First Industrial Tests of a Matrix Monitor Correction for the Differential Die-away Technique of Historical Waste Drums
- CEA Cadarache DEN/Nuclear Measurement Laboratory, 13108 Saint-Paul lez Durance (France)
- Nuclear Measurement Team, AREVA NC, La Hague plant F-50444 Beaumont-Hague (France)
- AREVA NC, 1 place Jean-Millier, 92084 Paris-La-Defense cedex (France)
The fissile mass in radioactive waste drums filled with compacted metallic residues (spent fuel hulls and nozzles) produced at AREVA NC La Hague reprocessing plant is measured by neutron interrogation with the Differential Die-away measurement Technique (DDT). In the next years, old hulls and nozzles mixed with Ion-Exchange Resins will be measured. The ion-exchange resins increase neutron moderation in the matrix, compared to the waste measured in the current process. In this context, the Nuclear Measurement Laboratory (LMN) of CEA Cadarache has studied a matrix effect correction method, based on a drum monitor, namely a 3He proportional counter located inside the measurement cavity. After feasibility studies performed with LMN's PROMETHEE 6 laboratory measurement cell and with MCNPX simulations, this paper presents first experimental tests performed on the industrial ACC (hulls and nozzles compaction facility) measurement system. A calculation vs. experiment benchmark has been carried out by performing dedicated calibration measurements with a representative drum and {sup 235}U samples. The comparison between calculation and experiment shows a satisfactory agreement for the drum monitor. The final objective of this work is to confirm the reliability of the modeling approach and the industrial feasibility of the method, which will be implemented on the industrial station for the measurement of historical wastes. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), New York, NY (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 22531510
- Report Number(s):
- ANIMMA-2015-IO-x7; TRN: US16V0522102451
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: ANIMMA 2015: 4. International Conference on Advancements in Nuclear Instrumentation Measurement Methods and their Applications, Lisboa (Portugal), 20-24 Apr 2015; Other Information: Country of input: France; 8 Refs.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTES, AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
AREVA NC LA HAGUE
BENCHMARKS
CALIBRATION
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
CORRECTIONS
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
M CODES
MASS
MONTE CARLO METHOD
NEUTRONS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RELIABILITY
RESIDUES
RESINS
SPENT FUELS
URANIUM 235