FNCA
Forum for Nuclear Cooperation in Asia

Nuc lear Safety
Resea rch Assoc iation(F N CA Secretar iat

Topics from Participating Countries*in no particular order

Malaysia
Mohd Abd Wahab Yusof
Nurul Wahida Kamaruddin
Malaysian Nuclear Agency

Public Participation Programme for
Borehole Disposal Project: The Malaysia
Context
Introduction
Public confidence is essential in the management of

Figure 1: Basic principles for successful application of public
involvement techniques

radioactive waste. Therefore, in order to build publicconfidence in the development of borehole disposal
facility, there is a need to have a comprehensive
programme on public information and involvement.
This comprehensive programme should include
objectives, target groups, available sources, media
information that can be used in the execution of the
project, consultation with public on various issues,
notably site selection, which involves environmental

Malaysian Programmes on Public Participationin the Borehole Disposal Facility Project
Malaysia is studying the possibility for disposing of
disused sealed radioactive sources into borehole.
Borehole disposal concept has been introduced by
the International Atomic Energy Agency for country
who has small nuclear programme. In order to ensure
the borehole disposal project successful, public
involvement is essential. Therefore, Malaysia has
introduced several programmes on public
participation on borehole disposal project.

impact studies as well as the safety case for theborehole disposal facility. Figure 1 shows basic
principles for successful application of public
information and involvement techniques.
-1-Exhibition Gallery
At Nuklear Malaysia, there is an exhibition gallery
which consists of several panels explaining borehole
disposal project, management of low, intermediateand high level waste, and also example of available
radioactive waste disposal technology from othercountries. There are also dummies of un-treated andcompacted radioactive waste in barrels and a replicaof the borehole disposal facility. This approach has
proved to be very effective, since it is not only
informative to the members of local community, but

Figure 2: Visitors at Exhibition Gallery

Leaflets
Leaflets are designed in the appealing style and willit also could attract delegations of different kinds ofpublic such as students, international visitor etc.

provide the reader with updated information for later
reference. Information in the leaflets such asradioactive and radiation, radioactive waste
management, borehole disposal project needs to beaddressed properly. Different target groups need tohave different leaflets. For the scientific community
it is necessary to use technical language and provides
scientific and technical details, while this should be
avoided in leaflets which intended for members ofgeneral public. Also the terminology has to bedifferent, as well as the way of writing and the use ofillustrations. When publications are produced it isequally important to have them distributed to theright people.
Visit to the Interim Long-Term Storage Facility andBorehole Disposal Project
A pre-treatment storage facility and an interim longterm storage facility are available at Nuklear
Malaysia. The construction of the interim long-term
storage facility was completed in August 2000. The
facility was designed to cater for 400 drums of 200liter waste package after treatment andimmobilization. Lecture, visit to exhibition gallery,visit to storage facility and borehole disposal project
are typically merged during a single visit ofvisitors/students etc. to Nuklear Malaysia. Some ofthese activities are shown in Table 2.

-2-

Table 2: List of the Visiting Programme to Storage Facility
and Bore disposal ProjectMedia Relations
In public information programs, the role ofjournalists is important. With the proper information
provided for the subject/topic, it will attract theinterest of the journalist. Activities such as press
conferences, press releases, media discussions,special tours to places chosen by a group ofjournalists, are among the proposed activities of thespecial media information. Table 3 shows the impact
of media publicity to Nuclear Malaysia in promoting
nuclear technology in Malaysia. In future, the BDF
project will be promoted through these methods sothat information can be disseminated to the publicmore effectively.
Seminar/ Conference/ Workshop in Relation To
Borehole Disposal Project
Seminar, conference, workshop and forum are someof the ways to make people understand about
borehole disposal project and to ensure the people
who involve with this project are competent. This isvery important because in will create awareness andcan increase confidence level. Therefore, Nuklear
Malaysia
hasorganized
severalseminar/conference/workshops related to borehole
disposal project as shown in Table 3.
Table 3: Seminar/ Conference/ Workshop/ related to borehole
disposal project (No. 1)

Figure 3: Visit to the Storage Facility and Borehole
Disposal project-3-

Table 3: Seminar/ Conference/ Workshop/ related to borehole
disposal project (No. 2)

Nuklear Malaysia Technology Preview & Showcase 2015

Nuklear Malaysia Technology Preview & Showcase
2015 was held on 26-29 October 2015 at Malaysian
Nuclear Agency. The Honourable Datuk Seri
Panglima Wilfred Madius Tangau, Minister of
Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI),
launched the Technology Preview & Showcase 2015
organized by the Nuclear Malaysia.
This programme involved various activities such as
product launches, exhibition of products andservices, a seminar on commercialization,
intellectual property seminar, innovation and visit toplants and main laboratory in Nuclear Malaysia.
Borehole Disposal project team members were also
involved in promoting the borehole disposal
technology to the public in this programme.

Figure 4: Nuclear Malaysia Technology Preview & Showcase
2015

Public Forum and Showcase on Development of
Borehole Disposal Project
Issues of public perception and confidence have been
most critical in gaining approval for development of
repositories for radioactive waste, which raises thequestion of how best to achieve confidence regarding
the ethical, economic, political and technical aspectsof waste management strategy, and disposal inparticular.
Based on these, on 12th Feb 2016, a public forum andshowcase was held at Malaysian Nuclear Malaysia
focusing on the development of the borehole
disposal. The Forum, chaired by the Director of
Safety and Health Radiation Division, Dr. Wan-4-

Saffiey Bin Hj. Wan Abdullah, has gathered over 100
participantsfrom
Nuclear
Malaysia
andEnvironment Technology Division), Mr. Marzukee
Nik B. Nik Ibrahim (senior officer of Waste

academicians. The aims of this forum are:a) to help develop better solutions acceptable to allparties, by incorporating public values andconcerns into decision making build trust, inboth the process and the organizations involvedb) To gain community support for a projectc) To help counter external opposition to theprojectd) To canvass their inputs, views and concerns

Technology Development Centre) and Dr Norasalwa
Zakaria(Managerof Waste Technology
Development Centre). Question and answer session
were held after the presentation.

Figure 5: Speakers and participants of Public Forum on
Borehole Disposal Project

The forum has invited experts in radioactive waste
management and borehole disposal concept to
explain the work involved and recent developmentof this project in Malaysia. Among the speakers wereDr Mohd Yusof Abd Wahab (Director of Waste andBriefing by team members on borehole disposal project-5-

Conclusion
The most important aspect of public participation

radiological facilities from regulatory control andsafe management of radioactive waste. The firstprocess is the fact that it is a transparent process. It
is a stepwise process, and it is important that theindividual role and expected products for each step
are well defined. It is also important to haveflexibility to adapt situations that cannot be foreseen
at an early stage.

phase study shows that several areas such as the
U/Th extraction, monazite and the NORM residues
storage of the TINT Rare Earth Research &Development Center are contaminated.
Introduction
Rare-earth mineral concentrates are chemicallyprocessed to extract intermediate groups of mixed
rare earth compounds. Chemical treatment ofWhilst taking the budgetary constraints into
consideration, it is important for Nuklear Malaysia
to optimize this public participation process. Nuklearmineral concentrates derived from hard rockdeposits may start with roasting in air (calcining) todrive off carbon dioxide and oxidize cerium to thetetravalent state. This is in many situations followed
by treatment with hydrochloric acid to dissolve non-

Malaysia needs to gather as much information as
possible from this approach, so that it can be used as
lessons learned in near future for public participation
processes.

cerium rare earths, yielding a marketable cerium
concentrate which can be used directly as a low value
product or further separated into high purity
individual rare earths as shown in Figure 1.

Thailand
Nanthavan Ya-anantThailand Institute of Nuclear Technology(TINT)Development on Radiation Safety andRadioactive Waste Management at theRare Earth R&D Center, Pathumthani,
ThailandSummary: The rare-earth extraction and the U-Th
extraction pilot plants of the Rare-earth Research andDevelopment Center (RE R&D Center), at Pathum
Thani province, were operated during 1995-2005.
After that the activities and the facilities were nolonger in operation. After the heavy floods occurringin 2011, the pilot plants and surrounding areas were
contaminated with naturally occurring radioactive
material (NORM) residues. The survey procedures
were conducted for checking contamination of the
Monazite processing and the U-Th extraction plants
for the radiation safety and radioactive waste
management and for the future remediation. The
environmental samples such as sludge, and wateraround the site were investigated. The objective of
this study is to prepare all technical andadministrative actions leading to the release of those

Figure 1 Monazite processing plant and diagram-6-

Methods:
Monitoring contamination and exposure dose rate at

Exposure dose and contamination
Building No. 8 was separated to 2 sections: thethe U-Th extraction and monazite processing plantDirect dose rate measurement (Figure.2)-Collecting
environmental samples for analyzing theradioactivity in samples (Figures 3).

uranium and thorium processing and the monazite
processing sections. The grid is applied to eachsection to estimate dose rate and contamination, ineach square. The results of dose rates andcontamination at the uranium and thorium
processing and the monazite processing plants, areshown in Figure 4 and Figure 5 respectively. Wideareas of contamination cause high dose rates in thebuilding No. 8, mainly in the uranium and thorium
processing section. The highest dose rate andcontamination is 300 µSv/hr, 100,000 cpm at thearea A1 in the map.

Figure 2.Survey on Dose rate and Contamination

Monitoring environmental sample
Radionuclides and activity concentration in surface
water from the environment shown in Table1.

Figure 4. Dose rates and contamination at U/Th plant

Figure 3.Sampling of water and sluges on site

Figure 5. Dose rates and contamination atmonazite processing plant

Table 1. Radioactivity in water samples on-site.

Radiation safety infrastructure-7-

Worker awareness and training are particularly
important for supporting the introduction ofradiation safety rules and for creating an
understanding of the precautions embodied in suchrules. Individual employee work practices may
exacerbate dust generation. The general standard ofhousekeeping and spillage control also needs to be
kept under regular review. Even when low activity
concentration materials are handled, a reasonable
standard of housekeeping may be necessary toensure that dust and dirty from bird shamConclusion
This study is aimed to survey the NORM residue/

resuspension are adequately controlled. Very highstandards would generally be required in theprocessing areas and storage areas where highly
active material such as monazite sand, U cake/ Th
cake are stored.

NORM waste located at the Rare-earth Research andDevelopment Center. The contamination in water
samples from ponds and high contamination inliquid waste stored at Building8 were found. The
regulatory controls of NORM should be
strengthened, e.g. management of NORM residues,
residues disposal, environment monitoring, andeffluent
discharge
toenvironment.
The
comprehensive plan should be draw up to balance ofprevent contamination with workers. The survey of
the whole site should be conducted. The
contamination zone found should be clean up or
remediated.

Advised Measures
1.

The comprehensive plan should be draw up tobalance of prevent contamination with workers(RWM staff and etc.)

2.

Regulatory controls should be strengthened, e.g.
management of NORM residues, residues
disposal, environment monitoring, and effluent(processing water, gas) discharge toenvironment

3.

Contamination zone should be clean up or
remediated4.

Survey the whole site and take remediation

References[1] International Atomic Energy Agency, Safety
Report Series No.68, Radiation Protection and
NORM Residue in the Production of Rare
Earths from Thorium Containing Materials[2] Srisuksawat, K, et al. “Pre-operational Survey ofmeasurements
5.

a Rare-earth Research andDevelopment
Center”, Proceeding of the 6th Nuclear Scienceand Technology Conference, Office of Atoms
for Peace, Bangkok, Thailand (1996)

Reuse of slag for building material should beseriously controlled to ensure the radiation level
below limitations-8-

Indonesia

Safety as avalue that isrecognized &understood

Moch Romli
Arie Budianti
National Nuclear Energy Agency (BATAN)

Leadershipin safety

Safetyaccountability

Self-Assessment Survey for Safety Culture
Implementation in Center for Radioactive
Waste Technology

Characteristicof Safety
CultureIntroduction
Center for Radioactive Waste Technology (CRWT)
is part of National Nuclear Energy Agency (BATAN)

Integrated
safetySafety as
learning
activator

organization that has a role in radioactive waste
management. In the operation of waste treatment
facilities (such as incinerator, evaporator, and boiler),
there is great hazard potential.

Figure 1. Safety Culture Characteristics

Safety in the operation of the facility is thecontribution of employees’ awareness to behavesafely. Consistent Safety behaviour of the employees
will build a strong safety culture in organizations.

Characteristic 1: Safety as a value that isrecognized & understood
1. Safety is the highest priority, as shown in the
documentation, communication, and decision-

Annually, CRWT management organizes theactivities as efforts in the safety culture development.
To evaluate the safety culture development efforts,
annually conducted the self-assessment survey to
examine implementation of safety culture. In theimplementation on self-assessment survey is basedon Regulation of BATAN Head No. 200 year 2012.

making;Safety is a major consideration in resource
allocation;
Safety strategy is reflected in the organization’s
work plan;
Individual believe that the safety and activity
results in line;
Long-term approach to proactive and safetyissues indicated in decision-making;

The attributes of each characteristics are as follows:

2.
3.
4.
5.

Methodology
Conducted the self-assessment survey with fillingout the questionnaire that has been attached on
Regulation of BATAN Head Number 200 year 2012.
The questionnaire is an adaptation of the IAEA
document Scart Guidelines. The questionnaire
contained 5 (five) safety culture characteristics that
become the object of assessment (Figure 1). These
characteristics consist of 37 (thirty seven) attributes
in more detail.

6.

Social behaviour aware of the safety andreceived/ supported (both formally andinformally);

Characteristic 2: Leadership in Safety
7. The manager is committed to safety clearly;
8. Commitment to safety is clear at all levels ofmanagement;
9. Leadership are safety-related activities
involving the management level;
10. Leadership skills are systematically developed/
improved;
11. Managements ensures that there is sufficientindividual competence;-9-12. Management tried to involve individual insafety improvement;

the high commitment;
Characteristic 5: Safety as Learning Activator
31. questioned the prevailing attitude at all levels of
the organization;
32. Conformity report system is available;
33. Do internal and external assessment, including
self-assessment;
34. Learn from the organization and operation
experience (both internal and external facility);
35. Learning is facilitated through the ability torecognize and diagnose deviations, to formulate

13. In the change management process, the safety
implications to be considered;
14. Management indicates continuous efforts intransparency and communicating to all levels as
well;
15. Management has the ability to resolve conflicts;
16. The relationship between managers andindividuals are based on trust;
Characteristic 3: Safety Accountability
17. There is relationship which is in accordancewith the regulatory body, which ensure that thesafety accountability remains with the license;
18. Roles and responsibilities are clearly definedand understood;

and implement solutions and monitor the resultsof corrective action;
36. Safety performance indicators are continuallymonitored, evaluated, and acted upon;
37. There is a systematic development of individual

19. There are high levels of compliance to the rules
and procedures;
20. Management
delegate
responsibilities
appropriate
authority
to
build
clear

competencies.
Each of these attributes has a value of its own weight
ranging from responses excellent, good, adequate,
less, and bad. Scoring on attributes of safety culture
is determined by the weight of importance with aweight score 9 to 65, where a score of 65 is
considered the most important. The total value for allof the characteristics obtained by the formula:accountability;
21. Safety ownership at all levels organizations andindividuals is clear;
Characteristic 4: Integrated Safety
22. Organization based on trust;
23. Consideration for all kinds of safety, including
the industrial and environmental safety;
24. A good quality of documentation andTotal value = C1 + C2 + C3 + C4 + C5
where each C1 up to C5 are the sum of the averagevalues for each attribute in one characteristics group.

procedures;
25. good quality of the process, from planning to
implementation and review;
26. individuals have the necessary knowledge andunderstanding of the work process;27. there is a presumption against the factors that
influence motivation and job satisfaction;
28. There are good working conditions on theconditions of time pressure, workload and

The total value of these attributes determine thestatus of the safety culture of the organization's rank.
There are five ratings status of implementation ofsafety culture in an organization as follows in Figure
2.
Results and Discussion
Self-assessment respondents are active employees
CRWT of the Waste Management Division,stress;29. There interdisciplinary and cross-functional
collaboration, and teamwork;
30. Housekeeping and material conditions reflects

Occupational and Operations Safety Division, Waste
Facility Development Division, Waste Management
and Storage Technology Division, Administration-10-

Division, Quality Assurance Unit, and Nuclear
Security Unit.

requirements or expectations of the design orprogram implementation, but the deviation is not arisk to health, safety, security, environmental, orcompliance with the safety requirements.

Rank A (834 - 1000 point)A
Nuclear installation or facility has safety
performance over the provisions required

Rank B (667 - 833 point)

B

Nuclear installation or facility has safety
performance in accordance with the provisions
required
Rank C (534 - 666 point)

C
Nuclear installation or facility has safety
performance under the provisions required

Rank D (400 - 533)

D
Nuclear installation or facility safety performance
has significantly under the provisions required

Rank E (0 - 400)Einefficiency, inadequacy, and lack of control overthe program

Figure 2. Ranking Status of Implementation of Safety Culture

Figure 4. Diagram Percentage per Performance Safety Culture
Characteristics

The number of employees who participate in the
From the diagram above, it can be seen that thesurvey as many as 111 peoples from all employees
CRWT 125 person. After data processing, some ofthe data coming out of the trend (outliers) were
excluded from the calculation so that the respondents
were included in the final calculation of only 99
people (79, 2 % of the total employees).

highest score in safety culture characteristics issafety as a value that is recognized & understood.
While the lowest score is safety as learning activator.

Figure 3. Questionnaires by CRWT Employees

Figure 5. Achievement Percentage per Attribute of Safety
CultureBased on the results of data processing, the total
value obtained was 792, 59. This value is entered in

Based on the analysis of the attributes, the highest
average score in safety is highest priority, as shownin the documentation, communication, and decisionmaking. While the lowest performance, there ismanagement has the ability to resolve conflict.
From results of attributes, the average score is 78, 97.

the B rating, which means a nuclear facility or
installation have safety performance in accordancewith the provisions required and deviations that
occurred only a minor deviation from the-11-After a average value obtained, some attributes withvalue below average performance, can beopen to evaluate the cause of the incident andprovide space for employees to provide

categorized as a weak attribute. There is 5 (five)
weakest attribute is as follows:
1. Leadership skills are systematically developed/
improved;
2. Management has the ability to resolve existing
conflicts;
3. The relationship between managers andindividuals are based on trust;
4. There is a good working condition on the

feedback.

5.

References
International Atomic Energy Agency, Selfassesment of Safety Culture in Nuclear
Installation, Tegdoc No.1321, Vienna, 2002.
International Atomic Energy Agency, Scart
Guidelines, Vienna, 2008.

conditions of time pressure, workload, andstress;Learn from organization and operation
experience (both internal and external facility).

BATAN, Regulation of BATAN Head No. 200 year
2012 on Guidelines for Safety Culture
Implementation, Jakarta, 2012.

Conclusion and Recommendation
Processed questionnaire data derived from 99
employees, where the results show the value of 792,
59, which means CRWT is ranked B (safety
performance in accordance with the regulations as

Bangladesh
M. Moinul Islam
Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission(BAEC)

required).

Management of Disused Sealed Radioactive
Sources

Based on 5 (five) characteristics, the strongest is thesafety as value recognized and understood (81.08%of the full score) and the weakest is the safetycharacteristics as the learning activator (77.08% of
the full score). While the 37 attributes, which is thestrongest one is safety the highest priority and there
are 5 (five) attributes that are weakest.

Introduction
In Bangladesh both sealed (spent radioactive sources,
SRS) and unsealed radioactive wastes are generated
from the use of radioactive sources (RSs) in various
activities which include nuclear techniques inmedicine, agriculture, industry, research and

To strengthen the five attributes that efforts should
be made:

education etc. The Central Radioactive Waste
Processing and Storage Facility (CWPSF) is theunique facility of Bangladesh working for the safe
management of radioactive wastes (RWs) arisingfrom the different stakeholders throughout thecountry. The amount of wastes generated fromdifferent users in the country during the period of
1993 to 2016 shown in Fig1. Sealed radioactive
sources which are generated from industry, medicine,

Workload distribution based on competence andposition;
improving two-way communication between
managers and employees;
planning and implementation of corrective
actions from the evaluation of events should bebetter;the need for more adequate means to facilitate
employee learning from incidents that haveoccurred. The means of communication arevarious research fields in the country are safely
stored in the Central Waste Processing and Storage
facility after it becomes unfit for the intended
application.
-12-

acceptable for interim storage a number of SRS havebeen conditioned by adopting a systematic standard
procedure. The conditioning of the sources which
has been based on the preparation of working area
covered with plastic andappropriate leadshielding , characterization, dismantling of source
and transfer of the sources to the working enclosure,drum preparation, contamination check by using
appropriate survey instruments, dose ratemeasurement, placement of source inside the capsule,closing of capsule and drum.

Fig1. Wastes arising from different users (1993- 2016)

The spent sealed radioactive sources which arereceived from different end users containing
radionuclides e.g., 60 Co, 137Cs, 90Sr, 192 Ir, 55Fe and241
Am-Be neutron sources. The disused sealed
radioactive sources 60Co collected from research, oiland fertilizer industry, 90Sr source from tobaccocompany, 137Cs source from research, cancer
hospital and fertilizer industry, 252Cf, 241Am-Be
sources from university and research institutes, 192 Irfrom gas industry and 55Fe from tissue industry, all
the disused sealed radioactive sources are safely
stored inside the shielding containers at CWPSF
prior to conditioning work. The immediate objectiveof these SRS is to facilitate interim storage. To keep
the sources with low surface dose rate low and toprotect human, workers, environment from any
unnecessary exposure or accidents from Sealed
Radioactive Sources the most important thing is to

Using appropriate radiation protection handlingprocedures, sources removed from their shields andplace them in the prefabricated lead shielding area.
The recovered sources put inside the IAEA-standard
capsules. The sources encased within a special leadcontainer are placed in the center of a 200L StainlessSteel (SS) drum. Gravels grout and Portland cement

produce a package likely to be suitable andacceptable to disposal route. The conditioning ofradioactive waste involves those operations thattransform radioactive waste into a form suitable forhandling, transportation, storage and disposal. The
conditioning process involves the production of a
package type that is recognized and in conforms to
IAEA transport regulations and the use ofimmobilization matrix that is already widely

was mixed with water and the mixer was poured into
the 200L SS drum up to ~75 cm from the bottom of
the drum and kept for 24 hours to get settled. The
prefabricated shield was placed into the cavity in the
drum having the thickness of the immobilization
matrix approximately 21cm including iron pipe.
Four separate standard capsules used in thisconditioning work. Three capsules for gamma
emitting radionuclide and one for neutron sources.

accepted in many countries for interim storage.

The gamma sources are stored in two cemented
drums and the neutron sources placed into 0.034 m3
lead container with 0.04 m thickness of lead. Outsideof the cemented drum checked to ensure that noFig 2. Preparation of working enclosure

Methods and Materials:
With a view to manage SRS stored at central waste
processing storage facility into a suitable and-13-

concrete has been spilled on the outside surface ofthe drum. The drum integrity and wipe tests
performed to determine the contamination on the
drum. Appropriate radiation labels posted on the
drum to ensure proper identification for storage.

Fig 3. Dismantling of DSRS ContainerFig 6. Drum Preparation and source immobilization in
cement matrix

Fig7. Released Materials

Conclusion:
Conditioning in this way prevents unauthorized
removal of the sources. The bulk weight and robust
nature of the package also provide a barrier against
the loss of containment of the radioactive material.

Fig 4. Radiation Dose Rate Measurement

A number of category 3-5 sources having activity
concentration 1.96 Ci of 137Cs, 0.0742 Ci of 90Sr,
0.002 Ci of 60 Co, 0.00022 Ci of 252Cf and 0.1443 Ci
of 241Am/Be safely conditioned in IAEA standard
capsules.
The empty containers which were left behind after
the conditioning work of the above mentioned
radionuclides, have been measured for radiationdose level and surface activity in order to clear these
empty containers as per regulatory clearance regime.
Radiation dose level and surface activity of all empty
containers were measured by using the appropriate
Fig 5. Placement of SRS inside the capsule-14-

survey equipments. The measured radiation doselevel and surface activity at the surface of thecontainers are ranging from 0.11 to 0.61µSvhr-1 and0.20 to 0.69 Bqcm-2 respectively. The immobilized
waste packages are safely stored in the waste interim
storage facility with an appropriate radiation level.

Republic of Korea
Hyuncheol Kim
Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute(KAERI)

Figure 2 Environmental radioactivity monitoring
program (ERM)

I’ll involved in the Radiation Safety & Radioactive
Waste Management Project of FNCA as a Project
Leader for Republic of Korea from Jan, 2017. Now,
I’m working in Environmental Radioactivity
Assessment Team as senior researcher in KAERI(Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute). In thiswriting, I’ll introduce to RS&RWM members on myteam and what I’ll do for the future of RS&RWM
project.
KAERI has operated the research reactor, called“HANARO” with power of 30 MW, and othernuclear facilities for production of nuclear fuel forthe reactor (Fig 1). According to nuclear safety act inKorea, KAERI have to monitor the environmental
radioactivity around KAERI site. My team is
responsible for this environmental radioactivity
monitoring (ERM) program. We have collected 1334
samples yearly, and analyzed 3H, 90Sr, U isotopes,
gamma isotopes and so on (Fig 2, Fig 3). Then, theannual report on the analytical results is published.
In addition, the analytical method for the analysis ofabove radionuclides and radiation have beendeveloped by ourselves.

Figure 3 ERM post (upper), and instrumental
facilities (lower)

The principle of analytical techniques that are
applied both in emergency and normal situation is
the same, but the minimum detectable activity(MDA) to require by the regulatory is higher inemergency than in normal siutuation. Based on theexperiences of above environmental radioactivity
program, we have developed the rapid method to
identify radionuclides
anddetermineits
concentration level for emergency preparedness. For

Figure 1 HANARO, research reactor operating by
KAERI

-15-

example, the individual dose rate could be estimatedfor the detected gamma nuclides using

produced in decommissioning of above nuclear
facilities should transfer to the low and intermediate

environmental radiation monitor, shown in Fig 4. For
rapid analysis of alpha/beta radionuclides, theautomated radionuclide separation technique has
been developed, shown in Fig 5. These automatedseparation technique could save the analytical time
and the labor intensity. My laboratory is a memberof IAEA-ALMERA (Analytical Laboratories for the
Measurement of Environmental Radioactivity)
network, and has participated to develop or validate

radioactive waste repository which is placed in
Gyung-ju. We participated the characterization ofradioactivity of decommissioning wastes including
soil and concrete, which covered gamma isotopes,
3H, 14C, 90Sr, 99Tc and so on.
Scientists and national regulatory should makereliable technologies and policies for the generalpublic, not to worry about their environment. So, thisproject has enough scientific and social value tothe analytical method for alpha/beta radionuclide.

implement by Asian countries planning or operating
nuclear facilities. Riadoactive waste management isthe biggest issue in public in terms of nuclear safety.
How to manage the radioactive waste will directly
continue to affect the environment. Now, generalpublic do not allow new nuclear program without asolid implementation plan on radiation safety andradioactive waste management. So, this project
could be very helpful and valuable to develop the

Figure 4 Dose rate spectroscopy

implementation plan or policy. I’ll collaborate with
FNCA members on radiation safety and radioactive
waste management.
Figure 5 Automated radionuclide separation
system (left: for small volume of sample, right:
for large volume of sample)

The environmental radioactivity is a hot issue topublic in Korea since FDNPP (Fukushima Dai-ichi
Nuclear Power Plant) accident, and NORM
(naturally occurring radioactive material) has been
one of issues, also. We have developed the analyticalprocedures and validated the method forquantification of natural radionuclides in raw
materials or by-products using ICP-MS, alpha
spectrometer, gamma spectrometer, and liquid
scintillation counter.
In Korea, the first research reactors, being TRIGA
MARK-II and MARK-III, were built in 1960s to
1970s. These reactors were decommissioned from1997 to 2015, which is the first experience of
decommissioning of nuclear facilities in Korea.
According to the law, some radioactive wastes-16-

The FNCA RS&RWM Project Leaders
R.O. Korea

Australia
Ms Lynn Tan
Project Transition Leader
Waste Projects and Strategic Planning
Australian Nuclear Science andTechnology Organisation (ANSTO)

Bangladesh

Dr Moinul Islam
Chief Scientific Officer,
Health Physics & Radioactive Waste
Management Unit, Atomic Energy
Research Establishment (AERE),
Bangladish Atomic Energy Commission(BAEC)China

Dr Hyuncheol Kim
Senior Researcher
Environmental Radioactivity
Assessment Team
Korea Atomic Energy ResearchInstitute (KAERI))

Malaysia
Dr Mohd Abdul Wahab Yusof
Director,
Waste and Environmental Technology
Division,
Malaysian Nuclear Agency (Nuclear
Malaysia)

Mongolia
Dr Zhang Jintao
Deputy Director General,
Department of Safety, Protection andQuality,China National Nuclear
Corporation (CNNC)

Ms Oyuntulkhuur Navaangalsan
Head,
Radiation Safety Council
Nuclear Energy Commission

Indonesia

Philippines
Mr Suryantoro
Director of Center forRadioactive Waste Technology, National
Nuclear Energy Agency of Indonesia(BATAN)Japan

Ms Maria Visitacion B. Palattao
Head, Regulations and Standards
Development Section, Philippine
Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI)

ThailandMs Nanthavan Ya-anantHead, Radioactive Waste Management
Section,Radioactive Waste Management
Center,Thailand Institute of Nuclear
Technology (TINT)

Prof Toshiso Kosako
Professor Emeritus,
The University of Tokyo

Kazakhstan

Vietnam
Mr Yevgeniy Tur
Technical and Economic Assessment
Department
National Nuclear Center (NNC) of the
Republic of Kazakhstan

Dr Pham Quang Minh
Director, Department for Planning and
R&D Management,
Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute(VINATOM)
Technology (TINT)-17-