Nuclear Waste Management: A Mini Review on Waste Package Characterization Approaches

Abstract

The characterization of nuclear wastes is the first step toward their efficient management, as the efficient identification of the chemical, physical, biological, mechanical, and/or radiological properties of these materials is crucial to optimize their management scheme. In particular, the radiological characterization of the nuclear waste packages is challenged by many factors that require the identification of integrated characterization schemes that rely on the use of both conventional and innovative techniques. In this work, the strategies and approaches adopted for nuclear waste characterization are discussed with special reference to innovative characterization techniques with respect to waste packages. In this regard, both nondestructive and destructive techniques that are conventionally used to analyze raw and processed nuclear waste packages are overviewed. The separation methods that are implemented to identify most of the radionuclides of concern are given, where the radiometric methods are outlined for those radionuclides. The implementation of scaling factor methodology to ensure reliable characterization will be highlighted.