Abstract
Establishment of analytical methods for radioactively contaminated wastes has been urgently requested for proper management during various treatment processes such as storage, incineration, landfill and wastewater treatment. Japan Society of Material Cycles and Waste Management (JSMCWM) has been working on the development and evaluation of standardized or rapid/cost-effective methods for the measurement of radioacitivity (i.e., radioacitivity concentration and dose rate) in wastes since 2011. JSMCWM′s work covers a wide variety of waste issues : (1) analytical instruments for measuring dose rate and radioactivity concentrations in wasted were broadly reviewed ; (2) standardization of sampling methods for incineration flue gas were optimized ; (3) optimal number of increment samples for one lot of incineration ash (i.e., bottom ash and fly ash) was investigated ; (4) cross calibration study was conducted for radioactive cesium activity in soil and incineration ash samples using Ge semiconductor detector, NaI (TI) scintillation detector and LaBr3 (Ce) scintillation detector (totally six participants). This achieved good accuracy and precision results. The obtained findings for the above have actually been reflected in the revision of the National Guidelines for Analytical Methods for Radioactively Contaminated Wastes in March, 2013.
