Fissile Mass Flow Monitor Implementation for Transparency in HEU Blenddown at the URAL Electrochemical Integrated Plant (UEIP) in Novouralsk

Conference · Sun Jul 25 00:00:00 EDT 1999

OSTI ID:9123

March-Leuba, J; Mastal, E; Powell, D; Sumner, J; Uckan, T; Vines, B

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Fissile Mass Flow Monitor (FMFM) was deployed at the Ural Electrochemical Integrated Plant (UEIP) highly enriched uranium (HEU) blending facility in January and February 1999 at Novouralsk in Russia for the DOE HEU Transparency Program. The FMFM provides unattended monitoring of the fissile mass flow of the uranium hexafluoride (UF{sub 6}) gas in the process lines of HEU, the low enriched uranium (LEU) blend stock, and the product LEU (P-LEU) of the blending tee non-intrusively. To do this, uranium-235 (U-235) fissions are induced in the UF{sub 6} by a thermalized and modulated californium-252 (Cf-252) neutron source placed on each process line. A set of detectors, located downstream of source, measure delayed gamma rays emitted by the resulting fission fragments. The observed delay in the time correlated measurement between the source and the detector signal provides the velocity of UF{sub 6} and its amplitude is related to the U- 235 content in UF{sub 6}. An on-line computer controls the source modulator, processes the collected detector data, and displays the results. The UEIP Main and the Reserved process lines were implemented with minor modifications. The FMFM monitors the HEU blending operation by measuring UF{sub 6} flows in the process blending lines, and the traceability of the HEU flow from the blend point to the P-LEU. The detail operational characteristics of the FMFM software (FM2) and the measurement methodology used are presented.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Nonproliferation and National Security (NN) (US)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-96OR22464
• OSTI ID: 9123
• Report Number(s): ORNL/CP-103796; TRN: US0102751
• Resource Relation: Conference: Institute of Nuclear Materials Management Meeting, Phoenix, AZ (US), 07/25/1999--07/29/1999; Other Information: PBD: 25 Jul 1999
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
RADIATION MONITORS
CALIFORNIUM 252
HIGHLY ENRICHED URANIUM
SLIGHTLY ENRICHED URANIUM
MIXING
NEUTRON SOURCES
NUCLEAR MATERIALS MANAGEMENT
ON-LINE MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS
URANIUM 235
URANIUM HEXAFLUORIDE
OPERATION
HEU TRANSPARENCY