The Deep Borehole Disposal (DBD) method has various advantages, such as minimizing the use of site area and corrosion of the disposal container and improving long-term structural safety. However, it is necessary to review the problems that may occur in various technologies related to the emplacement and retrieval of the disposal container and the sealing of the borehole. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the structural integrity of an emplacement and retrieval device (hereinafter, the disposal container connecting device) of a DBD container. The disposal connecting device was evaluated according to ANSI 14.6 and NUREG-0612 standards. The allowable stress should be less than the yield strength under the load condition of 3g. The length of the disposal container connecting device was about 2,900 mm, the diameter was 406 mm, and the weight was about 1.2 tons. In addition, 10 disposal containers weighing up to 2.2 tons were handled. The disposal container connecting device was made of stainless steel, and the maximum operating temperature was about 300°C. For structural evaluation, ABAQUS finite element analysis program was used. The analysis model was modeled only 1/2 part considering symmetry condition. The analysis model was modeled using 410,431 nodes and 344,119 solid elements. Three times load was applied to the weight of the disposal container. Axisymmetric conditions were applied to the symmetrical surface of the disposal container, and vertical restraints were applied to the upper lifting lugs. A surface-to-surface contact condition was applied to the part where the contact occurred. As a result of the analysis, the greatest stress was generated at the part supported by the clamp at the disposal container connector at 168.9 MPa. In the lugs and pins connecting the guide and the connecting device, a stress of 530.1 MPa was generated by shearing. In the bolts of the disposal container connecting device, a stress of 498MPa was generated and the safety margin was 1.73. A stress of 486.1 MPa was generated in the disposal container connecting device, and the safety margin was the smallest 1.16. As a result of the analysis, all components of the disposal container connecting device showed a safety margin of 1.16 or more at the maximum operating temperature and satisfied the allowable stress.

Despite the increasing interest in Deep Borehole Disposal (DBD) for its capability of minimizing disposal area, detailed research about DBD operation system design should be conducted before the DBD can be implemented. Recently, DBD operation system applying wireline emplacement (WE) technique is under study due to its high flexibility and capability of minimizing surface equipment. In this study, a conceptual WE system, and operation procdure is introduced. The conceptual WE system consists of 3 main stations, which from the top are hoisting station (HS), canister connection station (CCS) and basement (BS). In HS, WE is controlled and monitored. The WE is controlled using wireline drum winch and sheaves, and load on wireline is measured using a load cell. HS also has a pressure control system (PCS), which monitors internal pressure of the system, and a lubricator, which act as housing for joint device, allowing the joint device to be easily inserted into the borehole. The joint device is used to connect the disposal canister to wireline for emplacement/retrieval. In CCS, a rail transporter brings a transport cask containing disposal canisters, then the transport cask is connected to the hoisting system and a PCS in the BS. The main component located at canister station are a sliding shielding door (SSD), and a slip. The SSD is used to prevent canister from falling into borehole during the connecting operation and prevent radiation from BS to affect the workers. The slip is located beneath the SSD and is used to hold the disposal canister before it is lowered into the borehole. In BS, PCS is installed to prevent overflow and blowout of borehole fluid. The PCS consists of wireline pressure valve, christmas tree and BOP, which all are a type of pressure valve to seal the borehole and release pressure inside the borehole. The WE procedure starts with transporting transport cask to CCS. The transport cask is connected to lubricator, and PCS. Joint device is lowered down to be connected with disposal canisters, then pulled up to check the load on the wireline. After the check-up, SSD is opened, and disposal canister is lowered into the borehole. When desired depth is reached, joint device is disconnected and retrieved for next emplacement. In this study, the conceptual deep borehole disposal system design implementing WE technique is introduced. Based on this study, further detailed design could be derived in future, and feasibility could be tested.

In high-level radioactive waste disposal, a high temperature is generated from the canister containing the waste in the engineered barrier, while groundwater flows into the buffer system from the host rock. The temperature increase and groundwater inflow result in the water phase change and saturation variation. Saturation change is related to the thermal conductivity of buffer material; hence the phase change and saturation strongly interact with the temperature evolution. The complex coupled behavior affects the stability of the whole disposal system, and the security of the repository is critical to human-being life. However, it is difficult to predict the long-term coupled behavior in the disposal system due to the considerable field-test scale, and therefore a numerical simulation is a suitable method having repeatability and cost-effectiveness. DECOVALEX is an international cooperating project for developing numerical methods and models for thermo-hydro-mechanical-chemical (THMC) interaction. DECOVALEX has a four-year cycle with various topics. At the current phase, Task C aims to simulate the full-scale emplacement (FE) experiment performed at Mont Terri underground rock laboratory. Nine research groups are participating in the task, and among them, KAERI simulates the experiment using OGS-FLAC. The simulator combines OpenGeoSys for TH simulation and FLAC3D for M simulation. Through the benchmark simulation, we verified OGS-FLAC for the two-phase flow analysis in the disposal system and finally modeled the FE experiment with a three-dimensional grid. We performed a simple sensitivity analysis to investigate the effect of input parameters on the two-phase flow system and confirmed that the compressibility and permeability affected the flow behavior. We also compared the simulation results to the field data and obtained well-matched results from a series of simulation.

Deep geological disposal (DGD) of spent nuclear fuels (SNF) at 500 m–1 km depth has been the mainly researched as SNF disposal method, but with the recent drilling technology development, interest in deep borehole disposal (DBD) at 5 km depth is increasing. In DBD, up to 40SNF canisters are disposed of in a borehole with a diameter of about 50 cm, and SNF is disposed of at a depth of 2–5 km underground. DBD has the advantage of minimizing the disposal area and safely isolating highlevel waste from the ecosystem. Recently, due to an increasing necessity of developing an efficient alternative disposal system compared to DGD domestically, technological development for DBD has begun. In this paper, the research status of canister operation technology and plans for DBD demonstration tests, which subjects are being studied in the project of developing a safety-enhancing high-efficiency disposal system, are introduced. The canister operation technology for DBD can be divided into connection device development and operation technology. The developing connection device, emplacing and retrieving canisters in borehole, adopted the concept of a wedge thus making replacement equipment at the surface unnecessary. The new connection device has the advantage of being well applied with emplacement facilities only by simple mechanical operation. The technology of operating a connection device in DBD can be divided into drill pipe, coiled tubing, free-drop, and wireline. The drill pipe is a proven method in the oil industry, but requiring huge surface equipment. The coiled tubing method uses a flexible tube and shares disadvantages as the drill pipe. The free-drop is a convenient method of dropping canister into a borehole, but has a weakness in irretrievability in an accident. Finally, the wireline method can be operational on a small scale using hydraulic cranes, but the number of operated canisters at once is limited. The test facility through which the connection device is to be tested consists of dummy canister, borehole, lifting part, monitoring part, and connecting device. The canister weight is determined according to the emplacement operation unit. The lifting part will be composed following wireline consisting of a crane, a wire and a winding system. The monitoring part will consist of an external monitoring system for hoists and trolleys, and an internal monitoring system for the connection device’s location, pressure, and speed. In this project, a demonstration test will be conducted in a borehole with 1km depth, 10 cm diameter provided by KAERI to verify operation in the actual drilling environment after design improvement of the connecting device. If a problem is found through the demonstration test, the problem will be improved, and an improved connection device will be tested to an extended borehole with a 2 km depth, 40 cm diameter.

경상분지내 백악기에는 매우 활동적인 마그마 활동이 많이 있었으며, 그 결과 여러 화산암과 심성암을 형성하였고, 반심성암의 관입에 이르는 하나의 화성윤회가 잘 나타나는 지역이다. 이러한 심성암 중 각섬석을 함유하고 있는 화강암에 대한 압력 추정은 경상분지내 백악기 불국사화강암류의 정치 깊이에 대한 중요한 정보를 제공할 수 있다. 각섬석의 성분 중 AlT(Al total)함량은 온도, 산소분압, 그리고 고용체를 가지고 있는 광물들의 성분과 무관하고 압력에만 관계가 있다. 그래서 우리는 각섬석의 AlT 함량을 여러 경험적, 실험적 지압계에 적용하여 압력을 유추할 수 있었고, 이 각섬석을 함유하는 암석은 주위 다른 암석과 밀접한 관련성이 있으므로, 유추된 압력으로 경상분지내 백악기 불국사화강암류의 정치 깊이를 결정할 수 있었다. EPMA 분석을 통해 구한 각섬석 AlT값을 여러 관계식에 적용해 본 결과, 압력과 AlT값 사이에는 정의 상관 관계가 있었고, 경상분지내 백악기 화강암류 중에서 가장 작은 압력 값을 가지는 지역은 경주지역(0.73∼l.70kbar)이었고, 가장 높은 값을 가지는 지역은 김해지역(2.02∼3.16kbar)이었다. 그리고 유추된 압력 값이 김해, 거제, 부산, 마산, 남해, 경주 순서로 높기 때문에 경상분지의 지구조가 백악기의 화강암류의 정치 깊이와는 상관 관계가 없음을 나타내고 각 지역마다 수직성분의 운동이 달랐음을 의미한다. 그리고 지각의 밀도가 2.8g/cm3로 가정했을 때, 경상분지의 화강암류의 압력평균값이 약 0.73∼3.16kbar의 범위를 가졌고, 경상분지내 백악기 화강암류의 정치 깊이는 2.6∼11.4km범위를 가졌다. 이는 경상분지 화강암류에 대해 유추된 기존의 정성적인 생각과 일치한다는 것을 알 수 있었고, 각섬석의 AlT함량을 이용한 여러 경험적, 실험적인 압력계가 많은 제한점이 있지만 경상분지의 백악기 불국사화강암류에는 정성적으로 유효함을 알 수 있었다. 우리는 최종적으로 경상분지내 백악기 화강암류는 천부관입 암체이고 노출된 화강암류가 천부지각이라는 것을 알 수 있었다.