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Category: Characterization > Camera & Surveillance > Thermal Imaging Reference # : Model No :
Through collaboration with the National Physical Laboratory, an unshielded trial thermal imaging camera has been developed for scanning active Intermediate Level Waste (ILW) packages during drum inspections in September 2011. The trial system was successfully deployed generating images for some 39 retrieved drums whilst being reasonably robust in an Intermediate Level Waste environment. Some of the thermal images aligned with the physical drum surface features indicating that the feature was associated with radiogenic heating. Infra Red (IR) video images were taken of the drums on a revolving turntable that made the drum features much more visible than is apparent in still photography. Also fixed place reflections from the cell environment were obvious as they did not move compared with the surface thermal features that moved with the drum. This observation has created the possibility of using hyper spectral multi wavelength analysis to determine the onset of surface changes (corrosion) before it is observable in the visible spectrum and will be the subject of a future piece of work. Image analysis carried out by National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in conjunction with Sellafield Ltd and the manufacturer resulted in a specification for the generic design of a shielded high stability high resolution imager that can be used to produce database measurements against a traceable standard instead of just observations. Proving work on the specification will be required to define the achievable thermal stability for the system.
*High resolution images. *Detect the onset of corrosion before it becomes observable in the visible spectrum.