Development of Instrumentation for the Measurement and Safeguarding of Uranium in aNatural Uranium Conversion Plant

摘要

The need for enhanced/integrated safeguards approaches requires an analysis of activities that mayrnbe undertaken looking at the nuclear fuel cycle in its entirety. One example is uranium conversionrnfacilities that are necessary to condition nuclear materials for feed to enrichment processes or forrnuse in reactors. Estimates of nuclear source terms (neutron and gamma-ray) have been performedrnin support of defining new measurement approaches to support enhanced and integrated safeguards.rnSource terms were analyzed for nuclear materials in feed and process streams as well as finalrnproducts. The capability for enhanced safeguards based on neutron and gamma-ray nondestructivernassay monitoring from locations throughout the process was evaluated. We have analyzed possiblernmeasurement methods, selected neutron totals counting as the most effective method for thisrnapplication, and designed the experiment that will be fielded to test these calculations. We willrndiscuss our evaluations, show the calculations that demonstrate the dynamic range of the neutronrntotals measurement system, and