Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Measurements of UF6 cylinders with portable instruments

Journal Article · · Nucl. Technol., v. 21, no. 2, pp. 133-148
OSTI ID:4339820
The applicability of portable instruments for rapid nondestructive verification of the enrichment of UF/sub 6/ in cylinders has been tested on a large number of Types-30 and -5A cylinders. Three basic techniques were used: (1) gamma-ray counting with NaI, combined with ultrasonic measurement of cylinder wall thickness, (2) passiveneutron counting, and (3) active-neutron interrogation with thermal neutrons from a radioactive neutron source. The accuracy of the gamma-ray method was approximates 5% for Type-30 cylinders of UF/sub 6/ and 2% for highly enriched UF/sub 6/ in Type-5A cylinders; however, the method occasionally failed for Type-30 cylinders because of background from nonvolatile daughters of /sup 238/U plated on the cylinder walls. The standard deviation of enrichments of 110 Type-30 cylinders, derived from passive-neutron counting data by assuming a constant /sup 235/U//sup 234/U ratio, is 6%. The response of the active system increases almost linearly with enrichment up to approximates 2.5% / sup 235/U and then saturates at approximates 4%. (auth)
Research Organization:
Los Alamos Scientific Lab., NM
NSA Number:
NSA-29-019018
OSTI ID:
4339820
Journal Information:
Nucl. Technol., v. 21, no. 2, pp. 133-148, Journal Name: Nucl. Technol., v. 21, no. 2, pp. 133-148; ISSN NUTYB
Country of Publication:
Country unknown/Code not available
Language:
English

Similar Records

Measurements of UF$sub 6$ cylinders with portable instruments
Journal Article · Sun Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 1972 · Nucl. Mater. Manage., v. 11, no. 3, pp. 320-358 · OSTI ID:4369147

A more accurate and penetrating method to measure the enrichment and mass of UF6 storage containers using passive neutron self-interrogation
Conference · Thu Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 2009 · OSTI ID:1011482

Applications of HPGe-detected high energy gamma rays toward quantifying neutron emission rates and 234U enrichment in UF6 cylinders
Journal Article · Fri Apr 10 20:00:00 EDT 2020 · Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment · OSTI ID:1631249