High-resolution microcalorimeter detectors as a tool in the future of nuclear safeguards
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
New measurements are presented from the LANL-NIST microcalorimeter array for two standard plutonium sources. The results demonstrate substantially smaller error bars obtained from the spectral analysis program FRAM. Some areas of improvement to the analysis technique have been identified, indicating that the micro calorimeter results can be improved upon. These results support the viability of a device for performing real nuclear safeguards measurements in the near future. The challenge of providing reliably accurate and precise data is a critical component of any safeguards initiative. In the realm of nuclear safeguards, this is an especially daunting task since inaccurate and/or imprecise data could have very serious international consequences. As such, there is a constant drive within the community to establish better measurement and analysis techniques in order to further reduce the associated errors and uncertainties. Even with todays state of the art equipment, measurement uncertainties can extend to several significant quantities worth of material over a relatively modest period of time. Furthermore, there is a strong desire for improved nondestructive analysis techniques in order to reduce both the cost, turnover rate, and inconvenience of destructive analyses. One promising new technology that may help to realize these goals is that of gamma-ray microcalorimeter detectors. The hallmark quality of this new technique is the ability to achieve energy resolution nearly an order of magnitude better than typical planar high-purity germanium (HPGe) detectors. Such an improvement may help reduce uncertainties associated with, for instance, plutonium isotopics or uranium enrichment measurements. This may, in turn, help to reduce uncertainties in total plutonium and/or uranium content in a given sample without the need for destructive analysis. In this paper, we will describe this new detector technology as well as some recent measurements carried out with the LANL-NIST gamma-ray microcalorimeter ({micro}cal) array. Discussion will focus on the capabilities of this technology as well as the progress toward a practical measurement device.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- OSTI ID:
- 1017490
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-10-03873; LA-UR-10-3873; TRN: US1103281
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: INMM meeting ; July 11, 2010 ; Baltimore, MD
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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