Radiological analysis of transport and storage container for very low-level liquid radioactive waste

Abstract

As NPPs continue to operate, liquid waste continues to be generated, and containers are needed to store and transport them at low cost and high capacity. To transport and store liquid phase very low-level radioactive waste (VLLW), a container is designed by considering related regulations. The design was constructed based on the existing container design, which easily transports and stores liquid waste. The radiation shielding calculation was performed according to the composition change of barium sulfate (BaSO4) using the Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) code. High-density polyethylene (HDPE) without mixing the additional BaSO4, represented the maximum dose of 1.03 mSv/hr (<2 mSv/hr) and 0.048 mSv/hr (<0.1 mSv/hr) at the surface of the inner container and at 2 m away from the surface, respectively, for a 10 Bq/g of 60Co source. It was confirmed that the dose from the inner container with the VLLW content satisfied the domestic dose standard both on the surface of the container and 2 m from the surface. Although it satisfies the dose standard without adding BaSO4, a shielding material, the inner container was designed with BaSO4 added to increase radiation safety.

Keywords

• Very low-level liquid waste
• Radiation shielding
• Transport and storage container
• Decommissioning