Determination of the 235U enrichment of bulk uranium samples using delayed neutrons.

Conference · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2006

OSTI ID:978010

Myers, W L ^[1]; Goulding, C A ^[2]; Hollas, C L ^[3]

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1. William L.
2. Charles A.
3. Charles L.

A technique for utilizing the physics of the delayed neutron re-interrogation method to determine uranium enrichment is presented in this paper. A series of active interrogation measurements was performed using pulsed 14-MeV neutrons and a polyethylene moderated {sup 3}He based neutron detection system. Proof of principle measurements were performed on a set of bulk uranium oxide standards of differing enrichments. A series of measurements was performed on a set of uranium 'unknowns' with and without high-Z gamma-ray shielding (lead) present. Uranium enrichment estimates were obtained for all cases including the bulk uranium samples shielded by lead. Further refinement of this technique is needed to make it a more powerful tool for non-destructive assay of bulk uranium samples.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 978010
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-06-3984; TRN: US1003780
• Resource Relation: Conference: PHYSOR-2006 Conference, September 10-14, 2006, Vancouver, BC, Canada
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY
DELAYED NEUTRONS
ISOTOPE SEPARATION
NEUTRON DETECTION
NEUTRONS
PHYSICS
POLYETHYLENES
SHIELDING
URANIUM
URANIUM OXIDES