Measurement of the enrichment of uranium in the pipework of a gas centrifuge enrichment plant

Conference · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1985

OSTI ID:5326264

Packer, T W; Lees, E W; Close, D; Nixon, K V; Pratt, J C; Strittmatter, R

The US and UK have been separately working on the development of a NDA instrument to determine the enrichment of gaseous UF/sub 6/ at low pressures in cascade header pipework in line with the conclusions of the Hexapartite Safeguards Project viz. the instrument is capable of making a ''go/no go'' decision of whether the enrichment is less than/greater than 20%. Recently, there has been a series of very useful technical exchanges of ideas and information between the two countries. This has led to a technical formulation for such an instrumentation based on ..gamma..-ray spectrometry which, although plant-specific in certain features, nevertheless is based on the same physical principles. Experimental results from commercially operating enrichment plants are very encouraging and indicate that a complete measurement including set up time on the pipe should be attainable in about 30 minutes when measuring pipes of diameter around 110 mm. 5 refs., 4 figs.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab., NM (USA); UKAEA Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Harwell. Nuclear Physics Div.
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 5326264
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-85-2736; CONF-850765-19; ON: DE85015730
• Resource Relation: Conference: 26. annual meeting of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management, Albuquerque, NM, USA, 21 Jul 1985
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
GAS CENTRIFUGES
SAFEGUARDS
ENRICHED URANIUM
NONDESTRUCTIVE ANALYSIS
NUCLEAR MATERIALS MANAGEMENT
URANIUM HEXAFLUORIDE
ACTINIDE COMPOUNDS
ACTINIDES
CENTRIFUGES
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
CONCENTRATORS
ELEMENTS
FLUORIDES
FLUORINE COMPOUNDS
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
ISOTOPE ENRICHED MATERIALS
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
METALS
URANIUM
URANIUM COMPOUNDS
URANIUM FLUORIDES
055001* - Nuclear Fuels- Safeguards
Inspection
& Accountability- Technical Aspects