Analysis of nuclide content in Ignalina NPP radioactive waste streams

Abstract

Statistical analysis of radionuclide specific activities in Ignalina NPP technological media and radioactive waste was performed, and the corresponding scaling factors were calculated. The results indicate that radionuclide scaling factors are directly influenced by the radionuclide generation and migration processes in the reactor as well as by chemical properties of radionuclides. Correlations of difficult-to-measure radionuclides to the key radionuclide ⁶⁰Co show that radioactive waste streams of Ignalina NPP can be distinguished according to the calculated scaling factor values. Results indicate that the scaling factor method can be applied to the RBMK-1500 reactor waste characterization.
Keywords: RBMK radioactive waste, scaling factor, specific activities, modelling
PACS: 28.41.Kw, 29.30.-h