Muon tomography for cemented radioactive waste drums in the framework of the PREDIS project

Abstract

Muon tomography is a powerful technique for detecting and imaging high-density materials embedded within a lower-density matrix. A relevant application is the identification of metallic objects—such as components with density comparable to or greater than iron—encapsulated in concrete, as typically found in low-activity radioactive waste storage. To simulate realistic waste confinement scenarios, two mock-ups were constructed, each containing metallic objects of varying composition, shape, and size, embedded in concrete. They were inspected by means of the muon tomography demonstrator developed by the INFN Padova group. Preliminary results are presented, highlighting the capability of the technique to effectively probe the internal structure of cemented radioactive waste containers.