APPLICATION OF THE NUCLIDE-VECTOR METHODOLOGY TO DETERMINE THE ACTIVITY OF DIFFICULT-TO-MEASURE RADIONUCLIDES IN RADIOACTIVE WASTE STREAMS

Nuclide-vector method (scaling-factor method) is used to determine the radiation characteristics of radioactive waste based on the identified dependences between the contents of difficult-to measure radionuclides (²³⁹Pu, ²⁴¹Am) and key radionuclides (⁶⁰Co, ¹³⁷Cs, ¹⁵²Eu, ¹⁵⁴Eu). The application of this method allowed to reduce the number of sampling operations and advanced radiochemical analyzes of radioactive waste during its categorization, to reduce the radiation impact on personnel, the total time and cost of operations performed during waste characterization. The paper describes the application of the nuclide-vector method enabling to identify the radiation characteristics of a large amount of radioactive waste with complex composition, containing difficult-to-measure radionuclides along with relevant demonstration of its effectiveness.

Keywords: radioactive waste, nuclide-vector method, difficult-to-measure radionuclide, confidence interval.

Varlakov A. P., Sergeecheva Y. V., Ivliev M. V., Varlakova G. A., Gorbunov V. A., Karlin S. V. Application of the Nuclide-vector Methodology to Determine the Activity of Difficult-to-measure Radionuclides in Radioactive Waste Streams. Radioactive Waste, 2020, no. 1 (10), pp. 85—91. (In Russian). DOI: 10.25283/2587-9707-2020-1-85-91.