Large Nuclear Calorimeter for Non Destructive Assay on 55 gallon s Tritiated Waste Drums

A new large calorimeter was develope d by SETARAM and the CEA Valduc for the nuclear waste quantification by calorimetry within drums having a volume bigger than 55 gallons (250 li ters) . The calorimeter is an active heat flux calorimeter developp ed on a differential principle to measure a wide range of power emitted by alpha or beta radioactive elements. This calorimeter is based on a new patented principle and it guarantees the best user s afety reduced sample handling . The system is air c ooled and includes new optimized software to me asure directly the nuclear material quantity . As part of the manageme nt of tritiated wastes, CEA Valduc has performed the qualification tests of the calorimeter with ghost drum s . Some results will be presented in ord er to show its measurement capabil ities and particularly its precision and accuracy.