Nuclear resonance fluorescence for materials assay

Author

Quiter, Brian ; Ludewigt, Bernhard ; Mozin, Vladimir ; Prussin, Stanley G.

Author_Institution

Nucl. Eng. Dept., Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

fYear

2009

fDate

7-10 June 2009

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

5

Abstract

This paper discusses the use of nuclear resonance fluorescence (NRF) techniques for the isotopic and quantitative assaying of radioactive material. Potential applications include age-dating of an unknown radioactive source, pre- and post-detonation nuclear forensics, and safeguards for nuclear fuel cycles Examples of age-dating a strong radioactive source and assaying a spent fuel pin are discussed. The modeling work has been performed with the Monte Carlo radiation transport computer code MCNPX, and the capability to simulate NRF has been added to the code. Discussed are the limitations in MCNPX´s photon transport physics for accurately describing photon scattering processes that are important contributions to the background and impact the applicability of the NRF assay technique.

Keywords

Monte Carlo methods; nondestructive testing; nuclear fuel cycle facilities; nuclear materials safeguards; radioactive dating; radioactive sources; radioactive waste; Monte Carlo radiation transport; NRF assay technique; NRF simulation; age-dating; computer code MCNPX; nondestructive analysis method; nuclear fuel cycles; nuclear resonance fluorescence technique; nuclear safeguards; photon scattering process; radioactive material; radioactive source; spent fuel pin; Application software; Computational modeling; Computer simulation; Fluorescence; Forensics; Monte Carlo methods; Nuclear fuels; Physics; Radioactive materials; Resonance; MCNPX; Nuclear Safeguards; non-destructive analysis; nuclear resonance fluorescence;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Advancements in Nuclear Instrumentation Measurement Methods and their Applications (ANIMMA), 2009 First International Conference on

Conference_Location

Marseille

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-5207-1

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-5208-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ANIMMA.2009.5503658

Filename

5503658