Radiological characterisation for the clearance of burnable waste produced at CERN

Richard Harbron; Renaud Charousset; Gerald Dumont; Matteo Magistris; Nabil Menaa; Paolo Giunio Pisano; Christian Theis

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2023.110782

Radiological characterisation for the clearance of burnable waste produced at CERN

Appl Radiat Isot. 2023 Jun:196:110782. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2023.110782. Epub 2023 Mar 21.

Authors

Richard Harbron¹, Renaud Charousset², Gerald Dumont³, Matteo Magistris⁴, Nabil Menaa⁵, Paolo Giunio Pisano⁶, Christian Theis⁷

Affiliations

¹ Radiation Protection Group, European Organization for Nuclear Research, 1211, Geneva, 23, Switzerland. Electronic address: richard.william.harbron@cern.ch.
² Radiation Protection Group, European Organization for Nuclear Research, 1211, Geneva, 23, Switzerland. Electronic address: renaud.ludovic.charousset@cern.ch.
³ Radiation Protection Group, European Organization for Nuclear Research, 1211, Geneva, 23, Switzerland. Electronic address: gerald.dumont@cern.ch.
⁴ Radiation Protection Group, European Organization for Nuclear Research, 1211, Geneva, 23, Switzerland. Electronic address: matteo.magistris@cern.ch.
⁵ Radiation Protection Group, European Organization for Nuclear Research, 1211, Geneva, 23, Switzerland. Electronic address: nabil.menaa@cern.ch.
⁶ Radiation Protection Group, European Organization for Nuclear Research, 1211, Geneva, 23, Switzerland. Electronic address: paolo.giunio.Pisano@cern.ch.
⁷ Radiation Protection Group, European Organization for Nuclear Research, 1211, Geneva, 23, Switzerland. Electronic address: christian.theis@cern.ch.

PMID: 36966615
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2023.110782

Abstract

Burnable waste produced at CERN during upgrading, maintenance and dismantling campaigns may be contaminated with radioactive nuclides produced through activation of accelerator components. Here, we present a methodology for the radiological characterisation of burnable waste, which takes into account the wide range of potential activation conditions (beam energy, material composition, location, irradiation and waiting time). Waste packages are measured using a total gamma counter, with the sum of clearance limit fractions estimated using the fingerprint method. Gamma spectroscopy was found to be unsuitable for classifying this waste due to the long counting times required to identify many expected nuclides, but was retained for quality control purposes. Using this methodology, a pilot campaign was performed in which we were able to clear 13 m³ of burnable waste as conventional non-radioactive waste.

Keywords: Burnable waste; Gamma spectroscopy; Radioactive waste; Radiological characterisation; Total gamma counting.