Development of self-interrogation neutron resonance densitometry (SINRD) to measure U-235 and Pu-239 content in a PWR spent fuel assembly

Conference · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2009

OSTI ID:989804

Lafleur, Adrienne M ^[1]; Charlton, William S ^[1]; Menlove, Howard O ^[1]; Swinhoe, Martyn T ^[1]

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1. Los Alamos National Laboratory

The use of Self-Interrogation Neutron Resonance Densitometry (SINRD) to measure the {sup 235}U and {sup 239}Pu content in a PWR spent fuel assembly was investigated via Monte Carlo N-Particle eXtended transport code (MCNPX) simulations. The sensitivity of SINRD is based on using the same fissile materials in the fission chambers as are present in the fuel because the effect of resonance absorption lines in the transmitted flux is amplified by the corresponding (n, f) reaction peaks in fission chamber. These simulations utilize the {sup 244}Cm spontaneous fission neutrons to self-interrogate the fuel pins. The amount of resonance absorption of these neutrons in the fuel can be measured using {sup 235}U and {sup 239}Pu fission chambers placed adjacent to the assembly. We used ratios of different fission chambers to reduce the sensitivity of the measurements to extraneous material present in fuel. The development of SINRD to measure the fissile content in spent fuel is of great importance to the improvement of nuclear safeguards and material accountability. Future work includes the use of this technique to measure the fissile content in FBR spent fuel and heavy metal product from reprocessing methods.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC52-06NA25396
• OSTI ID: 989804
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-09-03574; LA-UR-09-3574
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
FISSILE MATERIALS
FISSION CHAMBERS
FUEL CANS
FUEL PINS
HEAVY METALS
NEUTRONS
REPROCESSING
RESONANCE
RESONANCE ABSORPTION
SAFEGUARDS
SENSITIVITY
SPENT FUELS
SPONTANEOUS FISSION
TRANSPORT