Gamma-ray isotopic ratio measurements for the plutonium inventory verification program

Technical Report · Wed Aug 25 00:00:00 EDT 1976

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/7148623· OSTI ID:7148623

Lemming, J. F.; Haas, F. X.; Jarvis, J. Y.

The Plutonium Inventory Verification Program at Mound Laboratory provides a nondestructive means of assaying bulk plutonium-bearing material. The assay is performed by combining the calorimetrically determined heat output of the sample and the relative abundances of the heat-producing isotopes. This report describes the method used for the nondestructive determination of plutonium-238, -240, -241 and americium-241 relative to plutonium-239 using gamma-ray spectroscopy for 93 percent plutonium-239 material. Comparison of chemical data on aliquots of samples to the nondestructive data shows accuracies of +-7 percent for /sup 238/Pu//sup 239/Pu, +-15 percent for /sup 240/Pu//sup 239/Pu, +- 3 percent for /sup 241/Pu//sup 239/Pu, and +-7 percent for /sup 241/Am//sup 239/Pu.

• Research Organization: Mound Lab., Miamisburg, Ohio (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: E(33-1)-GEN-53
• OSTI ID: 7148623
• Report Number(s): MLM-2312
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
400103* -- Radiometric & Radiochemical Procedures-- (-1987)
ACCURACY
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
ACTINIDES
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
AMERICIUM 241
AMERICIUM ISOTOPES
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
ELEMENTS
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
GAMMA SPECTROSCOPY
HEAVY NUCLEI
INVENTORIES
ISOTOPE RATIO
ISOTOPES
MATERIAL BALANCE
METALS
NONDESTRUCTIVE ANALYSIS
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
PLUTONIUM
PLUTONIUM 238
PLUTONIUM 239
PLUTONIUM 240
PLUTONIUM 241
PLUTONIUM ISOTOPES
RADIOISOTOPES
SPECTROSCOPY
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES