This study presents a rapid and quantitative radiochemical separation method for Nb isotopes in radioactive waste samples from the nuclear power plant with anion exchange resin after Fe coprecipitation. After radionuclides were leached from the radioactive waste samples with concentrated HCl and HNO3, the Nb isotopes were coprecipitated with Fe after filtering the leaching solution with 0.45 micron HA filter, while the Sr, Tc and Ni isotopes were in the solution. The Nb isotopes were separated in HCl medium with anion exchange resin. The purified Nb isotopes were measured using a low level liquid scintillation counter after installing quenching curve with standard Nb-94 isotopes. The separation method for Nb isotopes investigated in this study was applied to neutron dosimeter samples from the nuclear power plant after validating the Nb activity concentration with gamma spectrometry system.

Fe-6.5 wt.% Si alloys are widely known to have excellent soft magnetic properties such as high magnetic flux density, low coercivity, and low core loss at high frequency. In this work, disc-shaped preforms are prepared by spark plasma sintering at 1223 K after inert gas atomization of Fe-6.5 wt.% Si powders. Fe-6.5 wt.% Si sheets are rolled by a powder hot-rolling process without cracking, and their microstructure and soft magnetic properties are investigated. The microstructure and magnetic properties (saturation magnetization and core loss) of the hot-rolled Fe-6.5 wt.% Si sheets are examined by scanning electron microscopy, electron backscatter diffraction, vibration sample magnetometry, and AC B–H analysis. The Fe-6.5 wt.% Si sheet rolled at a total reduction ratio of 80% exhibits good soft magnetic properties such as a saturation magnetization of 1.74 T and core loss (W5/1000) of 30.7 W/kg. This result is caused by an increase in the electrical resistivity resulting from an increased particle boundary density and the oxide layers between the primary particle boundaries.

Native of soybean aphid (Aphis glycines Matsumura) is an Asia and aphid is one of the dangerous pests in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.]. High density aphid populations can reduce crop production by causing severe damage. The objective of this study was evaluation of resistance to the soybean aphid in soybean cultivars and germplasms. A total of fifty five soybean cultivars or germplasms, including two susceptible and two resistant check varieties, were infested to evaluate their resistance in the field cage and greenhouse test by aphid colonies which derived from wild collected one soybean aphid biotype in Korea. The average number of reproduced soybean aphid was evaluated with 62.7 aphids in the resistant check variety PI 567598B and also estimated with 1,807 aphids for susceptible check variety Williams 82. In soybean varieties and germplasms, the average reproduced soybean aphid populations ranged from the lowest 497 aphids for Junjeori to the highest 3,862 aphids for Mansu. About seventy six percent of soybean cultivars and germplasms were shown high density soybean aphid populations when compared with another susceptible check variety PI 567543C in the field cage test. From the greenhouse test to evaluate aphid index, 87.3% of soybean cultivars or germplasms presented aphid index with 9.0. No soybean cultivars and germplasms were observed with soybean resistant phenotype when regarded a aphid resistant level as less than 10% aphid reproductions compared with susceptible check Williams 82. Although no Korean soybean cultivars were identified with resistant trait to the soybean aphid, we found one great resistant genetic resource PI 567598B in this study. This result will be helpful to further study for providing useful genetic information for soybean researchers.