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Title: AUTOMATED PROCESS MONITORING: APPLYING PROVEN AUTOMATION TECHNIQUES TO INTERNATIONAL SAFEGUARDS NEEDS

Abstract

Identification and quantification of specific alpha- and beta-emitting radionuclides in complex liquid matrices is highly challenging, and is typically accomplished through laborious wet chemical sample preparation and separations followed by analysis using a variety of detection methodologies (e.g., liquid scintillation, gas proportional counting, alpha energy analysis, mass spectrometry). Analytical results may take days or weeks to report. Chains of custody and sample security measures may also complicate or slow the analytical process. When an industrial process-scale plant requires the monitoring of specific radionuclides as an indication of the composition of its feed stream or of plant performance, radiochemical measurements must be fast, accurate, and reliable. Scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have assembled a fully automated prototype Process Monitor instrument capable of a variety of tasks: automated sampling directly from a feed stream, sample digestion / analyte redox adjustment, chemical separations, radiochemical detection and data analysis / reporting. The system is compact, its components are fluidically inter-linked, and analytical results could be immediately transmitted to on- or off-site locations. The development of a rapid radiochemical Process Monitor for 99Tc in Hanford tank waste processing streams, capable of performing several measurements per hour, will be discussed in detail. More recently, themore » automated platform was modified to perform measurements of 90Sr in Hanford tank waste stimulant. The system exemplifies how automation could be integrated into reprocessing facilities to support international nuclear safeguards needs.« less

Authors:
; ; ; ; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
963228
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-60812
NN4003010; TRN: US0903133
DOE Contract Number:  
AC05-76RL01830
Resource Type:
Conference
Resource Relation:
Conference: Proceedings of the 49th Annual Meeting of the Institue of Nuclear Materials Management , Paper No. 351
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS; AUTOMATION; DETECTION; ENERGY ANALYSIS; MATRICES; MONITORING; MONITORS; NUCLEAR MATERIALS MANAGEMENT; RADIOISOTOPES; REPROCESSING; SAFEGUARDS; SAMPLE PREPARATION; SPECTROSCOPY; TANKS; WASTE PROCESSING; WASTES; automated; automation; process monitor; plutonium; transuranic; technetium; strontium; on-line

Citation Formats

O'Hara, Matthew J, Durst, Philip C, Grate, Jay W, Devol, Timothy A, Egorov, Oleg, and Clements, John P. AUTOMATED PROCESS MONITORING: APPLYING PROVEN AUTOMATION TECHNIQUES TO INTERNATIONAL SAFEGUARDS NEEDS. United States: N. p., 2008. Web.
O'Hara, Matthew J, Durst, Philip C, Grate, Jay W, Devol, Timothy A, Egorov, Oleg, & Clements, John P. AUTOMATED PROCESS MONITORING: APPLYING PROVEN AUTOMATION TECHNIQUES TO INTERNATIONAL SAFEGUARDS NEEDS. United States.
O'Hara, Matthew J, Durst, Philip C, Grate, Jay W, Devol, Timothy A, Egorov, Oleg, and Clements, John P. 2008. "AUTOMATED PROCESS MONITORING: APPLYING PROVEN AUTOMATION TECHNIQUES TO INTERNATIONAL SAFEGUARDS NEEDS". United States.
@article{osti_963228,
title = {AUTOMATED PROCESS MONITORING: APPLYING PROVEN AUTOMATION TECHNIQUES TO INTERNATIONAL SAFEGUARDS NEEDS},
author = {O'Hara, Matthew J and Durst, Philip C and Grate, Jay W and Devol, Timothy A and Egorov, Oleg and Clements, John P},
abstractNote = {Identification and quantification of specific alpha- and beta-emitting radionuclides in complex liquid matrices is highly challenging, and is typically accomplished through laborious wet chemical sample preparation and separations followed by analysis using a variety of detection methodologies (e.g., liquid scintillation, gas proportional counting, alpha energy analysis, mass spectrometry). Analytical results may take days or weeks to report. Chains of custody and sample security measures may also complicate or slow the analytical process. When an industrial process-scale plant requires the monitoring of specific radionuclides as an indication of the composition of its feed stream or of plant performance, radiochemical measurements must be fast, accurate, and reliable. Scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have assembled a fully automated prototype Process Monitor instrument capable of a variety of tasks: automated sampling directly from a feed stream, sample digestion / analyte redox adjustment, chemical separations, radiochemical detection and data analysis / reporting. The system is compact, its components are fluidically inter-linked, and analytical results could be immediately transmitted to on- or off-site locations. The development of a rapid radiochemical Process Monitor for 99Tc in Hanford tank waste processing streams, capable of performing several measurements per hour, will be discussed in detail. More recently, the automated platform was modified to perform measurements of 90Sr in Hanford tank waste stimulant. The system exemplifies how automation could be integrated into reprocessing facilities to support international nuclear safeguards needs.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/963228}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Sun Jul 13 00:00:00 EDT 2008},
month = {Sun Jul 13 00:00:00 EDT 2008}
}

Conference:
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