Calibration and use of a high-resolution,low-energy photon detector for measuring plutonium isotopic abundances

A low-energy photon detector was easily and accurately calibrated with plutonium sources of known isotopic contents after purification of the sources by anion exchange. Rapid data processing was attained by minicomputer calculations. Results obtained for plutonium abundances by λ-spectrometry and by mass spectrometry agreed within 1% for the ²⁴⁰Pu isotope, and within 10% for ²³⁸Pu and ²⁴¹Pu at the concentrations normally present. Alpha specific activities calculated from the abundances obtained by the two methods agreed within 0.5%.