In Situ Pu isotopic measurements using electromechanically cooled HPGe detectors at PFPF

Conference · Mon Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2001

OSTI ID:975617

Wenz, T R ^[1]; Menlove, Howard O; Maruyama, H ^[2]; Fujiwara, S ^[3]; Takahashi, S ^[4]

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1. Tracy R.
2. Hajime
3. Shigeo
4. Saburo

A high-resolution gamma ray spectroscopy (HRGS) system has been installed at the Advanced Material Accountancy Glovebox Assay (AMAGB) System so that neutron and gamma ray measurements can occur simultaneously on material transfer containers. This equipment was installed in August 2000 at the Plutonium Fucl Production Facility (PFPF) in Japan. It is anticipated that placing the HRG6 system at the neutron assay station will save a few person-days per IAEA inspection because it will no longer be necessary to take samples from the transfer container for isotopic analysis at another assay station. The HRGS system consists of a 25% relative efficiency coaxial detector with electromechanical cooling and digital signal processing. The digital spectrometer has the benefit of increasing throughput, improving energy resolution, and extending the lifetime of neutron damaged HPGe detectors as compared to analog spectrometers. The gamma-ray system is used to verify the Pu isotopic composition and {sup 241}Am concentration in transfer containers of MOX. The {sup 240}Pu{sub eff} action is calculated from the isotopic data and is used to convert the neutron assay data to total grams plutonium. The results of performance tests and calibration measurements using this system are reported in this paper.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE
• OSTI ID: 975617
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-01-3611
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
CALIBRATION
CONTAINERS
EFFICIENCY
ENERGY RESOLUTION
IAEA
JAPAN
LIFETIME
NEUTRONS
NUCLEAR MATERIALS MANAGEMENT
PERFORMANCE
PLUTONIUM
PROCESSING
PRODUCTION
SPECTROMETERS
SPECTROSCOPY