Measurement and Control of Radioactivity in Plants for Treatment of Ores and for Treatment of Irradiated Fuel; APPAREILS DE MESURE OU DE CONTROLE $alpha$, $beta$, $gamma$, n DES CIRCUITS DES USINES DE TRAITEMENT DU MINERAI OU DU COMBUSTIBLE IRRADIE

Technical Report · Sat Oct 31 04:00:00 EST 1959

OSTI ID:4283462

Blanc, A; Brunet, M; Kermagoret, M; Labeyrie, J; Roux, G; Vasseur, J; Weill, J

The treatment of irradiated fuel is accompanied by a number of checks of radioactivity to determine the performance of the ion exchangers for uranium recovery, the concentration of plutonium and fission products in the different circuits, and the radioactivity of the effluent discharged into watercourses. The apparatus used for the determination of plutonium traces in the fission product solutions is described in detail. The method used for the control of the extraction of fission products by measurement of the strong gamma activity is discussed. Gamma radiation measurements made in a high gamma background are necessary to verify that no fission products are entrained in the uranium and plutonium solvent phase. The measurement of the neutron flux to control the plutonium concentration in solutions is described. The activity of the effluent is checked by a scintillation counter which controls automatically the alpha and BETA radiation emitted by all known fission products. The chemical treatment of ores and the fixation of uranium on exchange resins can be controlled more easily by a determination of the alpha activity from the uranium than by classical methods. The apparatus used for this purpose is described. A rapid determination is made of the thorium content of complex minerals by a scintillation method which shows the BETA and alpha coincidences of ThC and ThC'. The instrrument is described. (J.S.R.)

• Research Organization: Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique, Paris
• NSA Number: NSA-13-006714
• OSTI ID: 4283462
• Report Number(s): A/CONF.15/P/333
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: English

Related Subjects

ALPHA PARTICLES
BACKGROUND
BETA PARTICLES
BISMUTH 212
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COINCIDENCE METHODS
CONTROL
EFFICIENCY
FISSION PRODUCTS
FLUID FLOW
FUELS
GAMMA RADIATION
INSTRUMENTS
ION EXCHANGE MATERIALS
IRRADIATION
MEASURED VALUES
MINERALS
NEUTRON FLUX
NEUTRONS
OPERATION
ORE PROCESSING
PERFORMANCE
PLANNING
PLUTONIUM
POLONIUM 212
QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS
QUANTITY RATIO
RADIOACTIVITY
RECOVERY
RESINS
SCINTILLATION COUNTERS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SOLUTIONS
SOLVENTS
THORIUM
TRACE AMOUNTS
URANIUM
USES
WASTE DISPOSAL