In-plant experience with passive-active shufflers at Los Alamos

Conference · Fri Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1995

OSTI ID:102131

Hurd, J R; Hsue, F; Rinard, P M

Two Canberra-built passive-active {sup 252}Cf shufflers of Los Alamos hardware and software design have been installed at Los Alamos National Laboratory, one at the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research (CMR) Facility at TA-3 and the other at the Plutonium Facility (PF-4) at TA-55. These instruments fulfill important safeguards and accountability measurement requirements for special nuclear material (SNM) in matrices too dense or otherwise not appropriate for typical gamma-ray or other neutron counting techniques. They support many programmatic requirements including measurements of transuranic (TRU) waste and inventory verification. This paper describes the instrument performance under plant conditions with various background radiations on well-characterized standards to determine long-term stability and establish a calibration. Results are also reported on verification measurements of previously unmeasured inventory items in various matrices and geometric distributions. Preliminary investigative measurements are presented on standards of mixed uranium and plutonium oxide (MOX).

• 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: 102131
• Report Number(s): LA-UR--95-2176; CONF-950787--48; ON: DE95016850
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
44 INSTRUMENTATION
INCLUDING NUCLEAR AND PARTICLE DETECTORS
CALIBRATION STANDARDS
CALIFORNIUM 252
DATA ANALYSIS
LANL
NEUTRON DETECTORS
NUCLEAR MATERIALS MANAGEMENT
PERFORMANCE
PLUTONIUM
RADIOMETRIC ANALYSIS
URANIUM 235