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Gamma Camera Applications of Radiological Characterization for Dismantling NPP
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Prior to dismantling a nuclear facility, full site characterization should be carried out to identify basic data for various stages of decommissioning, such as deregulation of sites and structures, selection of decontamination technology, decommissioning methods, and waste management and disposal. Radiological characterization is implemented through information collection, on-site measurement, sampling and analysis, and theoretical calculations and proven codes for radioactive material at the time of decommissioning of the nuclear facility. There are issues in that it takes a lot of time and money to collect and analyze samples for characterization of contaminated sites and radioactive structures. Therefore, in the entire process of decommissioning a nuclear facility, a technology that can quickly measure the radiological characteristics of various decommissioning objects and wastes on site is required. In this project, the utilization of gamma cameras that can be analyzed in the field for quick and accurate characteristic evaluation at the dismantling site was studied. A gamma camera, iPIX from Canberra (Now it became Mirion Technology), was tested in this study. It is a unique gamma imager, which have a CdTe sensor with TIMEPIX chip and a coded aperture collimator, quickly locates and identifies low to high level radioactive sources from a distance while estimating the dose rate at the measurement point in real time. It also can be combined with CZT sensor which called iPIX-NID (nuclide Identification) provides users with clear understanding of radionuclides presence with no need of any spectroscopic knowledge. iPIX with iPIX-NID convert the gamma camera into a hot-spot detector with radionuclide information. To verify the applicability of a gamma camera in Nuclear power plant, it was implemented to Kori unit-1 which was permanently shut down from 2017. Various Systems were observed at restricted area including reactor cooling system, boron recovery system, residual heat removal system, containment spray system, and etc. The locations of hot spots were clearly revealed by iPIX and these results can be used for selecting the locations of destructive samples and help to decide the conservative decision making. Condensate water systems in turbine building were also observed by a gamma camera and showed no nuclide. Based on this preliminary gamma camera applications, further investigation and tests will be carried out to Kori Unit-1.
