Stationary and protable instruments for assay of HEU (highly enriched uranium) solids holdup
Two NaI(Tl)-based instruments, one stationary and one portable, designed for automated assay of highly enriched uranium (HEU) solids holdup, are being evaluated at the scrap recovery facility of the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant. The stationary instrument, a continuous monitor of HEU within the filters of the chip burner exhaust system, measures the HEU deposits that accumulate erratically and rapidly during chip burner operation. The portable system was built to assay HEU in over 100 m of elevated piping used to transfer UO/sub 3/, UO/sub 2/, and UF/sub 4/ powder to, from, and between the fluid bed conversion furnances and the powder storage hoods. Both instruments use two detector heads. Both provide immediate automatic readout of accumulated HEU mass. The 186-keV /sup 235/U gamma ray is the assay signature, and the 60-keV gamma ray from an /sup 241/Am source attached to each detector is used to normalize the 186-keV rate. The measurement geometries were selected for compatibility with simple calibration models. The assay calibrations were calculated from these models and were verified and normalized with measurements of HEU standards built to match geometries of uniform accumulations on the surfaces of the process equipment. This instrumentation effort demonstrates that simple calibration models can often be applied to unique measurement geometries, minimizing the otherwise unreasonable requirements for calibration standards and allowing extension of the measurements to other process locations.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant (Y-12), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 5903266
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-87-3739; CONF-871110-10; ON: DE88003172
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 3. international conference on facility operations safeguards interface, San Diego, CA, USA, 29 Nov 1987; Other Information: Paper copy only, copy does not permit microfiche production
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
HIGHLY ENRICHED URANIUM
NONDESTRUCTIVE ANALYSIS
MONITORS
EVALUATION
NUCLEAR MATERIALS MANAGEMENT
ACCOUNTING
Y-12 PLANT
NAI DETECTORS
SCRAP METALS
SOLIDS
ACTINIDES
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
ELEMENTS
ENRICHED URANIUM
ISOTOPE ENRICHED MATERIALS
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
METALS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
RADIATION DETECTORS
SCINTILLATION COUNTERS
SCRAP
SOLID SCINTILLATION DETECTORS
SOLID WASTES
URANIUM
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
WASTES
055001* - Nuclear Fuels- Safeguards
Inspection
& Accountability- Technical Aspects
440101 - Radiation Instrumentation- General Detectors or Monitors & Radiometric Instruments