Today, the domestic and international nuclear power industry is experiencing an acceleration in the scale of the nuclear facility decommissioning market. This phenomenon is also due to policy changes in some countries, but the main reason is the rapid increase in the proportion of old nuclear power plants in the world, mainly in countries that introduced nuclear power plants in the early stages. Decontamination is essential in the process of decommissioning nuclear facilities. Among various decontamination targets, radionuclides are adsorbed between pores in the soil, making physical decontamination quite difficult. Therefore, various chemical decontamination technologies are used for contaminated soil decontamination, and the current decontamination technologies have a problem of generating a large amount of secondary wastes. In this study, soil decontamination technology using supercritical carbon dioxide is proposed and aimed to make it into a process. This technology applies cleaning technology using supercritical fluids to decontamination of radioactive waste, it has important technical characteristics that do not fundamentally generate secondary wastes during radioactive waste treatment. Supercritical carbon dioxide is harmless and is a very useful fluid with advantages such as high dissolution, high diffusion coefficient, and low surface tension. However, since carbon dioxide, a non-polar material, shows limitations in removing polar and ionic metal wastes, a chelating ligand was introduced as an additive. In this study, a ligand material that can be dissolved in supercritical carbon dioxide and has high binding ability with polar metal ions was selected. In addition, in order to increase the decontamination efficiency, an experiment was conducted by adding an auxiliary ligand material and ultrasonic waves as additives. In this study, the possibility of liquefaction of chelating ligands and auxiliary ligands was tested for process continuity and efficiency, and the decontamination efficiency was compared by applying it to the actual soil classified according to the particle size. The decontamination efficiency was derived by measuring the concentration of target nuclides in the soil before and after decontamination through ICP-MS. As a result of the experiment, it was confirmed that the liquefaction of the additive had a positive effect on the decontamination efficiency, and a difference in the decontamination efficiency was confirmed according to the actual particle size of the soil. Through this study, it is expected that economic value can be created in addition to the social value of the technology by ensuring the continuity of the decontamination process using supercritical carbon dioxide.

The purpose of full system decontamination before decommissioning a nuclear power plant is to reduce radiation exposure of decommissioning workers and to reduce decommissioning waste. In general, full system decontamination removes the CRUD nuclides deposited on the inner surface of the reactor coolant system, chemical and volume control system, residual heat removal system, pressurizer, steam generator tube, etc. by chemical decontamination method. The full system decontamination process applied to Maine Yankee and Connecticut Yankee in the USA, Stade, Obrigheim, Unterweser, Nekawestheim Unit 1 in Germany, Mihama Unit 1 and 2 in Japan, Jose Cabrera Unit 1 in Spain, and Barseback Unit 1 and 2 in Sweden are HP/CORD UV, NP/CORD UV, and DfD. In this study, the quantity of 60Co radioactivity removal, metal removal, ion exchange resin and filter generation according to reactor power, surface area and volume of the full system decontamination flow path, and the decontamination process were compared and analyzed. In addition, the quantity of 60Co radioactivity removal by each nuclear power plant was compared and analyzed with the evaluation results of the 60CO radioactivity inventory of the Kori Unit 1 full system decontamination loops conducted by SAE-AN Enertech Corporation.

Chemical decontamination of primary systems in a nuclear power plant (NPP) prior to commencing the main decommissioning activities is required to reduce radiation exposure during its process. The entire process is repeated until the desired decontamination factor is obtained. To achieve improved decontamination factors over a shorter time with fewer cycles, the appropriate flow characteristics are required. In addition, to prepare an operating procedure that is adaptable to various conditions and situations, the transient analysis results would be required for operator action and system impact assessment. In this study, the flow characteristics in the steady-state and transient conditions for the chemical decontamination operations of the Kori-1 NPP were analyzed and compared via the MARS-KS code simulation. Loss of residual heat removal (RHR) and steam generator tube rupture (SGTR) simulations were conducted for the postulated abnormal events. Loss of RHR results showed the reactor coolant system (RCS) temperature increase, which can damage the reactor coolant pump (RCP)s by its cavitation. The SGTR results indicated a void formation in the RCS interior by the decrease in pressurizer (PZR) pressure, which can cause surface exposure and tripping of the RCPs unless proper actions are taken before the required pressure limit is achieved.

원전 일차계통 HyBRID 제염공정에서 발생되는 제염폐액에는 황산이온과 방사성 핵종을 포함한 금속이온 및 발암성 물질의 하이드라진을 포함하고 있어 이를 안전한 수준으로 처리할 수 있는 기술개발이 필요하다. 본 연구에서는 모의 제염폐액 내 황산 및 금속이온의 제거와 하이드라진의 분해시험을 실시하여 황산이온, 금속이온 및 하이드라진을 효과적으로 제거할 수 있는 HyBRID 제염폐액 처리공정을 도출하였으며, 1 L 규모에서의 반복실험과 Pilot 규모(300 L/batch)에서의 평가시험을 통해 도출한 HyBRID 제염폐액 처리공정의 성능 재현성과 적용성을 검증하였다.

고리 1호기는 원전해체 계획에 따라 영구정지 이후 가능한 한 빠른 시일 내에 원자로냉각재계통의 화학제염을 수행할 계획으로, 계통제염 기술 확보를 위해 한수원에서는 2014년부터‘원전 해체설계를 위한 냉각재계통 및 기기제염 상용기술 개발’연구과제를 통해 화학제염기술을 개발하고 있다. 본 연구를 위해 Lab. 규모 계통제염 공정장치를 제작하였으며, 계통제염 대상의 주요재료인 STS304, 316, 410, Alloy600, SA508을 사용하여 화학제염 공정실험을 수행하였다. 화학제염 공정실험의 목적은 산화-환원공정의 최적시간, 최적제염제 및 공정횟수를 도출하기 위함이다. 화학제염 공정실험은 과망간산-옥살산 기반의 단위공정 및 연속공정 실험, 과망간산+질산-옥살산 기반의 연속공정 실험으로 나누어 수행하였다. 그 결과 단위공정실험을 통해 최적공정 시간인 산화공정 5시간, 환원공정 4시간을 도출하였으며, 연속공정실험을 통해 최적제 염제와 공정횟수를 도출하였다. 최적제염제는 산화제의 경우 200 mg·L-1 과망간산 + 200 mg·L-1 질산이고, 환원제는 2000 mg·L-1 옥살산이며, 공정횟수는 STS304와 SA508의 경우 2 cycle, Alloy600의 경우 3 cycle 이상 수행하는 것이 적절할 것 으로 평가되었다.

국내 가동원전 중 2-루프 가압경수로인 고리1호기는 약 40년 운전한 후, 2017년 6월 18일 영구정지되었다. 영구정지된 고리 1호기는 주요 해체작업을 수행하기전에 계통내 선량률을 저감시켜 작업자피폭을 최소화하기 위한 계통제염을 수행할 예정이다. 일반적으로, 계통제염 범위는 원자로압력용기, 가압기, 증기발생기, 화학 및 체적제어계통, 잔열제거계통 및 원자로 냉각재계통 주요배관을 포함한다. 이러한 계통 및 기기 등을 효율적으로 제염하기 위해서는 제염과정에서 원자로냉각재계 통내 유동특성을 평가할 필요가 있다. 계통제염을 위해 순환유량을 제공하는 방법은 다양하나, 본 논문에서는 잔열제거펌프 운전에 따른 고리1호기 원자로냉각재계통내 유동특성을 평가하였다. 잔열제거펌프를 이용한 계통제염은 원자로냉각재 내 유량의 불균형을 초래하여 계통내 기기 및 배관 등에 불순물을 침적시켜 제염이 효율적이지 않다는 것으로 평가되었다.