Deep disposal facility for High-Level radioactive Waste (HLW) uses a multi-barrier system to prevent the leakage of radionuclide. As a part of the engineered barrier, bentonite is primarily considered as the main buffering material. This is due to the adsorption and swelling properties of the bentonite, which are expected to effectively impede leakage of the radionuclide. In many cases, adsorption is generally regarded as occurring only within the buffer zone. However, several research has been conducted to explore the possibility of bentonite intrusion into the Excavation- Damaged Zone (EDZ) generated during excavation processes, because of the swelling properties of the bentonite. Generally, for host rock near the deep disposal facility such as granite, groundwater flows through the fracture network. Therefore, analysis of the characteristics of the fracture network is essential for predicting the behavior of radionuclide in groundwater. Accordingly, the bentonite intrusion into the fracture network is critical for safety assessment of the deep disposal facility. To analyze this, hydro-geochemical model was established utilizing COMSOL Multiphysics and PHREEQC, observing changes of the behavior of U (VI) along fracture network due to the swelling of bentonite. Modeling was conducted with progressively changing intrusion depth of the bentonite. According to the results, the behavior of U (VI) exhibited significant changes depending on the connectivity of the fractures. Based on the distribution characteristics of the fracture network, heterogeneous groundwater flow was observed. U (VI) was transported through the preferential pathway, which indicates high connectivity, due to the rapid groundwater flow. Notably, when changing the intrusion depth of bentonite, significant differences in behavior of U (VI) were observed in the 0-20 cm case. In contrast, as the intrusion depth increased, it was observed that differences became less evident. These results indicate that changes in the properties of fracture network in EDZ due to the swelling of bentonite significantly influence the behavior of U (VI).

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.

The final disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) will take place in a deep geological repository. The metal canister surrounding the SNF is made of cast iron and copper, designed to provide longterm containment of radionuclides. Canister is intended to be safeguarded by a multiple-barrier disposal system comprising engineered and natural barriers. Colloids and gases are mediators that can accelerate radionuclide migration and influence radionuclide behavior when radionuclides leak from the canister at the end of its service life. It is very important to consider these factors in the assessment of the long-term stability of deep dispoal repository. An experimental setup was designed to observe the acceleration of nuclide behavior due to gas-mediated transport in a simulated environment with specific temperature and pressure conditions, similar to those of a deep disposal repository. In this study, experiments were conducted to simulate gas flow within an engineered barrier under conditions reflecting 1000 years post repository closure. The experiment utilized bentonite WRK with a dry density of 1.61 g/cm³ after compaction. The compacted bentonite was subsequently saturated under a water pressure of 5 MPa, equivalent to the hydrostatic pressure found 500 meters underground. Gas was introduced into the saturated bentonite at different pressures to assess the permeation behavior of the bentonite relative to gas pressure variations. Consequently, it was observed that under specific pressures, gas permeated the saturated bentonite, ascending in the form of bubbles. Furthermore, it was noted that when a continuous flow was initiated within the bentonite, erosion took place, leading to the buoyant transportation of eroded particles upward by the bubbles. The particles transported by the bubbles had a relatively small particle size distribution, and cesium also tended to be transported by the bubbles and moved upward. When high-pressure gas is generated at the interface of the canister and the buffer, flow through the buffer can occur, and cationic nuclides such as cesium and strontium can be attached to the gas bubble and migrate. However, the pressure of the gas to break through the saturated buffer is very high, and the amount of cesium transported by the gas bubbles is very limited.

The “shadow zone” is defined as a region below a flow obstacle, such as a vault, in unsaturated soils. Due to the capillary discontinuity of the cavity, water saturation on the top and side of the cavity is higher than the ambient saturation. On the bottom of the cavity, however, there is a region where water saturation is lower than ambient saturation. Undoubtedly, a shadow zone may also exist below a LILW disposal vault built in subsurface soils above the water table before the vault is fully degraded. During the degradation, flow in the shadow zone is controlled by the rate of water infiltrating the degrading vault. In this study, as one of the efforts to be made for enhancing safety margin by a realistic safety assessment of the engineered vault type LILW disposal facility, the shadow zone effect is investigated by a numerical parametric study using AMBER code. The conceptual model and data were excerpted from IAEA, ISAM Vault Test Case for the liquid release design scenario. It is assumed that the nearfield barriers degrade with time. In order to compare a visible shadow zone effect, the vault degradation period is assumed to be both 500 and 1,000 years, and the shadow zone depth to be varied according to unsaturated zone lithology. It can be seen that with a shorter shadow zone (2.7 m), radionuclides arrive at the water table earlier than with a full shadow zone (55 m) due to increased advection rate in the unsaturated zone. This effect tends to be more visible in the case of a longer degradation period. For radionuclides with short residence time relative to their half-lives in the unsaturated zone, such as Tc-99 and I-129, the radionuclides are shown to come out because they will arrive sooner, thereby allowing less peak release rate, when the shadow zone effect is considered. Once the vault is completely degraded and the infiltration rate of water flowing through the vault is equal to the ambient rate, the shadow zone effect disappears. In this example calculations using IAEA ISAM Vault Test Case input parameters, it might not be shown a significant shadow zone effect. Nevertheless, when the extent of the shadow zone is determined through more sophisticated hydraulic studies in the unsaturated soils surrounding the vault, the shadow zone effect would be checked up on the realistic near-field radionuclide transport modeling in order to contribute to gaining safety margins for post-closure safety assessment of the Wolsong 2nd phase LILW disposal facility.

Excavation Damaged Zone (EDZ) is created by the excavation of deposition holes and disposal tunnels at high-level radioactive waste repository that causes macro- and micro-fracturing in the surrounding rock. Since EDZ can significantly increase the hydraulic transmissivity in the rock and act as a major pathway of leaked radionuclides, consideration of EDZ in terms of safety assessment is very important. Moreover, long-term stress changes such as stress redistribution due to excavation of nearby deposition holes and disposal tunnels, thermal stress due to temperature rise, effective stress change due to pore pressure change, and swelling pressure of bentonite buffer can increase EDZ size and change in thermal-hydraulic-mechanical properties, and consequently, it can affect the transport of radionuclides. Therefore, in order to analyze the effect of long-term evolution of EDZ on radionuclide transport, it is essential to conduct numerical analysis considering the coupled Thermal-Hydraulic- Mechanical (THM) behavior in EDZ. In order to simulate the behavior of EDZ, coupled THM model was developed using the Adaptive Process-based total system performance assessment framework for a geological disposal system (APro) proposed by the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI). The concept of damage was introduced to demonstrate the jointed rock as a continuous medium. Among several damage models, Mazars damage model was applied in this study. Mazars damage model is the most well-known model for concrete which has similar behavior with rock as brittle material, and the input data of the model can be easily obtained through laboratory testing. If damage occurs due to the influence of thermal-hydraulic-mechanical coupled behavior at the bedrock, the properties change according to the degree of damage, and as a result, the migration of the radionuclide is affected. Based on this conceptual model, radionuclide transport model in the near field considering the long-term evolution of EDZ was developed. To investigate the effect of EDZ in terms of process-based performance assessment, the modeling results with and without EDZ were compared. Finally, by simulating the coupled THM behavior of EDZ with damage model, the effect of long-term evolution of EDZ on radionuclide transport was investigated.

With the increase of temporarily-stored spent radioactive fuels, there is an increasing necessity for the safe disposal of high-level radioactive waste (HLW). Among various methods for the disposal of HLW, a deep geological disposal system is adapted as a HLW disposal strategy in many countries. Before the construction of a repository in deep geological condition, a performance assessment, which means the use of numerical models to simulate the long-term behavior of a multi-barrier system in HLW repository, has been widely performed to ensure the isolation of radionuclides from human and related environments for more than a million years. Meanwhile, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) is developing a process-based total system performance assessment framework for a geological disposal system (APro). To improve the reliability of APro, KAERI is participating in DECOVALEX-2023 Task F, which is the international joint program for the comparison of the models and methods used in deep geological performance assessment. As a final goal of Task F, the reference case for a generic repository in fractured crystalline rock is described. The three-dimensional generic repository is located in a domain of 5 km in length, 2 km in width, and 1 km in depth, and contains an engineering barrier system with 2,500 deposition holes in fractured crystalline rock. In this study, a numerical simulation of the reference case is performed with COMSOL Multiphysics as a part of Task F. The fractured crystalline rock is described with the discrete fracture matrix (DFM) model, which expresses major deterministic fractures explicitly in the domain and minor stochastic fractures implicitly with upscaled quantities. As an output of the numerical simulation, fluid flow at steady-state and radionuclide transport are evaluated for ~106 years. The result shows that fractures dominate the transport of radionuclides due to much higher hydraulic properties than rock matrix. The numerical modeling approaches used in this study are expected to provide a basis for performance assessment of nuclear waste disposal repository located in fractured crystalline rock.

방사성폐기물의 심층처분에서 생물권에서의 방사성 핵종 이동을 핵종의 이동 경과 시간을 계산하여 평가하는 방법이 제안 되었다. 방사성 핵종은 자연 방벽에서 유출되어 지하 천부의 지하수 흐름을 따라 대규모 지표수체에 도달한다고 가정하였다. 생물권은 기반암 위에 있는 대수층을 포함하는 천부 지하 환경으로 정의하였다. 제안된 방법을 이용하여, 계산 알고리즘을 수립하였고, 알고리즘을 수행하는 컴퓨터 코드를 작성하였다. 작성된 코드는 간단한 사례에서 계산된 모의 결과를 해석해 계산 결과 및 지표 부근에서의 방사성 핵종 이동에 의한 방사선량 평가에 널리 이용되는 공공 프로그램의 계산 결과와 비교하여 검증하였다. 사례 연구 조건을 가상의 심층처분장에서의 방사성 핵종 이동에 대한 이전 연구를 통해 작성하였다. 작성된 코드는 사례 연구에서 생물권의 하천으로 유출되는 핵종의 이동량을 계산하였다. 이전 연구에서는 가상의 처분장에서 모암까지의 방사성핵종의 이동만을 보여주었기 때문에, 이 코드는 모든 경로를 지나가는 방사성 핵종의 전체적인 이동을 파악하는데 도움이 될 수 있었다.

본 연구에서는 콜로이드와 핵종의 복합이동에 관한 수치모델을 개발하였다. 콜로이드와 핵종의 반응-이동 지배방정식을 풀기 위하여 Operator Splitting Method 중 Strang의 분리 SNI 방식을 수치해석 방법으로 채택하였고 이는 MATLAB을 이용하여코드화 되었다. 개발된 수치모델은 용질의 이동 및 분산만을 고려한 해석해를 통한 검증과정에서 피어슨 상관계수의 제곱값(r2)이 0.99 이상으로 나타나 모델의 정확성이 입증되었다.