Citation:
J. Eigenbrodt, W.S. Charlton, A. Solodov,
"Sensitivity of Spent Nuclear Fuel Gamma-Ray Measurements,"
Proceedings of the INMM 52nd Annual Meeting, Palm Desert, CA, July 17-21, 2011.
Abstract:
While gamma measurements are a well understood technique for
estimating burn up and cooling time in spent nuclear fuel, only a
few isotopes are currently used and calculations are dependent on
operator declarations. Utilizing a larger set of nuclide
measurements as well as including low energy measurements (around
100 keV) could provide a significant increase in the information
gained from such measurements. Nuclides investigated in this work
include Cs-134, Cs-137, Eu-154, Eu-155, Ce-144, Sb-125, Rh-106,
Am-241, and x-ray peaks from uranium and plutonium. Low energy,
broad range, and high energy gamma measurements have been performed
on a variety of spent fuel from PWR and MOX reactors. Selected
measured fuel locations have been simulated with Origen, TransLAT,
SCALE, and Monteburns to benchmark each of these programs with
destructive analysis results. The program which best predicted the
measurements was then used to perform a sensitivity analysis of the
effects of fuel parameters (burnup, cooling time, and initial
enrichment) on each nuclide measurement.
