Nuclear resonance fluorescence for materials assay

Quiter,; Ludewigt,; Mozin,; Prussin,

doi:10.1109/animma.2009.5503658

Cited by 11 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…1. The density of the sample was determined to be 4.25±0.18 g/cm 3 and the deduced isotopic composition of the sample is given in Table I. To provide a conservative estimate due to ambiguity in the sample geometry, the reported mass uncertainties for the pear-shaped target geometry were made to encompass the statistical error ranges of the spherical and ellipsoidal models.…”

Section: Target Compositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nuclear resonance fluorescence (NRF) has received increased attention in recent years given its potential application in the non-destructive assay of fissile material content in spent fuel [1][2][3][4] and commercial cargo [5,6]. In the NRF process, an excited nuclear state produced by the absorption of a photon emits one or more photons of specific energies upon de-excitation.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Nuclear resonance fluorescence in240Pu

Quiter¹,

Laplace²,

Ludewigt³

et al. 2012

Phys. Rev. C

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Nuclear resonance fluorescence (NRF), a process by which a nucleus is excited by absorption of a specific quantum of energy and then de-excites via the emission of one or more γ rays, may be applied to non-destructively measure the isotopic composition of a sample. NRF excitations in 240 Pu were identified in the energy range of 2.1 to 2.8 MeV using a 3-MeV bremsstrahlung source. Utilizing high-purity germanium detectors at backward angles, nine resonances in 240 Pu were identified in this energy range. The measured integrated cross sections range from 29 to 104 eV·b. These resonances are of interest to nuclear structure physics and provide unique signatures for the assay of 240 Pu content for nuclear forensics, nuclear safeguards and counter-terrorism applications.

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Section: Target Compositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Nuclear resonance fluorescence in240Pu

Quiter¹,

Laplace²,

Ludewigt³

et al. 2012

Phys. Rev. C

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“…However, in the case of determining the Pu mass in spent fuel, there are several reasons to emphasize modeling up front: (1) the need to integrate among techniques, (2) the high cost of measuring spent fuel, (3) the number of viable techniques, and (4) the promise of quantifying simple scaling laws. In order to determine the composition of the target assemblies, a spent fuel library with a range of representative PWR fuel assemblies has been created using MCNPX/CINDER [18]. This includes typical initial enrichment, burnup and cooling time as well as assemblies from which pins have been removed (diversion cases).…”

Section: Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

An integrated approach for determining plutonium mass in spent fuel assemblies with nondestructive assay

Swinhoe¹,

Tobin²,

Fensin³

et al. 2009

2009 1st International Conference on Advancements in Nuclear Instrumentation, Measurement Methods and Their Applications

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1) To verify the Pu content of spent fuel without depending on unverified information from the facility, as requested by the IAEA ("independent verification"). New spent fuel measurement techniques have the potential to allow the IAEA to recover continuity of knowledge and to better detect diversion.Abstract-There are a variety of reasons for quantifying plutonium (Pu) in spent fuel. Below, five motivations are listed:(2) To assure regulators that all of the nuclear material of interest leaving a nuclear facility actually arrives at another nuclear facility ("shipper/receiver"). Given the large stockpile of nuclear fuel at reactor sites around the world, it is clear that in the coming decades, spent fuel will need to be moved to either reprocessing facilities or storage sites. Safeguarding this transportation is of significant interest. (3) To quantify the Pu in spent fuel that is not considered "self-protecting." Fuel is considered self-protecting by some regulatory bodies when the dose that the fuel emits is above a given level. If the fuel is not self-protecting, then the Pu content of the fuel needs to be determined and the Pu mass recorded in the facility's accounting system. This subject area is of particular interest to facilities that have research-reactor spent fuel or old light-water reactor (LWR) fuel. It is also of interest to regulators considering changing the level at which fuel is considered selfprotecting. (4) To determine the input accountability value at an electrochemical processing facility. It is not expected that an electrochemical reprocessing facility will have an input accountability tank, as is typical in an aqueous reprocessing facility. As such, one possible means of determining the input accountability value is to measure the Pu content in the spent fuel that arrives at the facility. (5) To fully understand the composition of the fuel in order to efficiently and safely pack spent fuel into a long-term repository. The NDA of spent fuel can be part of a system that cost-effectively meets the burnup credit needs of a repository. Behind each of these reasons is a regulatory structure with MC&A requirements. In the case of the IAEA, the accountable quantity is elemental plutonium.The material in spent fuel (fissile isotopes, fission products, etc.) emits signatures that provide information about the content and history of the fuel. A variety of nondestructive assay (NDA) techniques are available to quantify these signatures. The effort presented in this paper is investigation the capabilities of 12 NDA techniques. For these 12, none is conceptually capable of The authors are with the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA independently determining the Pu content in a spent fuel assembly while at the same time being able to detect the diversion of a significant quantity of rods. For this reason the authors are investigating the capability of 12 NDA techniques with the end goal of integrating a few techniques together into a system that is capable of measuring Pu mass in an ass...

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“…There has been increased interest in recent years in the nondestructive assay of samples of fissile material for the purpose of quantifying 239 Pu material content [1][2][3][4]. The spectral dependence of b-delayed c-rays emitted from decaying fission products of 235 U and 239 Pu has been established experimentally for time scales on the order of seconds to minutes [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%