Effects of lump characteristics on plutonium self absorption correction methods
- Canberra UK Ltd (United Kingdom)
- Canberra Industries Inc., 800 Research Parkway, Meriden, CT 06450 (United States)
An evaluation study has been undertaken to assess the robustness of several published Pu self-absorption correction methods against variation in size, shape, density etc. for use in the gamma assay of nuclear waste. The correction methods studied are a numerical plutonium self absorption correction (PuSAC) technique, the Fleissner 2-line, Fleissner 3-line and Infinite Energy Extrapolation methods with both linear and polynomial extrapolation to 1/E=0. The performance of these methods has been compared for a limited set of measured encapsulated PuO{sub 2} sources plus a range of modelled unencapsulated Pu lumps. An indication of the magnitude of the uncertainties of the numerical PuSAC method has been determined for cases of blind assays where the Pu material, shape and distribution are unknown with the aim of ultimately applying it to real waste. The importance of the range of Pu lumps used in the baseline modelled dataset has been examined. Data are presented to illustrate how the uncertainties in the method are affected by the shape, composition, density, number and mass distribution of Pu particles in a sample for a given modelled base dataset. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Three Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016-5990 (United States); Technological Institute of the Royal Flemish Society of Engineers (TI-K VIV), Het Ingenieurshuis, Desguinlei 214, 2018 Antwerp (Belgium); Belgian Nuclear Society (BNS) - ASBL-VZW, c/o SCK-CEN, Avenue Hermann Debrouxlaan, 40 - B-1160 Brussels (Belgium)
- OSTI ID:
- 21156440
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: ICEM'07: 11. International Conference on Environmental Remediation and Radioactive Waste Management, Bruges (Belgium), 2-6 Sep 2007; Other Information: Country of input: France; 5 refs.; Proceedings may be ordered from ASME Order Department, 22 Law Drive, P.O. Box 2300, Fairfield, NJ 07007-2300 (United States)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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