01 – The place
CERN. A complex system of particle accelerators with beam energies ranging from meV to TeV.
During their operation, beam losses inevitably occur, leading to material activation. Activated components that cannot be reused need to be disposed of as radioactive waste. And waste must be radiologically characterized to determine the most appropriate elimination pathway.

02 – The challenge
The complexity of the accelerator system results in a vast heterogeneity of irradiation histories and material compositions, leading to a broad range of expected radionuclides and activity levels. To address this challenge, we use a probabilistic approach that combines physics-based activation simulations with machine learning techniques.

03 – The method
The goal of our characterization studies is to produce deliverables for operational use.
The key steps of our characterisation methodology are :

• Creation of an extensive database of synthetic items that replicate the features of real material and waste.
• Deterministic computation of the complete radiological properties of synthetic items with ActiWiz.
• Generation of synthetic packages and analysis to determine appropriate thresholds, scaling factors or transfer functions.