During the dismantling of nuclear facilities, a large quantity of radioactive concrete is generated and chelating agents are required for the decontamination process. However, disposing of environmentally persistent chelated wastes without eliminating the chelating agents might increase the rate of radionuclide migration. This paper reports a rapid and straightforward ion chromatography method for the quantification of citric acid (CA), a commonly used chelating agent. The findings demonstrate acceptable recovery yields, linearities, and reproducibilities of the simulated samples, confirming the validity of the proposed method. The selectivity of the proposed method was confirmed by effectively separating CA from gluconic acid, a common constituent in concretes. The limits of detection and quantification of the method were 0.679 and 2.059 mg·L−1, respectively, while the recovery yield, indicative of the consistency between theoretical and experimental concentrations, was 85%. The method was also employed for the quantification of CA in a real concrete sample. These results highlight the potential of this approach for CA detection in radioactive concrete waste, as well as in other types of nuclear wastes.

Alpha activities can be used for categorization, transportation, and disposal of radioactive waste generated from the operation of nuclear facilities including nuclear power plants. In order to transport and dispose of such low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste (LILW) to the Wolsong LILW Disposal Center (WLDC) at Gyeongju, the gross alpha concentration of an individual drum should be determined according to the acceptance criteria. In addition, when the gross alpha concentration exceeds 10 Bq/g, the inventory of the comprising alpha emitters in the waste is to be identified. Gross alpha measurements using a proportional counter are usually straightforward, inexpensive, and high-throughput, so they are broadly used to assay the total alpha activity for environmental, health physics, and emergency-response assessments. However, several factors are thoughtfully considered to obtain a reliable approximate for the entire alpha emitters in a sample, which include the alpha particle energy of a particular radionuclide, the radionuclide that is used as a calibration standard, the uniformity of film in a planchet, time between sample collection and sample preparation, and time between sample preparation and counting. Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) have evaluated the inventory of radionuclides in low-level radioactive waste drums to send every year hundreds of them to the WLDC. In this presentation, we revisit the gross alpha measurement results of the drums transported to WLDC in the past few years and compare them with the concentrations of alpha emitters measured from alpha spectrometry and gamma spectrometry. This study offers an insight into the gross alpha measurement for radioactive waste regarding calibration source, self-absorption effect, composition of alpha emitters, etc.

Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) is planning to disposal of the radioactive contaminated cement waste form to the final disposal facility. The final disposal facility require evaluation of immersion, compressive strength, and radionuclide inventory of radioactive wastes to meet the acceptance criteria for safe disposal. According to the LILW acceptance criteria of the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission ok Korea (NSSC), the disposal limit radioactivity of 129I (3.70×101 Bq/g) is lower than other radionuclides. 129I emits low energy as its disposal limit is low, so it is difficult to analyze in the presence of 137Cs and 60Co which emit high energy. Therefore, it is essential to an accurately separate and analyze iodine in radioactive waste. In this study, we focused on the determination of 129I in cement waste form containing 137Cs, 60Co. We added 1 g of 129I(11.084 Bg), 137Cs(1,300 Bq) and 60Co(402 Bq) to cement waste form, respectively. The separation of 129I in cement waste form was carried out using an acid leaching method. And, we confirmed the specific activity of 137Cs and 60Co at each separation step. It was observed that an acid leaching method showed the remove efficiency 137Cs(99.97%) and 60Co(99.94%), respectively. In addition, 129I was also analyzed at approximately 96.44% in simulated contaminated cement waste form. In conclusion, through this experiment, it was confirmed that 129I could be successfully separated and analyzed by using the acid leaching method in cement waste form containing excessive 137Cs and 60Co.

To improve the safety of nuclear fuel, research on the advanced nuclear fuel (UO2) by adding various trace elements is being conducted. For example, the addition of metals such as Mo, Cr can improve the thermal conductivity of nuclear fuel, minimizing the diffusion of fission products. Trace metal oxide additives (SiO2, Cr2O3, Al2O3, etc.) can suppress the release of fission gases. In general, complete dissolution of the fuel sample is required for chemical analysis to determine its elemental compositions. Among widely used metal oxide additives, aluminum oxide is difficult to dissolve in nitric acid due to its excellent thermal and chemical stability. In this study, we investigated on different chemical dissolution methods by applying a microwave digestion system under various acid solutions. We confirmed the validity of the digestion method by carrying out trace element analysis using an Inductively-Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometer (ICP-AES).

The decommissioning of nuclear facilities produces various types of radiologically contaminated waste. In addition, dismantlement activities, including cutting, packing, and clean-up at the facility site, result in secondary radioactive waste such as filters, resin, plastic, and clothing. Determining of the radionuclide content of this waste is an important step for the determination of a suitable management strategy including classification and disposal. In this work, we radiochemically characterized the radionuclide activities of filters used during the decommissioning of Korea Research Reactors (KRRs) 1 and 2. The results indicate that the filter samples contained mainly 3H (500–3,600 Bq·g−1), 14C (7.5–29 Bq·g−1), 55Fe (1.1– 7.1 Bq·g−1), 59Ni (0.60–1.0 Bq·g−1), 60Co (0.74–70 Bq·g−1), 63Ni (0.60–94 Bq·g−1), 90Sr (0.25–5.0 Bq·g−1), 137Cs (0.64–8.7 Bq·g−1), and 152Eu (0.19–2.9) Bq·g−1. In addition, the gross alpha radioactivity of the samples was measured to be between 0.32–1.1 Bq·g−1. The radionuclide concentrations were below the concentration limit stated in the low- and intermediatelevel waste acceptance criteria of the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, and used for the disposal of the KRRs waste drums to a repository site.

We established pretreatment method of solidified cement ion-exchange resin samples generated before 2003 in nuclear power plants for measurement of non-volatile radionuclide activity. A microwave digestion system (MDS) with mixed acid (HCl-HNO3-HF-H2O2) was used to dissolve cement and to desorb non-volatile elements such as Ce, Co, Cs, Fe, Nb, Ni, Re, Sr and U from mixed ion-exchange resin. The content of Ce, Co, Fe, Nb, Ni, Re, Sr, U and Cs after pretreatment of cement plus mixed ion-exchange resin was measured by ICP-AES and ICP-MS, respectively. As iron and strontium are also present in cement, their content after dissolving a certain amount of cement was measured by ICP-AES. All elements except Nb were quantitatively recovered. Especially since the Nb recovery was low at 72.0±2.5%, the MDS following addition of the mixed acid to the resin was operated once more for desorbing Nb from it. Finally the recovery of Nb was over 95%. This sample pretreatment method will be applied to solidified cement ion-exchange resin samples generated in nuclear power plants for assessment of radionuclide inventory.

The massive amount of radioactive waste will generated during decommissioning of nuclear. Among the radioactive waste from these disposal process, 50-55 million tons of concrete waste are included. For safe disposal, it is very important to accurately analyze the concentration of radionuclides, especially 129I and 131I, contaminated concrete. 129I, a long-lived radioisotope of iodine (t1/2=1.57 × 107 y), and 131I (t1/2=8.04 d) are generated from the fission of uranium in nuclear reactors. In Korea, according to the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC) radioactive clearance level guide, the limit for radioactive clearance level of 129I is less than 0.01 (Bq/g). Iodine can be absorbed, accumulate in organisms, and exhibit low energy emission compared with cesium, and cobalt. Therefore, it is essential to an accurately separate and analyze iodine radioactive waste. In this study, we focused on the determination of iodine in simulated cement waste form containing KI for the recovery of iodine. We performed cement waste form sieved through a different particle size (0.5 mm < ɸ < 6.35 mm). For the separation of iodine from solid samples with low iodine content, such as soil, sediment, and cement, for sample decomposition associated with solvent extraction using CHCl3 for separation of iodine from the matrix. The separation of iodine in cement waste particles was therefore carried out using an acid leaching method using KI containing cement particles. We observed that cement particle size decreased at 6.35 mm to 0.5 mm with iodine yield decrease at 0.840±0.011 to 0.582±0.010. Thus, in this study, the acid leaching method enables to determination Iodine in cement.

Combustion method has been widely used in the analysis of 3H and 14C in various types of radioactive wastes since X. Hou reported the analysis of 3H and 14C in graphite and concrete for decommissioning of nuclear reactor. In this work, it was demonstrated that the validation result of combustion method for the simultaneous analysis of 3H and 14C in non-combustible radioactive wastes. To validate the combustion method, 3H and 14C spiked to sea sand and soil were prepared and each simulated sample was combusted with the accordance to a combustion temperature program. The validation of combustion method was assessed by the radioactivity recovery, radioactivity deviation, and relative standard deviation of measured radioactivity. The results of radioactivity recovery, radioactivity deviation, and relative standard deviation of 14C were 100~105%, less than 7%, less than 5%, respectively. In addition, 3H showed about 90% of radioactivity recovery, less than 20% of radioactivity deviation, and less than 5% of relative standard deviation. It will be provided that the validation results of combustion method in detail.

According to the ‘Regulations on the Delivery of Low and Medium Level Radioactive Waste’, Notification No. 2021-26 of the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, a history of radioactive waste and a total amount of radioactivity in a drum are mandatory. At this time, the inventory of radionuclides that make up more than 95% of the total radioactivity contained in the waste drum should be identified, including the radioactivity of H-3, C-14, Fe-55, Co-58, Co-60, Ni-59, Ni-63, Sr- 90, Nb-94, Tc-99, I-129, Cs-137, Ce-144, and total alpha. Among nuclides to be identified, gamma-emitting nuclides are usually analyzed with a gamma ray spectrometer such as HPGe. When a specific gamma-ray is measured with a detector, several types of peaks generated by recombination or scattering of electrons are simultaneously detected in addition to the corresponding gamma-ray in gamma-ray spectroscopy. Among them, the full energy peak efficiency (FEPE) with the total gamma energy is used for equipment calibration. However, this total energy peak efficiency may not be accurately measured due to the coincidence summing effect. There are two types of coincidence summing: Random and True. The random coincidence summing occurs when two or more gamma particles emitted from multiple nuclides are simultaneously absorbed within the dead time of the detector, and this effect becomes stronger as the counting rate increases. The true coincidence summing is caused by simultaneous absorption of gamma particles emitted by two or more consecutive energy levels transitioning from single nuclide within the dead time of the detector. This effect is independent of the counting rate but affected by the geometry and absolute efficiency of the detector. The FEPE decreases and the peak count of region where the energy of gamma particles is combined increases when the coincidence summing occurs. At the Radioactive Waste Chemical Analysis Center, KAERI, samples with a dead time of 5% or more are diluted and re-measured in order to reduce the random coincidence summing when evaluating the gamma nuclide inventory of radioactive waste. In addition, a certain distance is placed between the sample and the detector during measurement to reduce the true coincidence summing. In this study, we evaluate the coincidence summing effect in our apparatus for the measurement of radioactive waste samples.

According to the article 18 of NSSC notice “Regulations on the delivery of low-and intermediatelevel radioactive wastes”, the consignor shall establish and implement the quality assurance program about waste management to ensure conformity with the criteria set forth in the regulations and detailed criteria proposed by the disposal facility operator, including matters related to characterization of the waste concerned. To meet the above requirement, commercially available laboratory information management system, STARLIMS from Abbott Informatics was introduced in the late of 2019 and was customized to our standardized test method in 2020. In that time, Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN), which is an electronic system to create, store, retrieve, and share fully electronic records, was tailored to replace paper lab notebook. Scientific Data Management System (SDMS), which is computer system used to capture, centrally store, catalog, and manage data, was installed. Due to the parsing ability of SDMS, human error like mistake while data entry was reduced by extracting data from measurement sheet and exporting measurement data to designated area of ELN and this feature made work efficiency improved. Afterward, validation of STARLIMS was conducted following the procedure of user acceptance testing including Operational Qualification and Performance Qualification. As a result of these activities, STARLIMS has been officially operated and applied to means to manage test results since 2021. In 2021, for user-friendly environment, updating STARLIMS was also conducted by applying SDMS to import data from other radiometric measurements including gas proportional counter (GPC), liquid scintillation counter (LSC), and low-energy Ge detector (LEGe) besides HPGe detector for gamma measurement. From implementation to operation, it is confirmed that STARLIMS has been providing reliable and stable platforms to manage laboratory information regarding measurement records and playing a significant role in tool to meet the quality assurance required.