The role of natural rock filler in optimizing the radiation protection capacity of the intermediate-level radioactive waste containers

The present work aims to optimize the radiation protection efficiency for ion-selective containers used in the liquid treatment for the nuclear power plant (NPP) cooling cycle. Some naturally occurring rocks were examined as filler materials to reduce absorbed dose and equivalent dos received from the radioactive waste container. Thus, the absorbed dose and equivalent dose were simulated at a distance of 1 m from the surface of the radioactive waste container using the Monte Carlo simulation. Both absorbed dose and equivalent dose rate are reduced by raising the filler thickness. The total absorbed dose is reduced from 7.66E-20 to 1.03E-20 Gy, and the equivalent dose is rate reduced from 183.81 to 24.63 mSv/ h, raising the filler thickness between 0 and 17 cm, respectively. Also, the filler type significantly affects the equivalent dose rate, where the redorded equivalent dose rates are 24.63, 24.08, 27.63, 33.80, and 36.08 mSv/h for natural rocks basalt-1, basalt-2, basalt-sill, limestone, and rhyolite, respectively. The mentioned results show that the natural rocks, especially a thicker thickness (i.e., 17 cm thickness) of natural rocks basalt-1 and basalt-2, significantly reduce the gamma emissions from the radioactive wastes inside the modified container. Moreover, using an outer cementation concrete wall of 15 cm causes an additional decrease in the equivalent dose rate received from the container where the equivalent dose rate dropped to 6.63 mSv/h. (c) 2022 Korean Nuclear Society, Published by Elsevier Korea LLC. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

The present work aims to optimize the radiation protection efficiency for ion-selective containers used in the liquid treatment for the nuclear power plant cooling cycle. The study found that using natural rocks as filler materials and increasing the filler thickness can reduce the absorbed dose and equivalent dose received from the radioactive waste container. Additionally, the type of filler material significantly affects the equivalent dose rate.