Al-B4C neutron absorbers are currently widely used to maintain the subcriticality of both wet and dry storage facilities of spent nuclear fuel (SNF), thus long-term and high-temperature material integrity of the absorbers has to be guaranteed for the expected operation periods of those facilities. Surface corrosion solely has been the main issue for the absorber performance and safety; however, the possibility of irradiation-assisted degradation has been recently suggested from an investigation on Al-B4C surveillance coupons used in a Korean spent nuclear fuel pool (SFP). Larger radiation damage than expectation was speculated to be induced from 10B(n, α)7Li reactions, which emit about a MeV α-particles and Li ions. In this study, we experimentally emulated the radiation damage accumulated in an Al-B4C neutron absorber utilizing heavy-ion accelerator. The absorber specimens were irradiated with He ions at various estimated system temperatures for a model SNF storage facility (room temperature, 150, 270, and 400°C). Through the in-situ heated ion irradiation, three exponentially increasing level of radiation damages (0.01, 0.1, and 1 dpa or displacement per atom) were achieved to compare differential gas bubble formation at near surface of the absorber, which could cause premature absorber corrosion and subsequential 10B loss in an SNF storage system. An extremely high radiation damage (10 dpa), which is unlikely achievable during a dry storage period, was also emulated through high temperature irradiation (350°C) to further test the radiation resistance of the absorber, conservatively. The irradiated specimens were characterized using HR-TEM and the average size and number density of radiation-induced He bubbles were measured from the obtained bright field (BF) TEM micrographs. Measured helium bubble sizes tend to increase with increasing system (or irradiation) temperature while decrease in their number density. Helium bubbles were found from even the lowest radiation damage specimens (0.01 dpa). Bubble coalescence was significant at grain boundaries and the irradiated specimen morphology was particularly similar with the bubble morphology observed at the interface between aluminum alloy matrix and B4C particle of the surveillance coupons. These characterized irradiated specimens will be used for the corrosion test with high-temperature humid gas to further study the irradiation-assisted degradation mechanism of the absorber in dry SNF storage system.

It is still questionable if the Nuclear Damage Compensation Act can be applied to security accidents on nuclear facilities caused by hacking or drone attacks. If the Act is applied, the nuclear operator shall be liable for compensation for the damage even if there is no negligence, and no other person shall be liable. If it is not, victims must prove the negligence of nuclear operators and not only nuclear operators but also suppliers must be responsible. According to Article 5 of this Act, a nuclear operator cannot operate a reactor before signing liability insurance contract or a compensation contract or depositing in order to compensate for nuclear damage. The liability insurance contract includes the hacking accident, but it is not applied to drone attacks since only hacking accident is included in design basis accidents. However, Article 2 of this Act defines a nuclear accident as an event that may cause nuclear damage so it can be said that the ‘event’ includes intentional attacks. Article 3 stipulates that nuclear operators are not liable for compensation for damages caused by armed conflicts, hostile acts between countries, or civil war or rebellion. Therefore, if nuclear power plant is attacked by missiles from North Korea, the nuclear operator is not liable for compensation. And, it can be interpreted that the nuclear operator is liable for compensation for damages caused by actions of a third party that do not fall under this category. According to the Act on Indemnity Agreement For Nuclear Damage Compensation, nuclear damage caused during normal operation is included in the scope of compensation, but damage caused by actions of third parties is excluded. In the end, damage caused by actions of third parties is included in the scope of nuclear damage, but not included in the loss compensated by the government. According to the Act on Physical Protection, the Nuclear Safety & Security Commission is required to establish a design basis threat that is the standard for designing and evaluating physical protection systems. Therefore, it is reasonable to include the contents of design basis threats in liability insurance, or to apply the principle of no negligence liability and focus of responsibility to protect victims, if not.

The acoustic emission (AE) is proposed as a feasible method for the real-time monitoring of the structural damage evolution in concrete materials that are typically used in the storage of nuclear wastes. However, the characteristics of AE signals emitted from concrete structures subjected to various environmental conditions are poorly identified. Therefore, this study examines the AE characteristics of the concrete structures during uniaxial compression, where the storage temperature and immersion conditions of the concrete specimens varied from 15℃ to 75℃ and from completely dry to water-immersion, respectively. Compared with the dry specimens, the water-immersed specimens exhibited significantly reduced uniaxial compressive strengths by approximately 26%, total AE energy by approximately 90%, and max RA value by approximately 70%. As the treatment temperature increased, the strength and AE parameters, such as AE count, AE energy, and RA value, of the dry specimens increased; however, the temperature effect was only minimal for the immersed specimens. This study suggests that the AE technique can capture the mechanical damage evolution of concrete materials, but their AE characteristics can vary with respect to the storage conditions.

Deep geologic disposal of high-level nuclear wastes (HLW) requires intensive monitoring instrumentations to ensure long-term security. Acoustic emission (AE) method is considered as an effective method to monitor the mechanical degradation of natural rock and man-made concrete structures. The objectives of this study are (a) to identify the AE characteristics emitted from concretes as concrete materials under different types of loading, (b) to suggest AE parametric criteria to determine loading types and estimate the failure stage, and finally (c) to examine the feasibility of using AE method for real-time monitoring of geologic disposal system of HLW. This study performs a series of the mechanical experiments on concrete samples simultaneously with AE monitoring, including the uniaxial compression test (UCT), Brazilian tensile test (BTT) and punch through shear test (PTST). These mechanical tests are chosen to explore the effect of loading types on the resulting AE characteristics. This study selects important AE parameters which includes the AE count, average frequency (AF) and RA value in the time domain, and the peak frequency (PF) and centroid frequency in the frequency domain. The result reveals that the cumulative AE counts, the maximum RA value and the moving average PF show their potentials as indicators to damage progress for a certain loading type. The observed trends in the cumulative AE counts and the maximum RA value show three unique stages with an increase in applied stress: the steady state stage (or crack initiation stage; < 70% of yield stress), the transition stage (or damage progression stage; 70–90% of yield stress) and the rising stage (or failure stage; > 90% of yield stress). In addition, the moving average PF of PTST in the early damage stage appears to be particularly lower than that of UCT and BTT. The loading in BTT renders distinctive responses in the slope of the maximum RA–cumulative AE count (or tan ). The slope value shows less than 0.25 when the stress is close to 30% of BTT, 60% of UCT and 75% of PTST and mostly after 90% of yield stress, the slope mostly decreases than 0.25 in all tests. This study advances our understanding on AE responses of concrete materials with well-controlled laboratoryscale experimental AE data, and provides insights into further development of AE-base real-time diagnostic monitoring of structures made of rocks and concretes.

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.

건설해체공사와 유사한 특성을 갖는 원전 제염해체공사에서 구조적 리스크 관리는 매우 중요하다(DOE). 하지만 제염해체작업 중 발생할 수 있는 구조적 재난재해 및 위험요소는 크게 고려하지 않고 있다. 이로 인해, 구조적 재난 및 재해에 의해 발생할 수 있는 작업자 리스크 역시 체계적으로 정립되어 있지 않다. 또한, 재난 및 재해 그리고 리스크 분류체계는 작업의 특성(작업프로세스, 활용장비, 작업 위치 등)별로 분류되어 있지 않아 실제 해체공사를 위한 매뉴얼로 활용하기에 무리가 있다. 따라서 차폐 콘크리트 구조물 제염해체공사의 건설해체공사와의 유사성을 기반으로 작업의 특성별로 분류한 리스크를 도출하는 것은 원자력 발전소 해체공사 리스크 관리에 필수적으로 판단한다.

본 연구는 부산광역시 거주민을 대상으로 원전주변 갑상선암 피해 소송 이후 원자력발전소 인근지역과 시내권에 거주하는 주민간의 인식 차이를 분석하여 국민들의 원자력에 대한 수용성 수준을 판별하고자 하였다. 설문조사는 총 551명(원전인근지역 269명, 시내권 282명)을 대상으로 대인면접을 통해 이루어졌으며, 분석 결과, 원전 주변 갑상선암 발병 피해 소송 사건을 계기로 국민들의 원자력에 대한 인식에 변화가 있는 것으로 나타났다. 원전인근지역 주민의 경우 사건 이후 원자력에 대한 불신과 불안감이 높아져, 원자력에 대한 부정적 인식이 강해졌음을 확인할 수 있었다. 반면 시내권 주민들은 원전 주변 갑상선암 발병 피해 소송 사건에도 불구하고 사건 이전보다 더욱 원자력 수용성에 긍정적인 인식을 갖는 것으로 분석되었다. 그러나 원자력 안전성과 신뢰성에 대한 인식은 부정적인 것으로 분석되어 원자력 수용성과 상반되는 이중적인 인식을 보였다. 이는 부산광역시 시내권 주민들의 경우 원자력의 편익, 필요성 등을 원칙적으로 인정하나 안전성에 대해서는 의심하는 것으로 판단되며 향후 원자력의 이용 확대를 지속적으로 추진하기 위해서는 국민의 올바른 이해와 신뢰 그리고 무엇보다 국민 또는 원전인근지역 주민들과 충분한 의사소통이 필요하다고 사료된다.