The use of non-destructive passive neutron measurement methods in dismantling and radioactive waste characterization

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

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/ANIMMA.2011.6172926· OSTI ID:22039840

Jallu, F; Allinei, P G ^[1]; Bernard, P; Loridon, J ^[1]; Soyer, P; Pouyat, D ^[2]; Torreblanca, L ^[3]; Reneleau, A ^[4]

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1. CEA, DEN, Cadarache, Nuclear Measurement Laboratory, F-13108 Saint-Paul-lez-Durance (France)
2. CEA, DEN, Marcoule, DPAD, F-30207 Bagnols-sur-Ceze Cedex (France)
3. CEA, DEN, Cadarache, LMDE, F-13108 Saint-Paul-lez-Durance (France)
4. AREVA NC, Pierrelatte, DDAC/ESD, BP16, F-26701 Pierrelatte Cedex (France)

The cleaning up and dismantling of nuclear facilities lead to a great volume of technological radioactive wastes which need to be characterized in order to be sent to the adequate final disposal or interim storage. The control and characterization can be performed with non-destructive nuclear measurements such as gamma-ray spectrometry. Passive neutron counting is an alternative when the alpha-gamma emitters cannot be detected due to the presence of a high gamma emission resulting from fission or activation products, or when the waste matrix is too absorbing for the gamma rays of interest (too dense and/or made of high atomic number elements). It can also be a complement to gamma-ray spectrometry when two measurement results must be confronted to improve the confidence in the activity assessment. Passive neutron assays involve the detection of spontaneous fission neutrons emitted by even nuclides ({sup 238}Pu, {sup 240}Pu, {sup 242}Pu, {sup 242}Cm, {sup 244}Cm...) and neutrons resulting from ({alpha}, n) reactions with light nuclides (O, F, Be...). The latter is conditioned by the presence of high {alpha}-activity radionuclides ({sup 234}U, {sup 238}Pu, {sup 240}Pu, {sup 241}Am...) and low-Z elements, which depends on the chemical form (metallic, oxide or fluorine) of the plutonium or uranium contaminant. This paper presents the recent application of passive neutron methods to the cleaning up of a nuclear facility located at CEA Cadarache (France), which concerns the Pu mass assessment of 2714 historic, 100 litre radioactive waste drums produced between 1980 and 1997. Another application is the dismantling and decommissioning of an uranium enrichment facility for military purposes, which involves the {sup 235}U and total uranium quantifications in about a thousand, large compressors employed in the gaseous diffusion enrichment process. (authors)

• OSTI ID: 22039840
• 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; 13 refs.; IEEE Catalog Number: CFP1124I-CDR
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTES, AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
ALPHA REACTIONS
AMERICIUM 241
CEA CADARACHE
CURIUM 242
CURIUM 244
DECOMMISSIONING
FISSION PRODUCTS
GAMMA SPECTROSCOPY
ISOTOPE SEPARATION
NEUTRON DETECTORS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
PLUTONIUM 238
PLUTONIUM 240
PLUTONIUM 242
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
REACTOR DISMANTLING
SPONTANEOUS FISSION
URANIUM
URANIUM 234