Nov. 2006

NEWSLETTER
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT

No.17
Issued by
Japan Atomic
Industrial Forum, Inc.

Tuesday, November 21

The FNCA 2006 Workshop on RWM
to be held in Beijing, China
for the period of November 20-24, 2006

The 2nd day of the Workshop• Sub-meetings to be open to wider audience(1) Conceptual Design of Near Surface Repository(2) Waste Treatment and Conditioning for Disposal

The FNCA 2006 Workshop on radioactive Waste(3) Management of Medical Waste

Management (RWM) is scheduled to be held from
November 20 to 24, 2006.

Wednesday, November 22

The workshop will be hosted by China National

The 3rd day of the Workshop

Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) in cooperation with China• Technical Visit

Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA) as the local host organizations, and the Ministry of Education, Culture,Thursday, November 23

Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan, in

The 4th day of the Workshop

cooperation with Japan Atomic Industrial Forum, Inc.

• Roundtable discussions(1) Interim Reporting of Decommissioning and(JAIF)

Clearance Task

In the workshop, each representative from FNCA
countries will report on the recent progress status relat-(2) Progress of RWM Consolidated Report

ed Radioactive Waste Management.

(3) Plan of 2007 (Host country for 2007 RWM
Workshop and Host for 2007 Task activity of

Following the country reports, roundtable discus-

Decommissioning and Clearance Task

sions and sub-meetings focused on following issue will
be discussed.
• Conceptual Design of Near Surface Repository

Friday, November 24• Waste Treatment and Conditioning for Disposal

The final day of the Workshop• Confirmation of the Workshop Minutes• Management of Medical Waste• Adoption of the Workshop Minutes

2006’s activity on Decommissioning/Clearance Task
Group will be reported to the participants for further discussion.

Tentative Schedule of the RWM Workshop

The Person taking Charge of the RWM Workshop
from Local Hosting Organizations

Sunday, November 19
Arrival of overseas participants at Beijing

Zhang Jintao
FNCA RWM Project Leader of China
Deputy Director General,
Department of Safety, Protection andQuality,
China National Nuclear Corporation(CNNC)

Monday, November 20
The 1st day of the Workshop• Country Report “Progress Status of RWM”
• Poster / Mini-Exhibition1NEWSLETTER RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT

Present Discussion on Control of
NORM/TENORM in JapanThe International Commission on RadiologicalProtection (ICRP) had been considering that radiation
exposure due to natural radioactive sources, in principle, would be outside of scope of the radiological protection. ICRP Publ.60 (1990 Recommendations), proposed that operational radon exposure and radiation
exposure of workers due to operations with and storageof materials containing significant amount of NORM
should be controlled as occupational exposure.
A basic policy for exemption of NORM is not clearly
defined by ICRP at present. The policies for the exemption were summarized in the European CommitteeÅfs
Report RP-122 “Application of the Concepts of
Exemption and Clearance to Natural Radiation
Sources” (2001) (hereafter referred to as “RP-122”).
With a new category of “Work Activity” for exposure
increased by natural radiation sources, this document
adopts 0.3mSv/year as a dose criteria for exemption but
does not apply 10μSv/year that is used for “Practice”
causing exposure from artificial radiation sources.
14 Members of the European Union except Portugal
have already revised their national laws according to
the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM)
Directive (adopted in May 1996) into which the samedetails as in exemption of BSS were incorporated. The
same values as BSS exemption levels were introduced
for artificial radiation sources, with a few exceptions. A
regulation system for NORM has been already
employed in most of the member states, but setting ofan exemption level, its dose criteria and a regulation
method vary with countries.
The BSS exemption level is not adopted in USA

Toshiso Kosako
FNCA RWM Project Leader of Japan
Professor,
Nuclear Professional School,
Graduate School of Engineering,
The University of Tokyo

Takeshi Iimoto
Research Associate,
Department of Nuclear Engineering andManagement,
Graduate School of Engineering,
The University of Tokyo

Yuya Koike
Reserch AssociateRadioisotope Center
The University of Tokyo

Various radionuclides which have been in the crust
since the Earth’s birth or been produced by cosmic rays
exist in the natural environment. Substances containing
these radionuclides are called “Naturally Occurring
Radioactive Materials” (hereafter referred to as“NORM”). NORM with high radioactive concentration
include monazite, phosphate ore, titanium ore and otherminerals and mineral sands that are widely used asindustrial raw materials. Additionally, products madefrom these materials are applied to a wide range of fields
and also used as consumer goods by many people.

Classification and Proposed Approaches to Materials Containing NORM.

Category
Raw materials such as mineral ore without
procedure of enhancing concentration.
(except categories 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6).
Waste rock residues from past mine orindustrial activities.
Ash, scale, etc. produced by industries(concentration of substances treated as raw
materials should be exemption level or
below)
Soil from mines currently in operation andindustrial residues (disposal)
Raw materials for industrial use(manufacture, energy production andmining) (excluding Category 7)
Consumer products (usage)

Exclusion, Practiceor Intervention

Approaches

Dose Target / Criteria
to Take Approaches

Exclusion
Intervention

Action level(1~10 mSv/y)Intervention

Action level(1~10 mSv/y)Practice/
Intervention

Practice•Identify materials possibly exceeding a certain level ofconcentration•Seek for adequate management in terms of radiologicalprotection on use of special materials depending on
doses received by workers or public.
Apply BSS exemption level basically
Examine a system corresponding with type approval

2

1 mSv/y(examine whether
to regulate orintervene if thisvalue is exceeded.)
10μSv/y
1 mSv/yNEWSLETTER RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT

the official would gather in the future, because the clearance level of the natural origin nuclide such as U238
might influence on the restriction value of NORM andthe density of the radon in air.

while it is adopted in some radioactive nuclides of
NORM in Canada. In addition, these two countries andChina that has adopted the exemption level have notintroduced the regulation system for NORM, with some
exceptions.
In Japan, operations involving NORM-containing
products and consumer goods were surveyed by the
Nuclear Safety Division (Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation and Office of Radiation Regulation), theMinistry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science andTechnology. It is necessary to classify the usage patternof NORM taking into consideration of artificial aspects
and actual exposure potential, possibilities, and regulatethem by using of the concepts of exemption or intervention exemption according to their features and exposure
doses. Table shows their categories proposed on Oct.
2003 in Japan.

Task Group Meeting in Indonesia―Nuclear Faciliy Decomissioning
and its Waste Clearance ―Djarot S. Wisnubroto
RWM Project Leader of Indonesia
Director
Radioactive Waste Technology Center
National Nuclear Energy Agency(BATAN)

Clearance Level of Natural Origin
Nuclide such as U238
The revision Nuclear Reactor Regulation Law wasapproved by the Diet and the related politics ministerial
ordinance was maintained by the Ministry of Economy,
Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, based on thediscussion result on the clearance level in the nuclear
reactor facilities by Nuclear Safety Committee.
Radioactive waste and decommissioning task Force,
Nuclear Safety Committee, Japan began the discussionof the clearance level in the uranium and the TRU handling facilities on September 14, 2006.
A special session concerning the examination of theclearance level in the nuclear fuel facilities was held,
and the standing seeing went out to the hall that 120
people entered in Atomic Energy Society of Japan that
had been held in Hokkaido University on Friday,
September 29 before this.
It was introduced that the clearance level of a natural
nuclide like U238 had been hardly examined in Japan,
and it was reported that the fluctuation band of U238 in
the soil is about 0-2Bq/g and the fluctuation band of
U238 in the rock and consumer goods is about 010Bq/g in this session. It was pointed out that there was
the problem how to harmonize the restriction value of
uranium 238 discharged from the nuclear fuel facilities
and uranium U238 in natural by the participant.
The attention of a lot of researchers, operators andAs the result of Radioactive Waste Management
Workshop in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, held on 27
September to 1 October 2004, Indonesia proposed tojoint two sub group activities, and at that workshop it
was decided to give a new task group namely: Task
Group on Nuclear Facility Decommissioning and Its
Waste Clearance. This would give benefit for Indonesia
to share experiences from other FNCA member states,
since Indonesia has a program to decommission a yellow cake production facility attached to the PT.
Petrokimia Fertilizer Plant in Gresik- East Java in thenear future. As well, BATAN is also expecting to decommission some other ageing facilities in the future.
Besides, Indonesia also requested to receive better firsthand information on NORM and their clearance levels,
since previously it was not involved in such Task Group.
Indonesia intensified its activity to study the cases of
NORM although late start as compared to other neighboring countries having similar NORM situation.
The task group meeting was held from 1-5 August
2005, and the task group meeting was focused on the(1) the decommissioning/clearance and (2) NORM. The
meeting was hosted jointly by BATAN and BAPETEN,
taking place in Jakarta, Serpong and Gresik. There
were different parties invited, namely the Ministry of
Health, Ministry of Environment, The Gresik Fertilizer
Plant, Reactor Operators, the Radioactive Waste
3

NEWSLETTER RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT

Figure 1. Japanese and BATAN Participants in front of Serpong
Research Reactor.

Figure 2. Survey in the Gresik Fertilizer Plant.

Center and the Radiation Safety Center.
The meeting adopted the following topics:(1) NORMa) International Trend of Treatment on NORMb) Recent status of NORM in both countriesc) Outline of NORM guideline/regulation in bothcountriesd) Guideline categories for NORM in Japane) Action steps for NORM issues(2) Decommissioning/Clearancea) Recent status of Decommissioning/Clearance
in both countriesb) Outline of regulations on Decommissioning/
Clearance in both countriesc) Ways of Cooperation on Decommissioning/
Clearance within the FNCA framework to provide adequate protection
A one-day visit to the uranium recovery plant at theGresik Fertilizer plant was made. This plant is located
900 km from Jakarta, and to be decommissioned in thenear future. The company had requested BATAN to
make a decommissioning program for their facility. Thissurvey in the field showed the whole picture of the plant,
and there was a brief discussion about the steps ofdecommissioning.
As a result of this task group meeting, now Indonesia(BATAN and BAPETEN) is intensifying the study on
NORM by observing the whole map of potential NORM
site in the country, and in progress for the regulations.
Beside, financing system is evaluated for decommissioning of uranium recovery plant at the Gresik fertilizer
plant, and BAPETEN has established a team to study
the clearance.

Decommissioning and Clearance
Task Group Discussion/Suvey
Meeting in Australia
Lubi Dimitrovski
FNCA RWM Project Leader ofAustralia
Waste Operations
Australian Nuclear Science &Technology Organisation(ANSTO)The 2005 FNCA Radioactive Waste Management(RWM) Workshop proposed a 3 Year Task Group activity on Decommissioning and Clearance issues. Australia
provided the venue for third country based activity with
ANSTO hosting the Australia-Japan Discussion/Survey
meeting in Sydney on 24-28 July 2006
The topics addressed at the Discussion/Survey
Meeting included:• The recent status in Decommissioning andClearance issues within Japan and Australia.
• An outline of the regulations relating to
Decommissioning and Clearance in both countries.
• Recent Status on NORM Management.
• Updating of the Consolidated Report on RWM in
the FNCA countries - Australian report.
• Review of the potential for cooperation on
Decommissioning and Clearance practices within
the FNCA framework with an aim in providing optimal protection to all concerned.
The Japanese Task Group comprised of Prof.
Toshiso Kosako (Japan Project Leader, RWM,
4

NEWSLETTER RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT

University of Tokyo); Dr Yuya Koike (University ofTokyo); Dr Yoshiaki Sakamoto, (JAEA); Dr Hidenori
Yonehara, (NIRS) and Mr Mitsutoshi Odera, (JAIF).

The Task Group discussions included presentations
from ANSTO and Japanese delegates on the following
topics:

The task group, sponsored by MEXT, held preliminary discussions with a number of technical experts inAustralia including representatives from ANSTO andthe Australian Radiation Protection & Nuclear Safety
Agency (ARPANSA).
Both countries agreed that an open exchange of
information and the sharing of experiences would be abeneficial and effective means in bringing improvements in Decommissioning strategies. It was also
agreed that further assessment on the relevant applications of radioactive waste clearance levels and processes in both countries would be beneficial. The strengthening and consistency in the regulations of NORM/TENORM management was also of common interest.
Both countries also agreed to provide the findings of the
Task Group Meeting to the other FNCA countries fortheir consideration in the next FNCA 2006 Workshop on
RWM to be held in Beijing, China, in November 20-24,
2006.

• Decommissioning status of the ANSTO research
reactors;• Decommissioning status in Japan;• Clearance of exempt level wastes at ANSTO;• Current status on clearance systems in Japan;• Current status on NORM/TENORM management
and regulations in both countries;• Update on the status of the low and intermediatelevel waste disposal in Australia − the proposed
Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Facility(CRWF).
The task group visited the ANSTO MOATA and
HIFAR research reactors. The MOATA reactor, a 100
kW research reactor was shut down in May 1995 and iscurrently under a “care and maintenance” phase. A
final decision to fully decommission the reactor will
largely depend on the establishment of a low level
waste repository (CRWF) in Australia (proposed for
operation by 2011).

MOATA 100 kW Research Reactor

A visit was also made to ANSTO’s 10MW HIFAR
Research Reactor which is due to be decommissioned
in early 2007 after almost 49 years of safe operation.
ANSTO provided an overview of the proposed
decommissioning plan for HIFAR with a 3 phaseapproach being proposed.
• Phase A: Removal of the fuel, Coarse Control
Assemblies and the heavy water and preparation
for Phase B

Task Group Discussions at ANSTO

5

NEWSLETTER RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT

Low Level Waste Storage Facility

HIFAR 10 MW Research Reactor• Phase B: Care & Maintenance (5 years)

duced in IAEA documents with parameters adjusted tosuit the conditions in Japan. After re-assessment of thevalues and comparison with values proposed in RS-G1.7, the NSC levels were not significantly different fromthose of RS-G-1.7. This was appropriate for introductionin Japan and was consistent with international trends.
The Regulatory bodies revised the legislation for the
introduction of clearance systems for nuclear facilities in2005. The introduction of clearance systems for medical, general industrial and research facilities wastes iscurrently under discussion.
The final topic discussed was the International Trend
in Safety Standards for NORM Regulation and the status of application of NORM in Japan.

• Phase C: Removal of the reactor block, core, andbuilding. Return to Green Field site.
The second day comprised discussions on waste
clearance systems in both countries. Different regulations for exemption exist in the states and territories ofAustralia. Currently all ongoing waste at ANSTO is
assessed for clearance. Exemption levels proposed in
IAEA RS-G-1.7 meet all other relevant limits for exemption. Exemption levels given in RS-G-1.7 are considered to be a good starting point for a national debate on
clearance levels. Technical issues related to assessment of waste in ANSTO for clearance were also
reviewed.

Information and experiences for NORM/TENORM
management were exchanged between Australia andJapan.
Both sides agreed that the following aspects were
important in resolving NORM/TENORM issues in bothcountries;

In Japan the Nuclear Safety Commission (NSC)commenced discussions on the clearance levels fornuclear facilities (about ten years ago) and the NSC has
calculated values according to general policies pro-

• Recognition of the importance of NORM/TENORM management which must consider abalance between cost and safety in any regulation
implementation;• Harmonization of guidelines of NORM/TENORM
based on international guideline/standards inorder to avoid confusion in trading among the
FNCA countries;
1. The following action steps can be applied as acheck list for NORM/TENORM issues in each
FNCA country;
Waste Inspection and Clearance Facility

6NEWSLETTER RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENTStep 1: Conceptual understanding
Step 2: Fact finding of relevant NORM/TENORM
issuesStep 3: Measurement of the level of radiation &radioactivity
Step 4: Characterization of NORM
Step 5: Countermeasures & regulations
Step 6: Application in the field
Both countries recognized the importance of theexchange of information and the provision of technicalsupport, in strengthening the infrastructure on NORM/TENORM and Decommissioning & Clearance issues.

Decommissioning and Clearance
Task Group Meeting/Discussion in
Malaysia
Syed Abdul Malik Syed Zain
FNCA RWM Project Leader of Malaysia,
Manager, Radioactive Waste
Management Centre
Malaysian Institute for Nuclear
Technology Research (MINT)
Ministry of Science, Technology &Innovation (MOSTI)

Nik Marzukee Nik Ibrahim
Senior Research Officer,
Radioactive Waste Management
Centre, MINT

Other major highlights have included:• The new ANSTO OPAL 20MW research reactor
achieved its first criticality on August 12 2006,
which represented the end of the initial hot commissioning phase. The OPAL reactor is now
undergoing further hot commissioning and isanticipated to be at full 20 MW power in early2007.

A Discussion/Survey Meeting on Decommissioning
and Clearance was held in Malaysia from 7th to 10th
August 2006. This is the fourth activity of the FNCA
Radioactive Waste Management (RWM) Task Groupon Decommissioning and Clearance, which started in2005 JFY. Prof. Toshiso Kosako, FNCA (RWM) Project
Leader for Japan, led the FNCA (RWM) Task Groupdelegation from Japan comprising 6 persons. A courtesy call was made to the Director-General of MINT and
Director-General of AELB, where Prof. Toshiso Kosako
gave a brief introduction of the mission and summary ofprevious Task Group results.
Preliminary discussion, presentation and exchange
of information regarding topical issues were held in
MINT during the first day. Among the issues that were
presented and discussed are management of
TENORM from oil & gas industry in Malaysia,
TENORM management in Japan, regulatory issues and• Work towards the establishment of theCommonwealth Radioactive Waste Facility(CRWF) for low and intermediate level waste disposal is progressing. The approximate timeline fordevelopment of the Facility is shown below.

Courtesy Visit to DG MINT / DG AELB

7

NEWSLETTER RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT

international trends and guidance related to decommissioning/clearance.
The topics taken up at the Discussion/Survey
Meeting on Decommissioning and Clearance in
Malaysia were as follows:• Recent status of Decommissioning/Clearance inboth countries• Outline of regulations on Decommissioning/

Clearance in both countries• Recent Status of NORM/TENORM Management• Ways of cooperation on Decommissioning/
Clearance within the FNCA framework to provide
adequate protection
On the 8th August, the FNCA delegation and personnel from MINT and AELB visited the Sabah Shell Sdn.
Bhd., Labuan, which is located near the island ofPreliminary Discussion at MINT

Samples of the oil sludge from the nearby oil field

Delegates visit Sludge
Farm at LCOT

Group Picture in Front ofLabuan Supply Base OfficeSludge Farming (LCOT)

Sludge Farm that has been
remidiated8NEWSLETTER RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT

Borneo. Personnel from Sabah Shell briefed the visitorson the operational and safety aspects of the Labuan
Crude Oil Terminal (LCOT). They also briefed on the
LCOT operations, maintenance, sludge farming
process and monitoring at LCOT that constitutes the
TENORM management activities at Sabah Shell Sdn.
Bhd. A site visit was made to the sludge farming area
and relevant personnel briefed the delegation on theoperation and the treatment process. On the 9thAugust, the group visited the Labuan Supply Base
(LSB), few kilometers away from LCOT, which was also
included in the Sabah Shell TENORM management
programme.
This location covers 74 m2 of open yard and 24 m2 ofcovered area. This was followed discussion on issuesof TENORM management, decommissioning/ clearance and recommendation related to guides and regulatory aspects.

Brick from Pandora’s Box ? Cometo an agreement about removal ofwaste rock from uranium mine inJapan
Tomohisa Zaitsu
Deputy Department Manager,
Environmental Research andDevelopment Department,
Ningyo-toge Environmental Engineering
Center,Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA)

Kazuhiko Sato
Environmental Technical Section,
Environmental Research andDevelopment Department,
Ningyo-toge Environmental Engineering
Center,Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA)On May 31st, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, JAEA
(the predecessor of JNC1)) reached an agreement thatthey would remove waste rock which had been piled in
Tottori Prefecture after uranium exploration, and produce bricks from the waste rock. As a result, they will
put an end to the long-term arguments, which had led acase at the Supreme Court. In 2004, Supreme Court
judged that JNC should have removed the waste rock.
The following four people signed the agreement; Mr.
Tonotsuka, the president of JAEA that had succeeded
the right and responsibility of JNC. Mr. Katayama, theGovernor of Tottori Prefecture, where the waste rockexists. Mr. Yoshida, a Mayor of Misasa Town, where thebrickÅfs factory is supposed to be built. Mr. Kosaka, thethen Minister of Education and Science who is incharge of supervising JAEA.
Eventually about 3,000 cubic meters of the waste
rock which was ordered by the law court will be
removed from Katamo District in Yurihama Town,
according to the agreement. About 2,700 cubic metersof the waste rock will be used for producing bricks. Prior
to that, another 290 cubic meters of the waste rock inwhich uranium concentration is relatively high had been
sent to the U.S. for milling. The recovered uranium will
be utilized in U.S.
JAEA is planning to start building the factory a year
after leasing a site in Misasa Town. They will spend
about 5 years to run the factory for making bricks
including its construction. The operation will be finishedby the end of June of 2011. The factory will be demolished within one year after the shutdown. JAEA will

During the final discussion, all parties recognized andthe importance of exchanging information and provisionof technical and human resources support in strengthening the personnel competency, legislations and infrastructure for Decommissioning, Clearance, NORM/TENORM issues, which would cover;(1) Improvementof the information exchange in the treatment technologyof radioactive waste and legislative bases especially on
low and intermediate levels; and (2) Practical cooperation in strengthening measurement technology/methods
and human resources support in these issues.
The group expressed their appreciation to the
Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation(MOSTI), Malaysian Institute for Nuclear Technology
Research (MINT) and Atomic Energy Licensing Board(AELB) of Malaysia for hosting the meeting and thearrangements of related activities; and to Japanese
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science andTechnology (MEXT) and the Japan Atomic Industrial
Forum, Inc. (JAIF) for their support in facilitating the participation of the expert team from Japan. They also
expressed their appreciation to Sabah Shell Sdn. Bhd.,
for participating in the discussion and accommodating
the group in the technical visit.
Note : The Malaysian Institute for Nuclear Technology Research(MINT) was renamed as the Malaysian Nuclear Agency (Nuclear
Malaysia) in October 2006.

9NEWSLETTER RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT

have to level the site and revegetate there,
before they return it to Tottori Prefecture. It is
supposed that approximately 1,000,000
bricks will be produced and used them intheir property such as pavements of sidewalks and materials for gardening.
Simultaneously, JAEA will make a
research on the trace radioactivity.
The waste rock had been generated as aresult of uranium exploration which had
been carried out by JAFC2) from 1950’s to1960’s as a National Project. It was whenatomic energy began to get into the limelight. Galleries for the exploration had been
excavated to the favorite ore deposits andthe generated about 16,000 cubic meters of
Figure 1. Location of Katamo district and supposed site for brick production factory
waste rock had been piled near the entrance
PNC made several proposals of waste rock removalof the galleries at this district, in accordance with theand treatment both for Tottori and Okayama
mine regulation. JAFC did not need to restore the site toPrefectures. Neither of them was acceptable for theoriginal state at that time according to the lease contract
local governments concerned. PNC could not come up
with the landowner.
with a solution which was put into practice. In
In 1989, the mine regulation had been amended in
December of 2000, local residents in Katamo District
terms of radiation safety. After that, new regulation
filed a suit against PNC. The local residents demanded
required that owners of uranium mine should have
3)
that PNC should fulfill the agreement to remove themaintained the site. Consequently, PNC needed totake necessary measures, for example, restriction ofwaste rock from the district. This case was appealed toentering into the site, if its radiation exposure for public
the Supreme Court.
would be above 1mSv/year. PNC also had to revise the1) JNC: Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute, October,lease contract, and in August of 1990, PNC reached an
1998- September, 2005
2) JAFC: Japan Atomic Fuel Corporation, August, 1956agreement that they would remove the waste rock from
September, 1967
3) PNC: Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development
Katamo district, under the condition that they could
Corporation, October, 1967- September, 1998
solve the issue in cooperation with local governments
concerned.

Measurement of Carbon-14
Released from Yonggwang-4
Jong-Hyun Ha
General Manager of Radiation R&D
Office,Nuclear Environment Technology
Institute (NETEC),
Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., Ltd.
(KHNP)

C-14 is resulting from the activation reaction of oxygen, nitrogen and carbon in the fuel and coolant of
PWR. In general, the amount of Carbon-14 released
from PWR is small and not easy to detect, it is not used
as a main monitoring nuclide released in PWR.
Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Company (KHNP)

Photo 1. Four people who signed the agreement about removal andtreatment of waste rock piled in Katamo district, Tottori prefecture, Japan; Mr. Yoshida, a Mayor of Misasa Town, Mr.
Katayama, the Governor of Tottori Prefecture, Mr. Kosaka,
the then Minister of Education and Science, Mr. Tonotsuka,
the president of JAEA (from left to right in order)

10NEWSLETTER RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT

monitored Carbon-14 at five main ventilation lines of
Yonggwang-4 from 2003 for 2 years. For this, KHNP
devised C-14 sampling instrument which can collect
CO2 and hydrocarbons separately. It is composed ofthree main components, that is, primary CO2 sampler, ahydrocarbon oxidization assembly and a secondary
CO2 sampler. The primary CO2 sampler has one water
bubbler and two NaOH bubblers.
To analyze C-14 in NaOH, CO3- ion was precipitatedas CaCO3 or BaCO3 using CaCl2 or BaCl2. But it was difficult due to over-precipitation. This problem was solved
by pH control using buffer solution (NH4Cl) and adding
some heat to the solution. The collection efficiency wascalculated as 92%.
According to the analysis results, the total activity is
estimated to be 0.147TBq/GWe.Yr. This activity is about
67% of world’s PWR average: 0.22TBq/Gwe(UNSCEAR 2000) The area of highest concentration is
the Fuel Building followed by the Reactor Building, theRadwaste Building and the Auxiliary Building. The ventilation time of the Reactor Building is 3.3 hrs per month,and 720 hrs for the others (continuous) In the point ofchemical form, the results show CO2 is dominant chemical form in fuel building, while methane compound isdominant in other areas. The environmental monitoring
results in the vicinity of the plant show that there is no
typical sign of C-14 accumulation.

Development of 14C RemovalTechnology for the Treatment of
Spent Resin from Nuclear Power
PlantsIon exchange resins are extensively used in
PHWR(Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor) and otherreactor to remove ionic contaminants from various
coolant streams. Especially, on using to treat wastefrom heavy water reactors, spent ion-exchange resins
may be loaded with 14C radioisotope which has long
half-life of 5,730 years. This long lived radioisotope influences the strategy for the disposal of spent. It is recommended that disposal concentration limit of spent reinloaded with 14C is 6 Ci/m3 according to Korean Atomic
Energy Act. Therefore, the removal of 14C from spentresin and its concentration to solid sorbents become adesirable feature which can be disposed of as conventional low level waste. Acid stripping and thermal stripping methods are under development for the removal of
14
C from spent resins.
This study was focused to analyze the characteristics
of 14C removal from IRN-150 spent ion exchange resin
using alkaline solutions. These results would provide aproper treatment option for ensuring increased capacityof spent resin storage at Wolsung PHWR reactor in
Korea. In this study, IRN-150 resin is selected as starting material for removal of 14C, which is widely used topurify a coolant circuit at Wolsung reactor with a mixture
form of a stoichiometric equivalent of the strongly acidic
cation and the strongly basic anion exchange resins. It
was identified that a chemical form of 14C contained inspent resin is commonly HCO3− species due to pH
ranges in ion exchange column in moderator system.
The selection of alkaline solutions such as Na3PO4 and
NaNO3 is based on affinity coefficients of other anion
species against with HCO3− which can affect driving
force for a desorption of HCO3 ion from spent resin.
Initial loading amount of inactive C as HCO3− on spentresin ranges from 4 mg-C/g-resin to 12 mg-C/g-resin.
Alkaline solutions with a equivalent concentration rangeof 0.005 mol/l ~ 0.1 mol/l was used for removal of HCO3
from spent resin, and the optimal ratio of resin
amount(m) to solution volume(V) was evaluated. The
minimum concentration of alkaline solution for effective
removal of 14C over 99% should be three times higher
as a basis of equivalent compared to initial loading
amount of 14C on spent resin. The influence of solution

The Schematic Diagram of C-14 Sampler

Analysis Result of C-14 by its Chemical Form (2003)

11

NEWSLETTER RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT

volume at a constant concentration showed that the
optimal m/V is about 200 kg/m3. It was identified that
Na3PO4 and NaNO3 alkaline solutions showed over
99% of removal efficiency of 14C from spent resin under
optimal conditions. However, on using Na3PO4 solution,
inert atmosphere should be provided for preventing CO2
absorption from surrounding air gas.

The New PNRI Radioactive Waste
Management and Interim Storage
Facility

Upgrading of Perimeter Fence of the Facility

Editha A. Marcelo
FNCA RWM Project Leaderof thePhilippines,
Senior Science Research Specialist,
Radiation Protection Services,
Philippine Nuclear Research Institute(PNRI)The Philippine Nuclear Research Institute with thetechnical assistance from IAEA have established aCentralized Radioactive Waste Management Facility
operated and maintained by the Radiation Protection
Section. The facility receives and manages radioactive
waste generated by authorized users of radioactive
materials in the country. The radioactive waste management service is provided for a minimal fee intended torecover the cost of managing such waste and is
imposed on users requesting for service.
Through a bilateral agreement of the Philippines with
the United States of America, the US Department ofEnergy’s National Nuclear Security Administration(NNSA) Office of International Material Protection andCooperation initiated move to reduce threat of aRadiological Dispersion Device incident. This
Radiological Threat Reduction Program funded theupgrading of the physical protection and security of theCentralized Radioactive Waste Management Facility.
The project includes the following:a) Upgrading of the perimeter fence of the facility
incorporating a coiled barbed wire on top of theconcrete fence and installation of a new steel gate
at the entrance to the facilityb) Upgrading of the existing trench and constructionof a new engineered trench, both the existing andnew trenches are under one concrete roof filledwith topsoil planted with grass.
c) Installation of safety and security alarms

Top View of Engineered Trenches

Entrance to Trenches A & B

12NEWSLETTER RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT

Upgraded Existing Trench

Sealed Access

New Engineered TrenchContact Alarm

Access from the ground floor were sealed with steel plate and grills
for security reasons

Motion Sensor

13NEWSLETTER RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENTThe TINT will have the responsibilities on the followings:• Promotion of Nuclear Technology and Utilization• R&D in Nuclear Science and Technology, including R&D in Radioactive Waste Management• Operation and Services (including Waste
Management Operations and Services)• Public Awareness in Nuclear

The establishment of “Thailand
Institute of Nuclear Technology”
Nanthavan Ya-anantSenior Nuclear Chemist,
Radioactive Waste Management
Center,Thailand Institute of Nuclear
Technology (TINT)

And the OAP will have the responsibilities on the followings:• Policy and Strategic plan formulation on all
nuclear matters• Nuclear and Radiation Safety Control• Licensing• Intermediary Co-ordination Role in Nuclear

Thailand set up the “Office of Atomic Energy for
Peace” (OAEP) in 1961, following the enactment of theAtomic Energy for Peace Act (B.E.2504). Later, OAEP
has changed its name as Office of Atoms for Peace(OAP) in 2003. Regulatory function of Thailand is conducted by the OAP, Ministry of Science Technology.
And the OAP works as secretariat of the Thai Atomic
Energy Commission (Thai AEC), as well as regulates
the licenses of the production, possession, and utilization of radioactive materials and recently, including Xray machines
In order to separate the regulatory functional groups
and the research groups for the promotion of nuclear
technology in Thailand. soon, the OAP will be split to 2
organizations, the new organization; so called “Thailand
Institute of Nuclear Technology (TINT).” And the OAP
will play as the regulatory body.

The Radioactive Waste Management Program willbe transferred to TINT. And it will be called “Radioactive
Waste Management Center”, as a service center for thecountry.
Due to the delay of the construction of the newresearch center, ONRC Project, in Ongkharak District inNakhon Nayok province, so that the Waste
Management Center will be still located at the sameplace as the present, in the OAP, Bangkok.

TINT Organization Chart
Board of TINT
Director

Internal Audit

Public Relation

Quality Insurance and Safety

Deputy Director (Academic)
Nuclear Research andDevelopment Section● Research in Medical
and Public Health● Research in
Biotechnology andAgriculture● Research in Material
Science and Industry● Environment● Advanced Technology

Deputy Director (Administration)

Nuclear Technology

Nuclear Business
Development Section● Business Administration● Technology Transfer● Special Project

Operating Section● Nuclear Safety● Nuclear Engineering● Reactor Management

Service Center

Radio Isotope Center
Irradiation Center
Radioactive Waste
Management Center
Nuclear Technology
Service Center
Gems Irradiation Center

14

Administrative● Planning and Policy● Human Resource andKnowledge based
Administration● Development of Work
System● Account Financial andProcurement● Legislation● International
Correspondence● Directorial WorkNEWSLETTER RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENTCore Management of the Dalat
Research Reactor

Vertical irradiation facilities:
Two dry channels at 7-1 and 13-2 cells
Two wet channels at core center and at 1-4 cell
40 holes in the graphite reflector

Tran Kim Hung
FNCA RWM Project Leader of Vietnam
Director, Department of Planning and
R&D Management,
Vietnam Atomic Energy Commission(VAEC)

Calculation of fuel burn-up and burn-up distribution
for the reactor were carried out based on cell calculation
program WIMS and two diffusion calculation programs
HEXAGA and HEXNOD in two dimensional geometry.
The codes of WIMS, HEXAGA, HEXNOD have beendeveloped to solve the problem of in-core fuel management optimization basing on the perturbation theory andbinary shuffle technique. At present time, three-dimensional calculation of burn-up of fuel elements and burnup distribution of the reactor core is realized by reactor
staff under the national projects.
The maximal actual burn-up calculated presently isapprocimately 20%. The calculation code WIMS-D5B(coefficients calculated with 69 neutron groups) and thecode HEXNOD are used. The temperatures are calculated by DRSIM (developed code locally by NRI staff).
Regarding the refuelling of the core in the future,
there are three versions:
1. Loading the new fuel assemblies (step by step, up
to 36 assemblies) into the middle of the core,replacing the fuel assemblies with maximal burnup.
2. Loading the new fuel assemblies to the peripheral
part of the core, putting fuel from there into the
middle of the core, replacing the same central fuelelements with maximal burn-up.
3. To rearrange the core by interchanging the (practically fresh) fuel assemblies from the periphery andthe relatively used ones from around the neutron
flux trap.

The fuel assemblies (FA) of the DNRR are of Sovietdesigned standard type WWR-M2, enriched to 36% in
U-235. Each assembly composes of 3 concentric layers: 2 circular inner tubes and one hexagonal outertube. The fuel layer with a thickness of 0.7 mm is
wrapped between two-aluminum alloy cladding layersof 0.9-mm thickness.
After 10 years of operation with the core of 89-fuelelement configuration, in April 1994, refueling work wasdone by adding 11 fresh fuel assemblies in the core
periphery at previous beryllium rod locations. The second refueling work was done in March 2002 by adding
4 fresh fuel assemblies more in the core periphery. In
order to provide excess reactivity for the reactor without
the need to discharge high burn-up FAs, in June 2004,
the fuel shuffling of the core was done. 16 FAs with low
burn-up from the core periphery were moved toward thecore center to replace 16 FAs with high burn-up in thecore center. The 104-FA configuration using reshuffled
HEU fuels is remained until now. At present time there
are 36 fresh fuel assemblies in the strorage.
The history of the core can be described as follows:
Start-up in November, 1983:

88 fuel assemblies

From 1984 up to April 1994:

89 fuel assemblies

From April 1994 up to March 2002: 100 fuel assemblies
Since March 2002:

104 fuel assemblies

June 2004

Shuffling of the reactor core

A project for conversion of the core from HEU to
LEU:
In this project, we assumed that HEU fuel assem-

No spent fuel assemblies yet

Table 1. Summary of operating time for incremental insertion of 36 burned HEU FA with 36 fresh HEU or 36 fresh LEU FA beginning in April 2006.

Cycle
1
2
3
4

HEU or LEU FA Total HEU or LEU Full- power- days Cum. years oper. Full- power- days Cum. years oper.
inserted per cycle FA insertedwith HEU FA
using HEU
with LEU FA
with LEU
8
8
10
10

8
16
26
36

143
265
413
547
15

2.8
5.1
7.9
10.5

183
344
546
733

3.5
6.6
10.5
14.1

NEWSLETTER RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT

blies with the highest burnup would be replaced.
Further fuel shuffling will be performed only after all 36
fresh HEU or LEU fuel assemblies are completely
replaced in the reactor core. The following sub-sections
present calculations were done to compare the reactor
parameters and margins of safety when 36 fresh HEU
fuel assemblies or 36 fresh LEU fuel assemblies are
incrementally inserted over four operating cycles. A totalof 36 fuel assemblies were utilized in all four fresh
reload operation cycles.
The results of the depletion of the current core using
the 36 additional HEU VVR-M2 fuel assemblies indicatethat the core could be operated an additional 547 fpd oralmost 10.5 years from April 2006 until October 2016. If
the proposed 36 LEU VVR-M2 fuel assemblies areused to refuel the core, the calculated lifetime would be
733 fpd or about 14 years from April 2006 until about
May 2020. These results assumed that the core will be

operated at full power for 1250 hours or 52 full-powerdays per year, using the proposed strategy of loading
fresh fuel assemblies without shuffling in the next four
operating cycles. The fresh LEU WWR-M2 replacement
fuel would last longer than the fresh HEU WWR-M2
replacement fuel mainly because the 235U content of
the LEU fuel assemblies is higher than the amountneeded to simply match the operating lifetime of the
HEU fuel assemblies.
Based on the aboved results, the spent fuels of theDalat reactor will be estimated as follows:- With HEU FA used: 8 FAs in December 2008, 16
FAs in May 2011, 26 FAs in January 2014 and 36
FAs in October 2016.
- With LEU FA used: 8 FAs in May 2009, 16 FAs in
September 2012, 26 FAs in October 2016 and 36
FAs in May 2020.
The
The FNCA
FNCA Framework
Framework
Role of the Meeting

Record of Past RWM Workshops
1)

1995 RWM Seminar

Japan (Tokyo)

2)

1996 RWM Seminar

Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur)

3)1997 RWM Seminar

China (Beijing)

4)

1998 RWM Workshop

Thailand (Bangkok)

5)

1999 RWM Workshop

The Philippines (Manila)

6)2000 RWM Workshop

Australia (Sydney)

7)

2001 RWM Workshop

Viet Nam (Da Lat)

8)

2002 RWM Workshop

Korea (Daejeon)

9)2003 RWM Workshop

Indonesia (Jakarta)

10)2004 RWM Workshop

Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur)

11)2005 RWM Workshop

Japan (Kagamino-cho, Okayama)

FNCA Meeting
AUL,CPR, INS,
JPN, ROK, MAL,
PHI, THA, and VIECoordinationof the Projects

Coordinators Meeting
One Coordinator in EachCountry

Reporting

Reporting

Reporting
Panel on “Roleof Nuclear
Energy for
Sustainable
Developmentin Asia”

Project Leaders
Research Reactor Utilization●

2006 RWM Workshop

Reporting

Review and
Coordination●

12)

about importantmatters of the
FNCA… ● Review andadjustment for
Ministerial Level
Meeting

Senior Officials Meeting

Direction●Review and… ● Final decision

Ministerial Level Meeting

China (Beijing)●

Tc-99m Generator (TCG)
Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA)
Research Reactor Technology (RRT)

Application for Agriculture●●

Mutation Breeding (MB)Biofertilizer (BF)

Public Information
●

●

●

●

PET, Cyclotron and Radioisotopes
in Medicine (PET)

Nuclear Safety Culture (NSC)

Human Resources Development●

Radiation Oncology (RO)Radioactive Waste Management (RWM)

Nuclear Safety Culture

Application for Medical Care●

Public Information (PI)Radioactive Waste Management

Human Resources Development (HRD)

Industial Application●

Application of Electron Accelerator (EB)ASIA COOPERATION CENTER
JAPAN ATOMIC INDUSTRIAL FORUM, INC.
2-1-3, Shimbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-8605 JAPAN
PHONE : +81-3-6812-7104
FAX: +81-3-6812-7110

http://www.jaif.or.jp/english/
http://www.fnca.jp/english/

This Newsletter is issued by the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum, Inc. (JAIF) under thecontract of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT).

16