Nuclear waste management requires testing and analyses of the radioactive content and assessing the quality of the final waste forms and packages to characterize the waste and check for potential radiological hazards. The radioactive substances can be contained into a variety of materials, like concrete, steel, wood, etc. Quality of the measurements as well as time and adaptability to...
The objective of this work is to develop techniques that allow for a rapid and accurate localization of radioactive sources in a large area using a highly automated unmanned aerial system. It is proposed that searching for sources using paths generated by probabilistic methods can leading to significant reductions in the time taken to localize a source. Additionally, it is also proposed that a...
IRE (Institute of radioelement in Fleurus - Belgium) produces radioisotopes for medical use. To produce them, irradiated uranium targets are dissolved through chemical processes.
These processes generate various kind of high activity waste. These wastes are conditioned in small drums (10L) placed in interim storage in order to decrease the dose rate. When the dose rate is low enough, the...
Determination of uranium and plutonium isotopic composition is a key challenge in several application fields of the nuclear industry: MOX fuel fabrication, safeguards, dismantling and decommissioning (D&D) applications, reprocessing plants. Isotopic composition measurements are generally carried out using a High Purity Germanium (HPGe) detector, which requires cooling, imposing constraints in...
KAERI(Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) includes diverse R&D environments, such as a research reactor, a nuclear fuel cycle facility, and a radioisotope production facility. These facilities generate low and intermediate level radioactive waste during operational and decommissioning phases. To ensure effective radioactive waste management, we oversee storage and processing facilities...
Worker radiation protection is essential in many fields, from nuclear to medical. In particular, tasks such as decommissioning operations or interventional radiosurgery require accurate measurement of the dose received at the extremities. This measurement is efficiently performed using passive dosimeters, but the informations are delayed in time. As a result, incidents or dose exceedances are...
The Radioactive Waste Information Management System (RAWINGS) for the safe management of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste has been operated in Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) since 2021. From the operation of RAWINGS, KAERI can effectively manage the inventory and history of waste generated at research sites. The system generates information based on data manually...
This work focuses on determining the fluence rate of a moderated ($\alpha$, n) neutron source, a key parameter required for assessing the activation levels in metal and concrete samples. Activation studies are an important tool for nuclear decommissioning. By activating material samples in controlled conditions in a known neutron fluence rate, the expected activity in decommissioning can be...
Medical cyclotrons, which are used to produce radiopharmaceuticals such as 18F-FDG for cancer diagnosis, cause the activation of the medical cyclotron itself and surrounding structures through various nuclear reactions. In 2024, approximately 30% of the cyclotrons are effectively out of operation in the Republic of Korea. Therefore, there is a growing need for indirect assessment methods to...
Efficient nuclear dismantling requires a separation of activated materials from nonradioactive materials. To determine which regions of a nuclear reactor are activated, the spectral fluence of neutrons has to be known. It can be measured using activation probes while the reactor is still operational, but after it has been shut down, the neutron fluence has to be simulated using a Monte Carlo...
The accumulation of radioactive waste from legacy nuclear facilities presents a critical challenge for long-term environmental safety, as precise quantification of nuclear material within these waste drums is necessary to inform safe storage and disposal strategies. In this context, a passive and active neutron measurement system was developed within the MICADO H2020 project to estimate the...
Dismantling constitutes the final stage in the life cycle of a nuclear facility, and after the removal of components, the decontamination of civil engineering structures (floors and walls) is an important step in view of its final decommissioning. This decontamination process is costly and time-consuming, therefore employing fast, precise, and reliable measurement methods is crucial to...
The relance of the nuclear industrial sector in France is an ambitious plan expected to meet the energy needs of the general public in the 21st century. Along with the construction of new nuclear power plants, significant steps are being taken in the fields of the nuclear fuel cycle and nuclear waste management. In order to comply with the criticality limits, nuclear waste is stored in special...
Low and medium activity nuclear sludges generated during the reprocessing of nuclear spent fuel have been stored since the 1960โs in bitumen. Indeed, bitumen presents many advantages regarding criteria for a long-term storage: high agglomerating power, high chemical inertness, non-permeability, low solubility in water, high confining powerโฆ In practice, coprecipitation salts are added to...
The Proximity Imaging System for Sort and Segregate Operations (PI3SO) is a gamma radiation proximity scanner table for radioactive waste that aims at speeding up the waste management (re)cycle while reducing direct human intervention. The system exploits proximity imaging to detect hot-spots, then in a second step it performs a medium resolution spectrum analysis for a coarse isotopic...
An adaptive measurement approach driven by Bayesian Optimization is described for applications where remote radiation measurements made with robots are constrained by stringent upper thresholds on the mass and power payload of the necessary instrumentation, as well by the time window within which measurements must be made, ultimately affecting their quality and maximum area coverage. The...
The dismantling and decommissioning (D&D) of nuclear facilities have become an increasingly significant global endeavour, driven by the number of infrastructures, aging, and technology evolution and awareness in the field. Dimensions of the infrastructures, harsh radiological environment, safety requirements, reliable process, and not least costs, are some of the technical aspects affecting...
The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS) has experienced extensive contamination due to core meltdowns and subsequent hydrogen explosions. This has resulted in elevated levels of ฮฑ and ฮฒ surface contamination within the reactor buildings. The ambient radiation dose rate inside these buildings is also high, ranging from several tens to 100 mSv/h. Investigations of the primary...
One of the key challenges in cyclotron infrastructures is the accurate determination of nuclear isotopes inventory, both for radiation protection studies and decommissioning. Indeed, radioactive waste management during the operation and dismantling of cyclotron facilities is a highly demanding process. Until now, radionuclides inventories can be carried out using several software, such as the...
This study presents a detailed characterization of neutron emissions from irradiated components within Canada Deuterium Uranium (CANDU) reactors, specifically investigating the mechanisms underlying neutron production in pressure and calandria tubes after operational periods of up to 30 years. Given the unique neutron flux profile and heavy water moderation in CANDU reactors, these components...
Across nuclear sectors, localizing, visualizing and identifying radioactive objects is crucial for security and safety. With uses ranging from waste management and decommissioning to nuclear medicine and homeland security, finding so-called radioactive hotspots has been at stake for many decades. For over thirty years, CEA List has been working on compact and miniaturised gamma imaging systems...
