Development of an NDA system for high-level waste from the Chernobyl new safe confinement construction site

Conference · Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2010

OSTI ID:1016096

Lee, Sang-yoon ^[1]; Browne, Michael C ^[1]; Rael, Carlos D ^[1]; Carroll, Colin J ^[2]; Sunshine, Alexander ^[3]; Novikov, Alexander ^[4]; Lebedev, Evgeny ^[4]

---

1. Los Alamos National Laboratory
2. SONALYST INC.
3. NA-243
4. CHNPP

In early 2009, preliminary excavation work has begun in preparation for the construction of the New Safe Confinement (NSC) at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP) in Ukraine. The NSC is the structure that will replace the present containment structure and will confine the radioactive remains of the ChNPP Unit-4 reactor for the next 100 years. It is expected that special nuclear material (SNM) that was ejected from the Unit-4 reactor during the accident in 1986 could be uncovered and would therefore need to be safeguarded. ChNPP requested the assistance of the United States Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) with developing a new non-destructive assay (NDA) system that is capable of assaying radioactive debris stored in 55-gallon drums. The design of the system has to be tailored to the unique circumstances and work processes at the NSC construction site and the ChNPP. This paper describes the Chernobyl Drum Assay System (CDAS), the solution devised by Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sonalysts Inc., and the ChNPP, under NNSA's International Safeguards and Engagement Program (INSEP). The neutron counter measures the spontaneous fission neutrons from the {sup 238}U, {sup 240}Pu, {sup 244}Cm in a waste drum and estimates the mass contents of the SNMs in the drum by using of isotopic compositions determined by fuel burnup. The preliminary evaluation on overall measurement uncertainty shows that the system meets design performance requirements imposed by the facility.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC52-06NA25396
• OSTI ID: 1016096
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-10-03604; LA-UR-10-3604; TRN: US1102983
• Resource Relation: Conference: Institute of Nuclear Material Management 51st Annual Meetng ; July 12, 2010 ; Baltimore, MD
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
ACCIDENTS
BURNUP
CONFINEMENT
CONSTRUCTION
CONTAINMENT
DESIGN
EVALUATION
EXCAVATION
LANL
MANAGEMENT
NEUTRONS
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
PERFORMANCE
SAFEGUARDS
SECURITY
SPONTANEOUS FISSION
UKRAINE
WASTES