Field tests and evaluations of the IAEA Active-Well Coincidence Counter

Abstract

This report summarizes and evaluates field tests of the Active Well Coincidence Counter (AWCC) at Winfrith and Dounreay, United Kingdom. The applicability of the AWCC for assaying the uranium content of a wide variety of materials was demonstrated and calibration curves were generated. The AWCC was used in three modes (fastj thermal, and passive) while assaying powders, pellets, cartridges, plates, assorted residues, and materials-testing-reactor fuel assemblies.

A proposed semi-empirical method for 235U mass calibration of the active-well neutron coincidence counter

“…(15). Table 3, presents the measured and calculated 235 U mass content for the different setup configurations with precision and relative accuracy.…”

“…The AWCC was tested and used in different applications by many authors [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]. The AWCC was compared with other neutron coincidence detectors to investigate its precision, counting rate, accuracy, penetrability, stability, and the effect of sample inhomogeneity [11,12].…”

“…The AWCC was also calibrated [14] for the assay of 93%-enriched fuel materials in different categories. Evaluation of the AWCC for field tests was performed by Krick and Rinard [15]. They demonstrated its applicability for assaying the uranium content of a wide variety of materials and generated calibration curves for different NM categories.…”

On the Mathematical Calibration of the Active Well Neutron Coincidence Counter (AWCC)

“…The AWCC was tested and used in different applications by many authors [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. It was compared with other neutron coincidence detectors to investigate its precision, counting rate, accuracy, stability, and the effect of sample inhomogeneity [7,8].…”

“…The AWCC was also calibrated [10] for assaying 93%-enriched fuel materials in different categories. Evaluation of the AWCC for field tests was performed by Krick and Rinard [11]. They demonstrated its applicability for assaying the uranium content of a wide variety of materials and generated calibration curves for different NM categories.…”