Development of a real-time acoustic backscatter system for solids concentration measurement during nuclear waste cleanup

The measurement of the concentration of solid particles in suspension without physical sampling is a necessary tool for the nuclear industry involved with cleanup of a significant quantity of legacy waste in the form of sludge. This paper presents the work of a project to develop acoustic instrumentation for the in-situ characterization of such sludge. The measurement principle and signal processing employed is presented along with the design of a custom acoustic instrument for deployment in nuclear and industrial environments. The paper presents experimental results demonstrating the ability of the technique for the online measurement of mass concentration in a suspension of glass power in water.