The uranium cylinder assay system for enrichment plant safeguards

Conference · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2010

OSTI ID:1009550

Miller, Karen A ^[1]; Swinhoe, Martyn T ^[1]; Marlow, Johnna B ^[1]; Menlove, Howard O ^[1]; Rael, Carlos D ^[1]; Iwamoto, Tomonori ^[2]; Tamura, Takayuki ^[2]; Aiuchi, Syun ^[2]

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1. Los Alamos National Laboratory
2. JNFL

Safeguarding sensitive fuel cycle technology such as uranium enrichment is a critical component in preventing the spread of nuclear weapons. A useful tool for the nuclear materials accountancy of such a plant would be an instrument that measured the uranium content of UF{sub 6} cylinders. The Uranium Cylinder Assay System (UCAS) was designed for Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited (JNFL) for use in the Rokkasho Enrichment Plant in Japan for this purpose. It uses total neutron counting to determine uranium mass in UF{sub 6} cylinders given a known enrichment. This paper describes the design of UCAS, which includes features to allow for unattended operation. It can be used on 30B and 48Y cylinders to measure depleted, natural, and enriched uranium. It can also be used to assess the amount of uranium in decommissioned equipment and waste containers. Experimental measurements have been carried out in the laboratory and these are in good agreement with the Monte Carlo modeling results.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC52-06NA25396
• OSTI ID: 1009550
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-10-02647; LA-UR-10-2647
• 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
CONTAINERS
DESIGN
ENRICHED URANIUM
FUEL CYCLE
ISOTOPE SEPARATION
JAPAN
NEUTRONS
NUCLEAR FUELS
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
SAFEGUARDS
SIMULATION
URANIUM
WASTES