Gamma-ray spectra analyses of molten salts in spent nuclear fuels pyroprocessing facilities for mass measurement

Journal Article · Wed Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-022-08339-5· OSTI ID:1891498

Cao, Guoping  ^[1]; Larson, Nicole ^[2]; Storms, Brian J.  ^[1]; Kandlakunta, Praneeth ^[3]; Cao, Lei R. ^[3]; Li, Shelly X. ^[1]

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1. Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
2. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
3. The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States)

To evaluate radioactive tracer dilution and gamma spectroscopy as a safeguards technique for monitoring the mass of liquid salt in molten salt systems, the gamma spectroscopy data of salt samples from the pyroprocessing facilities in Idaho National Laboratory were acquired and analyzed. The primary focus is the uncertainty analysis of the gamma radioactivity of ¹⁵⁴Eu isotope in the molten salts. The facilities include an electrorefiner for pyroprocessing spent oxide fuels (SOF-ER) and Mark-IV ER for processing the metallic fuels from Experimental Breeder Reactor-II (EBR-II). The relative gamma radioactivity uncertainty was consistently at 3% for ¹³⁷Cs for both Mark-IV ER and SOF-ER salts. However, for ¹⁵⁴Eu, it was 8% for SOF-ER salt and 7% for Mark-IV ER salt. Here, the main reason for the higher uncertainty for ¹⁵⁴Eu is believed to be the lower counting statistics in gamma spectroscopy. To improve the gamma radioactivity uncertainty of isotope ¹⁵⁴Eu, a longer data acquisition time (12 h instead of 4 h) and a higher count rate gamma detector for gamma spectroscopy were tested and it was found that the uncertainty for ¹⁵⁴Eu was significantly improved from 7% or 8–3%.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC07-05ID14517
• OSTI ID: 1891498
• Report Number(s): INL/JOU-22-65882-Rev000; TRN: US2310140
• Journal Information: Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, Vol. 331, Issue 7; ISSN 0236-5731
• Publisher: Springer
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
42 ENGINEERING
60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES
safeguards
radioactive tracer dilution
gamma spectroscopy
uncertainty
Na-22
molten salts