HEU age determination

Conference · Fri Dec 30 23:00:00 EST 1994

OSTI ID:85679

Moorthy, A R; Kato, W Y

A criteria that a sample of highly enriched uranium (HEU) had come from a weapons stockpile and not newly produced in an enrichment plant is to show that the HEU had been produced a significant time in the past. The time since the HEU has produced in an enrichment plant is defined as the age of the HEU in this paper. The HEU age is determined by measuring quantitatively the daughter products {sup 230}Th and {sup 231}Pa of {sup 234}U and {sup 235}U, respectively, by first chemical separation of the thorium and protactinium and then conducting alpha spectrometry of the daughter products.

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76CH00016
• OSTI ID: 85679
• Report Number(s): BNL--60690; CONF-940748--100; ON: DE95014520
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
40 CHEMISTRY
AGE ESTIMATION
HIGHLY ENRICHED URANIUM