@article{JRC35031, address = {Lausanne (Switzerland)}, year = {2007}, author = {Janssens-Maenhout G and Buyst J and Peerani P}, abstract = {Size reduction is attractive because it should enable a solution to be analysed by much more direct, and therefore faster and simpler, methods. For instance if the traditional 7 milliliter vials used in reprocessing plants can be replaced by a vessels containing less than one microlitre, it should be possible to analyse the non-diluted solutions in gloveboxes. These vessels would be electro-mechanical, so the term MEMS might be appropriate. This paper determines a conservative estimate for the dose reduction that would be obtained if microlitre samples were extracted from an input accountancy tank at a reprocessing plant, in which the spent fuel is dissolved in nitric acid. This estimate has to take into account the self-shielding e¤ect, that varies for di¤erent low-energy and high-energy gamma-emitting isotopes. The typical composition of the solution from an input accountancy tank in a reprocessing plant is first derived by means of a burnup code. Eight di¤erent spent fuel cases are considered to cover the range of fission products, that can emit low and high energy gamma's. The neutron and gamma fluxes emitted from the classical 7 millilitre vial and from a vessel with less than a microlitre solution are calculated by means of Monte Carlo simulations. The resulting doses are calculated and compared in average and in distribution for di¤erent cases of spent fuel composition. For a volume size reduction of 6300 an averaged conservative dose reduction of 6000 is obtained. }, title = {Reducing the Radioactive Doses of Liquid Samples Taken from Reprocessing Plant Vessels by Volume Reduction}, type = {}, url = {}, volume = {237}, number = {}, journal = {NUCLEAR ENGINEERING AND DESIGN}, pages = {880-886}, issn = {}, publisher = {ELSEVIER SCIENCE SA}, doi = {10.1016/j.nucengdes.2006.09.026} }