Basic study on tritium monitor using plastic scintillator for treated water discharge at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant

Sanada, Yukihisa   ; Abe, Tomohisa ; Sasaki, Miyuki  ; Kanno, Marina*; Yamada, Tsutomu*; Nakasone, Takamasa*; Miyazaki, Nobuyuki*; Oshikiri, Keisuke*; Watabe, Hiroshi*

The "treated water" from which the main radioactive materials were removed contains tritium, and stakeholders in Japan have been debating how to treat it. The amount of treated water stored in the facility has reached its limit, and the Japanese government has decided that the treatment method will be to discharge the water into the ocean by FY 2023 (FY: Fiscal Year). The present research developed a simple and practical tritium monitor for the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS) tritiated water release. A simple and practical tritium monitor was developed for FDNPS tritiated water release based on thin plastic scintillator sheets. The developed devices were calibrated using standard tritium solutions and a method for calculating the minimum detectable activity. Fifteen 0.25 mm-thick scintillators can be placed in the 0.26 L flow cell where the sample water is fed, yielding an active surface area of 3,200 mm. The efficiency of tritiated water with full water is 0.000035 cps Bq. The minimum detectable activity under simple shielding conditions was 7,800 Bq L (Measurement time was 3,600 s).