Special Nuclear Material Gamma-Ray Signatures for Reachback Analysts

Technical Report · Mon Aug 29 00:00:00 EDT 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1312618· OSTI ID:1312618

Karpius, Peter Joseph ^[1]; Myers, Steven Charles ^[1]

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1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

These are slides on special nuclear material gamma-ray signatures for reachback analysts for an LSS Spectroscopy course. The closing thoughts for this presentation are the following: SNM materials have definite spectral signatures that should be readily recognizable to analysts in both bare and shielded configurations. One can estimate burnup of plutonium using certain pairs of peaks that are a few keV apart. In most cases, one cannot reliably estimate uranium enrichment in an analogous way to the estimation of plutonium burnup. The origin of the most intense peaks from some SNM items may be indirect and from ‘associated nuclides.' Indirect SNM signatures sometimes have commonalities with the natural gamma-ray background.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC52-06NA25396
• OSTI ID: 1312618
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-16-26068; TRN: US1601820
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
GAMMA SPECTRA
PLUTONIUM
URANIUM
KEV RANGE
NATURAL RADIOACTIVITY
BURNUP
PEAKS
FISSILE MATERIALS
GAMMA SPECTROSCOPY
LIQUID SCINTILLATION DETECTORS
ISOTOPE RATIO
TRAINING
gamma
plutonium
special nuclear material