Development of clearance verification equipment for uranium-bearing waste

Abstract

Dismantled materials generated from nuclear facilities are reused or directed to repository sites. If scrap metals with complicated shapes can be cleared, the amounts of radioactive waste can be reduced. A clearance verification system is constructed to determine the amount of uranium in decontaminated metals in a drum using the 1.001 MeV gamma rays of 234mPa, produced in the decay of 238U. The experimental study with simulated waste drums demonstrated that the quantification errors of uranium fall within 25% for 0.5 g of uranium.