Installation of passive-active shufflers at Los Alamos plant environments

Conference · Mon Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1994

OSTI ID:10171437

Hurd, J R; Hsue, F; Rinard, P M; Wachter, J R ^[1]; Davidson, C ^[2]

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1. Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
2. Canberra Industries, Inc., Meriden, CT (United States)

Two Canberra-built passive-active {sup 252}Cf shufflers of Los Alamos hardware and software design have been installed and are presently undergoing calibration and certification at Los Alamos National Laboratory. These instruments fulfill important safeguards and accountability measurement requirements for special nuclear material in matrices too dense or otherwise not appropriate for typical gamma-ray techniques. The ability of the shuffler to obtain precise assays under conditions of intense passive emissions of neutrons and gamma rays is a valuable asset in plant environments. This paper reports on the procurement process and the various steps involved in the installation of two shufflers at Los Alamos, one at the Chemical Metallurgical Research (CMR) Building Waste Assay Facility at TA-3 and the other at the PF4 Plutonium Facility at TA-55. Details are given on the certification procedure including the development of standards, various expected matrices, and calibration. Some safety issues are addressed, and some preliminary performance characteristics are presented based on measured background rates in the plant environments.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 10171437
• Report Number(s): LA-UR--94-2473; CONF-940748--36; ON: DE94016151
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

055000
440100
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
CALIBRATION
CALIFORNIUM 252
CERTIFICATION
COINCIDENCE CIRCUITS
DESIGN
INSTALLATION
LANL
NEUTRON DETECTORS
NUCLEAR MATERIALS MANAGEMENT
OPERATION
PLUTONIUM
PROCUREMENT
QUANTITATIVE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
RADIATION INSTRUMENTATION
SAFEGUARDS
SAFEGUARDS, INSPECTION, AND ACCOUNTABILITY
URANIUM