Plutonium assay for safeguards purposes: Material heterogeneity and the application of calorimetry
- Westinghouse Hanford Co., Richland, WA (United States); and others
Quantitative assays of plutonium materials are required for place operations and domestic and international nuclear material accounting. These assays have typically been made using destructive analysis techniques (weighing and chemical and isotopic concentration measurements). However,, nondestructive assay techniques based on combined gamma isotopic and calorimeter measurements have appear because they are rapid (compared with sampling and destructive analysis), accurate, and require no sampling. In addition, the nondestructive techniques reduce contamination risks, waste generation, and radiological dose. Measurement variabilities for destructive analysis and nondestructive assay techniques have been compiled for some pure and scrap plutonium oxide items. These items are under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards in the Plutonium Finishing Plant operated for the US Department of Energy by the Westinghouse Hanford Company. Measurement variabilities of International Atomic Energy Agency and Westinghouse Hanford Company destructive analysis methods were compared with Westinghouse Hanford Company calorimeter variability. Total measurement variabilities for calorimetry were comparable with the combined sampling and analytical variabilities of chemical analyses for pure materials and were lower for heterogeneous scrap.
- OSTI ID:
- 596862
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-960767--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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