DETERMINATION OF TOTAL URANIUM AND U$sup 235$ IN Al-U FUEL ELEMENTS

Technical Report · Tue Sep 16 04:00:00 EDT 1958

OSTI ID:4198902

Delvin, W L; Palmer, H E; Upson, U L

Uranium-aluminum alloy fuel elements containing three to five per cent enriched uranium were analyzed both for total uranium content and for degree of enrichment (approximately 93 per cent U/sup 235/). Each fuel element was reduced to wafers and turnings which were dissolved in HCl and bromine. For the total uranium analysis, the uranium was reduced in a Jones reductor and re-oxidized with excess standard ceric sulfate, with subsequent backtitration of the excess ceric ion against standard ferrous sulfate. A correction for iron interference was necessary. The precision of this method is plus or minus 0.3 per cent at the 95 per cent confidence level. For isotopic analysis, the uranium solutions were gamma counted in the 0.174 to 0.194 Mev interval, without chemical separation, and evaluated relative to mass spectrometer-calibrated standards. Corrections for both uranium and aluminum chloride concentrations were applied. Over-all counting precision is plus or minus 0.4 per cent or better. The reported isotopic concentrations were derived from the total uranium analysis and the gamma counting data, and are precise to plus or minus 0.5 per cent. (auth)

• Research Organization: General Electric Co. Hanford Atomic Products Operation, Richland, Wash.
• DOE Contract Number: W-31-109-ENG-52
• NSA Number: NSA-14-017810
• OSTI ID: 4198902
• Report Number(s): HW-57464
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

ALUMINUM ALLOYS
ALUMINUM CHLORIDES
BROMINE
CERIUM SULFATES
CHEMISTRY
COUNTERS
FUEL ELEMENTS
GAMMA RADIATION
HYDROCHLORIC ACID
MASS SPECTROMETERS
QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS
QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS
STANDARDS
URANIUM
URANIUM 235
URANIUM ALLOYS