In this study, basic strategies for the decommissioning and site remediation of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS) were investigated. Six scenarios were formulated based on two of the three decommissioning strategies of nuclear power plants defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA): immediate dismantling and deferred dismantling. A multicriteria decision analysis was performed to analyze the preferences of the options from the viewpoints of the timeframe to complete decommissioning, the resulting waste, the site usability, and the availability of the radioactive waste disposal route. The same six scenarios were applied to both the FDNPS and the nuclear power plants that ceased operation after a normal plant life cycle for comparison. For the FDNPS, the decommissioning project involved fuel debris retrieval, dismantling, and site remediation. The analysis results suggest that the balance between the amount of waste and the time to achieve the end state may be one of the most critical factors to consider when planning the decommissioning and site remediation of the FDNPS.

In this study, the well-known non-destructive acoustic emission (AE) and electrical resistivity methods were employed to predict quantitative damage in the silo structure of the Wolsong Low and Intermediate Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Center (WLDC), Gyeongju, South Korea. Brazilian tensile test was conducted with a fully saturated specimen with a composition identical to that of the WLDC silo concrete. Bi-axial strain gauges, AE sensors, and electrodes were attached to the surface of the specimen to monitor changes. Both the AE hit and electrical resistance values helped in the anticipation of imminent specimen failure, which was further confirmed using a strain gauge. The quantitative damage (or damage variable) was defined according to the AE hits and electrical resistance and analyzed with stress ratio variations. Approximately 75% of the damage occurred when the stress ratio exceeded 0.5. Quantitative damage from AE hits and electrical resistance showed a good correlation (R = 0.988, RMSE = 0.044). This implies that AE and electrical resistivity can be complementarily used for damage assessment of the structure. In future, damage to dry and heated specimens will be examined using AE hits and electrical resistance, and the results will be compared with those from this study.

Evaluating the quantitative damage to rocks through acoustic emission (AE) has become a research focus. Most studies mainly used one or two AE parameters to evaluate the degree of damage, but several AE parameters have been rarely used. In this study, several data-driven models were employed to reflect the combined features of AE parameters. Through uniaxial compression tests, we obtained mechanical and AE-signal data for five granite specimens. The maximum amplitude, hits, counts, rise time, absolute energy, and initiation frequency expressed as the cumulative value were selected as input parameters. The result showed that gradient boosting (GB) was the best model among the support vector regression methods. When GB was applied to the testing data, the root-mean-square error and R between the predicted and actual values were 0.96 and 0.077, respectively. A parameter analysis was performed to capture the parameter significance. The result showed that cumulative absolute energy was the main parameter for damage prediction. Thus, AE has practical applicability in predicting rock damage without conducting mechanical tests. Based on the results, this study will be useful for monitoring the near-field rock mass of nuclear waste repository.

해체 원전에서 총 폐기물의 약 70~80%에 해당하는 많은 양의 콘크리트 폐기물은 해체 폐기물의 대부분을 차지한다. 해체 시 발생된 콘크리트 폐기물은 핵종별 농도에 따라 규제해제 폐기물과 방사성폐기물로 정의할 수 있다. 따라서, 방사성 콘크리 트 폐기물의 처분 비용을 저감하기 위하여 자체 처분 및 제한적 재활용을 위한 제염 작업의 수행이 중요하다. 그러므로 콘크리트 폐기물의 효율적인 제염 작업을 위해 내부 방사능 분포를 예측하는 것이 필수적이다. 본 연구는 원전 해체 시, 발생되는 콘크리트 폐기물의 내부 방사능 분포를 예측하기 위하여 다양한 컴프턴 영상 재구성 방법의 성능을 비교하였다. 다양한 컴프턴 영상 재구성 방법으로 단순 역투사(SBP), 필터 후 역투사(FBP), 최대우도 기댓값 최대화 방법(MLEM), 그리고 기존 의 MLEM의 시스템 반응 함수에 에너지 정보가 결합되어 확률적으로 계산하는 최대우도 기댓값 최대화 방법(E-MLEM)이 사용되었다. 재구성된 영상을 획득한 후, 정량적인 분석 방법을 이용하여 재구성된 영상의 성능을 정량적으로 비교 및 평가하였다. MLEM 및 E-MLEM 영상 재구성 방법은 각각 재구성된 영상에서 높은 이미지 분해능과 신호 대 잡음비를 유지하는데 있어 가장 좋은 성능을 보여주었다. 본 연구에서 도출된 결과들은 원자력 시설 해체 시 방사성 콘크리트 폐기물의 내부 방사능 분포를 예측하기 위한 수단으로 컴프턴 영상을 사용할 수 있는 가능성을 보여주었다.