Geostatistics for the characterization of nuclear facilities, sites and waste

Geostatistics is a relevant tool for characterizing the radioactivity at each phase of a decommissioning project (during operation, after shut-down, or during dismantling), a site remediation project (during site investigation and after remediation work to check the site compliance with cleanup regulations) or in post-accidental context.

Whatever the phenomenon (contamination, activation, NORM, …) and the impacted materials (soil, concrete, groundwater, graphite, process equipment, …), geostatistics offers a range of tools for:
– sampling campaign optimization to meet the quality objectives of each phase of the characterization process,
identification of the contamination extension,
sound radiological waste classification enabling a quantified risk analysis that informs decision-making.

In the nuclear industry, geostatistics also advantageously applies to other fields: hydrogeology, carbon content, waste packages, etc.

Hear from our customers

"Kartotrak is really comprehensive and user-friendly. The many tools the software contains make it particularly relevant for educational purposes. I must admit, I have better understood some concepts while using Kartotrak."


Ali Akgöz, R&D Engineer - Turkish Energy, Nuclear and Mineral Research Agency (TENMAK)
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"Durant la formation de 3 jours que j'ai suivie avec mon équipe, nous avons tout particulièrement apprécié l'engagement de l'instructeur ainsi que la qualité de la formation dispensée. Les objectifs que nous nous étions fixés avec cette formation sont largement atteints."


Claudio Stalder, Géologue - Office fédéral de la santé publique OFSP - Confédération Suisse
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"Kartotrak permet d’assurer rapidement le contrôle qualité des données relatives aux sondages. Le logiciel facilite l’interprétation et la communication des résultats en présentant des profils verticaux, par groupe de sondages, en 2D ou en 3D."


Matthieu Youinou, Ingénieur projet démantèlement nucléaire Réacteurs OSIRIS/ORPHEE - CEA
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"Many thanks for your kind and informative lecture during online training. It was a very good chance for us to understand and apply geostatistics for contamination characterization. I hope to continue cooperation with Geovariances."


Sang-Bum Hong, Ph.D., Principal Researcher/Project Manager - Decommissioning Technology Research Division - Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI)
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"In the final dismantling stage of ​Zorita nuclear plant, Geostatistics and Kartotrak take an important relevance in the project inside the Site Release process."


Jose Luis Leganés Nieto, R&D, L&ILW Engineering Department - Enresa
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WHAT IS HAPPENING IN YOUR INDUSTRY?

News

February 10, 2023

Yvon Desnoyers will talk about geostatistics for characterization of radioactively contaminated land at the IAEA webinar series.

October 28, 2022

Yvon Desnoyers will talk about geostatistics for optimized sampling design and decision-making at the NEA workshop.

September 8, 2022

As part of the training provided by the IAEA, our consultant Yvon Desnoyers is to conduct training about contamination characterization us...



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Events

May 27-29, 2024
Join us in a presentation with CEA and learn about an innovative technique for improving activity content estimation.
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Resources

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Data Quality Control

Before starting an evaluation of the contamination leading to decision-making tools for site clean-up, it is essential to ensure data quality. Thus, based on solid and reliable foundations, uncertainties occurring during the different steps of the decision process will be better controlled and the final quality of the project improved.

The objective of this white paper is to assess at best the validity of the data through visual, statistical and geostatistical basic tools before going further into their analysis.

Dose Rate Mapping

The objective of any serious mapping is to obtain a realistic and reliable image of the studied phenomenon. Concerning dose rate, maps are often derived from punctual measurements interpolated using deterministic methods. Sometimes, the choice of the inverse distance squared weighted interpolation is wrongly justified by the fact that the dose rate issued from a punctual source is theoretically inversely proportional to the squared distance between the source and the measurement point.

Through this white paper, find out why this inverse distance squared weighted interpolation is not the appropriate method for dose rate mapping and why the geostatistical approach by kriging is the solution for a quality and reliable mapping.

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