경동맥의 치료 초음파 자극이 뇌의 생리적인 작용에 미치는 영향은 여전히 연구가 필요한 상황이다. 이에 본 연구 에서는 치료용 초음파를 이용한 비침습적이고, 정량적인 열자극 기법을 이용하여 경동맥의 자극을 통해 뇌의 생리적 인 기능을 개선하고 건강한 뇌 기능을 유지할 수 있는 방법을 제안하고자 하였다. 건강한 20대 성인 남녀 27명을 대상으로 연구를 진행하였다. 바로 누운 자세에서 진단용 초음파를 이용하여 우측 총경동맥(right common carotid artery, CCA)의 자극 위치를 확인하고, 우측 목빗근(sternocleidomastoid muscle)에 치료 초음파 자극을 적용하였다. 치료 초음파 자극은 치료용 초음파를 이용하여 3MHz의 주파수에서 총 2가지 강도 (5W/cm2 and 10W/cm2)에서 각각 2분 동안 중재하였다. 근적외선분광법(near-infrared spectroscopy, NIRS)을 이용하 여 대뇌산소포화도(regional cerebral oxygen saturation, rSO2) 및 헤모글로빈(hemoglobin, Hb) 농도의 변화를 측정 하여 비교하였으며, 추가적으로 강도에 따른 중재 구간별 변화를 비교 분석하였다. 두피와 대뇌피질 사이(Shallow) 영역에서 rSO2는 강도에 따라서 서로 증감이 다르게 나타났다. 즉, 5W/cm2에서는 중재전과 비교하여 중재중과 중재후에 모두 감소하는 경향을 보였고, 10W/cm2에서는 모두 증가하는 경향을 보였지 만, 모두 통계적으로 유의한 차이를 보이지는 않았다. 반면, 대뇌피질(Deep) 영역에서는 중재중에서 강도와 상관없이 통계적으로 유의한 감소를 보였고(p = .001 for 5W/cm2; p < .001 for 10W/cm2), 중재중과 비교하여 중재후에는 다시 중재전의 상태로 회복되는 경향을 보였다(p = .016 for 5W/cm2; p = .012 for 1 0W/cm2). 옥시헤모글로빈 (oxyhemoglobin, HbO)의 변화는 5W/cm2 자극에서 중재중에서만 유의한 증가를 보였고(p = .036), 디옥시헤모글로 빈(deoxyhemoglobin, HbR)은 감소하는 경향을 나타냈지만, 유의한 차이를 보이지는 않았다. 10W/cm2 자극에서 HbO와 HbR이 모두 감소하는 경향을 보였지만, 유의한 차이를 보이지 않았다. 강도에 따른 변화는 Shallow 영역에 서 rSO2가 유의한 차이를 보였다(중재중, p = .023; 중재후, p = .022). 결론적으로 3MHz의 주파수와 5W/cm2와 10W/cm2 강도로 중재를 수행하게 된다면, 중재중에 Deep 영역의 rSO2 의 감소를 야기한다는 것을 볼 수 있었다. 10W/cm2의 강한 강도의 자극에서는 Shallow 영역에서 rSO2가 증가하고, Deep 영역에서는 감소하는 것을 보여주었다. 이는 강한 강도의 자극에 의해 내경동맥의 혈류 증가로 인한 대뇌피질 에서의 효과적인 자극이 아니라 외경동맥의 혈류 증가로 인하여 Shallow 영역에서의 혈류 공급의 과다로 인한 현상 이 나타난 것으로 보여 진다. 반면, 대뇌에서 HbO는 5W/cm2의 강도에서 증가하였고, 이는 전반적인 산소 공급량이 높아졌음을 의미한다. 이에 적절한 강도의 치료용 초음파 자극을 사용한다면 기존에 알려져 있던 뇌혈류의 개선을 통하여 뇌혈관 건강을 개선하는 기능과 더불어 대뇌의 생리적인 기능을 조절하여 뇌기능의 개선에 기여할 수 있을 것으로 보인다.

La modified lead zirconate titanate ceramics (Pb0.92La0.08)(Zr0.95Ti0.05)O3 = PLZT-8/95/5 were prepared using the conventional solid state reaction method in order to investigate the complex impedance characteristics of the PLZT-8/95/5 ceramic according to temperature. The complex impedance in the PLZT-8/95/5 ceramic was measured over a temperature range of 30~550 °C at several frequencies. The complex dielectric constant anomaly of the phase transition was observed near TU1 = 179 °C and TU2 = 230 °C. A remarkable diffuse dielectric constant anomalous behaviour of the complex dielectric constant was found between 100 °C and 550 °C. The complex impedance spectra below and above TU1 and TU2 were fitted by the superposition of two Cole-Cole types of impedance relaxations. The fast component in the higher frequency region may be due to ion migration in the bulk, and the slow component in the lower frequency region is interpreted to be the formation and migration of ions at the grain boundary or electrode/crystal interfacial polarization.

Concrete is the primary building material for nuclear facilities, making it one of the most common forms of radioactive waste generated when decommissioning a nuclear facility. Of the total waste generated at the Connecticut Yankee and Maine Yankee nuclear power plants in the United States, concrete waste accounts for 83.5% of the total for Connecticut Yankee and 52% for Maine Yankee. In order to dispose of the low- to medium-level radioactive concrete waste generated during the decommissioning of nuclear power plants, it is necessary to analyze the radioactivity concentration of gamma nuclides such as Co-58, Co-60, Cs-137, and Ce-144. Gamma-ray spectroscopy is commonly used method to measure the radioactivity concentration of gamma nuclides in the radioactive waste; however, due to the nature of gamma detectors, gamma rays from sequentially decaying nuclides such as Co-60 or Y-88 are subject to True Coincidence Summing (TCS). TCS reduces the Full Energy Peak Efficiency (FEPE) of specific gamma ray and it can cause underestimation of radioactivity concentration. Therefor the TCS effect must be compensated for in order to accurately assess the radioactivity of the sample. In addition, samples with high density and large volume will experience a certain level of self-shielding effect of gamma rays, so this must also be compensated for. The Radioactive Waste Chemical Analysis Center at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute performs nuclide analysis for the final disposal of low- and intermediate-level concrete waste. Since a large number of samples must be analyzed within the facility, the analytical method must simultaneously satisfy accuracy and speed. In this study, we report on the results of evaluating the accuracy of the radioactivity concentration correction by applying an efficiency transfer method that appears to satisfy these requirements to concrete standard reference material.

The inorganic scintillator used in gamma spectroscopy must have good efficiency in converting the kinetic energy of charged particles into light as well as high light output and high light detection efficiency. Accordingly, various studies have been conducted to enhance the net-efficiency. One way to improve the light yield has been studied by coating scintillators with various nanoparticles, so that the scintillation light can undergo resonance on surface between scintillators and nanoparticles resulting in higher light yield. In this study, an inorganic scintillator coated with CsPbBr3 perovskite nanocrystals using dip coating technique was proposed to improve scintillation light yield. The experiment was carried out by measuring scintillation light output, as the result of interaction between inorganic scintillator coated with CsPbBr3 perovskite nanocrystals and gamma-ray emitted from Cs-137 gamma source. The experimental results show that the channel corresponding to 662 keV full energy peak in the Cs-137 spectrum shifted to the right by 14.37%. Further study will be conducted to investigate the detailed relationships between the scintillation light yield and the characteristics of coated perovskite nanoparticles, such as diameter of nanoparticles, coated area ratio and width of coated region.

Raman characteristics of various minerals constituting natural rocks collected from uranium deposits in Okcheon metamorphic zone in Korea are presented. Micro-Raman spectra were measured using a confocal Raman microscope (Renishaw in Via Basis). The focal length of the spectrometer was 250 mm, and a 1800 lines/mm grating was installed. The outlet of the spectrometer was equipped with a CCD (1,024256 pixel) operating at -70°C. Three objective lenses were installed, and each magnification was 10, 50, and 100 times. The diameter of the laser beam passing through the objective lens and incident on the sample surface was approximately 2 m. The laser beam power at 532 nm was 1.6 mW on the sample surface. Raman signal scattered backward from the sample surface was transmitted to the spectrometer through the same objective lens. To accurately determine the Raman peak position of the sample, a Raman peak at 520.5 cm-1 measured on a silicon wafer was used as a reference position. Since quartz, calcite, and muscovite minerals are widely distributed throughout the rock, it is easy to observe with an optical microscope, so there is no difficulty in measuring the Raman spectrum. However, it is difficult to identify the uraninite scattered in micrometer sizes only with a Raman microscope. In this case, the location of uraninite was first confirmed using SEM-EDS, and then the sample was transferred to the Raman microscope to measure the Raman spectrum. In particular, a qualitative analysis of the oxidation and lattice conditions of natural uraninite was attempted by comparing the Raman properties of a micrometer-sized natural uraninite and a laboratory-synthesized UO2 pellet. Significantly different T2g/2LO Raman intensity ratio was observed in the two samples, which indicates that there are defects in the lattice structure of natural uraninite. In addition, no uranyl mineral phases were observed due to the deterioration of natural uraninite. This result suggests that the uranium deposit is maintained in a reduced state. Rutile is also scattered in micrometer-sizes, similar to uraninite. The Raman spectrum of rutile is similar in shape to that of uraninite, making them confused. The Raman spectral differences between these two minerals were compared in detail.

Fulvic acid, a humic substance with unique properties, has sparked interest due to its potential applications in the treatment of allergic diseases, Alzheimer's disease, and as a microplastic adsorbent. However, conventional extraction methods produce insufficient quantities for commercial use, which has prompted research to enhance fulvic acid production. In this study, we investigated the impact of Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentation on the yield and spectral characteristics of fulvic acid extracted from white peat. Fulvic acid was extracted from both S. cerevisiae-treated and untreated white peats using acid precipitation. The yield of fulvic acid from the S. cerevisiae treated group reached its highest at 3.5 % after 72 hr of fermentation, which was significantly higher than the untreated group (1.1 %). Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) analysis revealed similarities in functional groups and characteristic absorption bands between the treated and untreated fulvic acid samples. These findings suggest that S. cerevisiae fermentation can increase the yield of fulvic acid extracted from white peat, providing a promising approach for enhancing the commercial viability of fulvic acid production.

Some of the metal waste generated from KEPCO NF is being disposed of in the form of ingots. An ingot is a metal that is melted once and then poured into a mold to harden, and it is characterized by a uniform distribution of radioactive material. When measuring the uranium radioactivity in metal ingot with HPGe detector, 185.7 keV of U-235 is used typically because most gamma rays emitted at U-235 are distributed in low-energy regions below 200 keV. To analyze radioactivity concentration of U-235 with HPGe detector more accurately, self-attenuation due to geometrical differences between the calibration source and the sample must be corrected. In this study, the MCNP code was used to simulate the HPGe gamma spectroscopy system, and various processes were performed to prove the correlation with the actual values. First an metal ingottype standard source was manufactured for efficiency calibration, and the GEB coefficient was derived using Origin program. And through the comparison of actual measurements and simulations, the thickness of the detector’s dead layers were defined in all directions of Ge crystal. Additionally instead of making an metal ingot-type standard source every time, we analyzed the measurement tendency between commercially available HPGe calibration source (Marinelli beaker type) and the sample (metal ingot type), and derived the correction factor for geometry differences. Lastly the correction factor was taken into consideration when obtaining the uranium radioactivity concentration in the metal ingot with HPGe gamma spectroscopy. In conclusion, the U-235 radioactivity in metal ingot was underestimated about 25% of content due to the self-attenuation. Therefore it is reasonable to reflect this correction factor in the calculation of U-235 radioactivity concentration.

Neptunium (Np) is one of the daughter elements included in the decay chain of Pu. The quantitative analysis of Np isotopes is required for radioactive waste characterization, research on actinide chemistry, etc. Np-237 has a long half-life (2.144 million years), but its daughter Pa-233 has a relatively short half-life (26.975 days). For this reason, after a sufficient time elapses following the chemical preparation process of the analyte, the two nuclides are in radiation equilibrium in the sample. Np-237 emits alpha-rays while Pa-233 emits beta-rays. Both nuclides also emit gamma- and X-rays. In this study, alpha-rays were measured using liquid scintillation counting (LSC) method and alpha spectrometry. Gamma-spectrometry with a HPGe detector was used for the analysis of gammaand X-rays. In addition, we compared the radiometric results with quantitative analysis of Np using UV-Vis absorption spectrometry. The LSC method and the HPGe gamma-spectroscopy do not require extensive sample preparation procedures. Alpha spectroscopy requires a standard material spiking, separation by coprecipitation, and disk-type sample preparation procedure to obtain measurement efficiency and recovery factor. A reference material sample with a concentration of 5.8 mM was analyzed by the four analysis methods, and all of the measured results agreed well within a difference level of 4%.

Plastic scintillators can be used to find radioactive sources for portal monitoring due to their advantages such as faster decay time, non-hygroscopicity, relatively low manufacturing cost, robustness, and easy processing. However, plastic scintillators have too low density and effective atomic number, and they are not appropriate to be used to identify radionuclides directly. In this study, we devise the radiation sensor using a plastic scintillator with holes filled with bismuth nanoparticles to make up for the limitations of plastic materials. We use MCNP (Monte Carlo N-particle) simulating program to confirm the performance of bismuth nanoparticles in the plastic scintillators. The photoelectric peak is found in the bismuth-loaded plastic scintillator by subtracting the energy spectrum from that of the standard plastic scintillator. The height and diameter of the simulated plastic scintillator are 3 and 5 cm, respectively, and it has 19 holes whose depth and diameter are 2.5 and 0.2 cm, respectively. As a gamma-ray source, Cs-137 which emits 662 keV energy is used. The clear energy peak is observed in the subtracted spectrum, the full width at half maximum (FWHM) and the energy resolution are calculated to evaluate the performance of the proposed radiation sensor. The FWHM of the peak and the energy resolution are 61.18 keV and 9.242% at 662 keV, respectively.

Dose-rate monitoring instruments are indispensable to protect workers from the potential risk of radiation exposure, and are commonly calibrated in terms of the ambient dose equivalent (H*(10)), an operational quantity that is widely used for area monitoring. Plastic scintillation detectors are ideal equipment for dosimetry because of their advantages of low cost and tissue equivalence. However, these detectors are rarely used owing to the characteristics caused by low-atomic-number elements, such as low interaction coefficients and poor gamma-ray spectroscopy. In this study, we calculated the G(E) function to utilize a plastic scintillation detector in spectroscopic dosimetry applications. Numerous spectra with arbitrary energies of gamma rays and their H*(10) were calculated using Monte Carlo simulations and were used to obtain the G(E) function. We acquired three different types of G(E) functions using the least-square and first-order methods. The performances of the G(E) functions were compared with one another, including the conventional total counting method. The performance was evaluated using 133Ba, 137Cs, 152Eu, and 60Co radioisotopes in terms of the mean absolute percentage error between the predicted and true H*(10) values. In addition, we confirmed that the dose-rate prediction errors were within acceptable uncertainty ranges and that the energy responses to 137Cs of the G(E) function satisfied the criteria recommended by the International Commission.

During electrorefining, fission products, such as Sr and Cs, accumulate in a eutectic LiCl-KCl molten salt and degrade the efficiency of the separation process by generating high heat and decreasing uranium capture. Thus, the removal of the fission products from the molten salt bath is essential for reusing the bath, thereby reducing the additional nuclear waste. While many studies focus on techniques for selective separation of fission products, there are few studies on processing monitoring of those techniques. In-situ monitoring can be used to evaluate separation techniques and determine the integrity of the bath. In this study, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) was selected as the monitoring technique to measure concentrations of Sr and Cs in 550°C LiCl-KCl molten salt. A laser spectroscopic setup for analyzing high-temperature molten salts in an inert atmosphere was established by coupling an optical path with a glove box. An air blower was installed between the sample and lenses to avoid liquid splashes on surrounding optical products caused by laser-liquid interaction. Before LIBS measurements, experimental parameters such as laser pulse energy, delay time, and gate width were optimized for each element to get the highest signal-to-noise ratio of characteristic elemental peaks. LIBS spectra were recorded with the optimized conditions from LiCl-KCl samples, including individual elements in a wide concentration range. Then, the limit of detections (LODs) for Sr and Cs were calculated using calibration curves, which have high linearity with low errors. In addition to the univariate analysis, partial least-squares regression (PLSR) was employed on the data plots to obtain calibration models for better quantitative analysis. The developed models show high performances with the regression coefficient R2 close to one and root-mean-square error close to zero. After the individual element analysis, the same process was performed on samples where Sr and Cs were dissolved in molten salt simultaneously. The results also show low-ppm LODs and an excellent fitted regression model. This study illustrates the feasibility of applying LIBS to process monitoring in pyroprocessing to minimize nuclear waste. Furthermore, this high-sensitive spectroscopic system is expected to be used for coolant monitoring in advanced reactors such as molten salt reactors.

One of the promising candidates for heat transfer fluid is molten chloride salts. They have been studied in various fields such as the electrolyte of pyroprocessing, the molten salt reactor coolant, and the energy storage system media. Main considerations for utilizing molten chloride salts are the compatibility of salts with structural materials. The corrosion behavior of structural materials in molten chloride salts must be understood to identify suitable materials against the corrosive environment. In this study, the corrosion behavior of a candidate structural material, Hastelloy N, in molten LiCl- KCl salt at 500°C were investigated by the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) method. The sheet type of Hastelloy N was utilized as the working electrode in LiCl-KCl to measure the EIS data for 100 hours with 5 hours of time intervals. The EIS data were measured in the frequency range from 104 Hz to 10-2 Hz with the AC signal (amplitude = 20 mV) at open circuit potential. The capacitance semicircle observed in Nyquist plots for all periods indicates that charge-transfer controlled reactions occur. As the immersion time progresses, the radius of the semicircle in Nyquist plots and the impedance and phase angle in Bode plots decrease. These behaviors suggest a decreasing reaction resistance and the corrosion reactions are accelerated with the immersion time. The EIS data were fitted using the equivalent circuit to achieve quantitative results. Two capacitor-resistor components were considered due to the overlapped shape of two valleys in phase angle. The depressed shape of the semicircle in Nyquist plots led to the use of the constant phase element(Q) instead of the capacitor. Therefore, R(Q(R(QR))) circuit was selected to fit the EIS data. Fitting results show that the charge transfer resistance decreases dramatically within 1 day and then converges. The film resistance shows no clear trends, but the increase of the film admittance value indicates the decreased film thickness. Consequently, the film appears to exist like the oxide layer but it does not act as a protective layer. The real-time EIS data were measured in molten salt and provides the corrosion behavior over time. The corrosion mitigation strategy should consider that the corrosion of Hastelloy N accelerates over time and its intrinsic film cannot act as the protective layer. The next steps of this study are to evaluate other candidate structural materials and to demonstrate the presence of the film.