Discrimination of disposal-restricted materials in waste containers by nondestructive testing and image analysis with high-energy X-ray computed tomography

村上 昌史; 吉田 幸彦; 南郷 脩史*; 久保田 省吾*; 黒澤 卓也*; 佐々木 紀樹

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 62(7), p.650 - 661, 2025/07

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2025.2460526

Nondestructive methods were investigated to effectively discriminate disposal-restricted materials, including aluminum, batteries, combustibles, lead, and mercury, inside waste containers without opening them. An industrial computed tomography (CT) system with maximum X-ray energy of 9 MeV was used to visualize inside 27-cm diameter pails and 59-cm diameter drums filled with typical waste materials such as combustibles, glass, concrete, and metals. The CT images with 0.5 mm spacing were acquired, and three-dimensional (3D) models were constructed. A good linear relationship was observed between the gray values in the obtained CT images and the densities of materials. Combustibles, lead, and mercury were extracted via simple segmentation based on their apparent densities. 3D feature-based discriminations were further applied to batteries and certain aluminum objects based on their structural characteristics. Almost all batteries contained in the drums were successfully discriminated regardless of deformation, except for a few cases under extreme conditions. Aluminum was extracted along with glass and concrete; however, pipes with distinctive shapes could be identified in a relatively selective manner. The discrimination methods developed in this study will be effective in revealing the contents of waste containers, particularly for harmful materials that need to be separated for proper disposal.