Quantitative NDA Measurements of Multi-Actinide Oxide Fuels

As new reprocessing techniques and fuel forms are developed, the ability of inspection agencies and facility operators to measure powders containing several actinides becomes increasingly necessary. Neutrons emitted from induced and spontaneous fission of different nuclides are very similar, making it difficult to measure these powders with nondestructive assay (NDA) techniques. In order to measure these powders, a neutron multiplicity technique based on first principle methods was developed to exploit isotope-specific nuclear properties, such as the energy-dependent fission cross sections and the neutron induced fission multiplicity. This technique was tested through measurements using the Epithermal Neutron Multiplicity Counter (ENMC) with two different interrogation (α,n) sources and varying plutonium materials. To complement these measurements, extensive Monte Carlo N Particle eXtended (MCNPX) simulations were performed for each measured sample, as well as samples which were not available to measure. The primary application of this first principle technique is the measurement of materials containing uranium, neptunium, plutonium, and americium. This technique still has several challenges which need to be overcome, the largest of these being the ability to produce results with acceptably small uncertainties.

GODDARD Braden;  CHARLTON William;  PEERANI Paolo; 

2014-08-04

AMER NUCLEAR SOC

JRC83763

0029-5450,   

http://www.ans.org/pubs/journals/nt/a_35672,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC83763,   

10.13182/NT13-18,