bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Status of LILW Disposal Facility Construction in Korea
Authors: Kim Min-Seok , Chung Myung-Sub , Park Kyu-Wan 
Published: February 2014

In this paper, we discuss the experiences during the construction of the first LILW disposal facility in South Korea. In December 2005, the South Korean Government designated Gyeongju-city as a host city of Low- and Intermediate-Level Radioactive Waste (LILW) disposal site through local referendums held in regions whose local governments had applied to host disposal facility in accordance with the site selection procedures.
The LILW disposal facility is being constructed in Bongilri, Yangbuk-myeon, Gyeongju. The official name of the disposal facility is called ‘Wolsong Low and Intermediate Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Center (LILW Disposal Center)’. It can dispose of 800,000 drums of radioactive wastes in a site of 2,100,000 square meters. At the first stage, LILW repository of underground silo type with disposal capacity of 100,000 drums is under construction expected to be completed by June of 2014.
The Wolsong Low and Intermediate Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Center consists of surface facilities and underground facilities. The surface facilities include a reception and inspection facility, an interim storage facility, a radioactive waste treatment building, and supporting facilities such as main control center, equipment & maintenance shop. The underground facilities consist of a construction tunnel for transport of construction equipment and materials, an operation tunnel for transport of radioactive waste, an entrance shaft for workers, and six silos for final disposal of radioactive waste. As of Dec. 2012, the overall project progress rate is 93.8%.
Dismantling the Nuclear Research Reactor Thetis
Authors: Michiels P. 
Published: February 2014

The research reactor Thetis, in service since 1967 and stopped in 2003, is part of the laboratories of the institution of nuclear science of the University of Ghent. The reactor, of the pool-type, was used as a neutron-source for the production of radio-isotopes and for activation-analyses.
The reactor is situated in a water pool with inner diameter of 3 m. and a depth of 7.5 m. The reactor core is situated 5.3m under water level. Besides the reactor, the pool contains pneumatic loops, handling tools, graphite blocks for neutron moderation and other experimental equipment. The building houses storage rooms for fissile material and sources, a pneumatic circuit for transportation of samples, primary and secondary cooling circuits, water cleaning resin circuits, a ventilation system and other necessary devices. Because of the experimental character of the reactor, laboratories with glove boxes and other tools were needed and are included in the dismantling program. The building is in 3 levels with a crawl-space.
The ground-floor contains the ventilation installation, the purification circuits with tanks, cooling circuits and pneumatic transport system. On the first floor, around the reactor hall, the control-room, visiting area, end-station for pneumatic transport, waste-storage room, fuel storage-room and the labs are located. The second floor contains a few laboratories and end stations of the two high speed transfer tubes. The lowest level of the pool is situated under ground level. The reactor has been operated at a power of 150 kW and had a max operating power of 250 kW.
Belgoprocess has been selected to decommission the reactor, the labs, storage halls and associated circuits to free release the building for conventional reuse and for the removal of all its internals as legal defined.
Besides the dose-rate risk and contamination risk, there is also an asbestos risk of contamination. During construction of the installation, asbestos-containing materials were used, which must be removed in controlled conditions. The ventilation system is considered free from nuclear contamination but it contains asbestos.
This paper covers the organization of the dismantling work, the technical execution aspect and conclusions already known (dismantling is ongoing as this is written).
Prediction of Radiation Doses During the Dismantling of the Pressurized Tank From Emergency Core Cooling System of RBMK-1500 Reactor
Authors: Simonis A. , Poskas P. , Poskas G. 
Published: February 2014

Preparation for the decommissioning of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant involves multiple problems. Personnel radiation safety during the performance of dismantling activities is one of them. In order to assess the optimal personnel radiation safety, the modelling is performed for large components by the means of computer code “VISIPLAN 3D ALARA Planning tool” developed by SCK CEN (Belgium).
Modelling results of radiation doses during the dismantling of the pressurized tank from the emergency core cooling system (ECCS PT) of RBMK-1500 reactor are presented in this paper. The mass of one ECCS PT is approximately 47.6 tons. The radiological surveys indicate that the inner surface of the ECCS PT is contaminated with radioactive products of corrosion and sediments due to the radioactive water.
The assessment of workers exposure was performed to comply with ALARA. The effective doses to the workers were modeled for different strategies of ECCS PT dismantling. The impact of dismantling tools and shielding types and extract ventilation flow rate during the dismantling of ECCS PT on effective doses were analyzed. The total effective personnel doses were obtained by summarizing the effective personnel doses from various sources of exposure, i. e., direct radiation from radioactive equipment, internal radiation due to inhalation of radioactive aerosols, and direct radiation from radioactive aerosols arising during hot cutting in premises.
Surface and Subsurface Decontamination Technology
Authors: Tuck Matt , Wray Beth , Musgrave Mark 
Published: February 2014

A number of proven technologies applicable to the chemical and physical decontamination of radioactive and non-radioactive contaminants within the environmental remediation and radiological waste management sectors exist. Previous work generally acknowledges that these methods have limitations such as production of large volumes of waste, destruction of the substrate, complex safety considerations [1a] and application of special precautions to meet disposal acceptance criteria [2].
A method that removes a variety of contaminants from the surface and subsurface of porous materials, with minimal contaminated waste arisings, is highly desirable.
TechXtract® is a patented, sequential chemical extraction process developed to remove radionuclides, PCBs, and other hazardous organic and inorganic substances from solid materials such as concrete, brick, steel, and exotic metals [3]. The technology uses multifarious task-specific chemical formulations and engineered applications to achieve surface penetration and removal of the contaminants from the atomic voids of metals and other substrates, or the capillaries and gel pores of concretes.
TechXtract® is proven to remove a variety of contaminants from various substrates, allowing free release of the substrate as waste for disposal, or re-use, whilst producing minimal secondary waste.
Data from testing of TechXtract’s capabilities and evidencing the technology’s efficacy during site based applied research and development is presented here.
Design Innovation for the Management of Alpha Contaminated Unserviceable Glove Boxes
Authors: Sandhanshive Devendra , Shendge Shivaji , Pol S. K. , Nair K. N. S. , Wattal P. K. , Sarjekhan I. A. , Kumar Arun 
Published: February 2014

With the maturing of nuclear industry, there is an added burden on the Back End of fuel cycle. Radioactive facilities are in the need for refurbishment. This paper describes the steps adopted for managing such alpha contaminated unserviceable Glove Boxes.
The first step consisted of in-situ encasement of individual Glove Boxes, encountering the challenges of low head room and space congestion in these laboratories with cognizance to regulatory requirement related to radiation safety. The second step was removal, transfer and placement of encased Glove Boxes in a dedicated facility under continuous surveillance. The glove boxes will remain stored in this facility until arrangements are completed for dismantling and volume reduction in another facility dedicated for this purpose. The final step is the development of an appropriate technique for dismantling/cutting of Glove Boxes in an alpha-tight facility constructed to prevent spread of airborne activity, collection of cut pieces, subsequent decontamination of these metallic wastes and disposal. The paper describes the design scheme for dismantling of the glove box. The description also includes hands on evaluation of tools and gadgets in pilot set-up with a view to incorporating the most credible choice in an upcoming active facility.
A Step-by-Step Development of Radioactive Waste Management Strategy
Authors: Lytsy Tero , Ylä-Mella Mia 
Published: February 2014

Fennovoima is Finland’s third nuclear power company founded in 2007. Fennovoima will build a new nuclear power plant, Hanhikivi 1, in Pyhäjoki municipality located in Northern Finland. Currently Fennovoima is evaluating bids from reactor suppliers. Originally two suppliers, AREVA and Toshiba Heavy Industries were invited to bid for the plant but later also a bid from Rosatom were invited. The plant supplier will be selected in 2013. Platom is a Finnish company with extensive experience in radioactive waste management. In the beginning of 2008, Platom was assigned by Fennovoima as radioactive waste management consultant and to develop radioactive waste management strategy and to support Fennovoima in negotiations with plant suppliers in waste management aspects.
Since Fennovoima has started, there have been some changes to the regulatory requirements which had to be taken into account while developing the strategy. One important change is due to the Government Degree 27.11.2008/736 which establishes a new waste category of very low-level waste following international development and the “new” IAEA waste classification. Other important change was introduced by the change 342/2008 to the Nuclear Energy Act allowing some nuclear waste to be delivered to another country for treatment. These and many more requirements had to be considered when developing the strategy.
Early work by Platom was mostly done to support development of application for Decision-in-Principle. This was the first important licensing step for Fennovoima. Work started with studies and plans which were used by Fennovoima to gather the know-how required to draw up the application. Descriptions of waste streams and waste management technologies were developed as well as preliminary waste inventories and studies for final disposal, including preliminary dimensioning of the repository facilities. Based on these plans nuclear regulator’s preliminary safety assessment was performed. The work was successfully completed as in 2010 the Government of Finland granted Fennovoima a permit to build a new nuclear power plant.
The work continued in 2012 when bids were received for EPR and ABWR type reactors. Plans developed earlier were elaborated into a detailed strategy and the proposed waste management solutions were evaluated. This allowed feedback from the bids into the strategy and to the bid specification and they both were developed. Also waste inventories were elaborated which allowed development of reactor design specific disposal strategies.
The main objective of work has been to establish basis for safe and efficient radioactive waste management which meets all the relevant national and international recommendations, requirements and regulations, takes advantage of best available and state-of-art technologies and offers fit-for-purpose solutions. All the work was performed to accommodate requirement based management system.
Experiences With New Neutralization Technologies for Remediation After ISL Mining of Uranium in Stráž pod Ralskem
Authors: Sedláková Veronika , Kašpar Ludvík , Týkal Tomáš 
Published: February 2014

A big affection of the rock environment and groundwaters occured during the chemical mining of uranium in the years 1966 to 1996 in the neighbourhood of the town Straz pod Ralskem in the Czech Republic. It is necessary to clean the residual technological solutions (RTS) from the underground. The pH of the solutions in some places is still less than 2 and the concentration of sulphates reachs up to 65 g/l.
The remedial activities consist of pumping of the RTS from the ground and reprocessing of the RTS in the surface technologies. The implementation of the new neutralization technologies NDS ML and NDS 10 help us with increasing of the efficiency of the remedial process.
The NDS ML technology (“Mother liquor reprocessing station”) started its operation in 2009 and it processes the concentrated technological solution from the evaporation station after the alum crystalization (mother liquor) with the concentration of total dissolved solids up to 250 g/l. The principle is the neutralization of the acid solutions with the aid of the lime milk. The suspension is then filtrated in the filter press, the filter cake is deposited in the tailings pond and the filtrate is injected back into the underground rock environment.
The NDS 10 technology (“Neutralization and Decontamination Station NDS 10”) started its operation in 2012 and it works on the same technological principle as the NDS ML station. The difference is that the NDS 10 station can process higher volume (4.4 m3/min) of the RTS with lower concentration of total dissolved solids 20–25 g/l.
This poster describes the experiences of the state enterprise DIAMO with putting of these two neutralization technologies into operation and with using of the lime milk neutralization in such a large scale.
Regulatory Framework for NORM Residues in Belgium
Authors: Pepin S. , Dehandschutter B. , Poffijn A. , Sonck M. 
Published: February 2014

The Belgian radiation protection authority (Federal Agency for Nuclear Control – FANC) has published in March 2013 a decree regulating the acceptance of NORM residues by non-radioactive waste treatment facilities. This regulation is based on the concept of “work activities involving natural radiation sources” in the sense of article 40 of the 96/29/EURATOM directive. The disposal or processing facilities which accept NORM residues with an activity concentration above a generic exemption level will be considered as “work activities” and submitted to declaration according to the Belgian radiation protection regulations. On basis of this declaration, specific acceptance criteria for the different types of processing/disposal of the residues (disposal on landfill, recycling into building materials, etc.) are imposed. FANC has drafted guidelines for these acceptance criteria. A methodological guide for the operators of the concerned facilities was also published. Moreover, sites where significant quantities of NORM residues are or have been disposed, are subjected to an environmental monitoring in the framework of the national program of radiological surveillance of FANC.
FANC also introduced in its regulations the concept of anthropogenic radon-prone areas: e.g. former phosphogypsum stacks have been defined as anthropogenic radon-prone areas, which allows some form of regulatory control of these sites.
The Belgian Program for Low and Intermediate Short Lived Waste Management: From 1985 to License Application
Authors: De Preter Peter , Wacquier William , Cool Wim 
Published: February 2014

On 31 Januray 2013, ONDRAF/NIRAS, the Belgian Agency for Radioactive Waste and Enriched Fissile Materials, has introduced the construction and operation license application for the surface disposal facility for category A waste at Dessel. The objective of this paper is to present the development of this national programme.
First the key milestones and their impact on the development of the project will be highlighted. This includes in particular: 1) the turning point in 1994, when ONDRAF/NIRAS converts its purely techno-scientific work method into an approach of participation that allows for societal aspects to be taken into account and 2) the decision of the government in 2006 in favour of the surface disposal of category A waste in Dessel.
Then the paper presents the pillars of the long-term safety of a surface disposal and the principles for site selection and how they were applied to the surface disposal facility for category A waste at Dessel. The pillars of the long-term safety of a surface disposal are: (1) the passive confinement and isolation provided by the Engineering Barrier System, (2) the contribution to this passive isolation and confinement by the site, (3) the limitation of the radioactive source term, and (4) the control and monitoring measures.
The Art and Power of Data Imaging
Authors: Lively Jeffrey W. 
Published: February 2014

Data imaging and visual data assessment are veritable gold mines in the scientist’s quest to understand and accurately interpret numerical data. Graphical displays of various aspects of a dataset offer the analyst insight to the data that no mathematical computation or statistic can provide. It is difficult, at best, for even a skilled and observant statistician to understand the underlying structure of a dataset. Often, there is either too little data to get a good “picture” of the structure that might be present or there is so much data that one cannot readily assimilate it. Of course, the latter problem (too much data) is, in reality, no problem at all given the abilities of modern computers and software systems to manage large amounts of data.
Advances in computer technology and the advent of the global positioning satellite system have enabled scientists from many fields of endeavor to collect and view data in its spatial context. Visual images constructed from spatially referenced data reveal the inherent richness and structure in the data and lead to more informed conclusions. So powerful is data collected with spatial context that a relatively new branch of mathematical statistics, geospatial statistics, has emerged. Geospatial statistics seek to exploit this context rich data form to better understand the spatial and co-relationships that might exist, but would be otherwise hidden in tabular data or obscured with classic statistical approaches.
This paper (and accompanying presentation) will show the power that visual data assessment possesses to understand radiological scanning data and to make confident and accurate decisions based on the data images. It will challenge the traditional mathematical concept of detection limits for scanning. It will demonstrate that more data, even if the individual datum comprising the dataset is of “poorer quality” (i.e., has a larger uncertainty and, thus, a larger calculated minimum detection value), is significantly more powerful than a smaller dataset comprised of higher quality measurements. This presentation will cause the open-minded health physicist to rethink how they prescribe, collect, evaluate, and make decisions based upon radiological scan data.
Third National Inventory of Nuclear Liabilities: Main Findings, Lessons Learned
Authors: Cantarella Jacques , Roger Brigitte 
Published: February 2014

The safe management of a country’s radioactive substances in both the short and the long term implies a cost to its present society and necessitates financial resources to cover these costs. Once they are needed, these financial resources may prove to be insufficient or even completely lacking, leading to a nuclear liability. By virtue of article 9 of the Belgian law of 12th December 1997, the Belgian Government wishes to avoid the occurrence of such nuclear liabilities. This law charges ONDRAF/NIRAS, the Belgian Agency for Radioactive Waste and Enriched Fissile Materials with the mission to draw up a register of the localisation and the state of all nuclear sites and all sites containing radioactive substances, to estimate the costs of their decommissioning and remediation, to evaluate the existence and adequacy of the provisions for financing these future or current operations and to update the resulting inventory of nuclear liabilities on a five-yearly basis.
This paper outlines the methodology put in place by ONDRAF/NIRAS to accomplish this assignment and highlights some of the results of this third inventory. It then focuses on the main recommendations ONDRAF/NIRAS made to the Belgian Government on the field of avoiding potential nuclear liabilities.
D & D Activities of Tecnubel in Belgium and Abroad
Authors: Lenie Koen , Vandorpe Marc , Mulier Guido 
Published: February 2014

Safe decontamination is a regular requirement in the lifecycle of a nuclear plant and is integral to the careful maintenance of any nuclear installation for 4 key reasons:
• To decrease the risk of radioactive contamination spreading
• To limit the radioactive doses contracted by maintenance personnel
• To limit the radioactive doses incurred during decommissioning
• To downgrade the class of radioactive waste
The primary goal of decommissioning is to remove aged and/or contaminated and/or activated components of an installation, safely and securely, in as short a time as possible. There are several reasons why this may be necessary:
• To eliminate the risk of radioactive contamination spreading
• To eliminate the risk of radiation
• To downgrade a site or a circuit to a point where it no longer is submitted to regular inspection
• To remove installations or parts that are no longer in service or have aged
There are many different D&D techniques, tools and materials available today. What is important is knowing how best to use them.
This paper describes the experiences and the future projects of Tecnubel in D & D projects in Belgium and abroad.
Upstream Optioneering: Optimising Higher Activity Waste Management
Authors: McTeer Jennifer , Morris Jenny , Wickham Stephen , Buckley Matthew , Kay Elizabeth , Walsh Ciara 
Published: February 2014

The Upstream Optioneering project was created by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) Radioactive Waste Management Directorate (RWMD) to support the development and implementation of opportunities to optimise the management of UK higher activity waste, spent fuel and other materials that may be disposed of in a geological disposal facility.
The project works in an integrative manner with the NDA, RWMD and waste producers, and was split into three phases:
• In Phase 1 waste management opportunities were identified and collated from across the NDA estate.
• In Phase 2, opportunities collated during Phase 1, were further consolidated, analysed and prioritised to develop a three year work programme. Prioritisation ensured that resources were deployed appropriately and opportunities can be realised before the potential benefit diminishes.
• Phase 3, which began in April 2012, comprises a three year work programme to address the prioritised opportunities. Work varies from direct implementation of opportunities to scoping studies that may pave the way for more detailed subsequent work by Site Licence Companies. The work programme is flexible and, subject to change control, varies depending on the needs of project sponsors (RWMD, NDA Strategy and NDA Delivery).
This paper provides an overview of the Upstream Optioneering project (focusing particularly on Phases 2 and 3), summarises work carried out to date within the three year work programme, and provides some examples of the main findings concerning specific opportunities from Year One of the Phase 3 work programme.