IAEA Nuclear Energy Series Determination and Use of Scaling Factors for Waste Characterization ...

142 Pages·2009·3.94 MB·English

8.4 mm
IA
E
A
N
u
c
le
a
r E
n
e
rg
y
S
e
rie
s
N
o
. N
W
-T IAEA Nuclear Energy Series
-1
.1
8
D No. NW-T-1.18
e
te
rm
in
a
tio
n
a
n
d
U
s
e
o
f S
c
a
lin
g
F
a
c Determination and
to Basic
rs
fo
r W Principles
as Use of Scaling
te
C
h
a
ra
c
te Factors for Waste
riz
a
tio
n in Objectives
N Characterization in
u
c
le
a
r P
o
w Nuclear Power Plants
e
r P
la
n
ts Guides
Technical
Reports
INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY
VIENNA
ISBN 978–92–0–110808–1
ISSN 1995–7807
08-36561_P1363_covI+IV.indd 1 2009-05-13 14:26:16
DETERMINATION AND
USE OF SCALING FACTORS
FOR WASTE CHARACTERIZATION
IN NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
The following States are Members of the International Atomic Energy Agency:
AFGHANISTAN GUATEMALA OMAN
ALBANIA HAITI PAKISTAN
ALGERIA HOLY SEE PALAU
ANGOLA HONDURAS PANAMA
ARGENTINA HUNGARY PARAGUAY
ARMENIA ICELAND PERU
AUSTRALIA INDIA PHILIPPINES
AUSTRIA INDONESIA POLAND
AZERBAIJAN IRAN, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF PORTUGAL
BANGLADESH IRAQ QATAR
BELARUS IRELAND REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA
BELGIUM ISRAEL
ROMANIA
BELIZE ITALY
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
BENIN JAMAICA
SAUDI ARABIA
BOLIVIA JAPAN
SENEGAL
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA JORDAN
SERBIA
BOTSWANA KAZAKHSTAN
SEYCHELLES
BRAZIL KENYA
SIERRA LEONE
BULGARIA KOREA, REPUBLIC OF
SINGAPORE
BURKINA FASO KUWAIT
SLOVAKIA
CAMEROON KYRGYZSTAN
SLOVENIA
CANADA LATVIA
SOUTH AFRICA
CENTRAL AFRICAN LEBANON
SPAIN
REPUBLIC LIBERIA
SRI LANKA
CHAD LIBYAN ARAB JAMAHIRIYA
SUDAN
CHILE LIECHTENSTEIN
SWEDEN
CHINA LITHUANIA
SWITZERLAND
COLOMBIA LUXEMBOURG
SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC
COSTA RICA MADAGASCAR
TAJIKISTAN
CÔTE D’IVOIRE MALAWI
THAILAND
CROATIA MALAYSIA
THE FORMER YUGOSLAV
CUBA MALI
REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
CYPRUS MALTA
TUNISIA
CZECH REPUBLIC MARSHALL ISLANDS
TURKEY
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC MAURITANIA
UGANDA
OF THE CONGO MAURITIUS
UKRAINE
DENMARK MEXICO
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC MONACO UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
ECUADOR MONGOLIA UNITED KINGDOM OF
EGYPT MONTENEGRO GREAT BRITAIN AND
EL SALVADOR MOROCCO NORTHERN IRELAND
ERITREA MOZAMBIQUE UNITED REPUBLIC
ESTONIA MYANMAR OF TANZANIA
ETHIOPIA NAMIBIA UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
FINLAND NEPAL URUGUAY
FRANCE NETHERLANDS UZBEKISTAN
GABON NEW ZEALAND VENEZUELA
GEORGIA NICARAGUA VIETNAM
GERMANY NIGER YEMEN
GHANA NIGERIA ZAMBIA
GREECE NORWAY ZIMBABWE
The Agency’s Statute was approved on 23 October 1956 by the Conference on the Statute of the IAEA
held at United Nations Headquarters, New York; it entered into force on 29 July 1957. The Headquarters of the
Agency are situated in Vienna. Its principal objective is “to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic
energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world’’.
IAEA NUCLEAR ENERGY SERIES No. NW-T-1.18
DETERMINATION AND USE
OF SCALING FACTORS
FOR WASTE CHARACTERIZATION
IN NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY
VIENNA, 2009
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
All IAEA scientific and technical publications are protected by the terms
of the Universal Copyright Convention as adopted in 1952 (Berne) and as
revised in 1972 (Paris). The copyright has since been extended by the World
Intellectual Property Organization (Geneva) to include electronic and virtual
intellectual property. Permission to use whole or parts of texts contained in
IAEA publications in printed or electronic form must be obtained and is
usually subject to royalty agreements. Proposals for non-commercial
reproductions and translations are welcomed and considered on a case-by-case
basis. Enquiries should be addressed to the IAEA Publishing Section at:
Sales and Promotion, Publishing Section
International Atomic Energy Agency
Wagramer Strasse 5
P.O. Box 100
1400 Vienna, Austria
fax: [phone]
tel.: [phone]
email: [email protected]
http://www.iaea.org/books
© IAEA, 2009
Printed by the IAEA in Austria
April 2009
STI/PUB/1363
IAEA Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Determination and use of scaling factors for waste characterization in
nuclear power plants. — Vienna : International Atomic Energy
Agency, 2009.
p. ; 29 cm. — (IAEA nuclear energy series, ISSN 1995-7807 ;
no. NW-T-1.18)
STI/PUB/1363
ISBN 978–92–0–110808–1
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Radioactive wastes — Analysis. 2. Radioactivity —
Measurements. 3. Radiochemical analysis. I. International Atomic
Energy Agency. II. Series.
IAEAL 09–00576
FOREWORD
Consistent with the IAEA’s published safety requirements for Predisposal Management of Radioactive
Waste, Including Decommissioning (WS-R-2), radioactive waste disposal requires planned and systematic
actions to provide confidence that the assessment of the radioactive inventory of the waste will satisfy given
requirements for quality. However, many of the important long lived radionuclides contained in radioactive
waste are difficult to measure (DTM) from the outside of waste packages using non-intrusive techniques
because they are low energy, beta or alpha emitting nuclides. Identification of these DTM nuclides using
complex radiochemical analysis is not practical for large numbers of waste packages.
This report presents international experience with the scaling factor methodology that, in many cases, can
be applied to evaluate the radioactive inventory of DTM nuclides in waste packages. This methodology relies on
establishing a correlation (scaling factor) between the DTM nuclides and easy to measure (ETM) nuclides. The
inventory of the ETM nuclides in a waste package can be derived based upon external gamma radiation
measurements carried out on the waste package, and the DTM nuclides can be estimated from the inventory of
the ETM nuclides using established scaling factors.
Of specific interest is the extension of the applicability of the scaling factor methodology to the
characterization of waste arising from the decommissioning of nuclear facilities, institutional waste and
problematic/historical waste that needs to be retrieved from existing storage structures.
This report was prepared at two consultants meetings, in December 2006 and September 2007, and at one
technical meeting in September 2007. In total, 18 experts from 16 Member States, and five consultants from five
other Member States participated at different stages in the development process.
The IAEA wishes to express its appreciation to the individuals who took part in the preparation and
publication of this report. Special thanks are extended to A. Husain (Canada), D.W. James (United States of
America), B. Lantes (France), J.L. Leganes (Spain) and A. Zodiates (United Kingdom), consultants who were
involved in the process from initial draft to the final version. Particular acknowledgement is due to M. Kashiwagi
(Japan), who chaired the consultants meetings and coordinated the development of this report, as well as
contributing significantly to the contents. Thanks are also due to M. Garamszeghy (Canada), who helped to
finalize this report for publication.
The IAEA officers responsible for this report were Z. Drace and P.J.C. Dinner of the Division of Nuclear
Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology.
EDITORIAL NOTE
This report has been edited by the editorial staff of the IAEA to the extent necessary for the reader’s assistance.
This report does not address questions of responsibility, legal or otherwise, for acts or omissions on the part of any
person.
Although great care has been taken to maintain the accuracy of information contained in this publication, neither the
IAEA nor its Member States assume any responsibility for consequences which may arise from its use.
The use of particular designations of countries or territories does not imply any judgement by the publisher, the IAEA, as
to the legal status of such countries or territories, of their authorities and institutions or of the delimitation of their boundaries.
The mention of names of specific companies or products (whether or not indicated as registered) does not imply any
intention to infringe proprietary rights, nor should it be construed as an endorsement or recommendation on the part of the
IAEA.
CONTENTS
SUMMARY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1. Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2. Objective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3. Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.4. Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.5. Key definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2. SCALING FACTOR BASICS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.1. Basic philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.1.1. Selection of difficult to measure key nuclide pairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.1.2. Transport behaviour considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2. Basis for evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3. SCALING FACTOR METHOD APPLICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.1. Application principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.1.1. General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.1.2. Development of a sampling plan (step 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.1.3. Sampling and analysis (step 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.1.4. Evaluation of applicability (step 3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.1.5. Determining scaling factor and evaluation of radioactivity (step 4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.2. Summary of application practices in selected Member States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4. COMMONALITY AND CONSENSUS IN SCALING FACTOR PROGRAMMES . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
4.1. Evaluation of influencing factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
4.1.1. Plant materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
4.1.2. Fuel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
4.1.2.1. Fuel failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
4.1.2.1.1. Experience in Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
4.1.2.1.2. Experience in the USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4.1.2.2. Fuel type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
4.1.3. Other factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.1.3.1. Common scaling factor for multiple waste streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.1.3.2. Solubility of radionuclides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.1.3.3. Volatility of radionuclides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.2. Evaluation of application methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4.2.1. Selection of the key nuclides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4.2.2. Calculation method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.2.3. Trend evaluation and updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.2.3.1. Experience in the United States of America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.2.3.2. Experience in Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4.2.3.3. Experience in Spain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4.2.4. International integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4.2.4.1. Activated corrosion product nuclides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4.2.4.2. Fission product and alpha emitting nuclides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.3. Impacts of waste treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4.3.1. Incineration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4.3.1.1. Incineration in reducing conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4.3.1.2. Incineration in oxidizing conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
5. QUALITY MANAGEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
5.1. General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
5.2. Sampling stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
5.3. Radiochemical analysis stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
5.4. Scaling factor determination stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
5.5. Scaling factor application stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
5.6. Uncertainties associated with the use of scaling factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
5.6.1. Sampling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
5.6.2. Radiochemical analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
5.6.3. Determination of the scaling factor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
5.6.4. Application of the scaling factor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
6. CONCLUSIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
6.1. General approach to application of the scaling factor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
6.2. Decommissioning waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
6.3. Research reactors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
6.4. Fuel cycle facilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
6.5. Common scaling factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
REFERENCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
ANNEX: COMPILATION OF INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE WITH SCALING FACTOR
DEVELOPMENT AND USAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
ABBREVIATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
CONTRIBUTORS TO DRAFTING AND REVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
STRUCTURE OF THE IAEA NUCLEAR ENERGY SERIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
SUMMARY
The management of radioactive waste requires knowledge of the amounts and concentrations of specific
radionuclides in the waste. The particular radionuclides of interest or concern may vary according to the safety
case or other requirements of the waste management facility and/or the regulations of the Member State. Many
of the radionuclides important for long term management of the waste are difficult to measure (DTM) from the
outside of a waste package. Identification and quantification of these DTM nuclides require methods that, in
general, involve analysis of waste samples using complex radiochemical analysis to separate the various radio-
nuclides for measurement. This method of direct measurement is generally not practical to employ for large
numbers of waste packages or for many heterogeneous waste streams.
An alternative approach that can be used in many cases is to exploit the relationship between some easy to
measure (ETM) key nuclides, such as certain gamma emitters, and the DTM nuclides to derive information for
the DTM nuclides of interest. The scaling factor (SF) method is such an approach that is widely used to evaluate
these DTM nuclides. The SF method is based on developing a correlation between ETM and DTM nuclides. The
activities of DTM nuclides in waste packages are then estimated by measuring the ETM nuclides based on
gamma measurements from outside the package and applying the SFs to calculate the DTM activities.
The international standard ISO 21238:2007 gives guidelines for the general methodology for empirically
determining SFs to evaluate the radioactivity of DTM nuclides in low and intermediate level radioactive waste
(LILW) packages.
The objective of this report is to provide information on the international experience in the determination
and use of SFs. This report shows actual examples of the ways in which SFs have been derived and applied in
various Member States. Although the main focus of the ISO standard is on LILW from the operation of nuclear
power plants, the SF technique is also applicable to other situations where it is desirable to infer the activity of
DTM nuclides from easy to make measurements, such as for research reactors, nuclear fuel manufacturing
plants, nuclear fuel reprocessing plants, decommissioning waste, historical waste, contaminated land, etc. In each
case, the technique employed is similar, but consideration must be given to the unique aspects of the situation,
such as the radionuclides of concern.
Development of SFs in Member States has been based on analysis of representative waste streams and/or
on theoretical calculations and modelling of radionuclide production and transport mechanisms.
There is general consensus among Member States that the results derived from the application of SFs must
be reasonable without being overly conservative. For example, if the estimate of a DTM nuclide is overly
conservative (i.e. too high), it may prematurely result in the radionuclide capacity or authorized limit of a
repository being ‘expended’ before the repository is physically full. The acceptable degree of conservatism will
vary depending on the application.
Many Member States use the same set of key nuclides and apply similar sampling and analysis strategies.
There is also an indication that Member States operating similar nuclear facilities (e.g. the same design of
nuclear power plant) may be able to pool their data to develop common SFs for certain radionuclides and waste
streams. This is especially useful for Member States with smaller nuclear programmes that may not be able on
their own to support a large sampling and analysis programme to develop their own SFs or who lack the
technical infrastructure to perform the complex measurements required.
The experience compiled from Member States indicates that the development and use of SFs is a widely
accepted practice by waste generators, facility operators and regulators in many countries. While the details and
scope of SF programmes differ in Member States, the basic techniques and methodologies are very similar.
Other Member States are in various stages of developing waste characterization programmes based on SF
techniques.
1