Calorimetric Non-Destructive Assay of Large Volume and Heterogeneous Radioactive Waste Drums

Abstract

The EU-CHANCE project aims at the issue of the characterization of conditioned radioactive waste (CRW) and one objective of CHANCE is to focus on: Calorimetry as a comprising non-destructive technique to reduce uncertainties on the inventory of radwaste containing shielded and hidden material difficult to be measured by other means. A MCNP6-based numerical study comprising the particle flux out of a 200L mock-up drum in a Large Volume Calorimeter (LVC) currently manufactured by KEP Nuclear (France) will be presented and discussed. For the analyses, the particle flux and energy deposition in each layer of the calorimeter were determined. The results yield that a significant fraction of the radiation would leave the system and not contribute to the measurable heat deposition. The expected energy deposition is obtained and cumulated for each layer over the whole energy range revealing the fraction of particles actually escaping the LVC calorimeter. While this escape fraction needs and can be determined, the LVC is a very suitable apparatus for the anticipated experiments on large and heterogeneous waste drums that possibly contain deeply buried beta-emitters (e.g. Sr/Y-90) or shielded alpha-sources hidden inside the drum with a significant level of gamma and neutron radiation background radiation. The high-energy part of this gamma and neutron flux may even reach the reference chamber of the calorimeter and deposit some energy there, compromising the calibration and may cause a double-bias.