During the operation of a nuclear power plant (NPP), the generation of radioactive waste, including dry active waste (DAW), concentrates, spent resin, and filters, mandates the implementation of appropriate disposal methods to adhere to Korea’s waste acceptance criteria (WAC). In this context, this study investigates the potential use of polymer concrete (PC) as a high-integrity container (HIC) material for solidifying and packaging these waste materials. PC is a versatile composite material comprising binding polymers, aggregates, and additives, known for its exceptional strength and chemical stability. A comprehensive analysis of PC’s long-term integrity was conducted in this study. First, its compressive strength, which is crucial for ensuring the structural stability of HICs over extended periods, was evaluated. Subsequently, the resilience of PC was tested under various stress conditions, including biological, radiological, thermal, and chemical stressors. The findings of this study indicate that PC exhibits remarkable long-term properties, demonstrating exceptional stability even when subjected to diverse stressors. The results therefore underscore the potential viability of PC as a reliable material for constructing high-integrity containers, thus contributing to the safe and sustainable management of radioactive waste in NPPs.

Plasma torch melting has been considered as a promising treatment technology for radioactive waste generated by nuclear power plants. The IAEA reported in 2006, the plasma melting technology could be treated regardless of the type of radioactive wastes such as combustible, non-combustible and liquid. Also, the technology has the advantage of being an eco-friendly technology. It emits less harmful gases such as NOx, SOx, HCl and CO because it does not use fossil fuels. In KHNP CRI, the plasma torch melting system was developed as the new radioactive waste treatment technology. In this study, to evaluate the long-term integrity of the new facility, a demonstration test with concrete as a simulant was carried out for about 3 days. For the 3 days, the evaluation was conducted in view of abnormal shutdown, soundness of waste feeding device, electrode consumption, and so on.

On-site storage facility using concrete silo dry storage systems for spent nuclear fuel at Wolsong NPP site came into operation in 1992 and was expanded four times, and a total of 300 silo dry storage systems are currently in operation. The design lifetime of silo dry storage systems has been licensed for 50 years. As the dry storage systems are subject to time constraints for a limited lifetime, countries operating the dry storage systems are working to ensure the long-term integrity of dry storage systems and IAEA also recommends that the dry storage systems be assessed for long-term storage. To demonstrate the long-term integrity due to material degradation during the licensed design lifetime, the structural integrity of silo dry storage systems was evaluated by considering the material degradation characteristics of concrete. The concrete compressive strength results measured so far by the rebound hammer method, which is an internationally standardized nondestructive test method for converting hardness into compressive strength using the correlation between rebound number and strength at the time of a Schmidt hammer strike, were analyzed in accordance with Wolsong NPP’s procedure to quantify the degradation characteristics, and the prediction of concrete strengths for 20 years and 50 years after construction of the silo dry storage systems was determined, respectively. Based on these residual compressive strengths, structural analyses of the silo dry storage systems were carried out under normal, off-normal and accident conditions of the related regulations, and the structural integrity of silo dry storage systems was reevaluated. It was confirmed the silo dry storage systems are able to maintain structural integrity up to the design lifetime of 50 years even if the concrete is deteriorated.

During the normal operation boron concentrates and spent resins are generated. The boron concentrates are treated by concentrated waste drying system (CWDS) and results in fine powder form. The solidification or application of high integrity container (HIC) is required for the disposal of the dried boron concentrates. The spent resin is stored in storage tank after the water treatment. The spent resin also requires solidification or application of HIC to satisfy the waste acceptance criteria (WAC) in Korea. The solidification process requires periodic validation. The repeated validation and complicated process hesitates the practical application. The application of HIC offers various advantages, including flexible free standing water requirement, higher waste loading compared to solidification, and simple process. The polymer concrete (PC), which is a primary component for PC-HIC exhibits good material stability. The expected transportation mechanism of nuclide in the PC-HIC are 1) diffusion by concentration, 2) permeation by pressure, and 3) capillary suction when considering the disposal condition. Since the PC-HIC effectively prevents the intrusion of neighboring water and volume of free standing water is lower than 1%, it seems that diffusion by concentration is the primary transportation mechanism. In this study, the property of PC is investigated based on Cl ion diffusion test to evaluate the material reliability. The results indicate that PC exhibits superior stability compared to ordinary portland cement. In addition, the reliable life time of PC is estimated base on the element transportation phenomena.

The Korea Nuclear Safety Act defines a high integrity container (HIC) as “a radioactive waste packaging container that can maintain its integrity for more than 300 years under the general underground environment and disposal conditions in Korea”, and detailed technical standards are not described. The US Nuclear Safety Commission’s “Low-Level Waste Licensing Branch Technical Position on Waste Form” describes the detailed requirements for solidification and HIC. The main contents of the US NRC technical position include limiting the free standing water, minimum design life, demonstrating mechanical, thermal and radiation stability, etc. In this study, the stability evaluation was performed to understand the mechanical strength with respect to horizontal and vertical loads. The basic property of polymer concrete was carefully evaluated, including compressive strength, structural fatigue resistance, etc. The long term creep test, loading of 40% of compressive strength, indicates that the polymer concrete exhibits good long term mechanical integrity.