Development of a theoretical scaling factor method for the inventory estimation of difficult-to-measure nuclide Cs-135 in fuel debris and radioactive wastes

Sakamoto, Masahiro ; Okumura, Keisuke ; Kanno, Ikuo; Matsumura, Taichi ; Terashima, Kenichi ; Riyana, E. S.  ; Kaneko, Junichi* ; Mizokami, Masato*; Mizokami, Shinya*

In this paper, we propose a new nuclide inventory estimation method based on computational methods, called a "theoretical scaling factor method" for difficult-to-measure (DTM) nuclides in fuel debris and radioactive wastes. The theoretical scaling factor method provides a method similar to a conventional scaling factor method. The theoretical scaling factor method, however, does not require performing many measurements to obtain correlations between a key nuclide which is easy-to-measure and a DTM nuclide. Instead of actual analytical measurements, the results of theoretical calculations are used. A correlation equation between the key nuclide and the DTM nuclide is created based on the results of theoretical calculations, and the DTM nuclide is deterministically estimated using the measurement value of the key nuclide only. In this paper, we selected Cs-135 as the DTM nuclide and Cs-137 as the key nuclide. Cs-135 has a long half-life of 2.310 years and is one of the important fission products in the safety evaluation for the geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste, because it dissolves and migrates in groundwater easily. We confirmed the validity of the proposed method using measured data of Cs-137 and Cs-135 on radioactive wastes from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (1F) accident obtained by many researchers. It can be used as a rational and efficient technology to reduce the analysis costs of various types of fuel debris and radioactive waste present at 1F.