A new approach to performing holdup measurements on glove box exhausts

Conference · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1991 · Nuclear Materials Management. Annual Meeting Proceedings; (United States)

OSTI ID:5354693

Glick, J B; Haas, F X; Garrett, A G ^[1]; Sheppard, G A; Russo, P A; Miller, M C; Piquette, E C; Wenz, T R ^[2]

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1. EG and G Rocky Flats, Inc., Golden, CO (US)
2. Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)

A new measurement technique has been developed for quantifying plutonium holdup in process glove box exhausts. This technique has been implemented at Rocky Flats with a shielded, collimate bismuth germanate (BGO) gamma-ray detector. Measurements along the duct are made in pairs. The detector is positioned for an upward view of the deposit from two inches below the duct, and for a downward view from two inches above it. When the detector is placed in the bottom assay position, the area of the holdup material is assumed to extend beyond the detector field of view. A model has been developed that relates the deposit width to the ratio of the count rates measured at two positions, above and below the duct. Once a deposit width has been deduced, it is multiplied by the area-source assay result from the bottom measurement to yield a mass-per-unit-length at that duct location. Total plutonium (Pu) mass is then determined by multiplying the duct length by the average of the mass-per-unit-length assays performed along the duct. In this paper the technique's applicability is presented in a comparison of field measurement data to analysis results on material removed from the ducts.

• DOE Contract Number: AC34-90DP62349
• OSTI ID: 5354693
• Report Number(s): CONF-910774--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Nuclear Materials Management. Annual Meeting Proceedings; (United States) Journal Volume: 20
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

055000* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Safeguards
Inspection
& Accountability
440103 -- Radiation Instrumentation-- Nuclear Spectroscopic Instrumentation
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
ACTINIDES
BISMUTH COMPOUNDS
BISMUTH GERMANATES
DEPOSITS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTS
EXHAUST SYSTEMS
FOULING
GAMMA RADIATION
GERMANATES
GERMANIUM COMPOUNDS
IONIZING RADIATIONS
MATERIALS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
MEASURING METHODS
METALS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLUTONIUM
RADIATION DETECTORS
RADIATIONS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
ROCKY FLATS PLANT
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS