A sample compositing strategy for classifying non-radioactive hazardous waste for transport

Technical Report · Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1990

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6632559· OSTI ID:6632559

Winn, W G

A probabilistic strategy for sample compositing is developed to minimize the radiometric analyses required for classifying non-radioactive waste for transport. Such waste must have concentrations of total radioactivity that are below an acceptance limit of L = 2 nCi/g. A composite of N different samples must have a radioactive concentration below L/N to assure that no individual sample is unacceptable. Unacceptable samples are eventually identified by analyses of successive splits composited with N/2, N/4, {hor ellipsis} of the original samples. The probable number of such analyses is derived using Gaussian distributions for the composite concentrations, per invoking the Central Limit Theorem. A preliminary compositing strategy, based only on the average concentration {mu}, uses N = L/{mu} to yield a minimum fraction of {approx}2{mu}/L analyses per total samples. These approximations are useful for L/{mu} > 4. Refined strategies, based on both the {mu} and {sigma} for the concentration distribution, define the optimization more precisely. Experimental data from composites of 880 samples of low-level radiometric waste are consistent with the calculated predictions. 11 refs., 4 figs., 1 tab.

• Research Organization: Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE/DP
• DOE Contract Number: AC09-89SR18035
• OSTI ID: 6632559
• Report Number(s): WSRC-RD-90-10; ON: DE90016674
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS//MATHEMATICS, COMPUTING, AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
CLASSIFICATION
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
CALCULATION METHODS
PROBABILISTIC ESTIMATION
STATISTICS
TRANSPORT
MATERIALS
MATHEMATICS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
WASTES
052000* - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Management
990200 - Mathematics & Computers