Portable NDA equipment for enrichment measurements for the HEU transparency program

Conference · Tue Jul 20 04:00:00 EDT 1999

OSTI ID:14684

Decman, D J ^[1]; Glaser, J; Hernandez, J M; Luke, S J

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1. LLNL

In October 1996, the Department of Energy (DOE) and MINATOM agreed to use portable non-destructive assay (NDA) equipment to measure the {sup 235}U enrichment of material subject to the HEU Transparency agreement. A system based on the ''enrichment meter'' method and high-purity germanium (HPGe) detectors had been previously developed for this application. Instead, sodium iodide (NaI) detectors were chosen to measure {sup 235}U enrichment because HPGe systems might reveal sensitive information. Although the accuracy of the NaI systems is less than an HPGe system, it still satisfies the transparency requirements. The equipment consists of a collimated NaI detector, a Canberra Inspector Multi-channel Analyzer, and a laptop computer. The units have been used to confirm the enrichment of material at Russian facilities since January 1997. This paper compares the performance of the NaI systems with the HPGe system and discusses some significant differences.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Defense Programs (DP) (US)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 14684
• Report Number(s): UCRL-JC-135095; CD3013000; CD3013000
• 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
ACCURACY
HIGHLY ENRICHED URANIUM
MULTI-CHANNEL ANALYZERS
NAI DETECTORS
NONDESTRUCTIVE ANALYSIS
NUCLEAR MATERIALS MANAGEMENT
PERFORMANCE