Apparatus for in situ determination of burnup, cooling time and fissile content of an irradiated nuclear fuel assembly in a fuel storage pond

Title: Apparatus for in situ determination of burnup, cooling time and fissile content of an irradiated nuclear fuel assembly in a fuel storage pond

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Abstract

A detector head for in situ inspection of irradiated nuclear fuel assemblies submerged in a water-filled nuclear fuel storage pond. The detector head includes two parallel arms which extend from a housing and which are spaced apart so as to be positionable on opposite sides of a submerged fuel assembly. Each arm includes an ionization chamber and two fission chambers. One fission chamber in each arm is enclosed in a cadmium shield and the other fission chamber is unshielded. The ratio of the outputs of the shielded and unshielded fission chambers is used to determine the boron content of the pond water. Correcting for the boron content, the neutron flux and gamma ray intensity are then used to verify the declared exposure, cooling time and fissile material content of the irradiated fuel assembly.

Inventors:

Phillips, John R ^[1]; Halbig, James K ^[1]; Menlove, Howard O ^[1]; Klosterbuer, Shirley F ^[1]

Los Alamos, NM

Publication Date:: 1985-01-01

Research Org.:: Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

OSTI Identifier:: 865404

Patent Number(s):: US 4510117

Assignee:: United States of America as represented by United States (Washington, DC)

DOE Contract Number:: W-7405-ENG-36

Resource Type:: Patent

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: apparatus; situ; determination; burnup; cooling; time; fissile; content; irradiated; nuclear; fuel; assembly; storage; pond; detector; head; inspection; assemblies; submerged; water-filled; parallel; arms; extend; housing; spaced; apart; positionable; opposite; arm; ionization; chamber; fission; chambers; enclosed; cadmium; shield; unshielded; ratio; outputs; shielded; determine; boron; water; correcting; neutron; flux; gamma; ray; intensity; verify; declared; exposure; material; irradiated nuclear; fuel assemblies; gamma ray; nuclear fuel; spaced apart; neutron flux; fuel assembly; fissile material; ionization chamber; irradiated fuel; detector head; fuel storage; storage pond; boron content; situ determination; fissile content; /376/976/

Citation Formats


                    Phillips, John R, Halbig, James K, Menlove, Howard O, and Klosterbuer, Shirley F. Apparatus for in situ determination of burnup, cooling time and fissile content of an irradiated nuclear fuel assembly in a fuel storage pond.  United States: N. p., 1985. 
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                    Phillips, John R, Halbig, James K, Menlove, Howard O, & Klosterbuer, Shirley F. Apparatus for in situ determination of burnup, cooling time and fissile content of an irradiated nuclear fuel assembly in a fuel storage pond.  United States.

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                    Phillips, John R, Halbig, James K, Menlove, Howard O, and Klosterbuer, Shirley F. Tue .  
        "Apparatus for in situ determination of burnup, cooling time and fissile content of an irradiated nuclear fuel assembly in a fuel storage pond".  United States.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/865404.

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@article{osti_865404,

  title        = {Apparatus for in situ determination of burnup, cooling time and fissile content of an irradiated nuclear fuel assembly in a fuel storage pond},

  author       = {Phillips, John R and Halbig, James K and Menlove, Howard O and Klosterbuer, Shirley F},

  abstractNote = {A detector head for in situ inspection of irradiated nuclear fuel assemblies submerged in a water-filled nuclear fuel storage pond. The detector head includes two parallel arms which extend from a housing and which are spaced apart so as to be positionable on opposite sides of a submerged fuel assembly. Each arm includes an ionization chamber and two fission chambers. One fission chamber in each arm is enclosed in a cadmium shield and the other fission chamber is unshielded. The ratio of the outputs of the shielded and unshielded fission chambers is used to determine the boron content of the pond water. Correcting for the boron content, the neutron flux and gamma ray intensity are then used to verify the declared exposure, cooling time and fissile material content of the irradiated fuel assembly.},

  doi          = {},

  url          = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/865404},
  journal      = {},
number       = ,

  volume       = ,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {1985},

  month        = {1}

}

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