A researcher at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute is collecting radioactive waste information using QR codes in this photo provided by the institute.
DAEJEON, July 7 (Korea Bizwire) – The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) said Tuesday that it had established a full-cycle history management system for radioactive waste using QR codes.
The system encodes a variety of waste information that is collected per project, including project managers, radioactive nuclides and the type of waste in QR codes and manages them separately by specific procedures.
In the pre-deliberation stage, researchers come up with a management method on the basis of estimates of the expected amount of radioactive waste from the project planning stage.
Once the project is approved, the stage of history management begins with the related information linked to QR codes being sealed in a small package container.
Following this process is the stage of pre-inspection, in which the waste subject to disposal is classified by its contamination level.
In the last stage, the waste is reduced through repackaging and decontamination treatment and the analysis of radioactive nuclides is carried out to satisfy the requirement for being acquired by the repository in Gyeongju, 370 kilometers southeast of Seoul.
The KAERI operated the full-cycle history management system on a trial basis in the first half of this year and succeeded in reducing the amount of radioactive waste by more than 20 percent compared to a year ago.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
