Comparison of alpha-spectrometry and alpha/gamma ratio method for the determination of americium in plutonium bearing fuel materials |
| |
Authors: | N N Mirashi P M Shah S K Aggarwal |
| |
Institution: | (1) Mass Spectrometry Section, Fuel Chemistry Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay, Mumbai, 400 085, India |
| |
Abstract: | Determination of americium is one of the requirements of chemical quality assurance of plutonium bearing fuel materials. Alpha-spectrometry
is generally used for the determination of 241Am in Pu bearing fuels since the efficiency of semiconductor detector used for alpha-spectrometry is independent of the alpha-particle
energy in the 4 to 8 MeV range. However, this method has limitations for Pu samples containing extremely small or very large
amounts of 241Am. Thus an alternative methodology based on alpha/gamma (α/γ) activity ratio was developed and tested using different samples.
The method is based on the determination of total γ-activity (of 60 keV peak) of an aliquot of the solution and the total
α-activity present in the aliquot. The method is fast as it does not involve chemical separation of Pu and Am as required
in the alpha-spectrometric method. Data obtained on synthetic and real life samples demonstrates the usefulness of the developed
alpha/gamma ratio method for the determination of 241Am in Pu bearing fuel samples. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|