Analysis of Waste in the NFC

Concentrate-and-contain strategy that involves reduction of volume of the waste material and placing it in sealed containers. This approach is also used for other toxic, nonradioactive, materials. 

Dilute-and-disperse is the opposite approach where the sample is diluted in a large volume (to an activity level below legal disposal limits) and spread over a wide area (or dumped in a large water body). This approach too is used for other toxic, nonradioactive, materials. 

The HLW from SNF (the fuel itself or the waste generated from reprocessing operations) contains most of the radioactivity (95%) but only a small fraction (3%) of the 

FIGURE 2.12 The decay with time of the overall radioactivity, and the contribution of individual radionuclides, of the high-level waste from one tone of spent fuel. (From the World Nuclear Association, http //www.world-nuclear.org/uploadedImages/org/info/Nuclear Fuel Cycle/activityhlw.gif, last accessed on July 27, 2014. With permission.) 

Before making a decision on the optimal treatment of radioactive waste, it must be characterized. The analytical methods used for assaying HLW are similar to those used for SNF, that is, nondestructive assay based on measurement of the spontaneous ganuna and neutron mission, and in cases where dissolution is possible detailed analysis of the elemental and isotopic composition. 

---