Radioactive Carbon Isotope Monitoring System Based on Cavity Ring-down Laser Spectroscopy for Decommissioning Process of Nuclear Facilities

Abstract

In decommissioning process of nuclear facilities, large amount of radioactive isotopes are discharged as waste. Radioactive carbon isotope (14C) is one of the key nuclides to determine the upper limit of concentration in the waste disposal. In particular, 14C on the graphite reactor decommissioning should be separated from stable carbon isotopes (12C and 13C) and monitored for the public health and safety. We propose an isotope analysis system based on cavity ring-down laser spectroscopy (CRDS) to monitor the carbon isotopes (12C, 13C and 14C) in the isotope separation process for the graphite reactor decommissioning. This system is compact and suitable for a continuous monitoring, because the concentration of molecules including the carbon isotope is derived from its photo absorbance with ultra high sensitive laser absorption spectroscopy. Here are presented the necessary conditions of CRDS system for 14C isotope analysis through the preliminary experimental results of 13C isotope analysis with a prototype system.