Waste crate counter design

Conference · Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1992

OSTI ID:10167032

Langner, D G; Miller, M C; Wachter, J R

We have examined a number of scenarios for configuring slab counters to measure low-level, noncompactable plutonium-bearing waste (LLW) and waste destined for burial at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) facility. This system must be capable of discriminating waste that is above the 100-nCi/g level from waste that is below this level in reasonable measurement times in an environment susceptible to varying neutron backgrounds; must be able to measure higher level waste destined for the WIPP facility with a reasonable accuracy; and finally, must be somewhat transportable. The system will consist of four slabs each having twenty 152-cm-long {sup 3}He tubes. With the four slabs placed optimally for the different types of waste containers, our calculations predict a detection efficiency of about 4.5% in the center between the four slabs. These calculations also predict that the system will be able to discriminate the LLW in 1 to 12 h, depending on the neutron background, and that the system will be able to measure WIPP crates to a 1-{sigma} accuracy of about 20% for loadings near the WIPP upper limit. Our calculations have shown that this latter accuracy is determined primarily by the geometric response of the counters rather than the count time.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 10167032
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-92-2306; CONF-9207102-31; ON: DE92018498
• Resource Relation: Conference: Institute of Nuclear Materials Management (INMM) annual meeting,Orlando, FL (United States),19-22 Jul 1992; Other Information: PBD: [1992]
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
NEUTRON DETECTION
ALPHA-BEARING WASTES
WIPP
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
NEUTRON DETECTORS
DESIGN
PLUTONIUM 240
NUCLEAR MATERIALS MANAGEMENT
CONTAINERS
COINCIDENCE SPECTROMETRY
052002
440103
WASTE DISPOSAL AND STORAGE
NUCLEAR SPECTROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTATION