| Issue |
EPJ Nuclear Sci. Technol.
Volume 11, 2025
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 35 | |
| Number of page(s) | 11 | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/epjn/2025033 | |
| Published online | 17 July 2025 | |
https://doi.org/10.1051/epjn/2025033
Regular Article
Study of radiolysis bubbles in bitumen used for nuclear waste management with ultrasounds and X-Ray microtomography
1
IES, Univ Montpellier, CNRS Montpellier France
2
Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire et de Radioprotection (ASNR), PSN-RES/SCA/LECEV F-91400 Saclay France
3
Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire et de Radioprotection (ASNR), PSE-ENV/SPDR/USDR F-92260 Fontenay-aux-Roses France
4
Université Paris Cité, CNRS, MSC 75013 Paris France
* e-mail: didier.laux@umontpellier.fr
Received:
2
April
2025
Received in final form:
10
June
2025
Accepted:
13
June
2025
Published online: 17 July 2025
In the realm of nuclear waste management, an ultrasonic investigation of radiolysis bubbles in bitumen has been carried out. Mechanical waves are very sensitive to gas cavities in matter, therefore ultrasonic velocity was measured in a straight-run distillation bitumen labelled AZALT 70/100 irradiated with 60Co (gamma irradiation) at dose rates between 5 and 1200 Gy/h and total integrated doses ranging from 2 to 100 kGy in IRMA and PAGURE French irradiation facilities. A comparative study of ultrasonic velocity and X-Ray microtomography measurements shows that ultrasonic velocity is linked to the concentration of bubbles within the material. A first attempt to deduce the volume fraction of hydrogen bubbles created by irradiation at ambient conditions with ultrasonic velocity measurements are proposed and discussed. This method constitutes an interesting approach dedicated to the monitoring of radiolysis bubbles formation and their evacuation mechanisms. It is particularly promising as ultrasonic sensors can operate effectively in high radiative and high temperature environments. Thus, real time application can be envisaged during irradiation and temperature increase for future experiments.
© D. Laux et al., Published by EDP Sciences, 2025
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Current usage metrics show cumulative count of Article Views (full-text article views including HTML views, PDF and ePub downloads, according to the available data) and Abstracts Views on Vision4Press platform.
Data correspond to usage on the plateform after 2015. The current usage metrics is available 48-96 hours after online publication and is updated daily on week days.
Initial download of the metrics may take a while.