Analysis and Comparison of Tomographic Gamma Scanner (TGS) Architectures for Nuclear Waste Characterization Systems

ESTEBAN VENIALGO; MARTÍN BELZUNCE; CLAUDIO VERRASTRO; ET AL

Buenos Aires

Simposio; XXXV International Symposium on Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management; 2011

Materials Research Scoiety

In recent years, nuclear waste management has become a fundamental issue in the nuclear energy production cycle. Tomographic Gamma Scanner (TGS) is an essential tool for nuclear waste characterization. It is crucial to rely on local support and cost effective solutions; for this reasons, we are designing our TGS system based on local technology. In this work, we present a study of different geometries and instrumentation chain parameters to design a TGS. A set of Monte Carlo simulations were performed to evaluate energy and spatial resolution limitations of scintillator, CZT (Cadmium Zinc Telluride), and HPGe (high purity germanium) detectors. Collimator and detector geometries were studied to maximize the characteristics of the system. In this study, a phantom of 137Cs and 60Co was utilized to evaluate the overall performance of the proposed TGS system. In addition, the impact of electronic instrumentation chain and image reconstruction algorithms was taken into account.