Tomographic gamma scanning to assay heterogeneous radioactive waste
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
Current methods for the nondestructive assay of special nuclear materials (SNM) and transuranic (TRU) waste in 208-l drums can give assay errors of 100% or more when the drum matrix and/or radionuclide distribution is nonuniform. This problem is addressed by the development of the tomographic-gamma-scanner (TGS) method for assaying heterogeneous drummed SNM/TRU waste. The TGS method improves on the well-established segmented-gamma-scanner (SGS) method by performing low-resolution tomographic emission and transmission scans on the drum, yielding coarse three-dimensional images of the matrix density and radionuclide distributions. The images are used to make accurate, point-to-point attenuation corrections. The TGS geometric counting efficiency is 60% that of a typical SGS device, allowing a TGS assay time of only 28 min/drum with a one-detector system. The TGS method may also be useful for nondestructive examination. Currently, TGS is the only practical method of imaging SNM in drums.
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 7050886
- Journal Information:
- Nuclear Science and Engineering; (United States), Vol. 118:3; ISSN 0029-5639
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
37 INORGANIC
ORGANIC
PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIOASSAY
ALPHA-BEARING WASTES
HETEROGENEOUS EFFECTS
NONDESTRUCTIVE ANALYSIS
PLUTONIUM 239
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
TOMOGRAPHY
URANIUM 235
ACTINIDE ISO
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES
DISTRIBUTION
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
HEAVY NUCLEI
INTERNAL CONVERSION RADIOISOTOPES
ISOMERIC TRANSITION ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
MATERIALS
MINUTES LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
NUCLEI
PLUTONIUM ISOTOPES
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOISOTOPES
SPONTANEOUS FISSION RADIOISOTOPES
URANIUM ISOTOPES
WASTES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
052000* - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Management
400101 - Activation
Nuclear Reaction
Radiometric & Radiochemical Procedures