scholarly journals Combination of the gamma emission tomography and the virtual point-detector methods for calculating radioactive waste drum by non-destructive assays

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. 214-221
Author(s):  
Huynh Dinh Chuong ◽  
Tran Minh Sang ◽  
Luu Gia Thien ◽  
Vo Xuan Huyen ◽  
Tran Thien Thanh

In this study, the gamma emission tomography and the virtual point-detector method were combined to calculate the efficiency of the radionuclide inside the radioactive waste drum. Therefore, the radioactivity of the radionuclide inside the waste drum has been calculated. The results showed that the source location was determined by the gamma emission tomography for good results with the experimental value. The discrepancies between measured and true activity were smaller than 13% for the sand matrix.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming Fang ◽  
Yoann Altmann ◽  
Daniele Della Latta ◽  
Massimiliano Salvatori ◽  
Angela Di Fulvio

AbstractCompliance of member States to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is monitored through nuclear safeguards. The Passive Gamma Emission Tomography (PGET) system is a novel instrument developed within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) project JNT 1510, which included the European Commission, Finland, Hungary and Sweden. The PGET is used for the verification of spent nuclear fuel stored in water pools. Advanced image reconstruction techniques are crucial for obtaining high-quality cross-sectional images of the spent-fuel bundle to allow inspectors of the IAEA to monitor nuclear material and promptly identify its diversion. In this work, we have developed a software suite to accurately reconstruct the spent-fuel cross sectional image, automatically identify present fuel rods, and estimate their activity. Unique image reconstruction challenges are posed by the measurement of spent fuel, due to its high activity and the self-attenuation. While the former is mitigated by detector physical collimation, we implemented a linear forward model to model the detector responses to the fuel rods inside the PGET, to account for the latter. The image reconstruction is performed by solving a regularized linear inverse problem using the fast-iterative shrinkage-thresholding algorithm. We have also implemented the traditional filtered back projection (FBP) method based on the inverse Radon transform for comparison and applied both methods to reconstruct images of simulated mockup fuel assemblies. Higher image resolution and fewer reconstruction artifacts were obtained with the inverse-problem approach, with the mean-square-error reduced by 50%, and the structural-similarity improved by 200%. We then used a convolutional neural network (CNN) to automatically identify the bundle type and extract the pin locations from the images; the estimated activity levels finally being compared with the ground truth. The proposed computational methods accurately estimated the activity levels of the present pins, with an associated uncertainty of approximately 5%.


2019 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 487-496
Author(s):  
Camille Belanger-Champagne ◽  
Pauli Peura ◽  
Paula Eerola ◽  
Tapani Honkamaa ◽  
Timothy White ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Yu Jiang ◽  
FeiYun Xu ◽  
Antolino Gallego ◽  
Francisco Sagata ◽  
Oswaldo Gonçalves dos Santos Filho

Author(s):  
S. R. Daish ◽  
N. A. Leech

The independent monitoring of solid low level radioactive waste (LLW) in the United Kingdom is undertaken by NNC Limited on behalf of The Environment Agency to ensure that disposals are within the authorised limits. Waste consignments are seized by the Agency prior to disposal and are transported to the Waste Quality Checking Laboratory (WQCL) at Winfrith, where the contents are analysed and assessed by destructive and non-destructive testing. All work performed at the laboratory is qualified by a Quality Assurance System which has been accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS). This paper outlines the regulatory framework for control of LLW disposals in the UK and describes the techniques used at WQCL for radioactive waste assessment.


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