The KAERI Underground Research Tunnel (KURT) serves as a generic underground research site in Korea and provides relevant domestic geological values including site-specific data related to groundwater at various geological depths (40 � 500 m). Not only chemical and physical properties of the KURT groundwater, but also the characteristics of the groundwater colloids is of fundamental importance in further understanding the transport and retardation of the radionuclides resulting from the colloidal nanoparticle migration. Here, we report the characteristics of the KURT groundwater colloids analyzed by the mobile Laser-Induced Breakdown Detection (M-LIBD) system along with complementary techniques including Inductively-Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), and Photon Correlation Spectroscopy (PCS). Due to the low concentration of the natural groundwater colloids for measurements, the colloids were concentrated using tangential flow ultra-filtration method. The size of the KURT groundwater colloids at various geological depths measured from the LIBD system ranges from 70 to 125 nm, whereas that from PCS and TEM does from 240 to 260 nm and 50 to 200 nm, respectively. In the measurement of colloid concentrations at various depths, both LIBD and ICP-MS methods show colloid concentrations ranging from 20 and 40 ppb. The characteristics of the KURT groundwater at various depths were compared with those from other countries and analyzed for use in safety assessments.

Characterization of site-specific groundwater colloids at various depths: Mobile-LIBD, PCS, ICP-MS, TEM investigation of the KURT groundwater colloids

247th National Meeting (2014)

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