A gamma–gamma coincidence spectrometric method for rapid characterization of uranium isotopic fingerprints

Autor: Jing Yi, Barry M. Hauck, Kurt Ungar, Weihua Zhang, Gary H. Kramer, Pawel Mekarski
Rok vydání: 2010
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry. 288:43-47
ISSN: 1588-2780
0236-5731
DOI: 10.1007/s10967-010-0868-y
Popis: This paper reports on initial efforts for uranium isotopic analysis using gamma-rays and X-ray fluorescence coincidence. In this study, a gamma-gamma coincidence spectrometry was developed. The spectrometry consists of two NaI(Tl) scintillators and XIA LLC Digital Gamma Finder (DGF)/Pixie-4 software and card package. The developed spectrometry was optimized according to the considerations of output count rate and gamma peak energy resolution. It has been demonstrated that the spectrometry provides an effective method of assessing the content of uranium isotopes for nuclear materials. The main advan- tages of this approach over the conventional gamma spectrometry include the fact that 235 U enrichment can be graphically characterized by its unique coincidence ''fin- gerprints''. The method could be further developed for fast uranium isotope verification with an established gamma- gamma coincidence spectral imaging library by various nuclear materials.
Databáze: OpenAIRE