A reverse method for the determination of the radiological inventory of irradiated graphite at reactor scale

Abstract

Abstract Irradiated graphite waste will be produced from the decommissioning of the six gas-cooled nuclear reactors operated by Electricité De France (EDF). Determining the radionuclide content of this waste is an important legal commitment for both safety reasons and in order to determine the best suited management strategy. As evidenced by numerous studies nuclear graphite is a very pure material, however, it cannot be considered from an analytical viewpoint as a usual homogeneous material. Because of graphite high purity, radionuclide measurements in irradiated graphite exhibit very high discrepancies especially when corresponding to precursors at trace level. Therefore the assessment of a radionuclide inventory only based on few number of radiochemical measurements leads in most of cases to a gross over or under-estimation that can be detrimental to graphite waste management. A reverse method using an identification calculation–measurement process is proposed in order to assess the radionuclide inventory as precisely as possible.