Tomographic gamma scanning to assay heterogeneous radioactive waste

Journal Article · Tue Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1994 · Nuclear Science and Engineering; (United States)

OSTI ID:7050886

Estep, R J; Prettyman, T H; Sheppard, G A ^[1]

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1. 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), Journal Name: Nuclear Science and Engineering; (United States) Vol. 118:3; ISSN NSENAO; ISSN 0029-5639
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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