Elemental characterization of LL-MA radioactive waste packages with the associated particle technique

Conference · Fri Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/ANIMMA.2011.6172912· OSTI ID:22039876

Perot, B; Carasco, C; Toure, M; El Kanawati, W; Eleon, C ^[1]

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1. CEA, DEN, Cadarache, Nuclear Measurement Laboratory, F-13108 Saint-Paul-lez-Durance (France)

The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) and National Radioactive Waste Management Agency (ANDRA) are conducting an R and D program to improve the characterization of long-lived and medium activity (LL-MA) radioactive waste packages with analytical methods and with non-destructive nuclear measurements. This paper concerns fast neutron interrogation with the associated particle technique (APT), which brings 3D information about the waste material composition. The characterization of volume elements filled with iron, water, aluminium, and PVC in bituminized and fibre concrete LL-MA waste packages has been investigated with MCNP [1] and MODAR data analysis software [2]. APT provides usable information about major elements presents in the volumes of interest. However, neutron scattering on hydrogen nuclei spreads the tagged neutron beam out of the targeted volume towards surrounding materials, reducing spatial selectivity. Simulation shows that small less than 1 L targets can be characterised up to the half-radius of a 225 L bituminized drum, the matrix of which is very rich in hydrogen. Deeper characterization in concrete is possible but limited by counting statistics due to photon attenuation in this dense matrix and, unless large inspection volumes are considered, by the lack of spatial selectivity of the tagged neutron beam due to neutron scattering. (authors)

• OSTI ID: 22039876
• Resource Relation: Conference: ANIMMA 2011: 2. International Conference on Advancements in Nuclear Instrumentation, Measurement Methods and their Applications, Ghent (Belgium), 6-9 Jun 2011; Other Information: Country of input: France; 15 refs.; IEEE Catalog Number: CFP1124I-CDR
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTES, AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
ALUMINIUM
CEA
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
CONCRETES
CONTAINERS
DATA ANALYSIS
FAST NEUTRONS
HYDROGEN
IRON
M CODES
MONTE CARLO METHOD
NEUTRON BEAMS
NEUTRON DIFFRACTION
NONDESTRUCTIVE ANALYSIS
PHOTONS
PVC
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES