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

Patent · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1985

OSTI ID:865404

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

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1. Los Alamos, NM

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.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• Assignee: United States of America as represented by United States (Washington, DC)
• Patent Number(s): US 4510117
• OSTI ID: 865404
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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/