Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology

For the safe disposal of intermediate level radioactive waste according to the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission’s notice and KORAD’s management plan for low and intermediate level radioactive waste, the disposal concentration limit was derived based on the IAEA methodology. The evaluation of the derived disposal concentration limit revealed that it is not suitable as a practical limit for intermediate level radioactive waste. This is because the disposal concentration limit according to the IAEA methodology is derived using a single value of radioactive waste density and the disposal facility';s volume. The IAEA methodology is suitable for setting the concentration limit for vault type disposal, which consists of a single type of waste, whereas an underground silo type disposal facility is composed of several types of radioactive waste, and thus the IAEA methodology has limitations in determining the disposal concentration limit. It is necessary to develop and apply an improved method to derive the disposal concentration limit for intermediate level radioactive waste by considering the radioactivity of various types of radioactive waste, the corresponding scenario evaluation results, and the regulatory limit.

Keywords

Intermediate-level radioactive waste,Concentration limit,Underground silo type disposal facility