광릉숲은 생물권보전지역 중 하나로써 생물다양성이 높은곳이며, 낙엽활엽수림으로써 550년 동안 관리되어 왔다. 이 연구는 2016년부터 2017년까지 생물권보전지역(포천)과 비생물권보전지역(울진, 영주)에서 신갈나무림과 소나무림의 딱정벌레 군집구조와 다양성을 비교하는것이 목적이다. 이 조사에서 딱정벌레과에 속하는 9아과 25속 73종을 채집하였다. 생물권보전지역 소나무림에서 25종 11속 6아과 그리고 신갈나무림에 서 22종 9속 4아과를 채집하였다. 비생물권보전지역 신갈나무림과 소나무림에서 23종 10속 5아과 그리고 59종 21속 9아과를 채집하였다. 생물권 보전지역의 소나무림과 신갈나무림에서 우점종은 윤납작먼지벌레(77.2%, 78.7%)이며, 비생물권보전지역의 소나무림과 신갈나무림에서 우점종 은 각각 Synuchus sp. 3(47.9%)와 Synuchus sp. 2(17.6%)이다. 종 다양도, 종 풍부도, 종 균등도는 도로와 가장 가까운 비생물권지역의 신갈나무림 에서 가장 높았으며, 산림에서 종 다양성은 채집지에서 도로까지의 거리가 가까울수록 증가하는 것으로 판단된다. 이러한 연구 결과는 생물권보전 지역에서 생물다양성 보존을 위한 중요한 자료가 될 것으로 기대된다.

경상북도에 위치한 산림유전자원보호구역내 2개 지역(영주지역의 신갈나무, 울진지역의 소나무)과 경기 포 천시에 위치한 생물권보전지역내 2개 지역(포천지역의 신갈나무와 소나무)에서 2016년부터 2017년까지 함정 트랩(Pitfall trap)을 매년 5회씩 5반복하여 각각 비교하였다. 그 결과 산림유전자원보호구역에서는 27과 106속 160종 2,665개체가 확인되었으며, 종풍부도는 20.28, 종균등도는 0.266, 종다양도는 1.355, 우점도는 0.265로 우점 종은 납작먼지벌레속 sp.2 (Synuchus sp.2)이였다. 또한, 생물권보존지역에서는 16과 49속 77종 4,834개체가 확 인되었으며, 종풍부도는 8.958, 종균등도는 0.301, 종다양도는 1.31, 우점도는 0.669로 우점종은 윤납작먼지벌레 (Synuchus nitidus)였다. 산림의 중요 지역 간에 지표성 딱정벌레의 군집을 비교함으로써 환경변화에 따른 산림 보존 프로그램을 수행하는데 유용한 기초 자료로 활용될 것이다.

This research analyzed the environmental, social, and economic value of Jeju Island BR. The findings from this research enable us to draw the following as conclusions in relation to the value of Jeju Island BR as an internationally protected area. First: The value of BR humans can receive through conservation as an indirect use depends on two factors. One is what sectors of BR are covered in examining its value. The other is the default factor which is substituted in the estimation of an economic value by sector of the BR. Second: Sustainable use of BR refers to its direct use. It is of course true that the direct use provides humans with many benefits in terms of improving material affluence and convenience in life. Third: Sustainable use does not mean there is no impact on the conservation of BR, but it means minimal impact on the entire BR or within the resilience of natural circulating ecosystem. Fourth: In the context of the above third conclusion, it would be necessary to conduct an empirical research on whether the current land-use in BR is within its carrying capacity. Fifth: In order to achieve the land-use within the carrying capacity of BR, there must be an explicit consideration of ecological implications of the existing social and economic decision as a cultural ethos in a way to environmentalism from consumerism. Sixth: Change in human perspective on the relation between humans and nature from anthropocentrism to ecocentrism is a necessary condition to establish environmentalism as a cultural ethos. Seventh: Nonetheless, nature and human activities toward nature have been in a conflicting relationship throughout the history of human civilization. The conflicting relationship may be termed a dialectic process through historical stages.

도로는 생태계를 교란시키는 인간 활동의 지표이며 흔히 서식지 단편화, 서식지 축소, 서식지 고립을 유발한다. 제주도의 한라산국립공원(면적=153.4km2)은 지형, 지질, 생물상의 특이성이 높으며 유네스코 생물권보전지역(MAB)의 핵심지역으로도 중복 지정되어 있다. 공원의 이러한 높은 보전가치가 많은 탐방객과 도로건설을 유도하고 있음에도 불구하고 도로로 인한 경관의 변화는 거의 알려진 바가 없다. 본 연구에서는 GIS를 활용하여 한라산국립공원의 도로로 인한 서식지 단편화 양상을 공원 용도지구, 해발고도, 식생에 관련하여 분석하였다. 포장도로와 법정 비법정탐방로에 각각 112m, 60m 버퍼를 적용시킨 결과 한라산국립공원은 총 100개의 단편으로 나뉘었다. 포장도로와 법정탐방로만을 고려했을 때 드러난 10단편의 면적은 0.002km2-38.2km2(평균면적=14.2 km2)에 이르렀고 자연보존지구와 자연환경 지구 모두에서 각기 약 7%가 가장자리로 판정되었다. 이들 단편의 형태지수 평균은 5.19(100단편 중), 7.22(10단편 중)이었지만 공원의 동서 양단과 정상부근에 있는 단편들의 형태지수가 보다 높았다. 5개의 법정탐방로가 모두 분화구까지 연결되어 있고 고도가 높아짐에 따라, 활엽수림, 침엽수림, 초지로 식생이 전환되기 때문에 높은 고도, 특히 고유식물과 고산식물이 많은 고도 1,400m이상의 초지에서 서식지 면적이 현저하게 감소했다. 이런 결과는 한라산국립 공원도 도로로 인한 서식지 단편화를 겪고 있으며, 단편화로 인한 서식지 악화와 서식지 소실의 위험이 공원의 자연환경 지구보다 한라산 정상의 백록담을 중심으로 하는 자연보존지구에서 더 높을 수 있음을 보여준다. 따라서 한라산국립공원의 현 도로망은 생태계 보전과 보호라는 국립공원의 목표에 부합하지 않는다고 사료된다. 한라산국립공원 전체가 또한 MAB 핵심지역임을 고려한다면, 공원 용도지구의 재설정과 단편화를 완화시키기 위한 공원 내 도로관리에 보전노력이 경주되어야 할 것이다.

The post-closure safety assessment of a repository is typically conducted over an extensive timescale from ten thousand to a million years. Considering that biosphere ecosystems may undergo significant changes over such lengthy periods, it is essential to incorporate the long-term evolution of the biosphere into the safety assessment. Climate change and landscape development are identified as critical drivers with the potential to impact the hydrogeological and hydrogeochemical characteristics of the biosphere. These changes can subsequently alter the migration patterns of radionuclides through the biosphere and influence human exposure doses. Therefore, this study formulates scenarios within the context of long-term biosphere evolution. We examine biosphere assessment processes employed in other countries and conduct a comparative study on scenario conditions. For example, biosphere assessment in Finland has identified sea-level changes and land-use alterations as significant factors in the long-term evolution of the biosphere. These factors are linked to Features, Events, and Processes (FEPs) associated with climate change and human activities. Sea-level changes are related to FEPs regarding climate change, land uplift, and shoreline displacement, while land-use changes are based on human activity-related FEPs (e.g., crop type, livestock and forest management, well construction, and demographics). Based on the literature review, this study has configured long-term evolution scenarios for the safety assessment of a deep geological repository for spent fuels.

Safety assessments for geological disposal systems extend over tens of thousands of years, taking into account the radiotoxicity decay period of spent nuclear fuel. During this extensive period, the biosphere experiences multiple glacial cycles, and fluctuations in seawater amounts, attributed to the formation and melting of glaciers, lead to global sea level changes known as eustacy. These sea level changes can directly influence the land-sea interface and groundwater flow dynamics, consequently affecting the pathways of radionuclide transport - an essential element of dose assessment. Therefore, this study aims to investigate how glacial cycles and sea level changes impact radionuclide transport within geological disposal systems, especially in the biosphere. To achieve this objective, we obtained climate evolution data including sea level changes for the Korean Peninsula over a 200,000-years, simulated by a General Circulation Model (GCM). These data were then employed to predict site and hydrology evolutions. The study site was conceptualized biosphere of Artificial Disposal System (ADioS), and we utilized the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to simulate hydrological evolution. These datasets, encompassing climate, site, and hydrology evolution, were collectively employed as inputs for the biosphere module of Adaptive Process-Based Total System Performance Assessment Framework (APro). Subsequently, the APro’s biosphere module calculated radionuclide transport in groundwater flow and its release into surface water bodies, considering the influences of glacial cycles and sea level changes. The results show that hydrologic changes due to sea level change are relatively minor, while the impact of sea level change on groundwater flow and discharge is significant. Additionally, we identified that among the water bodies within ADioS, including rivers, lakes, and oceans, the ocean exhibits the most substantial radionuclide outflow throughout the entire period. The spatiotemporal distributions of radionuclides computed within APro will be further processed into a grid format and used as input for the dose assessment module. Through this study, it was possible to determine the impact of long-term glacial cycles and sea level changes on radionuclide transport. Additionally, this module can serve as a valuable tool for providing the spatiotemporal variability of radionuclides required for enhanced dose assessments.

To this day, conflicts have intensified between managers who want to preserve biosphere reserves and citizen who want to develop them. Based on this problem, this study seeks to investigate the establishment of a forum for communication between various stakeholders and to promote the economic development of local communities while preserving biodiversity. First, in terms of conservation, the results indicated that Gyeonggi Province and Namyangju City highly valued direct conservation activities in biosphere reserves, whereas Pocheon and Uijeongbu City highly valued indirect conservation functions through management or monitoring. Second, in terms of development, it was found that there were differences in the roles, perceptions and responsibilities with respect to biosphere reserves among the different layers of government: the central government agency, the Cultural Heritage Administration, the metropolitan government, Gyeonggi-do, and the local governments, Pocheon, Namyangju, and Uijeongbu. Third, in terms of logistical support, which serves as a function for communication and practical participation among management entities, the results suggested that it was necessary to establish a comprehensive decision-making organization for efficient management and operation and to provide opportunities for active participation. The study can be utilized as a basic reference for developing efficient communication by management entities in protected areas with similar challenges.

The Korean Nuclear Safety and Security Commission has established a general guideline for the disposal of high-level waste, which requires that radiological effects from a disposal facility should not exceed the regulatory safety indicator, a radiological risk. The post-closure safety assessment of the disposal facility aims to evaluate the radiological dose against a representative person, taking into account nuclide transport and exposure pathways and their corresponding probabilities. The biosphere is a critical component of radiation protection in a disposal system, and the biosphere model is concerned with nuclide transport through the surface medium and the doses to human beings due to the contaminated surface environment. In past studies by the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), the biosphere model was constructed using a representative illustration of surface topographies and groundwater conditions, assuming that the representative surface environment would not change in the future. Each topography was conceptualized as a single compartment, and distributed surface contamination over the geometrical domain was abstracted into 0D. As a result, the existing biosphere model had limitations, such as a lack of quantitative descriptions of various transport and exposure pathways, and an inability to consider the evolution of the surface environment over time. These limitations hinder the accurate evaluation of radiological dose in the safety assessment. To overcome these limitations, recent developments in biosphere modeling have incorporated the nuclide transport process over a 2D or 3D domain, integrating the time-dependent evolution of the surface environment. In this study, we reviewed the methodology for biosphere modeling to assess the radiological dose given by distributed surface contamination over a 2D domain. Based on this review, we discussed the model requirements for a numerical module for biosphere dose assessment that will be implemented in the APro platform, a performance assessment tool being developed by the KAERI. Finally, we proposed a conceptual model for the numerical module of dose assessment.

Two sets of analyses for the cases of groundwater release to well and sea ecosystems were conducted for the environmental impact assessment of high-level radioactive waste disposal facilities. After obtaining the respective BDCF (Biosphere Dose Conversion Factor) results for the scenarios of well-farming and marine water fishing using different biosphere assessment conceptual models implemented in ECOLEGO, they were compared each other. The purposes of these analyses are to identify reference generic biosphere conceptual models and to get insight on model uncertainty. In this study, the endpoint used for the comparison of the ECOLEGO biosphere models was the socalled Biosphere Dose Conversion Factor (BDCF), which is defined as the maximum value of the total dose to the exposed group, in Sv/yr, resulting from a continuous unit release of 1 Bq/yr during the whole simulation time either to the well compartment (BDCF_Well) or to the marine water compartment (BDCF_Sea). The radionuclides considered in the comparison were Cs-137, I-129, Nb-94, Ni-59, Ni- 63, Sr-90 and Tc-99. The conceptual models used in the biosphere assessment of the releases to a well are based on models that have been used by the DOE (simple-soil model) and SKB (complex-soil model) in safety assessments of radioactive waste repositories, respectively. Difference between two conceptual models used in the assessment of the releases to a sea is the number of compartments representing the sea; i.e., one model represents the sea with one compartment for the water and one for the sediment (singlecompartment model), whereas the alternative model uses two compartments for the water and the sediments: one for the inner coast and one for the outer coast (double-compartment model). The results of the BDCF_Well to a farmer obtained with the DOE and SKB models are shown to be very close to each other. Despite the differences in conceptual models and parameters, the results are within a maximum difference of a factor of 4. The results from the SKB model were higher for all radionuclides. The values of the BDCF_Sea obtained with the single- and double-compartment models are shown to be larger differences with a maximum order of 2. For all studied radionuclides, the double-compartment model produces higher BDCFs than does the single-compartment model. The differences would be due to activity concentrations in both water and sediments. Since the hydrodynamic behavior assumed for flow in the sea could significantly influence the dilution volumes and hence the concentrations, it is found that site-specific investigations are necessary to establish an appropriate marine biosphere conceptual model.

IAEA safety standards document and international programs (such as BIOMASS) related to the assessment of the biosphere around High Level Radioactive Waste (including Spent Nuclear Fuel) repositories require the assessment of the biosphere to use the assumption that the current natural environment and human society will be maintained, and at the same time, the evolution of the distant future changes also need to be taken into account. In Korea, which has not designated candidate disposal sites, it is necessary to investigate and predict the current state and future changes of the natural environment throughout Korea and apply it practically to Biosphere assessment (for BDCF derivation) for candidate disposal sites suitability assessment and Safety Case (for performance assessment) preparation for design, construction, operation, and post-closure management. To this end, the natural environment in the fields of Topography, Geology, Soil, Ecology, Weather and Climate, Animals and Plants, Hydrology, Ocean, Land-use, etc. and human society in the fields of Population Distribution, Spatial-Planning, Urban Form, Industrial-Structure, Lifestyle etc. are being investigated in the context of current status, past change records, and future change potential in the Korean Peninsula. This paper summarizes those investigations to date. This study referred Biomass-6 [IAEA] and National Atlas I (2019)/II (2020)/III (2021) [National Geographic Information Institute of the Korea Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport].

As part of the safety case development for generic disposal sites in Korea, it is necessary to develop generic assessment models using various geosphere–biosphere interfaces (GBIs) and potentially exposed groups (PEGs) that reflect the natural environmental characteristics and the lifestyles of people in Korea. In this study, a unique modeling strategy was developed to systematically construct and select Korean generic biosphere assessment models. The strategy includes three process steps (combination, screening, and experts’ scoring) for the biosphere system conditions. First, various conditions, such as climate, topography, GBIs, and PEGs, were combined in the biosphere system. Second, the combined calculation cases were configured into interrelation matrices to screen out some calculation cases that were highly unlikely or less significant in terms of the exposure dose. Finally, the selected calculation cases were prioritized based on expert judgment by scoring the knowledge, probability, and importance. The results of this study can be implemented in the development of biosphere assessment models for Korean generic sites. It is believed that this systematic methodology for selecting the candidate calculation cases can contribute to increasing the confidence of future site-specific biosphere assessment models.