2.7%에 불과하였다. 부화약충기를 제외한 모든 단계에서 몸체가 밀납깍지로 덮여 있어 약제를 살포하여도 직접 접촉되지 않아 치사율이 낮았다. 따라서 반드시 부화약충기에 약제를 살포하여야 방제효과를 높일 수 있다.

Samples were collected from benthic and subaerophytic habitats of fresh and brackish water in Korea from April 2017 to April 2018. Accordingly, three genera and seven species were newly recorded in Korea. Three unrecorded genera were Cephalothrix, Cyanophanon and Toxifilum, and seven species were Anagnostidinema pseudacutissimum, Calothrix elenkinii, Cephalothrix komarekiana, Cyanophanon mirabile, Cyanosarcina chroococcoides, Leptolyngbya ectocarpi and Toxifilum mysidocida. Anagnostidinema pseudacutissimum and Cephalothrix komarekiana had been previously reported to inhabit freshwater, but these were found to be present in brackish water during the period of the present study. Also, Cyanosarcina chroococcoides previously reported to inhabit moorland waters and swamps, were found to be present in subaerophytic habitat.

Six taxa of unrecorded Korean species of charophytes are described. Freshwater and aerial charophytes were collected from the bark of trees, reservoirs, small ponds and swamps from April 2017 to September 2017. The newly recorded species of Korea were Cosmarium quadrifarium f. octastichum, Euastrum turneri, Spondylosium nitens var. triangulare, Staurastrum kouwetsii, Staurodesmus dickiei var. latus, and Klebsormidium subtile. K. subtile was transferred from Stichococcus subtilis.

Roller-compacted concrete (RCC) has been widely used for construction of pavements [1]. The strength of RCCP can be obtained from not only hydration of binder but also the aggregate interlock resulted from roller-compaction [2]. For this reason, RCCP normally achieves higher strength compared to conventional concrete pavement with similar cement content. Even though RCCP can be provided a good structural performance, it has been difficult to verify the long-term performance though actual field construction. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the fatigue characteristics and crack development in RCCP based on full-scale fatigue test and accelerated pavement test. In case of full-scale fatigue tests, fatigue behavior was evaluated by using 1 m × 1 m dimensional RCC slab specimens obtained from the field in order to consider the field variability. Fatigue equation derived from this study shows that the number of load repetitions which causes fatigue failure at the same stress level is slightly larger than that of PCA fatigue equation. In order to evaluate the performance of RCCP, two phases of accelerated pavement test (APT) were conducted. In phase one, the performance of RCCP at two different strengths (35.6 and 30.4 MPa) was evaluated. In phase two, the performance of RCCP with different thickness (5, 7.5 and 10 cm) was investigated. The number of load repetition of fatigue crack occurrence in each section was compared to the estimated fatigue failure determined from fatigue equation of RCCP. The crack development in each section was compared to the AASHTO crack model for JPCP. Overall, it was confirmed that RCCP has equal or better performance compared to JPCP the estimation in term of fatigue cracking. The fatigue equation from PCA and cracking model from AAHTO can be used on RCCP at certain design thickness range.

We performed a survey for flavivirus infection and distribution of Aedes albopictus that known as Zika and Dengue virus vector using black–light trap and BG-sentinel trap around urban area in Korea. Mosquitoes were collected in 27 cities during March to November (twice a month) year 2016. Total numbers of mosquitoes collected 102,102 including 19 species 8 genera during collecting period. Total 21,467 Ae. albopictus was collected that 20,961(24.3%) by BG-sentinel trap and 506 (3.2%) by Black-light trap in urban area. Trap index(trap/night) of Ae. albopictus was showed highest in Hamyang (TI:992.3) and lowest in Taebaek (TI:0.3) there was only collected by Black-light trap. A total of 894 pools from all collecting Ae. albopictus were performed a Flavivirus detection. Flavivirus was not detected during study period. This study may provide basic information for surveillance of imported diseases (include Zika virus) and vectors in Korea.

The tobacco cutworm, Spodoptera litura(Fabricius), is a major pest of tomato and frequently demands control measures. The timing of insecticide application is a key factor in determining its efficiency, so an experiment was designed to investigate this. Application of insecticide was based on three criteria: (i) the number of trap-caught moths in a Delta-type trap with a commercial sex pheromone lure placed in the center of the target area, soon after plant emergence; (ii) the percentage of plants exhibiting pinhole-type damage (10% or 20%) and (iii) the percentage of plants exhibiting shot hole-type damage (10% or 20%) compared to a check plot without any control measures. We found that the number of trap-caught moths was, compared to the other methods, the best means of deciding on insecticide application in tomato plant to control the tobacco cutworm. Using pheromone traps, we obtained the best performance of the insecticide Shinnago, causing > 90% larval mortality. Without insecticide application, tomato yield reduction due to the tobacco cutworm larva damage was 27%.

Brachymystax lenok tsinlingensis (family Salmonidae), cold freshwater fish, is endemic to Asia. This species is currently distributed throughout Russia, Mongolia, China and the Korean Peninsula. B. lenok tsinlingensis in South Korea was severely affected by anthropogenic activities such as habitat destruction, agricultural run-off and water pollution, and hence this fish has recently been dramatically decreased in its population sizes and become now critically endangered. To recover the number of individuals of B. lenok tsinlingensis, stocking or translocation programs have been conducted continuously by local governments since 1970s. However, these programs made little effort to clarify populations that may have originated from stocked, translocated or introduced fish. An understanding of genetic characteristics of endangered populations is critical to develop effective conservation and restoration plans especially because genetic diversity ensues their future fate. Therefore, we assessed the “conservation status” of this species by estimating the level of genetic diversity and genetic structure among ten geographic populations including restored populations via reinforcement and supplementation. Also, we aimed to trace the genetic origins of the newly translocated population (Chiak) through a restoration practice program. Moreover, we inferred the phylogenetic relationships among Korean lenok populations as well as across the Northeast Asia. Two hundred eighteen individuals of B. lenok tsinlingensis were sampled from ten localities (Yanggu, Injae, Seorak, Bangtae and Hongcheon: North Han River basin; Pyeongchang, Chiak and Jeongseon: South Han River basin; Taebaek and Bonghwa: Nakdong River basin in South Korea). Based on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region and eight nuclear microsatellite loci, we found extremely low levels of within-population genetic diversity, which suggests small effective population sizes (Ne) within populations. For mtDNA control region, each population housed one, or at most, two haplotypes that are restricted to the respective localities, meaning that these ‘genetically unique’ lineages will be lost permanently if the local populations undergo extinction. The overall values of haplotype diversity (h) and nucleotide diversity (π) for the entire Korean population were 0.703 ± 0.024 and 0.021 ± 0.010, respectively. In the case of microsatellites, average number of alleles across the eight loci for the entire population was 9.1 and allelic richness (AR) per population ranged from 2.375 to 4.144 (mean = 3.104). The values of observed heterozygosity (HO) and expected heterozygosity (HE) were similar to each other [HO: 0.400 ~ 0.590 (mean = 0.518); HE: 0.407 ~ 0.608 (mean = 0.504)]. The inbreeding coefficient (FIS) values were generally low, ranging from 0.048 to 0.279. Consequently, the majority of the populations (except Yanggu and Pyeongchang) were not significantly deviated from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE), suggesting random mating at these loci tested. In addition, we found that Korean lenok populations were significantly genetically isolated from each other, with private mtDNA haplotypes and microsatellite alleles, indicating limited gene flow among populations, strong effects of genetic drift due to small Ne, or a combination of both. The Mantel test of microsatellites revealed a significant correlation (r = 0.414, P = 0.04) between genetic and geographic distances for pairwise comparisons among the ten populations, while that of mtDNA showed a lack of correlation. Given the shared identical mtDNA haplotype and similar microsatellite allelic distributions between Chiak and Hongcheon populations, we suggest that the restored (introduced) Chiak population would be inferred to be genetically originated from Hongcheon population. Phylogenetic relationships among Northeast Asian populations showed that South Korean lineages have more recently diverged from China (Yellow River), than between North Korea and Russia. Although the phylogenetic relationship would be expected to be associated with geography, South-North Korea and China populations with a similar latitude was more phylogenetically closely related. These findings may suggest a possible scenario for the historical movements of B. lenok tsinlingensis in Northeast Asia during Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). It would be supported by the line of evidence that most lenok populations migrated to southward from Northern Asia such as Russia and Mongolia during LGM because the Korean Peninsula was landlocked as inland epoch and functioned as a southern shelter with Yellow River. For this reason, the Korean Peninsula is suggested to be an important geographical region for better understanding phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary histories of B. lenok tsinlingensis across the Northeast Asia. Despite large efforts made to develop several restoration programs in South Korea for B. lenok tsinlingensis, it is still unknown whether these past restoration efforts were successful or fruitless, mainly because of little attention paid to post-restoration monitoring research. Hence, there was a lack of their published official records. In the future, conservation and restoration projects of the Korean lenok populations should consider the genetic data for a better understanding of their ecological and evolutionary trajectories. And finally, we hope that our findings here can help inform on the future effective conservation and restoration plans for B. lenok tsinlingensis populatio ns in South Korea.