Reference zoning of the radioactive waste in the frame of the decommissioning of particle accelerators

In the frame of the decommissioning of two particle accelerators, one linear (700 MeV, electrons) and one synchrotron (3 GeV, protons), the CEA has set up a reference zoning of the radioactive waste and has looked for some elimination networks. That zoning has been established following an analytic process which has taken into account the installations' design, their running rules, and their history, in order to determine the possible presence of added radioactivity. We have used the following methodology: Identification of the sectors and elements, and within them of the main materials, where interactions between beam and matter may have happened; Characterisation of the radiation fields; Identification of the radio-elements representative of the potential activation of the materials; Evaluation of their mass activity, by semi empirical calculation or Monte Carlo simulation method, whether significant or not, compared with the reference values (Instruction 96/29/Euratom); Verification of the radiological state of the zones through radioactivity measures made on samples and through cartographies of the absorbed dose rates; Standard spectrums and transfer functions to assess the activity levels of the waste have then been calculated to allow the setting up of a control, of a selection and of a rigorous management of the waste coming from the concerned nuclear installations