Abstract
Delayed neutron activation analysis (DNAA) remains one of the most sensitive methods of nondestructively determining fissile materials in a variety of sample matrices, provided that the samples contain only a single fissile component. This has historically been the limiting factor in many applications of DNAA, and often chemically destructive methods of analysis have needed to be utilized for many real-world samples. This work seeks to develop a method that will allow for DNAA to be utilized on samples containing multiple fissile components. Initial efforts, presented here, show that using a multivariate linear regression model to describe the delayed neutron emission profile of an irradiated sample allows for the concurrent determination of fissile nuclides in samples containing both 235U and 239Pu, without chemical separations and using only a single counting step.
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This manuscript has been authored by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, managed by UT-Battelle LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy. The US Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US Government purposes.
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Kapsimalis, R., Glasgow, D., Anderson, B. et al. The simultaneous determination of 235U and 239Pu using delayed neutron activation analysis. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 298, 1721–1726 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-013-2745-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-013-2745-y