Gamma-ray spectrometric measurements for safeguarding special nuclear materials
- Los Alamos National Laboratory, NM (United States)
Gamma-ray spectrometric measurements are extensively used in safeguarding special nuclear materials. Nearly all the measurement applications can be grouped into five general categories: (1) quantitative passive assay of {open_quotes}thin samples{close_quotes} for isotopic mass or concentration, within which transmission-corrected measurements are an important subset; (2) isotopic fraction measurements of {open_quotes}infinitely thick{close_quotes} samples for the absolute determination of isotopic fractions or concentrations; (3) isotopic ratio measurements using measured relative detection efficiencies that can yield isotopic distributions for samples of arbitrary size, shape, and composition, without recourse to physical standards; (4) absorption-edge densitometry measurements of elemental concentrations; and (5) X-ray fluorescence measurements of elemental concentrations. These methods, properly applied in favorable cases, can yield measurement accuracies in the range of 0.1-1.0% in times usually in the range of 15 min to 1 h. General principles will be outlined and examples of applications and performance in the areas of safeguards, process control, and waste management will be given.
- OSTI ID:
- 141239
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-930304-; TRN: 93:003688-0915
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 205. American Chemical Society national meeting, Denver, CO (United States), 28 Mar - 2 Apr 1993; Other Information: PBD: 1993; Related Information: Is Part Of 205th ACS national meeting; PB: 1951 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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