INSTRUMENTAL PHOTON ACTIVATION AND APPLICATIONS IN A NUCLEAR-WASTE INSPECTION PURPOSE

摘要

The development of non-destructive methods to inspect nuclear-waste containers is important for radioactive-waste management and non-proliferation purposes. This paper will present studies and results carried out by a method based on photon interrogation (photofission) which allows the determination of the actinide quantity contained in the waste. High-energy photons (produced by an electron accelerator associated with a Bremsstrahlung tungsten target) will induce photofission reactions on the actinides. Then the flux of delayed neutrons, which is directly proportional to the amount of actinides, is measured with ~3He detectors. Since the beginning of 1990's, our team in CEA has been working on the development of this method and the improvement of the existing simulation code. The two main tools will be introduced: OPERA (tool for the simulation of photonuclear reactions) which includes photonuclear cross sections in a Monte-Carlo code based on MCNP4C, and SAPHIR (Irradiation and Photon-Activation System), a device allowing experimentations for research and development programs.