The swelling capacity of bentonite buffers is vital in high-level radioactive waste (HLW) repositories, as it minimizes groundwater infiltration, prevents nuclides from reaching the biosphere, and stabilizes the HLW canisters. As swelling capacity is a function of temperature, understanding bentonite’s behavior at approximately 100°C (its presumed upper limit) is essential. However, research on this subject has been scarce. Hence, this study explored the effects of thermal treatment of Ca-bentonite at 105°C under injected water pressures. The results suggest a 19% reduction in “swell index” and a 35%–36% decrease in the total pressure in thermally treated bentonite. The heated samples demonstrated higher hydraulic conductivity than the non-heated ones, indicating potential performance deterioration in controlling the fluid movement. Furthermore, the injected water pressure (base pressure) was not fully transmitted to the sample owing to the difference between the base and back pressures, leading to variations in the total pressure despite maintaining a constant differential pressure. Thus, the results demonstrated a degradation in bentonite’s swelling capacity and its compromised role in safe HLW disposal, when subjected to treatment at 105°C. The insights from this research can assist in HLW repository design, while highlighting the need for further research into bentonite’s performance.

The Saemangeum has a dry surface characteristic with a low moisture content ratio due to the saline and silt soil, so the vegetation cover is low compared to other areas. In areas with low vegetation cover, wind erosion has a high probability of scattering dust. If the vegetation cover is increased by cultivating crops that can withstand the Saemangeum reclaimed environment, scattering dust can be reduced by reducing the flow rate at the bottom. Thus, the purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of suppressing the generation of fine dust and scattering dust by cultivating winter forage crops on the Saemangeum reclaimed land. While growing 0.5 ha of barley and 0.5 ha of triticale in Saemangeum reclaimed land, the concentration of fine dust was monitored according to agricultural work and growth stage. Changes in the concentrations of PM-10, PM-2.5, and PM-1.0 were monitored on the leeward, the windward and centering on the crop field. As a result of monitoring, PM-1.0 had little effect on crop cultivation. the concentration of PM-10 and PM-2.5 increased according to tillage and harvesting, and tillage had a higher increasing the concentration of PM-10 and PM-2.5 than that of harvesting. According to the growth stage of crops, the effect of suppressing scattering dust was shown, and the effect of suppressing scattering dust was higher in the heading stage than in the seedling stage. So, it was found that there was an effect of suppressing scattering dust other than the effect of land covering. Through this study, it was possible to know about the generation and suppression effect of scattering dust according to crop cultivation.