Application of neutron multiplicity counting to the assay of bulk plutonium bearing materials at RFETS and LLNL

摘要

In the past several years, several facilities have identified a need for a large multiplicity counter to support safeguards of excess weapons materials and the measurement control and accountability of large, unusual samples. The authors have designed and fabricated two large thermal neutron multiplicity counters to meet this need at two DOE facilities. The first of these counters was built for Rocky Flats Environmental Test Site for use in the initial inventory inspection of excess weapons plutonium offered to International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards. The second counter was built for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to support their material control and accountability program. For the LLNL version of the counter, a removable, fast-neutron interrogation assembly was added for the measurement of large uranium samples. In the passive mode these counters can accommodate samples in containers as large as a 30-gal. drum. This paper reports on the measured performance of these two counters and the data obtained with them.