Permanent disposal of low- and intermediate-level radioactive wastes in the subterranean environment has been the preferred method of many countries, including Korea. A safety issue after the closure of a geological repository is that biodegradation of organic materials due to microbial activities generates gases that lead to overpressure of the waste containers in the repository and its disintegration with the release of radionuclides. As part of an ongoing large-scale in situ experiment using organic wastes and groundwater to simulate geological radioactive waste repository conditions, we investigated the geochemical alteration and microbial activities at an early stage (~63 days) intended to be representative of the initial period after repository closure. The increased numbers of both aerobes and facultative anaerobes in waste effluents indicate that oxygen content could be the most significant parameter to control biogeochemical conditions at very early periods of reaction (
Revised: May 21, 2014 |
Published: March 18, 2014
Citation
Choung S., W. Um, S. Choi, A.J. Francis, A.J. Francis, S. Kim, and J. Park, et al. 2014.Biogeochemical Changes at Early Stage After the Closure of Radioactive Waste Geological Repository in South Korea.Annals of Nuclear Energy 71.PNNL-SA-102381.doi:10.1016/j.anucene.2014.03.021