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All issues Volume 6 (2020) EPJ Nuclear Sci. Technol., 6 (2020) E3 Full HTML
INSIDER
Open Access
Editorial
Issue
EPJ Nuclear Sci. Technol.
Volume 6, 2020
INSIDER
Article Number E3
Number of page(s) 2
DOI https://doi.org/10.1051/epjn/2020010
Published online 29 June 2020

The H2020 Euratom European project INSIDER (Improved Nuclear Site Characterization for waste minimization in decommissioning under constrained environment) was launched in June 2017 for a duration of 4 years; it currently includes 17 partners from 10 European countries.

The project is focused onto radiological characterization applied to waste-driven integrated approaches, including the sampling overall strategy and design. Its objectives are to improve the management of waste with medium (MA) and high radioactivity (HA) levels coming from nuclear sites or facilities under D&D (Decommissioning and dismantling) and/or other constrained environments. The optimization criteria refer to operational decommissioning efficiency, safety and costs. The outcome of the project will increase knowledge on the amounts and characteristics of radioactive waste resulting from D&D and increase confidence on the sound definition of subsequent storage and disposal end points.

INSIDER is thus mainly focused on the issues of pre-characterization upstream of decommissioning operations.

The methodology is based on advanced statistical processing and modelling, coupled with validated measurement techniques and methods, in situ or in laboratory, with a final objective of economic gains, and improved safety and sustainability.

The technical approach of the project is on one hand to develop different sampling strategies, coupled with characterization methods whose performances are known in representative situations, and on the other hand to qualify the contribution of this approach to- and validate its effectiveness in real situations on 3 concrete case studies representing typical configurations of decommissioning worksites:

  • Nuclear reactor: BR3 reactor vessel at Mol (SCK-CEN);

  • Installation of the fuel/waste cycle: effluent tanks at ISPRA (JRC);

  • Post-incident management: contaminated soils (CEA).

The first project workshop took place on 24 and 25 May 2019 in Bilbao. The articles presented in this special issue offer a global vision and a representative sampling of the scientific and technical advances developed in the project:

  • Assessment of the results acquired during the first period of the project in terms of sampling strategy, identification and prioritization of techniques and methods of analysis in situ and in the laboratory, and metrology tools to improve confidence in measurements based on the mastery of processes and estimation of uncertainties [1,2].

  • Organisation of benchmarking, in situ measurement campaign and interlaboratory comparisons on matrix reference materials and real samples [3–6].

  • Analytical innovation [7].

At the end of the first period of the project, the input data and the experimental validation on the first two case studies are in place, with very first results available.

The different statistical treatments adopted will allow a realistic evaluation of the performances of all the measurement methods, in situ and off-line; this is essential to demonstrate the contribution of this coupling methodology for the pre-characterization phases of decommissioning projects.

The originality and the innovative aspects of all the intercomparison exercises based on in situ measurement campaigns should be underlined, in addition to those on reference samples sent to the laboratories. This fundamental contribution is the result of multi- and cross-disciplinary work.

The INSIDER project is working towards defining recommendations and guidelines for improving decision making of the industrial implementers for decommissioning and remediation activities Thereby, a key contributor is effective knowledge sharing within the scientific community. Final assessment of the outcome will strengthen the recommendations and guidance, and promote sharing European expertise through guide and pre-normative texts.

References

  1. D. Roudil, M. Crozet, S. Picart, B. Russell, M. Herranz, S. Boden, P. Peerani, L. Aldave De Las Heras, Metrology applications to D&D issues: issues at stake for insider European project, EPJ Nuclear Sci. Technol. 6, 17 (2020) [CrossRef] [EDP Sciences] [Google Scholar]
  2. Y. Desnoyers, B. Rogiers, Development of a user-friendly guideline for data analysis and sampling design strategy, EPJ Nuclear Sci. Technol. 6, 16 (2020) [CrossRef] [EDP Sciences] [Google Scholar]
  3. G. von Oertzen, O. Nitzsche, A. Hashymov, UC1 sampling plan, liquid waste storage tanks, JRC ISPRA, EPJ Nuclear Sci. Technol. 6, 15 (2020) [CrossRef] [EDP Sciences] [Google Scholar]
  4. W. Broeckx, B. Rogiers, N. Mangelschots, R. Vandyck, G. Verstrepen, S. Boden, INSIDER UC2: the BR3 biological shield preliminary results & future work, EPJ Nuclear Sci. Technol. 6, 14 (2020) [CrossRef] [EDP Sciences] [Google Scholar]
  5. Y. Desnoyers, C. Faucheux, N. Pérot, Use Case 3: post accidental site remediation − CEA, EPJ Nuclear Sci. Technol. 6, 13 (2020) [CrossRef] [EDP Sciences] [Google Scholar]
  6. M. Herranz et al., INSIDER WP5 (in-situ measurements): developed activities, main results and conclusions, EPJ Nuclear Sci. Technol. 6, 12 (2020) [CrossRef] [EDP Sciences] [Google Scholar]
  7. S. Rassou, C. Mariet, T. Vercouter, Analysis of radionuclides in microsystem: application to the selective recovery of 55Fe by solvent extraction, EPJ Nuclear Sci. Technol. 6, 10 (2020) [CrossRef] [EDP Sciences] [Google Scholar]

Cite this article as: Danièle Roudil, Laura Aldave de Las Heras, INSIDER, EPJ Nuclear Sci. Technol. 6, E3 (2020)


© D. Roudil and L. Aldave de Las Heras, published by EDP Sciences, 2020

Licence Creative CommonsThis 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.

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