Ion beam analysis of elemental signatures in uranium dioxide samples: importance for nuclear forensics

In this paper the suitability of two non-destructive analytical techniques for identification of elemental signatures in samples containing uranium of different enrichments was studied. The measurements were based on particle induced X-ray emission (PIXE) and particle induced gamma-ray emission (PIGE) methods. The samples were irradiated by 3 and 5 MeV protons at the 3 MV Tandetron™ of Horia Hulubei National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering. The characteristic X and gamma rays were measured using high purity germanium (HPGe) detectors. The GUPIX software was applied for processing the PIXE spectra, while a relative standardization was applied for PIGE analysis by using certified comparator standards and proton stopping powers calculated by SRIM.