Identifying and quantifying short-lived fission products from thermal fission of HEU using portable HPGe detectors

Journal Article · Fri Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 2013 · Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, 295(3):1881 - 1885

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-012-2109-z· OSTI ID:1072884

Pierson, Bruce D; Finn, Erin C; Friese, Judah I; Greenwood, Lawrence R; Kephart, Jeremy D; Kephart, Rosara F; Metz, Lori A

Due to the emerging potential for trafficking of special nuclear material, research programs are investigating current capabilities of commercially available portable gamma ray detection systems. Presented in this paper are the results of three different portable high-purity germanium (HPGe) detectors used to identify short-lived fission products generated from thermal neutron interrogation of small samples of highly enriched uranium. Samples were irradiated at the Washington State University (WSU) Nuclear Radiation Center’s 1MW TRIGA reactor. The three portable, HPGe detectors used were the ORTEC MicroDetective, the ORTEC Detective, and the Canberra Falcon. Canberra’s GENIE-2000 software was used to analyze the spectral data collected from each detector. Ultimately, these three portable detectors were able to identify a large range of fission products showing potential for material discrimination.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1072884
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-88913; NN2003000
• Journal Information: Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, 295(3):1881 - 1885, Journal Name: Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, 295(3):1881 - 1885
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

Short-lived
detectors
fission
irradiation
thermal