Test and evaluation of a high-sensitivity assay system for bulk transuranic waste

Conference · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1983

OSTI ID:5940649

Caldwell, J T; Close, D A; Kuckertz, T H; Kunz, W E; Pratt, J C; Haff, K W; Schultz, F J

During the past year, we tested and evaluated the performance of an assay system that accommodates 55-gal drums of transuranic waste at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This neutron assay system provides a routine assay of fissile transuranic isotopes to the 1-mg sensitivity level with a pulsed active neutron interrogation based on the differential dieaway technique. A highly sensitive passive neutron measurement determines the content of spontaneous fission transuranic isotopes in each drum as well as an upper-bound estimate of the total alpha activity. All components of the combined, pulsed active and passive neutron assay system performed well on a routine basis during the test-and-evaluation period. We performed more than 400 combined passive and active assay measurements of waste drums at Oak Ridge. One-fifth of the initial set of waste drums measured contain less than 100 nCi/g of total transuranic isotopes and thus qualify legally as nontransuranic waste.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab., NM (USA); Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 5940649
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-83-2084; CONF-830709-21; ON: DE83015248
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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