Rapid determination of uranium and plutonium content in mixtures through measurement of the intensity-time curve of delayed neutrons

X. Li, R. Henkelmann, F. Baumgärtner

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

28 Scopus citations

Abstract

The delayed neutron emission of fissile isotopes after irradiation can be described by the six-groups theory. Due to the different half-lives and yields of the fission fragments, the intensity-time curve of delayed neutrons has an individual shape for different fissile isotopes. According to this characteristic, a new rapid analysis method has been developed to determine the concentration of different isotopes in a mixture, such as 235U and 239Pu, without any chemical separation. The intensity-time curve of delayed neutrons is measured by using the multichannel scanning (MCS) method with five 3He-detectors installed on a fast transfer system at the research reactor Munich (FRM). This method was validated by about 200 measurements with different isotope contents even below the microgram region.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)246-251
Number of pages6
JournalNuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms
Volume215
Issue number1-2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2004

Keywords

  • Composition analysis
  • Delayed neutron
  • Fission material

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