The Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation

Federal state autonomous educational institution for higher education

“National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University”

School School of Nuclear Science &Engineering

Providing division Division for Nuclear-Fuel cycle
Major 14.04.02 Nuclear Physics and Technology
Academic program (academic Nuclear Science and Technology
module) “Nuclear Safety, Security and Non-Proliferation of Nuclear
Materials”

TRAINING REPORT

Training type On-the-job training

Training mode Students’ Scientific Research Paper

Tomsk, Division for Nuclear-Fuel Cycle, School of Nuclear

Place of the training
Science & Engineering

Completed by student Novikova Veronika

Group 0AM0Ф

____ Novikova Veronika____________ __________

(student’s full name) (student’s signature)

Training supervisor from the TPU:

_Associate Professor _________________________ _ Bukovetsky Anton

(job position) (signature) (full name)

Date of check “____”_ __________ 2021

Admitted / rejected for the defense

Signature ____________

Final internship grade________________________________

(traditional grade, score)
Tomsk 2021

2
 Content
Introduction...................................................................................................................4
1 Measurement of radioactive waste.............................................................................5
1.1 Methods for measuring radioactive waste...............................................................5
1.2 Elemental composition of spent nuclear fuel..........................................................7
1.3 Interaction of gamma radiation with matter............................................................8
2 Regulatory and legal support for the management of radioactive waste and radiation
safety rules...................................................................................................................13
2.1 Classification of radioactive waste........................................................................13
2.2 Legal support in the management of radioactive waste........................................14
2.3 Ensuring radiation safety.......................................................................................16
3 Radiation survey of liquid radioactive waste storage...............................................19
3.1 Theoretical justification of the project..................................................................19
3.2 Calculation of the power of the radiation source...................................................20
Conclusion...................................................................................................................24
References...................................................................................................................25

3
 APPROVED BY
Director of Programme
“Nuclear Science and Technology”
______ Dr. Vera Verkhoturova
«___»_________2021

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT FOR TRAINING

1. List of works (tasks) to be performed:

1. Study of the legislation of the Russian Federation in the field of radioactive waste
management, classification of radioactive waste
2. Elaboration of the main methods of measuring radioactive waste, consideration of the types of
interactions of gamma radiation with matter
3. Consideration of the fundamentals of radiation safety
4. Analysis of the Rosatom project, the main goals and objectives of the project, the output of the
formula for the power of the radiation source at the bottom of the storage

2. List of reporting materials and requirements for their design:

1. Report on the work done

Training supervisor from the TPU:

Associate Professor _________________________ Bukovetsky Anton
(job position) (signature) (full name)

Assignment accepted by Novikova Veronika

(signature) (student’s full name)

«___» _________ 2021

4
 Introduction

In Russia, there is no technologically acceptable and economically justified

technology for conducting a radiation survey of large-area liquid radioactive waste
storage that exclude direct human involvement. For radioactive waste, a radiation
survey of storage facilities is necessary for the subsequent development of the
program, concept and measures for their decommissioning.
A legislative framework has been created for the management of radioactive
waste, which includes the classification of radioactive waste and the basic
requirements for their management. Also, at all enterprises, special attention is paid
to the radiation safety of employees, the environment and the population.
The purpose of this work is to derive a formula for the power of the radiation
source at the bottom of the pool. The objectives of this research work are to study the
legal documentation of the management of radioactive waste, to determine the main
methods of measuring radioactive waste. Study of legal documentation in the field of
radiation safety, determination of radiation doses to personnel. Based on the Rosatom
project, it is necessary to derive formulas for finding the power of radioactive sources
at the bottom of the storage facility.

5
 1 Measurement of radioactive waste
1.1 Methods for measuring radioactive waste

A mandatory section of measurement methods is the section on accuracy

control. The control of measurement accuracy consists in checking the constancy of
the metrological characteristics of the measurement method over time. There are the
following types of accuracy control: the use of standard samples or certified objects;
the method of additives; the method of dilution; the method of combining dilution
and additive.
The method of additives, the method of dilutions and the method of their
combinations are applicable only in laboratory studies. It is not possible to use them
for waste in packages and for on-site measurements. For such waste, the type of
measurement accuracy control was selected using standard samples or certified
objects. In accordance with Federal Law No. 102 "On Ensuring the Uniformity of
Measurements", a standard sample is a sample of a substance (material) with the
values established by the test results that characterize the composition or property of
this substance. The standard sample is identical to the object of control and has all its
physical and chemical characteristics. Certified objects are objects that perform the
function of reference materials, but are not. With the help of a certified object,
modeling of individual characteristics of the control object is allowed [1].
Due to the wide variety of materials, packaging geometry, and physical and
chemical properties of waste, it is impractical to create reference materials for all the
options that arise in practice. To control the accuracy in measuring the specific
activities of radionuclides, it was proposed to develop several certified objects that
allow you to confirm and control the correctness of the methods used.
The main method used to determine the specific activity of waste
radionuclides in packages or in the objects under study directly on the ground is
gamma-ray spectrometry. The existing specialized software for calculating the
efficiency of gamma-ray recording involves the use of various patterns of
measurement geometries – cylinder (barrel), parallelepiped, cone, surface, etc. The

6
measurement geometry templates used in waste characterization are cylindrical
vessels (tanks, barrels) and rectangular objects (boxes, crates, containers) made of
various materials.
The accuracy control when measuring small-volume objects is as follows.
Create certified objects in the form of a small package (cylindrical vessel, box,
canister), filled with a material close in density to the object under study. The
material inside the vessel is impregnated with a solution prepared on the basis of a
sample radionuclide solution. To control the accuracy over a wide range of energies,
it is recommended to use the following set: Am 241 (59 кэВ), Cs137 (662 кэВ), Co60
(1173 и 1332 кэВ).
The accuracy control is considered successful if for each radionuclide in the
certified object, the modulus of the difference between the measured and passport
activity values does not exceed the square root of the sum of the squares of the
statistical uncertainty of the measurement and the statistical error of the activity.
When measuring large-volume packages, computational methods are used to
calibrate the spectrometer based on the efficiency of recording gamma rays of
different energies. The methods used in the software are based on the integration of
the response functions (specific activity) from a "point" source (part of the object
under study) over the volume of the object under study. In this case, the algorithm for
calculating the registration efficiency takes into account the absorption of gamma
rays by the source material and the packaging wall material, as well as the source-
detector distance and the location of the detector relative to the source [2].
Non-destructive gamma-ray spectrometry is used to quickly determine the
radiation characteristics of waste. The limitation of this method is the inability to
measure the complex detectable radionuclides present in the waste (for example, C 14,
Cl36, Ni63, Sr90, U238, Pu241). Gamma radiation emitted during the decay of complex-
detectable radionuclides is either absent or does not have sufficient intensity or
energy to be detected by gamma-ray spectrometry. To solve the problem of rapid
determination of the content of complex detectable radionuclides in waste (for
example, isotopes of uranium and plutonium), a method of liquid-scintillation
7
spectrometry is proposed, which allows rapid analysis of complex detectable
radionuclides by the "screening" method without complete radiochemical isolation of
radionuclides in the preparation of a counting sample.

1.2 Elemental composition of spent nuclear fuel

Spent nuclear fuel is uranium that has worked in a nuclear reactor and
contains radioactive fission products. In most countries, nuclear fuel that has spent its
due time in a nuclear power plant reactor is considered radioactive waste and is sent
to burial grounds or exported abroad. Russia and several other nuclear powers
(including France, England, and India) are developing technologies for processing
irradiated fuel and are striving to completely close the fuel cycle in the future [3].
The composition of spent nuclear fuel is shown in table 1.
Table 1 – Radionuclides determining the activity of SNF
Time interval, year Defining radionuclides
Up to100 Fe55, Co58, Ni59, Sr90, Ru106, Sb125, Cs137, Ce144, Pm147
100-1000 Sm151, Co60, Cs137, Ni59
1000-10000 Pu239, Am241
104-105 Np237, Pu239, Am243, Ni59, Zr93
Above 105 I129, Tc99, Pu239

1.3 Interaction of gamma radiation with matter

Gamma radiation is short-wave electromagnetic radiation that occurs as a

result of the discharge of the states of nuclei that are excited during the radioactive
decay of nuclei and in nuclear reactions. Gamma radiation also occurs in the decay of
elementary particles, as a result of the annihilation of particle-antiparticle pairs,
during the passage of charged particles through matter, and in a number of other
processes. By their properties, gamma rays are highly penetrating radiation, often
having an even shorter wavelength than X-rays. Gamma rays have very different
energies - from tens of electron volts and higher. In radioactive decay and in nuclear
reactions, the energy of gamma rays is usually 10 keV–10 MeV. The energy
spectrum of gamma rays is discrete and can be more or less complex in various decay
schemes.

8
 Gamma radiation, which is of interest for nondestructive analysis, is in the
energy range from 10 to 2000 keV and interacts with detectors and absorbers through
three main processes: photoelectric absorption, Compton scattering, and pair
formation.
A gamma-ray quantum can interact with the bound electron of an atom in
such a way that it loses all its energy and ceases to exist as a gamma-ray quantum, as
shown in Figure 1. Some of the energy of the gamma-ray quantum is used to
overcome the binding energy of the electron, and most of the remaining energy is
transferred to the released electron as kinetic energy. A very small part of the recoil
energy remains in the atom to preserve momentum. This process is called
photoelectric absorption. Photoelectric absorption is an important process for
detecting gamma radiation, because the gamma-ray quantum gives up all its energy,
and the resulting pulse falls into the peak of total absorption [4].
The probability of photoelectric absorption depends on the gamma-ray
energy, the binding energy of the electron, and the atomic number of the atom. This
probability is greater the greater the bond between the electron and the atom.
Therefore, K-electrons are most susceptible to the photoelectric effect, provided that
the energy of the gamma quantum exceeds the binding energy of the K-electron.
Photoelectric absorption is the predominant interaction process for low-energy
gamma quanta, X-ray quanta, and Bremsstrahlung. The energy of the photoelectron
released during the interaction is the difference between the energy of the gamma-ray
quantum and the binding energy of the electron.

9
 Figure 1 – Photoelectric absorption
In most detectors, the photoelectron quickly stops in the active volume of the
detector, which produces a small output pulse with an amplitude proportional to the
energy lost by the photoelectron. The binding energy of the electron is not lost, but
manifests itself in the form of characteristic X-ray radiation emitted simultaneously
with the photoelectron. In most cases, these X-ray quanta are absorbed in the detector
simultaneously with the photoelectron, and the resulting output pulse is proportional
to the total energy of the incident gamma-ray quantum. When low-energy gamma
rays are detected by small detectors, a significant number of K-series X-ray quanta
can leave the detector, which leads to the presence of leakage peaks in the observed
spectrum. The energy of the leakage peaks is less than the energy of the total
absorption peak by an amount equal to the energy of the X-ray quantum.
Compton scattering is an elastic collision process in which a gamma-ray
quantum interacts with a free or weakly bound electron and transfers some of its
energy to the electron. According to the laws of conservation of energy and
momentum, an electron weakly bound to an atom can receive only a fraction of the
energy of the gamma quantum, and the gamma quantum does not disappear in the
Compton interaction, which involves the outer, least bound electrons of the scattering
atom. The electron becomes a free electron with a kinetic energy equal to the
difference between the energy lost by the gamma quantum and the binding energy of
the electron. Since the binding energy of the electron is very small compared to the

10
energy of the gamma quanta, the kinetic energy of the electron is very close to the
energy lost by the gamma quantum. The process is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2 – Compton scattering

For small scattering angles (φ≅0°), the energy of the scattered gamma-ray
quantum is not much less than the energy of the incident gamma-ray quantum, and
the scattered electron receives very little energy from the interaction. The energy
transferred to the scattered electron varies in the range from almost zero to the
maximum value. When Compton scattering occurs in a detector, the scattered
electron is usually stopped in the detecting medium, and the detector produces an
output pulse proportional to the energy lost by the incident gamma quantum.
Compton scattering in the detector results in a spectrum of output pulses extending
from zero to the maximum energy. It is difficult to correlate the Compton scattering
spectrum with the energy of the incident gamma-ray quantum.
Since the least bound electrons are involved in Compton scattering, the
nucleus has little influence, and the probability of interaction is almost independent of
its atomic number. The probability of interaction depends on the electron density,
which is proportional to Z/A and is almost constant for all materials [5].
A gamma-ray quantum with an energy of at least 1.022 MeV, under the
influence of a strong electromagnetic field near the nucleus, can form an electron-
positron pair. In this interaction, the nucleus acquires a small amount of recoil energy
to preserve momentum, but the nucleus itself does not change, and the gamma
quantum disappears. This interaction has a threshold of 1.022 MeV, since this is the

11
minimum energy required for the formation of an electron and a positron. If the
energy of the gamma-ray quantum exceeds 1.022 MeV, the excess energy is divided
between the electron and the positron in the form of their kinetic energy. This
interaction process is not essential for the analysis of nuclear materials, since the
values of the most important characteristic energies of gamma radiation are below
1.022 MeV. The process is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3 – Electron-positron pair production

The electron and positron produced in the process of pair formation are
rapidly decelerated in the absorber. After the loss of kinetic energy, the positron
combines with the electron in an annihilation process, which releases two gamma-ray
quanta with energies of 0.511 MeV. These lower-energy gamma rays can then
interact with or leave the absorbing material. The kinetic energy of the electron and
positron is absorbed in the detector. One or both of the annihilation gamma rays can
leave the detector, or both gamma rays can be absorbed. If both annihilation gamma
rays are absorbed in the detector, this interaction contributes to the peak of the total
absorption of the measured spectrum. If one of the annihilation gamma rays leaves
the detector, the interaction contributes to a single leak peak located 0.511 MeV
below the total absorption peak. If both gamma rays leave the detector, the interaction
contributes to the double leakage peak located 1.022 MeV below the total absorption
peak. Irradiated fuel is sometimes measured using gamma rays with an energy of

12
2186 keV of the fission product Pr144. The gamma-ray spectrum of Pr144 contains
peaks of single and double leaks, which occur as a result of the formation of pairs in a
germanium detector by a gamma quantum with an energy of 2186 keV.
The probability of pair formation varies approximately as the square of the
atomic number Z and becomes significant for elements with a high Z, such as lead or
uranium [4].

13
 2 Regulatory and legal support for the management of radioactive waste
and radiation safety rules
2.1 Classification of radioactive waste

According to the Russian "Law on the Use of Atomic Energy", radioactive waste
is nuclear materials and radioactive substances, the further use of which is not
provided for.
Federal Law No. 190 classifies RW as removable and special. Disposed
radioactive waste – radioactive waste for which the risks associated with radiation
exposure, other risks, as well as the costs associated with the extraction of such
radioactive waste from the storage point of radioactive waste, their subsequent
handling, including disposal, do not exceed the risks and costs associated with the
disposal of such radioactive waste at their location. Special radioactive waste –
radioactive waste for which the risks associated with radiation exposure, other risks,
as well as the costs associated with the extraction of such radioactive waste from the
storage point of radioactive waste, their subsequent handling, including disposal [1].
The disposal of radioactive waste for disposal purposes is classified according to
the following criteria, as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4 – Classification of RW
14
 2.2 Legal support in the management of radioactive waste

The Government determines the national operator, decides on the storage

facilities for radioactive waste, sets the criteria for classifying waste as radioactive
waste, the criteria for classifying radioactive waste as special radioactive waste and as
radioactive waste to be disposed of.
Federal executive authorities ensure safety in the handling of radioactive
waste, and organize the physical protection of radioactive waste storage facilities.
Federal norms and regulations establish requirements for ensuring safety in
the management of radioactive waste, namely, the criteria for the acceptance of
radioactive waste for disposal, requirements for intermediate storage, the procedure
for the disposal of radioactive waste, and requirements for the design of facilities [6].
The disposal sites for radioactive waste are either federally owned or owned
by the State Atomic Energy Corporation.
The state system of radioactive waste management is created to ensure the life
and health of people from the negative impact of radioactive waste, the responsibility
of organizations for ensuring safety in the management of radioactive waste, taking
into account the interdependence of the stage of formation of radioactive waste and
the stages of their management.
The disposal of solid high-level long-lived and solid medium-level long-lived
radioactive waste is carried out in deep burial sites, while the disposal of solid low –
level radioactive waste and solid medium-level short-lived radioactive waste is
carried out in near-surface burial sites. It is prohibited to bury radioactive waste that
can explode, self-ignite, emit fire-explosive gases containing infectious materials.
The content of corrosive substances in the packaging of radioactive waste should be
limited, the content of complexing substances should be excluded, and the content of
organic rotting and decomposing substances should be limited.
The disposal of radioactive waste (RW) must comply with the principles of
optimization, multi-barrier, protection of future generations and non-imposition of
excessive burden on future generations. In the near-surface burial sites, it is

15
permissible to bury the disposed RW belonging to classes 3, 4 and 6, and in the deep
burial sites, the disposal of RW classes 1 and 2 is carried out.
The safety of disposal sites should be ensured through the consistent
implementation of the concept of deep-layered protection, based on the use of a
system of physical barriers to the spread of ionizing radiation and radioactive
substances into the environment. Engineering safety barriers include RW packaging,
its individual elements, engineering structures of the disposal site, construction
structures of structures, buffer materials, covering screens. Natural barriers include
elements of a natural geological formation, bearing and enclosing rocks.
The system of state accounting and control of radioactive substances and RW
is designed to determine the available quantity, a differentiated approach to
determining the procedures for accounting and control of disposed RW, taking into
account their classification.
The accounting units are: the total amount of RW, mass, volume, physical
properties and radionuclide composition of which are determined on the basis of a
single set of data and measurement results, located in a sealed container; a preserved
RW storage facility; a section of radiation-contaminated territory.
The main principles of accounting and control of RAO are:
– continuity of accounting and control;
– frequency of inventory surveys;
– determination of the cash quantity and verification of its compliance with
the accounting data;
– timely documentation of the results of operations;
– a differentiated approach to the definition of accounting and control
procedures for disposed RW, taking into account their classification.
Accounting and control of RW should be supported by the implementation of
organizational and technical measures, such as limiting the number of persons
allowed to work with RW, restricting access to RW storage sites and using access
control tools. Seals should be installed on containers, safes, where RW is located, as
well as in places of access to this equipment.
16
 When transferring RW, registration is carried out after the input control.
Entrance control when receiving RW should include an external inspection of RW
accounting units and verification of attribute attributes: the presence of accounting
units; compliance of the number and type of accounting units and their identifiers
with accounting data; integrity of accounting units; compliance of numbers and types
of seals with accounting data. The entrance control includes checking the actual
presence of RW.

2.3 Ensuring radiation safety

OSPORB-99/2010 establishes the basic principles of radiation safety:

justification, optimization, rationing.
Radiation safety at a radiation facility is ensured by:
– the quality of the radiation facility design;
– reasonable choice of the area and site for the location of the radiation object;
– ensuring the safety of ionizing radiation sources and eliminating the
possibility of their unauthorized use;
– zoning of the territory around the most dangerous objects;
– availability of a radiation monitoring system;
– improving radiation and hygiene literacy of personnel and the population.
Radiation safety of personnel is ensured by:
– restrictions on access to work with ionizing radiation sources by age,
gender, and health status;
– knowledge and compliance with the rules of working with ionizing
radiation sources;
– protective barriers, screens and distance, as well as limiting the time of
work with ionizing radiation sources;
– use of personal protective equipment;
– organization of radiation control.
According to the potential radiation hazard, four categories of objects are
established.
17
 Category I includes radiation facilities where an accident may cause radiation
exposure to the population and may require measures to protect it.
In category II objects, the radiation exposure in the event of an accident is
limited to the territory of the sanitary protection zone.
Category III includes objects whose radiation exposure in the event of an
accident is limited to the territory of the object.
Category IV includes objects whose radiation exposure in the event of an
accident is limited to rooms where work is carried out with ionizing radiation
sources.
All types of handling of ionizing radiation sources, including radiation
control, are allowed only if there is a sanitary and epidemiological conclusion on the
compliance of the working conditions with ionizing radiation sources with the
sanitary rules, which is issued by the bodies carrying out the federal state sanitary and
epidemiological supervision at the request of a legal entity or individual [7].
By the time the source of ionizing radiation is received, a legal entity or
individual approves the list of persons allowed to work with it, provides them with
the necessary training, appoints persons responsible for ensuring radiation safety,
accounting and storage of ionizing radiation sources, for organizing the collection,
storage and delivery of radioactive waste, and radiation control.
All incoming sources of ionizing radiation are subject to accounting.
Liquid radioactive waste includes organic and inorganic liquids, pulps and
slurries that are not subject to further use and meet the criteria for classification as
radioactive waste.
Solid radioactive waste includes spent radionuclide sources, materials,
products, equipment, biological objects, soil, and solidified liquid radioactive waste
that meet the criteria for classification as radioactive waste.
Gaseous radioactive waste includes non-usable gaseous mixtures containing
radioactive gases and/or aerosols formed during production processes that meet the
criteria for classification as radioactive waste.

18
 The system for handling liquid and solid radioactive waste includes its
collection, sorting, packaging, temporary storage, conditioning (concentration,
curing, pressing, incineration), transportation, long-term storage and (or) disposal.
Transportation of radioactive waste should be carried out in mechanically
strong sealed packages on specially equipped vehicles [8].
The choice of disposal sites for radioactive waste should be made taking into
account hydrogeological, geomorphological, tectonic and seismic conditions. At the
same time, radiation safety of the population and the environment should be ensured
during the entire period of waste isolation, taking into account the long-term forecast.
The main dose limits are set out in Table 2.
Table 2 – Main dose limits
Normalized values Dose limits
personnel (Group A) population
Effective dose 20 mSv per year on average 1 mSv per year on
for any consecutive 5 years, average for any
but no more than 50 mSv consecutive 5 years, but
per year no more than 5 mSv per
year
Equivalent dose per
year in:
the lens of the eye; 150 mSv 15 mSv
skin; 500 mSv 50 mSv
hands and feet. 500 mSv 50 mSv

The annual effective dose of personnel exposure due to the normal operation
of man-made sources of ionizing radiation should not exceed the dose limits set out
in Table 2.
The annual effective dose is the sum of the effective dose of external radiation
received in a calendar year and the expected effective dose of internal radiation due
to the ingestion of radionuclides in the same year.

19
 3 Radiation survey of liquid radioactive waste storage
3.1 Theoretical justification of the project

In Russia, there is no technologically acceptable and economically justified

technology for conducting a radiation survey of large-area liquid radioactive waste
storage that exclude direct human involvement. For radioactive waste, a radiation
survey of storage facilities is necessary for the subsequent development of the
program, concept and measures for their decommissioning.
The creation of new equipment and technologies for the management of
radioactive waste, necessary for the transfer of nuclear heritage objects to a nuclear
and radiation-safe state with their subsequent liquidation; comprehensive provision of
nuclear and radiation safety within the country; the use of unmanned remote mobile
means allows almost completely eliminating direct human participation in the work
carried out and reducing the time spent in strong radiation fields.
The aim of the project is to obtain a prototype of a functioning unmanned
mobile vehicle, software and hardware implementation of the algorithm for wireless
interaction between the elements of the unmanned system, and to develop a
methodology for conducting a radiation survey of large-area radioactive waste
storage pools, which excludes direct contact of service personnel with the object of
the survey.
Project objectives:
– development and creation of a hardware complex based on an unmanned
mobile vehicle and an ionizing radiation detector;
– software and hardware implementation of the algorithm of wireless
interaction between the elements of the complex;
– development of a methodology for conducting a radiation survey of large-
area radioactive waste storage basins, which excludes direct contact of maintenance
personnel with the object of the survey.
The product of the project is a software and hardware complex designed for
conducting radiation surveys of LRW storage pools, including a remotely controlled

20
or autonomous unmanned mobile vehicle, an automated workplace for the operator of
the hardware complex, and specialized software [9].
Advantages of the project:
– safety: no impact of radiation fields on personnel due to their significant
distance from the object of inspection;
– speed: a significant reduction in the time spent on the survey of a single
LRW storage pool, compared to existing technologies;
– cost-effectiveness: a significant reduction in the amount of costs for the
survey of a single LW storage pool;
– all-weather: the ability to operate the complex in all weather conditions
during the open water period;
– simplicity: the software and hardware design makes it easy to operate the
complex by one person;
– multi-functionality: the ability to simultaneously use different types of
payload on an unmanned mobile vehicle;
– autonomy: the ability to operate the complex both in fully automatic mode
and automatically under the control of the operator;
– variability: the possibility for the operator to determine the program for
conducting a radiation survey of the pool-storage of radioactive waste.

3.2 Calculation of the power of the radiation source

The radioactive waste is located in a large storage pool, shown in Figure 5.

The distance from the radiation source to the detector is known, as well as the
possibility of a source on the surface of the reservoir measured by the detector.
When a beam of gamma radiation passes through a substance, the power of
the radiation source decreases according to the law presented in Formula 1.

W  W 0  e   x , (1)

where W 0 , W – radiation power before and after passing through the substance
layer, respectively,
21
 µ – linear attenuation coefficient, depending on the nature of the absorbing
substance and the photon energy of the incident radiation,
x – thickness of the substance layer.

Figure 5 – Storage pool

Because the water in the reservoir has a complex chemical composition,
including impurities (sand). It is also necessary to take into account that sea and fresh
water have different densities, that is, there will be dissolved salt crystals in the sea
water, which we will consider as impurities. Then the coefficient of linear attenuation
must be found by the formula 2.

 m   i  mi   i
, (2)

where  i – mass fraction of the i-th element,

 mi – its mass attenuation coefficient.

Thus, to find the power of the source, use the formula 3.

W  W 0  e   m x (3)
Formula 3 is used if the radiation source is a point source. If the distance from
the radiation source to the detector is much greater than the size of the source, then
the source will be a point.
In another case, you can use the following formulas. Since the power is
measured in J/s and the absorbed dose in J/kg, the ratio 4 can be derived.


W  D m
t , (4)
22
  
D  (1  g )  K , (5)

where D – absorbed dose;

K – kerma.

In this paper, we can measure the energy of gamma rays from Cs 137 (661keV),
then g is less than 0.01 and the equality 6 is valid.
 
DK (6)
It is assumed that the radiation source is in the form of a disk, then formula 7
is used.
d a
 2 2

D    AS  Г   Ln 2
d , (7)

where Г  – kerma constant;

d – distance from the source to the detector;
а – source radius.
Then can use formula 3 to calculate the radiation power before passing through
the substance, formula 8.
 
D  D 0 e m
  x
(8)
For example, let's take a radiation source with a power of 10 W, the distance
from the source to the detector is 10 m, the linear attenuation coefficient is calculated
according to the table values for the gamma radiation energy of 0.6 MeV. Let's
assume that there is silicon in the water with a mass fraction of 0.08.
 m   i  mi   i  0.09  0.92  0.1  0.08  0.0908
W 10
W0    m x
 0.090810
 24.794W
e e
Now will calculate for a radiation source with a diameter of 2m, all other
parameters will remain the same. The specific activity is given because the detector
can measure it.

23
 10  2
 2 2
D   10.4 10  21.33 10 Ln  27.33 10 8
10 18
2
10
W 27.33 10 8
W0    m x
 0.090810
 67.76 10 8W
e e
As can be seen from the formulas, the power of the source at the bottom
exceeds the measured power, therefore, when passing through the water layer, the
power decreases. Also, when the water density increases due to impurities, the power
of the source decreases even more.

24
 Conclusion

In the course of the work done, the main laws and regulations in the field of
safe management of radioactive waste, the main standards of radiation safety for
personnel and the public were considered. The main methods of measuring
radioactive waste are also studied, and the types of interaction of gamma radiation
with matter are considered. Based on the legal documentation, radioactive waste is
classified by activity, half-life, and aggregate state.
Rosatom is developing a project to measure radioactive waste in wet storage
facilities using unmanned means. This project will help to minimize the interaction of
personnel with radioactive waste. In the course of this work, formulas were derived
for determining the power of a point radiation source at the bottom of the storage, as
well as for a source with a disk geometry.

25
 References
1. On the management of radioactive waste: Federal Law No. 190 of July
29, 2011 [Electronic resource]: Access from the legal system "ConsultantPlus".
2. Processing, conditioning and transportation of raw
materialsГоскорпорация [Electronic resource] – Access mode: http://www.radwaste-
journal.ru/docs/journals/24/07imethods_for_measuring_the_radiation_characteristics
_of_waste.pdf – Title from the screen. – (Accessed 02.06.2021).
3. ELEMENTAL AND ISOTOPIC COMPOSITION OF SNF [Electronic
resource] – Access mode: https:// doc134078372_603325189 – Title from the screen.
– (Accessed 10.06.2021).
4. Nature of gamma radiation [Electronic resource] – Access mode: https://
glava1-14.pdf – Title from the screen. – (Accessed 12.06.2021).
5. Methods and instruments for measuring nuclear and other radioactive
material / Boyko, Silaev – Moscow, 2011. – 356p.
6. Basic rules for accounting and control of radioactive substances and
radioactive waste in an organization [Electronic resource]: Access from the legal
system "ConsultantPlus".
7. Basic Sanitary Rules for Ensuring Radiation Safety (OSPORB 99/2010)
[Electronic resource]: Access from the legal system "ConsultantPlus".
8. Radiation safety standard (NRB 99/2009) [Electronic resource]: Access
from the legal system "ConsultantPlus".
9. State Corporation «Rosatom» [Electronic resource] – Mode of access:
https://www.rosatom.ru/about/ – Screen title. – (Date of access: 16.06.2021).

26