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Title: Performance of the waste crate assay system at the LANL Plutonium Facility

Abstract

A new neutron counter, the waste crate assay system (WCAS), has recently been installed in the Plutonium Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory to assay non-compactible, plutonium-bearing waste packaged in oversized containers and crates. The instrument will be used for assaying both low-level waste (LLW) crates, which must be certified to contain less than 100 nCi/g, and transuranic (TRU) waste crates, which may contain up to a maximum of 325 g of plutonium minus two times of measurement uncertainty. The system consists of four slabs, each containing twenty 152 cm-long He-3 tubes. To reduce the effects of nearby materials and changing background conditions on the measurements, the counter is configured to measure coincidence neutrons rather than totals, although the sensitivity is adversely affected in this mode. In the LLW measurement mode, the assay is performed with a variable count time based on the counting statistics. The LLW assay continues until sufficient information has been obtained to either certify or fail the crate with a 95% confidence level. The performance of the WCAS for measurements of both LLW and TRU waste has been evaluated. The capabilities and limitations of the instrument, including measurement times and precision for various plutonium loadings, willmore » be presented in this report.« less

Authors:
; ;  [1]
  1. Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
596982
Report Number(s):
CONF-960767-
TRN: 98:004738
Resource Type:
Conference
Resource Relation:
Conference: 37. annual meeting of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management, Naples, FL (United States), 28 Jul - 1 Aug 1996; Other Information: PBD: 1996; Related Information: Is Part Of 37. annual meeting of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management; PB: 1422 p.
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
05 NUCLEAR FUELS; 40 CHEMISTRY; SAFEGUARDS; NONDESTRUCTIVE ANALYSIS; ALPHA-BEARING WASTES; LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES; HE-3 COUNTERS; PERFORMANCE; NUCLEAR MATERIALS MANAGEMENT; NUCLEAR FACILITIES

Citation Formats

Foster, L A, Langner, D G, and Ticknor, L O. Performance of the waste crate assay system at the LANL Plutonium Facility. United States: N. p., 1996. Web.
Foster, L A, Langner, D G, & Ticknor, L O. Performance of the waste crate assay system at the LANL Plutonium Facility. United States.
Foster, L A, Langner, D G, and Ticknor, L O. 1996. "Performance of the waste crate assay system at the LANL Plutonium Facility". United States.
@article{osti_596982,
title = {Performance of the waste crate assay system at the LANL Plutonium Facility},
author = {Foster, L A and Langner, D G and Ticknor, L O},
abstractNote = {A new neutron counter, the waste crate assay system (WCAS), has recently been installed in the Plutonium Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory to assay non-compactible, plutonium-bearing waste packaged in oversized containers and crates. The instrument will be used for assaying both low-level waste (LLW) crates, which must be certified to contain less than 100 nCi/g, and transuranic (TRU) waste crates, which may contain up to a maximum of 325 g of plutonium minus two times of measurement uncertainty. The system consists of four slabs, each containing twenty 152 cm-long He-3 tubes. To reduce the effects of nearby materials and changing background conditions on the measurements, the counter is configured to measure coincidence neutrons rather than totals, although the sensitivity is adversely affected in this mode. In the LLW measurement mode, the assay is performed with a variable count time based on the counting statistics. The LLW assay continues until sufficient information has been obtained to either certify or fail the crate with a 95% confidence level. The performance of the WCAS for measurements of both LLW and TRU waste has been evaluated. The capabilities and limitations of the instrument, including measurement times and precision for various plutonium loadings, will be presented in this report.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/596982}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Dec 31 00:00:00 EST 1996},
month = {Tue Dec 31 00:00:00 EST 1996}
}

Conference:
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