NUCLEAR MATERIALS CONTROL SYSTEM (NMCS). PHASE II. THE FUEL ASSAY SCANNER. A Device for the Non-Destructive Assay of Highly-Enriched Fuel Elements

Technical Report · Mon Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1960

OSTI ID:4201774

Babcock, R V; Ruby, S L

For the purposes of the Nuclear Materials Control System (NMCS), a device was required which would perform a non-destructive assay of the materials in a completed reactor fuel assembly. As a practical example of such a machine, a system was developed to assay the U/sup 235/ and poison (boron) content of high- enrichment plate-type fuel elements by comparison with a standard element. The NMCS prototype device is capable of assaying the U/sup 2 content of LTR and MTR fuel elements with an absolute accuracy of 0.3% (95% confidence level) by the measurement of the natural gamma activity. ETR elements containing boron may in addition, be assayed for B content with a relative accuracy of 4% by a combination of the above gamma-ray technique, thermal neutron transmission, and a volume determination. The individual measurements require less than 15 minutes. (auth)

• Research Organization: Westinghouse Electric Corp. Atomic Power Dept., Pittsburgh
• NSA Number: NSA-14-007545
• OSTI ID: 4201774
• Report Number(s): WCAP-6039
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

ABSORPTION
BORON
CONTROL SYSTEMS
ENGINEERING AND EQUIPMENT
ENRICHMENT
ETR
FUEL ELEMENTS
GAMMA RADIATION
MATERIALS TESTING
MEASURED VALUES
MTR
PLATES
POISONING
QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS
RADIOACTIVITY
STANDARDS
THERMAL NEUTRONS
URANIUM 235
VOLUME