Smart unattended systems for plutonium safeguards
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
- Dept. of Energy, Washington, DC (United States). International Safeguards Div.
- Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corp., Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan)
During the past decade, IAEA inspectors, national inspectors, and facility operators have used neutron coincidence counters and gamma-ray isotopics measurements extensively to measure the plutonium content of various forms of nuclear materials in the fuel cycle. Large automated facilities for fabricating plutonium fuel present both difficulties and challenges for improved accounting of nuclear materials. The traditional methods of sample measurements, requiring the transfer of the sample from the production line to the assay measurement station, are not possible in automated facilities. A bilateral safeguards agreement between the US Department of Energy (DOE) and Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation (PNC) in Japan was signed to develop and implement nondestructive assay (NDA) systems to provide continuous safeguards measurements for material accountancy in the robot-automated Plutonium Fuel Fabrication Facility (PFFF). The PFFF assay systems were required to operate in unattended mode with a size and fuel mass capability to match the robotics fuel manipulators. Unattended assay systems reduce the requirement for inspector`s oversight of measurement operations, reduce the inspector`s workload, and improve inspection efficiencies. In addition, unattended measurements become essential when facility constraints limit the access of inspectors to the operations area during material processing. Authentication techniques were incorporated into the NDA systems so that data obtained form unattended assays could be used by independent inspectors such as the IAEA. The standardized containers and robot-controlled fuel movements in automated facilities enable more accurate nondestructive assay (NDA) measurements than are possible in conventional nonautomated facilities. The NDA instrumentation can be custom designed and optimized for the particular measurement goal in the automated facility.
- OSTI ID:
- 596868
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-960767-; TRN: 98:004683
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 37. annual meeting of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management, Naples, FL (United States), 28 Jul - 1 Aug 1996; Other Information: PBD: 1996; Related Information: Is Part Of 37. annual meeting of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management; PB: 1422 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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