학술논문
Nondestructive assay applied to the decommissioning of a former plutonium fuel fabrication facility
Document Type
Conference
Author
Source
Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States); 64; Conference: 1991 Winter meeting of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) session on fundamentals of fusion reactor thermal hydraulics, San Francisco, CA (United States), 10-15 Nov 1991
Subject
Language
English
ISSN
0003-018X
Abstract
In July of 1987, EcoTak, Inc., was contracted to provide technical support and project management for the decommissioning of the Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc., mixed-oxide fuel fabrication facility. In February of 1989, Pajarito Scientific Corporation was contracted to design and provide a comprehensive nondestructive assay (NDA) system consisting of five separation NDA stations. This five-station NDA system provides on-line plutonium holdup and criticality safety monitoring, item plutonium inventory, and rapid item decontamination effectiveness measurements at the 10 nCi/g sensitivity level, quantitative processed waste package assay at the 1 nCi/g sensitivity level, and quantitative characterization/assay of high-yield wastes, scrap, and residues at the {plus minus} 10% level of accuracy. These comprehensive DNA functions are provided by an integrated set of two passive neutron networks, two pulsed active neutron (differential dieaway) units, a functionally integrated high-resolution gamma spectrometer (high-purity germanium (HPGe)), and neutron coincidence counting unit. All NDA hardware items are interfaced through a single IBM/PC/AT class micro-processor for data acquisition, analysis, and archiving.