KR101556655B1 - System and method for eliminating radioactive materials from contaminated water using algae - Google Patents

Abstract

A system and method for radioactive contamination using microalgae is disclosed. A culture tank 220 into which radioactive contaminated water containing a radioactive substance and microalgae that grow in the radioactive contaminated water are introduced, and data relating to radioactive contaminated water in which the microalgae in the culture tank 220 are mixed The culture tank 220 and the culture tank 220. The culture tank 220 is connected to the culture tank 220 through the culture tank 220. The culture tank 220 is connected to the culture tank 220, A local control unit 250 for controlling devices providing a growth environment according to control signals received from a remote location and a remote control system 250 for receiving measurement data from the measurement unit 230 and transmitting control signals to the local control unit 250 (100). Accordingly, the number of radioactive contamination that may occur at the time of disposal of nuclear fuel and at the time of a nuclear accident during operation of the nuclear power plant and / or radioactive contamination water that may occur at the time of a serious accident is put into an appropriate microalgae culture tank, By allowing the radioactive material in the contaminated water to be adsorbed and / or absorbed while growing in the tank, the radioactive contaminated water can be purified and the safety of the nuclear power plant can be improved.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system and method for radioactive contamination using fine algae,

The present invention relates to the treatment of spent nuclear fuel and the purification of radioactive contaminated water in a nuclear power plant. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for stabilizing spent fuel of a nuclear power plant using microalgae or removing radioactive materials from radioactive contaminated water during a nuclear accident, To a technique for purifying contaminated water.

Generally, nuclear power plants use fission to produce low-carbon, clean energy with high economic efficiency. However, the radioactive and radioactive materials generated during the fission process are not only fatal when the residents and workers are exposed, but also have a long residence time when they leak into the surrounding environment. In the normal operation of the nuclear power plant, there are no radiation leakage problems because various radiation shielding and protective measures are working to prevent radiation leakage.

However, after the use of a nuclear power plant - the leakage of radioactive material into the surrounding environment caused by a serious accident of a nuclear power plant due to nuclear fuel and / or natural disasters, contamination of land, marine, groundwater, Radiation exposure of workers is a big problem. It is necessary to develop a technology that can treat radioactive materials and / or radioactive contamination due to spent nuclear fuel or serious accidents in a nuclear power plant in a stable and environmentally friendly manner.

Generally, nuclear power plants are designed to protect nuclear radioactive nuclides from nuclear fission and to minimize radiation exposure by radioactive materials. In-depth defense and multiple defense walls are set as safety principles and applied to design, manufacture, operation and accident management of nuclear power plants. . During the normal operation of nuclear power plants, various radioactive material nuclides generated during nuclear fission are present in the nuclear fuel rods. Radiation from radioactive material during normal operation is shielded below the safe dose of radiation by multiple barrier walls, such as nuclear fuel rods, raw materials containers and reactor buildings.

Table 1 and Table 2 show the 60 major radioactive nuclides and their half-lives, which are caused by the nuclear fission of nuclear power plants, which are harmful to human body, by date and year.

Radioactive material nuclide Nuclear decay Half-life (days) Half-life (years) CO-58 NONE 71.30 0.20 CO-60 NONE 1921.30 5.26 KR-85 NONE 3918.98 10.74 KR-85M NONE 0.19 0.00 KR-87 NONE 0.05 0.00 KR-88 NONE 0.12 0.00 RB-86 NONE 18.65 0.05 SR-89 NONE 52.00 0.14 SR-90 NONE 10260.42 28.11 SR-91 NONE 0.40 0.00

Radioactive material nuclide Nuclear decay Half-life (days) Half-life (years) SR-92 NONE 0.11 0.00 Y-90 SR-90 2.67 0.01 Y-91 SR-91 58.80 0.16 Y-92 SR-92 0.15 0.00 Y-93 NONE 0.42 0.00 ZR-95 NONE 65.50 0.18 ZR-97 NONE 0.70 0.00 NB-95 ZR-95 35.10 0.10 MO-99 NONE 2.75 0.01 TC-99M MO-99 0.25 0.00 RU-103 NONE 39.59 0.11 RU-105 NONE 0.18 0.00 RU-106 NONE 368.98 1.01 RH-105 RU-105 1.48 0.00 SB-127 NONE 3.80 0.01 SB-129 NONE 0.18 0.00 TE-127 SB-127 0.39 0.00 TE-127M NONE 109.00 0.30 TE-129 SB-129 0.05 0.00 TE-129M NONE 33.40 0.09 TE-131M NONE 1.25 0.00 TE-132 NONE 3.25 0.01 I-131 TE-131M 8.04 0.02 I-132 TE-132 0.10 0.00 I-133 NONE 0.87 0.00 I-134 NONE 0.04 0.00 I-135 NONE 0.27 0.00 XE-133 I-133 5.29 0.01 XE-135 I-135 0.38 0.00 CS-134 NONE 752.43 2.06 CS-136 NONE 13.00 0.04 CS-137 NONE 10989.58 30.11 BA-139 NONE 0.06 0.00 BA-140 NONE 12.79 0.04 LA-140 BA-140 1.68 0.00 LA-141 NONE 0.16 0.00 LA-142 NONE 0.07 0.00 CE-141 LA-141 32.53 0.09 CE-143 NONE 1.38 0.00 CE-144 NONE 284.38 0.78 PR-143 CE-143 13.58 0.04 ND-147 NONE 10.99 0.03 NP-239 NONE 2.35 0.01 PU-238 CM-242 32511.57 89.07 PU-239 NP-239 8912037.04 24416.54 PU-240 CM-244 2468750.00 6763.70 PU-241 NONE 5333.33 14.61 AM-241 PU-241 158101.85 433.16 CM-242 NONE 162.96 0.45 CM-244 NONE 6611.11 18.11

As can be seen from the above table, most of the radioactive materials in the fuel rod of the spent fuel have a short half-life, but some radioactive materials have a very long half-life.

Indeed, in the case of the US TMI-2 nuclear accident in 1979, the nuclear fuel melted and the nuclear fuel melted into the lower half of the reactor vessel, but the radioactive material could be preserved in the reactor vessel, which is a multi- Therefore, the radioactive material was not discharged outside the reactor vessel, and the radiation outside the reactor building was maintained below the safe level.

However, in the event of a nuclear accident in which the reactor vessel is destroyed by natural disasters such as an explosion, a tsunami, or an earthquake, the fuel melt may be released to the lower space outside the reactor vessel. Then, a large amount of heat is generated by the released fuel melt. Failure to properly cool it can cause damage to the reactor building due to phenomena such as pressure or hydrogen explosion. Thus, if the reactor vessel and reactor building are damaged, radioactive materials and radiation can be released to the atmosphere and environment, causing environmental pollution and radiation exposure of local residents and workers. In fact, the Chernobyl nuclear accident in the former Soviet Union in 1986 and the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident in Japan in 2011 are typical examples.

In the case of the Chernobyl nuclear accident, after the accident, the radioactive material was fixed in the nuclear reactor building using sand, but the air pollution caused by the release of the radioactive material and the soil contamination caused damage to the environment and the radiation of the local residents. Accidents at the Fukushima nuclear power plant caused air pollution, marine pollution caused by groundwater pollution, environmental pollution caused by soil pollution, and radiation damage to local residents.

Especially, in case of Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, the treatment of radioactive contaminated water by ground water and contaminated water of nuclear reactor building is still the most important pollution treatment issue, so there is a desperate need for environmentally friendly and stable treatment of radioactive contaminated water . The most urgent radioactive materials in the Fukushima nuclear accident are Iodine I-131, Cesium CS-134, and CS-134, both of which are listed in Tables 1 and 2, Strontium SR-90 (Half-life about 28 years), Tellurium TE-127 (Half life about 0.39 days), Krypton KR-85 (Half-life approx. 10 years).

In the case of Fukushima nuclear plant accident treatment, only temporary measures are carried out because there is no current radioactive material and radioactive contaminated water treatment technology. For example, measures are taken to pumped up radioactive contaminated groundwater or reactor building contaminated water and temporarily store it in a storage tank. On the other hand, there is a plan to prevent the inflow and / or outflow of groundwater by this ice layer by freezing the middle part of the groundwater flow. In the case of contaminated water storage tanks, the pipes or valves attached to the installed storage tanks are not able to withstand the pressure caused by the heat continuously generated in the polluted water, and thus the contaminated water is leaked to the external environment. Is increasing. On the other hand, frost heave walls that freeze the surrounding land to prevent groundwater from entering the reactor building are untested technologies and require enormous financial investment to maintain a certain temperature in the ground below zero, It is not a water treatment technique, but a temporary interception of underground pollution water.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems of the prior art and adds various other advantages, and in particular, it relates to a radioactive contaminated water which is contaminated with a radioactive material generated during a serious accident of a nuclear power plant, It is an object of the present invention to provide a technology for treating radioactive contaminated water using microalgae so as to minimize the radioactive dose of the worker while stably and efficiently treating the radioactive contaminated water.

The present invention also provides a method for culturing a microalgae in a culture tank capable of storing a sealed type of radioactive contaminated water for providing an optimal culture environment and automatically controlling the culture environment in the culture tank remotely in real time, The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a radioactive decontamination technique using microalgae.

Further, the present invention is to provide a micro-organism capable of effectively removing various types of radioactive materials in radioactive contaminated water by cultivating only one kind of microalgae in one culture tank and connecting these culture tanks in series, Radiation using algae aims at providing a technology for polluted water purification.

Furthermore, the present invention can be applied to a system for continuously and in large quantities, such as cooling water for cooling spent fuel or radioactive contaminated water that may leak during an accident of a nuclear power plant during operation, and groundwater flowing underground of a nuclear power plant, It is an object of the present invention to provide a technique of radioactive contamination water purification using microalgae, which can remotely and automatically purify the generated radioactive contaminated water stepwise and continuously.

The present invention also relates to a method for separating nuclear material contained in a nuclear fuel rod of a spent nuclear fuel from a fuel rod and cultivating a microalgae in a sealed water storage tank, And to provide a technology for treating radioactive nuclear materials of spent nuclear fuel in a stable manner.

The above object is achieved by a system and a method for radioactive pollution control using microalgae provided according to the present invention.

A system for treating radioactive contamination using microalgae provided according to an aspect of the present invention includes a culture tank into which radioactive contaminated water containing a radioactive material and microalgae growing in the radioactive contaminated water are introduced, A measurement unit for measuring data related to the number of contaminated radioactive contaminated micro-algae; and a control unit for controlling the amount of radioactive contaminated water and the amount of purified water to be discharged into the culture tank, And a remote control system for receiving measurement data from the measurement unit and transmitting a control signal to the local control unit. The remote control system may include a local control unit for controlling the devices providing the algae growth environment according to a control signal received from a remote location.

In one embodiment, the culture tank may be constituted by connecting a plurality of culture tanks in series in accordance with the introduction of the contaminated water and the discharge flow of the purified water.

In another embodiment, micro-algae of different species may be introduced into each of the plurality of culture tanks.

In another embodiment, the culture tank has a closed internal space, a safety valve that is opened when the pressure of the internal space is higher than a predetermined value, and is closed when the pressure is lower than a predetermined value, A micro-algae input pipe for injecting micro-algae from the outside into the internal space, a temperature control unit for controlling the temperature of the internal space to control the temperature of the internal space, An additive introduction pipe for introducing an additive including nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ) for providing nutrients that the microalgae can grow in the polluted water of the internal space; And a light emitting device for providing light energy that the microalgae can grow in the polluted water of the space.

In another embodiment, the culture tank may include a culture medium for providing a flexible structure in the form of a fiber, net, or fabric in which the microalgae can adhere in the contaminated water of the inner space, And a culture medium transfer device capable of transferring the transfer medium from the outside to the inside space and from the outside to the outside.

In another embodiment, the light emitting device is installed at a plurality of positions in the culture tank so that light energy can reach the microalgae regardless of the depth of the contaminated water in the internal space of the culture tank .

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of treating radioactive contamination using microalgae, comprising the steps of: radioactive contaminated water containing a radioactive material in a closed internal space of a culture tank; microalgae growing in the radioactive contaminated water; A culture step of adding nutrients and CO ₂ that can be grown by the algae, adjusting the temperature and providing light energy to cultivate the microalgae so as to grow the microalgae, A remote control step of receiving the measurement data generated in the measurement step through a communication network and transmitting a control signal to a local control unit connected to the culture tank, Receiving the control signal transmitted in the remote control step, and supplying the radioactive contaminated water into the culture tank And a local control step of controlling the devices for providing the micro-algae growth environment in the culture tank, the introduction of the micro-algae into the culture tank, and the control of the devices for providing the micro-algae growth environment in the culture tank.

In one embodiment, the culturing step may include a plurality of culture tanks connected in series, and micro-algae of different species may be added to each of the plurality of culture tanks to be cultured.

In another embodiment, before the culturing step, a culture medium providing a flexible structure in the form of fiber, net, or fabric, to which the microalgae can adhere in the contaminated water of the inner space of the culture tank, A culturing medium feeding step for feeding the culture medium into the inner space is performed, and after the culturing step, a culturing medium discharging step for discharging the culturing medium from the inner space to the outside can be performed.

According to the present invention having the above-described configuration, the number of radioactive contamination that may occur during the treatment of spent nuclear fuel and spent nuclear fuel of a nuclear power plant and / or the number of radioactive contamination that may occur during a nuclear accident or major accident during operation is appropriately It is possible to stably purify spent nuclear radioactive nuclear material and radioactive contaminated water by injecting and / or absorbing the radioactive material in the contaminated water while the microalgae are growing in the culture tank, Can be improved.

Further, according to the present invention, the culture tank for microalgae is hermetically provided, and the culture environment in the culture tank is automatically and remotely controlled in real time, so that the amount of radioactive dose of the field worker can be minimized, Be able to

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to simultaneously use microalgae of various species, which are difficult to cultivate together, by culturing only one kind of microalgae in one culture tank and connecting these culture tanks in series to each other, Thereby making it possible to efficiently remove various kinds of radioactive materials.

Furthermore, the present invention further relates to a method for controlling the amount of radioactive contamination that occurs continuously and in large quantities, such as when cooling water for cooling spent fuel and groundwater flowing underground of a nuclear power plant is contaminated with radioactive material, It is possible to provide a purification technique capable of automatically purifying stepwise and continuously. Accordingly, when compared with the existing temporary radioactive contaminated water storage technique, the present invention can provide a more stable and efficient radioactive contaminated water treatment technique. Compared with the existing groundwater inflow prevention technique using the temporary ice block wall, the present invention can provide a more stable, continuous and economical polluted water treatment technology.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram briefly showing the overall configuration of a radioactive contamination-water purification system using microalgae according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a remote control system, and more particularly,
3 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration of a remote control unit of the remote control system of FIG.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of a microalgae culture system in a radioactive contamination water purification system using microalgae according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.
FIG. 5 is a schematic view for conceptually explaining the microalgae culture system of FIG. 4 centering on a culture tank. FIG.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of a metering unit in the microalgae culture system of FIG. 4;
FIG. 7 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of a local control unit of the microalgae culture system of FIG. 4;
8 is a view schematically showing a configuration of a culture tank in a radiation contamination water purification system using microalgae according to an embodiment of the present invention.
9 is a view schematically showing an example of a configuration in which two culture tanks are connected in series in a radiation contamination water purification system using microalgae according to an embodiment of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The advantages and features of the present invention, and the manner of achieving them, will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The present invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. To fully disclose the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art, and is defined by the claims of the present invention.

In the following description of the present invention, detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present invention rather unclear. The following terms are defined in consideration of the functions in the embodiments of the present invention, which may vary depending on the intention of the user, the intention or the custom of the operator. Therefore, the definition should be based on the contents throughout this specification.

The present invention is proposed for the treatment of radioactive contaminated water which may occur in a spent fuel treatment or treatment process of a nuclear power plant or a serious accident in which a reactor vessel is broken. The present invention proposes a technique for treatment of contaminated water, which minimizes the exposure of workers mobilized in the contaminated water treatment work and treats the stable and environmentally friendly radiation. Characteristically, the main application field of the present invention is to purify the radioactive contaminated water using microalgae, which is the oldest living organism on earth, which has survived by adapting to the earth change over 3.5 billion years on the earth.

From the following references 1, 2, and 3, it can be seen that research is underway to use microalgae to purify radioactive contaminated water.

REFERENCES 1: An extremely radioresistant green eukaryote for radionuclide bio-decontamination in the nuclear industry, Richard Bligny et. al., Energy Environment Science, 2013, 6, 1230-1239, DOI: 10, 1029 / C2EE23129H.

References 2: Algae Industry megazine.com, April 4, 2011.

Reference 3: Novel Radioresistant Algaeof the Coccomyxa Genus, March 28, 2013, U.S. Pat. : 20130078707

References 1 and 2 of the above reference references disclose that the specific microalgae Closterium Moniliferum and Coccomyxa Actinabiotis are heavy metals (Zn-65, AG-110) Or non-radioactive materials without radioactivity by adsorbing, capturing or absorbing fission products (CS-137, CO-60, SR-90, U-238) The Kokomai sactuna biotis microalgae strain of Reference 1 corresponds to Reference 3, which is a publicly disclosed patent application filed in March 2013 in the United States.

In reference to References 1 and 2, among the microalgae, the oldest living organisms that have been adapted to earth changes over about 3.5 billion years on Earth, special types of microalgae are particularly effective in adsorbing and capturing special radionuclides It is possible to deduce that it has the characteristic of absorbing radioactivity and converting it into a stable isotope. Future study on microalgae environment will be focused on the search for microalgae that absorb these radioactive materials and convert them into non-radioactive isotopes . Particularly, radioactive materials such as iodine I-131, cesium CS-134 and CS-137 and strontium SR-90, and tritium TE-127 and krypton KR-85, which are the main radioactive materials of radioactive contaminated water that are emerging after the Fukushima nuclear accident, It is important to search for adsorption, capture and absorption special microalgae.

The inventors of the present invention have noted that there is found a special microalgae that can be used for the treatment of radioactive materials among these microalgae. At present, the function of separating and removing the radioactive material from the polluted water by capturing or adsorbing a specific radioactive material among various microalgae species, the function of reducing the radiation in the contaminated water by absorbing the radioactive material, or the conversion of the radioactive material into the non- And the ability to remove radionuclides, etc., have been made in order to classify microalgae with special functions that can treat radioactive materials.

Therefore, the present inventor has noticed that if a microalgae species having a function of capturing or adsorbing at least one radioactive substance is used, it is possible to provide a technology capable of purifying radioactive contaminated water environmentally. Accordingly, the present invention relates to a method for treating radioactive nuclear material and radioactivity using microalgae, which enables the radioactive substances in radioactive contaminated water to be removed by microalgae by culturing microalgae in radioactive contaminated water mixed with radioactive substances So that it is possible to provide pollution water purification technology.

According to the present invention, microalgae of a specific species capable of treating a radioactive substance are cultivated in a culture tank into which radioactive contaminated water is introduced, and by separating and removing microalgae that adsorb or absorb the radioactive substance during the culturing process, The radioactive material in the water can be purified.

Radioactive contamination In general, it is not a kind of contaminated water, but a mixture of radioactive materials. Therefore, in order to purify the radioactive contaminated water in this case, the present invention relates to a method for purifying radioactive contaminated water in which a plurality of culture tanks are connected in series and each culture tank is treated with different kinds of fine Cultivate algae. Accordingly, stepwise purification can be performed in such a manner that one kind of radioactive material is purified in one culture tank, while various kinds of radioactive materials in the radioactive contaminated water sequentially pass through a plurality of culture tanks.

For example, suppose a system in which five culture tanks are connected in series. One of the five culture tanks can be used to culture special microalgae that adsorb or absorb I-137 well in the first culture tank where radioactive contamination is first introduced. The purified water discharged from the first culture tank will contain only the remaining radioactive material, although only I-137 has been removed. This purified water is still radioactive contaminated water. The purified water, ie, radioactive contaminated water, discharged from the first culture tank is introduced into the second culture tank. In the second culture tank, special microalgae that adsorb or absorb CS-134 and CS-137 well can be cultured. Then, the purified water discharged from the second culture tank would have removed CS-134 and CS-137 in addition to I-137, but the remaining radioactive materials would be intact. This purification can still be contaminated. The purified water discharged from the second culture tank, that is, radioactive contaminated water, is introduced into the third culture tank. In the third culture tank, special microalgae that can adsorb or absorb SR-90 well can be cultured. In the same way, TE-127 can be treated in a fourth culture tank into which the radioactive contaminated water discharged from the third culture tank is introduced. Finally, in the fifth culture tank in which radioactive contamination from the fourth culture tank is injected, special microalgae can be cultured to adsorb or absorb KR-85 well.

As described above, multiple species of microalgae can be sequentially separated into multi-stage cultures and cultured in different culture tanks, thereby avoiding competition for survival of the deficient microalgae. In addition, a culturing environment such as the temperature of one kind of special microalgae and a culture medium for each culture tank can suitably be used to improve the culture and radioactive material treatment efficiency.

The spent nuclear fuel can be obtained by separating the nuclear fuel rod from the nuclear fuel assembly, disassembling the nuclear fuel rod, or melting the cladding of the nuclear fuel rod to separate the nuclear fuel pellets into original nuclear fuel powders and then storing them in water in a culture tank, An algae can be cultured to treat radionuclides.

The present invention is particularly useful for remotely controlling the operation and operation of various devices for supplying and discharging radioactive contaminated water into a culture tank, injecting and discharging microalgae, and a culture environment, in order to minimize radiation exposure of a worker Control and monitor the radioactivity in real time.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A system and method for controlling radioactive contamination using microalgae according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram briefly showing the overall configuration of a radioactive contamination-water purification system using microalgae according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a radioactive contamination-water purification system using microalgae may include at least one microalgae culture system 200 connected to a remote control system 100 through a communication network. Although the microalgae culture system 200 is shown as being connected in parallel in the illustrated example, it is apparent that only a few or more microalgae culture systems 200 can be connected.

The remote control system 100 may include, for example, a tablet, laptop, desktop, server system, etc., and may be implemented by a computing device configured to receive data and transmit control signals over a communication network.

The microalgae culture system 200 is a system for treating radioactive contaminated water mixed with radioactive materials into a culture tank for providing a closed environment for culturing microalgae. The microalgae culture system 200 may include one culture tank or a plurality of culture tanks connected in series.

The microalgae culture system 200 measures the temperature, pressure, water level, nitrogen concentration, phosphorus concentration, carbon dioxide concentration, pH, illuminance, and radiation of the culture tank in real time and transmits the measurement data to the remote control system 100 . The remote control system 100 may transmit a control signal to control the environment in the culture tank of the microalgae culture system 200 based on the received measurement data.

The microalgae adapt to all the earth's environment for about 3.5 billion years, and survive the photosynthesis. As microorganisms that survive in the water, they are cultivated in the light, suitable range of water temperature, appropriate range of pH and / or nutrients such as nitrogen / phosphorus CO ₂ is required. Microalgae are generally cultivated at a temperature of about 20 - 25 ^° C and a pH of about 7 - 8 in an environment rich in nitrogen / phosphorus / CO ₂ at about 10 - 50 cm below the water level of sunshine. Therefore, the microalgae culture system 200 should be controlled so as to maximize the treatment efficiency by cultivating the radioactive contaminated water temperature for about 10 to 14 days in accordance with the optimum conditions necessary for culturing the microalgae, and maximizing the multiplication drainage.

Therefore, the microalgae culture system 200 can measure the temperature, the pressure and the water level of the radioactive contaminated water, the nitrogen / phosphorus / carbon dioxide concentration, the illuminance and the pH in real time and transmit them to the remote control system 100. The remote control system 100 transmits a control signal for adjusting the environment such as the temperature, pressure and water level of the radioactive contaminated water and the nitrogen / phosphorous / carbon dioxide concentration, the illuminance and the pH to the optimal culture conditions of the microalgae, ). ≪ / RTI >

To this end, the closed-type culture tank of the microalgae culture system 200 is provided with pipes for supplying and discharging radioactive contaminated water, microalgae, and nitrogen / phosphorus / CO ₂ , valves for opening and closing respective pipes Pumps, heaters and coolers for temperature control in culture tanks, and light tinting in culture tanks. In addition, radiation within the culture tank and radiation within the site on which the culture tank is installed may be measured to facilitate remote monitoring and control. In addition, the situation in the culture tank can be photographed with camera images such as CCTV.

FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 illustrate a remote control system of a radioactive pollution control system using microalgae according to an embodiment of the present invention in more detail.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration of a remote control system of a radioactive contamination-water purification system using microalgae according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2, the remote control system 100 includes a transmission / reception unit 110, a remote control unit 130, a user input / output unit 150, a shooting data storage 160, a measurement data storage 170, (180).

The transceiver 110 is a module for transmitting and receiving data through a communication network capable of bidirectional data communication with the microalgae culture system 200. The transmission / reception unit 110 can modulate the digital data into, for example, packet-based signal data and transmit the modulated digital data.

The remote controller 130 can generate a control signal for controlling the culture environment of the microalgae culture system 200 based on the photographic data and the measurement data received through the transceiver 110 and the control data stored in advance . The generated control signal may be transmitted through the transmission / reception unit 110.

The user input / output unit 150 is an output device that allows a user to visually and / or audibly recognize an input device through which a user can input commands or data. For example, the input device may include a keyboard, a mouse, a key button, a trackball, a joystick, a touch-input device, a microphone, and the like. The output device may include a display, a printer, a speaker, and the like.

The shooting data storage 160, the metering data storage 170, and the control data storage 180 may be modules that store shooting data, metering data, and control data, respectively. The photographing data may be still image or moving image data in a culture tank taken by, for example, CCTV, received from the microalgae culture system 200. The measurement data may be data obtained from the microalgae culture system 200, for example, data of temperature, pressure, illuminance, concentration, pH, etc. in the culture tank. The control data may be data associated with controlling the culture environment of the microalgae culture system 200, which is predetermined and stored data.

3 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of a remote control unit of the remote control system of FIG.

Referring to FIG. 3, the remote controller 130 has various controllers for controlling each part of the microalgae culture system 200. In the illustrated example, the remote control unit 130 includes a contaminated water control unit 131, a microalgae control unit 132, a culture medium control unit 133, a temperature control unit 134, a barometric pressure control unit 135, an illumination control unit 136, A nitrogen concentration control unit 137, a phosphorus concentration control unit 138, a carbon dioxide concentration control unit 139, and a central controller 140.

The contaminated water control unit 131 controls the operation of injecting the radioactive contaminated water into the culture tank of the microalgae culture system 200 and the operation of discharging the purified water (that is, the radioactive contaminated water) to the outside of the culture tank of the microalgae culture system 200 It is a module that controls operation.

The microalgae control unit 132 is a module for controlling the operation of feeding the microalgae culture liquid into the culture tank of the microalgae culture system 200. The microalgae can be put in a state that they are contained in the culture medium that has been cultivated in the laboratory or the pretreatment chamber.

Microalgae cultivated in a culture tank may be discharged together with radioactive contaminated water in the process of discharging radioactive contaminated water. Alternatively, the microalgae may be ejected with the culture medium in the course of draining the culture medium, with the microalgae attached to the culture medium. Therefore, a separate control unit for discharging the microalgae is not shown. Although not shown, for example, a module for controlling an apparatus for filtering out micro-algae by filtering the discharged radioactive contaminated water may be further included.

The culture medium control unit 133 is a module for controlling the operation of feeding the culture medium into the culture tank of the microalgae culture system 200 and the operation of discharging the culture medium from the culture tank of the microalgae culture system 200. It is desirable that the culture media have a specific gravity and structure such that they do not sink on the bottom of the water in the form of yarns, nets, and fabrics, and do not float on the water and maintain a generally uniform shape in the water. The culture medium may be rolled into a device such as a roller and deployed into the culture tank while being unwound as the roller rotates. In this case, the culture medium can be discharged after the discharging device such as the roller is rotated and dried.

The temperature control unit 134 may include control of the heating device and the cooling device so that the temperature of the radioactive contaminated water in the culture tank of the microalgae culture system 200 is maintained in the growth temperature range of the microalgae.

The atmospheric pressure control unit 135 is a module for controlling the gas pressure in a portion of the culture tank of the microalgae culture system 200 that is not filled with radioactive contaminated water. Since the incubation tank is of a closed type, leaving the elevated pressure may lead to mechanical breakage of the culture tank, so a safety valve and control operation are required to prevent this.

The illumination control unit 136 controls light energy supply operation, which is one of the microalga growth conditions in the culture tank of the microalgae culture system 200. The light energy can be supplied through a light emitting device such as an LED (Light Emitting Diode). Such a light emitting device can be installed at a plurality of positions in the culture tank, and can also be installed in the radioactive contaminated water. In this case, it is preferable that the LED is waterproofed.

The nitrogen concentration controller 137, the phosphorus concentration controller 138 and the carbon dioxide concentration controller 139 adjust the concentrations of the additives such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon dioxide, which are microbial growth conditions in the culture tank of the microalgae culture system 200, . These concentrations may vary depending on the species of microalgae. Furthermore, depending on the microalgae it may be necessary to include additives with fewer or more species than these, in which case a concentration control for each corresponding component may be required.

Although not shown, a control unit such as a CCTV control unit, a radiation dose control unit, and the like may be included.

The central controller 140 can take charge of the function of integrally managing the operations of the units 131 to 139. [ The central controller 140 can receive photographic data measurement data in real time from the microalgae culture system 100 and display it to the user or generate an alarm. The alarm may be generated when the measurement data exceeds a predetermined reference value. Alarms can include culture tank pressure, temperature, level and LED illuminance, culture tank and site radiation dose alarms. In addition, the central controller 140 can display the operation status of each valve, pump, electric lamp, electric heater, etc. through the user input / output device. In addition, the central controller 140 may provide a screen for the user to manually control the on / off operation of valves, pumps, electric heaters, and LED lamps.

The remote control system 100 described above can be installed at a remote place far from the microalgae culture system 200 including the culture tank where the actual polluted water treatment is performed.

4 to 7 illustrate a microalgae culture system in a radioactive contamination-water purification system using microalgae according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of a microalgae culture system in a radioactive contamination-water purification system using microalgae according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4, the microalgae culture system 200 may include a transceiver unit 210, a culture tank 220, a measurement unit 230, a local control unit 250, and a raw material tank 270.

The transmission / reception unit 210 is a module capable of communicating with the transmission / reception unit 110 of the remote control system 100.

The measurement unit 230 can measure various factors in the culture tank 220 and transmit the measured data to the remote control system 100 via the transmission / reception unit 210. The measuring unit 230 is described in more detail below with reference to FIG.

The local control unit 250 receives a control signal from the remote control system 100 via the transceiver unit 210 and controls the operation of various devices according to the received control signal to adjust the environment in the culture tank 220 Module. The local control unit 250 is described in more detail below with reference to FIG.

Although the raw material tank 270 is shown as one module, it may be present in a number corresponding to various raw materials such as radioactive contaminated water, microalgae culture medium, culture medium roll, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, phosphorus and the like. Although the raw material tank 270 is shown as being locally present inside the microalgae culture system 200, it may be remotely installed at a remote location outside the microalgae culture system 200.

The culture tank 220 has a generally cylindrical inner space in the illustrated example and is made of a corrosion resistant material such as stainless steel and can be designed to have sufficient thickness to withstand radiation shielding and design pressures. The culture tank 220 is hermetically closed, but various piping having remote control valves and inlet / outlet pumps are installed, and various measuring devices are installed. The culture tank 220 is described in more detail below with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9. FIG.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view for conceptually explaining the microalgae culture system of FIG. 4 centering on a culture tank.

Referring to Figure 5, the culture tank 220 provides an environment for microalgae to grow within the radioactive contaminated water. To this end, the culture tank 220 is provided with polluted water, microalgae, culture medium, light, nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon dioxide, temperature and the like. When the cultivation is completed, the purified water and the culture medium may be discharged. The discharged purified water is a state in which the radioactive material is removed by the microalgae from the contaminated water. The culture medium to be discharged is a state in which a microorganism species adsorbing or absorbing a radioactive substance is adhered.

The microalgae that are adhered to the culture medium may be used as an organic fertilizer separated or adhered to the culture medium, or may be recycled as biomass feedstock (RDF, carbonized fuel).

The amount of radioactive contamination introduced into the culture tank 220 may be generated by contamination of groundwater around the nuclear power plant with heavy radiation, such as damage to the reactor vessel, due to radioactivity. Another example might be the cooling process of spent fuel during normal operation of a nuclear power plant and the occurrence of a transient accident at a nuclear power plant during operation.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of the metering unit in the microalgae culture system of FIG. 4;

6, the measuring unit 203 includes a water level meter 231, a water temperature meter 232, a nitrogen concentration meter 233, a phosphorus concentration meter 234, a carbon dioxide concentration meter 235, a pH meter 236, And may include a camera 237, a temperature sensor 238, a barometric meter 239, an illuminance meter 240, and a radiation meter 241.

The water level meter 231 is a meter for measuring the level of the contaminated water in the culture tank 220. The water temperature meter 232 is a meter for measuring the temperature of the contaminated water in the culture tank 220. The nitrogen concentration meter 233, the phosphorus concentration meter 234, the carbon dioxide concentration meter 235 and the pH meter 236 calculate the concentration of nitrogen in the contaminated water, the phosphorus concentration, the carbon dioxide concentration, pH, respectively. The camera 237 may be a device capable of capturing a moving picture such as a CCTV. The air temperature meter 238 is a meter for measuring the temperature of air in the upper part of the contaminated water in the culture tank 220. The barometric pressure meter 239 is a meter for measuring the pressure of air in the upper part of the contaminated water in the culture tank 220. The illuminance meter 240 can measure the illuminance measured inside the culture tank 220 and / or inside the contaminated water by a light emitting device such as an LED. The radiation meter 241 may be a meter for measuring the radiation dose of the inside and outside of the culture tank 220 (i.e., the building or the site where the culture tank is installed).

FIG. 7 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of a local control unit in the microalgae culture system of FIG. 4. FIG.

7, the local control unit 250 includes a polluted water supply pipe 251, a purified water discharge pipe 252, a micro-algae feed pipe 253, a temperature regulator 254, an additive feed pipe 255, The culture medium conveyance device 256, the culture medium conveyance device 257, and the like. The local control unit 250 controls the operation of these various devices in accordance with a control signal from the remote control system 100 (see FIGS. 1 and 2), not by itself.

The contaminated water feed pipe 251 is a valve that is remotely controlled (i. E., Controlled by a control signal transmitted by the remote control system 200) as a pipe for introducing radioactive contaminated water into the culture tank 220 and And a pump. The valve is for opening and closing operation, and the pump provides a forcing force. The purified water discharge pipe 252 has a valve and a pump that are remotely controlled as pipes for discharging radioactive contaminated water into the culture tank 220. The micro-algae feed pipe 253 is provided with a valve and a pump which are remotely controlled as piping for feeding the microalgae culture liquid into the culture tank 220. The additive feed pipe 255 is a pipe for feeding additive such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon dioxide, and each includes a valve and a pump that are remotely controlled.

The temperature regulator 254 includes a heater and a cooler, and operates to regulate the temperature of the contaminated water in the culture tank 220. The light emitting device 256 may be, for example, an LED lamp, and a plurality of LED lamps may be provided inside and outside the contaminated water. The culture medium transfer device 257 is a device for transferring the culture medium into the culture tank 220 and discharging the culture medium to the outside of the culture tank 220. The culture medium conveying device 257 may be configured to include a roll that is wrapped around or to be wrapped around the culture medium and a drive motor for rotating the roll. The driving motor of the culture medium feeding device 257 is also remotely controlled.

FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 show a culture tank in more detail in a radiation contamination water purification system using microalgae according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a view schematically showing a configuration of a culture tank in a system for controlling radioactive contamination using microalgae according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to Fig. 8, an example is shown in which about two-thirds of the culture tank 220 is filled with contaminated water. A contaminated water supply pipe 251 is connected to the upper side of the culture tank 220 and a polluted water discharge pipe 252 is connected to the lower side of the culture tank. The microalgae culture liquid 253 is connected to the upper side of the culture tank.

A light emitting device 256, which may be an LED light, is installed in a large number at the top, sides, and bottom of the culture tank. It can be seen that the light emitting device 256 is also installed at a position that is immersed in the contaminated water. In general, microalgae in their natural state are inhabited and cultivated up to about 50 cm from the surface of the water. According to the present invention, a waterproof LED light is installed in a culture tank, thereby providing light to the water, thereby providing an environment in which microalgae can grow anywhere in the culture tank regardless of the depth of the polluted water.

It is shown that a culture medium 260 in the form of a fabric or net is immersed in the contaminated water while being connected to the culture medium transfer device 257 at both upper ends. The culture medium 260 provides a structure in which microalgae adhere and grow. Therefore, when the culture medium 260 is discharged, the microalgae can also be discharged.

The culture tank 220 is provided with a camera 237, a pressure meter 239, a safety valve 221, a temperature meter 232, a temperature sensor 238, a water level meter 231, a pH meter 236, The same additive feed line 255, a temperature regulator 254 which may include a heater and a cooler, and the like, as well as a variety of other instruments and input and discharge lines, as required.

The safety valve 221 is normally closed and automatically opened when the pressure in the culture tank 220 is higher than a predetermined value to automatically adjust the pressure inside the culture tank 220.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing an example of a configuration in which two culture tanks are connected in series in a radiation contamination water purification system using microalgae according to an embodiment of the present invention.

9, two culture tanks 220 'and 220' 'are connected in series. That is, contaminated water discharged from the first culture tank 220' is introduced into the second culture tank 220 '. In the example shown, only two culture tanks are connected, but this is only an example, and it is obvious that a larger number of culture tanks can be connected in series if necessary. In this example, the same or different microalgae may be injected into each culture tank.

As described above, the system for treating radioactive contamination using microalgae provided according to the present invention can realize a method for treating radioactive contamination using microalgae according to another aspect of the present invention.

The method of radioactive contamination using microalgae may include a culture step, a measurement step, a remote control step, and a local control step.

In the incubation step, radioactive contaminated water containing a radioactive material, microalgae growing in the radioactive contaminated water, and nutrients capable of growing by the microalgae are introduced into a closed inner space of a culture tank, And then cultivating the microalgae to grow.

The measuring step is a step of measuring data related to the number of contaminated radioactive contaminated micro-algae during the culturing step to generate measurement data.

The remote control step is a step of receiving the measurement data generated in the measurement step through a communication network and transmitting a control signal to a local control unit connected to the culture tank.

The local control step includes receiving the control signal transmitted in the remote control step, discharging the radioactive contaminated water and discharging the purified water, introducing the microalgae into the culture tank, introducing the microalgae into the culture tank, To the devices.

Before and after the culturing step, a culture medium providing a flexible structure in the form of fiber, net, or fabric that the microalgae can adhere in the contaminated water of the inner space of the culture tank is injected from the outside into the inner space A culture medium feeding step, and a culture medium discharging step for discharging the culture medium to the outside from the inner space of the culture tank, respectively.

100: Remote control system
110: Transmitting /
130:
131:
132: micro algae control unit
133: Culture medium control unit
134:
135:
136:
137: nitrogen concentration control section
138: phosphorus concentration control section
139: Carbon dioxide concentration controller
140: central controller
150: User I /
160: Shooting data storage
170: Instrumentation Data Storage
180: Control Data Storage
200: Microalgae culture system
210: Transmitting /
220: culture tank
221: Safety valve
230:
231: Water level meter
232: Water temperature meter
233: Nitrogen concentration meter
234: Phosphorus concentration meter
235: Carbon dioxide concentration meter
236: pH meter
237: Camera
238: Temperature measuring instrument
239: Pressure meter
240: illuminance meter
241: Radiometer
250: Local control
251: Contaminated water input piping
252: purified water discharge piping
253: Micro-algae input piping
254: Temperature regulator
255: Additive feed pipe
256: Light emitting device
257: Culture medium conveying device
260: culture medium
270: raw material tank
290: Culture medium

Claims (9)

In a radioactive contamination water purification system using microalgae,
A micro-algae inflow pipe 253, and a purified water discharge pipe 252 are connected to the inflow pipe 251, the micro-algae inflow pipe 253, and the purified water discharge pipe 252, A culture tank 220;
A culture medium 260 of a flexible material to which microalgae can attach;
A first roller and a second roller respectively connected to one end and the other end of the culture medium 260 and the first roller and the second roller are rotated to rotate the culture medium 260 in a closed A culture medium transfer device 257 including drive means for transferring the microcurrent into the internal space or extracting micro-algae that have collected radionuclides to the outside of the culture tank 220;
A measuring unit 230 for acquiring various information in the culture tank 220;
A local control unit 250 for controlling the operations of the contaminated water inlet pipe 251, the micro-algae feed pipe 253, the purified water discharge pipe 252 and the culture medium feeder 257 according to a control signal received from a remote location;
A remote control system 100 for transmitting a control signal to the local control unit 250 using information received from the measurement unit 230,
A system for controlling radioactive contamination using microalgae. The method according to claim 1,
The culture tank 220 includes a plurality of culture tanks 220 'and 220''connected in series to each other, and micro-algae of different species are introduced into the plurality of culture tanks 220' and 220 ' A system for treating radioactive contamination using microalgae. delete delete delete delete delete delete delete

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