Waste crate counter design
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; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 7233515
- 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
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
ALPHA-BEARING WASTES
NEUTRON DETECTION
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
NEUTRON DETECTORS
DESIGN
PLUTONIUM 240
WIPP
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
COINCIDENCE SPECTROMETRY
CONTAINERS
NUCLEAR MATERIALS MANAGEMENT
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
COINCIDENCE METHODS
COUNTING TECHNIQUES
DETECTION
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
FUNCTIONAL MODELS
HEAVY NUCLEI
ISOTOPES
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
NUCLEI
PILOT PLANTS
PLUTONIUM ISOTOPES
RADIATION DETECTION
RADIATION DETECTORS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIOISOTOPES
SPONTANEOUS FISSION RADIOISOTOPES
UNDERGROUND FACILITIES
US DOE
US ORGANIZATIONS
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
052002* - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Disposal & Storage
440103 - Radiation Instrumentation- Nuclear Spectroscopic Instrumentation