Realistic application of short-lived fission product delayed neutron, gamma-ray analysis for simultaneous nondestructive trace quantification of U, Pu mixtures on cellulose swipes

Glasgow, David and Venkataraman, Ramkumar and Rogers, Kayron and Ticknor, Brian and Knowles, Justin and Croft, Stephen (2024) Realistic application of short-lived fission product delayed neutron, gamma-ray analysis for simultaneous nondestructive trace quantification of U, Pu mixtures on cellulose swipes. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 1060: 169068. ISSN 0168-9002

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Abstract

Detection and characterization of fissile traces are of interest to the international nuclear nonproliferation community, including the International Atomic Energy Agency. Pre-inspection check samples are analyzed by neutron activation analysis at the High Flux Isotope Reactor operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory under the umbrella of the IAEA Network of Analytical Laboratories. The simultaneous quantification of U and Pu mixtures was accomplished using the combined delayed neutron (DN) delayed gamma-ray (DG) method to analyze cellulose swipes with actinide loading <1 ng in a blind field trial. The total fissile quantity was measured by the DN counts and the relative proportions of U, Pu were determined by calibration of the 104Tc/ 141Ba fission product count ratio using known mixtures. The DNDG method demonstrated high accuracy in flagging the presence of 239Pu in uranium down to <100 pg mass loading. Peak significance tests helped to control false positive Pu flagging and simultaneous quantification of U and Pu loading was accomplished on samples that passed the significance tests.