Nuclear power plants in Korea stores approximately 3,800 drums of paraffin solidification products. Due to the lack of homogeneity, these solidification products are not allowed to be disposed of. There is therefore a need for the separation of paraffin from the solidification products. This work developed an equipment for a selective separation of paraffin from the solidification product using the vacuum evaporation and condensational recovery method in a closed system. The equipment mainly consists of a vacuum evaporator and a condensational deposition recovery chamber. Nonisothermal vacuum TGAs, kinetic analyses and kinetic predictions were conducted to set appropriate operation conditions. Its basic operability under the established conditions was first confirmed using pure paraffin solid. Simulated paraffin solidification product fixing dried boric acid waste including nonradioactive Co and Cs were then fabricated and tested for the capability of selective separation of paraffin from the simulated waste. Paraffin was selectively separated without entertainment of Co and Cs. It was confirmed that the developed equipment could separate and recover paraffin in the form of nonradioactive waste.

Graphene fiber is considered as a potential material for wearable applications owing to its lightness, flexibility, and high electrical conductivity. After the graphene oxide (GO) solution in the liquid crystal state is assembled into GO fiber through wet spinning, the reduced graphene oxide (rGO) fiber is obtained through a reduction process. In order to further improve the electrical conductivity, herein, we report N, P, and S doped rGO fibers through a facile vacuum diffusion process. The precursors of heteroatoms such as melamine, red phosphorus, and sulfur powders were used through a vacuum diffusion process. The resulting N, P, and S doped rGO fibers with atomic% of 6.52, 4.43 and 2.06% achieved the higher electrical conductivities compared to that of rGO fiber while preserving the fibrious morphology. In particular, N doped rGO fiber achieved the highest conductivity of 1.11 × 104 S m−1, which is 2.44 times greater than that of pristine rGO fiber. The heteroatom doping of rGO fiber through a vacuum diffusion process is facile to improve the electrical conductivity while maintaining the original structure.

Fe-based amorphous coatings were fabricated on a soda-lime glass substrate by the vacuum kinetic spray method. The effect of the gas flow rate, which determines particle velocity, on the deposition behavior of the particle and microstructure of the resultant films was investigated. The as-fabricated microstructure of the film was studied by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). Although the activation energy for transformation from the amorphous phase to crystalline phase was lowered by severe plastic deformation and particle fracturing under a high strain rate, the crystalline phases could not be found in the coating layer. Incompletely fractured and small fragments 100~300 nm in size, which are smaller than initial feedstock material, were found on the coating surface and inside of the coating. Also, some pores and voids occurred between particle-particle interfaces. In the case of brittle Fe-based amorphous alloy, particles fail in fragmentation fracture mode through initiation and propagation of the numerous small cracks rather than shear fracture mode under compressive stress. It could be deduced that amorphous alloy underwent particle fracturing in a vacuum kinetic spray process. Also, it is considered that surface energy caused by the formation of new surfaces and friction energy contributed to the bonding of fragments.