The INSIDER case studies validated

At the beginning of the INSIDER project, three major uses cases had been identified for benchmarking the technologies and some partners offered facilities:

  • case 1: decommissioning of a back/end of fuel cycle and/or research facility
  • case 2: decommissioning of a nuclear reactorc
  • case 3: post-accident remediation of a site

The different options had been compared in terms of significance, feasibility, accessibility, opportunities for in-situ and laboratory analyses. At the end of the first year of the project, the three cases had been identified, allowing to complete the definition of the benchmark exercise and to reach the second milestone of INSIDER.

The three selected cases are:

  • case 1: Liquid waste storage facility at the Ispra site of JRC (Italy)
  • case 2: Biological shield of reactor BR3 at SCK/CEN in Mol (Belgium)
  • case 3: contaminated soil at a CEA site (France)

The case n°2 started first because it was in line with the plans of the facility. During the second year of the project, the in-situ campaigns were executed. Six teams performed measurements of dose rates, total gamma and gamma spectrometry in locations of the biological shield pre-defined by the sampling plan under the coordination of WP5 leader. The results have been delivered to the WP6 leader for the statistical evaluations. Drills were taken from the shield and prepared at the NPL for laboratory analysis. In parallel, a suitable reference material (concrete with known amount of activation products) has been developed at the NPL. The samples and reference materials have been distributed to the network of laboratories for the inter-comparison exercise under the coordination of WP4 leader. At the time of this post, the analysis is still ongoing.

Simultaneously, the case n°1 has been prepared. The in-situ campaigns will take place in fall 2019 during the third year of the project. Liquid samples from the tanks will be taken and dispatched to the laboratories together with the aqueous reference material prepared by CMI.

Finally, the third case will be launched in 2020. It will not include an in-situ campaign but only the laboratory inter-comparison on samples of contaminated soil from a facility where a leakage of radioactive material occurred in the past.

It is important to keep in mind that the overall concept of the INSIDER project is to develop an integrated methodology, identifying and implementing statistical approaches, coupled with analysis and measurement results obtained by existing or under development techniques and methods that will achieve the characterisation of the contaminated material of a facility to meet the evaluation objectives while optimising costs and deadlines. In addition, the overall objective of INSIDER is to organise a common validation in the entire D&D process, based on the three main use cases selected and validated. Purpose of the benchmark is to validate the INSIDER concept under real conditions derived from ongoing D&D programmes.

 


POST WRITTEN BY PAOLO PEERANI FROM THE JRC AND INSIDER PARTNER

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