This study presents a rapid and sequential radiochemical separation method for Pu and Am isotopes in radioactive waste samples from the nuclear power plant with anion exchange resin and TRU resin. After radionuclides were leached from the radioactive waste samples with concentrated HCl and HNO3, the sample was allowed to evaporate to dryness after filtering the leaching solution with 0.45 micron filter. The Pu isotopes were separated in HNO3 medium with anion exchange resin. For leaching solution passed through anion exchange column, the Am isotopes were separated with TRU resin. The purified Pu and Am isotopes were measured by alpha spectrometer, respectively, after micro-precipitation of neodymium. The sequential radiochemical separation of Pu and Am isotopes in radioactive waste samples using anion exchange resin and TRU resin was validated with ICP-MS system.

The decommissioning of nuclear power plants will generate a lot of low and intermediate-level radioactive waste (LILW), and preliminary radioactive evaluation for these wastes should be carried out before decommissioning work. Mainly, Concrete, Carbon Steel, Stainless Steel-304 (SS304) and Inconel are used in many parts of nuclear power plants and considered as main resource of nuclear wastes. Depending on the material location, the number of neutrons irradiated to material varies, which can range from self-disposal waste to LILW. In this paper, activation analysis was performed to compare the radiation dose according to the presence or absence of impurity elements present in SS304. For the calculation, SS304 composition and impurity elements were used as described in the report of NUREG-3474. This report lists 41 impurity elements for SS304 and other materials. Calculation code is used ORIGEN-S module in SCALE 6.1 code. Neutron flux is used as arbitrary value that around 1E+11 level and irradiation time is set as 30 year with 10-year cooling time. In the ORIGEN-S calculation, 1g of SS304 is used for easy calculation of specific activity. The ORIGEN-S calculation results are as follows. All impurity elements contained case calculated 9.32E+07 Bq activity. In the absence of all impurity elements case and most cases shows that total Becquerel value after 10-year cooling time around 9.11E+07 Bq, and Co impurity case had larger result. The calculation was performed again by increasing the amount of impurity substances by 100 times to perform the sensitivity evaluation more reliably. Representatively, Li, N, Co, and Ba impurity elements cases were calculated to have a particularly high Becquerel. Especially Co impurity element case, a total Becquerel of 3.03E+08 was calculated. Accordingly, evaluation of impurities mixed in SS304 must be considered, and in particular, the inclusion rate for Co must be considered.

This study presents a rapid and quantitative radiochemical separation method for Nb isotopes in radioactive waste samples from the nuclear power plant with anion exchange resin after Fe coprecipitation. After radionuclides were leached from the radioactive waste samples with concentrated HCl and HNO3, the Nb isotopes were coprecipitated with Fe after filtering the leaching solution with 0.45 micron HA filter, while the Sr, Tc and Ni isotopes were in the solution. The Nb isotopes were separated in HCl medium with anion exchange resin. The purified Nb isotopes were measured using a low level liquid scintillation counter after installing quenching curve with standard Nb-94 isotopes. The separation method for Nb isotopes investigated in this study was applied to neutron dosimeter samples from the nuclear power plant after validating the Nb activity concentration with gamma spectrometry system.

본 연구는 예비 중등교사들을 대상으로 지구 내부에서의 방사성 동위원소에 대한 예비 중등교사의 대안개념의 구조를 이해하는 것이다. 그들의 대안개념의 구조를 Lakatos의 방법론을 기준틀로 한 Niaz(1998)의 제안을 사용하여 분석하였다. 이 연구는 사범대학 과학교육과 3∼4학년 17명을 대상으로 하였다. 연구 방법으로는 개방형 질문지법(open-ended written questionnaire)을 사용하였다. 연구 결과, 예비 중등교사들은 지구내부에서 방사성 동위원소의 붕괴의 설명은 지층의 높은 열과 압력이 그들의 대안개념에 가장 큰 영향을 주고 있었다. 또한 우리가 제안한 과학개념구성을 위한 과학 철학적 수업전략에 따른 그들의 개념변화를 조사하였다.